She gasped "sorry" and then he watched her leave his room. He brushed his thumb over his lower lip in disbelief. He wouldn't have thought she could've done it. He knew he stirred her into it, but still… He closed his eyes, rubbed the root of his nose and tried to will the sensual, tingling feeling her kiss left on his lips disappear. She tasted like peaches and honey, and he soon found himself at a loss when it came to forgetting the kiss. No, he couldn't forget. He could just pretend it never happened. He would have to. Just when things started to look promising with Rose, that silly little wench had to come into this… He lay sprawled on his bed, thinking. What was he to do? They were friends, just friends. He had never felt any different about her. Yet… His time with Rose could never get anywhere near the atmosphere he knew from being with Tara. He knew there was… magic between them. They understood each other. They knew what the other was thinking. They sort of complemented each other. With Rose, he never knew such a feeling. Was time the issue? Would he have to get to know her better before this feeling of intimacy would arrive? Or was friendship the issue? Severus had been in love only once in his life and that was with his long-time best friend, so he had no clue how these things worked. What if the way to love did indeed lead through friendship? Yet, from what he knew, a lot of couples weren't friends when they fell in love. Screw her. She did it to piss him off anyway. Maybe she wanted to break him and Rose apart, maybe. But the kiss… The kiss was both rough and gentle, forbidding and promising, full of both love and hatred, passion and anger, enticing yet impossible. Impossible for him to have, to keep, to preserve. Would he lose her? Would he lose Tara's friendship? No, he couldn't risk that. Better be cool about it and pretend as if nothing happened.

-oOo-

I'm so stupid. So damn stupid.

She ran all the way up to her room, burst inside, shut the door, leaned on the wall, and burst into tears.

Things were fine with Severus. We had a good time. Why do I have to ruin everything?!

She curled up into a foetal position on the floor and hot tears streamed down her cheeks.

He will hate me. He sure does already. He will burn the bridges between us and will never want to talk to me again.

Her shoulders were shaking with silent sobs.

Just when he opened up to me. Just when we were so, so close. I'm a monster. I should leave this castle and never cross his path again.

But I can't. I love him too much.

-oOo-

"So, I told Alice – my nurse – I told her: 'You can't just call in anyone who waltzes into the waiting room! They have to show you their health insurance card, Good Lord!"

"Yeah, right." He mumbled, and sipped his beer. The evening was getting exceptionally tiresome. And we've just exchanged a few sheepish touches and a chaste kiss on her cheek so far (from my part, last time), Merlin's beard!

"You said you were a chemistry teacher, right?" She said, a little bit uncertain. He spotted her remembering diary clutched under the table in her left hand. "I really liked that subject when I was at school. What type of person are you, the organic or inorganic fella?" She wínked at him and chuckled.

Clearly an attempt to flirt with me?!

"Oh – I mean – I suppose inorganic was never really my cup of tea." He blurted out with no idea what he was saying.

"You look it." She giggled. "I mean, you look like a teacher. With your white shirt, the grey waistcoat you're always wearing, and these trousers which look as if they were a part of a suit – I could definitely tell you were a teacher if I ever met you in the street. At which school do you teach?"

"I – eh – I'm just switching jobs. I don't have a place yet." He stuttered. Pathetic. He thought. So unlike my usual self, controlled and reserved and confident. Maybe it's a good thing? Maybe love's supposed to bring out the best in you? Bullshit. This conversation is one big fat lie.

"Well, all schools seem the same, if I may say so." She said. "Do you think you'd be better off somewhere else?"

"Yes – Actually, I think I might get a better salary elsewhere." He lied.

"I doubt it. Teachers are so underpaid." She said with a slight note of contempt in her voice. And he realised that he secretly wished to be somewhere else. That he secretly wished to be back at Hogwarts. He wished to spend the precious hours of the freezing October evening with Tara in his cosy room, drinking tea and gossiping about the students. She hadn't talked with him for weeks. I'm gonna go see her, he thought. I'm gonna break the ice. I would have never done that, in all the other circumstances, but I just don't want to lose her. Merlin, how I don't want to lose her!

