Urg, sorry this took so long to get done . . . I was grounded for ditching school and couldn't use the computer . . .don't parents sometimes suck? Anyway, all credit must go to Rowling, of course, who is graciously lending me her Potions Master for the time being. Although I am almost 100% sure that I wrote this entire chapter, I have no recollection of actually doing so. It may be strange . . . or perfectly normal, who knows eh?
Also, I have six reviews . . . they make me happy . . . I want more!!
Chapter 3
When Viola was dragged out of her sleep the next morning, she couldn't recall ever feeling so wonderful. A glance at her alarm clock told her that she had again missed breakfast, but oddly she didn't care.
Her cheerfulness increased upon her realization that the girls were already gone for the morning, so she dressed in privacy, without their sneering taunts. Only when she spotted Snape's coffee mug on her bedside table did she recollect the previous evening, or rather, early morning. The inside of the cup was stained purple from the potion, and she hurriedly washed it clean in the bathroom, her mind reeling from the memories that were flooding back. Though they were gone, she could still feel the cuts on her arm, even if it was only imagined.
The bell rang, signalling the start of class and she got caught up in the rush of students towards to Potions lab. She was the first one to get to class, and she almost skipped to the front of the room in her good mood, placing the mug politely on Snape's desk, whispering a quiet thanks to him. He seemed mildly surprised, but then he ignored her, but she wasn't really shocked. He probably had no real memory of their encounter the night before.
She was appalled at how terrible he looked. No longer drunk, but most definitely hung over something fierce. His seemed to be fighting to stay awake, and yawning quite a bit. His eyes lacked their savage depth, and instead were blank and haunted. He looked a bit sick as well; he was more pale than ever.
Nevertheless, he began his lesson as normal and went about things as if nothing was wrong. He did manage to have a Ravenclaw girl in tears by the end of class, though, so obviously the lack of sleep did not affect his teaching methods.
When it came time for them to start on their potions, Brandon Carter sidled up to Viola and asked if she would mind him working with her. Before she could really answer, though, he had started. Brandon's mood matched hers, though, and they worked quite well together.
"Don't mind those girls," he advised her when he noticed them sneering at Viola from across the room. "They'll leave you alone eventually." She frowned for a moment, but then smiled brightly at him, effectively completing their potion by adding a snake scale.
Snape swooped down on them and inspected the potion critically. Unable to find anything wrong with it, he mumbled a 'good work' and left to scrutinize someone else's hard labour.
Viola watched him for a moment, deep in thought. The night before, he had greatly intrigued her, enough to leave her legs weak and her heart pounding. Now, though, he was just back to his normal, irate self.
She was having a strange desire to see more of him, to get to know more of him. God Viola, now you have a crush on Snape? She shook her head, banishing those thoughts from her mind. But no, it wasn't a crush, not really. He just . . . intrigued her.
"Come to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?" Brandon asked, his tone suggested he had said it a few times before she noticed. Still eyeing Snape, she agreed.
"Yeah. . . yeah sure Brandon." she faced him at last and smiled genuinely. "Sounds fun." She tried to sound nonchalant, but inside she cheered for her luck. Plenty of girls at Hogwarts had a crush on Brandon. Hard not to, really, considering his incredible looks and Quidditch ability. Viola had never been one to get silly crushes, but she had to admit a trip to Hogsmeade with gorgeous Brandon was something to look forward to.
"Great then," he grinned at her.
The bell rang soon after, and the students rushed out of the classroom, leaving Snape gratefully alone, the sudden quiet soothing his pounding headache. He hadn't slept a wink, and the memories of the night before were still fresh in his mind.
The warped, pumping music had throbbed through his brain upon his arrival to the Malfoy Manor. Turning down drinks from several shifty eyed servants, he found an unopened bottle of scotch on a table and started on it himself. He never trusted an open glass in a room full of Death Eaters.
The numbness had left his arm by then, the pain thankfully gone. He kept his back to a wall and watched the proceedings. Most of the people dancing were women, drunk as whores and displaying their flesh in tantalizing glimpses to the barbaric hooded figures grouped around the room in easygoing imperturbability.
As disgusted as Severus was with them, he could still remember why he loved these nights. Music vibrating through the floor, liqueur flowing like water and the loose young females who would not be satisfied until they tasted blood. The red lights hanging from the domed ceiling made the scene eerie and unsettling, bathing flesh in crimson light, making it appear drenched in blood. He took a long pull from his bottle, and when he brought it down he spotted Lucius Malfoy groping a woman who was most definitely not his wife. He saw Severus and waved haughtily at him, before leaving his young lady.
As the insobriety overtook the Potions Master, he found himself cornered by Lucius. Strobe lights flashed from the corners, and the blond man appeared to move in slow motion.
