AN: Again, sorry for the delay, but I've been on vacation... Miami Beach's sooooooooo lovely!!!!! Anyways, thanks a lot to all of you who took the time to review the previous chapter and HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chapter twenty: You're the door to my very soul.

Kyra descended into the dungeons in a semi-conscious state of mind. But the sight of his partly-opened door brought her back to her senses and she questioned whether or not she was doing the right thing. After all, crossing that threshold had put her in that awful situation.

" But I can't leave without seeing him," she told herself and lightly pushed the door open.

Snape was sitting in front of the fire with his back to her, obviously lost in deep thought and Kyra hesitated once again. She wasn't sure if he wanted to see her after everything that had happened. But her feet seemed to have a mind of their own, since they resolutely advanced until she was standing only a meter away from he professor.

" You shouldn't be here, Miss Gardner," he said gravely, before she could think of something to say.

" Believe me, the thought has crossed my mind, Professor Snape… but I needed to say goodbye to you," she whispered, trying not to sound as unsure and troubled as she felt.

Her voice was a bit raspy and Severus turned slowly, only to find her looking like the most vivid portrait of despair he had seen in years, save for his image in the mirror. Shaky hands, tousled hair, eyes still rimmed with red... Snape knew she must have been crying and that made a strange unease wash over him. He had never wanted to cause her any pain, but having become her friend had done so. Apparently, he was bound to hurt anyone who dared to come close to him. The knowledge of that caused raw guilt to clutch his insides and a deep despair to fill him beyond his senses.

" Aren't you afraid someone will know you are here?" He asked, fixing his obsidian eyes in hers.

Kyra shrugged. " Why? I've already been punished for something I… we didn't do."

" About that…"

" We don't have to talk about it," Kyra said, her eyes filling with the tears she kept fighting back.

" This was utterly unfair and I'm doing everything I can, with the aid of Albus, to get them to reconsider…" He started, but Kyra interrupted him.

" It's too late, Professor. You and the Headmaster know that." Her voice was devoid of emotions, but he had got to know her and he knew it was a mere façade. Her lovely blue eyes were true windows to her soul, a soul he knew was deeply hurt.

" You shouldn't have chosen to leave. I could have found another job," he said, as softly as he could.

She shook her head. " But you like it in here, I never really did, so… Look, I'm extremely angry because they tainted our… friendship, because all this is unfair and I know I'll never forgive the Board. But I can forget, and you bet I will. I'll never think of anything related to Hogwarts again… and I'll be OK," Kyra finished, more to reassure herself than Severus. And he sensed it.

He felt a twinge of pain inside of him at those words. Would she also forget him?

' Of course, you bloody fool!' He scolded himself. ' You must be the one she is most eager to put out of her mind, assuming you were ever there.'

Trying to put aside the sadness that tried to overcome him, he asked her, " What will you do now?"

" Mister Malfoy approached me after that… meeting and he gave me a Certificate of having completed my studies with the greatest honors at a normal Highschool… so I guess I'll go to College," she concluded.

Surprised by what she had just revealed about Lucius, Severus' mind started working at full speed, trying to find the blonde man's hidden intentions. " Where?" He asked, after a few seconds of silence.

" America. My parents live in California, so I guess I'll move back with them and go to UCLA or some University like that," replied Kyra.

Her professor didn't fail to notice how a bright spark of hope returned to her eyes at the mere mention of her country and knew for sure she was already making plans for her future. It was a bittersweet experience for Severus. In one hand, he was proud of her, for being able to hold her head high and think clearly even in a situation like that, but on the other one, he was devastated by the idea of the distance that would separate them.

" It is settled, then," he said, sounding more distraught than he would have liked to.

She nodded and smiled. " Yeah… thanks to Mr. Malfoy. Without his aid I don't know what I would have done."

" You shouldn't trust him, Miss Gardner," he heard himself say, a hint of warning in his tone.

The woman looked surprised. " Why?" She inquired. " I mean, I was destroyed and he helped me. He was really kind and offered his help for anything I might need."

" And didn't you find that strange? Don't forget for him you are nothing but…"

" A mudblood?" She cut him in, arching her expressive eyebrows.

Severus immediately realized of his mistake. " I am sorry, I did not mean to…"

Kyra smiled warmly at him as she made a dismissive sign with her hand. " Oh, Professor! Every single Slytherin thinks of me that way, why wouldn't you?"

Severus wanted to scream he didn't, that he thought of her as the smartest, bravest and most beautiful woman he had ever met. But he remained silent instead and Kyra went on, " Maybe this injustice has softened his heart towards me."

" I doubt it. Just promise me you won't trust him," he pressed.

" I thought you were friends."

This time, Severus looked surprised by her assumption. " Why would you?"

" I figured all Death Eaters got along quite well," she replied, not noticing she had put herself in evidence, revealing she knew his secret.

Snape felt the world crumble at his feet. She was aware of what he was, knew the kind of person her professor was... yet, she had said it so naturally. Why wasn't she horrified? And, even more important, how did she find out?"

" How do you know what I am?" He managed to ask and observed how realization dawned on Kyra's face.

" I gave myself away, didn't I?" She said with a chagrined smile. Severus didn't need to answer and Kyra didn't expect him to. " Well, you see, something very weird happened when you were sick..."

With that, she proceeded to tell him everything about that night in which a ray of light had revealed his Mark to her, how Albus had asked her to keep his secret and why she had done so.

" I see," he said tensely once she finished.

" But don't worry, that's OK with me and I won't tell anyone," she hurried to reassure.

Severus only acknowledged her words with a curt nod before speaking. " Now, back to Lucius Malfoy… he… we don't have much contact now. But you shouldn't trust someone who was so close to the Dark Lord," he prompted, knowing instinctively he needed to make her stay away from Malfoy, but how? The only way he could come up with seemed too risky and it would mean telling her one of his greatest secrets.

Severus hesitated for a second. Not many people, other than Dumbledore and Hogwarts' staff, knew that, for if it ever ceased to be a secret, his life would be over. It wasn't that he cherished his life so much, but he definitely didn't want to die like that, not when he still had the chance of saving other from witnessing the horrors he had had to witness.

She knew she was trustworthy. He had given her glimpses of his true self and she never told anyone. Hadn't she kept silent about him being a Death Eater? What was more, hadn't she just given up everything she had worked for, only thinking about him? He had to be honest to her, he owed her that much.

Taking a deep breath, Severus Snape fixed his eyes on hers before saying, " What I am, Miss Gardner, is a spy."