Kissing Snape

|~*~|

Draco sighed again. "What am I going to do with you, Ame?"

I grinned. Finally--a question I could answer.

|~*~|

"You could kiss me on the cheek and leave it alone at that."

He laughed, but did kiss me and the hall went silent once more. I looked around, blushing, then began to eat again to distract myself. After a few minutes, everyone else followed suit.

Ron had been staring at me, but finally said (loudly enough for all to hear), "That's just like kissing Snape!"

And again, the Hall went beyond silent. Those people apparently had really good ears. Too good. I'd have to look into that. Hm . . .

Anyway, Harry was giving Ron this sort of embarrassed look that told him to quiet down and everything would be okay--then he'd kill him. Ron seemed to start to feel kind of silly then.

"What? It is." He pointed to me. "She's a Snape; she's *evil.*" Then he clamped his mouth shut and began to pick at his food.

I laughed, but I just couldn't resist. He was such easy prey. I walked over and leaned over the Gryffindor table to face him; he tried to lean back away from me.

I smirked and with my eyebrow raised quietly asked, "Does ickle Ronniekins need a time-out?"

He stuttered for a moment, not knowing whether to laugh or be angry. But he was intimidated--I could tell, and tried my hardest to keep a straight face.

"Aren't you supposed to be over there with your daddy and Malfoy?"

"Aren't *you* supposed to be at anger management or something?" I retorted.

He just looked at me, eyes bulging out of their sockets. Eventually, he gave up with a glare and a frustrated growl and stamped out of the Great Hall. The moment the door closed I started cracking up. (Maybe I should've started carrying around my own drinks . . . Like Mad-eye Moody . . .) The Gryffindors started laughing too, except for Harry and Hermione, who looked torn for a few moments. Then they joined us in our laughter.

Finally, Harry said, "Um, Ame?"

"Yeah Harry?"

He nodded toward the staff table where I saw my dad gaping at us. He looked unpleasantly surprised. I gave an un-ladylike snort, then stood up from the bench. I saluted the Gryffs, then marched back to my seat at the Slytherin table.

A few minutes later, my father walked over to me. "Amethyst, I need to speak with you after breakfast."

"Sure Daddy."

|~*~|

After breakfast (as I'd promised), I knocked on the door to my dad's office, beside the Potions classroom.

"Who is it?" he called in his meanest voice.

"It's your favoritest daughter ever," I sang cheerily. Yup. Gotta find one of those flask thingys. What should I carry: water? Pumpkin juice? Hm . . .

"Come in."

I rolled my eyes but, still grinning, walked in and took a seat in front of his desk.

"Amethyst-- . . . Is it just me or have you been . . . different lately?"

"Mmm . . . Nope. Not just you. I've been surprisingly cheerful."

He sighed. "Cheerful. Well that's . . . That's nice. But . . . What I mean is . . . Is something wrong?"

"Wrong? Daddy, everything's wonderful. Almost perfect."

He laughed shortly. "Perfect. Well . . . That's . . . That's nice." After a long pause, he said (finally getting to the point), "What's going on between you and Potter?"

My eyebrows rose. "We're just friends." But I couldn't keep a smidge of regret out of my voice.

"Well it's okay Princess. You don't have to be his friend."

"Daddy, I want to be his friend."

"Oh, well . . . That's nice . . ." He looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole and die. "I'm . . . I'm glad you've learned . . . to be tolerant, Princess."

I laughed. "Tolerant? Of Harry?"

"Well, yes, I realize it must be difficult for you--putting up with him and all."

A stupid, dreamy smile came to my face before I could stop it. "I like to spend time with him." Then he looked like he was gonna hurl everywhere. Ew. "Well did you need anything else?"

He shook his head. "All right, well, I guess I better get to the library then."

He nodded, still looking green, so I left. And I actually went to the library.

Hermione was there, sitting at a table alone. When I entered, she looked up and sent me a welcoming smile. I sat down beside her; something was *so* up.

"Hey."

"Hi."

I gave her a half-smile. "What?"

"Amethyst, can I be honest with you?"

"Always," I said, leaning forward across the table.

"Amethyst, I'm worried about Harry."

My eyes narrowed and I leaned closer. "Why? What's wrong?"

Hermione smiled in spite of herself. "Nothing. I'm just afraid, that's all."

"Of what?"

"Of seeing him get hurt." After a few moments of watching me, she realized I was lost. "I would personally kill anyone who hurt him."

"After I got through with them," I said firmly, though I was still confused.

She put her head in her hands with a sigh. Finally, she looked back up at me. "As much as I hate to admit it . . . he . . . he, um . . . He cares very deeply for you. And . . . if you were to . . . hurt him . . . I'm not quite sure what I would do."

Much less confused I said, "Hermione, make something straight for me?" She nodded. "In what context do you mean, 'cares very deeply'?"

"He really fancies you," she blurted, then slapped a hand across her mouth. I raised an eyebrow at her in shock. "I--I didn't mean to say that. I--I think he . . . really . . ."

With another sigh, she returned to hiding her face in her hands.

Barely audible, I asked, "Are you serious?"

She nodded, and I just sat there in a total state of wonder. She looked at me again, and I could see how red her face was.

Whispering even more softly than I had, she said, "Please don't tell him that I told you that."

"I won't," I promised. "I don't think I could if I wanted to."

"Are . . . you two going to be okay? Because . . . I don't want to make things . . . uncomfortable between you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well now that you know . . . Do you think it's going to be difficult for you to act the same?"

"I'll be all right. Maybe . . . Yeah, I'll be all right."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, I mean . . . It's not like it's . . . exactly a bad thing or anything."

She nodded. "I'm really sorry about . . . that."

"What?" Surely she didn't mean she was sorry he liked me?

"I'm sorry for scaring you like that."

"So are we okay?"

She nodded again. "I guess I'd better be getting back."

"All right. Tell Harry I said hi."

"All right."