"Severus, are you currently in a relationship?" She asked abruptly, her eyes fixed on his face.

"I– I'm not." He said. Why did I hesitate? Why the fuck did I hesitate?!

"Good." She said softly, and gave a tentative smile. "Me neither."

"Good."

But it didn't feel good.

Contrary to him, she had a great time – as she told him. She offered to go to her place, to which he more than happily agreed. As she was driving the blasted devil of a car he never learned to trust, he watched her. Her hair was red and beautiful, her eyes the weren't green, but brown, but with a bit of imagination, they could be green if he wanted them to. Her hands were slender and delicate, her neck was long and so delicate that he wished he could kiss it right there, right then. When she pulled over on the driveway, and they got out, he couldn't keep his hands to himself anymore. He cupped Rose's cheek and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. She closed her eyes and tangled her arms around his neck, hungrily reciprocating. He buried his fingers in her long hair and deepened the kiss, and she leaned on him in eager expectation. His heartbeat quickened. The kiss was so passionate, so feral… But suddenly, he remembered another kiss, the unforeseen blunder that happened in his private quarters a few months before. He remembered the Headmaster's secretary, and how ferociously she kissed him back there, his cheeks got hotter and he started kissing Rose with such zeal that they were positively making out on her porch. Very self-conscious of this fact, she blushed deeply and pulled him into her dark hallway.

-oOo-

"Papa? Why doesn't uncle Albus spend Christmas with us?" Tara suggested innocently at dinner. She was spending another Saturday with her great-grandfather, careful not to neglect him while she was working at Hogwarts. There were only few days left until the Christmas Day. Aberforth Dumbledore instantly choked on his soup.

"Him– spend Christmas here?" He said hoarsely when he stopped coughing. "Just because he's your uncle doesn't mean– Families don't invite all their members for Christmas–"

"But papa, there will be only the two of us in here, and he'll be alone for Christmas, he told me."

"I can cooperate with him sure enough. I eavesdropped for him, I watched the students in my inn for him, I even enjoyed a butterbeer or two with him. But what you're asking is too much, Tara, consider what he did to our sister– Consider how arrogant he was–"

"If you could only see how he regrets it, papa. At least once a fortnight, I have to give him a Dreamless Sleep, because his past mistakes are creeping back on him in his sleep. Sometimes he has his moods – midnight moods – when he gets all touchy and regretful and I have to reassure him, again and again, that he couldn't've done any better, that love is blind, and what not. Very often, I have to sit with him all night and allow him to recount events of his life which are bothering his consciousness, and time and time again, I have to listen to how he tries to give reasons for his past actions. Don't be that cruel, papa. Don't you believe people can change? I do. Please, if you could just give him your forgiveness, if you could just start with a clean slate – you cannot imagine how much that would mean for him. It would do you good, too, papa, it makes no good to bear grudges."

Aberforth sighed and, prodding the contents of his soup, he growled: "I might give it a bit of thought."

Tara glanced at him while eating her soup. Her great-grandfather used to be as tough as the Azkaban prison, however, since little Tara landed in his living room all these years ago, he grew kind-natured and soft-hearted. There wouldn't be anything he could refuse her. She has made me a better person, thought Aberforth and looked at his dear girl, at the pride of his soul, at the only creature he would like to live forever, just to watch her blossom.

-oOo-

"Going somewhere?" He murmured grumpily. Tara shrieked and jumped up good two feet.

"What kind of jerk stands directly behind my door and waits until I try to go out?!" She yelled at him.

"I came to find out what kept your foul little mouth shut for so long." He gave a nasty smirk.

"Well, guilt," she blurted and blushed, "but, seeing everything is back to normal and you being as pleasant as ever, I should have just acted as usual."

"It amazes me that a viper like yourself is actually capable of feeling any guilt."

"What did you just say?! I'm gonna shut the door, you might wanna put your large nose out of the doorway." She snapped at him. Contrary to all her expectations, he tilted his head back and gave a barky, dry laugh.

"We'll forget about it, won't we, then?" She peeped.

