HP ficlet: Blossoming [Remus/Severus, general]
Title: Blossoming Author: celandineb Fandom: HP Pairing: Remus/Severus Rating: general Length: 319 words Summary: Remus meets with Severus on Order business. Note: For karasu_hime, who wanted Snupin, cherry blossoms. This was partly inspired by the Marillion song "Kayleigh," which has the lines, "Do you remember / The cherry blossom in the market square / Do you remember / I thought it was confetti in our hair."
For the third time in a row it was Severus, rather than Dumbledore, who met with Remus to receive his report. Having briefly been on staff at Hogwarts himself, Remus knew how busy Dumbledore must be, but it surprised him that Severus had the necessary free hours on each of the designated days. He would have expected Minerva at least once.
It certainly couldn't be that Severus had asked for this particular responsibility; he had never been friendly with Remus and indeed made no secret of his dislike, although Remus had a very strong suspicion that the two of them had more in common that Severus would ever be willing to admit.
At the moment, however, Severus sat with a greater scowl on his face than was usual even for him, and he seemed to be staring at Remus's face as if seeing something particularly offensive there. Remus knew that he wasn't the best-groomed of wizards, but his appearance surely wasn't that dreadful.
"What is it? Why are you staring?" he finally asked.
"I merely find myself astonished at how little gravity you apparently attach to the situation," Severus replied sourly.
"What?" Remus had no idea to what Severus could be referring. He took Voldemort's return very seriously indeed; what could he possibly have said or done to make Severus think otherwise?
"Your hair, Lupin." Severus scowled harder. "You seem to have confetti in your hair."
Remus put his hand to his head. When he looked at the pale flakes that had caught on his fingers, he chuckled.
"Not confetti. I took a walk in one of the Muggle parks to clear my thoughts before I came to this meeting; this is cherry blossom."
Severus flushed an angry red. "My mistake."
But he kept sneaking surreptitious glances at Remus for the rest of their time together, and touched Remus's hand voluntarily for the first time ever as they parted.