Chapter 14: Afternoon Delight
Lily was pleased when she found a moment to slip out of sight. Her cheeks were still burning her mind was screaming, "What could have possibly possessed you to embarrass not only yourself, but Severus in that way!" She shook this thought out of her head. There was no changing what had been done; she just hoped that she wouldn't further embarrass herself in classes tomorrow. She had no idea when Severus would be arriving in the room, but she knew he would end up back there before too long to either sleep or get ready for classes in the morning.
Lily sat in the small study that her shared room with Severus had. The study was precariously tucked into the corner beyond the kitchenette, so the room was actually much larger than it appeared from the doorway. She sat at the desk gripping her head. Minerva had only just told her a few days ago that she was making Muggle Studies a mandatory class to be included with Herbology, Potions, Charms, Astronomy, Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, and Transfiguration. There was a concern that, if Muggle tolerance wasn't learned early, another situation like Lord Voldemort would occur. Lily didn't see how forcing students to take a class was going to make them any more tolerant of Muggles, but she didn't argue with Minerva. She would already have to apologize for her spectacle at the feast, and she did not want to get on that woman's bad side, especially while being employed by her.
Severus came into the room a half an hour later and said, "I didn't see you after the feast I believe we agreed to meet in the dungeons," Severus said looking slightly aggravated.
"Sorry, I spaced it," Lily said. "I've been working on the tomorrow's class plans."
"I don't think that's why you rushed in here Lily," he said now more irritated. "I think you were trying to avoid everyone who witnessed your actions during Minerva's speech. If you are uncomfortable with the students knowing of our relationship you surely don't keep it under wraps. I realize you have lost a bet, and you were upholding it, but I don't want you making a mockery of our relationship. You are an adult Lily and you had better start acting like one before these students start to take advantage of your youth."
Lily felt as if she were being scolded by her Professor once again. It brought back painful, humiliating memories. "Excuse me?" Lily demanded. "I am not uncomfortable with anyone knowing of our relationship, and I will admit my spontaneous actions today may have been a tad inappropriate, but isn't that just what this school needs after the death tolls of last term. The funerals, so many crying families, it was a tragedy Severus, a tragedy that everyone has to live with now. I'm glad Professor McGonagall kept her cool, you could see the uneasiness in the faces of the students if you looked closely enough. Laughter is exactly what everyone needed and I think they received a healthy dose of it," Lily said continuing to mark on the paper in front of her with her quill.
Severus stood his mouth hanging open. "Is that what this is all about? Lily, why didn't you say something before."
"As painful as it is for me, it had to be much worse for you. Seeing it all happen from the front lines, a double agent. To be hated by both sides, I just didn't want to bring up any old ghosts. I wanted a fresh start."
"That's very…" Severus said trying to choose his words carefully. She was truly stubborn at times. She had been holding onto this for months, without saying more than a few things about the matter before changing the subject. He had thought she was merely uncomfortable, or it was the way she dealt with grief. Never did he think it was for his benefit. "thoughtful of you," he continued to say after a pause. "Still, do you think that was the best way to go about things?"
Lily blushed brightly. "No, it really wasn't."
Severus sighed and sat down on the couch. "Give me the patience," he thought. He kept forgetting she was so much younger than him, and how spontaneous youth generally was. In the months they had been together, she didn't show her age in her actions, and when she did it was during rare, brief occasions.
"I'm sorry to have embarrassed you," Lily said quietly closing her lesson plan. She got up from the desk and walked over to the bookshelf by the bed and began to write down the objectives from the chapters she planned to assign so she knew how to structure her class.
"Damn moody teenagers," Severus thought to himself. "You have not embarrassed me. I am merely afraid of the shame you may have brought upon yourself."
"Shame?" Lily questioned looking up from the textbook.
"Yes. I was a double agent Lily, and many do not forgive me for killing Dumbledore. You are one of the Golden Quartet, a heroine, and to be associating yourself with someone of my low caliber is shameful," Severus said.
"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Lily exclaimed.
"I've heard the whispers. The professors even believe it to be shameful. They believe you could do better, Ronald Weasley's name came up a few times," Severus said with spite in his voice.
