Author's note: - This is the same as it were, but the conseqent chapters are completely different from what they were, hence the reason the older ones were deleted (my apologies if you were attached to the other ones. :D)


I know I've felt like this before, but now I'm feeling it even more,
Because it came from you.
And then I open up and see the person falling here is me,
A different way to be.
Severus sat down at the staff table and stared at the plate in front of him. Minerva was sitting on his right side, and he could see her in the corner of his eye as she leant over and spoke into Dumbledore's ear. As if sensing his gaze, she gave him a side-long glance and her cheeks flushed slightly and she turned her attention to her food. Severus allowed himself a small smile, and continued to watch her as she cut her meager serving of carrots into small pieces and placed them daintily into her mouth. His eyes followed her hand as she raised her fork, and he could almost feel her fingers on his forehead again as she looked at him with a concerned expression.

He pushed his plate away as his appetite vanished and rose to his feet. He was preparing to turn and walked out when he felt a familiar hand on his forearm. He looked down to see Minerva looking upward at him her expression unreadable. Her eyes were blank pools of green, and though he instinctively tried to perform leglimency on her he found her mind barriers too strong for him to penetrate.

"Are you okay, Severus?" she asked with no detonable expression in her voice. Severus felt a lurch of emotion at her Scottish brogue, which had hardened to the point it was unrecognizable as the same soft and sensual voice that he had heard mere hours ago. He nodded mutely and she released her tight grip on his arm. He gave a polite nod in her direction before striding out of the Great Hall as fast as he could, without arousing curious looks from both students and teachers. He knew that his actions were out of character for him, but found that he didn't care.

He marched down the corridors toward the dungeons where his office was situated. The second he entered he slammed the door and leaned heavily against it for a moment. He gave a deep sigh before pushing himself off the door roughly, striding across his office and sitting heavily on the high-backed chair behind his desk. How could he have been such an idiot? He was known as the 'impenetrable mask' and yet he had let Minerva McGonagall in a moment of foolish whim see past that.

He shook his head roughly and schooled his features into his customary scowl as he pulled a large pile of essays toward him. As he began to scratch his quill against the heavy parchment, correcting the numerous mistakes his mind drifted back to his dance with Minerva. She had been as graceful as her animagus form would suggest and they were natural dance partners. She had followed his every move fluidly, and not once had they fallen out of step. He closed his eyes tightly trying to dispel the picture of Minerva touching her fingers gently to her lips from his mind. They snapped open abruptly when he heard a sharp knock at his door.

"Come in," he called irritably, turning his attention back to the essay on the effects of Deadly Nightshade.

"Is this a bad time?"

Severus nearly knocked over the ink bottle as his head whipped upward and he came face-to-face with the reason for his loss in composure. Minerva's voice had softened, and he thought fleetingly that it might be his presence that brought this change about, before dismissing it as one of folly.

"No," he said, trying to maintain some semblance of his normal unflappable demeanor, "Not at all."

She gave a small smile as she sat down opposite him. Her eyes darted about the room examining the many jars that lined the walls. He noticed that her lip didn't curl in distaste as so many others' did. Rather she seemed fascinated by the items on display.

"What can I do for you, Minerva?" Severus said as she turned her gaze toward him. She didn't answer immediately and her emerald eyes roved over his face with an unreadable expression. Severus felt 13 again under her scrutiny and suppressed the blush that threatened to rise.

"I merely wanted to see if you feeling well. You looked rather ill at dinner," she said eventually.

"Well as you can see I'm perfectly alright," Severus snapped in a harsher tone that he intended. It was too late to rectify that now and he wrenched the essay toward him and began to scribble furiously.

Minerva didn't seem to be remotely perturbed by his rudeness, and rose to her feet and moved so she was standing next to him.

"Severus, we've known each other long enough for you to be able to confide in me," she said half-sitting, half-leaning against his desk.

"Minerva, I'm fine."

She shook her head and reached over and brushed away an errant strand of hair from his face and tucked it behind his ears. Her fingers lingered at his jaw line before she drew her hand back.

"Well you're not hot," she said, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

He gave a low laugh, which sounded foreign to his ears as he leant back and looked upwards at her. She blushed slightly before she leant downward and brushed her lips against his.

"I think I may have regretted not doing that," she said echoing his earlier words as pulled away from him.

Severus didn't answer her and she gave him one last smile before pushing herself from the desk and walking sedately across the room. As she reached for the door handle he called out.

"Minerva?"

She turned and raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"Where does this leave us?"

She shrugged her shoulders slightly. "I leave that in your capable hands," she said softly.

She opened the door and strode outside into the corridor before he could say anything. Severus leant over his desk and hung his head in his hands. Once again the taste of Minerva's lipstick lingered.


Author's note: - Hope you enjoyed! Please review! Minniequill