Nearly seven days had passed since the rather unfortunate, impromptu disassembling of the Potions classroom, nearly a week had slipped past them since both of their jobs had been on the line. Needless to say, both sides of the rather spontaneous truce over a cigar had been forcing themselves to remain on their very best of behavior while still maintaining the rules and boundaries for their classes. While their passings-by in the hall between lessons were somewhat uncommon, when it did so happen that one would see the other or vice versa, they would quickly find something else to look at that needed their sudden undivided attention. During the rare, less than occasional meals that Severus would actually attend in the Great Hall, Leviatha would hastily find cause to speak with a teacher sitting at the opposite end of the table from him, and would stay there until he had left the room.

For several long, obnoxious days after the legendary duel in the dungeons, rumors of the cause of the fight had been tossed around and passed from student to student like a highly contagious illness, from speculations of secret misdoings to grossly exaggerated gossip concerning a torrid, secret love affair between the two youngest teachers on staff. Leviatha had explained, less than patiently, to several of her classes that the simplest explanation was most often the correct assumption- the two teachers simply did not like each other.

Of course, Remus had found these rumors highly entertaining and had even played along with them to tease his female best friend, jokingly asking if she did have a secret love affair with the Potions Master that had gone awry.

"Did something happen over the summer that you forgot to tell me about, Leviatha?" he had asked amidst bouts of laughter.

Seeing how he had been feeling under the weather for much of the week, Leviatha had felt that it would be somewhat unfair to hex him into the next century when he was unable to properly defend himself.

However on the rare, off-handed occasion that Severus and Leviatha absolutely had to speak to one another, their voices remained calm, their tone forcibly polite although it was obvious to anyone nearby that the tension was still strong between them, though notably less palpable than before. There were several times when Severus had said something that left the conversation wide open for Leviatha to shoot back with a smart retort, and several times where Leviatha left herself and her teaching methods open for ridicule, but each time, both parties would keep their mouths firmly shut and simply walk away...a giant leap in the more proper direction from the week earlier.

Now, on the Friday morning following the fight, a solid seven days afterward, Severus found himself beating the increasingly familiar path to the Dark Arts classroom with a lightly smoking, emerald green goblet in hand. It burned him greatly that Dumbledore had turned him into Remus Lupin's personal 'bartender' as it were, despite the fact that he, himself, had agreed to do it...He supposed it was a small consolation prize that the drink in hand tasted a bit like really bad cough medicine with an acetone aftertaste...Then there was also the bit about the potion keeping the students safe and whatnot...

Being that the time stood at just after ten o'clock, Severus fully expected the sound of raucous laughter and chattering voices to reach his ears at any moment from Leviatha's likely unruly class of second-year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, however, the closer he drew to the classroom, the deeper his frown grew when the air remained perfectly quiet and still. It seemed unlikely that she would have sentenced her students to quiet reading time, even though that was every teacher's favorite way to gain an hour of perfect silence, but as Severus finally reached the doorway and turned right, he paused on the threshold; the classroom was empty.

This was rather unfortunate, seeing how he had been quite looking forward to experiencing the sudden hush of quiet fall over the room when he went striding past all the desks and past their teacher without so much as a second glance in her direction, however, this room was perfectly barren of any students or teachers. And from the looks of it, as Severus took a few steps in, the office up the stairs was empty as well. An aggravated sigh left him through his nose as he turned from the room to go to the main staircases. Chasing Lupin, screaming 'Take your medicine, wolfman!' had not been in his job description for this term.

Down one flight of stairs, Severus quickly found himself outside the werewolf-turned-teacher's quarters, where he stood waiting, after knocking loudly on the heavy wooden door. From inside the room, he could hear shuffling and movement for several long moments, however, just as he was about to pull out his wand to bewitch the goblet to float stationary in the air in his stead, the door swung open, revealing a disheveled Remus Lupin, looking more pale and weathered than usual. Severus' eyebrows furrowed slightly when he noticed deep dark rings beneath the professor's eyes. Despite how badly it appeared that he felt, the man smiled in thanks when he spotted the goblet in his hand.

