Progress
As the days of the term flew by, Halloween finally arrived. Whilst you wore your usual black dress, due to the weather becoming chillier you decided to layer on top your velvet green outer robe to keep warm. Taking one last look in your floor length mirror within your quarters, you lightly brushed your fingers through your hair. However, you caught a glimpse of the dark-haired man sat on the couch eyeing you inconspicuously. Realising he was caught; he swiftly averted his gaze to the marking before him.
Smirking, you turned around and walked towards him. Leaning down as you placed a hand on his chest and kissed him gently on his forehead. “Ready to head to dinner?” You asked, moving your hand to take his as Severus gazed up at you slightly surprised by your affection.
Standing up, he squeezed your clutch slightly and returned the kiss.
“Mhm.” He quietly agreed, causing the corners of his mouth to upturn.
As you walked throughout the halls of the great stone castle, the moonlit windows seemed exceptionally bright and fitting for the evening of Halloween.
“Sev, do you remember the first Halloween we spent together?”
Severus looked at you with a slightly surprised flicker in his eye. “Hm? Of course. I’m surprised you do Y/n.”
“Ha, I could never forget our hauntings on Gryffindor. Those were great memories, Spooking our cohort with our made-up cursed tales of Halloween 1975.”
You both grinned together, you softly held the edge of his arm as you laughed with the remembrance of your youthful mischief together.
“To be fair, those bullies deserved it.” Severus added.
Exhaling out, still with a smile—you replied, “Maybe… yep.” You agreed as you squeezed his arm barely and offered him a kind smile, one which was returned as he looked down to you slightly to offer his quaint smile back.
“Ah! Professor Snape, Professor L/n, Happy Halloween Eh!” A buzzing Hagrid greeted the two of you, clearly a little bit ahead with the occasion’s celebratory booze.
Whilst Severus nodded, you wished a happy Halloween back to the familiar face before following the half-giant into the rowdy great hall lit with glowy hues of purple and orange from the floating candles and pumpkins. Immediately the aroma of said pumpkins greeted your nostrils, along with warm apple cider and spiced drinks. Making your way to the head table, many of your co-workers greeted you for the occasion with warm smiles and rosy cheeks.
Taking a seat next to Minerva and Severus, the gleeful witch next to you got to conversation as you began to put some Turkey, potatoes, and green beans onto your dinner plate.
“Oh Y/n dear, it is so good to have you as a part of our teaching team after all this time! You must feel like you belong here, yes?”
Taking a sip of your pumpkin juice, you replied. “Actually, yes. It all feels right, I must admit.” You answered proudly and truthfully, taking in the environment around you as you peered out to the cheery and conversing students accompanying you in the busy hall.
Minerva held her hands close to her chest as the apples of her cheeks were full with a mothering smile upon hearing your response.
“Oh and the students love you here Y/n! And I must say our professors do seem to consider your family as well!” McGonagall continued on.
“Yes well, I love my position here, I have no complaints. And I couldn’t be more grateful to have the position where I get to work with such nice and helpful fellow teachers.” You said before offering Severus to your left a little smile whilst Minerva averted her eyes to take a bite of her meal.
“Oh, well I do hope our staff have been as good as you describe them to be Y/n! I cannot say I have high hopes for our dear Severus however.” The Gryffindor head of house exclaimed before eyeing the man next to you.
Laughing a little at Severus’s face as he reacted to Minerva’s words with a side eye, you replied.
“No, no Minerva! Professor Snape here has been a very kind friend to me.” You offered her a reassuring smile, though you knew Minerva was just pestering almost like a mother does, you wanted to defend Severus.
“Ha! That’s very funny, Y/n! I will most definitely take your word for it.” The professor chuckled whilst she took a sip from her chalice, unconvinced.
“Anywho, Y/n dear, many of us before your arrival at the table were discussing our plans for the Christmas holidays!” Minerva nodded towards Hagrid and others with a little smirk before continuing. “Any plans for you? Coming home to a certain someone I presume?” She inferred before nudging you on your shoulder jokingly, intrigued by your reaction.
However, upon hearing the question, you heard Severus choke on his water beside you as he was taken aback by the mention of ‘a certain someone’.
“Oh, Severus are you okay?” You lightly pressed in concern before he nodded his head quickly as to not draw any more attention to himself, slightly embarrassed by his own reaction. But as you found he was okay and turned back to answer McGonagall, he found himself tensely waiting for your response with jealousy and need.
“Well, Minerva… I do have a certain someone, but he won’t be at my home waiting for me.” You answered honestly causing the woman next to you to smile even wider and take your hand in hers.
“Oh Y/n! I knew you would find someone! See Hagrid, I was right!” Minerva boasted to the man who rolled his eyes as you assumed they were having a silly bet or so as Hagrid often did with his co-workers.
Content with her questioning, Minerva turned to talk to the other professors around the table whilst you averted your gaze to Severus next to you.
Whispering ever so quietly so just he could hear, you spoke, “I was talking about you, of course.” You offered your heartfelt smile which earned you a relieved one back from Severus.