"Severus, not participating?" He asked amiably, quite intoxicated himself. But after all, Severus reminded himself, that's the point.
"These trivial festivities bore me Lucius." He took another long drink, trying to get as drunk as possible before the real action started.
"You used to love our little revels, Sev." Lucius replied, snagging the bottle and gulping some of the amber fire down. A long legged beauty walked passed them, her arm outstretched towards the two men. Her index finger crossed each of their throats before she disappeared into the crowds. Lucius smirked after her, his eyes glued rather ungraciously to her backside, encased in tight leather pants.
"I tire of it, Lucius." he admitted. "It's all the same. Drinking the same booze, doing the same drugs and fucking the same sluts night after dimly remembered night." he sneered.
"Ah, so you're bored, are you?" Lucius grinned. "Things will get better soon. You might want to drink up," he suggested, suddenly slightly nervous. "He's coming."
Before the Death Eaters were to meet Voldemort, they always had these twisted little parties. It was merely an excuse to get as drunk as possible before the Dark Lord came to call on them. The pain that they might soon be put through was numbed slightly by alcohol, and less likely to be remembered. Entertainment ranged from muggle torture to perverted orgies, mild intoxicants to heroin and cocaine.
Snape felt that he had left it all behind years ago, but in truth, every time he came to another revel as a spy, he felt like he was back in his youth again, so far into the dark sometimes he forgot what side he was really on.
Severus was about to casually ask Lucius what would soon be happening, but he had already sauntered off. He cursed silently to himself. What was the point of coming to these horrible festivities if he didn't learn anything?
The bottle was removed from his hand by a woman nearly as tall as he was. She drank deeply from the scotch and dropped it onto the floor. She wrapped herself around him and forcefully covered his mouth with her own.
Fighting back his revulsion, he forced himself to kiss her back, just as hard. He kneaded her hips roughly and crushed her tempting form against his. He could feel her breasts pressed to his chest, and reached under her shirt to feel her coarsely. Playing the part of the Death Eater, he ravaged her against the wall, taking no delight whatsoever from her moans of pain and pleasure.
Her hands, which had been tangled in his hair, now dragged down the sides of his face and neck, leaving searing tracks of blood on his sallow skin. He cried out in pain and surprise, grabbing her wrists and angrily throwing her from him.
The music was so loud now it completely drowned out all thought. The girl who had raked Snape's face had stalked off in search of someone else, and he found himself again alone. Looking around him, he noticed that people were donning their masks and securing their dark hoods in place. He joined them, moving at last away from the wall and taking his place in the circle.
The music became muffled when he entered the ring of people, as if they were in a separate room. His elbows jostled those of the people on either side of him, but they ignored each other completely, staring intently at the centre of the circle.
With a small noise, the Dark Lord apparated before them, blinking his wide red eyes around at his followers. His snakelike nostrils flared, tasting the scent of their fear. Snape's insides turned to ice as the demonic form of Voldemort looked at them, straight through their tainted souls, and tore them apart with mind ripping agony.
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"So, I'm going to Hogsmeade with Brandon tomorrow." Viola grinned at her three friends, once again behind the greenhouses on the following Friday evening, basking in the lingering warmth from the beautiful day. They stared blankly back at her in mild surprise, their faces partially hidden by the heavy, sweet smoke that surrounded them.
Finally, Randy shrugged and got back to smoking the rather fat joint he had in his hand. Gwendolen raised her eyebrows at her friend.
"So now you're dating the Slytherins?" she asked incredulously, not quite approving of her friend. "Watch out Vi, you know how they are."
"It's no big deal, Gwen." Brianna cut in, a smile painted all over her aristocratic features. "He's real cute Vi, good for you."
"Looks aren't everything," Randy said to Brianna, passing her his joint.
"You only think that cause your ugly." Brianna laughed, and he punched her playfully in the stomach, causing a cloud of smoke to whoosh out of her lungs. This was a great source of hilarity for Gwendolen, who went into a fit of laughter, her entire body convulsing as she gasped for air.
Viola sat back and relaxed, flipping the headphones of her discman over her ears and tuning out her friends' congenial joshing. She never told them about her 'episode', for lack of a better word. Her friends knew that she cut herself, but she had always refused to talk about it with them, not wanting them to worry. They really didn't know how to handle her problem, if forcing her to talk about it would make it worse or better, and so they trusted her to seek help when she wanted it. It had been a silent agreement between them for as long as they could all remember.
She also didn't tell them about her encounter with Snape in the Potions classroom. She considered it to be a rather private thing, for some reason, something personal between her and the Potions Master. Like a secret, only better.