"Ok, I was wrong before, that thing you just said, THAT is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! I can't even begin to describe the amount of ridiculousness in that argument. Should we start with the fact that you are probably one of the biggest heroes of the war. You survived and attack with a Nagini, tricked Voldemort, led Harry to where he needed to be, you were there every step of the way! You were there for seven years protecting Harry, teaching him, and getting him ready to fight. Whether you want to believe it or not Severus you are a hero, and those who don't see it are ignorant. And for the record, I have never considered Ronald Weasley more than a friend. We have nothing in common other than Harry being a mutual friend."
Severus blinked several times. "Is it so hard to believe that I am hopelessly in love with you?" Lily asked.
"Yes," he answered.
"Why is that?" Lily asked setting the book to the side knowing that no reading was going to be accomplished.
"Lily, must I compare you to myself. A pretty, young, bright, witch with so much life to give compared to a greasy, old, bitter, man who is two steps from giving up on it all. No competition Lily, you have settled far below yourself."
Lily shook her head, "You give me far too much credit and give yourself so little. You have plenty of good traits that you haven't mentioned. Sometimes I wonder if you would rather have people hate you. You fear rejection so badly from what happened with Harry's mom that you completely shut yourself out to everyone, making excuses, and being cold and cruel to push people away. Is that what you want to do to me Severus? Do you want to push me away too?"
"You deserve better," he said.
"You need to stop thinking of me as this perfect person Severus. I'm not, I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of. And before you say something, today was not one of those days, I wasn't ashamed that everyone knew I am in love with you, because that's the truth it was just some silly little spontaneous thing I did. It was to shut up Sirius and Alyce who were in tears of laughter at my embarrassment. You know I am shy, I certainly hate standing up in front of that many people. You are making a mountain out of a molehill, as my grandmother would have said."
Severus shook his head and Lily saw one of his rare smiles. "First day always seems more frightening than it is," he said reassuringly.
"I hope so," Lily said giving him a weak, nervous smile.
"I know so," he said.
Lily and Severus made love one last time before classes would start the next morning. Lily had to get up early to start her classes. She closed her eyes while Severus answered a question from one of his first year students who had knocked on the door.
Lily's morning started at 6 AM. She was out of bed and dressed in her teaching robes for classes. Lily snickered when she found the billowing robes she always associated with Severus when she had been a student. She dressed in Muggle clothing rather than professional clothing that most professors wore under their robes/cloaks. Lily knew from experience that not all witches and wizards understood how to dress in public to blend with Muggles. She was reminded of an incident the summer before her fourth year at the Quidditch World Cup. Archie, an older man Ron, Lily, Alyce and Harry had seen at the Quidditch World Cup the summer before their fourth year, had been wearing a nightgown and someone had been trying to talk him out of wearing it to which he replied, "No thanks, I like a healthy breeze round my privates." That memory still got Lily giggling. Her first class was with the eighth years. Not all of the students had come back, but three-fourths of them had returned to finish their education. It certainly helped to balance out the lack of first years. The combination for the morning was Slytherin and Gryffindor.
She set down her lesson plans and materials looking at the room of students in front of her. She felt herself wishing that she was surrounded by her peers for her first class of the day instead of teaching it. This wasn't going to help her get into the groove of things at all. Many were giggling and pointing and Lily cleared her throat trying to ignore her feeling of nauseousness and her mind screaming at her to run from the room and never return.
She wrote her name on the blackboard absently. "As if I need to introduce myself," Lily thought to herself as she wrote.
She unbuttoned her cloak and set it on the coat hanger at the corner of the room. Summer months were scorching in September. She straightened out her clothes. She was having second thoughts about her attire. "Maybe I should have left that damn cloak on and just been uncomfortable." She thought to herself. How would she ever be taken seriously while wearing her "street clothes". Still she knew Muggle dress was an important part to understanding Muggle culture.
"Good morning," Lily said strongly hoping her voice wouldn't fail her.
