"I should've expected that," muttered Snape under his breath, when a couple of hours later he was pacing around his room. The expression on his face remained completely enigmatic, but there was no doubt that he was neither calm nor happy.

It was hardly surprising. In the last few days his life had collapsed and now lay in ruins, and I could not do mcuh to help him. I truly wished he would have let me testify in his case on the first of July, but I dared not mention it again after our conversation in the inn, when he had informed me quite sharply that he had not wanted that. I knew that he was doing it all for my sake, but why would he not let me do something for him at least this once?

"Who is that Lestrange?" I asked hesitantly, glancing at Snape.

I knew we should deal with the exams, but at that moment, I simply did not pay it any mind. I sat at the desk with a quill in my hand and for an hour I have been puzzling over the first question. There was no point in it, but I did not want to just give up already. I would not be able to fall asleep, knowing that I had done nothing that day, despite it being so late.

Snape, in turn, did not even try to pretend he was working, but I was not surprised at all. In this state, he simply would not be able to do anything. He was shocked and at the same time furious at himself, even though I could not quite understand why.

"The husband of one Bellatrix Lestrange," answered the man, coming to a halt for a while, so he could look at me. I had already heard that name somewhere, but could not remember where. "Bellatrix loved the Torture Curse. An absolute psycho. And yet, at the same time, the most devoted to the Dark Lord... there used to be even a rumour that they had an affair, but... I doubt that. The Dark Lord was not capable of love.

I frowned slightly, thinking of that. Involuntarily, I doodled something on the parchment, breathing deeply.

"So... that man considers himself... because of the relationship between his wife and You-Know-Who as if his successor?" I asked hesitantly, raising my eyes. Only then did I notice that Snape stood not that far away from me, still looking at me intently.

"I can only guess," he answered, shrugging, "but yes. I have suspected it for a while, but... but now, as Lucius told me that... I should've got on with this issue much sooner. Don't pay too much attention to keeping the appearances. The more time we wasted, the stronger the Death Eaters grew.

"But it's still not too late," I noticed.

"No? And how come you know that?" he asked brusquely. "From what Lucius said, I can judge that they have actually almost taken over the Ministry. Not only the Ministry. The Azkaban guards also are bribed. Before, there were Dementors, but after their joining the Dark Lord, the Ministry resigned from their... services. However, they did not think that human people are even more likely to be bribed. If what Lucius and Aberforth said was true... another war is coming."

I sighed deeply. I was afraid that Severus was right... After all, I did not want to allow myself to think about the war, that the situation from a few years before would happen again. And yet, everything seemed to indicate that it would indeed occur.

Finally, I put the quill aside and walked over to Snape, delicately taking his hand. He did not slip it out of my grip, but he also did not reciprocate it in any way, as though he was a motionless statue.

"And what now? We must do something, otherwise the whole world will be in danger," I said quietly, looking at him tentatively. "On the other hand... there are only the two of us... and even if the others join us, there are far fewer of our people than Death Eaters."

"And I don't know if I'm not tired of playing the role of a hero, Shirley. I've got enough of thinking of who else might be facing danger," he confessed finally, his voice calm, yet slightly tired. "For the first time in my whole life I actually hoped that everything would finally fall into place. That after all those years I would at last get what the fate had not been willing to give me. A normal life. A family."

In anger, he curled his hand into a fist and punched the wall. However, I still held his other hand in mine and did not move away.

"It will be enough if we just... survive it," I promised, hoping to calm him down. "After all this..."

"Shirley, do understand one thing: we cannot be sure if we are going to survive it at all," he replied, looking at me seriously. "War is war. You don't know what's going to happen. You make plans... and in the next minute you're already dead."

I wished to find a way to cheer him up even if just a bit, but I realised it way too well that he was right. Besides, who else could know it as well as he did? He had been through enough wars to be able to predict what was going to happen now. And yet, I still wanted to hope for a happy ending to our story.

"If we give up, we will lose at the very beginning," I said. "Then, there will be no hope for us whatsoever."

To my surprise, upon Snape's face appeared a soft smile. He stretched the fingers of his left hand and gently caressed my cheek. I could not resist; I returned the smile, leaning into his touch.

