Chapter 4 – The bravest man we'veever known

September 7th

Memories flooded Heather's mind when she walked into Burn. She small stage and het bench were there, a weak light above it, and in the bar all the chairs were turned upon the tables. Mr. Grey's daughter was there, mopping the floor, and indicated Heather that the keys to her room were on the counter. She climbed the stairs and entered the same room she had lived in before staring school.

Closing the door behind her, Heather stood there for a moment, looking at the bed. She could practically see herself there, lying under Severus while he made her see stars, the sound of their breaths and moans still clinging in the air. Something tighten up inside her chest and she took a deep breath, trying to make those thoughts go away.

She took out her wand and a tiny package from a pocket. Placing it on the bed, Heather touched her want to it, and it turned to a bag full of clothes. Opening the zipper, she took out a dress, a pantyhose, a high heel pair of shoes and her lingerie. With them all placed on a chair, she entered the bathroom and turned on the shower before taking off her clothes, letting her hair down and taking off her glasses. She felt the hot water going down her body and once again tried not to think of him. What did he do to me? Heather was not used to keep thinking of men, she never had this kind of futile thoughts. There were so many more important things to think about and to do in her life, and she never allowed herself to think of anybody for such a long time. It had been three weeks now. Three weeks and I'm still thinking of him. What the fuck?

Heather took a long time under the shower, forcing her mind to wander around other things; het set list for the night, things she had to do the next day, her classes, the advanced courses she was taking, how much she needed to focus to have perfect grades and be allowed to take her NEWTs even in the sixth year, the Transfigurations class, the Potions class, the Defense class… The Defense professor, the Defense professor's voice, his hands, his mouth, his tongue…

"Enough, Heather Sarah!", she said aloud

Angrily leaving the shower now, she rubbed her hair forcefully with a towel. Professor! He is your professor! It doesn't matter what happened before, this is what he is now! What if the matter with you! Be a man!

Dried up now, she placed the towel around her and left the bathroom.

Severus was sitting on the bed. His legs extended over the mattress, crossed at the ankles, hands behind his head on the headboard. Heather froze in place at seeing him, unable to change her expression or say a word. Slowly, Severus got up, always looking at her eyes, and walked towards her until he stood dangerously close.

"I made a promise to myself years ago", Seveurs started pronouncing slowly every word. "I promised there would be no more lies in my life. I promised I wouldn't lie, and I promised I would never again accept that anyone would lie to me. I want the truth, any truth. Tell me, Heather".

"I got scared of the feeling I was starting to have for you".

Her eyes opened wider now at the surprise of her own words. She hadn't thought of them, there were no intentions of saying that, but the truth simply floated out of her lips and now it hang there, between their bodies, filling the silence. Severus expression changed subtlety, no more danger inside his eyes, Heather couldn't say anything else; she had told him she had gotten scared, but now she was feeling that even more. Her breathing came faster now and she decided just to wait. After a few seconds looking at her eyes, Severus took one slow step, the last one separating them, and their bodies almost touched. He reached up and touched her face, sliding softly his hand to the nape of her neck, and then leaned down to brush lightly his lips to hers. A voice inside Heather's mind screamed that she should stop it right now.

It was too easy to ignore that voice.

Slowly, Heather raised her arms and crossed then at Severus' shoulders, feeling him holding her waist. Severus bent his knees a little to join her in a perfect embrace. Moving her lips apart with his own, Severus involved their tongues and heard Heather sigh quietly. They held on to each other and kissed for a long time, not noticing the minutes go by. Severus grabbed the towel on her back and pulled it, making the soft fabric slide from her body and be tossed away. Heather saw herself naked, embraced and given to him. Never leaving his lips, she fumbled to his buttons, undoing them, while he still held her tightly with one hand and the other slid on her skin to find her breast.

Tossing his shirt away, Heather held on to him urgently, feeling the heat of his skin under her hands, pressing against her chest and now under her lips and she fervently kissed Severus' neck. She felt him shiver and saw goose pumps break on his skin. He let her regale on his skin, his own breath coming faster now. Groaning when he felt her teeth nibble on him, he held her strongly by the waist and lifted her with ease, walking forward to the window frame, where he sat her on the parapet. She looked up at him, the sitting position making her head just a little lower than his, and saw him breathlessly lean over and kiss her again. Heather grabbed his hair and still held it while he lowered his wet, open mouthed kisses to her neck, shoulder, collarbone, until he hungrily took a nipple into his mouth, one hand clinging into the other. Heather moaned aloud and arched herself towards him. She stared down at him, seeing his face all over her, her nipple between his lips and teeth, his eyes closed and an awed expression. Heather raised her legs and scrubbed her feet up and down the back of his thighs, her knees sliding upon his hips.