"Thank you, Severus," he grumbled, taking the cup as it was offered to him. Severus was still examining his state of obvious discomfort when Lupin took a sip of the Wolfsbane potion and grimaced. "Don't suppose anything could be done about the taste, eh?" he asked with a forced grin. The Potions Master shook his head.

"Sugar will render it ineffective," he explained flatly. "And you will need to drink another of these tomorrow."

In the doorway, Lupin nodded, taking another long sip before he shook his head roughly, as though hoping to rattle the bitterness away from his taste buds. Taking that as his cue to leave, Severus turned to walk away, but paused when his former schoolmate spoke again from behind him.

"Is it supposed to leave me feeling sick...like this?" he asked, in what could almost be mistaken as a rather pitiful voice. Severus gritted his teeth with his back still turned to Lupin, sliding his eyes closed as he felt himself just a hop and a skip from caring. Turning back, he pushed one hand into the pocket of his knee-length, black tunic before producing a small vial of lime green liquid.

"Drink this when you've finished the potion," he instructed, thrusting the corked, glass tube into Lupin's hand, before he turned away quickly, to avoid seeing the poorly stifled look of surprise on the man's face.

"Er...Thanks!" called Lupin from the doorway behind him, to which Severus did not reply, and instead continued down the stairs, feeling completely disappointed in himself for displaying even the slightest hint of pity for the man.

With his teeth now grinding themselves into a powder, Severus descended the staircases with ease, relishing in the castle's temporary silence during his one free period, when all other classes were currently in session and any of the older students without a class that hour were tucked away in their common rooms. It was simple things like this that brought him a small amount of pleasure, and just as Severus was wondering if he could perhaps doze off in his office for the next forty-five minutes when a distant, muffled sound of laughter, from some unknown origin reached his ears. His eyebrows furrowed heavily as he turned his head in both directions, looking around but searching unsuccessfully for an immediate source of the sudden break in silence. With each step he descended, the voices grew slightly louder but remained muffled, as though coming through the very walls themselves, until he reached the middle of the last staircase, where he stopped just next to a tall window.

The sound was strongest here, and as Severus turned his head to the left, he realized why; Professor Dagrin and her class of second-years were out on the grounds, their wands drawn. They were all standing a good ways out, with the class of young students huddled together in a group while she and her dog stood before them, demonstrating something with her own wand as she spoke. Turning to the window, Severus watched as Leviatha pointed to a small boy that he could not recognize at the time being, before he stepped out ahead of the crowd of his classmates, nervously glancing about himself, gripping his wand with both hands as though the thing would save his very life. Unable to help himself, Severus removed his own wand from his sleeve and pointed it through the window, once again using his cleverly manipulated Sonorus Charm to magnify Professor Dagrin's voice, so only he could hear it.

"-just a simple flick of the wrist, Steven. Watch again," she instructed, before she reached out with her right hand, wand included, to move her wrist in the slightest of variations, which Severus immediately recognized as the movement for the disarming spell of 'Expelliarmus'. A tiny glimmer of a smirk threatened to tug upward on the corners of his lips. This should be entertaining...

Leviatha was speaking again.

"I'll stand here. You stand just there and try to disarm me," she told the boy, before she took a few paces toward him, clearly to the odds that his spell might miss her. However when the boy hesitated, she laughed, nodding her head. "You're not going to hurt me, I promise. Just give it a go, then we'll let the rest of the class try."

With the boy only a few yards from Severus' Charm, he could clearly hear the boy cry 'Expelliarmus!'...before nothing happened. That shadow of a smirk from just moments earlier grew to life when the boy dropped his arms to his side and visibly flushed a deep shade of pink that Severus could see very clearly, even from a distance. Leviatha, though, was smiling encouragingly.

"It's alright!" she exclaimed, walking toward the shorter than usual Steven. A moment later, Severus jumped slightly, pushing on his ear with one finger when Leviatha let out a loud 'SHHHH!' to silence the snickering and quietly jeering class behind the poor boy. Standing just next to Steven, the tall witch leaned down and extended her right hand. "Alright, watch closely one more time. It's just like...this-"

Again, she did the motion before looking sideways at the boy, who nodded more confidently this time. Walking away from him yet again, Leviatha held out her wand-wielding right hand to the side.

