'Professor?' The soft voice called as the heavy oak doors swung open and Mona looked around the classroom which she found surprisingly silence and empty. She stood for a few moments looking around the room her eyes resting on the bottles which were slotted against the wall in some order which she could not define no matter how long or hard she thought about it. After standing around for a while she decided to leave and look for Severus, careful to close the door behind her she edged out of the room. Her soft footsteps echoed lightly around the corridors as she traced her way along the dreary dungeons towards her goal, were she hoped to find Severus alone. She stood outside of his office for a moment uncertain of if she was expected to knock or simply walk in and in the end she choose to knock. Her light knocks seemed to shake the door and she waited for a responce and a part of her wondered if she should be standing outside the Professors private quarters, after all if the headmaster or another teacher wondered along then they would question her as to her presence.
'Come in' Severus called with his voice silky after a briefly pause and Mona sighed with relief, glad that she was not interrupting him or have to stand outside his room for any longer. Mona pushed the heavy door open and walked into the room stopping to drop her bag by the door and smiling warmly at the professor who sat gently swirling the glass of red wine which he held in his hand, a faint smile was embroidered on his lips and Mona wondered what the effect of intoxicants was on the reserved professor, she vowed to find out at some point. Mona stepped forwards towards him mildly unsure of how she was expected to behave. She hesitated as she attempted to collect her thoughts.
'I'm sorry about what happened' she stated after walking over and standing near Severus who did not respond to her words immediately but looked at her listening for as long as he felt that he would be needed to. 'I was ignoring her but...' She trailed of feeling the tears pricking at the corners of her eyes and he places the wine glass against the wooden table which rested besides the deep blue plush chair which he was perching on. He was never expected to understand what to do with someone when emotions ran thick as he rarely showed them but he was good at empathising with other people.
'Don't worry' he said standing up and pecking her on the cheek before waltzing over to the cabinet and pouring another drink, a non-alcoholic one for Mona. As he turned around he glared at Mona who had settled herself into the seat which he had previously been resting on. She giggled at his glare which tucking her legs underneath her body as he stepped closer and placed the drink next to his o the table. 'Stop giggling like a child, my reputation is important to me and you should not be diminishing it' He sneered pulling her onto her feet and sitting back down on the chair although he allowed her to perch herself on his lap as a compromise.
'You only have it because the other students are scared of you' she said resting her head against his chest as his arm encircles her waist, after a moment she reached forward and sipped at the drink which Severus had poured for her before returning it to its place, careful not to put it in even a slightly different place, she was a neat freak and often worried if things which she had touched were in the wrong place.
'And your not?'
'You have always been nice to me' She stated simply tugging at the edges of robe sleeves so that they moved to reveal his arm and with it many thin, pale lines of scars which crisscrossed his arm in some of the way up. Her fingers traced one of the lines and then another and he flinched away from the contact against his flesh, something which he was still unused to, but he kept himself as still as possible not wishing to disturb Mona. It amazed him that she found the ugly white lines so interesting but he knew she had several which matched his on her own arm and he suspected that it was due to these that she wanted to know the effects which they held. 'You never told me, how long have you had these?' she asked after a moment and he moved a loose strand of hair from her face with his free hand as he considered the answer.
'your age, younger I think' He stated frowning at the memories and attempting to place them into the correct timeframe, it felt unusual to talk about his past ever to a minor degree as he worked so hard to keep it hidden from everyone he met but it felt somehow nice to be able to show someone his history and know that they will not run away in fear, disgust or shock. 'What do you parents say about them' He asked moving away from her fingers and twisting her wrist around to reveal her marks to the cold air.
'I don't have a mother, she died in childbirth and my father blames me for my mother's death, he gets drunk a lot and never pays attention to me' she shrugged covering the marks as she was speaking, she felt uncomfortable having them on show to others although she trusted Severus.
'My father drank a lot, he hated that me and my mother were magical, forbade any magic in the house' Severus said after a moment allowing his fingers to trace small intrigued patterns into the small amount of exposed flesh on her body. Severus felt sorry for Mona, something which he had not felt for another in as long as he could remember. The silence which filled the room was not uncomfortable as it was with most situations but somehow warm and happy.