His mouth dancing from a breast to the other, Severus slid one hand down her body and found its place between her legs. Heather instinctively opened her legs further, feeling his two fingers find their path between her folds and enter her. She moaned again, letting her head fall back into the closed curtains, and almost complained when she felt his mouth leave her left breast, but a second later Severus was kneeling in front of her, his kissed joining his fingers on her labia.

"Oh, Severus…", she moaned and he looked up at her, mouth still connected to her. "Yes, oh, that's so good… You know it. You know how I like it".

He knew. Gently sucking her clit between his lips, he slid two fingers in and out of her wet body, eyes now locked into hers. Her mouth gapped, breathlessly silent, she looked at him, his lips and his tongue travelling on her, and felt the heat come higher rather quickly. She felt the urge to rock against his face, but when a third fingers touched her tighter hole, she gasped in pleasure an closed her eyes, head falling back again. Severus sucked her and forced his fingers on her both entrances urgently now, and she felt and heard him groan on her. Screaming his name, Heather felt breath abandon her and lost her ability to make any sound as she came on his lips. Silent, her body clenched down on his fingers and her body thrashed vigorously, a hand painfully grabbing his hair and scratching his scalp. He didn't stop, though, keeping his mouth on her until she breather again and cried out, coming down from her orgasm.

Unable to restrain himself, Severus got up and opened his trousers, taking them off quickly as Heather recovered. When she opened her eyes, she saw him holding his erect cock, getting it closer to her. She licked her lips on the sight of it and Severus rubbed his head against her soaked folds. He looked up at her eyes, his mouth opened in anticipation as he found her entrance. Holding her waist with a firm grip, he forced himself inside her, one long, slow but continuous movement. Her body opened to him and they connected with a loud moan they shared.

Urgency quickly grew. Severus kissed her hungrily and she tasted herself on him, while he entered her, pounding faster by the minute. Clinging to her waist, Severus moaned and breather through his teeth, given to the moment, and between kissed Heather looked at him, admired at how undone a serious, austere man could become with her. Pushing her forwarde until her his was higher and nearly out of the parapet, Severus forced himself strongly now, the wet sound of their bodies mixing with their cries. He reached one of his hands t where their bodies met and stroked her wet clit, making Heather scream at the feeling. Seeing her close her eyes and forget how to hold her head upright, Severus took and handful of her hair and made her look at him again.

He saw a second orgasm approach her, her mouth gapped and her eyes shining, silently screaming and looking into his eyes. Her soaked walls clenched into him and he was undone, unable to hold it anymore. He forced himself into her even strongly now, and screamed some nonsensical words and he pounded violently into her one more time and exploded his release. He felt he was filling her up inside for many seconds of a spectacular orgasm.

Heather held on to him strongly when she was able to breathe again, with her arms and legs, burying her face on his chest. Severus held her again with ease and carried her to bed, their bodied still connected. He sat down and let himself fall back on the mattress, Heather nesting above him. Their bodies slowly recovered, heartbeats and breaths normalizing as one. His slid naturally out of her, their fluids dripping out of her body, and Heather made herself comfortable over his chest. They both fell asleep immediately.

When she opened her eyes again the bedroom was darker, announcing the night was approaching. She moved slightly on his chest, felt his smell and held him tighter. Her mind tried to wander around everything that could go wrong from now on, but Heather chose not to listen. It was done, and it had been amazing. She felt Severus hand slowly rub her hack and knew he was also awake,

"Are we insane?", she whispered and heard him chuckle before answering.

"Yes, we are".

They went silent again, his hand roaming on her back and the smell of her hair inebriating him. Heather wanted to stay there, not moving, for as long as she could. Any movement would bring her back to reality.

"I still don't really believe you are a student. How is that possible?"

Silently, Heather moved away from him. In a few words, He had made reality bang her in the head, even if she hand't moved. She lay her head in the pillow and stared at the ceiling.

"I fled my parent's house when I was sixteen and they stopped paying for my school. I've been working all this time to be able to finish school on my own".

Not pausing after speaking, heather sat up, legs hanging out of the bed, hands on her sided and head down. Behind her, Severus raised up on one elbow and looked at her back and profile.

"You paid for school yourself? How?"

"By working my ass off", she said sharply and paused. "Just like I have to do now".

She tried to get up, but Severus reached out and gently held her arm. She sat again but didn't look at him.

"Heather", he said sitting up behind her. "If you don't want to tell me anything about you, which I know very well it's the case, you don't have to. I know how that feels, believe me or not. But do believe me in one thing: keeping secrets and holding on to mysteries is extremely overrated. And I know it's still early and that you have at least two more hours before going on stage. Come back to bed".

Still silent, Heather let Severus pull her down to his chest again, and he resumed his caress to her back. The breather out and closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry for being harsh".

"It's alright", he said quietly. "It seems to be something serious for you. If you wish, I won't insist anymore".

"Thank you".

