By midnight, Linea was asleep on top of her desk. She hadn't meant to fall asleep there; she had only thought that a nice nap after the meeting in Dumbledore's office would serve her well and perhaps allow her to regain some stability in her life after the past few days. Closer to one in the morning, she awoke to the pain in her back, a reminder of what had only occurred hours ago in Snape's office.

Stretching her limbs to dangle from the sides of the table, she started up at the ceiling, concentrating on the chains slowly clanging against one another. Sighing, she squeezed her eyes shut again in a vain attempt to block out the images and sensations which she had missed for years. She hadn't meant for anything to happen again between she and Severus but old feelings die hard, she supposed.

Linea doubted Dumbledore's ability to prevent her exile to the north. She fears dementors and what they did, what they did to one's happiness and thoughts and feelings and memories. She feared never stepping foot inside this school again and now regretted ever once leaving it. She wanted to be in this dungeon next to Severus and scream at him and write new hexes and potions with him and sleep with him afterwords, just as they had done when they were in school.

She had always believed that she was the main reason he did so well in school although this was a vain presumptuous belief. Whenever he invented something new, she'd congratulate him and allow him to try it out on her and never be angry if he really fucked up. He had allowed her to do the same because he knew that Evans would never allow it. Linea knew that she was not as skilled but Severus never minded when she thought of something and wanted to share it with him. Although he would become angry with her when she messed up but she could only laugh in return would make ever him more furious...

"I can't leave... I can't," she whispered to herself.

"Talking to a ghost, Kemi?"

She turned her head to the side to see Severus step forward and shut the classroom door behind him. He folded his arms around his back and leaned against the heavy wooden construction.

"I wouldn't have thought you could actually gather the nerves to come see me," she sighed. "You risk yourself."

Snape cleared his throat and stepped forward.

"What do you want?" Even though she had welcomed the sex again, her mind was too tired to focus on the more emotional side of things right now. She wanted him to leave her alone; she could ask him about what she told the headmasters later.

"I spoke with Albus. I offered to help you."

"Why?"

"I can't let you leave if you enjoy teaching here so much."

She pulled herself onto the desk, sitting up cross-legged to face him. He stopped a few feet from her. "That's your only reason?"

"It's the only one I will give."

She stared down at the floor and the bugs that scurried from between the stone tiles. "I still quite fancy you, Snape."

"A foolish trait of yours."

She looked back up at him and sighed. "How did we let that happen again?"

"I don't know. Although I should thank you."

"Why?"

"You ask too many questions, Lin. But if you'll excuse me-"

She jumped from the desk and took his face, kissing him in the same moment. He gripped her wrists and she broke away slowly, gazing as his collar. She pressed her forehead to his shoulder and Snape let go of her wrists, standing motionless as she rested. A few moments later she stood back up straight and swiftly turned away back to her desk. "You should do what you need to do, Severus."

He left without a word and Linea again rested on her desk.

The following night around ten, Linea donned her heavy leather boots and robe, covering her head and face within its large hood. She went out to to the Quidditch field in the snow and stood at its center, recalling the last time she saw a match, one between her own house and Ravenclaw. She stood for what felt like an hour before she heard the heavy crunching of footfalls in snow behind her.

"What the hell are you doing out here, Kemi?"

Barely looking over her shoulder at the dark figure approaching from a few yards away, she asked "What you are doing out here is the better question."

Severus stopped at her side, readjusting himself in his robes. "I came to see where you were."

"Why?"

"Do you always have to ask questions?"

"No. But I want you to tell me why you came to find me."

"I came to inform you that I have decided to resume at least part of our relationship," Severus said, staring off into the stands.

Linea snapped her head to look at him. His lips were tight and eyes blank.

"What do you mean? How deep of a relationship do you seek? I never would have thought, Severus. You've been so adamantly against me recently."

He said nothing for a few moments and then turning to face Linea properly, he said, "Dumbledore seems to think that he will be able to save you from your fate. And should that occur, I offer you residency for the summer."

