Strange, morphing shadows danced across the walls of Severus' bedroom as he lay there on his bed, his head rested right in the very middle of his pillows, his long black hair sprawled out beneath his head as he watched the fire across the room lick lightly at the stone encasing it. Upon waking that same morning, never could he have predicted the events that would follow, from leading with a fairly dull day of classes, to one very unexpected fight. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, reaching out with both of his bare arms to stretch his fingers as far as they could reach across the bed to either side of him. He supposed he should be feeling more tired than he was, but the thoughts, the ongoing battle of emotions waging inside of him was enough to keep him feeling uncharacteristically antsy, flustered and like he could lay there awake for days on end.
A large part of him wanted to be angry with Albus Dumbledore, for so readily divulging his complains to the person about which he had made them, but another, smaller part of him, the part that lived deep in the very back, dusty closet of his mind made him feel like he should not have made those complaints in the first place. Despite his desire to feel defensive and bitter about Leviatha coming to interrupt his class over something so trivial, he could not help but feel like he did not exactly blame her for doing it. Honestly, he felt that if he had found out someone had made such outrageous, nit-picking objections about himself, he likely would have reacted in the same way, perhaps even more angrily than the witch had.
While feeling a slight, miniscule bit of guilt over the things he had said, then of course reacting so strongly when confronted with them, Severus still could not get past the basis on which he'd made those claims in the first place. He'd meant every word he had said to the Headmaster, and had even been about to go on with other, more detailed accusations, but Albus had stopped him. His words came drifting back as clearly as though he had only just heard them a moment ago.
"Severus, can you not remember all the things that were being said about you when you were first hired here?" he had asked, raising his eyebrows calmly above his glasses, watching as the younger wizard paced in front of his desk. "-the things that people still say about you?"
Severus could remember staying perfectly silent as a dull realization washed over him. Of course he could remember what had been said about him. He could still remember wanting to physically strangle anyone that even looked at him twice, anyone who dared glance down at his left forearm as though hoping to see through his sleeve.
"I cannot even begin to recount all the times I have defended you," Albus had said. "I trust you to the fullest, Severus, and have told many, many people that same thing, countless times. So I will do the same for Leviatha. She is a gifted witch, despite what little she has shown thus far. Her students have been making satisfactory marks, she has not given out a single deten-..."
The rest was not necessary for him to reflect on. In the deepest pits of his mind, Severus knew that what the old man had said was right, and yet somehow he could not bring himself to fully accept it.
However...earlier that evening, cleaning up his classroom, Leviatha had shown him something, something he had not yet seen from her concerning his less than kind reception of her- hurt. There had been such a look of true, emotional hurt on her face, one that she had clearly been trying to mask further by continuing on with her biting, sharp responses to what little he had said during that hour. But to Severus, who was adept with reading people and their weak displays of emotion, it was unmistakable and somewhat surprising. Up until that point, Leviatha had shown a skill for remaining rather stoic and passive in front of him, except when it came to losing her temper, rather like himself. That night, though...There had been something different. So different in fact, that Severus had caught himself almost feeling wholly sorry for what he had said about her...almost.
Then there was the mutual connection to James Potter that he had uncovered during their brief stint together in the Potions classroom, one that left him surprised but slightly encouraged. A few days earlier, Leviatha had let slip to him, whilst sitting in the Leaky Cauldron, that she had known him during their days at Hogwarts, had even spoken to him on more than one occasion during his seventh-year. Several times since hearing that, Severus attempted to slip back through his memories from years past, analyzing the details of those more prominent to him, to see if he could somehow remember seeing her, hearing her voice, anything. Nowhere could he remember noticing her. That did make sense, however, seeing how his seventh year had been a bit of a dizzying blur. Only the year before, he had fallen into that infernal group of potential Death Eaters and had lost his one and only true friend, causing his seventh year to turn into nothing but one frenzied effort to forget, to move on from what he had lost. At first, he had tried throwing himself headlong into his studies, to making the top marks in every subject he studied, to work through the school books until he had finished reading the entire collection within the first two months of starting classes. When that had not worked, he had moved more fully into his circle of Death Eater friends, becoming closer with several of them. And then...there had been the girls.
