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Hope you enjoy the chapter!
A millisecond before the student body could break out in whispers, gasps and giggles, Severus' voice cut through the hall like ice.
"Absolutely not."
His refusal almost completely drowned out Asha, who at exactly the same moment stated, perhaps a little too adamantly for a student, "No thank you."
Minerva could tell immediately from the venomous glare Severus was giving her that she would be the one to lose this battle. That man could be as infuriatingly stubborn as a Hinkypunk. She gave him a very wintry look before turning to Asha.
"Sit up straight," she snapped, her patience hanging by a thread. "If I see so much as a prolonged blink, you'll be up here demonstrating... along with Mr Finnigan."
Across the room, Seamus gave a start and abruptly ended his conversation with Dean.
Asha's pounding heart sagged with relief. Thank goodness Severus was just as opposed to the idea of demonstrating dance as she was.
However, McGonagall's threat did its job. With the prospect of public humiliation hanging over her, Asha didn't take her eyes off the professor for the rest of the demonstration.
Luckily she only had to endure fifteen minutes of paying attention before it was time to spread out and partner up. Taking advantage of the chaos, she slipped out the side door of the Hall. It was done so silently and smoothly, no one noticed... except Severus.
She had just rounded the corner from the narrow corridor out into the Entrance Hall when he called languidly, "And where do you suppose you're off to?"
Asha spotted him walking over from the closed doors of the Great Hall. She did a quick scan of surrounding corridors, checking they were alone, before saying evenly, "Somewhere as far away from here as possible, as I'm sure you can understand."
As he approached, Severus also cast his eyes around then softened his expression ever so slightly. He came to a halt in front of Asha.
"If you think I am going to let you escape that easily, you are sorely mistaken," he said, his voice deep and smooth. "Now back you go," he nodded over her shoulder.
Asha stood her ground, folding her arms and casually leaning a shoulder against the stone column beside her. The muffled sound of enchanted string instruments started up from inside the Great Hall.
"Thank you so much the interrogation back there," she said lightly, ignoring his attempt to herd her back down the corridor.
Severus gave a purposeful twitch of the corner of his mouth that was half amused, half snarky. Then his expression returned to its typical dark canvas.
"Go."
"But your plan to torment me backfired a bit didn't it?" Asha continued, now unable to keep the smile off her face, "Nearly brought yourself down with me?"
Severus gave an impatient sigh, glancing around again and muttering, "Winters."
Asha was getting the feeling he wasn't as completely iron-willed as usual on this issue. He seemed fed up with the whole activity and like he had places to be. It was worth a try...
"I'm not going back into that hormone-filled hell hole," she insisted.
"It's that, or grading my papers for me," he drawled, but with a sharpness to his tone. "I can't occlude you all day long, I have work to do. Now get back inside before Minerva notices your absence."
Asha took her sweet time, using the opportunity to admire his eyes up close. In the light of the glowing sconce beside them, his irises looked more brown than black. Then she smiled - a move which immediately made Severus frown.
"Let's go then," she chimed happily and sidestepped around him, walking towards the Grand Staircase and away from the vibrato of violins. He turned around in confusion.
"Go where?" he replied, initially sounding curious, then irritated. "I think you will find the Great Hall is in the other direction."
Asha spun to face him but kept walking backwards.
"I think you will find I agree," she said, mimicking his tone. "But I chose to help you grade papers," she declared smugly.
Severus looked at her darkly.
Before he could say anything, she teased, "You're not gonna go back on your word, are you? You didn't strike me as that kind of man."
The few seconds of hanging silence between them was broken by a squeal inside the Great Hall followed by a chorus of shrill giggling. Asha stopped walking backwards and raised her eyebrows.
"Are you really so cruel as to send me back in there? After all we've been through?" she joked.
"Miss Brown, pull yourself together!" came McGonagall's stern voice.
Severus sighed in exasperation, rolled his eyes and resignedly walked in her direction.
"Yesss," Asha breathed through her grin of triumph and gratitude. She turned around and Severus caught up to her in about three steps. The pair fell into stride.
Along a passageway that branched off the main dungeon corridor was a heavy, beautifully carved door Asha had somehow never noticed. Severus tapped the handle with his wand. There was a thunk of an ancient locking mechanism and the door swung open. He strode inside, leaving Asha to follow in curiously behind him.
