Madeline spent the rest of her day doing homework in the library with Lily and Remus, and chatting with the boy about "The Great Gatsby". He had loved the book, and in particular the character of Jay Gatsby.

"So we beat on, boats against the current, brought back ceaselessly into the past." He recited to her, suddenly. "That ending really stuck with me; it's so beautiful…"

"It is, Moony. I'm glad you liked the book. Maybe we should drop by London and pick up another Muggle novel. I think their literature is far better and richer than ours…"

He nodded happily at that. "Yeah, me too. I haven't read as much as you, but… Yeah, I really liked Fitzgerald…"

Lily, who had previously kept her eyes fixed on her Transfiguration essay, looked at her friends, and told them she had some books she could lend them if they wanted. They both welcomed her proposal with pleased expressions, and Lily smiled at them before concentrating back on her assignment. Another discussion started after a while between Remus and Madeline about Muggle British Poets.

Night-time came pretty early.

Madeline was in quite a good mood. It had been a nice day… Except for dinner. Dinner had been annoying, to say the least. Madeline realized it was probably because of Sirius, who had snogged Marlene for most of the time. Madeline was really glad they were so much into each other, but seeing their tongues entwining while she chatted with Moony hadn't really been a great sight. Prongs had been far too lost in his thoughts to say something about that, while Remus and Peter had pretended not to notice anything.

Madeline had just gone to dinner to stay with her friends a bit more. She would dine with Sev, later, after all. So, she excused herself from there pretty early, quickly raising from the Gryffindor table and walking away. She had had enough of that little show. She had ran towards her dormitory to get ready for her evening with Severus. And now there she was, in front of her truck full of fancy dresses.

She knew the Slytherin boy didn't care much about clothes; he wasn't superficial at all. But Madeline loved to dress up. A sticker on the top of her truck read: I dress to kill, but tastefully.

She had found it inside of a Muggle magazine; a glam rock star named Freddie Mercury had said that. Since then, the girl had lived up to that unique motto.

She put on a short, tight, black dress, which highlighted her lean form and hugged her breasts and back. She knew she looked good. The truth was: she really wanted to impress Severus. She untied her braid and let her long, wavy, blonde hair fall on her shoulders.

A girl has many arms.

Lily Evans and Mary McDonald were playing wizard chess, sitting on Mary's bed, when she finally wore her shoes. She had thought about wearing heels, but ended up opting for a comfortable pair of black Converse All Star. The two Gryffindor girls barely raised their heads to greet her goodbye as she silently left the dormitory. They asked no questions about her destination. She appreciated that. Lily had probably understood whom she would meet with. Mary, on the other hand, had never really bonded with Madeline, and so she probably didn't care enough to ask her anything.

She covered herself with her cloak, in order not to catch any unrequited attention, and silently walked out of the Gryffindor Common Room, who was occupied by some third years. Alice had already left to spend the night with Frank. Marlene and Sirius had been together since the afternoon, and they were now probably shagging in the boy's room.

As she walked towards the Slytherin Common Room, Madeline crossed path with many different couples who were enjoying that night's extended curfew. Amos Diggory, who was walking hand in hand with Portia Dexter, gave her a gentle smile when she spotted her descending the stairs.

Dumbledore, as he had said in his speech during dinner, thought that the young boys and girls needed love, more than anything else, in those times of fear and danger. That's why he had decided to move bed time from the usual hour to midnight. For Saint Valentine's only, of course.

The students knew that it meant that all teachers would patrol the halls and corridors, searching for rule breakers and occasional pranksters. They didn't care. They really needed love; those times were extremely dark. The First Wizarding War was casting gloomy shadows over everyone's life, after all.

James, Remus and Peter had decided to sneak out of Hogwarts. They wanted to go to the Three Broomsticks to enjoy a tipsy evening with Rosmerta and her funny, interesting clients. Remus had been reluctant to do so, but Peter had begged him to accompany them. He had told Remus he owed them, because they were both heart-broken. James, because of Lily's refusal to spend the night with him. Peter, because Amelia Riley, the Hufflepuff girl who he had kissed on New Year's Eve, when they were both drunk and overexcited, had been avoiding him since the day they had come back to school.

Remus couldn't deny them anything, and so he had eventually gave up trying to refuse, and he had followed them out of the school.

Madeline was so lost in her thoughts, thinking about poor Moony babysitting Prongs and Wormtail on that cold, winter night, that she didn't notice Professor Rathbone approaching her.

"Good evening, Miss Green."

She raised her blue eyes to meet his green-grey ones. She smiled. "Good evening, Professor."

Rathbone studied her face for some seconds. He always did that, as if trying to understand what was going on in her head. The man was wearing, as always, suit pants, a shirt and a petticoat; Madeline thought that the outfit really suited his lean, yet muscular and mainly body. He interrupted her staring by gently saying, "Do you mind if I walk with you for a bit?"

She shook her head at that, even if surprised by his request. "Not at all."

He grinned at her, and, as usual, his eyes remained impassive and detached.

The tall, fascinating man started pacing by her side, towards the Dungeons.

"Going on a date, I presume?" he asked after some minutes, his husky voice low in tone.

Madeline snorted. "Kind of."

He raised his eyebrow and looked at her in his peripheral, before laughing lightly. "Strange answer."

She shrugged. "I guess. But my relationships have never been normal."

