The day was one of those cold, rainy, grey and miserable late October ones and the late night astronomy classes were cancelled, leaving me precisely where I wanted to be, wrapped in a blanket on the floor in front of a roaring fire with a good book. The book could not keep my attention, though.
I put my head on my knees and sighed. It had been three days since I had been downstairs past my theory classroom at the base of the tower. Three days since I had seen anyone except the students. Assuming there was nothing I needed to know, nothing about legal actions from the ministry over the Couch Issue, and nothing personal from Dumbledore I had received no news and no visitors. This kind of hurt, and for once since I began teaching here I felt a little neglected.
"Face it, Sophie, you have been shoved out of your shell and now you don't want to go back in." I said aloud to myself. A groan followed as I dragged myself up, unraveled and pulled robes over my pajamas, and threw open the trap door to downstairs.
The Teacher's Lounge was a large, brightly lit room full of comfortable places to read, work or have a conversation, and tonight most of the professors were there, curled up as I had been, with a book. Professors Vector and McGonagall sat in a corner with cups of tea, and waved me over. I joined them gratefully, wanting human interaction.
"Happy to see you out of your tower tonight, Sophie." Vector smiled in broad, genuine smile. Her ginger hair glowed in the candle light, giving her a haloed glow. Minerva conjured a cup of tea in a matching pattern to her own delicate thistle design and pressed in into my hand.
"We were just saying if you did not show up tonight we were going to go pry you out of there. You came very close." Minerva sniffed at me in a way that could have been mistaken for strictness, but really was the mark of her sense of humour. She motioned to a bowl of fruit on the side table, and I started sectioning a banana into its natural thirds.
An hour later, when they both announced it to be their bedtimes, I was quite satisfied and feeling like I had accomplished something important. Perhaps I did have some friends here.
I exchanged a few greetings with Professors Flickwick and Binns, who floated by the fire, near the chair in which he had died, and wandered out of the lounge. The school was quiet, it was long past the student's curfew, and I felt free to wander about. I peeked into the Great Hall, wondering at how cavernous it appeared when it was devoid of students.
A grunt caught my ears near a lake-side door, after I had completed a lap of the ground floor. Moments later an enormous cauldron poked through the entryway, carried by a tall, dark man who had a sinister but pleased smirk on his sweating face.
"The first batch is in, let the poisoning start." He set the cauldron down on the floor, a tile cracking under the weight.
To two of us struggled the container to the lake shore, grunting with effort and cheerfully complaining at each other.
"You know, Snape, it is not so much poison as it is antidote." I prodded.
"I know, I know, but there's just some sort of evil glee about believing that I am going to poison the entire school, after threatening so many times!" The sinister grin grew wider, and he shifted the weight in his hands.
When we reached the edge, a pair of glistening mermen nodded gravely, and gestured for Snape to pour the potion into the waters. He complied, and I stayed back as the bubbling liquid spilled over into the moonlight ripples. The cauldron emptied quickly, and as the last drop fell, every single fish and creature in the lake, squid included, flew to the top! the swam to where the antidote had been deposited, and then with great splashing motions, dragged it back with them to the other side. Within moment, in a flurry of noise and flying spray, the potion had been diffused across the waters, and Snape and I were left with our jaws dropped to our chests in surprise.
"Did you know that was going to happen?" I asked, with awe in my voice. He shook his head.
"Dumbledore, probably.
"Right.
A few more moments passed, and we watched the waters settle again, creatures disappearing back under the surface before. An owl hooted, and I came out of my shock long enough to realize my surroundings. Our surroundings.
It was late, the air was chilly, a cold wind teased my hair. The moon gilded the world silver, the last leaves blowing off of the trees, swirling around us before haunting the lake's rippled glass top. The two of us stood alone, in this romantic setting, unseen by the world, aware of each other. I am certain he felt the same.
"When did you kiss me, Professor, and why, and why there?" His voice was soft but urgent. I grew very embarrassed.
"I did not even think about it, it just seemed at the time like the right thing to do. It was right before I fell asleep, right before we got transported back. It was a thoughtless kiss, justÉ it just felt right.
He was silent, but after a few moments of listening to the wind on the water, he slowly reached his fingers up and brushed where the red glow had highlighted.
"The trial is tomorrow night. If they find us guilty of inappropriate interactions, we could both lose our ability to teach ever again." He seemed calm in the face of this threat, but I knew it would break his heart to not be able to teach the little whelps he always gave the image of despising.
"I know." It was the only thing I could whisper out, the only words that would form. I wanted to spout apologies, wanted to do anything that would remove my responsibility from the action, but I just couldn't bring myself around to regret it.
We walked back to our rooms in silence, the axe hanging high over our heads.
The next day passed deceptively smoothly. Madame Hooch had agreed to take my night classes, and spend it giving lessons on night flying through wooded areas. The day time periods were simple giving out work and answering questions, because I had no emotion to spare in teaching a proper lesson. The kids recognized this with that instinctive ability they have to sense a teacher's distress, and behaved themselves quietly and calmly.
We went through the Ministry of Magic security in the normal fashion that evening, and I came out with a button matching Snape's that said ON TRIAL FOR TEACHING VIOLATIONS in large, bold script. Dumbledore could not preside over this case since he was so emotionally involved, so he chose instead to represent us. Severus coldly said nothing the entire time, and I grew anxious that he become regretful over our friendship, since any warmth towards me had vanished literally over night.