"You'll never cease to astonish me, Shirley," he answered quietly, then leant in a bit and softly kissed my forehead. "Go. You must finish your work... and I should talk to McGonagall."

I nodded my head, then returned to my previous seat at the desk. I took the quill and once more began staring at the almost blank scroll of parchment. After a while, I heard a quiet tap when the door closed behind Snape.

It was already very late when he came back. I had just finished preparing the final exams for my students and now, I sat in my navy-blue dressing-gown, curled up in the worn-out armchair. In my hands I had the book which I had got from Snape for Christmas. One could think that I already knew it by heart, but I still returned to it very often. Maybe even too often.

I did not even realise when he walked in. Only when his body obscured the dim light coming from the candle attached to the wall, I took my eyes off the book and glanced up at him.

"You'll lose your sight if you keep reading in the dark, Shirley," he said sharply. "Besides, it's already so late that you should've already gone to sleep."

"I've been waiting for you," I answered only. "I just had to make sure you'd be back and go to sleep yourself."

I was not sure whether it was a shadow rushing across his face, or maybe Severus really did smile. I liked it when he smiled, even though he did that so rarely. I was pleased to notice, though, that it happened more and more often now.

"You shouldn't think of it. I'll manage," he assured me. I, however, could not forget those moments when lying in his bed, I had glanced towards the armchair, in which he had been sitting, just to see him watching me. I knew it perfectly well that even now there were nights when he did not sleep at all, too concerned about all that was happening around... when so many people could sleep soundly, completely oblivious to the truth.

It pained me that so many people still did not believe in his kindness and heroism. It pained me even more that not so long ago I had been doubting that, too. Maybe that was why I tried so desperately to make it up to him.

"Go to sleep, Shirley," he said gently, touching my cheek. "Lots of work's awaiting us, and you need to rest."

"You say that as though you didn't need that," I replied, frowning.

"Stop teasing me and go to bed," he said, this time putting more emphasis on his words, even though what I had been saying was definitely not teasing. It annoyed me when he treated me like a child who could understand hardly anything, or maybe like a half-brain.

"You need rest just as much as I do," I replied, putting the book on the table next to the armchair and getting up. I was much shorter than Snape, but at that moment I seemed not to notice that. I looked him straight in the eye, knowing that he did not like being opposed. Nevertheless, I did not intend to follow his commands, realising that he did not follow them himself.

For a split second I thought that he was going to hit me. The muscles of his jaw twitched dangerously, but nothing happened. Snape did not even raise his voice. What was more, after a while another smile arose upon his lips.

"You surprise me even more, Shirley," he said, then cupped my cheeks in his hands, the pads of his thumbs gently caressing my skin. I could not help returning the smile, but it did not change the fact that I was still quite indignant. "Not so long ago I scared you so much."

I sighed deeply and put my hand on his wrist, however, I did not try to take his hand away from my face.

"I'm worried about you," I said at last. "I can't watch you not sleeping all night... you act as though everything was your own burden, but forget that there are so many people around you. Go to sleep. You need it way more than I do."

For a moment Snape stayed silent. Then, to my greatest surprise, he embraced me, pulling me close, as though I was some valuable treasure which he was afraid of losing. This way he made me feel secure. When my head rested on his chest, I could hear his fast heartbeat.

"I'm afraid that if I don't take care of your safety, no-one will do that. People keep talking, but none of them are eager to work," he whispered. "They'll carry out an investigations and trials against me..."

"You've been taking care of me from the very beginning, Severus, but let me take care of you at least this once. I'm not a doll who cannot help you. I... I want to. I really want to help you. I'm ready to risk my everything..."

"But I am not ready to risk your safety, Shirley," Snape interrupted me. "When will you get it through your skull?"

I regretted my words, because they caused Snape to move away from me and go somewhere into a dark corner of the room, to change to his pyjama. I closed my eyes and hid my face in hands to calm down. I should control my nerves better... it had been the main source of my problems from the very beginning.

Although after a moment Severus already wore his usual, black night shirt, he did not lay down in his bed. I noticed him still standing in the corner and staring at me quite persistently, so I quickly looked away and turned back, folding my arms over my chest. I had no idea what he expected of me.

