Ok, I am very scared about this one.

I haven't written in a long time because inspiration is a bitch.

I decided to make a tiny twist in who one of the characters is, please feel free to hate me if you don't like it! I just one day thought ''Hey, let's give it a try'' once you read you will know who.

Just a heads up: I am not very good at writing emotions and all that long crap before any action kicks in. I just go for it and give emotion here and there but it's not overly descriptive, so you have been warned.

If you liked this, then hey- thank you. If not, cool- your opinion not mine, right?

Well, read away whilst I go day dream about other stuff that I probably won't write because I am not very good.

-/-

A horrifying scream echoed through the walls of his room, disturbing his thoughts as he sat by the fireplace reading a book.

Frowning, he put the book down, stood up from his armchair and waltzed over to the wooden door. He hesitated, before turning the handle and thrusting the door open.

He listened.

Nothing. Silence.

Must be my mind playing tricks on me, he thought and made his way to close the door again when another scream erupted this time louder, almost raging in his ears.

Without a second thought, Severus ran out and down the dingy corridor of the dungeons. He didn't know which way to go and the darkness wasn't helping, until another scream pointed him to the direction of Suzanne's room. Panic filled him and dread at what he was about to find. Drawing out his wand he used magic to aggressively thrust the door open and gasped at the sight before him.

A blonde male figure was forcibly clutching onto Suzanne by the waist, pulling her impossibly close to him, one hand over her mouth to cover up muffled screaming. His face was buried in her neck as she struggled to get free. Fury filled Severus at the thought that another man was touching her in such a way, so once again he lifted his wand.

''Expelliarmus!'' he bellowed and the man was instantly thrown backwards by the sudden force, letting go of Suzanne in the process who fell to the ground in a heap. The intruder crashed into the full length size mirror, sending shards of glass everywhere. Severus made his way over to him ready to attack once more when he suddenly recognised his face.

''Lucius?!'' at the sound of his name, the blonde looked up and gave a smug looking grin causing blood to drip from the sides of his mouth and down his chin.

''Hello Severus, how are things?'' he smirked.

''What are you-''

They were interrupted by a scream irrupting from Suzanne, and Severus turned to her, seeing her back arch from the ground as she continued to cry from pain. Then the sound of glass breaking made him turn back to find the window open and shattered and a missing Lucius. He ran to it and looked out, desperately trying to search for the man, but somehow he disappeared.

Cursing under his breath, he rushed to Suzanne who was now freely crying, tears staining her porcelain face. He kneeled beside her.

''Please… make it st-'' before she could finish, another scream escaped her lips and she arched again.

Severus quickly did a mental check on what to do to find out the cause of her pain. He suddenly saw that the veins on her neck were becoming more prominent and bulging from where Lucius had bit her. Bit her?! The blood from the bite trailed down her neck and dripped vigorously onto the floor, creating a small puddle of the thick, crimson liquid. And then he knew.

''Her eyes…'' he whispered to himself.

Quickly, he grabbed her face between his hands and forced her to look at him. She was withering and thrashing her head from side to side, he had to grip her harder. He needed to know the colour of her eyes and she wasn't making it easy. Whatever Lucius did to her is serious.

''Come on Suzanne, look at me!'' he shouted, trying to pry her eyes open.

He finally managed to and carefully examined them. They were bloodshot from her tears, but the irises were no longer that velvety dark brown that would look upon him in anger or smugness when they were fighting or trying to make amends. Now they held a dark crimson colour, slowly washing the brown away and replacing it with its sinful shade of red.

''No…''

He needed to get her to his potions room. Fast.

Finally releasing her face, he went to pick her up, placing a hand on the small of her back and the other under her knees. Lifting her off the ground with a grunt, she started to moan in protest as her body started to shake in his arms, and he made his way toward the door as fast as he could. She was light in weight, which didn't surprise Severus seeing as she is slim in figure, but it did add as an advantage allowing him to move quickly and not having to be slowed down.

He felt as if the walk to his potions room was longer than usual and soon he started to panic. Suzanne went limp, her arms dangling, neck stretched as Severus hurried through the maze like halls of the dungeons.

