-67-
Days goes by, and before I knew it - it was the week of the Valentine's Day. The hallways and corridors are filled with whispers and giggles who's going to be whose Valentine in two days. Specially the girls are all excited about their upcoming dates with their boyfriends or crushes. Boys... Not as much. This is rather awkward time for them, I guess. Well, not for everyone. "Professor (Y/L)!" Neville calls other side of the hallway. "Neville! Nice to see you. It's been a while." I smile. He jogs to me and stops:"Y-yeah. Been kind of busy lately...". Giving him a teasing smirk:"Kissing Luna all day long?". Neville's face goes red as tomato:"N-no..! I meant the school stuff and..-", "I was just messing with you!" I laugh and give a gentle nudge side of his arm. He's such a sweetheart.
We then start walking side by side along the hallway. Our conversation quickly goes to the Valentine's Day and how they are going to spend it. He told me he has made a handcraft gift for Luna, and he's going to give it when he picks her up before their date in Hogsmeade. A handmade, huh? That actually gave me an idea! My cheeks turns light pink when the thought Severus being my Valentine. "-/L)?" Neville's voice brings me back from my thoughts. Little panic hits and I push the thoughts away:"Ah! Sorry, Neville. I..- I think your plan for Valentine's sounds absolutely wonderful! I'm sure she'll love it.". "You think so?" he asks with hint of nervousness. "Definitely!" I exclaim. Neville turns to look ahead and sees his girlfriend standing further away. His whole face brightens up right away and his head turns back to me:"W-well, I'll be going now. It was nice talking to you again, Professor.". Gentle smile appears on my face:"Pleasure is all mine, Neville.". With that, the boy rushes to the girl and they exchange couple words before walking away hand in hand. They are so cute!
While walking alone, I start to think more about the upcoming Valentine. Neville inspired me to make something handmade for Severus. But what? I can't knit like aunt-Ruby - talk about got no time for that either... It needs to be something simple. Then it hit me: fudge! I'll made fudge! My eyes starts to sparkle by the idea. I've never made any before, but how hard can it be? Knowing Severus isn't afond of sweets, but it's going to be Valentine, so he might as well start getting used to it. Can't wait! Then, I spot familiar student walking this way. "Professor." Harry nods and stops in front of me. I give a polite smile:"Hello, Harry. How's everything?". "Good." he gives a tight lip smile. There is this certain tension lingering in the air. After all, last time we talked was back on Christmas.
We then move a bit secure area of the castle - under stone staircase that has a window next to it. There are some students climbing up these stairs time to time to get in their next lesson. Harry and I began to discuss everything regarding the Christmas and what has happened after that. It seems that the Weasley family has been living in Sirius's house these past weeks - in the 12 Grimmauld Place. Harry also told me how he and Ron told Hermione everything that happened at the Burrow - no surprise there. "And I thought... Maybe we should tell Moody about this as well. What do you think?" Harry asks little bit hesitant. Lift my eyebrow:"Moody? As in, Mad-eye?". He nods and waits what are my thoughts on this. To be honest, my mind is torn. The moment he made my skin crawl back when he asked me about the Unforgivable Curses, to when he apologised, to the day he saved me when I was seventeen.
My head starts to shake its own:"I'm not sure if it's the right move, Harry.". The boy looks surprised:"Why?". Don't want to tell him what I have experienced with him, so I came up another answer:"Less people know about this the better.". Luckily, he nods as agreement. I just hope he won't go and tell on his own. Harry still looks quite pensive, even we have now talked about everything - or so I thought. "There is this... One thing." he grudgingly let out. "What?" my face goes more intense than before, ready to hear what he has to say. Harry keeps his gaze low:"Hermione thinks I'm in the wrong here, but...". "Yes?" my voice turns into a whisper. Then he lift those blue eyes on me:"I think Draco has become a Death Eater. Like his father.". My eyes widens as I stare back at the student. A Death Eater? Draco..? Would he go that far for his family's approval? The moment we shared at the Boathouse days back flashes before my eyes. Trying to regain back focus here:"W... What makes you think that? Do you think he was forced?".
Just when Harry opens his mouth, familiar deep voice interrupts:"There you are.". Harry and I immediately jump and turn to the direction the voice came from. It's Severus, staring at us with his usual cold glare. Right away, Harry tenses up and to be honest, so did I for a quick second. He really knows how to intimidate, no matter what kind of relationship you have with him. The Potions Master calmly walks towards us:"The Gamekeeper is looking for you.". I blink once and start walking:"O-oh, alri..-", "Not you." he grabs me by the hood part of the robe and I get yanked. Without letting go of the hood, Snape narrows his eyes on Harry:"I meant you, Potter.". It makes him feel uneasy and he leaves.