"I want you to finally understand it... I have already lived my life. I've got more than one chance from fate. You are still so young, you're not destined to live for such a short time. Especially when it's me who put you in danger."

His words took me completely by surprise; I was not prepared to hear them, so I was not able to answer at once. Only after a while did I slowly turn back to look at his face, almost ghostly pale in this darkness.

"It is not you who put me in danger. It's the Death Eaters who want to hunt me down."

"Yes, but..."

"Besides, I owe you my life," I cut in before he had the chance to say anything else. I could see, however, that his face changed rapidly, as though I had just slapped him. I knew that he was not used to being interrupted. "Not to mention, if anything happened to you, I would never forgive myself. And I presumed that you should've understood that better than anyone else, Severus."

I stopped, then in complete silence walked over to my bed, to lay down. I was so agitated that I doubted that I would be able to fall asleep, but I had no intention of waiting for him to give me that command once more. I did not want him to think that I was doing it only because he told me to.

Before I could slip under my blanket, though, Snape approached me and once again took my face in his hands, yet this time, there was no gentleness in his touch. That way he forced me to look him in the eye.

"You make me go crazy, Shirley," he growled. "You wake thoughts and emotions in me about which I haven't known until now."

"And what, you're going to hit me now?" I asked provocatively.

For a moment I was almost sure that this time it would happen. I closed my eyes, readying myself for the blow which, however, did not come.

Instead of that, I felt a familiar taste of his lips on mine. At that moment, I did not want him to kiss me. I was angry with him, but at the moments when our lips met, I always forgot about my irritation. I did not want it to happen again, because then, he would think that I am not genuine and serious in my words.

And yet... fury began to get out of me like air from a punctured balloon. Involuntarily, I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him close to me, closer than we had ever been. I was not thinking about what I was doing.

"Stop, Shirley," he whispered suddenly, almost forcingly pulling away from my lips. "I don't want to hurt you."

I felt ashamed. I had done nothing wrong, and yet, I had got a feeling that my gestures had been out of place. I flushed deeply and immediately turned my face away from Snape. Although I did take a breath, wanting to say something, I resigned after a while. I did not know what to say in a situation like that, so I decided it would be safer to remain silent. I felt Severus gently stroking my hair, but I got into my bed and turned my back on him.

I heard his quiet steps, however, that night, I was sure that I was not the only one who did not sleep.

I fell asleep only early in the morning. When I woke up, it must have been early forenoon, so I was glad it was Sunday. Otherwise, I would have definitely overslept. I sat up in the bed, still a bit unconscious, and rubbed my eyes.

The room was empty and, as always, immersed in darkness. I began to worry that our quarrel the previous night had made Severus feel quite offended, therefore I decided to find him, so I could talk to him.

As soon as I got dressed, I left the dimly lit room. The corridors in the dungeons were usually empty, so I was not surprised when I did not meet anyone there. Wondering where I should go first, I discovered with amazement that I could heard some voices.

I frowned slightly, then began heading in the direction from which they were coming. Immediately, I understood where I was going, but I was still not quite sure whose voices were those.

"...you don't understand what you're asking of me..."

"Oh, no, you're wrong... I understand perfectly what I'm asking of you, and this is exactly why I'm doing this."

"But you should just leave me be! I'm already done with this game."

I came to a halt at the door of Snape's office. It was not ajar, but I could clearly hear raised voices. One of them, the calmer one, certainly belonged to Severus, but the other one I could not match to any face I knew.

"I'm not saying you have to do this. I'm only asking you a favour," said Snape.

"A favour? And for what? All my life you've been pulling the rug from under my feet," answered the other one, definitely younger and very annoyed. "No, Snape. I'm not your little pet anymore. I'm not going to risk..."

"Don't you understand," Snape began to lose his temper, "that if you don't do this, not only your family will be in danger? After all, they hunt people like you! And do you want to know what the best bait is?"

The door opened with a thud, and I stood face to face with Severus and a young man with very fair hair.

"I've already had a chance to see, Draco, and I don't know if I want you to find it out the hard way."