"I missed you so much, kitten." He said, and with an actual smile on his lips, he ruffled her hair gently with his hand. "Don't worry about it anymore. I put you up to it anyway."

Her earlobs turned crimson.

I can't believe what a good friend he actually turned out to be, Tara thought.

"I actually have something to discuss." He said much more soberly.

"Go on – I mean, come in." She let him in.

"I need you to go on a trip with me." He said and fixed his onyx eyes on her brown ones. Does she have prettier eyes than Rose?

"Is it shopping again?" Said Tara with exasperation. "If so, you can perfectly manage alone–"

"It's a secret business. It- It has something to do with the Dark Lord." He said, barely audibly.

Tara gasped: "Are- Are you allowed to tell me?"

"Naturally, I am not, nitwit." He gave a smirk. "The Dark Lord has ordered me to test the security of one of his hidden places. However, the Headmaster has a pretty idea of what might be stored inside, and you will be the one who'll lead him there, after you'll have gone with me, that is."

"Can't you just tell uncle where the hideout is?"

"Naturally, I cannot." He gave even a nastier smirk. "The Dark Lord would have known instantly that I've blabbed it out."

"Sure, but he'll have no suspicion over the fact you've shown me." She folded her arms.

"I can make something out." He said resolutely. "It's– kind of– being decided that I'll be the next Headmaster after– you know– your uncle." She nodded. "And I might need to spread the rumour that you are Imperiused. So I might even put two and two together."

"I don't like playing the puppet here." She frowned.

"I'm sorry, but you have no choice." He gave a bitter smirk so that a part of his face was temporarily contorted into a hideous mask. "Welcome to my world. Big news, it sucks. At least I got to have sex twice yesterday."

"I wondered what had you in such a good mood." She grinned and he grinned back. "What doesn't have you in good mood?"

"Minerva had me run around the grounds like an idiot."

"Well, that's what you get for signing for the job, you know." He gave her a smirk.

"It's not about running errands," Tara puffed in exasperation. "she made me increase my speed like crazy! I saw the world as one giant blurr while I did that training with her. Honestly, she works me like a mule, I wish I could have my uncle back overseeing my progress."

"Well, he's teaching Potter stuff now."

"What stuff?"

"I don't know, something about the Dark Lord."

"Aren't you curious?"

"Shut up, or I won't take you with me."

"Poooh, empty threats, you need me, you bastard!"

-oOo-

"Tara, my dear, we haven't had the opportunity to speak properly, have we?" Roared Horace Slughorn, and, putting his big arm around her shoulders, he led the young woman off the main street of Hogsmeade towards Three Broomsticks. "Fancy a butterbeer?"

Cowered under his touch, she could see that there was no way out for her: "W-Why not?"

"Horace!" Cried Rosmerta once the Potions Master opened the door. "Long time no see! And who do you have there– Oh, dear, have you decided to side with the enemy, Miss Henley?" Rosmerta beamed at her and brought the glasses at once. She obviously was more than happy to have such interesting guests, and, of course, she took pride in the fact that the family member of the rivalling pub paid her a visit.

"No, still a devoted Hog's Head fan, Madame Rosmerta, I'm sorry." Tara gave a shy smile and accepted the glass.

"So, Miss Henley," said Horace and leaned back in his chair, "rumour has it that you're the long-lost niece of the Headmaster?"

"I doubt anyone's ever been looking for me, professor, but the rumour is true. Where do you come across these things? Nothing can escape you." Tara gave him a kind smile.

"You see, young Mr Malfoy is truly a master of his class, the young boy knows how to keep his social relations, yes, undoubtedly a skill from his father…" Horace drifted off into a monologue of how many important people do the Malfoys know that he just so happens to know himself that he didn't notice Severus's dark silhouette looming above him.

"Goodness Gracious, Severus, you've scared me to death!" Yelped Horace and his boyish face looked half as joyful as a minute ago.

"Severus, what're you doing here?" Tara smiled at him and he scowled at her.

