Halloween
Everyone had just settled down for a great Halloween feast, the floating pumpkins all adorning different spooky carved faces above you all. Students and teachers alike were celebrating the holiday, cheeky spells being cast around the Great Hall. They were either tricks... or treats. You joined in the fun, transfiguring Minerva's long pointy hat so that two realistic cat ears sat on her head instead, joined together by a small band. She looked in your direction with pursed lips, before laughing heartily. A few students had noticed, giggling in their seats. She was quick to flick her wand straight back at you and conjured some devil horns that protruded from your hairline, along with a matching red tail that waved at everyone watching.
"Me? The devil?" You joke gasped.
You waved your wand in a neat circle, pointing towards the top of your head. The horns and tail disappeared with a pop, and instead a bright golden halo hovered above your head. The students watched in awe at the change, the halo appearing in a flash of white sparks. You spotted the Weasley twins starting a wave of applause at the action, clapping their hands in your direction. You bowed your head with a cheeky grin, the halo following your movement daintily. You turned your eyes down to Minerva who had set the ears on the table in front of her to change her hat back. You noticed, with delight, that she had kept the ears. They were just as realistic, but now looked as though they were proudly poking out of the material of her hat. You grinned at her from the other end of the table.
The chair next to you scraped against the floor, and you turned to your right to see Severus just sitting down. He took one look at your halo and raised an eyebrow at you.
"Where's your Halloween spirit?" You laughed, wand still in hand, "Do you need some help?"
"Please don't." He groaned, but he had a small smile on his face.
"Hmm.. I think.." You pretended to touch an invisible beard to show you were thinking. "Ah!"
With a small flick of your wand, you conjured a snake to sit around his shoulders. It's little tongue darting out as it hissed innocently, lifting it's head up next to Snape's ear. Severus put his hand up to his shoulder and the snake crept onto it happily, slithering across his palm to wrap around his forearm. It let out another hiss as though it was happy to be offered his hand. You leaned over to use your finger to stroke the soft scales on his head, whilst giggling.
"A snake for our favourite Slytherin!" You beamed at them both.
"Your conjuration skills are rather excellent," Snape mused, "thank you."
"I try my best." You smiled at him.
Albus Dumbledore stood to announce the arrival of food, your interaction with Snape catching his eye. He was smiling as he raised his arms in the air, the delicious food appearing on cue. Everyone began to tuck in, spooning their favourites onto their plates. There were quite a few sweets around, and a few students seemed to go straight for them instead of eating a proper meal beforehand. The sugar rushes were going to be hard to control when they needed to go to bed later on.
The excitement in the air faltered when the doors to the Great Hall were opened abruptly.
A trembling, white faced Professor Quirrell came stumbling in, screaming repeatedly, "TROLL! IN THE DUNGEONS!"
"Professor Quirrell, please," Dumbledore stood at his entrance to the room.
"There's a troll, headmaster. In the dungeons. I thought you ought to know." And with that, he fell to the floor. He had fainted.
The halo on your head, along with Snape's snake, disappeared within an instant after a small spell left your lips. The students, after a short silence, seemed to scream in fear and a few stood up to run away. A strong shout from the headmaster stopped them in their tracks.
"Silence!" He boomed, "Prefects, please escort your houses to your common rooms. There is nothing to be afraid of. Teachers, please follow me to the dungeons."
In the panic, and the students now filing out of the Great Hall, you noticed that Quirrell was no longer on the floor in the middle of the room. You elbowed Severus, but he had already seen the same thing that you had. You looked at him, and he seemed very unhappy. Once the students had cleared out, the teachers were quick to leave. Dumbledore marched on, with McGonagall and a few others on his tail. Severus sped in the other direction, heading straight for the staircases. You, however, turned at just the right time to see the infamous Harry Potter and a ginger boy diverting from their fellow Gryffindors. Torn, you left Severus alone to follow the boys.