It seemed, back then, to the seventh-year Slytherin girls that there had been no greater place to be than slipped less than discretely into the beds of the known potential Death Eaters at school there. Apparently, it had been considered 'wise' or...cool, for lack of a better term to be passed around within the group like tissues, to be used by one seventh-year Slytherin boy after the other. Being a somewhat foolish seventeen year old teenage boy, Severus had participated in this, purely with the intention of staying within the upper ranks of the group, but also in a concerted effort to rub it in the face of Lily Evans...even if she had no idea it was happening. Having a different girl in his bed every other night had come as a small comfort, preventing him from laying there, wide awake, and imagining his redhead with her idiot, new boyfriend. Thinking back on it now, the fact that he could not remember the name of one of those girls made him feel somewhat slimy. But then again, his sporadic contact with the female species after his days at Hogwarts did not make him feel much better, either.
With the impending apology he was supposed to deliver the next day weighing heavily on his mind, Severus raised his wand from where it lay just next to him and gave it a subtle flick through the air. A moment later, a small vial came zooming toward him before coming to a halt just above him. Grasping it, Severus used his thumb to push off the cork stopper and empty the bitter contents into his mouth. Instantly, his eyes felt heavy and weighted, sliding shut on their own accord as though someone were forcing them closed and with one last movement, Severus tossed the empty vial away from him onto the floor beyond his bed. The soft tinkling of glass against stone was the last thing he heard before the familiar, welcoming arms of unconsciousness embraced him yet again.
…...
She didn't want to see him.
She didn't necessarily have to see him.
Sitting straight up in bed, Leviatha felt wide awake, as thought she had not just been dead asleep, her mind already whirring and spinning with possible lies she could come up with to get out of the apology she and Snape were supposed to be delivering. The thought of standing there, in front of a class, apologizing for defending herself in front of a group of students was not only against every principle she believed in, but also incredibly embarrassing. But what was more, the thought of standing there next to Snape while apologizing was just a half-jump above torture.
The previous night, after leaving the dungeons, Leviatha had found Remus in the Dark Arts classroom, marking tests, where she had plopped down behind a student desk and promptly began unloading every complaint, every bitching about the following day, using a few choice words to describe the surly Potions Master. Remus had simply sat there, smirking and listening to every word, until she had finished, at which point he had told her that he agreed with Dumbledore in his 'punishment' of making them apologize. He even went so far as to ask if he could come watch, perhaps record the whole event for proof that it happened. Leviatha had then used another few choice words to describe Remus before stomping from the room with her best friend laughing behind her.
Now, with Charlie snoozing on the bed, relishing in the last few minutes before they were needed for class, Leviatha stood in front of her open wardrobe, wearing just her black bathrobe, her hands on her hips as she glared heavily at her selection of clothing. Since the events of the previous day, she had mentally gone back through the entire month of classes, trying to see when and where she had worn something that could even be remotely deemed inappropriate. Sure, some of her dresses were a bit tighter than others, but none of them were too short, or too low cut, at least not in her opinion. Remus had offered his opinion that perhaps she could just wear a set of witches robes, much like those that Minerva wore, just to placate those 'teachers' who did not see her Muggle clothing as professional enough. To that, Leviatha had laughed and said that she would wear no such thing.
Eying her clothing all hung before her, Leviatha let out a sigh of uncertainty through her nose. Part of her dearly wanted to put on one of her more revealing, skin-tight dresses and a pair of extra-high heels, just to shove it in Snape's face that she would no sooner change her way of dressing than she would kiss a dementor. But the other part of her, the more mature part, felt that she should perhaps wear something a bit more modest for this first day after their less than professional duel, seeing how she would be standing in front of his class to apologize. And yet...her tightest, most revealing black dress was hanging so delicately, so innocently right in front of her...
Several hours later, Leviatha found herself tugging irritably on the high collar of her least favorite, emerald green top, fidgeting uncomfortably beneath the satiny fabric as she watched her next class of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw second-years file into the classroom. The cuffs of the loose sleeves were tight around her wrists, giving her the distinct impression of being held in rather gentle shackles all day and wildly, she wondered what had possessed her to wear such a thing. Then she remembered...the apology. This class, that was just now settling into their seats, was the last class she had for the day, meaning she was just an hour and a half from having to march down to that blasted dungeon classroom, bend over and kiss a bunch of teenagers' asses for something she did not feel she was at fault for. Perhaps she could just teach this class really slowly...maybe even keep them extra time to go over their last grades...or something...