Rathbone nodded, then. "I think I understand what you mean… But strange lovers are the best ones. You never get tired of them." He said, and Madeline wondered if… "What about you, sir? No lover?" she found herself asking, before realizing she had really overstepped boundaries that time.

But Rathbone didn't seem to mind, and his grin only grew bigger. He had wolfish traits, she thought. "Oh, no, I've been alone for quite some time now…"

Madeline couldn't help but think Rathbone could be a one-night-stand kind of guy. True, he was very elegant… And sweet, when he wanted.

And yet... he was also mysterious. She realized then that she knew him very little.

"I'm sorry about that." She replied, not really knowing what to say.

"You don't have to be, darling." He said, and laughed again, even if that sounded pretty forced. "By looking at where you've led me, I guess I might know who your lover is."

Madeline looked at him, and she suddenly was aware they had entered the Dungeons. The dimly lit halls created a play of shadows on Rathbone's sharp, elegant features. His longish dark, greying hair, fell around his face, and his green-grey eyes shone with amusement as she realized that.

Madeline cleared her throat. "Yeah, well… Yeah?" she muttered, and her eyes widened almost immediately. She wasn't used to remain speechless. She was always quick in replying. No one could ever make her stutter.

That fact enormously annoyed her.

Rathbone seemed to be enjoying himself immensely. "Slytherins are clever types." He said, then, as if wanting to snap her out of her embarrassed trance.

Madeline nodded, "Very clever. That's why, I think, Gryffindors usually loathe them so much."

Rathbone raised an eyebrow, confused. "I don't understand."

"You see, we, the Gryffindors, I mean, are all about the heart. We're not rational people. We only trust our instinct, our emotions. That's often misleading, but we don't care. Slytherins are the total opposite. Controlled, logical. We can't stand that."

Rathbone grinned, "I see." He said, amused, "That's a quite precise analysis, in my opinion."

"Yeah, I've found the reason behind years and years of hatred."

"On that, I think you're wrong…" he added, then, and sent her a dark look which made her shiver slightly. "I don't think it's hatred, of all things, what goes on between lions and snakes. It is just… Passion, in its various forms." he murmured.

When some torches caught her attention, Madeline moved her eyes from his face to point them towards the entrance of the Slytherin Common Room. There stood Severus, lazily leaning against the stone wall, waiting for her. He was nicely dressed. He wore a turtleneck, black sweater and some suit black pants. She liked that look on him.

The boy moved his calculating, onyx eyes between the two figures approaching him. Madeline could see his jaw clenching when he looked at Rathbone's grinning face.

"Thank you for accompanying me, Professor.", the girl said, smiling at the man, when they both reached Severus.

Rathbone slightly bowed her head at her, "Thank you for the nice chat, Miss Green. Mister Snape. I wish you both a fine evening." He stated, and on his face remained nothing of the sweetness that had surfaced when he had been alone with Madeline.

"Good evening Professor", spat out Severus through gritted teeth, and took the girl's hand to pull her into the Common Room behind him.

Madeline watched Rathbone turning his back on them and swiftly beginning to walk away.

"Wait a minute, Sev. I need to know something." She muttered to the boy, and freed her hand from his gasp. Severus shot her a confused look, but she just left him there, waiting, and she ran after the man.

"Professor!"

Rathbone, who was only a few meters away from them, turned to face the girl, who reached him almost immediately.

"Miss Green?"

She looked into his eyes, "What house were you in, sir, when you were in Hogwarts?"

Some amusement lighted up Rathbone's face, then, and she almost immediately understood what his answer would be. "But Slytherin, of course" he whispered, and his husky voice resembled a hiss.

Madeline stared at his handsome face for some minutes. Rathbone eventually realized the girl wouldn't say anything else. "Good night, Madeline"; he added then. And in a minute, he was gone from her sight.

The Gryffindor girl slowly turned to walk back to the boy, who was standing on the Common Room's threshold, keeping the door open.

"What was that about?" he asked, with inquisitive eyes.

"Nothing important. We were just having a discussion about houses."

Severus hummed at that, and gave a nod towards the Common Room, gesturing her to enter.

She knew he didn't like seeing her with Rathbone. He had told her so, once. But Severus also knew he could trust her; she had never given him a reason not to. Plus, the boy didn't want to ruin the mood on St. Valentine's Day, and that was why he dropped the argument and focused on the beautiful girl by his side.

When Madeline finally posed her eyes on the room she had walked into, her eyes widened. "This is so beautiful", she muttered.

There were rough stone walls and ceiling, from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling underneath an elaborately carved mantelpiece. The architecture was definitely gothic.

From the many windows, Madeline could see the Black Lake, which gave to the light in the room a green tinge. The common room had lots of low backed black and dark green button-tufted, leather sofas, and dark wood cupboards.

It had quite a grand atmosphere, but it was also a cold one.

The boy had spread candles all around it. He had also led a blanket in front of the fireplace, and he had put some food and drinks there.

It was quite magical. It was… So Slytherin. And she liked it.

The sound of swishing water reached Madeline's ears as she took some steps into the room.

Severus entwined his hands around her waist, and her back was suddenly pressed against his chest. He leaned his chin on her shoulder, and looked at her. "Do you like it?"

She smiled, "I love it, Sev."

He gave her a kiss on the jaw. He looked genuinely happy about her reaction. "Let's make the most of it while we can."