Sophie did not see the potion's professor the next morning, but really that was more her fault than anything else. She didn't go to breakfast in the Great Hall, finding the urge to go up to the hospital wing stronger than the one to eat her first meal of the day. It was a good thing she did.

Madam Pomfrey was bustling about, already hurrying around the large room as the boys moaned and cried out. The mediwitch was digging through drawers, spelling things around the room, and trying to talk the boys into quieting down so she could 'think for just a moment about where she put that vial of Skele-Grow'!

Sophie rushed in to help, pausing the woman in her searches and she looked simply relieved at having the help she required.

"Ms. Roe!" Pomfrey cried. "If you could, please, there's a vial of pain reliever potion in that cupboard over there. You know the one? You had it when you were here."

Sophie nodded and rushed to get the medicine that would make the students feel at least a little better. All four of them were writhing in their beds and Sophie not only felt bad that they were in pain, but she also wanted them to stop giving her this massive headache!

The two women worked side-by-side in silence for most of the morning, tending to the boys' wounds without needing to consult the other. They were both skilled in the healing profession and trusted the other to do as was needed.

When the children's voices finally quieted and their pain had eased so that they could eat their breakfast, Madam Pomfrey turned to look at her assistant.

"I wasn't expecting you this morning, Sophie," the mediwitch commented.

Sophie grinned, "I was just checking on the boys to make sure their treatment was going according to plan. I didn't expect to find this."

Madam Pomfrey chuckled, "No, I did not expect this when I woke up either. Don't you have classes to be teaching?"

"No, we are having a day off thanks to all of this." She gestured to the students who were chatting quietly amongst themselves.

"I suspect they'll be getting quite a few points taken from each of their houses when they are well enough to run into Professor Snape," Poppy Pomfrey said.

Sophie laughed, "Oh, yes. He was so angry last night when we left. I'm sure if he thought he could get away with it, he would've taken points before he left."

Even as she said this, she was remembering the events of the night before. How angry the professor had been when he'd learned that these students hadn't followed orders. How he took her to the kitchens for dinner. How she'd kissed his cheek before he walked away…

She hadn't even gone to breakfast this morning! What must he think of her? If she was working for something with him, she should've been there this morning to gauge his reaction at least!

And was she starting something with him? She wasn't completely sure herself. Sophie wanted him to like her, she knew that, but how much farther did she want it to go? She didn't realize it when she went from wanting him to like her as a friend to wanting him to like her like that. But now that she thought about it, she did.

Madam Pomfrey chuckled, unaware of the inner turmoil of the woman sitting beside her.

"Well, I've got things to do and I'm sure you do as well," the mediwitch stated, starting toward her office.

Sophie nodded, "Yes, papers to grade and such."

They went their separate ways and Sophie wondered if she messed everything up by not being there this morning.

What she didn't know was that neither was Snape.

After the mayhem with the students, going to get dinner with Sophia, then her kiss, Snape had wanted to go and think in his own bed. Things never went as he would like them to go.

All day, he'd felt the Mark on his arm growing hotter, but there was no call yet. He'd only walked maybe thirty steps from the witch's door when it flared red and he knew he had to leave.

Snape rushed to his room, quickly switched robes and summoned his mask, then Disapparated from the spot with a pop!

He arrived outside gates that were very familiar to him and he knew he was once again at Malfoy Manner, where the Dark Lord had taken up residence. He wasted no time heading toward the opened gates and into the mansion where his master awaited.

And wait he did, though not patiently. The monster's eyes were red in his snake-like skull as he watched Snape enter the empty room.

"Ahh, Snape," the Dark Lord greeted upon his entry.

Severus Snape bowed, "My Lord."

"I had expected you sooner," the wizard said.

"There was business I had to attend to, my Lord. I had to get away before I could Apparate," Snape explained.

"Yes, your business with Dumbledore," the Dark Lord hissed. "Crucio!"

Snape fell to the floor without a sound, his body stiff, and his eyes unseeing. The pain lasted for an undeterminable length of time until the dark wizard released his hold.

The Dark Lord smirked, "You are a favorite, Snape. I won't deny it. You never make a sound."

Snape was already standing again, this having been one of the lesser levels of pain he knew his master could inflict. He'd been through worse, so he was fine to stand before the dark wizard now.

"You called, my Lord?" Snape asked.

The Dark Lord nodded, "Yess. The others could not help me with this. Only you are close enough to Dumbledore to know what exactly is going on inside of Hogwarts. You haven't checked in lately, Severus. I need to know what is happening with dear old Dumbledore."

Snape nodded, "Of course, my Lord."

It was at this point, he knew the Dark Lord would wish to see inside his mind. He would not want to hear it second hand, he would want to see it, so that no one could lie to him. Snape was prepared.

He looked up into the dark red eyes and pressed forward all of the memories that had nothing incriminating in them. There were talks and discussions about the Dark Lord's plans, the two talking about students, and of course what they were going to do about what they thought might be happening soon.

