Chapter 11
Riley followed Severus down from the first floor towards the dungeons below. The air grew colder as they walked deeper into the depths of the castle. It also grew dimmer as the light came from the glow of candles on the walls and not from windows. Riley remained silent out of curiosity and took the time to study the back of Severus' head. He did not look back once as he ventured on, when Severus made up his mind, he tended to not dwell. Now was the perfect time to study every inch of him without him glaring at her for staring too long. She smirked to herself at the thought and let her crystal blue eyes roam. His black hair hung just above his collar in inky dark strands above powerful, lean shoulders. His arms were long and lanky and she adored how tall he was. He pretty much towered over her at times and she found that incredibly hot. Even his back was hot, she'd love to see him with without a shirt on and let her hands explore all the muscles in his body. She was surprised that girls didn't regularly fawn over him. In her eyes, he was drop dead gorgeous and he was hers for now. With a mental high five to herself at that thought, she added a bit of a skip to her step.
They had passed maybe one student in the dungeons on the way down and Riley smiled to herself as they noticed Severus as he strode forth but not Riley. Never being under a disillusionment charm before, it was interesting to have the sensation that you were invisible. Riley shook her head, not really invisible, but more like a chameleon. She looked at her hand as she held it up to the wall they walked by and saw as her own hand blended in with the stone. Being a seventh year and from a home that was a mixture of muggle and magical ways this should have not surprised someone like her, but magic still fascinated her to the core. It was like the gift that kept on giving, she didn't think there wouldn't be one day in her life that she still wasn't surprised or shocked by something magical.
Severus walked to a stone wall and calmly stated in a firm voice, "Parseltongue." The stone wall swung aside and allowed Severus and Riley to view the Slytherin common room. Riley stood in awe at the wall as they were bathed in green light that glowed from the ceiling. Severus turned back, not feeling her presence as he walked inside and gave her a look that said, get inside, you dunderhead. Riley almost laughed at that look and dashed inside before the wall swung closed.
The Slytherin dungeons were deeply contrasting from Gryffindor's warm and cozy common room. The eerie glow of the green light above them touched everything one could see. She wondered about the source of the light as her eyes searched the ceiling to find any light fixtures. She shivered in her eyes' journey from the coldness of the room. Gryffindor was so warm with a large, roaring fire, but this fire in the room was small in size with cold stone surrounding it. There were couches that appeared somewhat cozy in their green and silver upholstery, but they also looked to Riley like the kind of couches that your grandmother only allows special company sit on. There were snakes on everything. They were carved in stone, on the wood of the chairs, on the green and silver carpets that lie on the stone floor. Somebody had a thing for their mascot that was for sure.
"Cozy." She mumbled to Severus with sarcasm dripping from her voice.
Severus ignored her comment and nodded to the single and lone male student sitting in a dark green armchair by the fire. The boy picked up his head from the book he read, nodded his head briefly and set his eyes back down to the page. A sense of relief washed over Riley and she released the breath she did not realize that she had been holding. She knew the boy couldn't see her but it eased her tension knowing that coming this far, he really couldn't see her. Severus paused for a moment allowing her to catch up with him towards the end of the room. Riley was sure if he could or could not see her, he knew her personality and that she tended to venture off and study things out of curiosity. It warmed her insides to think how well he knew her at this point. They had only been conscious of each other for a mere four months and she felt as if they had known each other for lifetimes. He still had a mysterious side to him that she was digging at, but she knew she'd get there eventually. The way they interacted, the little banter they had, was proof to Riley that they knew each other intellectually. Although she was a Gryffindor, brave of heart and daring, she was almost sorted into Ravenclaw, ready of mind and wit and learning. She had never mentioned that to anyone, not even Severus, but she was sure he sensed it. She recalled when Dumbledore placed the sorting hat on her head in his office upon her late arrival. The sorting hat was torn between the two houses, but found that her personality better suited the lion hearted. It made sense, because Severus needed the challenge of an intellectual mind, but the push of a gregarious person to come out of his solitary shell.
Riley followed Severus up a stone staircase towards the boys' dormitory, slowly taking the stairs one at a time, awaiting some terrible fate from a spell prohibiting her from the boys' rooms. When nothing happened to her, she kept climbing with puzzlement filling her face. Predicting the question that filled her mind, Severus turned towards her at the top of the stairs. He bent down from his lanky height and whispered to her.
"There are charms on the girls' dormitory, but not the boys'."
Severus smirked briefly at this and climbed the last step. They faced several dark green doors and he opened the one to the far right side. Riley entered the room and noted the two beds in the room. They were four poster antique beds made with rich dark wood and around them hung rich, green silk tapestries. At the foot of each bed was a heavy wooden trunk, which more than likely held their worldly possessions like hers did. The Slytherin crest hung from the stone walls, again with the giant snake plastered upon it. A green carpet lay on the floor, spreading some warmth in the room. A small fire crackled in the fireplace surrounded by a stone mantle. Dark wood bookcases stood between the beds, filled with numerous amounts of books. Silver lanterns twinkled from the ceilings and the lapping sound of water hit the windows.