"Good afternoon," she greeted them rather lightly, once again bracing herself for the usual chorus of 'GOOD AFTERNOON, PROFESSOR DAGRIN', and as usual, she had to force herself not to jump when the words were practically shouted up at her. She could swear they were getting louder each time, just to mess with her nerves. Leviatha continued, walking toward the shared lectern, where she stopped to glance down at her book. Their next chapter was on dementors...How fitting...she thought. However as she looked back up and glance over her students, to instruct them to turn to page one-hundred and three, she paused, her eyes scanning the room slowly. Three hands had risen into the air over the past five seconds. Leviatha's eyebrows relaxed. This was not going to be fun.
Looking to a doe-eyed, blonde girl near the back of the room, Leviatha sighed, raising her eyebrows. "Yes, Miss. Lovegood?" she asked of the girl she knew as Luna. She jumped, glancing up at her hand, almost as though she had forgotten she'd even raised it in the first place. However, a moment later, her airy, light voice rang out.
"Is it true you attacked Professor Snape yesterday?" she asked, her giant blue eyes blinking in what could almost be mistaken as a dumb sort of manner. Leviatha's forehead wrinkled slightly in her frown.
"That is absolutely not true, Luna," she answered curtly, forcing herself to keep her stern gaze on the sea of students before her, despite how badly she wanted to look away. "I don't know who told you such a ridiculous thing, but-..." At that moment, another boy from Ravenclaw interrupted, glancing about himself somewhat awkwardly as he spoke up.
"Everyone's saying it..." he answered, his voice lowered and almost bashful. Holding up her hand, Leviatha cut in, moving to the side around the podium so she could stand just a few feet from the front row of desks. A swift silence fell over the room, hushing the dull murmur of whispers that had sprung up.
"Let me make something perfectly clear," Leviatha began, pausing to make direct eye contact with Luna and few of the other students she had seen talking just moments ago. "What happened between Professor Snape and I yesterday was unfortunate and out of line. And...I think the only way to move past it is...to never mention it again," Just then, several more voices sprang up in protest, as though the thought of forfeiting such a juicy conversation as this was truly heartbreaking, but Leviatha raised her voice over the din. "So if you don't mind-..." she continued loudly. "I'd like all of you to turn to page one-hundred and three, now."
…...
Ten minutes were all that was left in his current lesson.
With the group of sixth-years before him broken into pairs and working on their assigned Potions, Severus stole glances at the clock on his desk every few minutes, as though hoping to look up one time and find that time had moved inexplicably backward. However, as was the way with time, it was moving, if possible, even more quickly than it normally did, the hour draining away rapidly into minutes, into mere seconds before that bell, the sound Severus had once enjoyed, rang out in the distance. And at once, every student in the room stood up, creating that deafening scraping noise of wood benches against stone. From his podium, Severus watched, as the teenagers before him quietly gathered up their books, and for a split-second, he considered holding them all hostage in his classroom, for no other reason beyond prolonging the time before his class of third-year Gryffindors and Slytherins came pouring in, expecting their apology.
Several times during that day, Severus had attempted to mentally come up with a rough draft of what he could possibly say in his 'apology' that would not sound idiotic. Nothing sounded right, everything sounded stupid and like he was practically bowing before his own students, which was most certainly not how this little interaction would play out. He would not ask for forgiveness, he would not say the words 'I'm sorry'. If anything, he would simply let Leviatha say everything then just add his agreement afterward, therefore saving himself from anything uncomfortable. Never before, in twelve years of teaching, had Severus felt the need to apologize for anything he had said or done concerning a student...or rather, never had he been told to apologize. He was positive it would be an experience that he would not soon want to repeat.
