"You know" Snape murmured, his voice a hushed whisper. "That necklace you have on there... was created magically, a remarkable piece of craftsmanship, wherever did you get it?"
The question caught Osanna off guard. Did she tell him the truth or lie? She could hear Ivy's voice in the back of her head, urging her "Go on, tell the truth, it may make him jealous!"
"I.... well, I don�t know exactly who it came from!" Severus gave her an odd look. "You see, it was delivered to me, by owl actually and there was a note, but no name signed, so I guess it's sort of like a secret admirer thing! The same person sent me a Moonflower as well!"
They walked on and Severus was quiet for a few moments before saying anything. "A secret admirer? How...silly, utter nonsense, rather immature for someone your age don�t you think?"
Osanna frowned. "I don�t think it's immature at all! I think it's...it's...."
"Sweet? Romantic? " Snape finished, a smirk growing on his lips.
"Something like that.... yes" Osanna finished, lifting her chin defiantly; it did seem to be making him irate, if not jealous.
He shook his head. "You should be thankful the necklace was not enchanted with some sort of spell, you should be more careful about what you choose to adorn your lovely neck with."
Osanna frowned, she wasn�t entirely sure if he was being condescending, thoughtful, or if it had been intended as an odd compliment. She resigned to leave it alone; he was so vague there was no point in even trying to figure it out.
They traveled on a bit farther when Snape suddenly stopped her with his hand, holding her back from taking another step.
"What?" Osanna said, her eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness.
He pointed to a small clearing, there, by the light of the full moon bloomed several bunches of translucent, shimmering twilight lowers, their petals sparkling like spun glass, but perhaps even more amazing stood a unicorn, shimmering like a star in-between the dark patches of the wood. Osanna's breath caught in awe.
"Oh...how beautiful!" she whispered, completely riveted by the creature.
"Surely you have seen one before, having handled magical creatures all of your life?" Snape asked.
Osanna shook her head. "I have caught glimpses once or twice, but I have never worked with unicorns!"
He chuckled and nodded. "Would you like to get closer?"
She nodded quickly, her eyes still upon it.
Severus reached down to the ground, slowly so as not to startle the creature who was already snuffing the air as if it sensed their presence, his long fingers deftly pulled up bits of root which were a pure, milky white, he tore them into bits and gave Osanna several handfuls of the weed, pressing it into her hands.
"Approach it quietly, and hold out your open hands with this sugar-root out, so it can smell it, they love this root it will come to you surely."
A smile of delight crossed Osanna's lips and she opened her hands, and then slowly approached the unicorn, the root plainly visible. The creature lifted its head, cautiously sniffing the air, it's eyes, which were both violet, and purple all at once fell on Osanna.
"Go on" Severus urged softly.
Osanna stepped forward, slowly, cautiously, the majesty of the creature drawing her in. The Unicorn eyed her but made no move either hostile or friendly. When Osanna was no less than a foot away the unicorn finally made it's decision. It stepped forward, it's head held high and slowly made it's way over to her, it nuzzled her hand and snuffled the roots, it made a lilting, musical "neigh" of approval and began to eat, seeing that it was preoccupied Osanna dared to pet it, it offered no resistance and allowed her to stroke it's mane while it finished off it's snack. She petted it one last time, gently caressing it's silver hair before she turned quietly and made her way back to where Severus was.
Several strands of the unicorns hair had gotten wrapped around her fingers, she untangled them, each one a translucent, glowing thread of silk, she was about to throw them on the ground when Severus stopped her, taking her hand in his.
"If you don�t mind to terribly, I could use those." Osanna nodded and he slid the glowing hairs form her hands and placed them in a small, black velvet bag he pulled from beneath his cloak. "I can use these in my class,� he explained, tucking the bag back where it had emerged.
She tried to calm her racing heart as he ushered her forward, around the clearing where the Unicorn still stood. She would have plenty to tell Ivy when she came back! She felt a small pang of guilt for a moment, having left Ivy alone, with only Draco for company...Ivy was not the type most found instantly attractive, she was beautiful no doubt but in a intimidating, almost painful way...that was why she had won the attention of someone such as Draco Osanna decided as she followed Severus around a corner.
"Ah-Ha! Here we are!" Severus stated, once again coming to a halt. He knew this forest like the back of his hand, it was one of few places he felt comfortable, here when he was outside of the school gathering potion ingredients he could be himself with no students to arouse his anger, and he indeed knew every twist and turn, every flower and animal in the forest with a fond intimacy.
Osanna glanced up and her smile widened at the pleasant noise she heard, a soft, lilting, humming sound, nearly like the buzzing of a bee but much more pleasant. In front of her was a small tree, perhaps no taller than she was, from it hung small blossoms, a pale, icy blue color, tinged in a gold color around the edges, the flowers were open wide, nearly as big as dinner plates, the whole tree vibrated softly, the flowers were where the humming noise was originating.
"A Humming Hibiscus tree" Osanna stated.
Severus nodded and ushered her closer. "Indeed it is, they are much louder than usual because of the full moon."
They both watched in silent wonder as the tree seemed to grow in front of them, it was a lunar plant, nourished by the light of the moon. The flowers grew on a vine, and the vines grew and twisted in a hypnotic, snake-like dance as they watched, the humming sound softly changing tone every few moments.
"I would love to grow one of those outside our cottage" Osanna commented, watching the plant with interest.
Severus chuckled. "Easily enough done." He approached the plant, and after a moment or so he leaned forward and broke off the largest blossom he could find.
"Wont that kill it?" Osanna asked, her brows creased.
He chuckled again as he approached her with the flower, she watched in amazement as the vine grew and twisted in his hand despite the fact that it was no longer attached to the tree. "Most certainly not Lady Osanna, merely dig a small hole, place it in the ground and it will begin a whole new tree, water it during the day with water that has been left outside to catch the reflection of the moon." He then leaned forward, his face mere inches form her own, she could smell his breath like poisoned honey as he took the flower and slid it behind her ear, she gasped as the vine poked and prodded, finally settling to twisting through her hair, making her look like some type of Dryad, she apparently made quite the vision, Severus found his breath catching in his throat, he could kiss her now, secret admirer be dammned...he could kiss her..........and he was about to do just that, his hand resting against her cheek when a loud noise made them both collapse into awkward befuddlement.
"Professors!"
Snape turned towards Weasley, a positively serpentine snarl on his face, Osanna nearly jumped out of her skin, she was not entirely sure what had been about to happen...but she was rather disappointed.
"WEASLEY! WHAT IS IT?" Snape yelled, looking positively livid.
Ronald had removed his earmuffs and they hung around his neck, he was covered in head to toe from glitter, obviously from collecting the shimmering starflowers, he also had a bleeding hole on one arm.
"Errrm, you see I was collecting the starflowers, they grow on vines..."
"We KNOW that Weasley!" Snape hissed.
"Right, right, well one of the trees had them growing up it, so I started gathering them only.........the tree, was a Bowtruckle, and it attacked me..." he pointed at the gouge in his arm.
"OH FOR!" Snape trailed off and narrowed his eyes. "A offering of woodlice and it would have allowed you to collect the flowers, come on then, Osanna and I will take you to Madame Pomfrey."