She was thankful that while electricity did not function at Hogwarts, batteries did. After a while, her body felt pleasantly detached from her mind, and the mellow rhythm of Sublime reverberated through her without her really hearing it.
In an instant, it seemed, it was getting quite dark. The four friends heaved themselves up from the ground, passing around a small bottle of Visine to despatch with the tell-tale bloodshot eyes that could get them into a lot of trouble if they were to run into a teacher.
They separated in the entrance hall, saying their goodnights as Viola headed away from them, down the stairway into the dungeons and as the other three went up to the Hufflepuff common room.
Taking a detour, Viola headed to the kitchens instead of the Slytherin dormitory, suddenly plagued with ravenous munchies. She didn't run into anyone in the corridor, which she thought was a bit odd but it didn't really bother her in her state of mind.
Distracted by her music, still blaring into her ears and intent on her quest for food, she took no notice of the eyes which followed her, or the quick footsteps that trailed behind her.
Students at Hogwarts got Friday afternoons off, and Severus Snape had spent this time sleeping deeply and dreamless, having finally succumbed to a potion. He woke up just as night was falling, and set out towards the kitchens, since he had missed lunch and dinner. Through eyes still clouded with sleep, he saw Viola walking in the same direction, swaying slightly to music that only she could hear.
He watched her tickle the fruit painting gently and disappear into the doorway that opened there. He waited for a minute, then prepared to do the same when the door opened again and Viola emerged right in front of him, clutching a pile of cookies. She gasped in surprise when she saw him, and almost dropped the food.
"Hungry?" he asked her sarcastically, as she selected a cookie and began to eat it in front of him. She handed one to him, and skirted around his tall robed figure. Visine or not, she didn't trust her eyes. She shot him a smile when he grabbed her arm, turning her around to look him in the eye.
She was surprised, but not displeased, to have him touching her again. His closeness made her feel elated more than the drugs did, and now she was sure she could smell his cologne. She took a deep breath, taking in his masculine scent.
He was preparing to say something very difficult, that he would never normally say unless Dumbledore had told him to. Spurred on by that fact, and the now-remembered sight of her making a healing and dreamless sleep potion in his lab, he forced himself to speak gently.
"Do you need to talk about anything, Viola?" he asked, feeling a bit strange, and most definitely not wanting to have this sort of conversation with a student. She frowned slightly, then smiled again, shaking her head.
"Why? Do you?" she gave him another cookie and turned to leave again, this time he didn't stop her. For some reason, she almost wished that he had.
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The next morning brought another sunny, hot day. Viola dressed in her dorm, again in the absence of the other girls, in a t shirt, capri jeans and sandals. Saturdays at Hogwarts meant no uniforms! Without bothering to brush her short hair, she rushed out into the common room, where Brandon was already waiting for her, looking immaculate in faded, baggy jeans and an unbuttoned red shirt over a white wife beater.
They ate breakfast together in the Great Hall, discussing their plans for the day over toast. Across the room, Viola watched the Hufflepuff table. She saw Randy catch a package dropped by a large barn owl, and show it to Gwendolen and Brianna. He saw her watching and waved the small box at her, grinning cheerily. Randy's muggle friends were always sending him pot at school, since it was impossible to buy in Hogsmeade.
She turned her attention back to Brandon, who was just saying something about buying her lunch in the Three Broomsticks. She nodded and grinned at him, and they left together in a crowd of students to walk to town in the warmth of the morning.
Their morning in Hogsmeade was uneventful, but they had fun nonetheless. Save for a quick stop at the post office so Viola could mail a letter home to her parents, they devoted their time to Zonko's Joke Shop, the sweet shop, and Quality Quidditch Supplies. Brandon had to drag Viola away from a display of new Firebolts, which were mesmerizing in their beauty. She could remember in the summer of her second year, saving up every scrap of money she could get, to exchange it all for galleons and buy a Nimbus 2001. That was the year she made the Quidditch team.
At around noon Viola and Brandon were just sitting down in the restaurant end of the Three Broomsticks. They chose a seat in the back, by a large window. The sunlight poured in for them to wallow in the heat.
While Brandon was looking through his menu, Viola saw Randy, Gwen and Brianna saunter in to order drinks. They waved to her, but did not venture further upon seeing her with Brandon. They made pleasant small talk while they ate, about Quidditch and classes and other unimportant things.
Under the small table, Brandon's leg jostled hers, and he grinned at her. She smiled back, giving him a playful punch on the shoulder, successfully knocking over his glass of water.
With a laugh, they both stood up quickly, before the water could run off the table and soak them. Their food forgotten, the exited the pub before they were asked to clean it up. Once out on the street, they continued walking down the cobblestone street, still laughing about nothing. Viola's sandals flip-flopped on the road, making a rather annoying noise, so she took them off and stuffed them in her backpack, now barefoot.