"With you? I … Severus, thank you," she said, lowering her voice. She was grateful for his change of heart and this gradual weakening of years'-long separation and harsh barriers. "But – I still don't understand how you could come to change your mind so quickly…."

"I'm still a man, Kemi. And you have ways of getting what you want."

"So you've said before," Linea said with a laugh. "Let's go back in. It's become too cold."

Linea and Severus's footsteps echoed down the halls to their classrooms where each entered their respective room without another word or glance to the other.

Another two hours later, Linea opened the heavy door to Snape's office with a firm palm to splintering wood, immediately seeing the un-robed man sitting with legs crossed at a student's desk.

He turned at the sound of her entrance, his eyes so briefly lighting up at her appearance that anyone other than Linea ould have missed the greeting.

"You're still up," he said. Linea was not sure if that was a statement of the obvious or a question.

"Yes," she responded anyway. She stood put in the entry until Severus gave her permission to enter with another harsh remark of, "If you've got something to say, say it and stop starting at me like an idiot."

Linea smirked and took the necessary amount of steps forward to create a conversational distance between she and the distracted Potions master.

"Are you busy?" she asked.

"Yes."

"You're lying."

"Naturally." Snape set down his quill upon a pile of parchments and turned in his seat, one elbow perched on the edge of the desk, the other on the back of his chair. Linea came around to perch herself atop the table, hands gripped to its cold edge, and leaned over to steal a kiss.

Snape permitted the action then stood to gather his work and migrate to his own desk. Linea watched him move and he ignored her gaze as he settled and pretended to work. This did not last long, however, when Linea blew out the candles in the room with a flick of her wand.

"Do you mind, Lin?"

"Only mildly."

They both muttered a 'Lumos,' Kemi striding towards Snape and with a strong grip to his collar, urged him to stand up.

The chair screeched backwards with heavy clunks as she forced Severus into a harsh and bruising kiss, taking his wand from his hand and placing it with her own to the side atop his desk. Kissing him harder and fumbling with his collar, she moved to sit on his desk, urging him to stand closer between her legs while gripping his hair and his fingers reluctantly coiled themselves in the fabric at her waist. He fingered her tunic, deftly pulling at the buttons until each was removed from its place. She held tight to his thick frock-coat, his lips tracing along her collarbone, descending to her breasts, stopping momentarily when the flesh continued and no cloth barred his way.

She took his hair and pulled his head back up, forcing him to kiss her lips again. Her other hand traced down his chest, undoing the buttons along the way and untucking the shirt from his pants. She gripped him between the legs, eliciting a familiar guttural moan into her mouth. Her fingers nimbly unzipped his pants but he caught her wrist and pressed it down on the desk. Severus bit her neck fiercely in punishment, drawing a slow welling of blood that would heal over by the next day. Linea again tugged him back by the hair and returned the bite to his own. She traced her mouth down his neck and chest, pushing him backwards so she could descend slowly, able to kneel before him without any protest and slipped a few fingers of her hand down to find what she sought.

"Lin," he commanded. His breathing was growing more labored but she didn't listen to him and slipped down his pants and shorts. He gripped her shoulders as she found him in the dark and kissed him once. She stood back up and took in his lips again, brushing her fingers against his cheek and slipped away from him in the darkness.

"Enough for tonight," she breathed.

"You are quite the tease, Kemi."

She heard him slip back up his clothing as she found the other side of his desk and her wand, holding it before her as she went towards the door, still fully aware of her state of partial-undress.

"Linea-"

She swiftly opened the door to see a small Slytherin boy stare up at her and her partly-bare chest. She stabbed her wand at the boy's forehead, his wide eyes unable to comprehend precisely what he was seeing. "I'm taking you to Dumbledore."

Severus couldn't help but snicker at the embarrassment of the situation. He quickly again became stoic and removed his wand as well, coming up behind Linea. He whispered in her ear that she may want to cover up. She huffed and instead sent the boy away with a large point deduction.

Again alone and in silence, Linea turned back and bid Severus a good-night. Still unsure if she could handle all of this again, she vowed to herself that another attempt at sex would not occur for quite a while.