"Ok, Steven, on the count of three, ready?" she called. Severus raised his own wand to point it through the window in her direction. "One, two, three-"

Expelliarmus...

"Expelliarmus!"

Down below, just as the word for the disarming spell rang out inside Severus' mind, the boy practically shouted it in perfect sync with him, one moment before Leviatha's wand went zooming out of her hand and into the grass beyond her. The class behind the boy suddenly broke into loud cheering as Leviatha laughed, clapping her hands excitedly while Steven blushed an even deeper shade of violent pink, enduring many thumpings on the back when he turned to slide back into the crowd. At this, Severus could not help but grin to himself and turn from the window to walk away, only to jump hard and practically fling his wand across the room when he found himself suddenly face to face with a smiling Headmaster, standing just behind him with his hands clasped together behind his back.

"Damnit, Albus," he hissed, struggling now not to let himself blush pink upon being caught watching the object of his recent hatred through the window. "You should know, sneaking up on me is oftentimes a rather dangerous thing to do..." he then growled, holding out his hand to retrieve his wand from where it lay a few steps below them.

Ignoring his last statement, Albus stepped past him to the window where Severus had been lurking just a moment ago, before he took a deep breath in through his crooked nose.

"Lovely morning, don't you think?" he asked in a light, somewhat wistful tone of voice, as though fully expecting Severus to come back with a cheery response of 'oh, yes, just marvelous, Headmaster!' However, after knowing this powerful wizard for well over half of his thirty-two year existence, Severus could be almost entirely certain Albus was not just speaking about the weather. With this in mind, he stepped just next to the Headmaster in the window before he answered.

"It appears the same as it always does, sir," he answered blandly, hoping the older wizard understood the real meaning of his words. Beside him, Albus exhaled heavily, tilting his head to the side slightly and watching the class out on the grounds as a young girl stepped up to have a go at disarming her teacher.

"It's been rather cold as of late," he said cryptically, glancing up at the tall Potions Master beside him. "But it seems as though it's beginning to warm up, surprisingly."

At this, Severus rolled his eyes before he turned from the window abruptly. "Excuse me, but I need to go prepare for my next lesson," was all he said before he took off down the stairs, leaving the Headmaster alone.

The dungeon classroom was a heavenly retreat at the moment, blissfully empty of anyone besides himself and as Severus sat down heavily behind his desk, a long sigh escaped him in a low groan. Leave it to Dumbledore to show up out of nowhere and embarrass him by speaking in code about how 'nicely' he and Leviatha had been treating each other over the past week. Did he not know that their new found sense of 'respect' for each other was simply to avoid losing their posts? Yes, he still held to his previous complaints about the woman but after standing in that window and watching as the youngest witch on staff taught her class with what appeared to be ease, and even appeared to be enjoying it wholly, Severus could not help but feel that perhaps he had been a bit quick to judge. She did seem to have a knack for connecting with her students, gaining their trust and even wanting to have a relationship with them, which was something Severus had never been able to convince himself to try. Yes, he was a teacher and was rather good at it, but he had been almost forced into that position. There had never been an option for him, whereas Leviatha had chosen to leave her previous profession, whatever that may have been, to come teach at the school. This was not something Severus had taken into account at first. Part of him could not help but feel the slightest bit jealous of how much joy her job seemed to bring her...but only the slightest bit...

…...

The entrance hall rang with loud voices as Leviatha and Charlie led the rambunctious class of second-years inside from out on the grounds, the whole group of twelve year old students laughing and chattering amongst themselves, bragging about how quickly they had managed to disarm their teacher. That lesson had been her favorite by far, as she had finally been able to show them something hands-on, instead of keeping them cooped up in an oppressive classroom, reading from the book and having them take notes on her lectures. Vaguely, as she led the class up the stairs, Leviatha wished Snape could have somehow witnessed that lesson, seen first hand that she actually did know what she was doing, even if she was still fairly new at it. Yes, they had reached a stale-mate in their little war but that did not mean she had gotten over what he had said, by any means. In fact, if Leviatha could manage it, she rather hoped she could stay angry enough with him, for long enough to be able to hex him into oblivion next summer, when neither of them were at school under the watchful eye of Dumbledore.