"Oh, you seem to know each other pretty well, Severus, please have a butterbeer with us!" Horace waved at Madame Rosmerta to bring another glass.

"Horace, I see you're not faithful to your habit of having a little sweet treat with your afternoon beverage on Sundays?" Severus raised his eyebrow, his voice absolutely disinterested.

"Blimey, Severus, m'boy, you're right!" Boomed Slughorn and gave the young wizard a mighty pat into his back. Tara had to suppress a laugh as she watched Severus recoil slightly from the touch. Damn, I know him so well.

"Maybe Rosmerta would have something under the counter for you?" Severus suggested and Slughorn sprang to the bar table, eager to receive his afternoon treat.

"Don't drink it." His voice was so low it wasn't even a snarl. "There's something fishy in there. Swap glasses, don't look at me or the glass, don't say a word."

Tara moved the glass slowly on the table towards him, pretending to look out of the window. Having received Severus' butterbeer, she cast him an alarmed glance. After his microscopic nod, she drank his butterbeer. He pretended to drink from her glass, then put the glass back on the table and murmured: "Confusing Concoction."

"But why–"

"Meet me in the castle in twenty minutes." He muttered, put the change on the table, and just as Horace was coming back to the table with a honey tart on a small plate, Severus said: "Sorry Horace, I've a lot of essays to grade. See you at dinner."

"Don't you think you've evaded me so easily, my friend!" Horace cried and gave a chuckle. "Now, Miss Henley, do you think I could ask you a favour? It's just because I have you here now, you see, otherwise I would do it myself – could you give this bottle to your uncle as a present from me? Rosmerta just told me she had this last bottle of his favourite flavour of mead here under the counter, and she would be sorry to sell it to someone else, so, naturally, I had to buy it… What do you say?"

"Well, I suppose I might." Tara gave a weak smile and made a mental note to bring the bottle over to Severus. If someone wanted her drugged, that had to mean the bottle was poisoned – people had started noticing that every item going up the Headmaster's Tower was searched.

"Good judgement." Severus confirmed her suspicion as he uncocked the bottle fifteen minutes later. "Good I told you not to drink it."

"Who could have done it, do you reckon? Sending my uncle the mead?"

"Oh, I think I've a pretty good idea who that was." Severus said and frowned. "The real question is who put a confusing draught into your butterbeer."

"No idea." Tara shook her head.

"Have you seen Rosmerta leave the bar? Have you seen anyone else there?"

"No."

"Have you got up from the table?"

"No, I was seated until you got there."

"In any case," he rubbed the root of his nose as if he was tired, "it seems that the danger has now extended onto you, too."

"M-Me?!"

"Yes, you see, anyone who wants to harm the Headmaster now knows it's nearly impossible to do so because you check everyone, every package and all the food and drinks. And if they get you out of their way, the path is clear."

"So what am I to do? Put another taster there for myself?"

He gave a dark chuckle: "Interesting how it multiplies. No, I think you have to deal with it. Your uncle is old and reckless but you can use your senses to your advantage. If we increase the security, they'll know we know. No, we want to discover the source of these attacks, and you have a bright mind. Just stay alert, don't go anywhere in the castle after dark and don't go into the Three Broomsticks."

"Well, my papa would be pleased with this last piece of advice." She chuckled.

-oOo-

"How many people do you want to kill, Draco?" Severus hissed and pinned the young blonde Slytherin student on the wall in the dungeons after the DA lesson. "Do you want to kill the secretary to get to him?!"

"I've seriously considered it, after she evaded my Confusing Draught and confiscated the bottle." Hissed Draco Malfoy.

"So it was your Draught? How did you put it into her butterbeer?" Severus hissed.

"It's none of your business." Draco snarled and pushed his professor's arm away. "I wouldn't care if that dirty bartender's daughter died in the process. I have a task to do, and until now, I've been… unsuccessful." He clenched his hands into fists. "He starts to be impatient with me. He threatens to kill my mother…"

"He would never kill Narcissa, Draco." Severus tried to reassure him, but his words came out croaky from his tight throat. Narcissa Malfoy was his long-time friend and he quite liked her.