Within minutes, the first of the third-year class began pouring into the room, chattering spiritedly amongst themselves and glancing around as though expecting to still see residual damage from the previous day. Severus watched this from the dais, his hands clamped so tightly behind his back that several of his fingers had started to tingle with oncoming numbness. So dearly he wanted to bark out that they should sit down and shut up, open their books now and stop looking around stupidly for even the smallest jar out of place along the walls. But alas, he was already on thinner ice than usual when it came to the Headmaster, so he kept his mouth shut and resigned to taking a deep breath in through his nose, sliding his eyes closed for just a second longer than a blink, to steady himself.
This was it. The third-years were all seated, their books out but unopened, as though they were ready and waiting for it. Draco Malfoy and his idiot cronies were casually seated on the front row, and while their presence normally did not bother Severus in the slightest, he had to fight an extreme urge to hex that stupid, snide smirk off the blonde boy's face as he glanced back and forth between the lectern and the open doorway.
However, the longer Severus waited for the second half of his apology to arrive, his saving grace that would say all the words for him, the more irritated he grew when the door remained perfectly empty of witches. With just his eyes, he glanced over at his desk, to the clock. '3:03', it read. With the muscle along his jaw ticking in irritation, Severus exhaled slowly through his nose as he turned to step behind his podium and open his own book. If she was not coming, then he was not apologizing, simple as that. It was agreed, yesterday in the Headmaster's office, that they were to offer their sentiments to the class together, not whenever they felt the time was appropriate.
Severus flicked the pages of his book from one side to the other with such force, one of the pages split, but he ignored this and kept going until he had reached the chapter on which they had left off the previous day. His black eyes scanned the page, noticing immediately where several splotches of now dried greenish liquid had splashed onto the open book from the explosion of glass jars and bottles behind him. His lips curled into an angry snarl as he flipped that page over.
"Turn to page ninety-seven," he growled to the rest of the room as he again stepped out from behind the podium. The sound of rustling pages then filled the dungeon classroom as Severus stepped out toward the middle of the dais. "It is unlikely..." he began, casting one last look at the doorway. "-that any of you managed to brew an adequate enough antidote to the Aging Potion I demonstrated yesterday, so you will be attempting that same procedure again. You will find your same partner and start over from step one," The room again hummed with low chatter and movement as the students shifted around, reconnecting with their partners from the previous day. Severus watched this from behind a blank, scowling expression, remembering clearly what sort of sensation had shot through him upon hearing that first, initial knock on the door. He could remember wishing wholeheartedly that Leviatha had waited until the end of the school day to confront him, as he had oh, so much more he wanted to say to her concerning his complaints to Dumbledore. And yet, she had so rudely demanded to speak to him 'now'. So perfectly could he remember the spread of goosebumps that had traveled up and down his arms at the harsh, livid tone in her voice after she had thrown open his classroom door. He could remember feeling as though he were going into battle when he swept down from the platform to join the witch in the hallway.
With the students now absorbed somewhat dim-wittedly into their brewing of the assigned antidotes, Severus swept slowly between the desks, his hands tucked tightly into his pockets as he watched them distractedly. Every few minutes, he would glance at the door, having tricked himself several times into thinking he had heard the sound of clicking high heels against stone floors, but each time, his eyes would meet a continually empty threshold, causing the knot of anxiety and irritation in the pit of his stomach to tighten slightly. At one point, Severus managed to distract himself for a whole ten minutes by standing directly behind Neville Longbottom and smirking snidely to himself as he watched the boy's hands tremble noticeably and glance over his shoulder less than discretely every few seconds. However, this had only managed to keep his attention for so long before he moved on, back over toward his desk where his eyes immediately found the time on the small clock, as though magnets had drawn his gaze.
'4:18'
Severus blinked hard several times as he frowned heavily at the time, even counting the spaces between the small and long hand, just to be sure he was reading it right. How he had managed to spend an hour and eighteen minutes just meandering about his classroom, brooding was surprising but rather impressive to him at the same time. If only all of his classes passed this quickly, with so little effort. Turning back to face the rest of the classroom, Severus had just opened his mouth when his eyes instantly flew to the doorway; there she was.
Before he could stop himself, his eyes flickered downward from her face to the emerald, Slytherin green blouse she was wearing, the silver buttons that trailed down the front of it, and the high collar that framed her long neck. It was immediately obvious to him that she was incredibly uncomfortable wearing such a thing, but if he was being perfectly honest, he thought she looked rather nice, albeit a little out of character. In the doorway, Leviatha shifted her weight from one leg to the other, rather awkwardly linking her hands together in front of her black, calf-length skirt. Only a second later, he turned his attention back to the students.