Glancing down at her watch as they reached the Dark Arts classroom, Leviatha gasped when she noticed the time. It was already past eleven-thirty, meaning both of the Houses in her class were late for their next lessons...meaning she would be owing apologies to whichever teachers had been expecting them. As the students went back to their desks to begin packing up their things, Leviatha called out to them.

"What classes do you have next?" she asked of the group as a whole, but as nearly every voice in the room answered her at once, she held up a hand. "One person, please. Ravenclaws, where are you headed?" she then clarified, raising her eyebrows in expectation as she looked through the group for the blue emblems on their cloaks. A boy at the front table answered her.

"We have Charms next!" he exclaimed, leaving Leviatha to sigh in relief.

"Oh, that will be fine," she breathed, shaking her head. "And Gryffindors?"

Through the room, there was a quiet, collective groan; Leviatha felt her stomach sink.

"We have Potions now..." a girl nearby muttered in obvious disappointment. Despite the strong urge she felt to fall on her knees and scream 'NOOOO!' dramatically at the top of her lungs, Leviatha fought through it and instead clapped her hands together as she immediately walked to the door.

"Alright! Everyone follow me, now!" she called over her shoulder, waving her arm out beside her as she ushered the students quickly out into the hallway. "Ravenclaws, I trust you can make it to the Charms classroom without me? Steven, please explain to Professor Flitwick where you all have been. Tell him I'll be by later to apologize. Gryffindors, follow me. I'm escorting you to your Potions class..."

With each step she and the smaller gathering of students took down the stairs, Leviatha's pace quickened until she was practically running in her tall heels along the ground floor corridor, toward that terribly familiar, dingy hallway where up ahead, she could see the door to the Potions classroom standing open. Just beyond it, the half-class of Slytherin second-years were already seated, but had not opened their books, had not begun brewing anything. In fact, it looked as though they were all just sitting there quietly, in silence, waiting. At the door to the room, Leviatha skidded to a halt, stumbling slightly as the heel of her shoe caught in one of the divots in the stone floor, just before her stomach fell clear to her ankles.

Across the room, Severus Snape was seated behind his desk, leaning back in his leather, high-backed chair, the tips of his fingers pressed together lightly in front of him as his elbows rested on the arms on either side of him. His eyebrows slowly started to raise, his eyes already fixed on her as she was sure he had heard her running through the hallway just a moment before her less than graceful entrance. Pulling her gaze away from him, Leviatha reached behind her, shifting to the side to usher her students into the classroom.

"Well, class, I guess we can get started now that Gryffindor House has decided to join us," he said to the room in a highly false pleasant voice, one that practically dripped of sarcasm. As he stood from his chair, Leviatha took a few steps into the room, shaking her head breathlessly.

"I'm sorry, Professor," she breathed, glancing to the side where the Gryffindor second-years were now seating themselves in their normal places. "We were outside on the grounds and...I lost track of time,"

"Yes, you did," he growled in reply.

As Snape swept past her toward his lectern, Leviatha had been about to snap back with something ill-advised but instead, caught a strong whiff of something she had not smelled before, something that smelled remarkably like cloves or some other spice...anise, perhaps...She took a deep breath in through her nose before she could stop herself; she felt like fainting. When she opened her eyes, it took a great deal of effort not to flinch when she found him standing just a foot away, directly in front of her, his eyes narrowed without even the slightest hint of amusement on his face. When she blinked, his eyebrows slowly started to arch sharply atop his eyes.

"So...you'll just be going then," he put smoothly, the inflection in his voice making this a demand rather than a request. When Leviatha did not move at first, he continued, leaning toward her by only an inch. "Unless you'd like to linger and waste even more of this class' time?" With a slight jump, as though he'd just pinched her, Leviatha turned away and strode from the room without so much as even a glance back over her shoulder and continued, quickly, until she had reached the corner beyond the dark hallway. She stopped there and leaned back against the wall, exhaling heavily as she pushed a few strands of her black hair away from her face. What the hell just happened?

…...