.
Finally returned back to your quarters after the overwhelming chaos that was Halloween dinner, you sighed in relief of being in the warm ambience of your living space. Rubbing your temples absentmindedly, you started to unbutton your outer-robe before Severus took it off your shoulders and hung it on your cloak hangers.
Noticing that he had been quieter than usual around you this evening, you moved quietly towards his tall dark figure and reached for his hand in an effort to turn him towards you.
“Hey.” You whispered as you placed one hand on the right of his face, peering into his deep dark eyes you sensed something was on his mind.
As he closed his eyes softly upon feeling your touch, he rested his forehead onto yours and moved his hand to rest on top of yours.
“Is everything alright, Sev?” You spoke calmly before he moved to look at you in front of him.
“Hm? You know you can talk to me about anything, always.” You raised your eyebrows slightly before he looked down and decided to move the two of you to the couch.
Now sat together, you brought your knees up to the seat and awaited his response patiently as you rested your hand on his knee.
“You said I am your ‘certain someone’”. Severus spoke finally, deciding to look directly into your eyes with that beautiful longing gaze of his.
“But… I want to be more, Y/n.” He blinked away shortly in search of his words. “What are we?” He finally spoke.
Exhaling quietly, you reassured him with that loveable smile of yours, “Oh, Sev. You are more than that. You are everything to me. You know that I love you. I will be anything to you.” You answered.
Slight relief leaving his concerned expression, he smiled at you before moving into a more comfortable position, choosing to face you as he absentmindedly took your hand.
“You are everything to me Y/n. You are my life.” He moved to kiss your forehead.
Huffing with a smile, you continued. “Is it a definition you want, Sev? We can decide on that?”
“I’d like that.” He looked down at you from across the couch.
“Hmm, okay let’s think.” You replied cheerfully, moving to sit in his lap almost playfully.
Hearing a small chuckle on his chest, you went on whilst playing with his larger hand in yours, often bringing it to hold at your chest. “How about… ‘Lover’.” You joked, earning a grin and eye roll from Severus.
“Of course not, I’m joking, okay serious! How about… ‘partner’?” You offered, but his face seemed unsure.
“Maybe. I suppose it’s better than ‘boyfriend’, which seems quite unfitting.” Severus thought.
“Hmm, ooh what about; ‘significant other’?” You proposed.
Earning a pleased look in response, he replied, “I like that. Y/n, my significant other.” He teased.
Smiling in return, you leaned in and kissed his smirking lips, “I like it too, significant other…”
Refusing to give you up, Severus continued the kiss in what felt like a blissful state for he had you all to himself. Snaking his arm around your waist as he usually did, you moved in closer.
With a gasp you quickly broke the kiss and sat up. Clearly startled, Severus gawked at you in confusion. “Is something the matte-
“I just remembered! Oh, Sev, I remembered I wanted to talk more on this subject.” You interrupted him as he moved to rest on his elbows as you sat up completely ready to pester him some more.
“When in Merlin’s name are we going to be open about us?” You questioned.
Still taken aback, Severus simply sat and stared at you, pondering.
“I mean Sev, we have been together for how long now? Close to what like nine months?” You surprised yourself with the duration of your relationship once saying it out loud.
Furrowing his brows, he moved to sit upright with you. Clearly thinking, the crease in between his brows returned as the dark curtain-like strands of his raven hair faltered to the sides of his face.
“Hm. You’re right. It has been a while.”
You peered back at him, choosing to let him speak.
“It is becoming increasingly difficult to disguise our relationship as of late.”
“Mhm. Look, I know that you aren’t really one for public affection Sev. That’s not what I need though, I just don’t want to hide it anymore, you know?” You added.
“Y/n, truthfully all I want to do is show you love, anywhere, anytime. What I don’t look forward to however is the over-inquisitive reactions of the other professors, or even students for that matter. You know Minerva and Albus would have a field day with news of us being together, not to mention the millions of questions and rumours students would have fun with.” Severus explained. And upon hearing his justification, your hopes lessoned as a somewhat sombre look showed up on your face.
Realising how his words had affected you, he instantly worried and took it back. Wrapping his hands around yours, he moved closer and spoke with soft words. “But… If that would make you happy, and I suppose it would be a relief to us both… then, maybe we should slowly let people closer to us know?” He looked into your eyes searching for reassurance, and after speaking he found it.
Smiling endearingly and accepting his hands, you whispered, “Not only would I appreciate that very much, but I would love it, Sev.”
“You must know that all I want is to be with you, thank you.” You assured before kissing him once more, his hands finding their place around your waist once more as yours landed to his face and neck, entangling between strands of his soft hair.
Sighing exaggeratedly, he rolled his eyes jokingly, “Oh Merlin, I can’t wait for those pestering students to press into my love life.” He leaned back into the couch, taking you with him as you squealed slightly and laughed at his antics. Whacking your hand playfully on his chest you chuckled before stealing his lips again with a lengthened and loving kiss.
“Oh, the things you do for me.” You laughed.
“I would do anything for you.” He replied.