Severus' office was nowhere near as ominous and gloomy as his classroom, but it was certainly lacking in any personal touches or pops of colour. It was larger than Asha had expected, about three-quarters of the size of the Headmasters' Office. But instead of being circular, it formed a large rectangle, separated into two sections by a stone archway.
The first half of the office contained a large mahogany desk, behind which were shelves stacked with thick textbooks and filing boxes. In front of the desk, a Slytherin-green rug covered the stone floor and against the wall opposite sat a black leather couch.
Beyond the archway, the second half of the office looked to be a storage area. Densely packed shelves lined the walls and a few boxes were stacked on a central table.
Severus closed the door behind them with a wave of his hand. There was another thunk as it locked automatically. He removed his cloak and hung it on a hook next to the entranceway. Asha did the same with her school robes.
She had always been annoyed that Hogwarts insisted on making full-length robes compulsory. Why couldn't the school just settle for the jersey, shirt, tie and skirt they wore underneath. Asha had never quite embraced the Wizarding World's obsession with robes and cloaks.
Levitating a box up from the floor to his desk, Severus took a seat. With one hand, he selected a roll of parchment from the box, with the other he dipped the nib of a quill in an inkpot.
Asha was beyond pleased not to be spending the next hour and a half dancing with spotty teenage boys. It was an added bonus that Severus was now ignoring her presence, meaning she had an opportunity to browse his office. She felt as though the items and their positioning in his office could somehow act as a small window into Severus himself.
Flush with the door, the wall to Asha's right was lined with a narrow table which held several strange instruments and artifacts as well as a small, quietly bubbling caldron. She spent several minutes silently examining them, though certainly not touching them. She didn't need Snape sending her back to the Great Hall.
Before long, she drifted beneath the archway and into the busy yet highly organised storage area. It seemed that here Severus kept the ingredients, potions and equipment too dangerous or rare to risk leaving in the main classroom or storage room.
This half of the office was so dimly lit that a very faint golden glow caught Asha's eye. She walked around the central table, past the rows of jars that contained anything from slimy black tentacles to strange insects, towards the shelving on the back wall. There she found the source of the glow: a shoe-box-sized trunk. A thread of golden light faintly diffused from the crack between the base and lid.
She pulled the box off the shelve and found it to be surprisingly light. Placing it on the table behind her she hesitated, wondering whether she should ask for permission. A beat later, she opened the metal buckles with a loud clack. Glancing through the archway to the brightly lit office area, she listened for an objection. She couldn't see Severus from this angle, but she imagined his head jerking up from his work at the sound of the buckles. No objections. She opened the trunk.
It bathed the centre of the room in a pool of gentle golden light. The origin of this light was three small vials, all of which contained the same glowing liquid. If it hadn't been for the fact the potion appeared to move with unnatural energy, or the feeling of hypnotically swirling tendrils of magic, Asha would've taken it to be molten gold.
She watched it for a while, entranced by the glittery substance. Then she re-buckled the lid and carefully placed the trunk back on the shelf, making a note to look up the name of the potion later. She figured it must be very complicated to brew and very expensive.
On the way out of the storage area, she spotted a bookshelf on the back face of the archway. The unmarked, black spines of the books drew her in like a moth to a flame. Could Severus' office contain similar books to the ones that were at his house in Abersoch? Her heart thrummed with excitement.
She scanned the couple rows of leather-bound tomes, waiting for one to catch her eye like A Compendium of the Darkest Arts had last summer. Up close she could see that some were branded with ominous symbols, while others had faded lettering, forming words she guessed to be 'Purist' and 'Lethal Potentiality'.
Despite this, it was a small brown book that drew her attention. It was far more worn than anything else on the shelf and looked more like a journal than a published book. She squinted, trying to read what written on the spine but couldn't make out the letters. Forgetting where she was, or what she was doing, she drew her wand from the waistband of her skirt she lit its tip.
The glow of light caught Severus' eye.
"Asha," he said sharply. She flinched and looked over at him, extinguishing her wand. From her current position, just inside the archway, she was very visible to Severus. His face was unreadable. They both knew this was deja vu of what had happened in the early days of Abersoch.
Deciding she would just have to own the fact she'd been caught redhanded, Asha replied in mock innocence.
"Yes? Professor?"
Severus put his quill down and laced his fingers together, leaning forwards on his desk.