As the very last of his students for the day trickled out of the dungeon classroom, Severus watched them go from behind his lectern, waiting, listening for the last of the voices to dwindle off down the hallway before his elbows met the wooden podium and his face fell into his hands. The shorter pieces of his black hair slipped between his fingers and stayed there as he exhaled heavily against his palms. It had been an abnormally interesting yet taxing day, one that left him feeling extraordinarily weary, even more so than he usually did, which made the upcoming dinner, one that he absolutely had to attend, sound like some cleverly devised way to annoy him into madness. He was fairly certain he knew what Dumbledore was going to announce to the school, had even asked him about it the previous day but yet he still had to go, even if to just make an appearance. Perhaps he could just slip out undetected right after the 'announcement'...

Just an hour later, Severus found himself seated at the very far end of the staff table, in the exact same seat in which he had been sitting on the first night of the term, and despite how hard he had struggled to make it so this wouldn't happen, there was one empty chair at the table, directly between himself and Minerva McGonagall...Leviatha had not arrived for dinner yet...Every few minutes, he found himself glancing at the doors to the Great Hall, just waiting, expecting the witch to come through in some flourish of an entrance, attracting every eye in the room, just as she had on the night of September the first. However, once the meal had begun, Severus started to hope the woman might not attend, only to scowl deeply when out of nowhere, the previously missing witch plopped down, less than gracefully, into the chair just next to him. She was beaming from ear to ear about something as she pulled up to the table.

"Oh, you saved me a seat next to you!" she exclaimed and at first, Severus thought she had been speaking to Minerva on her left, however when he looked askance towards her, he rolled his eyes when he found Leviatha grinning sarcastically up at him. Clearing his throat, he placed his glass of wine on the table before him just as she began to fill her own.

"It was the only chair with a trap-door beneath it..." he growled quietly in reply, keeping his eyes fixed on the back of the room as the young witch next to him coughed into her glass in a surprised laugh.

"Leviatha," came Minerva's voice from the other side of her. "I trust you've been to see Filius about his late-comers this afternoon?" she then asked curtly. Severus heard Leviatha let out a sigh from beside him.

"Yes, mother..." she grumbled in reply. "I went to apologize right after my classes ended."

"Speaking of your mother..." Minerva cut in, fully prepared to start some other branch of meaningless conversation. However as a small group of students from Gryffindor House came bounding toward the staff table, she quieted, raising her thin eyebrows in expectation. "Is there something I could assist you with?" she asked of them. Unable to help himself, Severus turned his head to watch as a the youngest, smallest girl in the group spoke up, her gaze flickering to Leviatha beside Professor McGonagall.

"Actually..." the girl started somewhat nervously. "We wanted to ask Professor Dagrin something?"

Leaning forward, Leviatha rested her forearms on the table, linking her fingers together in front of her. "Yes, Miss. Alexander?" she asked lightly, her eyebrows furrowing slightly as the group of girls giggled obnoxiously amongst themselves.

"We were just wondering..." the same girl started, glancing behind herself to where her classmates nodded encouragingly. "Do...do you know how to transform into a lion?" she asked after a few moments, blushing a deep crimson as Leviatha's shoulders straightened slowly, her back going rigid as she sat up in her chair. From the hesitation he sensed, Severus could guess the younger professor was just a second away from lying.

"Yes, I do," she answered, truthfully, after a brief pause. "Why do you ask?"

Again, the group of young girls burst into giggles. Severus picked up his half-empty glass of wine to take an unnecessary sip, in an effort to hide his smirk at Leviatha's obvious discomfort beside him.

"Well...we were wondering if...See, we have a Quidditch match tomorrow against Ravenclaw and...well, if it's not too much trouble we were wondering if you could come to the pitch as a lion and...be our mascot?"

At this, Severus had to put down his glass and turn his head away from the exchange, swallowing hard on his mouthful of wine before he ended up spitting it across the table in both surprise and sheer amusement. Beside him, there was an almost palpable hum of annoyance as Leviatha shifted in her chair.

"Ladies, I would sooner eat my wand than I would be a mascot for Gryffindor House," the witch said in a curt, rather bitter voice; the same voice Severus found himself bewildered to have missed hearing over the past month. "And I am offended that you would even consider asking me to do such a thing. Now, off you go."