September 10th

"Professor Binns was of no help", Heather said to her young colleagues at dinner. "I asked him about the war and he only talked about dates, numbers and names, and that was it. The classroom was full of people who did know the story, and I didn't want to make him repeat things everybody already knew. The thing is I still know too little about it and everyone talks about it. So, help me".

Davon, Sandra and Emilia had been there during the war, which had been ended only three years before. They, as well as most of the students in the Great Hall now, had lived and studied at Hogwarts when it was taken. There was no one better to tell the story. The three teenagers started to narrate it from the beginning, since the first was and the original formation of the Order of the Phoenix. When they were done eating, Heather walked back to Ravenclaw common room with them and they settled on the couches and armchairs to keep talking. A few more students joined them to tell her everything about the war. They talked about the first war, the Prophecy, James and Lily Potter's death, the calm years in between, Harry Potter's arrival to the school and how strange things started to happen again after that, Voldemort's return to life at the final of the Triwizard Tournament and detail about the final years of the war.

Hours had passed. Heather barely spoke, shocked with the events her colleagues were telling her, and astonished that the American magical community had heard and participated so little. She was sure their government must have know how bad things were, and couldn't understand why help was not sent. If I had known, she thought, I'd have come here to participate. It's not like there was anything holding me back in America.

"My parents didn't let me come back to Hogwarts", Davon said. "After Dumbledore died and Snape became Headmaster, that it. I was supposed to have graduated last year, but I didn't come to school that year. Everybody knew how things were going to be here, they knew every student would be exposed to danger. Death Eaters were inside, and my parents knew it would be even worse for half-bloods like me. And worse… To homosexual half-bloods, like me".

He looked down swallowing hard now; it seemed to be difficult for him to talk about it. Heather understood everybody knew about his sexuality, but he rarely talked about it. Sandra touched his shoulder and squeezed for a moment in a sign of support.

"Then I didn't come, but the girls did", he said pointing at Sandra and Emily

"We didn't have any real problems, because we're both 'purebloods'", Sandra said making a quite signs and a disgusted grimace. "But the horrors were there. Half-bloods and muggle-borns were constantly harassed and there were even tortures".

"But either way, we all know it all could have been much, much worse if Professor Snape hadn't been Headmaster", Emily added. "By the time no one knew, but he was acting under Dumbledore's orders and was loyal to him. He was here and he took the responsibility and protected the student as much as he could. I am very sure that if it hadn't been for him, things would have been out of control. People would have died, I'm sure".

They continued narrating Horcruxes, Deathly Hollows and the Final Battle, how Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione granger had entered the castle to find and destroy a Horcrux, faces Snape, whom escaped to join Voldemort and the Battle started. Heather didn't know, but her eyes were wide and her mouth gapped.

"Until the very last second", Devon said. "Potter told everybody what he saw at the Shrieking Shack, how Snape lied to Voldemort guaranteeing him that the wand was his and trying to find a way to kill the snake, but ended up being attacked by her himself".

"And he did it not even knowing that Potter was listening. You know? I admire him very much for that", Sandra said. "Then when Voldemort left the Shack, leaving Snape to die, Potter and the other went for him and Snape gave them a memory, to show them all the truth about his loyalties and the key to end the war. And then he kind of died. They thought he was dead and left him there, and then Potter saw the memories. We've told you that already".

"Yeah, about why he left Voldemort and joined the Order, about Lily Potter and the fact that Potter himself had to die, or sort of die, so he'd be able to kill Voldemort", Emily completed

They kept going with the story, about the supposed death of Potter and how he came back, how Londbotton killed the snake and then, finally, Voldemort's death. It had been very difficult to celebrate the end, seeing that so many good people had died during the war and the Final Battle. Snape's body had been rescued, to only then be found still with vital signs. He had been taken to the hospital and kept to recover in a wing reserved to Death Eathers recovering before being sent to Azkaban. He spent a few months there, unconscious and recovering very slowly. During those months, Potter had fought to prove his innocence and all the truth about his part on the war, and when finally Professor Snape had recovered, he was already a free man.

"The first year after the war was hard and dedicated to recovering", said Davon. "Classes were resumed, every student who had left Hogwarts came back, me included, and even Hermione Granger came back. There was grief and pain, but slowly things started to go back to normal. The Ministry awarded the war heroes. Potter and Snape were the only ones to get an Order of Merlin, first class. An then, after that first year, Snape accepted the job as Defense teacher".

"And that's it", Sandra smiled

Heather stared at each of them in silence and gaping, They laughed at her.

"Wow", she finally said. "Wow!"

"Wow indeed", Emily agreed.

After a while longer, they noticed they were long time past curfew, and Emily borrowed Heather a pillow and a blanket, and Heather made herself comfortable on a couch. She remained awake for a long time, thinking about everything she knew about Severus now. Somehow, she was glad to only have found those things about him now. She didn't want it to look like it was only because he was a war hero that she had been feeling…

Feeling what, Heather Sarah?