He let out a breath of relief when he saw the door to the potions room. Not being able to open it with his wand or hands, he lifted his foot and kicked it forcefully with a grunt and the door gave way immediately. Looking down at Suzanne, he noticed her skin has now paled into a deathly white with her veins standing out more than before. Severus knew that Lucius that poisoned her, him being a half snake. Anger pulled at him and he let it. The look of her now tore at his heart. Gone was the porcelain like skin that glowed in the moonlight. Gone were the ruby red lips that insulted him with fire and determination. Gone was the glint in her eyes whenever she challenged him or knew she had won this time. He always admired her bravery and stubbornness. Most people would shy away from him or simply avoid the scary man, but not her. She stood her ground and will not give up without a fight. He often wondered why he thought about her as much as he did, it's not like he liked her or anything; quite the opposite in fact. They both hated each other.

But now was no time for inquisitive thoughts. He needed to save her.

Rushing to the large wooden table in the middle of the room, he was thankful that it was mostly clear of any objects as he gently placed her on top of it. Needing to know if she's still alive, he took her wrist and tried to feel for a pulse.

Relief came as fast as it went when he felt those little thumps of life beating underneath her skin.

Working fast, Severus turned to his cupboard full of different potions and liquids, rummaging through them all in haste, not caring whether he broke them in the process.

He gave a frustrated groan when he couldn't find what he was looking for, so turned to the next cupboard and looked there instead.

Behind him, Suzanne started to awaken from unconsciousness. He could hear her laboured breaths and moans of pain even from the sound of glass clinking which only made him angrier because he couldn't find the vile.

Smashing his way through the beakers and containers he found the tiny black bottle and snatched it. Suzanne was screaming again, the veins in her neck threatening to burst, he rushed to her side.

''Suzanne?!'' he couldn't hear himself think as she cried from the obvious pain running through her body. He checked her eyes again, seeing that the red has spread even more during this time.

''Damn!''

Wanting to waste no more of it, he cupped Suzanne's cheek and tried to get her to face him.

''Suzanne, listen…Listen to me.'' Her head kept shaking from side he had to move his hand from her cheek to her jaw, where he held it tight to stop her from moving.

''I need you to drink this!'' Placing the small bottle to her lips, the liquid is black as night and pours like cream, but burns as soon as it touches her tongue and she splutters and turns, pulling her face away. The poison was toying with her mind and she couldn't control her body. Severus knew that it wasn't long before it would take over and kill her. He had to work fast.

Suddenly, she started to scream again and convulse, nearly making Severus spill the antidote in the process.

Becoming frustrated he saw no other choice; he jumped onto the table and straddled her hips, immobilizing her legs between his so she wouldn't kick him and pinned her to the table. Clutching her jaw once again, he forced her mouth open wide and poured the liquid in without further hesitation before shutting her lips and covering them with his hand, stopping her from spitting the potion out, whilst muffling out more of her screams.

She gripped onto his arm with unbelievable strength that he thought her nails will soon cut through both fabric and skin.

When Severus was sure she swallowed, he quickly let go and lifted himself off her, balancing on his knees and watched.

The antidote worked its way through her body as her back arched off the table and her eyes rolled backward, her body splayed out on the table like something possessed.

Severus held his breath in anticipation, fearing that if he made a sound she wouldn't pull through. Running a hand through his black, curtain like hair he waited.

Soon she was coughing violently and gasping for breath as her body shook from the vibration before slumping back down with a thud and her head lulled to the side. Silently and slowly, Severus turned her head towards him and lifted her eye lid. No more were her eyes the shade of blood but the beautiful deep brown he admired so much. The vibrant blue veins were disappearing along with the ghost skin colour that covered her.

His relief was short lived though, when he realised that she stopped breathing entirely.

''Suzanne?'' he said on a broken whisper.

The silence was deafening and he couldn't stand it. Why isn't she waking up? he thought, surely the potion worked…

He leaned in more to examine her face for any sign of life when suddenly her eyes opened and she gasped for air instantly, trying to fill up her lungs as much as possible, taking Severus off guard and he leaned back again.