As the group of girls scurried away toward their House table, casting hurt and flabbergasted glances back over their shoulders, Leviatha reached out for her glass of wine before tipping it back and downing the rest of the liquid in one. Severus watched this from the corner of his eye, smirking to himself as he listened to Minerva hiss Leviatha's name reproachfully under her breath; clearly this woman carried as much pride and self-contentment as any Slytherin did. He could not help but feel the slightest bit proud to be her Housemate.

"That was a bit harsh, Leviatha." Minerva was scolding quietly from beside her. "They're just little girls, you could have said something nicer."

From just next to him, Leviatha tutted rather loudly as she refilled her glass with deep red wine. "You kidding?" she asked. "That was nice! I didn't use the term 'bleeding idiots' once, did I?"

There was another noise of disapproval from Minerva, just as Severus' smirk expanded into what could almost be mistaken as a sneering grin. A true Slytherin, through and through...

At that moment, every chattering voice in the Great Hall quieted when the Headmaster stood from his chair in the middle of the staff table to round the edge, stepping toward his grand, winged podium in the center of the dais. At once, every student's eye was on him, waiting and wondering what he could possibly have to say. Somewhat unfortunately, the hushed quiet extended to the staff table, instantly silencing the rather entertaining bickering from the two ladies nearest to Severus.

"Good evening!" The Headmaster's voice boomed out through the room, magically enhanced and magnified so that every being could hear him properly. "I trust the first half of your term has been both enlightening and exciting! There are just a few things I'd like to announce-"

At this point, with his momentary source of entertainment dashed, Severus found himself zoning out, unable to focus his foggy mind on any one thing for too long, which was highly unlike him. Normally he could hone in on something and stay there fixated for however long he needed to, but this night was different somehow. He could not place his finger on it but he was feeling more weary and tired than usual, as he had noticed earlier. However now, this exhaustion had grown and increased tenfold, making him feel as though he could slump right over in the chair and go straight to sleep. Blinking hard a few times, he straightened his shoulders, again forcing his eyes and ears to the Headmaster.

"As you all know, Halloween is just a week away-..."

Movement in the periphery of Severus' vision caught his attention, pulling his gaze away from Dumbledore's back, down to the table in front of him to where his eyes found the source of the disturbance. Next to him, Leviatha was leaning forward with her forearm resting against the table, just a few inches from his own, her hand outstretched toward her wine glass, gliding the tips of her fingers along the side of the neck. Slowly, lazily, up and down...up and down. Unable to tear his gaze away, Severus watched the subtle movement with half-lidded eyes, entranced as she lightly traced the long, slender stem of her glass. The motion of her fingers was hypnotic, so soothing and rhythmic, lulling him into a mesmerized trance. After a few moments, her forefinger and thumb joined the spellbinding dance, gripping either side of the round stem to stroke the glass up and down. Eternally up and down. Her movements would taper off as she reached the bowl at the top of the neck, only to brush down to the wide foot at the bottom, the heat from her fingers leaving hazy steam marks against the cool, clear glass.

Captivated as he was by the swaying motion, Severus almost crawled out of his skin as a sensation he had not felt in quite a while shot through him. A stab of a near forgotten response caught him in the very lowest place in his gut, as though someone had just yanked hard on the inside of his hips. A tightening spasm shot across his lower torso, causing him to shift rather uncomfortably where he sat, while his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Unless he was mistaken, and he was not often wrong, the temperature in the Great Hall had just risen dramatically. Flushing heat began to crawl along his back, down his arms and up his neck, causing his normally comfortably warm robes and tunic to feel stiflingly oppressive. Glancing down again at Leviatha's hand just next to him, he cleared his throat and shifted in his chair a second time when her fingers once again slid down the neck of her glass. How desperately he wanted to reach out and grab her wrist to make her stop.

What was going on with him? It was bewildering that one simple action could do such things to his mind and body. Had he completely lost all semblance of control over his thoughts? The witch wasn't even doing anything the slightest bit suggestive, merely stroking the stem of her glass, distracted, as she watched the Headmaster speak, just like she would at any other time, sitting next to any other teacher...right?

Just tired...Just need to sleep... he assured himself.

