This is just a little something I started working on as a Christmas special for funzees.
As always no copyright infringement is intended.
Severus sighed as he entered his chambers and immediately pulled the cloak from his shoulders. He was tired after a long day of teaching dunderheads it was true, but there was nothing quite so tiring as those visits with the Dark Lord. Like the one he'd had that evening, like the ones that promised to be more frequent in number now that Lucius Malfoy had shown his true loyalty.
"Idiot." He huffed to himself as he crossed to the large hutch that housed his drinks. A night like the one he'd had called for a bit of liquid relaxation.
He poured himself a healthy sized tumbler of Firewhiskey and drank slowly as he made his way to a small, narrow door that sat off to the edge of his chambers. The door was one that not many would notice if they did not know it was there and it was a room he didn't often visit.
It held a small Pensieve, one that not even the headmaster was aware of the existence of and as he slipped into the room he shed his teaching robes. Undoing the buttons of his frockcoat he allowed it to fall into a chair atop the teaching robes and made his way over to the large-ish stone basin.
There was already a swirl of memories atop the surface, shimmering despite the dim light and he stared down at it for a long moment.
He wasn't sure why he always did this to himself. It was never anything good, yet still every year for the entire month of the Christmas season he found himself in this room, staring into the Pensieve.
It was as if he did not receive enough torture at the hands of his students and his masters.
Heaving a deep breath, he lowered his face into the basin and was immediately transported back in time.
Lily smiled at him, her face framed by soft auburn ringlets. She'd taken special care to curl her hair for the Hols and would be leaving soon to be with her family for the break.
He had opted to stay at the castle this year.
A gangly fifteen-year-old he was constantly up against his father's wrath and a sad inability to protect himself from that wrath.
She was talking, though he wasn't really listening to what she was saying as he stared at her soft petal shaped lips. He thought perhaps he would be able to kiss them, if only he could find a way to catch her beneath a sprig of Hogwarts wonderfully enchanted mistletoe.
"Sev, are you listening to me at all?" As if by sheer luck he looked up to see a sprig of bright green mistletoe above them and smirked to himself before turning his gaze back to her soft lips.
"Of course I am, I could never ignore you." She smiled her brilliant smile at him and he couldn't help but to smile back. He knew his was nowhere near so attractive as hers but she really seemed to like it when he smiled and, so he would give it to her every chance he got.
With a sly shift of his eyes he motioned to the mistletoe above them and she blushed.
"Oh!" She was bright red now, her green eyes shining out of her face. "Oh Sev, you know I'm seeing someone right now, he may be upset with me if I kiss you."
"Yes, but it is enchanted mistletoe, certainly he cannot fault you for kissing your best friend under these circumstances…" She gave him a warry glance but nodded before she leant forward to press a quick kiss to his lips.
The mistletoe satisfied she pulled away and it vanished.
"I'll see you after the break then?" She was up, moving quickly away from him…
Severus tore his face from the Pensieve and gave a heaving breath. He felt sick.
Tears of anger, of regret, of frustration at how foolish he'd been streamed down his cheeks and he tipped back the entire tumbler of firewhiskey in one smooth drink. He needed to patrol. He needed to get out of there and punish someone.
Surely that would make him feel better.
Tugging back on his frockcoat he neglected to put on his teaching robes and cloak and instead strode from his chambers with a fresh sense of disdain strong in his mind. A flick of his wand fastening the jet buttons as he strode up and out of the dungeons.
Severus did not care that it was not after hours when he came upon the three Gryffindor girls in the hall. All he cared about was the fact that they were from her house. They were from her house and she had destroyed him.
She had torn him to shreds with one simple, unthinking act. Why couldn't she have loved him?
He was just going to lash out and send them all spiraling into their own miserable Holiday when he stopped.
They had already broken apart, each going their separate ways. The only one left in the hall after their separation was Hermione Granger, Hermione Granger who stood with her back to him, long chestnut curls cascading down to her tailbone.
He approached, prepared to give her the scolding of her life.
"Miss Granger, just what is it you think you are doing here?" He snapped, she turned, a squeak of shock torn from her lips. Her honey eyes were wide with surprise as they locked on his face.
"P-Professor Snape?!" Her eyes twitched from him to the ceiling above her and he realized his fatal mistake almost immediately.
"Merlin's bloody ball sack!" The curse was torn from his throat before he could stop it as he stared up at the bright green mistletoe hanging above his- and by default Hermione Granger's- heads.
"Well, I suppose that is one way to put it." She muttered, eyebrow cocked as she stared at him. "I am here, Sir, because I cannot leave until I kiss someone. I suppose that someone is now you as you are currently trapped beneath the bloody mistletoe with me." He growled low in his throat.
"Certainly not, a minor cannot be coerced into any such actions with a Professor." His tone was curt. Clearly this wouldn't be happening, it wasn't possible! "It is against school policy." Granger gave him an appraising look before shaking her head and shrugging softly.
"Unfortunately, Sir, I am no longer a minor, I can only presume the mistletoe knows that fact, but you are more than welcome to attempt to leave." He tried to do just that, turning to stride away and walking into a rather sturdy, invisible wall.
"Bloody ball sack!" He growled one more time before turning back to the witch.
Honestly, mistletoe? The castle giveth and the castle taketh away.
"Sir, if you would like we can wait until we are discovered by the Headmaster." She was watching him with a cocked eyebrow again.
"I hardly think that would be wise, in that case we would simply have an audience to this atrocious situation." The witch huffed.
"That certainly is the way to warm a girl up the idea of kissing you, Sir." She bit sarcastically. He gave a low, annoyed growl.
"Watch it, Granger, I am hardly in the mood for your ridiculous attitude."
"And I'm hardly in the mood for your grumpy arse, Sir!" She huffed and crossed her arms across her chest. He realized, almost belatedly that her eyes were red rimmed and puffy. She'd been crying- gods.
"Miss Granger, have you been crying?" His voice had softened despite himself and he could feel his posture relax slightly. She gave him a long look before allowing a tight nod.
"It has been a bad night, Sir. If you don't mind I would like to go to bed."
"I'm hardly stopping you." She gave him a look as if to say he was an imbecile before pointing up to the mistletoe.
"Bloody hell." He groaned before stepping closer to her.
She was shorted than he, by far, and he was forced to dip slightly to bring their faces closer. His hand came up to cup her cheek, an automatic response to the situation he'd been forced into- he thought.
His intention had been to give her a kiss, a brief, soft kiss like the one he'd just relived in the Pensieve with Lily. Instead, when his lips brushed hers softly he felt as though a bolt of electricity was flowing down his spine. Her arms hooked around his neck and drew him closer, deepening the kiss with a ferocity he never would have expected from the petite Gryffindor.
Her tongue traced the seam of his lips and without a thought in his obviously addled mind he allowed them to part. Their tongues warred, battled, and danced together as he grasped her hips in his hands and pulled her tightly against him. Her arms tightened around his neck and she moaned into the kiss before attempting to ease back. To pull away from him. He growled internally at the thought of her sweet mouth leaving his.
He could not be certain what possessed him, but he pressed his own lips forward, forcing her to continue her participation in the kiss that was not meant to be anything quite so intense.
When he finally pulled back and released her to meet her gaze she was staring up at him with a dreamy look in her eyes. Her full lips plumped from his kisses and her breathing jarring her chest.
That had been the kind of kiss he'd wanted from Lily.
Lily. His body immediately went rigid and he released the witch, turning to storm away without so much as a word.
Hermione watched him go. Dazed, confused, and thoroughly enamored with her potions professor.