"What do you know!" Shouted Draco, and started towards the Slytherin quarters. "It's not your mother who's in danger!"

-oOo-

They were standing in a dark cave. They lighted their wands. Sinister shadows were dancing on the rock walls. The air was chilly, and she could smell sea.

"Where are we? Are we in England?"

"I said no stupid questions."

"These are not stupid."

"Better help me get through that wall." Snape put his hands on the cave wall made of rough black stone. "There's magic in there."

"Shall we use dark magic on it?"

"It won't be of any use. Besides, he'll know we've been here."

"He already does know, so what's the point?"

"I'm trying to pave someone else a way here." Severus whispered and pointing his wand at the wall, he gave it a few waves and flicks. Nothing happened.

"Shall I try to break it?"

Snape paused for a second, then he said: "I think you can try."

Springing towards the cold stone, Tara clenched her fist, focused her power and gave the wall a mighty punch. The cave shook, a couple of stones fell off the ceiling, but the wall remained untouched. Then, suddenly, it disappeared.

"Wh-What was that about?!" Tara yelled, put off balance.

"I think it's the blood on your knuckles." Severus murmured, and without any prior notice he took her hand abruptly into his to look closer. Tara squealed, blushed and snatched her hand back.

"Don't be a fool." Severus snapped at her. "Let's go."

They entered a dark passage, iluminated only by the silvery light from the tip of their wands. The passage soon began to slope down, and Tara had to back herself up by holding on to both sides of the narrow corridor with her hands.

Soon after walking into the inner cave, which seemed really spacious from what they could discern from the wandlight, they found a dark lake. At the middle of the lake, there was a small island illuminated by a green light. There was something on that island.

"Severus, I don't like the feel of this. I think- I think we're not alone." Tara whispered and tugged at his sleeve.

"You're right, the lake is full of Inferi." He murmured, and pointing the tip of his wand at the glassy surface, Tara jerked and whimpered as she saw a dead face under the water.

"Severus," Tara tugged at his sleeve again, "something crossed my mind."

"What is it?" He asked, his face hard as stone.

"It's unlikely for the Dark Lord to trust someone so much that he would reveal the location of this hiding place to them." Tara whispered. "According to my uncle, this place is somehow connected to his immortality – you know, the reason he didn't die that time in Godric's Hollow. Did he ask you to check that thing in the middle?"

Her friend nodded.

"I think he planned for you to die in here, and then he would come himself to see if his traps work."

Severus stood staring at her, frozen. His body wasn't moving, but she could see his black eyes testing the surroundings frantically, his hand clutching his wand, his knuckles white. He was desperately searching for a way out, scanning the cave for any imminent danger.

"I think he wouldn't like anyone to see what's in the basin with the green light." Tara whispered and fixed her big, scared brown eyes on him.

"Tara, you're right." He murmured, his pupils still piercing the darkness of the cave all around them like a wild panther.

"I won't leave you." She said resolutely, taking his hand. "Whatever happens, I will be at your side."

"Thank you." He whispered and squeezed her hand.

"There should be a boat somewhere – or are we expected to fly?" She wondered, and tried to scan the depths of the lake without going too close to the bank. Severus whispered something she couldn't hear, and after a few flicks of his wand, a glowing chain appeared embedded in the wall. Once Severus' hand touched it, the chain started pulling something from the lake. Seconds later, there was a small boat floating noiselessly on the water.

"Have you noticed the insufferable silence here?" Tara whispered.

"This place is seeping with dark magic." He whispered. "It's everywhere – in the water, in the air, in the stones we're standing on – everywhere."

Severus stepped into the boat and held Tara's hand so that she could get in too. However, as soon as she put her foot into the vessel, it started sinking. She yelped and jumped away, bumping into the wall. The boat resurfaced again and sat at the mirror-like surface as calmly as ever.

"I think only one of us can go." Severus murmured and his piercing eyes dug into the strange green glow emanating from the basin on the small island.

"Do you think–" Tara's throat suddenly became very tight. "Do you think something will happen to you once you get there?"