"There are ten minutes remaining in this class," he announced, pulling his hands from his pockets to place one of them against the stone pillar next to him. "Whatever is in your cauldron is what I will be grading. Fill one vial, then be seated,"
From the doorway, Leviatha felt as though she could faint. With the combined fumes of nearly twenty different potions being brewed simultaneously, along with the upcoming apology she was expected to give, she had to wonder how Snape was even conscious at all after spending the last hour in that room. Taking a deep breath in through her nose, she reached out with one hand to brace the frame of the door beside her, struggling to come to grips with just what was making her so very nervous about this situation. She supposed it could have been the fact that she had been dreading it all day and the previous night, and now it was literally upon her.
Lifting her eyes back to the front of the room, Leviatha felt her stomach clench up when her gaze locked onto the black eyes of Professor Snape, where he stood perfectly still, tall and surprisingly proud at the head of his classroom. A moment later, he blinked, pulling his eyes away from her; Leviatha took that as her cue. It was time.
As she entered the room, rounding the edge of the long, bench tables, Leviatha kept her gaze resolutely ahead, knowing that if she were to even so much as glance to the side, it would confirm that every set of eyes in the room were now on her and staring as she made her way toward the place just next to the Potions Master. Up ahead of her, Snape was clearly doing his best to ignore her, pretend she wasn't even there until she was within a few feet of him and only once she had stopped next to him did he glance over at her with just his eyes.
"You're late," he muttered, his voice lowered to only be heard by her as the group of students continued stoppering their vials and clearing away their things. Leviatha exhaled heavily, grinning the most forced smile she had ever put onto her face.
"And you're an ass, but I figured we could skip the obvious statements..." she breathed, reaching up to smooth back a strand of black hair that had fallen into her face. Beside her, she could practically hear Snape rolling his eyes, so she went on, turning to face him slightly. "I wanted to wait until the last ten minutes of your class, so we could avoid dealing with any awkward questions or statements that may arise,"
Severus refrained from giving a reply for the time being, but could not stop himself from admitting privately how rather smart that was of her...and how dumb he felt for not thinking of that as well.
It seemed within moments that every student in the room had finally noticed that the second addition to the teaching staff had joined them and now every eye was trained on the two professors at the front of the room. Neville Longbottom was gaping open-mouthed at them while ladling a stream of antidote onto his book, several inches from the opening of his glass vial. Severus cleared his throat, glancing to his right where Leviatha was copying his pose, but in reverse, her hands clamped together in front of her skirt, while his were together behind his back. However, when she looked back over at him, she raised her eyebrows, silently indicating that she would like him to go first. Severus' eyes narrowed down at hers before he turned back to the classroom. Please, let me die now...
"It has been brought to my attention that many of you were...disturbed by yesterday's...occurrence..." He began, forcing himself to maintain eye contact with a few choice students. He went on, fully ready to get this over and done with. "I'd like to..." he paused again to take a deep breath and sigh heavily. Oh, how he hated this... "-apologize...for the disruption and assure you that it will not happen again."
The room fell absolutely silent as his deep voice trailed off, and beside him, Leviatha was quiet as well, making the urge he felt to sink into the floor almost unbearable. Gritting his teeth, Severus turned his head slowly to look across at his fellow professor as she remained perfectly still.
"Professor..." he said, carefully choosing this name over the many others flying through his brain. Leviatha looked up at him, raising her eyebrows in an innocent sort of way. "Anything you'd like to add?" he then asked pointedly, just before Leviatha shrugged her shoulders with a smart grin.
"Nope, I think you about covered it," she answered in a highly bright and lighthearted tone, one that only strengthened Severus' urge to outright strangle the woman right there in front of his students. However, just as he turned his head back to the class to quickly dismiss them, his eyebrows practically met in the middle of his face when several hands shot into the air.
"I hardly think I left my statement open for questions, Mister Thomas..." he explained, glancing to his right quickly where Leviatha seemed to be genuinely enjoying herself over this. "You are dismis-"
"It was bloody brilliant!" shouted Seamus Finnigan from the back row.
