Spinner's End

(thanks to everyone for responses!!)

Chapter 4

Raven sat on her chair in the kitchen. She had finished painting and had gotten ready to go on what she-in her mind was referring to as ‘the date’. She had a difficult time deciding what to wear. Byron in his infinite kindness had left her very little in the way of items to wear. She had discovered that he had given her seven shoes. Not seven pairs of shoes, but seven shoes. She had one very beautiful expensive pump that she could not bring herself to throw away. She also had one cheap pair of not very nice lower heeled pumps that she wore much too often. She had also been awarded some very sexy cocktail dresses, but without nice shoes, they looked rather silly, she thought. She decided on a plain black shift dress and some black tights and the over used black pumps. Deciding that she was wearing too much black, she cut one leg off of another pair of white tights that had a hole in them. She used this for a low slung belt around the tops of her hips, further she wore a white scarf around her neck and tangled it with a large, red, beaded necklace.

She didn’t think she looked anywhere near as nice as she had looked when she used to live with Byron, but she felt that as long as it were a little dark and no one did an inspection on her cheap shoes and suspicious belt, she’d do just fine.

Severus rang the bell on Raven’s door at about five minutes before seven. He had actually had a difficult time deciding what to wear. He had no idea how Raven would be dressed. He knew that she was American. He also knew that Americans tended to be more casual at dressing than a lot of British people. He didn’t know if she was going to answer the door wearing the athletic suit from earlier in the day, blue jeans, one of her large skirts and long, big shirts or an evening gown. He really had no idea about her. He had changed the color and combination of his clothes more times than he cared to think about. He had finally decided on something simple. He ended up with a dark charcoal colored pair of slacks and a white silk shirt. He concluded that he couldn’t go wrong with such a simple ensemble.

Raven opened the door. She looked at Severus. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She noticed that he was a little on the thin side but that didn’t stop her from thinking that he looked devilishly good. His long hair looked a little neater than it had earlier. Raven noted the contrast of the white shirt to his black locks brushing the top of his shoulders. She looked into his deep obsidian eyes and felt herself becoming momentarily lost.

“ Good evening.” Severus said. He looked into Raven’s emerald eyes. Even in the fading light he could see a spark in them. The darkness of her hair almost blended into the black color of her dress. Her hair was loose and longer than he had thought, as it cascaded to the middle of her back. “You look lovely.” He added, trying to keep his face neutral and stay in control but he felt as if he weren’t being very successful.

“ Good evening yourself.” Raven responded. She smiled a little more than she wanted too, but she felt as if Severus really did like the way she looked, and as if he were trying to act cool and austere, but was not succeeding. “ You look very handsome.” She said before she could stop herself.

“ Oh?” Severus seemed a little surprised by her statement. “Thank you.” He smiled. “ I certainly don’t hear that very often.” He chuckled. “ Are you ready to leave then?” He asked her.

“Yes, just let me grab my purse.” Raven said as she quickly pulled her purse from the inside door handle where they stood.

Severus offered his arm to her as Raven stepped from inside her house. Raven gently clasped Severus’ bicep. She certainly liked the way it felt in her hand. He was thin but felt as though he were very strong.

Severus didn’t normally like people holding onto him as he walked. He found that they usually slowed him down. However as he felt Raven’s small hand warp around his arm, he decided that it was okay if she were the one slowing him down. He placed his other hand over hers on his arm.

“I’m glad that it’s nice night out tonight.” Severus said, then immediately wanted to kick himself, wondering if he could have come up with a more boring subject than the weather. But his choice of subject matter did not seem to put off Raven. She was happy to chat about the weather as they walked down the deserted walk.

Raven felt that his choice of subject matter was a little dull but very safe. She felt that a safe subject matter was best for now. She thoroughly enjoyed the feel of his large warm hand covering hers. She felt safe walking down the darkening street with him beside her.

The café was only at the end of the street and one block over. It was very quiet and without many customers as the two entered and got a table.

Severus kept looking at Raven. He could not imagine that just last week he had thought that his neighbor was plain and overweight and that he hadn’t given her a second thought. He suddenly thought though of the time he had wasted. He thought about the extra time he could have spent with this little gem.

Raven looked around the small café. There weren’t very many other people there. She felt a little uncomfortable sitting with Severus. It seemed to her that he was devouring her with his eyes. She found it a little frightening. She looked at his eyes; they were very dark and intense. The way he looked at her was not dark, but was very deep. She gave him a little smile. He gave her back a little lopsided smile.