When the boy gets out of sight, Severus lets go of my hood and I turn to him:"What Hagrid wanted from him?". "Nothing. I just made it up." he bluntly answer. Did he really made Harry walk all the way to Hagrid's Hut for nothing?! "So you lied to him." I point out. "If you prefer that word, then yes. I lied." he looks unbothered. "You are a mean-mean man, Sevy..." I shook my head and cross arms over my chest. A smirk appears corner of his lips:"Or just clever.". Soft chuckle comes out of me:"You really are something, you know that?". We share this gentle look. Both of us craving the touch from one another, but knowing anyone could walk in and see us, so we keep hands to ourselves. Then I remember:"Oh, I've needed to ask you something.". "Do tell." he looks intrigued. "What are your plans on Wednesday?" I ask with bigger smile on my face. "Why?" he ask. Is he being serious? There is no way he doesn't know, everyone talks about it all the damn time! "It's..- It's going to be Valentine's Day." my voice crumbles a little.
Severus doesn't seem to be impressed:"Ah, yes. One of the most unnecessary days of the year.". Should have seen that coming... Don't know why I started to feel so shy all of sudden. Fidgeting my fingers a bit as nervous smile raises on my face:"...It might be, but... I was just thinking..-", "Yes?" Severus uses again his low voice as he takes a step closer. My face start to turn more red:"Maybe we c..-", "Professor Snape?" a young female voice calls. Huh? Quickly, we both turn our head to see who it is. A seventh year, Slytherin girl stands there, looking right us. Severus straightens his back more and the soft gaze he had turned into cold one:"Miss McDowell. Thought I gave you perfectly fine instructions to wait outside of the classroom.". Her eyes visits on me and when she realizes I'm the one standing there, a look of despise makes a quick appearance on her face. Then she look at the Potions Master again:"But I've waited almost thirty minutes!". Her voice sounds familiar somehow.
There is annoyance written all over the Potions Master's face:"Don't make me repeat myself, Miss McDowell.". She rolls her eyes and leaves:"Fine.". Then it hit me. She's one of those girls who were talking about me in the corridor last year! 'She's not even that pretty, if I'm being honest.' Her words echoes in my head. We stare a moment longer as the student walks out of sight. Then I turn to him:"Is that the girl who keeps getting in trouble?". Severus sighs:"This is her third detention this semester...". Both of my eyebrows raise:"Third?!". Time to time, Severus has mentioned about a student who seems to get in trouble once in a while - specially when it comes to Potions. But I never thought what we are dealing here with is a seventh year. Thought they would know how to behave at that age.
He then turns to me:"You can only imagine how time consuming it is on my part... Like I wouldn't have anything better to do. It's quite tiring, really.". Giving him a compassionate look:"Sorry to hear that. Wish there was something I could do to help.". My words brings teasing smirk on his lips. Immediately noticing this:"What?". He then does a small eye roll and composes himself:"You were about to ask me something, before we got rudely interrupted?". My mind goes blank. What was I about to say? I keep staring at him like he would know the answer. He sees this too:"...Don't tell me you forgot about it already?". Can't help, but chuckle. I totally forgot what I was about to ask! "Sorry. One of the side affects that comes with the package." I joke. "So it seems to be." Severus lets out a deaden chuckle. The tension between us raises. Both of us again feeling the urge to touch one another. I really want to kiss him. The Potions Master starts walking away:"I assume you will remember whatever you needed to say later this evening. Till then... Good day, Professor.". Watching him walking away, his long cape trailing right after... Just when he got out of my sight, it hit me and I let out a gasp. It was about the Valentine's Day!
Later that evening - after the dinner, I head down to the Potions classroom. It would be nice to plan something together for Wednesday! Even it would be something small. I don't care. As long as we can spend some time together, I'll be happy. The door to the class was wide open, so I walked in. "Sev?" I look around. Nothing. He's not here. Before going to look for him from his chamber, I walk up to his desk. Just to see if he has happened to leave me a note of any kind to let me know where he is. Nothing. Hmm... With that, I head to knock on his chamber's door. Nothing. That's odd. I sit down on the floor and wait beside the door, back leaning against the stone wall. My thoughts trails off while I wait. Draco Malfoy is a Death Eater?
Wonder where Harry got that from? Because his father is one, he needs to be one? Is that how it works? Does Dumbledore know?! Should we tell Moody, like Harry suggested? Is he trust worthy? All of these questions keeps spinning around my head while I try to come up some solutions, but nothing seems to sit right. And before I knew it, I have sit here for two hours. Wonder where he is? I'm starting to feel like an idiot, waiting here and nothing's happening. I really hope he's alright thought. After waiting another fifteen minutes, I sigh deep and give up. Knowing I can't wait any longer, since I need to go feed and take Sniffy out for his evening walk, so I got up and left. Maybe he'll come and knock on my chamber after he's done whatever he has been doing? Damn, my butt feels numb..!