Astronomy Lessons
Severus Snape stalked in to the great hall grumbling under his breath. On his face was a scowl that caused students to scurry out of his way. He was processing the rumors that had been spread about him. They were some of the most ludicrous things he had ever heard. The most preposterous one was that he and Professor Sinistra were married, with child and McGonagall was going to be the godmother to the afore mentioned child and that's why he kissed her at the dance. Frankly, would he, Severus Snape, the evil, sardonic potions master, and head of Slytherin ever name a Gryffindor as a godparent to his child? But that was not the worst rumor at all, oh no, the worst rumor by far was that he was smitten with Professor McGonagall.
He made his way to his customary seat between Dumbledore and Sinistra and far from Minerva McGonagall as bloody well possible. It was the night before the students left and he was in a foul mood. For several reasons, one was that several Gryffindor students were staying for the break and the other one was because of those rumors being spread. Severus knew it was those Gryffindors spreading them.
After making several snide quips towards the other professor and after several warnings by Professor Dumbledore he restrained his biting wit to be heard only by Professor Sinistra. He kept his sarcastic remarks up all through dinner and she had to maintain all her self-control to keep from laughing out loud.
When Hagrid complained about the meat being too rare, Severus calmly told Sinistra that Hagrid had once a fiery love affair with a blast-end skrewt and because of it he liked his things to be charred. There were also a few comments about Sprout and Flitwick. Of course the usual comments about Trelawney and her unlikely addictions, from opium to sex. (She had some of her most freakish predictions in the midst of passion.) McGonagall got it by far the worst because Severus blamed her house for the rumors. Dumbledore and Sinistra were the only ones to be free of Severus' wit; Albus for respect issues and Sinistra of course because Severus feared for his manhood.
"Stop it, Severus," Sinistra hissed.
"What?" He feigned innocence, and she rolled her eyes at him.
"You are so anal."
In response to her he just leaned over and continued his assault on her ear. The to the untrained eye of the students at the Gryffindor table, who by coincidence were staring at the two professors, it looked like Snape was being more affectionate than usual.
Sinistra had not been expecting him to continue to make his remarks and she had been taking a drink of juice that she proceeded to spew from her nose all over the table. After cleaning up the mess with her wand she smacked Snape not too gently on the shoulder. She rose from the table said her goodbyes and placed her hands on Snape's shoulders. She placed her lips right next to his ear.
"Severus," she threatened, "You'd better stop that or I'll remember what Sprout said about you and I do believe it was quite wicked." With that she gave him a kiss on his ear leaving him strangely silent for the rest of dinner. He regained enough of his composure to sneer at her as she left the great hall.
Later that night up on the astronomy tower Severus was helping Sinistra with one of her many astronomy projects. He was repaying her for her help in the art that was potion brewing.
Needless to say around midnight when all good little Gryffindors should be asleep in their own dorms two fearless Gryffindors were sneaking up for a midnight snog session. George Weasley had seized Harry's invisibility cloak and he and Parvati were heading up to the tower. They made it to the top when they heard voices up there. Sinistra was giving Severus an impromptu astronomy lesson (honest). He had his chin resting on the top of her head; his arms were around her waist while she pointed out different constellations. The two daring Gryffindors paused and ducked in to a corner still skillfully hidden. The last thing they needed to happen was to get caught by Snape when it was obvious that he was enjoying his time alone with Sinistra.
They sat there watching and then decided that they were already there, why not make the best of it. George placed a silencing spell on the cloak and they started their snog session. Someone else climbing the stairs interrupted them mid kiss. They watched in shock as Professor McGonagall stepped in to the dim light.
"Well, well, well," they heard her say, "What are you two up to?"
"Were up here shagging. What do you think we're doing? I happen to be finishing up an astronomy project," came Sinistra's icy response.
"This late at night."
"Well, the stars are not very visible in the morning, Minerva." She said smirking while the man beside her held back his own laughter. McGonagall huffed and scowled.
"And you Severus?" she asked.
"I'm her assistant tonight." He said scowling and then he held out a star chart that Sinistra had just finished working with. Then his scowl turned in to an incredibly naughty grin. "We are actually using the tower for its intended function, but I suppose there could be some snogging done if you don't mind leaving."
With that he turned to the astronomy professor and pulled her close and started to snog the living daylight out of her. Parvarti and George were still watching when they took the cue from their professors and resumed their own snogging. The four of them remained there snogging like monkeys for quite some time.
McGonagall turned sharply and went down the stairs. The entire way down she was plotting her revenge on the two of them. They had embarrassed her in front of the whole school. Then she had an epiphany. Mad-eye Moody would help her get her revenge! After all they were an item. And she knew of two former Gryffindor students that held grudges against Snape. Well, actually just about every Gryffindor student held a grudge against Snape. But these two were the top tricksters of their day, and if she could get them to come back to renew their rivalry with Snape then she and Moody would deal with Sinistra.
She needed to get all this done with out Albus figuring it out. After all he loved Severus like a son and you could not to anything to Severus with out dealing with the Headmaster. If you did and Albus found out there'd be hell to pay. Poppy couldn't be told because she would tell Albus. She reasoned that with him always being captivated by Poppy Pomfry that shouldn't be terribly hard to get by him. By the time she reached her own chambers her frown had turned in to an impish smirk. She entered her rooms and left the hall echoing with an evil cackle.