A few of the students muttered indifferent greetings and Lily felt the silence creeping over the room. She cleared her throat again and said, "As you all know, or will know by the end of this class Muggle Studies is now a requirement at Hogwarts. It has never been a requirement before, which means that you will be the first group of students to be taught in this fashion. I will try to keep things going smoothly. Hopefully by the end of the week we can have the classes further sorted so those around you might no longer be in a class with you. I am hoping to split students by year and knowledge of Muggle society. Obviously those who are Muggle born or were raised around Muggle culture will be placed in a different class than those who have never spend more than a few awkward moments among Muggles. For now I will go over course objectives that will be covered throughout all classes. I plan to structure this class as any other class would be structured. We will be studying the differences and similarities between Muggle and Wizard culture first and foremost. Depending on the level of the class and how far we are along we may delve into more on a certain subject," Lily said finishing her opening speech. "I have a syllabus prepared I will pass it out and we will discuss it before I get a tally of student comprehensive level,"
Lily waved her wand and the syllabus she had prepared the night before flew to each student. She realized how strange it was that none of her other classes at Hogwarts had been like that. The students had copied the course objectives from the board. She knew from taking a few courses at the community college, that syllabi were very common in Muggle classes and Lily liked that set up much better. "This isn't a finished syllabus mind you, just the course basics. I will have an updated one with readings and assignments later."
Lily explained her course objectives. "I plan to spend the first two weeks in this class discussing similarities and differences between Hogwarts courses and courses that a Muggle student would take. You will be surprised that there are many similarities. For instance, the study of astronomy is studied in the same way in Muggle culture as it is in the Wizard culture. Potions can be compared to Chemistry which combines elements. Herbology is similar to Botany and the only Care of Magical Creatures equivalency I can seem to find is only on the level of secondary education for careers such as Zoology, Marine biology, or Veterinary Science. History of Magic is simply called History as Muggles are often skeptical of magic in any sense. In this course we will discuss the history of that since it was not always so that Muggles ignored all magical happenings. Let's see… I think that just leaves Charms, which there is no equivalency for and the same goes for Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration, though Muggles do offer self-defense courses just not in the school setting. Ancient Runes can be compared to Antropology another course the requires secondary higher education. I think I've covered almost all of them," Lily said taking a breath.
Lily was surprised and relieved to see a hand in the air. It was the hand of someone she almost never saw paying attention in any class, except maybe Defense Against the Dark Arts. "Yes, Mr. Potter?"
"You've forgotten flying," Harry said.
"Oh, yes, well the only equivalency I can seem to find in that one is Driver's education, but thank you for clearing that up. Five points to Gryffindor for being on your toes."
Lily continued on until her first class was over. She wiped her forehead. She only had a few more that day and then she would be able to see Severus for a while. She breathed deeply. She realized she had a big conversation ahead of her with Professor McGonagall, but for now she was savoring the fact that she had gotten through her first class smoothly. She was wondering if Alyce was doing alright in her classes. She knew Alyce was probably showing them something cool in Charms, Lily found herself wishing she had a more interesting subject to teach, but scolded herself for that thought. She took for granted the fact that she spend the majority of her life as a Muggle, and had only found out when she was eleven that there was any other world. She knew things that most seventeen year olds did not know in either culture. She knew life-saving resuscitation, and had attempted to use it before her grandmother had died. She learned how to use a lot of the medical equipment she had been trusted to work with.
She continued on with her first day much more smoothly than her first class. She finally ended her day with her first year class which consisted of all Muggle borns from all the different houses. She liked it, there was no house competition, they all seemed to bond together in nervous anticipation for her lecture.
She handed out the customary syllabus. "This is what is expected of you all year, now that you have it in front of you, I don't expect any excuses as to not having enough time to complete readings or assignments as I have given you the assignments for the entire term on that sheet. I hope to make this course about more than just writing scrolls and reading. This will teach you life skills. Feel free to dress freely for this class. I wouldn't recommend doing this for any of your other classes, as your Professors may not appreciate it, but I find that learning to dress appropriately when integrating with Muggles is an important skill to learn. Now a show of hands how many of you are not Muggle born?"
One small boy in the back raised his hand high. "I expect you all to help him, this class isn't about competition, you are all trying to end up at the same place and that is graduation seven years from now." Lily continued with her opening lecture and soon she found that her classes for the day were over.
She smiled. No one had brought up her embarrassing kiss with Severus, but a few of her students whispered in what looked to be envy. She couldn't believe it. Apparently she wasn't the only student that had the hots for Professor Snape. She licked her lips after her class had cleared out. She was supposed to meet him in their room for a bit of an afternoon delight. She had been waiting for this all day, and it was part of what helped her get through her day without wanting to run from the room screaming.
She walked down the corridor toward the dungeons. Her classes weren't on the same floor so she would have to walk down the moving stairwell hoping to catch the stairs at the right time so she didn't end up where she had her first year. Not that that area was a problem anymore. Fluffy had found a new home on the grounds. He was sort of a cute little thing, when you got past the three heads and almost being killed by him thing. She smiled as she caught the stairwell just in time.
