Jupiter walked into the Three Broomsticks and sat down in a booth by herself. She had her sister's cloak on, and she pulled the hood down. Her hair was mussed from the wind and the hood. Jupiter licked her hand and tried to smooth the errant hairs down. She wasn't sure she wanted to buy anything, so she just sat there by herself. She pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil from the depths of Lacci's coat. She kept all sort of random amusements in it. She began to draw.

The door of the Three Broomsticks opened and closed heavily. Severus stepped in, shivering from the cold outdoors. He loosened his cloak however, the heat emitting from the large fire would soon come to his aid. He glanced around, suddenly coming to the realization he had no idea why he was here. He heard Lacci screaming about him getting to the Three Broomsticks, why the hell did he listen?

His eye caught a familiar head of long raven hair. He groaned inwardly, now he understood why he was here. If he had been in his right mind, he would have turned on his heels and stormed out of the forsaken tavern. Yet, curiosity killed the cat, and he wasn't going to wrong the saying.

He breathed in deeply and exhaled in due time. Gathering up the last wits about him, he made his way over to the booth through the bustling crowd. Madam Rosmerta gave him a quizzical glance, yet he just looked away. He was confused as well, how could he explain.

He stopped at the table, clearing his throat to gain the girl's attention.

"Excuse me," He asked, sound a little too annoyed. He rolled his eyes at himself, and retried his entrance.

"Er...I mean, what is it, Jupiter," He asked, sounding a little more nervous than he meant to. He was really messing up at the moment, so he decided to wait in silence, for the girl's reply.

Jupiter did not look up from her drawing when she heard the door open. She didn't look up when she heard footsteps drawing closer. But when she heard Snape's unhappy-sounding voice, her head snapped up.

She avoided eye contact with him, and feigned confidence, "I though Lacci might have meant this. Have a seat," she said, and he sat. "She saw me in the common room. I told her I wanted to talk to you, and she sent me out here with her cloak."

Snape stayed silent, and she turned away from her drawing, a heart behind bars with thorns in it. She looked up at his face, which was wrought with confusion. Her confident demeanor melted and she smiled at him. She wasn't entirely sure how to continue, so she said, "How has your day been?"

Severus gazed at the girl, attempting futilely to shove all emotion from his dark onyx eyes. He was at a loss however, and had to settle for confusion. It was better than the other emotions, however. Severus could sense the wavering confidence of her side of the table, if he had been speaking she would have heard the same.

He ignored her question and narrowed his eyes on her, scrutinizing her. What else did she want from him? He had done the unthinkable already and now she was milking it for all it was worth. What was her game?

"What do you wish to speak with me about, Ms. Vrij?" He growled, his usually dark voice lowering.

Jupiter sighed. She was tired of hiding herself, and she leaned forward so that she was almost touching Snape's nose. "Okay. I like you. You like me. It's just the way things are. Let's stop pretending it's not, all right? No more games, no more acts. I have nothing to hide from you and I can't see that you have anything to hide from me."

She almost kissed him, then and there, but decided against it and leaned back.

Severus froze as Jupiter came within inches of his face. His dark eyes scanned her now, sitting safely in her seat. He had realized her game, a little game of seduce the bitter teacher. She was playing him the fool. His black eyes grew cold and flared slightly.

"It wouldn't be wise to assume as much, Ms. Vrij," He hissed, grabbing on to her wrist, being sure to catch her attention. He had obviously caught the girl by surprised, for her eyes seemed to widen. He still kept his voice low, now it was a menacing growl.

"I am a professor, my dear. Not a love-starved git. I will not be in that manner, either. Is this understood?" He released Jupiter, and stood abruptly, smoothing his robes.

"Good day," He growled, as he marched out the door in a huff.

Jupiter sat in shock for a moment. Did he mean it? Maybe he didn't, and it was all over... Wait a minute. What happened in his office was not the actions of a man who was not interested. Jupiter rushed out after Snape and caught up with him.

"Stop it!" she yelled, stomping her foot down. Snape looked surprised and stopped. The streets were relatively empty, and dusk was falling.

"Listen, Severus!" she said, surprised at herself, "I went out on a limb for you!" she was saying it more loudly than normal, but she wasn't yelling anymore. She didn't want to make a scene.

"I opened myself up to you, and for a while I thought you'd opened up to me, too. Truth be told, I've liked you since the moment I met you, okay?" Jupiter's voice cracked, but she kept going, "And there's nothing in the world I want more than to be with you, but if you don't want to accept the fact that someone might actually have strong feelings for you, then it's more impossible than I thought!!"

Jupiter stood there, bristling with rage, eyes filled with spite at being stung so badly by someone she lo...she couldn't force herself to say the word. How did she know it was even true?

Severus was shocked. She had followed him. By Merlin's beard, the girl was following him. His dark eyes merely scanned the girl, unfazed, as she scolded him for his strange behavior. Then it struck him. She was serious, she truly did have feelings for him, not just some foolish school girl crush. He closed the gap between them in seconds, his hand clutching on to Jupiter's arms.