Severus reached for his wand again in his jean pocket and tapped Riley gently upon her head. The odd wet and cold sensation of egg dripped over her again and she shook herself like a dog.
"That is the oddest sensation." She said finally free of the spell. She looked over at the other bed in the room and peeked behind the silk tapestry with the pluck of her fingers. No student lingered curiously behind the fabric as she peered in.
"Avery went home for the break." Severus said coolly as Riley popped her head from out of the tapestry. Riley nodded and her eyes rolled up towards the window as the lapping noise resounded in the room again. She looked at him with a silent question in her eyes and he nodded back.
"The lake is above parts of the dungeons. Hence the green glow."
"Ah, I just thought it was the evil seeping out of all of the Slytherins." She replied with a grin itching at her lips. Severus shook his head and repressed a smile as she started to trail around the room.
If Severus thought that his intensions of this time with Riley would go one way at first, he was sorely mistaken as she riffled through his possessions. She did not know when she would get an opportunity like this again to come through his room unguarded and be able to touch whatever she wanted without his opposition. She had caught him off guard at her interrogation, so time was of the essence to study her Snape. She flipped the latch on the front of his trunk and peered inside. Layers of black clothing lay upon each other with the occasional pair of jeans and some Hogwarts uniforms. Books lay in a heap on top of one another with varying titles, ranging from historical texts to the some Greek and Roman works of fiction. Not much else lay in the trunk, no food items like she suspected Gryffindor boys had stashed away. No records, or record players like she possessed lay in the trunk. It was pretty barren expect for school items and the necessities for living. No photographs, no posters, nothing materialistic. The most he had ever spent on an item clearly was books. It was comforting to note that there were no terrifying things in his possession. No human bodies, no skulls of defeated enemies, no poisons, no dark items. James was so wrong about Severus. He wasn't evil, just a boy who had been bullied. A warmness for Severus sunk deeply into her, she was happy that she had been right. Not that she had suspected anything. She knew he was good, except for when he was sneaking her into his bedroom. That kind of bad she was okay with.
Severus stood in the middle of the room surveying Riley's intrusion into his personal things with his arms folded and his face calm. He didn't mind like she thought he would as she peeked at each of his items. He was growing more and more fond of her with each day. He knew he'd never get her attention until she was done with her ponderings. He studied her as she dug around, pulling back the tapestry on his bed and settling down at the edge of it. Her head was bent over a book from his trunk, turning the pages with her gentle touch. Her chestnut locks framed her face with its blunt bob cut just under her chin. Her blue eyes twinkled as they raced over the words. She sat with her black knee-high socked legs crossed in her short golden plaid skirt that sat temptingly up her thigh. Her thighs were tanned like the rest of her skin that was exposed, leading him to wonder if she was tan everywhere else too. Her red sweater was tight against her chest with soft material snuggly fitting her from her wrists to her stomach. The neckline sat high up against her collarbone, making him imagine pulling the sweater off to reveal all underneath. A smile lazily found its way to her cherry red lips, still puffy from his rough kisses earlier.
He picked up his wand again from the bed and under his breath he muttered, "Accio…" And that was the last thing Riley heard as she closed his trunk by his bed. A record player suddenly appeared before her on the top of his trunk. It popped its lid open and the needle slowly set itself down on the humming machine. A record inside rotated round and round with the needle on top making a scratching sound fill the room. Severus flicked his wand at the door of the room with his long fingers and mumbled, "Silencio." Riley looked up at him from the carpet on the stone floor and waited intrigued for the music to play.
"Well, I stand up next to a mountain…" Jimi Hendrix's voice crooned out from the record player.
"I love this song." Riley said with a smile.
"I know. I got this from your dorm." Severus said plainly.
"How?" Riley said, struck from the realization of this. She thought of the distance that the record player had to travel and it struck her at once how powerful a wizard he really was. She instantly realized how good it was that Dumbledore had stopped Sirius and Severus from fighting it out at the ball the other night. Sirius might have left with a few of his extremities missing.
Severus stood up from his spot on the bed and reached his hand down to her, capturing her smaller fingers in his larger fingers, the electricity sizzling between them. He pulled her up to her full height and caught her lips with his, moving his mouth over hers. She tangled her hands in his silky hair and allowed him to guide her, blindly to the side of his bed. His lips still attached themselves to her as he drew back a side of the green tapestry and picked her up. He placed her on the bed with the hunger in his dark eyes laced with black lashes and drew back the tapestry, encasing her in his possession, so that no one or nothing could disturb what his teenage mind set to do.