Next to none of it was real. Of course, it had actually happened, he couldn't have faked the memories well enough to trick the most powerful dark wizard alive, but this wasn't anything important to them. Snape and Dumbledore knew that everything they'd discussed could be thrown out the windows as soon as it was reported to the Dark Lord.

But the Dark Lord himself didn't know that. He believed his servant was faithful.

"Very good, Severus," the Dark Lord hissed as he looked down on his follower. "Dumbledore is a fool, as always."

Snape continued to look up at the wizard, looking as stoic as ever.

"But, I'm upset there wasn't more," the Dark Lord said.

Snape knew what was coming, but didn't try to defend himself in any way.

The dark wizard's mouth curled, "Crucio!"

Once again, Snape hit the marble floor, feeling his muscles contract and his brain fry. There was no pain like this, but Snape could endure. He had never made a peep before and he wouldn't start now.

He hid himself in his deepest memories, the ones locked in the farthest corners of his mind. There, he found her. Her face was there, smiling up at him, grinning and laughing. She was telling him that she didn't disapprove of his disciplinary actions; she was asking him if she could walk with him, she was working in the hospital wing. Her face was getting closer to his; her lips were on his cheek. He could almost feel the tingling sensation it had left.

Perhaps that was the tingling of his face, after it had jerked and his the floor, though. It seemed like forever until the Dark Lord released him from his curse.

His lips white and his jaw clenched tightly, he rose from the floor as he always did. His master was grinning maliciously, his red eyes evil.

"You have been such a help, Severus. But I do not need you if you do not give me information," the Dark Lord stated.

"Of course, my Lord," Snape replied.

The dark wizard smirked, "Tell Wormtail to bring in Nagini."

Snape bowed his head, knowing that this was his dismissal. He turned on his heel and retreated from the room with his Death Eater robes billowing out behind him.

The whimpering rat was waiting at the door when Snape exited and he raised his eyebrows as the man looked up expectantly.

"The Dark Lord wishes for you…"

The rat whimpered excitedly.

"To bring the snake," Snape finished.

Wormtail's eyes grew wide and his expression filled with sorrow, but Snape pushed passed him without another word. He couldn't stand to look at the creature for more than he was forced to.

Snape left Malfoy Mann without ever seeing the owners. Neither of them seemed to be about, but he didn't really mind. He wanted to get back to Hogwarts as quickly as possible. From the gates, he Apparated back into his rooms, one of the only places the Headmaster had allowed outside entry to, though no one knew that.

His face throbbed and his head pounded from the Crutiatus curse and hitting the stone floor. Snape entered his bathroom to get a look at the damage he would have to fix.

It wasn't as bad as he knew it could be. There was nothing he would have to see Madam Pomfrey for. Everything he needed to heal the wound was in his private stores, already made up and ready for occasions like this.

The large, red welt on his cheek was swollen horribly when Snape returned to the bathroom with the vials needed. He could just drink the potion that would stitch the skin back together, but it wouldn't help the swelling and there would be a huge bruise the next morning. No, even though he was feeling the exhaustion hit, he knew that applying the salves first and then drinking the potion would get the best results.

First, he would take the dark green salve to make the swelling go down. Snape had to be able to see what was wrong before he could fix it.

Then came the bright orange powder that would take away the bruising and heal the broken veins underneath the skin. No one would ever know anything happened.

Last, he drank the vile smelling purple potion. It closed the wound and lessened the roaring ache in his head to a dull throb. It was a special healing potion he'd created, specifically to help with the effects of the Crutiatus curse, but only he'd ever taken it. No one else needed to.

The effects of the potion came swiftly and with the wounds taken care of and the pain in his head gone; Snape now felt the overwhelming drowsiness hit him. Stumbling to bed, he tore off his robes and threw them on the floor to get later. In the meantime, he felt his eyelids grow heavy and sleep overtook him.

He didn't wake up until sunlight streamed in through his artificial windows. He lived in a dungeon, so they obviously weren't real, but they did help when he was supposed to wake in the mornings.

The potion he'd taken the night before had helped, but Snape could still feel the ache and he took some more just so he wouldn't have to deal with it all day as well as teaching. He knew that if he told the Headmaster about it and asked for the day off, he would be allowed, but he was better than that. He didn't need a day off when there was work to be done.

Already, Snape knew he'd missed breakfast so he summoned a house-elf to bring him a tray as he got ready for the day. It wasn't until the creature came back with breakfast and mentioned something about also doing this for the 'poor boys in the hospital wing' did Severus remember Sophia.

He was shocked that he'd forgotten something so important, though it really was an insignificant thing when looking at the big picture. Last night, had it only been the night before? Last night, Sophia Roe had kissed his cheek before he left her at her bedroom door. She'd kissed him! Of her own free will! And he hadn't shown up for breakfast the next morning.

Snape felt as if he'd purposely missed the morning meal. She must think he was a coward, too afraid to show his face. She probably thought he was hiding. He hated the thought, but there was nothing he could do about it. He'd have to set her straight at dinner, though.

