Chapter 7: A Silver Lining

Severus turned to go, seeing there was no chance his useful assistant was going to laugh herself into the hospital wing, but something made him stop and turn back. He glimpsed the girl hastily hiding the admiring expression on her face with one of polite puzzlement.

"What were you doing here, Miss Cupris?" he inquired softly, staring intently into her eyes. She bit her lip and looked away, shifting her weight uneasily. Whatever it was, she didn't want to tell him- which of course made him all the more determined to find out.

"Er…nothing really, sir. Just…relaxing," she said. She wouldn't look at him when she said it, and she was twirling her wand nervously in her hand. He wondered if she was normally a terrible liar, or if it was because it was him she was lying to.

"Really?" he replied. "You choose to relax in empty dungeon classrooms? Your vacation destinations must be fascinating." Severus smirked as she blushed. Then he added, in a dangerously low voice, "I don't appreciate being lied to, Miss Cupris. Besides, you are an abysmal liar."

Her head snapped up at that statement, and her eyes narrowed in annoyance. Apparently, fancying him didn't stop her from getting mad at him. Cupris held his gaze for a second, and then she heaved a sigh and admitted, "Sorry, sir. I was practicing a spell." After a moment, she added, "I work down here sometimes, sir. There are usually fewer distractions."

Severus did not miss the slight emphasis on "usually," and he guessed that there had been none before he arrived. Slughorn was not a bat like him, and had chosen to live in airy quarters on the fourth floor, rather than underground. The thick layer of dust on the floor told him that Cupris was probably the only person to set foot in the room for a long time. Not to mention that he qualified as a certain kind of distraction.

There was a long pause as he considered the girl, and she, in turn, stared at the tops of her trainers. Severus's Slytherin mind was whirring, wondering if there was a way he could benefit from the current situation. After a few seconds, he concluded that more information was needed.

"Which spell were you attempting?" he asked, knowing that the word "attempting," would enrage the Ravenclaw girl. Members of that house hated being accused of any intellectual failings, and, sure enough, Cupris stiffened, and her fists clenched. Her answer, when it came, was tight with anger.

"I was performing the Patronus Charm, sir," She looked back up at him, and he suppressed a smirk at how far back she had to crane her head in order to meet his gaze. He liked being tall.

"Really? Then I suppose your Patronus is an amoeba? It certainly resembled one."

Cupris' eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms over her chest, shifting her stance to one of defiance. "I didn't say I was performing it particularly well, sir. I seem to be having some trouble coming up with a suitable memory." The girl stopped suddenly, green eyes widening, and it looked to Severus that she hadn't meant to tell him that.

"Hm," he grunted, tapping his mouth with one finger as he affected an air of thoughtfulness. Slowly, he circled the girl, adjusting his walk so his boots made an ominous click-thump on the stone floor. She stared straight ahead, body rigid, and Severus could hear her accelerated breathing.

"Arms at your sides, Miss Cupris," he commanded suddenly. Cupris glanced at him, startled, but obeyed, loosely holding her wand in her right hand. "Close your eyes."

He spiraled towards her, until he was barely a foot away from her, moving silently now, watching her eyes shuttle back and forth behind her lids. "Clear your mind of all thoughts," he said, softly. "All troubles, ideas, emotions … let them go. Make your mind blank." He was speaking practically in her ear now, voice just above a whisper, and he saw her shiver slightly. Severus knew he was probably making it extremely difficult for her to clear her mind entirely.

"Now, search your mind and find a…pleasurable memory," he continued silkily. He watched her shoulders tense for a moment at the word "pleasurable," and he smirked. "Once you have one, concentrate on it. Let it become your entire existence. Nothing else matters but that memory."

Cupris frowned slightly, biting her lower lip in her effort to obey him. Severus stopped walking and commanded, "Open your eyes and cast the spell."

The girl opened her eyes, staring straight ahead with a burning intensity. She took a deep breath, brought her wand up swiftly and bellowed "Expecto patronum!"

A pathetic shower of silver was ejected from her wand, and it hung in the air for several seconds before vanishing.


"Goddammit!" Sasha said heatedly, glaring at the space where the silver cloud had hung. She placed one hand on her hip and stared at the empty air as though she could make a Patronus appear through force of will. She had been focusing so hard, but it was difficult with Snape whispering in her ear like some kind of phone sex operator. If he had known about her feelings, she would have accused him of purposely distracting her.