You held back behind them, following their every move. You couldn't really hear their words specifically, but you thought you could hear them say 'Hermione' repeatedly. You thought back to the small buck-tooth girl you had met outside the Potion's classroom on your first day, and then realised she wasn't at the feast. They must be looking for her. You quickened your pace when a roar erupted at the end of the corridor, the troll had made it's way out of the dungeons.
The two boys legged it behind a statue, peering round to see where the troll was headed. It walked straight into the girls bathroom. They looked horrified, and you ran after them when they took off into the bathroom themselves. You finally got there, just as Harry was being held by his feet in the air by the overly large beast. Ron had his wand pointed at the troll.
"Do it, Ron!" Hermione cried, "The levitation charm!"
"You can do it, Ron." You spoke behind them, your own wand out just in case.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
The ginger boy had cast the spell successfully, the trolls club lifting into the air and out of it's grip. It looked up, dropping Harry in the process.
You beckoned the boy over to you, "Quickly now!"
Ron let the club fall on the troll's head, and the dim creature fell to the floor in agony. You cast a sleeping charm on the troll, and it's loud snores echoed around the bathroom. You called Hermione to come over, and she ran over but steered clear of the sleeping troll.
"Don't worry, he won't be waking up anytime soon," You assured them, "why didn't you all go straight to the Gryffindor common room?"
"Why indeed!" McGonagall had entered the bathroom, accompanied by Quirrell and Snape, "Oh my goodness, explain yourselves!"
Minerva seemed flustered at the sight, holding her chest in shock. As the first years explained, you retrieved Harry's wand from the troll's nose and let out a small retch in disgust at the amount of slime attached to it. You wiped it on your robes unhappily, but thrust the wand into Harry's hand. He muttered a small thank you, pocketing it. You looked at Snape, then down to his leg. Harry noticed it too. He had a large gash on his lower leg, his trousers having been ripped apart. Snape noticed the two of you looking and hid his injury behind his cape. You sent him a look, to which he knew you would be talking to him later.
"I just hope you three know how fortunate you are, not many first years can be near a troll and live to tell the tale," McGonagall exclaimed, "Should Professor [last name] not have been here, I-"
"Actually, Professor McGonagall, the boys took the troll down on their own," You interrupted her, "I believe their bravery and skill, in their attempt to help Miss. Granger, deserves ten points each-"
She cut you off this time, staring at Harry and Ron, "Five. Five points will be awarded to each of you boys. For sheer dumb luck!"
"Go on, back to the Gryffindor tower," You rounded up the eleven year olds, pushing them gently out the bathroom, "and if I see you anywhere but that tower tonight, I will not hesitate to give you all detention!"
"Did they really take down that troll?" Minerva asked you.
"The boy, Ron, cast a levitation charm on the troll's club, let it fall on the troll's head" You answered honestly, "A darn good one too. Practically knocked it out, I only added the sleeping charm for good measure. Didn't want it getting back up again."
"Very well," She sighed, "Professor Quirrell, I trust you can get this troll out of the castle. I need to talk to my students."
The tall witch turned on her heel and left the bathroom without looking back. Severus put his arm out and you knew that meant you should leave too, which you did. You turned at the right time to see Snape give Quirrell a curious look, before he followed you. The two of you left Quirrell with the troll, and when far enough away, you began to shout at him in whispers.
"What happened to your leg? Oh, don't give me that look. I saw it!" You spoke quietly, "I went to follow you. Saw he had gone missing, but those boys weren't going to their common room. I had to follow them. Are you okay? Does it hurt?"
"You sure do talk alot." Severus mumbled when you both got to the dungeons, and he opened the door to his room, "In here."
He let you in first, then closed the door behind him. You used magic to move his cloak out of the way so you could see the cut on his leg.
"That is huge, Severus," You cried out worriedly, then spun to look at the ingredients on his shelves, "Do you have any dittany in here? How are you not in pain?"
"On the right of that shelf," He barked, sitting on the edge of his bed, "and for the record, it actually does sting a bit."
"Maybe we should go to Madam Pomfrey..." You suggested, pulling down the jar of freshly cut plants.
"No!" He hissed in pain slightly as you thrust a few pieces of the plant against his leg, "I trust you."