Taking a deep breath in through his nose, Severus blinked hard another few times, forcefully dragging his eyes away from Leviatha's moving fingers to where Dumbledore was finally reaching the point of his small speech.

"We will be holding a costume party on Halloween night!"

From the massive gathering of students, a general murmur of excitement spread through the room, during which Severus heard Leviatha mumble "What?", annoyed, from beside him. Her fingers thankfully stopped moving. He exhaled heavily, turning his head away from her to quickly run his hand through the front of his hair. Why was he starting to sweat?

"I simply request that your costumes be appropriate and ask that you speak with your Head of House if you should have any concerns on whether or not your costume will be acceptable. Classes will end one hour earlier than usual on Friday the-"

Severus' nerves were now completely frayed and shot to pieces, making him feel uncharacteristically on edge, and when something brushed against his leg beneath the table, he jumped so hard, he could swear he completely left his chair for a half a second. Just beside him, Leviatha had just finished un-crossing and re-crossing her legs and had obviously felt her foot brush ever so gently against the back of his calf muscle as she leaned toward him.

"Sorry, Professor..." she breathed in a whisper just next to his shoulder just a moment before Severus erupted into goosebumps, from under his hair, down the back of his neck all the way down to his ankles. Stifling a shiver with great difficulty, he ignored her apology but merely kept his eyes on Dumbledore, now painfully aware that his heart had begun banging relentlessly against the inside of his ribcage. Suddenly, he was no longer tired, though he still felt an unrelenting desire to be as alone as humanly possible.

As the Headmaster stepped away from his podium, leaving a loud din of chattering and voices behind him in the massive room as every student stood from their tables, Severus rose quickly from his chair without hesitation, moving immediately toward the massive throng of students. They scattered from his path, as just the determined air about his gait was enough to move them out of his way but as Severus neared the doors to the Great Hall, he could not stop himself from sparing one last glance over his shoulder, to the staff table far behind him. Even from a distance, he could clearly see a mildly confused frown forming on Professor Dagrin's face as she watched him retreat.

The door to Severus' quarters slammed shut behind him as he strode into the room, immediately reaching to remove his robes and yank free the stifling, black cravat from against his throat. Tossing both items to the floor carelessly, he moved further into the room, exhaling heavily as he began undoing the row of buttons down the middle of his chest. Once undone, he hastily slid the oppressively warm tunic from his shoulders, before throwing it blindly across the room. Now in only his white undershirt and black pants, Severus promptly threw himself onto the wonderfully cool leather couch across from the empty fireplace, groaning as he dropped his head back against the cushions behind him. His eyes slid closed as he unwillingly replayed the sort of sensation and thoughts that had shot through his mind upon watching the young witch's fingers travel along her wine glass.

There was no denying that it had affected him, in more ways than one, but why remained a complete mystery to him. Yes, he was tired, and yes, it had been quite a while since he had experienced anything even remotely sensual with a woman, but for one simple action to impact him that greatly was just reprehensible to him. With another groan, Severus cringed into the empty, somewhat stale air around him, unable to stop his hand from dropping to rest over what he had been trying so hard to prevent all night. His grip tightened ever so slightly, causing his hips to buck instinctively beneath his hand, just before he stood abruptly from the couch, shaking his head hard from side to side in an attempt to clear his mind. No, there would be none of that, especially not when the most recent object of his hatred was still floating near the forefront of his mind.

Striding quickly across the room, Severus reached his personal brewing table, clumsily and hastily moving random papers, vials, knives and forgotten ingredients out of the way before his hands stumbled onto a long wooden box. Opening it, a vast array of corked vials greeted him. Grabbing one of the longer of the tubes, one of the five filled with a cool, pale purple liquid, he pushed off the cork with his thumb before drinking the entire vial in one quick swig. If a flawlessly brewed Calming Draught could not soothe and relax his nerves, then perhaps Severus was a bit worse off than he had originally estimated.

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A/N: Aw, poor Severus. So oppressed. ; ] Hope you liked this chapter! Have no fear, those of you who enjoy a good conflict between characters. Severus and Leviatha's days of disagreements are far from over... Please leave a review or 'comment', whatever they're being called. Haha Eye Wuv Yewww -QoM