"A Treasure for My Treasure"

April 1968, 9 months later

It was the day the students of Hogwarts returned from their two-week Easter break. Serenity was prowling the corridors in the hope of finding her friend. She had left her sisters together outside the charms class where she had promised to meet Merritt. Upon remembering her promise made to Lucius before the holiday, she left the burden of guiding the Ravenclaw to her herbology class with Lakita.

At the end of the corridor, she could see the mix of Slytherin and Gryffindor fourth years dispersing from the Transfigurations classroom where she knew Lucius should be. Andromeda and Vaughn were talking between themselves. It was only two of them, however, which brought Serenity to a gradual halt. She glanced around the hall before watching the stream of students dwindle to nothing. She jogged up to the door and glanced into the room to see only Professor McGonagall arranging papers on her desk. She glances up and spots Serenity.

"Are you alright, Miss Rier?" Nodding absently as her eyes trail the room, Serenity has to force herself to look at McGonagall.

"Yes Professor, I'm just looking for a friend." With that, she turned and left. Walking down the hall a little further, Serenity pauses and scratches the back of her head. Had Lucius forgotten what they had spoken about? Surely he hadn't, considering his most recent letter mentioned it.

Suddenly, Serenity found her arm being yanked sideways. The force dragged her behind a gargoyle statue and into the darkness of an alcove. Yelping as she hit the stone wall, she held up her wand to the attacker. Lucius chuckled down at her, unafraid of her wand pressing up into his chin.

"I thought you weren't the kind of Witch to draw her wand?" Allowing him to brush the wand away from his chin, Serenity found a relieved smile finding its way onto her face.

"I thought you had forgotten about our plans." His charming smile remained as he brushed a strand of hair from her face and shook his head.

"I could never forget about you, Serenity. Ever." She bit her lip and glanced away. For once she was thankful for the darkness around them as her cheeks burned. This was the first time Lucius' flirty advances truly affected her in the past three years. For once the only thing she could process was him and how good he made her feel in that moment. She couldn't remember what her great grandfather sounded like anymore and had finally reconnected with her father and sister.

Serenity finally felt like a teenager.

Lucius' eyes adjusted to the darkness around them and could see the small, genuine smile on her face that he knew he hadn't quite seen in over a year. Seeing Serenity interact with her sister and cousins, even from a distance, pleased him as he now knew she was happy yet again.

"I have something for you," he offered, reaching into his robes. "It's not much but I saw it and thought of you." He opened the velvet drawstring bag in his hand and pulled out the small treasure chest pendant on a gold chain. As he presented it in a small patch of light that sneaked past the shoulder of the statue he watched Serenity's reaction. "It made me think about how valuable you are to me, how meeting you felt like finding buried treasure." The breath in Serenity's throat caught as she looked from the necklace to his shaded features. The way the shadows made his nose seem pointier than it was and the way his eyes seemed to hold a light of their own made her heart swell in anticipation. Silently, she turned around and lifted her hair for him clip it around her neck. Playing with the cold pendant, she turns back to him. Their faces were closer now. His cool breath tickled her nose from where he stood slightly taller than her.

"It's beautiful." She whispered as the darkness seemed to seclude them from the noise of the corridor and she wanted nothing more than to remain hidden forever. The two of them couldn't help but laugh at the silence of the moment. Serenity stepped forward, wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest to hide her hopeless grin. As she rested on the green and silver tie that hung neatly on his chest she breathed in his scent, feeling at peace with him. "Thank you."

He hugged her back, bowing his head into her hair and relishing at the moment where it was just the two of them. He couldn't help himself.

"You're remarkable, Serenity." She chuckles and lifts her head back to see those beautiful cold eyes of his that only her hazel eyes seemed to warm.

"You're not too bad yourself, Lucy." He frowned.

"Hmm, I don't like that." Serenity giggled.

"Well, I do." He couldn't argue with the smile she was giving him, not now and not ever.

A/N

I love them. Not as much as I love Merritt but it's a close second.