Severus Snape nodded to himself. Yes, he'd just fix this all at dinner, or perhaps lunch. He just had to explain to her what happened and surely she would understand. It didn't even sound believable to himself, but he figured there wasn't anything he could think on it anymore. He'd figure it all out later.

Breakfast was soon finished and Snape knew he had to see the Headmaster before classes started to report back about seeing the Dark Lord. Dumbledore would want to know how everything went and he would want to discuss it. He quickly made his way to the old wizard's office to tell all he'd gathered, which really wasn't all that much.

Albus Dumbledore smiled upon seeing what felt like his son. His eyes twinkled behind his half-moon glasses as he ran a hand down Fawkes' back.

"Ah, Severus," Dumbledore said. "What brings you here this morning? Could it be the reason you weren't at breakfast this morning?"

Snape nodded, "I was summoned last night."

"And what did Tom want this time? I see you are unharmed, but I assume that is not by his doing, am I correct?" Dumbledore questioned.

"The Dark Lord wanted to know what was going on within Hogwarts, just a usual check-in of the school," Snape answered.

He placed the tip of his wand to his head and extracted the memories of the night before; placing them into a vial he retrieved from his robes. He handed them to the Headmaster.

"I will look at these when I get the chance, Severus," the older wizard stated. "Is there anything else you would like to discuss before you go?"

The old wizard had that look in his eye that everyone knew. It was the one that said he knew more than he was letting on. The one that made you wonder what he wasn't telling you and how exactly did he get that information. It had to be more than intuition.

"No," Snape replied as he stood from his seat.

Dumbledore nodded, "Very well then. Excellent job, Severus, as always."

Snape did not reply as he left the room.

Because she had no classes, Sophie spent the day in her office, leaving the door open in case anyone wanted to stop by. She decided to get ahead on grading papers and going over her lesson plans. No one knew when Hagrid would be back, so she continued to make them in advance.

Not much happened for most of the day, until right before lunch time. There was a small knock at the door and a very familiar 'hem-hem'. Sophie looked up to find Professor Umbridge was standing at the entrance to her office.

Sophie smiled, though she no longer felt the bubbly sensation she could normally pull off. She didn't like Umbridge, not one bit. There was something downright foul about the woman and she couldn't stand it.

"Come in, Professor," Sophie called, rising slightly, but not standing all the way. "Please, have a seat."

The toad-like woman made herself comfortable in one of Sophie's chairs and she thought to herself how she would have to Scrougify the thing afterwards.

"Can I help you?" Sophie asked, wondering why the woman would be here.

Umbridge smiled unpleasantly, "I'm sure you know by now that I'm in the favor of the Minister of Magic, himself."

Sophie nodded. Of course she knew, the entire castle had heard about it.

"Well as such a close friend of the Minister's I will be getting certain privileges around here soon," the woman went on. "And was hoping to let all of the teachers know that there will be some serious changes happening here at Hogwarts."

Sophie raised her eyebrows.

"Oh yes," the foul professor said. "I'm looking to get a background on as many of the professors as possible, but I can't seem to find anything about you. Why is that?"

"Excuse me?" Sophie asked. She was shocked that the woman had the nerve to question her like this.

"Yes, where were you last employed?" Umbridge asked.

"None of your business," Sophie replied.

Umbridge's eyes opened wider and she wrote something down on a clipboard Sophie had only just noticed.

"And what is your magical lineage?" the woman continued.

"Also none of your business!" Sophie felt like shouting.

"Hmm. And can you tell me –"

"I'm sorry," Sophie interrupted. "But you'll have to get out of my office; I've got a student waiting."

And there, at the door, was Harry Potter. He was shuffling about in the hall, looking unsure if he wanted to interrupt what was going on.

"That's quite alright," Umbridge said. "I was done anyway."

The toad-like woman stood and left the room, still writing things down on her little clipboard.

"You don't want to mess with her," Harry stated.

"I can handle her," Sophie replied. "Oh don't sit down there. Scrougify!"

Lunch came not too long after that and Sophie said goodbye to the young teenager. He seemed to be having a lot of trouble, but he wasn't really interested in telling her. He just wanted someone to talk to about the unimportant stuff, but Sophie didn't mind that.

She walked through the staff's entrance and over to her seat at the far end of the table, sitting in her spot beside the Potion's Master.

"I'm so sorry," she said as soon as she'd sat down. "I was in the hospital wing this morning."

Snape turned to the woman seated beside him, finding a smirk curling its way onto his face, "Oh? Well I happened to oversleep and miss the meal as well."

Sophie's frown quickly changed to a grin as she realized what happened.

"Oh thank goodness!" she sighed. "I was so worried I'd offended you."

A laugh bubbled in her throat as she quickly piled food onto her plate. She turned to the Potion's Master with a smile on her face and Snape thought there surely couldn't be anything on this earth that was more beautiful, but his face stayed indifferent.

Sophie continued to laugh wildly, bending over at the waist and Snape watched, feeling the pain in his head lessen even more as he fought the urge to grin.

What was she doing to him?