Severus Snape walked down the cold, dark corridors of the dungeons with the confidence of a King going through his domain. A lot of things in his life were chaotic, painful and downright depressing but the dungeons always offered him comfort. They were one of the few places he felt truly comfortable to simply be. Despite his claims he actually loved teaching. He didn't love kids of course. They were loud, annoying and for the most part stupid but he had come to accept them as a necessary evil that accompanied teaching. It was the one thing that was truly his.

But lately he discovered another joy. A secret that he wouldn't reveal even under Crucio and so he made sure that everybody was well aware that Friday nights was a time where he was not to be disturbed. Even Dumbledore and the Death Eaters leaned this lesson since when he desired to Snape could become so unpleasant and nasty that nobody at all wanted to be anywhere near him. Most people would say that this was his default state and that's why it came as an even bigger surprise to them just how high he could turn it up

And so knowing that nobody would be stupid enough to incur his wrath and having set up special wards to make sure that the only ones dumb enough to try aka The Golden Trio couldn't get in with their invisible cloak he was feeling fairly relaxed as he opened the door to the grand room and saw the same picture that greeted him every Friday night for the last five months. The smiling face and dreamy face of Luna Lovegood

"Hello Professor "she said enthusiastically as always and added proudly " I have prepared the tea"

Snape found it hard to suppress the smile and changed it at the last moment to a smirk

"Adequate job Miss Lovegood . I have brought the biscuits"

They always started their meetings with these words. It had become almost a ritual. Severus still wondered sometimes how it had come to this. He certainly would have never thought he would ever enjoy weekly talks with a student much less an annoyingly cheerful and optimistic Ravenclaw. His mind drifted back to when it all began.

It was supposed to be a simple detention. He never had detention with Luna Lovegood before but he didn't expect anything different. No matter how "weird" some child might be they always crumbled before him. But he turned out to be very wrong. His usual scowl didn't seem to faze her at all and where was the fun of giving those annoying children detention if he couldn't terrorize them at least a little ? He tried the angry glower, the patented vicious look but nothing seemed to be able to bring out the girl of her dreamy content state. He even gave her the most harsh and disgusting jobs but extracting eyes from Fritlov Newts didn't seem to bother Luna anymore then taking a walk along the beach. And if all of this wasn't strange enough then she…..actually started talking to him

Snape had frozen still for a few moments at this extremely unusual experience. Not only at the audacity of a mere fifth year trying to make small talk with him but at the mere fact that she was actually bothering to talk to him. He couldn't actually remember the last time someone tried to simply talk with him. His so called Death Eater friends usually talked to him either to brag or to request favors. Dumbeldore and the Order dweebs also talked to him mostly when they needed him or when they were forced to exchange the usual social pleasantries to avoid appearing as rude. And of course although a lot of his students would come to him with their problems none actually dared to step out of the bounds of the teacher student relation. .Severus knew that he was an unpleasant and antisocial man who had done horrible things and he had come to terms with his position in life.

And that's why it took him several moments till he recovered from the extremely unusual experience of Luna Lovegood smiling at him warmly while extracting eyes and keeping her dreamy monologue about her last trip to Sweden.

Snape knew he should have told her to simply shut up and work in silence but he was rather intrigued by this new experience and before he knew it he found himself muttering a reply or two. Correcting her about facts, pointing inaccuracies and even making observations based on his own trip to Sweden years ago. When the detention had ended and Luna skipped cheerfully while waving him goodbye .Something that no student in history had ever done.

Severus was rather mystified by this strangely pleasant experience of actually connecting with another human being but he dismissed it simply as a freak accident. And when he remembered that the last person who was so pleasant to him was Lily Evans(he would never think of her as Lily Potter) he squished this experience in the deepest recesses of his mind and tried to forget it. And wouldn't it know it Loegood shattered his plan when she appeared next night out of nowhere. He had angrily asked what she thought she was doing disturbing him and she responded with the utterly ridiculous

"Why to finish our talk Professor. I found it quite enjoyable"

And so little by little they had reached this bizarre pattern. Now they met every Friday and discussed pretty much everything they could think off from the daily occurrences in Hogwarts to Luna's creatures. Snape always considered magical creatures as whole to be ridiculous so unlike most people he didn't dismiss her ramblings. After all if something as silly as house elves could exist why not a Crumple-Horned Snorkack? Severus rather preferred to theorize how these creatures could be used in a potion. It was a rather interesting intellectual exercise especially with all the details she provided.

But this wouldn't have lasted long if there wasn't something special about the girl. And this was that she didn't judge. She didn't get offended, she didn't seem to get angry she was merely content and at peace. The few times Snape had lost his temper ,not something unusual considering his personality and his lack of social skills she had simply smiled, left him some space and then came back as if nothing happened. It was bizarre but made him feel comfortable.

And that was how he had come to spend every Friday night with the infamous Luna "Looney" Lovegood. It was strange ,some would say downright unnatural but as Severus tried his hardest to control his facial muscles and keep from smiling a terrifying thought went through his head" Dear Merlin….I am actually happy"