“I’m frightening you, aren’t I?” He asked. He didn’t need to perform Legilimens to figure out her expression. He had seen it in his students for years. While it was his intention to frighten the students, it was not his intention to frighten Raven. “ I ‘m sorry. I just find that you are very much more beautiful than I had thought you were. I guess that must seem shallow. But really, I find you stunning and I can’t believe my luck that you live across the street from me and that I am actually here with you.” He gave his head a little shake. “ If you want, we can leave.” He arched his eyebrow.

“Well, I guess I should be flattered.” Raven gave a little smile. “ I guess it’s just been a while since anyone has looked at me that way.” She added and shrugged her shoulder.
“ I don’t want to leave.”

“Good.” Severus said. “ Really, I would rather sit and talk and get to know each other.” He gave her a small smile.

“ I find it odd that a young woman, such as yourself has chosen to live in what really is, to say the least, not a good neighborhood.” Severus smiled slightly as he said this. “I’m not complaining that you moved here, I’m glad actually, but I do find it surprising.”

Raven explained some of her situation. Viewing it in the rear-view mirror, so to speak, she explained it in a light-hearted fashion to Severus. She spoke about growing up in America and going to school in America. In fact after more than an hour Raven realized that she had been monopolizing the conversation, she pointed this fact out to Severus, who said that he enjoyed listening to her and liked her accent. Raven carefully pointed out to him that was in fact him that had the accent. They spent a while good-naturedly discussing their accents.

To Severus it seemed as though Raven were being very honest with him. He liked that in a lady. He felt that often women felt it necessary to play games and pretend all sorts of things with others. He was much more interested in getting to know a lady for who and what she really is not some façade that she acts out in public. She alluded to the fact that she had very little money. He did not need to know every detail of her, he didn’t need to know if she only had six pence until the end of the week or not, but he appreciated that she was forthcoming about being money poor. He liked that in viewing her situation she always seemed to look on the bright side. He further enjoyed that she had a somewhat acerbity mixed into her humor. Of course Severus knew that her acerbity could not compete with his, still, he did enjoy it in others. He found it interesting and stimulating. To him it implied more thought was given to life and that Raven had the ability to see the humor in life and all of its situations but still keep herself grounded in reality. She had a sharp wit and he verbally parried with her in a friendly manner and she parried back without missing a beat.

The two spent hours talking. In fact they were still chatting when the shopkeeper insisted that he had to close and that they would have to leave.

They strolled back up their deserted street. Raven did not want the night to end. She wrapped her arm around Severus’. She was walking much closer to him now than she had when they had left her house earlier. She felt that she somehow knew him better now than she had earlier, although it seemed that she had done most of the talking. She fought the urge to rest her head against his arm. She felt that would be a little too intimate a move for having just met him really only yesterday.

Severus could feel Raven walking close to him. He wanted to pull her even closer to him. He could not think of a surreptitious way in which to do it though. Severus was not stupid either. He knew that pushing her along too fast would, in the end, probably not work with Raven. They crossed the street towards Raven’s house. He suddenly thought about her hideously bright pink sitting room. He decided to do something nice for her. Doing something nice for anyone was normally not in Severus’ realm of activities, but on this night he made an exception for Raven. He softly touched the wand in his pant pocket and pictured her sitting room again.

They stood on the street in front of Raven’s door. She searched in her purse for her keys.
“I had a very nice time tonight.” Raven said as she searched the handbag, still wishing the night were not ending. She closed her hand around the key at last.

“ I also had a lovely time.” Severus replied, almost whispering, his voice sounded too soft in his own ears. He cleared his throat as he had noticed his voice had acquired an almost bed-roomy quality suddenly. “ I would really like to see you again soon.” He said trying to make his voice sound more normal and less seditious.

Raven had for the first time noticed how positively alluring Severus’ voice sounded. It was deep and almost melodious, it made her feel relaxed and secure. She could almost feel herself melting into his words. She pulled the key from the handbag, raising her head to look at him. He was so near to her, she could see the street lamp reflected in his eyes. She raised her self up on tiptoes and kissed him very softly on the cheek.

“ I would like to see you again too.” She stated, her eyes brushing across his face as if she were trying to read him.

He raised his hand to her face, placing his bent finger under her chin, he tipped her head towards him, touching his lips as softly to hers as to compare to the brushing of a butterfly wing.

Raven looked into Severus’ eyes. She felt herself becoming lost in the depth and darkness within them. She felt herself becoming a frightened. Not of Severus, but of her own reaction.

“ I have to work a long day tomorrow, but Tuesday I’ll be home rather early.” She said quickly as she tried to regain control of her mounting blood pressure.