"Five points from Ravenclaw for language unbecoming a lady."

Sasha whirled to face Snape, mouth opened to protest, but she snapped it shut before she could do any real damage. His eyes were glittering in way that said he would love an excuse to take more points from her house, and she refused to give him the satisfaction. Instead, she crossed her arms and glared at him. He looked back at her calmly, and she felt herself start to melt under the gaze of those black eyes. Why was he so damn sexy? Images from her most recent dream appeared in her mind, and she couldn't bring herself to look at him, and decided to become extremely interested in the pattern of the flagstones in the floor.

It was Christmas, and a heated rendezvous under the mistletoe had resulted in Snape and Sasha gradually making their way to his dungeon quarters- gradually, because they stopped every twenty feet to kiss each other senseless. Sasha had managed to unbutton his robes about half way, revealing a white undershirt over a well-defined chest. Her hair, which earlier had been nicely arranged, was now a wild tangle of sweaty locks, and his was the same, except greasier.

Sasha was once again pressed against a wall, but this time she felt wood against her shoulder blades, and one of his hands stopped its delightful exploration of her body to reach behind her and fumble for the doorknob. They half fell into his room, and she caught a glimpse of a dungeon sparsely furnished in dark green, faintly scented with cedar, before he scooped her up in his arms and proceeded to carry her through another door, which he kicked open. Snape never took his eyes off of hers, so it wasn't until she actually hit the satin sheets that she realized they were in the bedroom-

Sasha forced herself to stop there. Snape always gave her the uncomfortable feeling that he could read her mind, and whether or not he actually could, she was reluctant to share this dream with him.

"Are your shoes providing you with the happy thoughts you need, Miss Cupris?" Snape asked sarcastically, breaking her reverie completely. "Unless they are, I see no reason for you to study them so intently."

Sasha looked up at him thoughtfully. "My shoes, sir? No, sir. Just a thought I had…" She turned from him, trying to keep the memory of his black eyes locked on hers in her mind's eye.

"Expecto patronum," she intoned softly, feeling no need to shout the incantation as she had previously.

A clear torpedo of silver shot out of the end of her wand, heading straight towards the wall opposite her. Bare inches before the wall, it did a graceful turn and swam back through the air towards her;swam was certainly the correct word to describe it, for when it stopped, she found herself staring into the toothy jaw of a four foot-long shark. Sasha grinned as it twined around her like some absurd cat, and she looked back at her professor, wanting to see his reaction, good or bad.

"Are you expecting some type of prize for completing a simple charm, Miss Cupris?" he snapped, scowling at her. "However, now that I once again command your attention, I should inform you that I will be expecting compensation for my time spent here today. I will request your assistance in any activity, at any time, and you will comply. That is all," With that, he spun on his heel and headed towards the door, his billowing robes blowing some dust into the air.

"What?"

Surprised at his statement, Sasha lost all the focus that had kept her Patronus corporeal, but she barely noticed when it winked out. She was too busy staring at Snape in outrage. What the hell did he mean by compensation? He had only been there for fifteen minutes, and it wasn't as though he had exerted himself! The man was already in command of half her Wednesday nights; what else could he need help with?

But before she could object further, he was gone. Sasha stared at the doorway, half considering running after him before deciding that, while she was angry, she was not suicidal.

She shook her head, wondering at the eccentricities of her potions master, before she raised her wand and began to focus on some of his other qualities.

"Expecto patronum,"

She worked for another half an hour, honing her ability to summon her Patronus, before she considered the sweat soaking her shirt and decided to call it quits. Stretching, she cracked her knuckles, then her back, and sighed at the small release of tension it provided. It was a terrible habit and Tristan hated it, but she liked the feeling and the looks of nausea on the faces of innocent bystanders. She exited the small room she had been using, and closed the door behind her.

She paused, listening. No echoing footsteps greeted her ears, and she grinned. A nice empty dungeon hallway was what she wanted.

"He's a real nowhere man / sitting in his nowhere land / making all his nowhere plans for nobody…" She smiled as she sang, listening to the notes of the song as they echoed off the cold stone walls. Say what you liked about the ambiance of the dungeons, they did have nice acoustics.

As she walked, Sasha wondered if Snape could hear her.