Author: Sazmuffin

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter

A/N: This is McGonnagal/Snape. Reviews, crits, and flames are welcome.

Tables Turning

In the days of old, he would watch her. Watch her lounge by the lake, her toes in the water, no matter the temperature. A smile would stretch across his oily face, a childish glint in his eyes. Some would say he was crazy, some would say he was crazy with love.

Severus Snape was in love with Minerva McGonnagal.

Minerva was aware of this fact, and felt terrible that she did not return the favor. Severus wasn't in her house, didn't know a thing about her(to her knowledge), was a Slytherin.. The list went on. Her friends would giggle and jeer at him whenever he passed them, making snide comments about the way he looked or about his infatuation with Minerva.

Every night, Minerva would cry from the guilt. She hated not being able to return the feelings Snape harbored for her. He wasn't handsome, he wasn't chivalrous, but he had a certain air about him that made him set apart from all the rest. A genuine liking for a certain type of being, be it man or woman. Some might say it was selfish, to only act courteous to those who fit the description, others might say it was righteous, since even those who are on opposing ends of the stick may cast a glare in their direction.

Minerva did not give a thought to what other's would think when she did things. She did them without even a wisp of thought once the pondering, wondering, and figuring were over and done for. She was headstrong, and no one would tell her otherwise. She dare not let them without a fight.

And then it was when she felt empowered as she received the note in her porridge that said to meet them in the dead of night, at the point where the tallest Astronomy tower's shadow was at it's largest. She knew who it was the moment she laid eyes on the calligraphy. Severus Snape might not have been the most handsome, but he sure was the romantic type.

Once all her roommates were asleep, she slipped her school robes over her pajamas. Her pygmy feet found her slippers, and she was off.

It was a long walk to the Astronomy tower's shadow. She couldn't take the school's route to the stairs of the tower, since she would have to climb to get there and that would defeat the purpose of him asking her to meet him at the largest part of the shadow. Instead, she walked outside of the castle, one hand trailing along the old stones of the fort.

The glint of greasy hair caught her attention as she looked up and saw the strangely beautiful face of the Slytherin. He looked up when Minerva stepped on a twig and recoiled, looking up at her classmate.

"I'm glad you could make it," he said, his voice smooth like spilled oil.

"Well, you asked me to come and I did. Did you think otherwise?"

"I had an inkling."

"Well, shift gears, because I'm not going anywhere," Minerva half smiled. "Why did you ask me here?"

"To achieve something I've been wanting since I saw the hat put on your dainty little head."

"And what might that be?" she gulped, hoping her voice wouldn't betray her feelings.

"Oh, I think you know what I want," Severus spoke, taking step after step towards her, "I won't hurt you, Minerva, all I want is to love and be loved."

At this point, their bodies were touching and Minerva could feel his hot breath against her cheek. She lifted her head, and gazed into dark brown eyes. Long eyelashes compliment these eyes, and she felt herself compelled to stare into them time and space unraveled. She didn't know if it were a spell he had cast on her, or if it was just the human yearning to have someone to call their own.

Sometimes you don't know what you have until you lose it. From the time the embrace they shared delicately, he had lost her. It seemed to him, that if he hadn't asked her to the Astronomy tower's shadow and was granted what he most desperately wanted, their lives would've been different.

As soon as their lips touched, Minerva was not the same woman. She was changed, she never acted the same. It always seemed as though she needed a man to keep her happy, doing whatever he wanted her to do to have him kiss her again, love her again. Severus couldn't stand her like that, and so he pulled the plug.

To this very day, Minerva McGonnagal looks to Severus Snape with a longing in her eyes as that if a four year old staring into a candy shop's window. She wanted what she couldn't have.

Those who tell the story of these lovers, will end this with one saying that says it all.

And so the tables have turned.