"Do we get to learn that stuff in seventh-year?" asked another girl. Severus couldn't remember her name at the ti-...
"Did you learn those spells at school here?"
Completely speechless at this point, Severus opened and closed his mouth, unsure where to even start handing out detentions for the outbursts, but as he turned to Leviatha, as if to silently ask for help, his scowling features relaxed into flat annoyance...The witch was smiling.
…...
"I trust you did as I asked, Severus?" Albus asked, his back turned to the younger wizard as he scanned a row of books lining the wall of his office, using the lit tip of his wand to light his search. From behind him, Severus rolled his eyes, wondering why he had even chosen to come up there in the first place. He had so dearly wanted to ask why the Headmaster had chosen to relay his complaints to Professor Dagrin, but the other half of him, the more responsible and grown half, felt it would be more wise to offer some careful words of remorse for everything that had happened the previous day. However, he was not quite ready to utter the words 'apologize' for a second time within twenty-four hours.
"Yes, sir," he answered. "Though I was the only one who said anything to the class..."
From the opposite side of the room, he heard Albus click his tongue against his teeth reproachfully. "Ah, Severus, you've never been one to be a tattle-tale," he scolded lightly, but a moment later, glanced back at him over his shoulder, the twinkling in his eyes saying very clearly that he was merely poking fun at the young man. "Why did you really come here? Surely not to simply report to me that you had obeyed my orders, as I already knew you had done so...?" he then continued with a carefully worded way of saying 'get to the point, I'm busy'. Taking a deep breath, Severus unfolded his arms from where they had been pinned and folded against his chest.
"I merely wanted to offer my...regrets on what happened yesterday..." he began, openly tip-toeing around the word 'apology'. Why couldn't he have thought of saying this same thing earlier? Already the whole school was abuzz with horribly skewed renditions of his 'most sincere' words of sorry to his class. He continued when the Headmaster said nothing. "It was most irresponsible of me to react that way when confronted with-..." At that moment, Albus chose to jump in.
"I think the more appropriate terms of remorse might be to ask in what way you could make up for it, don't you think?" he asked wisely, finally turning from the bookshelf as the result of his query came floating toward him slowly. He caught the book by the spine, raising his eyebrows as Severus looked away. "I accept your apology but I believe you owe another, to someone else..." he then added, tilting his head down slightly to peer over at the Potions Master from above the line of his glasses. Immediately, Severus shook his head.
"I am not apologizing to that woman," he practically spat. "I meant every word I said about her, and given the chance, I would say it again,"
Across from him, he watched as Albus shook his head, placing the book on his desk before he sat down in his high-backed chair. "You are a Slytherin through and though, Severus. Your pride is admirable but rather damning at times," he explained, removing his eyes from the younger wizard to glance down and open the book before him. "However, I am not asking you to apologize to Leviatha. I am instructing you treat her as you do any other teacher here- with respect. I meant what I said yesterday," Here the Headmaster paused, looking back up to narrow his gaze once again on Severus. "One more unfavorable incident between the two of you, and you both will be asked to leave. You are an important and talented professor here and you have a great duty to one of our students. But I will not have you blatantly and openly disrespecting a woman I hired. Do I make myself clear?"
By this point, Severus felt as though he had shrunk several feet and was now much smaller than he had been upon first entering the room. Dumbledore had that way about him, he had come to learn; kind and very collected, but stern and very powerful when need be. He nodded without hesitation. Albus looked back down to his book a moment later.
"I will be speaking with Leviatha about this as well, so I do not want you to think that it is only you receiving these words," he said. "But for now, I think a nice, long walk through the grounds should help you clear your head, don't you think?" With a sideways glance, Severus noticed Albus' eyes flicker to one of the tall windows, beyond which the sun had already long since gone down, leaving the grounds temptingly dark. Picking up that this was his politely worded cue to leave, Severus turned on the spot and strode to the door, without so much as a glance over his shoulder.
