Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry Potter, only the plot is mine, and I don't make money off of this, no matter how much I wished I owned Rowling's world…

The rest of the date went grandly, in Severus' opinion, and they got back to the castle just as it was getting dark. Severus smiled at Kat and said "I'll walk you to Gryffindor common room" politely and pleasantly. Kat smiled back, a very slight blush coming to her cheeks, and nodded, taking his hand again as they walked toward Gryffindor Tower. They reached the portrait hole and Kat smiled a bit nervously at Severus.

"I, er.. Had a great time today" She said quietly to him, a happy sparkle in her eyes.

"Me too, maybe we could do this again sometime?" Severus asked, also a bit nervous.

"Sounds like a plant to me…" Kat said, hesitating a bit before giving him a swift kiss on the cheek, muttering the password: "Holy Hippogriffs" and disappearing into the GCR, a smile on her face, she had told the truth, she really HAD had a great time. She looked around the common room and saw Juliet, who was looking at her with an expression that clearly read "Spill now or die"

Kat chuckled at the look she was getting from her friend and walked over, taking a seat next to Jules, her friend couldn't take it anymore. "Well? What happened? Did you have a good time? I want details!" she said all in one breath, causing Kat to chuckle once again.

"I had a… nice.. Time" Kat said, purposely being vague, earning a murderous look from Juliet. "Okay, okay, geese, you'd think this date was a life or death matter. We just hung around Hogsmead, went shopping, talked a lot, he likes the same style of music as me, we had a great time and we're probably gunna go out again" she told her friend, a smile on her face.

Juliet let out a bit of a squeak, and gushed to her friend "That's awesome Kat! You two are perfect for each other!" she said excitedly.

"Now all we have to do is set you up with Remus" Kat said in good humor, but she was completely serious. "Oh, by the way, Sirius is an idiot, he decided that he was going to torture Severus because he was out on a date with him, care to join me in not talking to, or even looking at him?" she asked, just throwing that in there as if casually.

"I've told you before, I'll tell you again, the whole me and Remus thing isn't going to happen, just drop it" Juliet replied before hearing about the Sirius incident. She raised an eye brow "Of course, if he's being that moronic, I'd be glad to join you in acting like he isn't there when he is" she agreed, if Kat felt it was necessary, when the other day they had been friends and she still had a crush on him, then it was necessary and she would go along with it.

Meanwhile, out of the GCR…

Severus walked, no floated away from Gryffindor tower, heading for the dungeons, Happy didn't even begin to describe the feeling he had. He wasn't just joyous, he was elated, gleeful, thrilled, even blissful. He had just had a date with the girl he had been pining over since fifth year, and she had had a good time! She wanted to go out with him again! This was amazing. He entered the SCR, not really noticing the glares sent toward him by his fellow Slytherins because he was still floating from his date with Kat.

"Have a good date Severus?" asked one of the other Slytherins, Avery.

"Yes, it was wonderful" Severus answered absentmindedly, his thoughts on the look on Kat's face when she had been smiling earlier.

A girl in the corner of the room snorted at his answer, Bellatrix Black. "I'm so sure you had a wonderful time with the mud blood lover, a Gryffindor, Severus, really? Degrading the house by going out with that -filth-" she said in a low, dangerous voice, talking in a tone that said they all found him quite disgusting.

Severus seemed to snap out of his dream world upon hearing that, and his eyes instinctively narrowed into a glare. "I wouldn't expect you to understand, little yellow star (a/n: Bellatrix ish the name of a little yellow star in the night sky of the northern hemisphere, forget which constellation it is), as I doubt you have ever met someone truly worth talking to in your life without ruling them out because of ill begotten biases," He said to her in a voice of pure venom, realizing this wasn't the place to be saying such things, but they all obviously already hated him for ONE DATE, just because she was a Gryffindor.

"Why don't you just leave? Your obviously not a true Slytherin" Spat another one, this time McNair. Severus look up at him, then around at all the others and made a final decision.

"Fine, you arses, I will leave" He said to them before exiting that SCR and realizing he had no clue where he was going to go. He just wandered the corridors for a while, thinking of a place he could stay in the castle. After wandering for about an hour he found himself at the portrait to the Gryffindor common room, he had no clue how he got there, he just knew somehow that he wanted to talk to Kat, she was really his only friend now after all.

He gave the password Kat had used earlier and looked into the common room from the now open portrait hole. He cleared his throat, seeing Kat right by the fire, sitting there, the light shining off of her beautiful hair, he just looked at her for a few moments before lightly knocking on the frame to the portrait hole and saying "Knock knock" this was, of course, directed at Kat.

Kat looked up from staring at the fire, Juliet had headed up to the dorms early for some reason or other, she was surprised to see that Severus was standing at the portrait hole. She gestured for him to come in and once he had walked over to her she asked "What's up?" just wondering why he was there again.

"The rest of the Slytherins are prats" He said in a pleasant sort of voice, sitting down next to her.

"What did they say or do?" She asked, realizing they must have done SOMETHING to him for him to say that about his friends. So Severus explained the incident with them objecting to him going out with her and how he had wandered around the school only to arrive here and realize he wanted to talk to her. Kat listened with interest and disgust at the other Slytherins, and then realized something, if she wasn't an issue, he'd still have his friends…

"Well, I'll understand if you… don't want to go out with me or hang around me anymore…" she said quietly, it was obvious that she didn't like that idea at all though. She looked away from Severus as she said that to hide the look of sadness she had over that idea, she had no clue how or why, but she really really hated that idea.

"No! I couldn't do that, I.. I love you" He said to her, lifting her head up by placing his hand under her chin and picking it up. It was true, that was how deep his feelings for her were, when he had just stated with her tutoring sessions they hadn't been that strong, but now they were, after getting to know he better. He knew it was absurd to be saying that after just one date, but it just felt right to say, he waited for her reaction, wondering what she would think about it.

"I…er…um...ah…well…" For the first time in her life Kat found herself at a loss for words and stuttering. She didn't know what to say… he LOVED her? She hadn't expected that, like, maybe even adored, but LOVED… she just was unsure of what to say, she was just starting to sincerely like him, and he says THAT.. She didn't love him… yet… she knew that, but she felt like she could grow to love him.

Severus realized she couldn't say it back, and he was trying to think of what to do now, she obviously didn't know what to say, he hung his head, he had probably just ruined his one chance with her… "Well, I guess I'll go, I'll see you… tomorrow" He said quietly, letting her chin go and standing up, before starting toward the portrait hole.

"Wait, Severus, it's just that" Kat started, standing up too, she followed him and took his hand so he couldn't go anywhere. "Look, I just can't say it back… yet. Okay? I like you, I just don't love you at the moment, you understand, right?" she asked, looking like if he didn't understand she'd probably drop dead.

Severus' face brightened, yet, she said yet! This made up for the disaster of the SCR, and him just springing it on her. He smiled at her, one of his rare true smiles, and said "Yeah, I understand, sorry for just.. Springing that on you, well, I've got to figure out where I'm going to stay, so I'll see you at breakfast?" a question in his voice about seeing her in the morning.

"Yeah, it's a date" She said back to him, smiling at him as he nodded and left, she felt like she was going to explode, she had to tell someone… JULES! She ran up to the girl's dorm to tell her best friend about what had just happened, still feeling guilty about him having all the Slytherins hate him because of her, but still happy to hear that from him, even it was after just one date.