Brandon watched her walk head of him, half dancing to some song she must have stuck in her head. Her jeans were frayed at the bottom, and every once and a while she would move in such a way that wold pull her shirt up an inch or so, revealing her navel. He also noticed a tattoo on the small of her back, of a cherub.
He hurried to catch up with her, still admiring her appearance to himself. When he came up beside him, she jarred him lightly with her shoulder, still smiling. Instead of knocking her back, he slid his arm around her waist, and since she made no move to remove it, they walked that way.
"Mind if I smoke?" She asked sweetly, and when he shook his head, she pulled a joint out of her pocket and lit it.
"Oy, that's not a cigarette!" He laughed at her, his hand sliding into her back pocket.
"Of course not," she grinned. "Cigarettes kill you!" she blew smoke in his face and giggled. Viola was never really the type to giggle, but then again, she was getting high and Brandon's hand was on her ass. So she allowed herself a bit of femininity, and giggled.
"Pass that shit!" He joked, taking it from her and starting on his own buzz. At that moment, Viola felt like Brandon was the best person in the world. There was no other place she could think of to be, than there in Hogsmeade with Brandon. She felt truly happy, and to show it she snuggled closer to her companion as they made their way back to the castle.
The entrance hall of Hogwarts was cool compared to outside, and it gave them pleasant goose bumps as the huge doors whooshed closed behind them. Brandon finally removed his hand from her pocket, but kept it on her waist, and led her down the stairway, which got colder at every step.
He halted her at the entrance to the common room and pulled her closer to him with both arms around her small waist. He took a step with her, until her back was against the wall. When she didn't protest, he leaned down towards her and pressed his mouth against hers.
Their kiss, at first, was chaste. He ran his hands up and down her sides as he gently parted her lips with his tongue. She opened willingly to him, clasping her hands together behind his neck and pulling him closer.
His hands moved up from her ribs to her breasts, kneading the soft flesh and caressing her hardened nipples with his thumbs, dragging a moan from her throat and into his mouth. As his mouth moved from her own to carve a hot trail of kisses down her neck, her mind began to wander. Suddenly, instead of Brandon pinning her to the wall, now sucking lightly on her collarbone, it was Snape.
Snape was kissing her with such demand and passion her legs almost gave out. He pressed his hips hard into hers, feeling the quickened pulse in her neck with his mouth. He moved up to her face again, ravaging her mouth, exploring it thoroughly with his skilled tongue. Her fantasy ended abruptly, though, when Brandon bit down on her lower lip, causing it to open and send blood pouring into her mouth and down her chin.
In shock and pain, she jerked her head back, idiotically banging it into the stone wall behind her. Brandon gasped and backed away slightly, removing his hands reluctantly. Viola grasped the back of her head with one hand and wiped blood off her chin with the heel of the other, her face screwed up in pain.
"Are you alright?" Brandon asked, somewhat stupidly, unsure of what to do. "I'm so sorry!"
She looked up at him, and was horrified to see her own blood on his mouth, oozing slowly down his chin. She got control of herself quickly, flashing him a strained smile. As if suddenly noticing the blood, he cleared it off hurriedly on his sleeve.
"I'm just going to go for a walk . . ." She murmured, still rubbing her head, feeling the start of a lump take effect.
"Yeah, sure." he said, smiling apologetically. He seemed embarrassed, and disappeared as soon as he could into the common room, as Viola headed in the opposite direction, just as quickly. She rushed up staircases and down hallways, finally arriving at the imperial Head Girl's bathroom.
She rarely used this room, finding it too grand for her modest tastes. But it was a good place to think, and she felt like she needed to do just that. She filled the gigantic bath with foamy, fragrant water, undressed quickly and jumped in.
She felt her lip gingerly, flinching as she touched it. It had swollen so much she hardly had to strain her eyes downward to see it. It must have been an accident, but for some reason she couldn't shake the image of her blood on his mouth out of her mind.
Another image she couldn't get out of her mind was that of Snape. The fantasy had came so quickly she hadn't even noticed she was envisioning someone else in Brandon's place. It confused her, though. She had spent a perfectly enjoyable day with Brandon, and she really enjoyed kissing him. She thought she would have had sex with him on the floor of the hallway if he had wanted to, his touch had filled her with so much excitement.
She laughed quietly to herself, ducking under the water to soak her hair and wash the dried blood away from her skin.
Maybe it wasn't Brandon you were enjoying, Vi . . . Viola scolded the voice in her head, trying to make it shut up. But the nagging little thoughts made her wonder, was it Brandon making her knees weak, or was it that small fancy of the Potions Master?