Walking through the castle with his internal sights set on the entrance hall doors, Severus could not help but feel slightly uneasy about the Headmaster's words, just a few minutes before. Never, since being hired, had he been threatened with losing his post, and now that he had actually heard those words leave Albus' mouth, he felt ready to admit he did not like the idea one bit. Sure, he had mentally kidded himself into wondering what it would be like to leave the school, where he would go, what sort of post he would seek elsewhere, but never had he put much store into thinking hard on it. As Albus had mentioned, he did have a duty to the Potter boy or rather his mother, and leaving would make it much more difficult to keep half an eye on him at all times, like he was doing currently. So perhaps his boss had been fairly grounded in what he had said. Perhaps...he would have to just keep his mouth shut, keep his head down and keep on keeping on, the way he had for the past twelve years.
The grounds outside were delightfully black, expansive, stretching before him, welcoming him and all the thoughts swirling about inside his mind. Severus stepped out into the open courtyard, momentarily pausing where he stood to take a deep, calming breath in through his nose before he exhaled slowly in a low groan, closing his eyes as a strong breeze blew the shorter pieces of his hair across his face. It was cold and brisk outside that night, but the several layers of clothing he wore kept him warm, pushing him onward into the darkness, where he turned right, to begin ambling down his favorite of the outdoor walkways overlooking the distant Black Lake.
The wind was stronger inside these covered but open corridors, catching the tails of his cloak and rippling it behind him, creating a soft, familiar flapping sound. Vaguely, Severus smirked to himself upon reflecting back to the day before when the leopard's claws had dragged their way down the normally strong material, shredding the fabric into long strips. It was fortunate that he did, in fact, have several identical sets of the same robes and the one that had been ruined was perfectly repairable. However, for some reason that was currently beyond him, Severus had decided against repairing it just yet, and had instead folded it up to place it inside a drawer, just in case he might need it one day to prove what had happened, who had really been at fault in that whole scenario.
Turning the corner to pass along the front side of the courtyard, Severus let his eyes drift out through the passing openings in the stone walls to the Dark Forest beyond, however, just as he placed his chilled hands into the pockets of his cloak, a sudden, unfamiliar scent reached him, causing him to take a deep breath in through his nose. The scent was strong, caustic, but laced with a sweeter scent, something like...cherry, perhaps? Pausing where he stood, Severus turned his head, frowning as he looked around for the source of the random waft of scent, however just as he did this, his frown relaxed into a flat expression when his eyes found the place of origin...Just up ahead, perched in one of the open windows sat Leviatha Dagrin, with one hand wrapped around the thin frame of the window to hold her in place, the other bringing her hand to her lips; she was smoking. From the scent of the smoke drifting down to him, Severus could tell that it was not a normal cigarette. It was something stronger-a cigar, maybe? With his curiosity getting the better of him yet again, he approached, quietly.
Leviatha jumped as a body appeared suddenly just next to her, and quickly, she moved her hand, smashing the unfinished half of her cigarillo against the stone before hiding it behind her knees as she looked up with a cough. A residual puff of smoke escaped her lips but she fanned it away quickly as her eyes fell onto the side profile of the very last person she had been hoping to see. Her eyes narrowed as Severus stepped into the frame of the window just beside her, placing both of his hands on the sill before him. She opened her mouth to speak, but he beat her to it, glancing sideways down at her knees as if he could see straight through her flesh and bones to the small cigar hidden beneath them. He rolled his eyes.
"You don't have to hide that..." he said dully, his voice low and quiet, the deepest notes of it magnified slightly by the acoustics in the hallway behind them. Leviatha blinked in surprise, but cleared her throat a moment later as she pulled the cigarillo back out to roll it between her fingers lightly, somewhat awkwardly as she looked down at her lap.
"You sure?" she asked, unsuccessfully trying to keep that bite in her voice to a minimum. "I wouldn't want you to run and go tell Dumbledore that one of his teachers-..." she went on, but Severus cut on, raising his own voice to effectively interrupt.
"I've resigned to the fact that you're not going anywhere," he explained smoothly, his black eyes focused lazily, unwavering on the distant Dark Forest. A moment later, he took a deep breath in, his chest expanding slightly as he glanced over at her with just his eyes. "So I might as well get used to it..." Fully frowning now, Leviatha leaned forward in the window, staring over at him as he dropped his head to look straight down at the sheer precipice beneath the hallway.