"It's not polite to snoop around other people's belongings." His jaw was tight and he was giving Asha a very shrewd look. The kind of look that would pressure most students into spilling the truth of their guilt.
Asha wasn't sure why she was feeling like the criminal when Severus literally was one for keeping books like that inside a school. Well, now she thought about it, she didn't actually know what was inside those books. Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe Severus was just telling her off for snooping. But he'd been fine with her snooping about his priceless potions, what was the problem with a few tattered books? Either way, now was not the time to find out. Not when Severus could send her back to dancing.
"Are you in need of my help? With grading papers that is," she asked with careful brightness, making sure to step through the archway so as not to be tempted to look at the books again.
Severus scoffed and leaned back in his chair, filing the matter for later thought.
"When I said you could mark papers I was being sarcastic," he sneered, "as you well know."
Asha smirked at him, waiting for the snide comment she knew he wouldn't be able to resist.
And, right on cue, he continued, "These are seventh year assignments, and seeing as you can hardly complete a fourth year paper competently, I somehow doubt you'll be of any help."
"How unfortunate," she remarked lightly.
He watched Asha as she promptly tucked her wand back into her skirt and strolled over to the opposite end of his office. She proceeded to kick off her shoes, flop onto the couch and lie back, sprawling out as if she owned the place.
Severus knew he should find this behaviour insolent. He should resent her arrogance. But he couldn't silence the small part of him that found it deeply endearing. He pushed the feeling away with the same bitter vehemence with which he pulled his eyes from the pleasing sight of her body graceful draped across his furniture. Needless to say, he marked the next paper with unnecessary ruthlessness... even for him.
For a while, the pair worked in silence. Well, Severus worked. Asha lounged around, enjoying wandlessly summoning and returning various objects from the storage half of the office. She found that, even though she couldn't see the potion vials around the corner, if she pressed her palm against the wall she could sense the distortions in the energy web of the stone caused by the potion's magic. Using that sensation she could summon the potion with her other hand.
Severus was tempted to warn Asha to be very careful with the objects in that room. But in the end, his instinctive feeling that she was in total control of her magic won out. So despite the fact he still had no clue how her abilities worked, he allowed her to continue playing around with his highly expensive and volatile items.
After a quarter of an hour, while still scratching out ticks and crosses with his quill, Severus said: "So you've been seeing more of Dumbledore?"
He said it conversationally, not looking up from his parchment. But Asha wasn't fooled. For some reason, Severus had always been very anxious that she get on good terms with the headmaster.
Her head was propped up behind one of her hands on the cushy couch armrest. She lazily rolled it to the side and noticed that at some point, probably while she was moseying around his office, Severus had loosened a few of the top-most, strangling buttons on his coat and shirt. She couldn't decide if she should be pleased that he felt comfortable enough to drop a bit of his rigid facade around her, or offended that he didn't find her worth the effort of his facade.
"I have," she replied. In an unexpected twist, Asha had found herself in Dumbledore's office several times over the last week.
Severus had been expecting this cagey response. He considered whether silence or further questioning would make her more likely to open up. Before he could decide, to both his and Asha's surprise, words began to flow from her mouth.
She absentmindedly lit tiny flames on her fingertips as she recounted, with surprising ease, the key points from her recent meetings with the headmaster:
Their first encounter since the 'tracking device incident' had been awkward, to say the least. Unbeknownst to Asha, Albus was once again struggling with the fact he couldn't yet tell her why it was so important to him and the rest of the Wizarding World that she was kept alive and accounted for.
Asha was pleased to find out that Dumbledore knew exactly what she meant by 'feeling magic' and that he himself was also able to do it. He told her of the time he spent during his thirties in wizarding monk societies of Asia and how the people there had taught him the art over several months.
"Could you show me how I could've detected the enchantments with my wand?" Asha had asked him. "I can sense magic wandlessly but I can't distinguish what the spells are."
"Certainly," Albus smiled, internally ecstatic that an opportunity for him to teach Asha had risen organically. "If you would like, I can also show you the techniques and steps Severus used to alter the spells, making them extremely difficult to detect."