"Hold that there, it'll stop the bleeding, do you have a place to brew potions in here or should I run to the classroom?"
"I already have a healing potion on hand, second drawer of my desk." He answered, feeling less pain already.
You opened the drawer, and too lazy to look for it you cast a summoning charm to get it immediately, "Accio Healing Potion."
The small vial zoomed into your hands and you closed the drawer, returning to Snape. He removed the now-bloodied plant stems from his leg, letting them drop to the floor. You kneeled down and dribbled a small amount of his potion into his cut, which sealed shut before your eyes. It was a perfect concoction, you were surprised at how well the deep cut healed. It ended up looking as though it was weeks old, and barely a scratch at all.
You fell back, sitting on the floor with a sigh. You looked up at Snape who also eyed his own leg, then looked at you. He didn't like the furious look on your face.
"What?"
"Are you going to tell me what happened, or not?" You questioned him.
"I was rather enjoying being looked after, my apologies." He tried to joke with you.
You ended up cracking a smile, but then you whacked his leg exactly where his cut had been. He winced a little, the potion still working it's way through underneath the skin, but composed himself quickly. Snape frowned at you.
"I found Quirrell trying to get past the three-headed dog in the forbidden corridor," He mumbled, "the blasted thing caught my leg as we were leaving."
"Three-headed dog? Wow, I've never seen one in real life," You laughed as he shook his head at you, "don't worry, I'm not going to go snooping. But... it does seem a bit suspicious, you don't think he let the troll in himself, do you? There's no way it would've gotten anywhere near the school grounds on it's own, they've got the brain the size of a single pea."
"I thought the same," Snape agreed, "but we won't know for sure. Don't go talking about it."
"You know I won't," You rolled your eyes, "how's the leg?"
"Fine, and thank you for helping me."
Your eyes twinkled at him, and his heart almost skipped a beat, "Anytime, Severus."
Snape didn't know what to say after that, and you didn't move from the floor in front of him. He thought it a bit peculiar that you were still on your knees in front of him, and he wished you'd at least move away. He was starting to think of things that he shouldn't.
You finally stood, to Severus' relief, and stared at him, "If you need any help, I'm right next door. It should be fine now, but just in case."
"Are you doubting my potion?" He feigned being hurt.
"Only a little," You joked, "no, I'm just concerned that if anything did get worse you wouldn't tell anyone. What I'm saying is, I'm always here to help you if you need me."
Severus was a little stunned at your words, before replying, "And I am here for you too."
"Good." You smiled.
Feeling a strange bout of bravery, you bent down and pressed your lips against his check. It was only a light, small kiss. You didn't linger, in fear of making the wrong move. He didn't seem to object, or pull away.
"Sweet dreams, Severus," You spoke softly, "goodnight."
It always seemed to end this way recently. Not the cheek kissing of course, tonight was a first for that. But you always found yourself saying goodnight and often wishing you didn't have to leave. It was a ridiculous thought. Insanity. You just couldn't help but feel a slight chemistry between the two of you, and after the light joking at the Halloween feast tonight you felt it even stronger than usual. The jokes, teaching together with ease and just spending more time than needed together - it made you feel a certain type of way. You had tried to dismiss it, knowing that he probably didn't feel the same, but now you felt hopeful. You left the room, and went to your own for some much needed rest.
Severus remained on the edge of his bed, blinking rapidly and trying to decide whether or not he had dreamt that your lips had just graced the skin of his cheek. His cheeks were warm, and he knew they would be bright red but luckily the lighting was so dim in his room that he knew you wouldn't have noticed before you left. He scowled, wishing he could've managed to say goodnight in return but he was too dumbstruck at the time - and he'd look a complete fool running out of the door just to say it. He too felt hopeful, but there was still a lot of things holding him back. Things that you wouldn't understand if he mentioned it, things that you should never know. Severus didn't know if he should stop it altogether, he had done too much that you wouldn't approve of.
He changed into his nightwear and crawled into bed, trying to decide what he should do.