"Do you not understand, Jupiter? This is wrong. I'm probably twenty years your senior, you should be falling for some drooling school boy, not me," He growled, his voice escalating with irritation. Why couldn't she stop? Why couldn't she just turn away? Why the hell did she have to choose him, of all the bloody men in the world, why him?! He was so wrong for her...

"I will not allow you to throw your life away, like this," He stated, his voice softening, as his face slowly came closer to hers. He was going mad, that must be why he was still here holding the girl, he was raving mad. He was so mad, in fact, that he was about to kiss her.

"I won't let you..." He stammered, his ebony eyes delving deeply into her icy blues. He closed his eyes momentarily as he shook his head lightly. He cared all too much to do this to the girl, that was the problem. He cared. He lowered his arms and backed away. He gazed at her one last time, before he turned and continued on his way.

Jupiter was really getting upset.

"Stop walking away from me!" she said, running after him and pulling him around to face her, "I know perfectly well it's wrong and inappropriate, I came to terms with THAT my second year!" she was glad that the streets were empty, because she was yelling, despite herself.

"But I just don't care anymore! I can't go through my life, denying the way I feel, just because people who aren't going through what I am think that it's inappropriate!" Jupiter spat the despised word out. She could have slapped the man standing before her, she was so frustrated.

"You can try to stop me from being close to you, even from talking to you, but you can't stop me from loving you!!" she shouted. She took a mental step back. She hadn't meant to say it, but in her anger and frustration it had said itself. Well, she wasn't about to take it back. And she wasn't going to go through any silly am-I-really-in-love questioning. She felt like she loved him and that was damn good enough for her.

Love. She had said it, the one thing he feared more than the Dark Lord himself. It was love. He wasn't the one who was mad, it was her. She was in love with a dejected bitter man.

"No..." He whispered quietly, glaring at her with a shocked expression. She couldn't do this; she couldn't fall in love with him. For all the gold in Gringotts, she couldn't fall in love with him.

"No! Stop it, you're talking like a madman. You can yell and scream all you want, but the world will always remain the same. The world will always be cruel and unforgiving, Jupiter. You won't always get your way," His voice was higher, as if he was attempted to drive the information into her mind. Now, instead of feeling better, he felt worse. This was killing him. It was doing it very slowly, but it was killing him all the same.

"Why don't you go hate me like all the other children do? Ridicule me behind my back, curse me, do anything, but don't…don't love me. I'm not worth that, you…you deserve better. Now please, let me go," He implored, a sadness dripping into his gloomy voice, as he placed a shaking hand toward her cheek, granting it a single caress. He turned away, walking briskly, hoping this was the end of the conversation. He couldn't bear much more this night.

Jupiter watched him walk away. She been turned away from again.

"You're just like everyone else!" she screamed at his retreating back, "The moment they see who I am inside, what I really feel and really think, they turn their back on me!"

Tears were streaming down her face openly. She really hated herself now, for opening up to him in the first place. She should have known. She should have known.

"Fine!" Jupiter wasn't done yelling yet, "Just leave me like everyone else! And I hope you're perfectly happy now, alone, because if you push away everything good from your life, that's the way you'll be forever!" She stopped yelling, as he was probably out of earshot.

She sank to the dusty ground, crying and sobbing to herself, "Oh, I wish this ball had never come up! I wish I hadn't asked to talk to him! I wish I were dead..."

After a short while, Jupiter got up, still sniffling, and walked back to Hogwarts in the dark.

***

Manx walked into the empty Attic. Jupiter had asked him to meet her up here. She wanted to talk to him, but he didn't know what about. He sat down on the purple sofa and waited. Finally she appeared in the doorway, wearing a cloak and looking miserable.

"Hi Manx," she said, walking in and sitting on the couch next to him. She curled up under his shoulder sadly, and he wrapped his arms around her.

"What did you want to talk about, Jupiter? Why are you sad?" Manx asked her, though he probably knew the answer. Jupiter only got this way if she was having Boy Troubles.

"It's Severus...er...Professor Snape," she said.

Aha! thought Manx.

"You see, today I asked him to the ball and..." Jupiter proceeded to tell him everything that had happened so far.

"I hate it when people go away from me," she said, crying into Manx's neck, "Why did he have to be like everyone else? I thought he was different, Manx, I thought it would all be okay! Why didn't I know? Why did I open up to him?"

Manx hugged her tightly.

"It'll be all right, I'm sure he'll come to..."

But Manx thought quite differently than what he said. He'd never come to. Men never did. Especially men Jupiter chose. He loved Jupiter more than almost anything, but she had horrible taste in men. First there was Jessica. Granted, she wasn't a boy, but she was very abusive. That was when Jupiter was twelve. By the time she and Jessica broke up, she was fourteen. Then, later that year, it was a fellow named Paul, who was clearly just interested in sex, but Jupiter loved him. There were countless others she'd been with. She given her body, her mind, and her heart to them fully, and they'd crushed her. And she kept on doing it.