To Asha's disquiet, she was quickly becoming fond of Albus Dumbledore. She appreciated that, in spite of being a highly empathetic and compassionate man, he thought first with analytical reason and logic. And, true to his word, he did somehow manage to make Asha feel more like an equal. It was hard not to like his friendly, quirky nature and soft chuckle - all of which he had maintained throughout his long life, despite his supreme wisdom and abilities. Asha had known Dumbledore was a great wizard, but only now was she starting to get a taste of his immense knowledge, skill, and magical power.
All of this and more, she explained to Severus from the comfort of his couch. He had put down his quill and crossed his legs, listening thoughtfully. He was very pleased Asha was sharing this information with him. Not necessarily because he cared about the details, but because he was certain that a month ago she would've resolutely stopped talking after her initial 'I have'.
Once Asha had divulged all the points of interest, a comfortable silence fell over them again. She tucked her hands behind her head and continued to gaze at the spidery cracks in the ceiling. Out of nowhere came the urge to look inside the books on Severus' shelf. Her stomach tightened. What the hell was wrong with her? Why was she so drawn to dark magic? Was there still some kind of inherent malignance inside of her? A wrongness that the loss of her memories couldn't be blamed for?
"Why are you so interested in Dark Arts?" she asked, seemingly out of the blue.
Severus stopped writing, his quill hovering mid-sentence above the parchment. He slowly looked up, his expression aloof.
"Who says I'm interested in Dark Arts," he said quietly.
Asha rolled to the side to give him a 'you're not fooling anyone' kind of look. When Severus stubbornly refused to budge, she said, "I'm not sure what you have around the corner there, but those books?... at your house?... I bet they were hard to come by, not to mention illegal. Not the kind of literature someone just stumbles across."
Severus scowled. Why he had ever decided to take Asha to his Abersoch cottage he would never understand. Of course, he had intended to remove the books from that shelf for however long Asha was present, but he didn't get the chance. She had noticed them immediately.
As for the books he kept here; on the rare occasion anyone rummage through his potions stock, they just dismissed them for plain old workbooks. Only Asha had the intuitionto realise what they were at a glance. Perhaps she could sense the words of dark power within their pages like she could sense wards and enchantments. His gut twisted uneasily.
"Why are you so interested in the books?" he asked, drawing out his words.
"I asked first," Asha retorted, sitting up.
"I was asking six months ago when I found you pouring over A Compendium of the Darkest Arts on my living room floor," Severus responded smoothy.
"I was asking the second I walked into your living room and saw the kinds of literature you kept!" Asha replied hotly, inexplicable anger slipping into her voice. Severus raised an eyebrow at her. She turned away, confused by her outburst.
Why was she so curious about those stupid books? And why the fuck did she continue to fuel her curiosity for the Dark Arts when she knew who her father was? Was she like him? Was there darkness and hate in her blood? It sure felt like it sometimes.
Asha's anger drained away, replaced by a soul-sucking numbness. It sat on her chest like a brick of lead. Until now, she hadn't realised how stubbornly she'd been avoiding thinking about her connection to Voldemort. But it had been for a good reason. It hurt. It was frightening. Horrifying.
She risked a glance over at Severus. He was still watching her. Quickly looking away again, she fidgeted with her fingers, stemming the buzzing of magic within them. She felt claustrophobic. Contaminated. She needed to get out of here.
Asha abruptly stood up. She spoke in that respectful tone she used to talk to the other professors.
"Sorry, I've just remembered something. I've got to go."
She walked to the door, grabbing her school robes from the hook.
Severus rose from his desk. He swore he could see the torment behind Asha's eyes. For once, it wasn't hard to guess what was running through her mind.
"I believe we had a deal," he asserted in a hard voice. He waved his hand and a box labelled 'Third Year SG stream' flew from a top-shelf onto his desk.
Against her better judgement, as Asha grabbed the door handle she glanced over at the box of homework. And then at him. She hesitated.
"I'm sure you're qualified enough to provide some, at the very least, mediocre feedback on these essays, given you read the entire textbook over summer break," Severus said in a classically disdainful tone that he hoped Asha would find grounding.
Her body remained rigid and standoffish, but her eyes softened and after a moment she released her grip on the door handle.
In a split second, her instinct to isolate herself dissolved into a desire to stay with Severus.
As she wordlessly re-hung her robes, Severus drew out his wand and non-verbally conjured a chair much like his own at the left end of his desk. They both took a seat. Asha's expression was neutral but up close he could see the colour had drained from her face. He thought of many things he wanted to say to her in that moment. He kept his mouth shut.
