Suddenly the atmosphere in the room changed. The bubble Kriss and Severus had been in, had burst. They were back in the real world.
They looked at each other in complete shock. Kriss put her hand up to her mouth, as if to stifle any noise she might make.
"SEVERUS! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! ITS NO USE TRYING TO PRETEND YOU ARE NOT, YOU KNOW I CAN TELL."
"McGonagall!" Severus groaned. "Quickly, you'll have to hide!" Severus jumped up, dragging Kriss off the bed with him, still wrapped up in the sheet. He pushed her towards the wardrobe, but she got the sheet tangled around her legs and fell awkwardly.
"Ouch!" Kriss exclaimed, as she got up rubbing her knee
"SEVERUS, WHAT WAS THAT NOISE? WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE?" said McGonagall impatiently
"I'm coming! For Merlin's sake woman! I am not decent!" Severus decided he had to answer at last.
"I already knew that, a long time ago Severus!" answered McGonagall sarcastically "Will you hurry up and open this door!"
"Alright! I'm coming!" Severus was busily trying to find Kriss's clothes. When he was sure he had all of them, he shoved them into the wardrobe on top of her. Then he set about trying to fasten his shirt, before going over to the door and opening it to face McGonagall.
"Well! It's about time! Where have you been! You were supposed to be supervising the Slytheryn students as they came out from the Ball. You neglected to tell us that you weren't going to be there and we had to deal with hundreds of them going on the rampage. Really! I've never known you act like this. You know it is all hands on deck after a Ball. Dereliction in duty that's what it is." McGonagall ranted, wagging her finger at him.
"I felt ill and I went to bed early" said Severus stiffly
"Ill, eh! I'll bet! Sloping off to sulk more like! Well you could have let us know you were leaving. We all thought you were already down in the dungeons waiting. So we took them so far and then let them go the rest of the way on their own. The first we knew what was going on, Filch came and informed us. I was trying to settle down my Gryffendor students, whom I had to leave in order to help sort yours out." She sounded calmer now, but still annoyed "Well you had better come down now and see what's happened, you won't believe what they've been up to!"
"Alright, let me get my wand." Severus said sounding irritated, but glancing nervously at the wardrobe. Searching for his wand, he realised that in his rush to get Kriss and her clothes in the wardrobe, he must have put it in there too by mistake.
Kriss saw his hand enter the wardrobe and handed his wand to him.
"Do you always keep your wand in the wardrobe Severus?" McGonagall had walked into the room and was watching him curiously.
Severus whipped round quickly and shut the wardrobe door (as far as he could without it locking) and stood with his back to it. "Err, yes sometimes" he said.
Mcgonagall merely shook her head
"Well, come on, let us get down there!" she said sternly
"Oh and by the way, you've done your shirt up wrong" she tapped her wand onto his front and corrected the mistake
"And if you want the students to take you seriously I suggest you put on a little more clothing!" She indicated his lack of shoes and jacket
Severus dressed and then with one last glance at the wardrobe walked out of the door.
As they left Kriss heard McGonagall saying to him "You know, if I knew it wasn't possible, I could have sworn you had someone in there. There was a different smell in there, not one of yours.." but Severus had shut the door on her before she could investigate further
Kriss's heart was beating so hard and fast she thought it would burst right out of her chest. She stayed hunched up where she was for a moment, not daring to move. Then after starting to get cramp in her legs she climbed out.
She wondered if McGonagall had questioned Severus further, everyone knew she was hard to fool. Transforming into a cat had left her with an amazing sense of smell, so hiding anything you shouldn't have from her was practically impossible.
Kriss contemplated getting dressed and leaving but she realised that everyone would still be up, it sounded like there had been some sort of riot. She didn't feel like being questioned as to where she had been, not until she had thought of a good excuse. So decided that the best option would be to stay for a while, wait until everyone would be asleep, and then sneak into her dorm.
She turned and looked in the wardrobe for something she could borrow to wear for a moment, as she couldn't be bothered with her dress just yet. All the clothes in the wardrobe were black; she smiled to herself, as she tried to imagine Severus in other colours. She picked out a shirt and slipped it on rolling up the sleeves, to fit.
Looking around the room, she went over to the window, to try and work out were she was in the building. But could see nothing but darkness immediately outside and the blue-grey sky beyond, so she closed them again.
Then the desk caught her eye. Kriss had seen the books earlier and went over to see what they were. "Undetectable poisons and disablement potions" she read, raising her eyebrows "no wonder he keeps that in his room!" She moved that book off the pile and read the next one "How to win friends and influence people, for the modern witch or wizard" she sniggered at that one, then she looked at the last book; it didn't look like a normal spell book, it was too slim. She opened it curiously and couldn't believe what she saw inside
"He can draw!" said Kriss in surprise, flicking through the sketchbook.
There were sketches of birds, buildings, landscapes and of things so dark; it was hard to tell what they were. Then she turned a page and saw a magically moving figure, with long hair and a familiar smile. She put her hand to her mouth in shock. "It's me!" she said as she carried on flicking through, "They're all of me!" Page after page were pencil drawings of her all in different poses. One caught her eye in particular; she remembered the dress she wore in it. It had been last summer term, by the lake.