"Are you waving a white flag, Professor?" she asked lightly, smirking as Snape inhaled deeply again through his prominent nose. His dark eyes met her gaze before he exhaled slowly.
"There is nothing good that can come from any animosity between us," he answered a few moments later, shaking his head as he again turned his gaze north toward the Forest. "You are hardly worth losing my post over," he then added bitterly. Leviatha snorted, rolling her eyes as she placed the cigarillo between her lips to relight it with a snap of her fingers.
"What a charming way with words of apology, you have, Snape..." she growled sarcastically, the smoke leaving her lungs in short puffs with each word she spoke. He looked over at her so quickly, she felt the very ends of his hair brush her fingers lightly where they gripped the narrow stone column between them. His gaze was stern and strong as he met her eyes.
"Make no mistake," he began, his voice low and somewhat dangerous. "I am not apologizing to you," Here he paused, shaking his head again. "I'm simply offering a truce, as it were,"
From beside him, Leviatha watched as he blinked slowly, the profile of his face highlighted and accented by the blueish light from the moon overhead, causing his normally black hair to look even darker and more deeply obsidian than usual. Leviatha sighed, shrugging her shoulders as she took another deep pull from the cigarillo between her fingers. She hoped her silence told him clearly that she was agreeing with him without having to actually say anything aloud.
A rather itchy, awkward silence fell between them as they continued to stare off into the dark nighttime, until several, long moments later, Leviatha nearly jumped when Snape's deep voice broke the quiet.
"Might I ask what you're smoking?"
This question caught her so off-guard Leviatha nearly fell off the window sill as she let out a short cough of surprise. "Ehhmm..." she began, furrowing her eyebrows as she glanced down the brown, rolled cigar between her fingers. "It's just a little cigar I bought in London the other day," she explained. "I don't normally smoke but-...these last few days have been particularly trying..." she then finished with a pointed glance in his direction. Severus' mouth tightened into a curved, thin line at the insinuation.
"If you knew half of the chemicals in that tobacco, I highly doubt you'd ever want to smoke again," he then stated wisely, but quickly scowled when Leviatha suddenly pushed the lit cigar toward him.
"Oh, shut it. Here-..." she snapped, continuing to hold it out in front of him, until he took it from her, his surprisingly warm fingers gracing hers vaguely as he pulled the roll of tobacco and paper from between them. With much restraint, Leviatha forced herself not to yank her hand back from the contact, but instead watch closely as he brought the cigar to his curved lips and pulled deeply on it, blinking slowly as the breeze blew a bit of the smoke toward his eyes. He handed it back to her a moment later, and Leviatha took it from him but could not bring herself to look away as a thin stream of smoke began to drift away from his mouth, as though he had done this very same thing many times before. He did not cough, nor blink hard from the smoke near his eyes, but instead cleared his throat quietly. Leviatha averted her eyes quickly when he glanced over at her, before he turned away from the opening in the stone hallway.
"Goodnight, Professor,"
These words came floating back to her, causing Leviatha to turn almost completely around in the window as she frowned at his tall, retreating figure. Professor?...Goodnight? Swinging her long legs quickly to the side, to pull them up and over the edge of the window, Leviatha stumbled slightly in her haste to stand up, tossing the last few inches of the cigar over her shoulder as she tugged her tailed black coat across the front of her long-sleeved t-shirt. Before she could stop herself, she was trotting after him, still frowning as she struggled to catch up.
"Professor," she called out.
As Severus stopped up ahead, Leviatha did the same, her black boots echoing against the wooden floor of the hallway as she came to an abrupt halt. His eyebrows raised slowly in expectation as she began walking toward him slowly, tentatively and she shrugged, tossing one of her hands.
"Do you think..." she began, forcing as much strength and confidence into her voice as she could muster. "-we could...you know, just...start over? Pretend like nothing happened?" Now within a few feet of him, Leviatha stopped, once again noting privately how much taller he appeared when she was wearing flat shoes. Across from her, Severus blank gaze betrayed just a flicker, an almost unnoticeable hint of a smirk that tugged upward ever so slightly on the very corners of his lips before he nodded once.
"Like I said-..." he started quietly, turning his back to her again slowly. "Goodnight, Professor..."
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A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! Leave me a review! EYE LOOOOVE YOUUUUU -QoM