Now she was infatuated with that horrible Snape. He treated her like dirt, and yet she was still devoted to him. She followed him around, begging for him to love her, and all he ever did was kick her in the face. Manx had sworn not to mess with any of Jupiter's boyfriends at her request, but he was sick of seeing her hurt. He would have a little chat with Snape later on.

"Jupiter, love, it's almost 1 AM. We both need sleep," Manx whispered when she'd stopped crying.

Jupiter wiped her eyes on her sleeve and stood up.

"Thank you for being there for me, Manx," she said, and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back, and they both left for their rooms.

***

Severus threw the door to his office open for the second time that night, slamming it shut forcefully behind him. His searing eyes gazed about the room, almost begging for someone to oppose him, to tell him that what he did was wrong, and that he was only lying to himself. Fortunately, he was alone. He was always alone.

Everything that had come out of Jupiter's mouth that evening was correct, and he would be the last to doubt it. He was a fool. An ignorant bastard, even. He couldn't see a good thing standing right before his eyes. She was most likely everything he needed, yet he shoved it away, just like every other pleasure in his life. He was unworthy. He would always be unworthy of the joys of life, for he had aided in taking them away from the innocent.

He growled, as he glanced down at his cursed arm. How could he have known the sins of his past would haunt him like an ever-present specter to this day? He could still hear the lingering screams, they echoed endlessly in his cursed mind. Sometimes he wished he had died in his spying. He wished more than anything, that he could have died valiantly for the greater good, instead of living on in the lasting memory of the past. Instead, he was here now, cursing the life of another in a far deadlier way.

He walked slowly to his desk, yanking the chair from beneath it. He sat himself down with a despondent sigh and buried his head in his hands. Oh God, what a fool he was.

(a/n: Sorry to break up the serious mood, but Miss Buffy Anne Vida decided, in the RPG, to come right in. It's too funny to delete. Keep in mind, I've corrected her numerous spelling errors and taken away her asterisks.)

A girl opened the door slowly. "Hi! I am new here. My name is Buffy. I was just wondering where I might find my common room or someone who could help me find my common room," she said, and sat down in a chair.

Snape glanced up at the girl with bloodshot eyes. He looked like a complete wreck. He sighed and pushed away from the desk. Duty calls always at the most inopportune times.

"I suggest you make your way toward the Great Hall," Severus groaned, his voice strained and uneven. He placed a hand toward his forehead. Why the hell was she here now? It was about; he glanced at the wooden clock propped against his desk, nine o'clock.

"You will most likely find a Slytherin there, they will direct you toward the common room. I would do it myself, but I am a bit tied up at the time," He stated, motioning a slightly shaky hand toward his paper littered desk.

He lead the girl toward the door, opening it for her.

"I apologize I can be no further help to you," He said, motioning for her exit. After she departed, he returned to his desk. Groaning, and dropping into the seat once more, he glanced about. All truth be told, he had no work at the time. But following around a new student was not something he could handle at the moment.

He began to rifle through the papers, searching for perhaps something he could occupy his weary mind with, when suddenly a sheet dropped out, floating gently toward the floor. He leaned over to pick it up, yet upon seeing the scrawled handwriting he wished he hadn't.

"Thank you a thousand times, I can't wait to see you again.

Love,
Jupiter"

The crumpled sheet only reminded him of his stupidity ever the more. He stood abruptly; he had to leave the room. Walk about a bit, perhaps a glance in at the detention hall. They always seemed to need a bit of help down there; and the work would get his mind off his worries. At least for a little while. He departed.

Buffy ran back into the room and plopped back into the chair, "I am not a Slytherin. I am a Gryffindor. What should I do?"

Professor Übel Severo En Haut Tendu Chiffon Feiticeira Madula Madona Onde Fullstendig De Von Crackawitz opened the door curiously. She saw the girl sitting, and wondered why she was there. Ubel had bumped into Snape in the hallway, he seemed upset. Oh dear, she thought. "Excuse me, child, can I help you?"

Ubel looked a lot like a 6th year, but her clothing and the tone in her voice told anyone who cared that she was a teacher.

Buffy looked up. "Yes, please I am new to Hogwarts and don't remember my password. I am in Gryffindor. Can you help?" she looked back at Snape, "Can you help me?"

The professor stared at the girl. This Gryffindor girl had come to the head of Slytherin with her problem? Was she suicidal? Of course, she was speaking to someone who had left all ready, perhaps she was mentally unstable. "Er, I think you've come to the wrong person, dear. Next time, go to the Headmistress's Office, or another one of the teachers. Professor Snape has been a bit.... tired recently. Now what's your name?" she asked, leading the girl outside.

(Miss Buffy later came back in to say this [non-edited]:

*comes back into the room after 3 hours and sits down in a chair and crys.* I still do not know where to go and I am crying. I have never cried before. *sits in the room siletly. something is weird in here. It keeps drawing her back.*)