She took a few more breathes and rapidly blinked her eyes, trying to adjust to her surroundings.

''Severus…' he just watched as she slightly struggled to get her breathing back to normal. He didn't know what to do anymore, he felt exhausted.

''Severus… Wha-what ha-appened?'' her voice was croaky and she seemed to still be in pain as he noticed the way she's frowning and shutting her eyes tight, placing her thumb and forefinger between the bridge of her nose.

''You got bit…by a half-snake.'' He told her and only then realised that he was still on top of her. Feeling uncomfortable, Severus slowly lifted himself from her and graciously stood upon the floor once more. He spied her face for any sort of reaction, but she looked at him with a confused face.

''A what?'' she said as she tried to lift herself up, immediately hissing in pain from the movement of her neck and she clutched it as a desperate way of soothing the throbbing. When she removed her hand, blood dripped from her fingertips and slid down her wrist onto her sleeve, staining the already half white-half-red blouse more and she gasped in horror.

''A half-snake is a creature with the obvious abilities of a reptile…although naturally the form of a snake, they can shape shift. One bite from these creatures and its over in…mere seconds, their venom deadly. Luckily, I found you before he could inject enough to kill you on the spot.'' He finished his sentence in a slow whisper.

Different thoughts ran through Suzanne like wildfire and she became increasingly scared for her life. She knew this wasn't by coincidence or random. Someone was out to get her.

And they nearly succeeded.

''Where is he now?'' this time she did look at him, his ebony eyes telling her all she needed to know and she nodded understandably.

She forced herself up with a groan and wince from pain before swinging her legs over and sitting upright on the table surface. Touching her wound again, Severus saw the discomfort clearly written on her face and he debated with himself whether to help her still or leave her to take care of herself.

Awkward silence filled the air around him.

She still felt the blood oozing from her neck so; lifting her hand she pulled out a handkerchief from between her chest and her blouse and began dabbing at the mess.

Analysing his mind at what he should do, he cursed himself mentally and took a few steps towards her.

''Here…'' taking the now blood drenched piece of cloth from her, he set it aside, catching her eyes for just a moment.

Carefully, took her chin between his thumb and forefinger and turned her head gently away from him, giving him a full view of her neck. Pushing her soft, dark brown locks over her shoulder, he revealed two gory holes that were perfectly cut into the skin, right in the middle, just on the right side of her throat. The blood trailed all the way from her neck, past her collarbone, running down her chest. Clearing his throat, he looked up before he saw anything inappropriate. The blouse was rather low cut. Get your head together, man! Taking his wand out from his robe, he pointed it at her neck and murmured a healing charm. The bite slowly disappeared along with the excess blood.

''Thank you.'' She whispered when her let her chin go.

Giving a courteous nod, he gave her his hand to take and helped her off the table.

Staring at each other for a while, he realised he still had her hand in his, subconsciously stroking his thumb against her knuckles gently. Suzanne must have realised too because she broke eye contact and admired their entwined hands.

He didn't know what he was feeling but he didn't like it, this woman did things to his mind that he thought were impossible. He's the emotionless professor; he shouldn't care for anyone but himself.

It was becoming harder to think that every passing day now.

Letting go, he cleared his throat once more and straightened out his back.

For a moment he thought hurt flashed in Suzanne's eyes at the loss of touch, but in a blink it was back to her mask of hate and indifference. She busied herself with getting her appearance back in place and posture stiff.

''Thank you, again.'' She said.

''It was the civil thing to do.'' The hurt flashed again and he almost regretted saying it. Almost.

Taking a deep breath, she nodded and made her way to the door.

''Wait.''

Her hand stopped in mid-air as she was about to grab the handle. Turning her head slightly to the side, but not facing him gave him the signal that she's listening.

''This occurrence… it can't have been accidental. Tell me Miss Rosewood…do you by any chance have any enemies?'' he spoke slowly, causing his voice to sound deeper.

Fully turning around, she gave him a calm stare.

''Yes.'' She answered.

''My husband.''