Our footsteps fell in a cacophonic clatter on the hard tiled floors of the ministry, mine, Severus', Dumbledore's and Minerva's. We found the room, and there was a small crowd, some in official robes, others who were further back. Minerva found a seat, and the other three of us went up to the front table facing the presiding witch, who had spectacles perched on the end of her pale nose.
"I charge these two teachers of Hogwarts school with violating proper boundaries of teacher-teacher relationships, by engaging in physical contact of an intimate nature." My father's voice rang out hard against me, his hate biting off every word. I turned red, for no one could be anything but embarrassed to have such charges read in public. Snape and Dumbledore seemed unphased.
Fudge gave a lurid account of discovering the so-called lovers on the couch together, any detail that could be exploited given an illicit description. Several gasps were heard from a group of witches and wizards I would normally call prudish, to be gentle.
"É and before we call any other witnesses, I demand that the Touch Revealing Spell be used on both of them!" Fudge, my very own father, finished his searing accusation by pointing at us. Dumbledore's grin grew a little feral, a surprisingly sinister little light in his twinkling eyes.
"Does the defense for the defendants agree to the performing of this spell?" The pallid little witch asked sternly.
"Of course, Your Honour." He responded cordially.
"I want to perform it myself!" Snarled my father, whipping his wand off of the desk unceremoniously, and aiming it at me. "Let's see what a little slut she has been!
The witch nodded, and an orange glow surrounded his birch wood, unicorn hair cored wand a moment before hitting me. I felt glow, but to me nothing appeared to be highlighted in red.
"Please come to the centre of the room, and slowly turn around." The witch requested, her eyes already inspecting my body. I moved, and upon seeing Minerva's satisfied smirk, that nothing was in fact there. It was so unnerving to have an audience, and I saw a few people blatantly point at me. "Minister Fudge, I see no marks upon this woman that display any inappropriate behaviour, and I would remind you that lying in court is a punishable offense, and that you would be recorded officially as committing perjury.
"Him!" He choked out. "Test him! The Death Eater!" The crowd was already talking amongst themselves, discussing it was possible that I had somehow cheated, but hushed when he pronounced those two fatal words.
"I object to the minister's accusation of one of my teachers being a Death Eater. He was cleared decades ago of those charges.
"Sustained." The judge said forcefully.
The glow left me, and I felt a little tired as I returned to my seat, passing Snape who chose to go to the empty floor before he was asked. I couldn't meet his eyes. This time the judge performed the simple spell, and as before, the red spot under his jaw gave itself away.
"Severus Snape, please explain that spot on your body." He paused, apparently choosing his words carefully. I stood back up, and spoke, my voice near-breaking.
"Your Honour, I should be the one to explain that." She nodded, and my father's face became a little less ashen, his hope of condemning me rising again. "As Headmaster Dumbledore explained to you, we had accidentally been trapped on an island in Northern North America, and it had grown quite cold. We came to rely on each other as friends, but never anything more. Professor Snape was asleep, and I went to sleep next to him for warmth. He had frequent nightmares, and I had grown used to comforting him in his sleep, and I suppose it could be considered inappropriate, but that kiss was meant to calm, meant to sooth. He had no idea I had done it, it was just part of comforting him, and I apologize if it was considered wrong. There was no intention to overstep our professional friendship.
I sat down, my hands shaking, not entirely certain I had told the complete truth, but hoping it was close enough.
The witch considered this a moment, looking from me to Snape, who stood like a statue on the cold, hard floor. The glow under his jaw winked out as she cancelled the spell.
"Witches and Wizards, you have time now to consider your verdict. Remember, justice is only guilty if it is proved to be guilty beyond a reason of a doubt." She banged the tall, heavy desk, and conversation flew around them. Snape came and sat down on the other side of Dumbledore, and Albus put a reassuring hand on their shoulders.
Fudge seemed to be having fits, though, from the moment the judge had cancelled the spell. Nearly foaming at the mouth, he crossed the room in rage, stuttering and sparks flying from the end of his raised wand. He lifted it higher, pointing at me, and I half ducked before Albus yelled a freezing charm that stopped the Minister of Magic in his dangerous tracks.
My father apparently still had use of his powers of speech, because once he could not move he launched a verbal attack, cursing me, wishing my mother had died in childbirth with me rather than have an offspring like me, wishing me every kind of death that could be considered painful of excessive.
The judge did not let him carry on long, though. She put her own silenced spell on him, which got his attention.
"I am absolutely shocked, Minister, that you would bring these charges on an official level against your own daughter, with only your witness against them, commit perjury, for we all saw no such revelations of illicit behaviour as you described, and then proceed to disrupt my courtroom with such behaviour!
Every eye in the room was on her, her spectacles never moving despite the fact she was shaking her head so vehemently.
"I dismiss this case, it is unfounded, and a disgrace to this court.
A huge, wobbly grin crossed my face before fading again. My own father filled with so much hatred for me. Dumbledore squeezed my hand from where he stood, and clapped Severus on the back.
"Let's find Minerva and go home.
For the first time, when we stood up in the bustle and chatter, my eyes met Severus', and they were so filled with warmth and tenderness, I knew that his behaviour before had been a front to protect us.
"Come along, Professor Sinistra, we have work to do, children to poison and far more marking to make up on than I care to think about.