He stood up and started dressing himself, avoiding to look at her, to see the terror this mark brings upon people.

At least it was fun for while it lasted. I got a good shag – maybe a little more than this – but I can't have it, can't be with her. Relationships are not meant for death eaters, just among them and I definitely don't want a Bellatrix in my life, nor a Narcissa…

"Why are you dressing yourself?" She asked.

"Well if you haven't noticed this is not a friendly mark, or would you care me to explain to you what this mean, because if you don't know… You should be afraid by now, not bewildered that I'm getting dressed."

"I'm not scared, neither afraid of you. I know what this mean, after all I was a Slytherin student, it tempted me and I used to work at the ministry, by the way."

"You don't know how many I tortured and liked it." He grabbed his wand and pointed at her "Or how many I killed or whom I killed." And by saying that he remembered everything this mark led him doing, every bitter memory… Lily.

He sat on the bed and looked at her, noticing how much Galena looked like Lily though she was not afraid of him, she wanted to be with him even knowing about the mark, about being a Death Eater.

You have to think about her safety, if the Lord knows about her she'd be dead, she would be a distraction. This cannot happen Severus, relationships are for good people, you don't deserve it.

"Severus" she said taking his hand on hers, caressing his arm but being careful not to touch the mark. "I don't care about your past and I know you'll not do anything to jeopardise what you have here. Dumbledore is not stupid to accept you here if you were evil. So if he trusts you, who am I not to?"

"Maybe he's that stupid." He said with the wand on her neck. "And if you want I can prove that."

She looked scared to him.

There, the familiar fear. Now she'll be frightened but at least she'll be safe.

"Do it! Prove me I'm wrong. Prove me you're nothing but You-Know-Who's little bitch. Prove me you're weak, that you don't care. Prove me you're just another arrogant Slytherin boy filled with ambition for power and glory. Show me how stupid you are, because you'll not get any power or glory. That "man" will get it all, you are disposable to him. You don't matter to him, but maybe you do to me." Galena said looking defiantly into his eyes.

"You are a masochist, crazy woman! Leave! NOW!"

"No."

He kissed her, as if he was saying sorry. She did not answer the kiss, she was crying.

"Why, Severus? Why do you want me far from you? Why you try to push me away?"

"No one ever cared about me. Never. I'm not used to it. It is not easy accepting the idea that you might care about me. The only person that maybe cared about me, I wronged her. Pushing people away is a natural thing for me."

She hugged him and looked deeply in his black eyes.

"Maybe I do care about you. I want to know you; I want to solve you."

"Am I a puzzle for you? I'm not a riddle that you can finish with." He lightly pushed her way from him.

"I'll not finish with you; I want to see the more of the man within the bat." She gave him a peck on his lips and lied down on the bed. "I'll sleep here, and you better be here when I wake up. Tomorrow we'll have a proper breakfast together and go to Hogsmeade after. Good night."

-oOo-

Saturday arrived and when Galena woke up there was Severus asleep. She asked a domestic elf to bring clean robes for her and then headed to the shower. Galena was washing her hair while humming some muggle song…

"Good morning."

"Fucking Merlin, Severus! Don't do this." She was startled and quickly finished her shower. "Good morning." She said angry while drying her body with the only towel in his bathroom.

"Don't be mad at me, I didn't mean to startle you. Some elf brought you this." He handed her robes and pushed her by her waist and kissing her on the lips.

She returned the kiss happily and pushed him slightly. "Don't do this, I'm wet."

"Already?" He raised an eyebrow for her.

"Severus!" She said blushing. "Go, go, go. Out! I need to get ready and you do too. Dress yourself, we have a breakfast to attend and students to guide to Hogsmeade."

"And what if I want to take a shower too?" He said while taking his underwear off.

"Severus, Severus don't do this we are going to be late…"

"I just mean to take a shower."

"Teaser…" With that Galena took all of her self-control and left Severus alone to take his shower. She needed to get dressed and she was going to take him to breakfast.