"Maybe." He said, barely audibly. He pushed the boat from the bank and it became a noiseless glider, floating towards the middle of the lake. He turned to her once again. Suddenly, it seemed to her that his face became immensely, irrevocably sad. Almost heartbroken.

"If something happens to me… Run as fast as you can. Don't return for me. Tell Albus everything you saw, and how to get here."

"No!" She cried and reached for him, but the boat was already too far. Her cry pierced the silence of the cave like a thunder, and they both froze, awaiting some terrible monster to awaken. But nothing happened. The surface of the lake was as undisturbed as ever.

"You can't just… Launch yourself into the darkness without anyone at your side… Without anyone to help you…" He could hear Tara sobbing on the bank of the lake.

"It's too late, I already did." His soft, deep voice came back to her almost as if from another world.

And then there was silence. Terrible, soul-consuming silence. Tara had no clue to hear save her own frantic heartbeat. She could see Severus' dark silhouette stepping on the rock from the boat, and then she could hear splashes of water.

"What's going on?" She yelled.

"The boat has sunk down. I think I'm trapped here." Was his only answer.

"Let's worry about that later." She suggested, trying to keep him calm. "Do you see something in the basin?"

"Yes, a small pendant– no, a locket." Said he.

And then pandemonium broke out.

-oOo-

Oh Severus… Severus, please… More, I want more!

The bed was rattling under the weight of their two bodies as they were mingling frantically on the covers. He could make love to her, when he looked into her eyes he imagined they were green, not brown… He buried his face into her ginger mane sprawled across the pillow, he breathed the salty, hot scent of her body and worshipped her skin with his lips, taking the love he never got from her, from Lily, taking it from this anonymous woman, her twin sister he didn't care about…

Did he love her?

No, he didn't love her. He wished he could.

But this was the closest he could get to having sex with Lily Evans.

So feelings aside. This was his moment. He would take everything from her, not looking back once.

Because he believed he deserved it.

He wasn't obliged to love her. He could always pretend.

Lucky she was so naive.

-oOo-

She watched a hundred skeletal bodies ambush him. She watched him fire curses and hexes at them, and she clenched her fists in exasperation. Think, Severus, think! These are Inferi, curses have no effect on them!

She watched them entangle their long limbs around him. She watched them snatch his wand away from him. And then she watched them pull him towards the water. And then, her body started to move on its own accord. She sprang towards the water, not looking left or right. She focused all her magical power into her feet, and ran faster, and faster, and faster. The cave became a dark, greenish blurr. She didn't even feel the water under her feet, as she was flying towards the island. The spider-like fingers that snatched at her ankles emerged from the water long after her foot touched the surface. In a split of a second she was on the island too, fighting like a lioness, not looking left or right, giving out punches and kicks to the white corpse-like puppets like a madwoman, holding her wand with her teeth. In a minute she kicked half of them into the water, freeing her friend from their deadly grasp.

"Here come more." Croaked Severus, still sore from the Inferius' grasp on his throat.

"Set the bloody island on fire!" Shouted Tara, busy with defending his back from the creatures with her wand.

"Correct." He blurted and soon enough, the borders of the island were consumed by a series of hungry red-and-orange flames. The Inferi that were emerging from the water fell back in panic and the ones trapped in the fiery circle were soon blasted into the lake by the two wizards.

"I think we got what we came here for." Said Tara resolutely. "Hop on my back!"

A bit awkwardly, Severus put his arms around her neck and felt her hands hold his thighs tight around her waist. Tara created a hole in the fire wall by a swish of her wand and taking a step back, she sprinted towards the lake, gaining the same incredible speed as she had done before, the snatching hands of the Inferi living in the water feeling like they belonged to a different time zone. She zoomed across the lake, clutching his friend's legs tight.

Please, let us be out. Please, let us be out. Please, let it be over.

She didn't stop at the entrance to the cave. Jumping off the cliff the cave stood on, the two wizards disapparated into the salty sea air.

The rough sea waves hit the rocky foot of the cliff again and again. Dark clouds were gathering.

A storm was coming.