She continued walking and passed Alyce. Her hair was still green, leaving Lily feeling as if she had gotten the better part of the deal. It seems that almost everyone had passed off her kiss with Severus and embarrassing confession, while Alyce would have to walk around with the green in her hair for a month if she did regular washing.
"How are your classes?" Lily asked breathless.
"Fine.." Alyce said raising her eyebrows. "Where's the fire?"
"Oh, sorry, this is one of the only breaks I have with Severus," Lily said.
"Ooooh gotcha," Alyce said winking. "Well better hurry up, you are wasting precious time."
"We WILL talk later!" Lily said walking quickly toward the dungeons.
"I'm sure we will, but now you've got a previous engagement to "attend" to," Alyce said snickering.
Lily continued walking quickly until she was in one of the lowest floors of the castle where the dungeons were and where the Slytherin dormitories, common room, and her own room with Severus were as well. Lily looked at her watch. Severus was probably still getting his things together in the dungeon. She stuck her head into the dungeon classroom and saw no one around. She walked father into the room setting down her supplies from her previous lessons on the lab table where the cauldrons usually sat. She felt a pair of arms wrap around her from behind and she smiled.
"Didn't see you when I came in," Lily said.
"Shh Shh," he said into her ear. She felt him begin to kiss her neck. He reached up her shirt and began to fondle her breasts through the fabric of her bra. She ground against him.
"Missed you today," Lily said gasping as he slipped his hands under the fabric. "Missed this."
Lily felt his hot breath on her neck and felt his kisses get deeper. She groaned and she felt him begin to nibble at the flesh. She cried out as his teeth sank into her neck and she felt the sharpness of them penetrate her flesh. She pulled away instantly and turned around. She stared into the face of a man who looked oddly familiar to her, but was certainly not Severus.
"What do you think you're doing!" Lily demanded.
"Excuse me," the man said. "I have… urges…"
Lily was about to say something witty and possibly kick him where it counted but Severus walked into the dungeon.
"Mr…. Sanguini, your classroom isn't on this floor," Severus said obviously annoyed with the man for some reason.
"I see you have met Professor Kacufrakus," Severus said seeing the bite on neck. Sanguini raised his eyebrows after hearing he had just bitten a Professor. If he had bitten a student he might have gotten away with it, but a Professor, he was in deep shit now. "I advise you to keep your urges to yourself. If I hear of any students with similar injuries you can be sure your contract here will be terminated," Severus added coldly.
"Good day Professor Snape," Sanguini said. He then turned to Lily and said, "My deepest apologies, Professor Kacufrakus," he added, excusing himself from the room.
"Who was that?" Lily asked grasping the open wound on her neck.
"Replacement professor for History of Magic it seems that Professor Binns finally realized that he passed away. He took it as quite a shock. He had refused to teach saying that the Hogwart's Staff used him," Severus said. "I don't understand how it is that dangerous Professors continue to be hired here. Werewolves, vampires, Death Eaters, it's no wonder the attendance is declining."
"Vampire?" Lily asked. "He's a vampire?"
"I should think that was obvious," Severus said. "I have a balm for that," Severus said searching through his stores. He pulled out a greenish goop and smeared it on Lily's neck. Lily felt the wound scab over and the scabs fall off revealing pink, healing skin underneath. "It will take a few hours, but the bite wasn't deep, there shouldn't be any scarring," Severus said.
"Thanks," Lily said rubbing her neck. "So, how was the first day back?" she asked.
"Predictable," Severus said sighing.
"Oh?" Lily asked sitting down.
"Don't get too comfortable, I do have to teach in here in forty-five minutes," Severus said with a smirk on his face. "As much as I would love to take you right here, right now, any student could just walk in. What kind of example would that be setting Professor Kacufrakus?"
Lily closed the door and locked it. "I have been waiting all day and if we aren't going to talk about your day, then we are moving directly to the thing we both have on our minds."
"Tut-tut, Miss Kacufrakus, have you no self-control," Severus said lifting her up and sitting her down on one of the empty lab tables.
"Not at all," Lily said pushing her lips against his and giving him one of the best afternoon delights he may have ever had with her.
A/N another lack of lemons! Perhaps Addie will be able to give you something to sink your teeth into, no pun intended. Keep reading and reviewing!