As a good excuse to release some of her buzzing magic, Asha wandlessly summoned the first essay from the box. She unrolled the parchment and forced all thoughts into the distant crevices of her mind. Everything except the name printed in neat, curvy handwriting and the top of the page: 'Ginny Weasley'.
Severus went to conjure Asha a quill and inkpot but she gently held a hand to his wrist. He raised an eyebrow.
"Let me try," she said with a faint smile that suggested she didn't have high expectations for herself.
Severus was happy to sit back and fold his arms. Quills and ink pots where moderately advanced items to conjure - a skill students learnt at N.E.W.T. level. The properties and consistency of the ink tended to be the crux of the spell, as well as the intricate structure of the feather.
Asha sat up straight her wand poised. She stared intently at the desk for several long seconds until finally waving her wand and muttering the incantation. A pearly white feather with a sharpened tip appeared on the desk in front of her. She reached out to inspect it but Severus got there first. It was a good weight and adequate for writing, but the feather was webbed too densely. Still, he was impressed. He grunted, gave a sideways nod of approval and handed it to Asha.
"Huh, not as bad as I expected," she decided.
"It far exceeds what I anticipated, given I expected a twig," Severus remarked.
"What are your expectations for the ink then?" Asha laughed.
"A puddle," he stated plainly. "And given your track record, probably one consisting of a substance that will cause irreparable damage to my desk".
"Alright then, challenge accepted."
Asha rolled up her sleeves and intense focus ensued. This time a hexagonal inkpot appeared containing what looked to be a deep red ink. Having a feeling it wasn't going to be as good as it seemed, Asha picked up her quill and probed the liquid.
"Aah, yup. That's more like it," she said, as blobs dripped off the quill tip with the viscosity of honey.
Severus smirked and leaned over, tapping the pot with his wand. The blobby consistency immediately thinned and the red colour became slightly brighter.
Asha raised her wand again, preparing for a second attempt.
"No." Severus pushed her wand hand down, his fingers warm and gentle. "No second attempts allowed. You've wasted enough of my time already so you're going to make up for it by marking these essays."
"Fair enough I suppose," Asha conceded with a reluctant smile.
Severus felt odd working with Asha next to him. He wasn't accustomed to having company in his office for more than a few minutes at a time. Still, it was only Asha and time passed quickly.
At four o'clock, contra to her desire to stay, Asha quietly packed the essays away and vanished her ink and quill. She needed to be seated in the common room before the Hufflepuffs returned, ready for them to gawk at the fact she'd ditched the dance lesson.
Severus looked up just as she was departing. She gave him a little two figured salute. "Thanks for harbouring my fugitive-ass and saving me from sweaty adolescent boys."
"If Minerva noticed your absence I want nothing to do with it," he droned, returning to his work.
Asha gave a small laugh and rolled her eyes. "Severus, I wouldn't dream of implicating you," she teased. "Although... If you ever decide to make a repeat of calling me out for 'paying absolutely no attention what so ever', my loyalty might just slip."
Severus didn't look up from his desk, his face stark as ever. But, a moment later, the corner of his lips twitched. Then he smirked into the workbook before him.
Asha bit her lip, smiling triumphantly. She left his office feeling deserving of some kind of medal.
A/N: pfft did you think i'd actually let them dance!? Nup! if you want a Snaddy that would be up for dancing in front of students, find a different fanfic (jk pls don't leave i love you)
Ooo fr tho the dancing scene in SemantRick's Romeo and Juliet (see my reading list) is just That was the exact moment I realised that sometimes less is so much more...
{why can i not write 'so much more' without thinking of Ten 😭shouts out to my fellow whovians (rip our franchise)}
But I hope you liked the long chapter... even though i baited you and there was no dancing 🙈
Only one more chapter till the Yule Ball bbyyyy!
TMI if you want it:
Weird how the thought of a black leather couch kinda turns me on tho ahahaha at least that makes a bit more sense than the other inanimate objects that get me - real monstrous 4WDs lmao (kinda kidding but kinda not... I feel like everyone kind gets what I mean... right?)
Side note if you want it:
I nearly wrote that sev marked homework with ticks and dots, but then i was like no, i can imagine he would appreciate the aggressive act of scratching in an 'X' lol