“ Tuesday would be great.” Severus replied. He slowly slid his finger from beneath her chin. He wanted to be with her all night but he knew that the time was not right. As his hand crossed past Raven he gently plied his finger through her hair. He had a desire to hold her and press her dark hair into his face and feel it all around him. Instead he took a deep breath and said, “You really should be going in then since you have a long day tomorrow.” He moved slightly back from her to give her the room to open the door.

“Yes, you’re right.” Raven responded, her hand shaking as she tried to get the key into the door lock. “Have a good night, Severus.” She said as she entered the house.
“Good night Raven.” He replied.

Raven gave him a quick smile and closed her door.


Raven locked her door, turned and leaned against the door and closed her eyes. She couldn’t believe how good she felt. She almost felt elated. She knew that she was not going to be able to fall asleep very soon. She would like to blame the coffee that she had drunk earlier but that was not the entire reason. She went up the stairs to her bedroom to take off her clothes. She needed to take a bath as she knew that getting up early in the morning and taking one was going to be impossible. She also wanted a nice long hot soak to think about Severus.

Raven reclined in the old claw-foot tub, the hot water relaxing her tension away. She thought about the past evening. She really had done almost all of the talking. She felt that she knew Severus, but she could not figure out why she felt this way. He had only said that he worked as a teacher at a boarding school and that the man living with him was someone from his own school days that he seemed to be taking care of. Raven had to infer this last part, because Severus had not really stated that he was taking care of Peter. Severus seemed to imply that Peter didn’t have a job either. Raven had said that Peter must be on the dole. Severus looked slightly confused at that and then agreed that Peter was on the dole.

Raven had told Severus much about herself but other than some surface issues; he seemed to divulge little about himself to Raven. He made appropriate comments and added some insights but did not talk about himself. Still she had felt comfortable telling him about herself. He didn’t seem to be judging her or thinking any ill thoughts about her apparent foolish decisions. He had said that he had made foolish choices in the past and that he would never hold something in someone’s past against them.

She thought about how he had looked at her while they were at the café. She had found it frightening at first how he seemed to looking into her soul with his dark eyes. She glanced at his sexy dark eyes as much as she could throughout the evening. She found the shining, black color of them alluring. She also longed all evening to touch his hair. She wanted to know if his hair was soft like a child’s’ or heavy and wiry. She had thought all evening how he seemed too thin. She assumed that like a lot of men living alone, that he probably just didn’t eat well. She also imagined him at his job at the boarding school. Raven was mature enough to know that he was probably a mean and hard Professor. She could picture him berating the students about not doing their homework. However, she didn’t care how he was at work. She really only cared about how he was when he was with her. She knew that many jobs could require almost two differing personalities. At her own job everyone assumed that she was the information source for items regarding ethereal subjects. She let the image persist as it made her feel more valuable and possibly, she hoped, made her more valuable to her boss.

She pushed the thoughts of work from her mind as she soaked her hair in the warm water. She instead thought about how soft Severus’ lips had felt as he had kissed her. She smiled as she thought about him wanting her. She smiled more as she thought about him wanting her as much as she wanted him.

Severus sat in the sitting room of his own house reading a tome and sipping some sherry. Severus though had read the same sentence five times and it still didn’t make sense to him. He knew that this had nothing to do with the sherry. His mind kept drifting to the green eyed gaze of Raven. He sat there in the café all night listening to her soft lilting voice and sweet, American accent, watching her watch him and enjoying every minute of the evening. He had just wanted to hear her talk. He of course listened and took in everything she said but there was not a rule against him enjoying the mere sound of her voice either.

He felt enraptured every time her green eyes would glance into his. He felt as though he were falling into a pool when he looked into her eyes. Severus glanced at the page of the book in front of him and envisioned how Raven’s green eyes might look after he had made love to her. He had spent the evening listening to her and looking at her. The tight black dress she had worn had given his mind more to think about than he could have imagined just a couple of days ago. To him she seemed almost too small. He felt that she was too thin. He usually desired women who were fuller figured in nature but he could see possibilities with Raven that he normally wouldn’t have thought about.

Severus sipped at the sherry. He thought how he had spent the evening wanting to run his hands through Raven’s long dark curly hair. He wanted actually to feel her hair all around his face and neck and chest. Growling in disgust, Severus arose from the chair, threw the book into the vacated seat and polished off the remaining sherry in the small glass. He was angry with himself. He knew he was making his already complicated life even more so. There were many other, more important issues that he should be pondering right now, and he was thinking about lust and pools of green involving a woman named Raven. He extinguished the candle with a wave of his wand and ascended the stairs to his bed.

Severus spent a good portion of the night dreaming about swimming with the dark haired woman in a pool of emeralds.