Chapter 3

(Flashback Begins)

Minerva was just finishing up marking her final pile of year 7 work, their last work ever for her class before the N.E.W.T.S. She had to admit, it made her a little teary to think about, the end of the year always did. One end of the school leaving while making way for another fresh set of faces in the new year. She set aside her last paper with a sigh and leaned back in her chair to stretch when her acute cat hearing picked up a timid knock on her door. "Come in!" she called, covering her eyes tiredly, wondering who on earth would be interrupting her this late in the night and hoping they wouldn't bother her for long. The door creaked open and shut quickly, one of the people she'd least expected to see on her doorstep this late in the year standing before her, looking a curious mix of confident and terrified.

"Mr. Snape, what brings you to my door so late, and so close to graduation?" she asked the pale, dark haired young man. "Forgive me Professor, but there's something I need to tell you very urgently, and I'm afraid it can't wait" he said in a voice that sounded exactly as he looked. "Alright then, on with it" she said as she turned her chair towards him and waited expectantly. The seventh year Slytherin took a deep breath and then blurted out a shock after shock with seemingly no ability to stop "I like you! Alright! I have since fifth year, you've driven me crazy, you're all I can think about! And if you forgive me, I'd very like to do this now in private before I leave here forever!" he charged forwards and bent down, cupping her face in his hands, tilting it up and smashing their lips together.

She froze in shock, taken aback by his actions before she seemed to lose all control of herself and RESPONDED TO HIM! Merlin's beard, she shouldn't be doing this! Yes, she had found herself attracted to him last year and while her brain knew it was wrong, her body and heart didn't seem to care. She had mentioned her attraction to her father, the headmaster, in a panic when she first noticed it, and the damn man just twinkled at her and said "Good! You two complement each other well, and if I may say Min, it's about time you moved on from what happened with Elphinstone".

She had cringed at that memory, remembering the horror that was that man and their "relationship", which had been more of a control of her by him, until she'd been saved by "disappearing" to her actual father's home in London, (Elphinstone had only been to her step-father's and mother home to see her so she hadn't been able to stay there) for a time before taking up her father's offer of the Transfiguration Professor role, as he was resigning from it due to it becoming too much for him to handle along with his head masterly duties, while wearing an aging glamour so parents wouldn't complain about their children being taught by a "child" themselves.

"Yes, but with a student?!" she'd responded, shocked by his seeming enthusiasm. He further shocked her by saying, "you forget about the glamour Min, you're much younger than you look. And yes, while you're not exactly the same age, that's only a 15 year age gap there, and Mr. Snape is very mature for his age. While I agree this shouldn't be pursued while he is still in school, once he's graduated, if this is what you want, I won't stand in your way, and I know your mother and Robert won't either."

She moaned into Severus' mouth, letting go of her stresses and pulling him closer, tangling her hand into his hair. Severus pulled back, leaving them gasping for breath, and resting their foreheads together. "I'm sorry Professor, I shouldn't have…" he started but she cut him off by smashing their lips together again. He gasped into her mouth in surprised before responding just as eagerly. She soon found herself lifted up and placed on her own desk by Severus who was surprisingly strong despite how he looked. He placed a hand either side of her, effectively blocking her in with his arms, not that she minded. Hs lips soon pulled away from hers and made their way down her neck, kissing every inch of skin he could without disrobing her.

"Wait, wait" she murmured, half-heartedly pushing him back so they could be face to face again. "What? I thought this was ok?" he whispered back, an expression of worry and slight terror returning to his face and he started to move back. "No, no! It's alright," she said panicking, pulling him closer before he could leave, "It's just…we need to talk about this before it goes any further." He nodded his understanding and moved so that he sat on the desk beside her, placing an arm around her waist and pulling her into his side, resting his forehead on hers again as she snuggled into him.

"Right, first things first is this can't be known by other students, so don't go bragging. Actually, I think it would be better if we waited until you're out of school, you only have a few weeks left and then we can explore this however we wish" she murmured. He nodded, "I agree completely, Prof-ah, Min. You don't have to go worrying about me sharing this around, like anyone would believe me anyway. This is between us and us only. I will miss you when I have to leave here but I will wait for you, I promise." He said, holding her gaze to show he meant what he said. She creased her eyebrows as a thought came to her but then nodded as she thought about it.

"What is it?" he asked, his own brow creasing in confusion. "Have you thought about becoming an animangus? It could help you avoid Potter and his group and it takes a while to become a fully fledged animangus so it would mean we would have an excuse to spend time together, also while you have to hold a mandrake leaf in your mouth continuously for quite some time but since you'll be studying and not talking much, I'm sure a smart Slytherin like you can manage that, but I can mention it to your other professors if you wished. Think about it…" she said while stroking his chest with her left hand.

"You've certainly made it sound very intriguing; I definitely will think about it." He hummed back, clearly thinking it through. "Sadly though, my Scottish goddess, I think I should be heading back to my dorm. Don't want to be caught sneaking round after curfew, do I?" he asked with a grin before pressing one last lingering kiss to her lips before regretfully pulling away and walking backwards to the door so to keep his eyes on her as long as possible.

"Goodnight then, my half-blood Prince, sleep well" she whispered, standing up from her desk and watching him leave. "You're aware of that name I see, damn Black, how he found out about it, I'll never know." he growled softly, angered by the fact that Black particularly just wouldn't leave him alone, "and I most certainly will, after everything that's happened tonight." He whispered with a sly grin on his face, before finally turning and departing her rooms, leaving her to lean against her desk and think of everything that had transpired in the last few hours, before heading off to bed and blissful dreams of her newfound lover herself.

(Flashback Ends)