I should have had faith
I should have taken a chance
I should have laughed

I should have risked something
I should have kissed you
I should have told you
I should have let you know

It was holiday break, at long last, and Ginny was alone. While the rest of her family visited Charlie in Romania again, she had decided foolishly to stay behind. She looked morosely around the empty common room and sighed. Why had she been stupid enough to volunteer to stay at Hogwarts? Oh yes, because she hadn't wanted to deal with her brothers. But that was before she had to be around Snape for two whole weeks. With no distractions to keep her mind off him. This was bad, and she knew it. More than once, she had fantasies of bursting through the doors to the potion master's office and flinging herself at him. On more than one occasion, shehad almost done it. Yes, this was most definitely bad.

Instead I fell and fell
And fell into the loneliness
I fell and fell and fell
Into the loneliness
I know so well

There were two other Gryffindors staying for holiday, a handful of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and no Slytherins. This meant that Ginny had perhaps four people she knew, only two that she could really talk to if she had to. She found herself yearning for Ron, Hermione, and Harr to come laughing and joking through the portrait hole, plotting their next hijinx or heroic endeavor. But they were graduated, and she was left here, with her thoughts, and a crush on her Potions professor.

"Not anything new." She mumbled, sinking into her favorite chair by the fire, "I'm used to loneliness."

Do you think that we could fall
And fall into each other's arms
Just fall and fall and fall
Into each other's arms?
Who would it harm?

~*~

Severus sighed, glad to be rid of his students for the break. Two weeks of quiet. Time to think and plan a way to forget whatever it was that was happening between him and Ginny Weasley. He wondered silently if it was appropriate to just call her Ginny, now that he had kissed her and admitted to himself he felt an attraction to her. An attraction that he had to squash, quickly. Fat bloody chance, his brain kept ranting. She's in your blood now, Severus. Just like Laura, almost exactly. Only this time it's worse, isn't it? This time, it's a student. You could lose your job. Or worse, you could hurt her. Could you live with that?

Which was why he needed these two weeks. So he could purge himself of any thoughts of Ginny Weasley and return to his normal, every day life. But try as he might he couldn't forget the way her lips tasted like cherries and her hair felt so soft as it brushed his cheek...

There were all these voices in my head
They said he won't so don't even try
Then listed all the reasons why

Snow was on the ground
You were in my reach
Walking there beside me
I should have turned and smiled

"Dammit." He muttered, his only reply his own voice echoing around him. But he was used to having his own echo as a companion. He could stand the loneliness he had grown so accustomed to. But could he stand the ache he had buried so many years ago, the one she had uncovered? Severus could only hope.

Instead I fell and fell
And fell into the loneliness
I fell and fell and fell
Into the loneliness
I fell and fell and fell and fell
I fell and fell and fell and fell

-----

A/N: Sorry these two chapters are all brooding and thinking and NO dialogue. Sooooo sorry. But coming very soon: an arrangement, kissing, holiday love, and more.