"Galena, I need my towel, witch!" He asked her while dripping wet from the shower.

"You can dry yourself with your wand, wizard." She winked at him.

He gave her a deadly but kind of a sensual look. Severus, take a deep breath, don't answer it back, don't fall for her game, she's teasing you.

"If you can't I can help you." She teased him, getting closer to him, breathing faster, looking deeply into his eyes.

"Don't we have to get ready to breakfast and students?" Severus teased her.

"Yes we do, so get ready. Chop chop." All of her sexiness were gone just like that, it was like she transformed herself.

"Why? No-no-no-no. I need help to get ready, Galena. Can't you see?"

"All I see is a pretentious professor Snape that thinks I'll not attend breakfast and be here surrendering myself to the pleasures of the flesh. Come on, Severus, you have skipped enough breakfasts this week, we need to talk and I really care about your health."

"Fine." He answered sullenly.

The two left together from his room, luckily only a couple of first years saw them getting out of his dorms. They headed side by side to the Great Hall and sited together at the Staff table.

"Good morning, Galena, Severus."

"Good morning, head master." They both replied at the same time. They both looked at each other and shared a shy smile.

"I see you're still getting along. Be careful, Severus, they might see a soft spot on you. But I wish the best of luck to you two." Dumbledore warned Snape.

Snape bowed his head to the headmaster and turned to Galena.

"I believe we have some third year students to guide to Hogsmeade."

"Yes, we need to go."

She went in front of him, he could just sit and watch her walk from one side to another and never get bored. She mesmerized him and she always knew what to wear, she knew how to mix her muggle and witch parts properly. She was wearing fitted pants and a thigh high pair of boots, a gray turtleneck, her Slytherin scarf and her black robe.

-oOo-

They both went to The Three Broomsticks. He was drinking the usual, firewhiskey, and she had a butterbeer on her hands.

"So, you want to know more about me, right? What is there to know? You know one of my biggest secrets."

"Yes, but I want to know why you don't allow yourself to be happy, why you don't allow yourself to have feelings."

"You saw the mark; you know what I did; you know what I'm capable of now; you know who I supposedly serve to, I do not deserve happiness. You can't understand…"

"We have all done dumb things in the past. People take us Slytherins for bad people, but we are not, we are ambitious and more often than expected we make bad decisions to our ends."

"…If I stood there for her, if I kept my mouth shut, if I got there in time she would be here now, with that miserable Potter, but she would be alive. I'm responsible for her death." He said feeling sorry for all he'd done in the past, regretted for Lily.

"Lily? I know you cared for her, after all you're just three years older than I am. You were popular, smart boy. Maybe not in the good way of being popular, but I knew who you were, and I must confess I think you were cute. But anyways I really don't think you killed her, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did. You're not responsible for her death. And I believe if you were there he would have killed you too, and we wouldn't be here now, you would not be here with me." She said honestly to him. And after a deep breath and what seemed a long pause, she asked him. "And the little boy? Where is Harry Potter?"

"His son." He remembered angrily.

"Her son, Severus. You should help him; he doesn't have anyone now. Soon he'll be at Hogwarts, lost and all by himself. You don't need to love him or treat him like your son but you can protect him. He's all that's left of her. He's her legacy."

"Are you sure you weren't a Hufflepuff? This is rubbish." He asked huffily.

"Severus, I'm trying to help you, please don't." She refuted dryly.

He looked deeply in her eyes and he could see that she was telling the truth, she cared for him, she believed he could do something good after everything.

"You remind me of her, she was smart like you and she always looked the bright side of everything."

"But I'm not her, Severus…"

"I know, even after everything I've done you still care for me." And he leaned on to kiss her but before he could kiss her she stopped him.

"Although I really want to kiss right now, there's a lot of students here." She warned him

"I don't care; I won't wrong you again." And with that he kissed her, deeply.