They had been about to break up for the summer holidays and had gone down to the lake to have a picnic on a Saturday afternoon. They had a great time that day, her and her friends, laughing and joking, paddling and splashing in the water. She remembered it with a smile.
The sketch was one of her with her feet in the lake looking down and holding her dress up to stop it getting wet, then looking up and smiling.
Kriss put the book down, not knowing what to think. On the one hand she was very impressed by his obvious talent. Then 'creeped' out slightly. "Was he obsessed with her? Had he done those from memory or from sitting somewhere and watching her, out of sight?" She shook her head.
"He must really love me, to draw that many." She said to herself, at least none of them are of me naked or anything!" She picked up the book again just to check, but she was dressed in all of them. She sat down on the chair in front of the desk and ran her hand over the book lovingly. It had been nice to see into his head a little, find out something about him she didn't know. After all, he knew practically everything about her.
Just then Kriss remembered the other door in the room and went over to investigate. Once inside she saw it was, indeed, a bathroom. A very masculine one, a white bathroom suite, plain black and white tiles covered the walls and a mirrored cupboard sat above the sink. She had a poke around in the cupboard; there was all the usual sort of toiletries you would expect. Kriss picked up a bottle and read the label outloud "Madam Caulkins, greasy hair shampoo for men. For a silky, shiny mane guaranteed." She hoped he kept on using it, she liked his new look.
Suddenly she felt tired and went over to the bed, thinking she would lie down for a bit. Kriss lay there for a while staring at the Slytheryn snake symbol on the canopy above her head, thinking about everything that had happened. She tried to decide whether her love for Severus was still just a crush, but she felt in her heart that it was more than that. Inexperienced as she was with these feelings, she felt she was in love with him, now more than ever. Soon Kriss fell into a deep sleep, dreaming about standing in an old-fashioned artist's studio, posing naked as a model, while Severus painted her.
Kriss suddenly awoke with a start; she had been having another dream about running around the school, which had been deserted and dark. Someone had been chasing her; she hadn't known who it was and had been too afraid to find out.
The Great clock dinged out five chimes, to signify the hour.
"Five o'clock! Oh no!" Kriss thought to herself "Everyone will wonder where I was all night!"
She turned over and was surprised to find Severus lying there fast asleep. The candles were still burning in their sconces on the walls, so she could see he was still dressed, apart from his shoes.
"Why didn't he wake me?" she thought "Oh well, he must have been so tired after last night, he just crawled in and went to sleep" She smiled to herself as she crept closer to him.
He had his back to her so she put her arm around him; he shifted slightly at this sudden movement. Kriss stayed like this for a while snuggling into his warm back, then she felt like stroking him a little. Starting off at his shoulder she worked her way down his arm, but as she got lower down she felt a strange sensation in her fingers. Thinking it was just friction, she rubbed the same spot again, but felt it even stronger this time, like a sort of burning, tingling feeling. A horrible feeling of foreboding was building in the pit of her stomach. 'What was causing that?' Nervously, almost not wanting to know, she shakily undid the cuff button of his sleeve and gently rolled it up.
What she saw caused her to recoil in shock and horror. The dark mark sat there on his arm. The people she had believed were totally evil and without conscience, said she would never want to be associated with and had believed they had brought the Slytheryn name into disrepute, the Deatheaters wore that mark on their arms.
Kriss put her hand up to her mouth, but no sound would come out. She got out of bed and stood up, feeling tears pricking her eyes. The man she loved, her Severus, who had made love to her last night, made her feel so wonderful, who she had thought intelligent, sensitive and caring, towards her at least; was a secret Deatheater.
Mind racing she rushed over to the wardrobe as quietly as possible, to find her clothes. She pulled off the shirt and slipped on her dress, thong and shoes then wrapped a cloak around herself for warmth. She took one last look at him sleeping, peacefully, totally unaware she had found out his secret. She walked silently over to the door and slipped out.
Once out into the corridor again she started to run, as quietly as possible, not easy in high heels. But she hardly cared now as she was overcome with emotion and tears were streaming down her cheeks.
She didn't know which stairway to take, as it looked as though they moved around like all the other staircases in the school did. She randomly chose one and hoped for the best.
Once down the stairs, Kriss pushed forward through the portrait hole, she had no idea where she was at first. She just ran on tiptoe for a while, trying to be quiet. Soon she realised she was near the arithmancy classrooms.
As she made her way through the school, down to the Slytheryn common room, she turned a corner and to her horror she saw Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat. Filch wouldn't be far behind. She looked around quickly for somewhere to hide, but there was nowhere.
Kriss's heart was beating fast from running and her hands were already shaking from shock, but fear of seeing Filch made her feel even worse. She had always been afraid of him, even though she knew he had no powers. There was just something really creepy about him.
Soon Filch turned the corner and spotted Kriss, with a huge triumphant grin on his face. This was particularly revolting as his teeth, what there was left of them, were brown.
"Ha! Sneaking around, in the early hours of the morning! Can only mean one thing that. Been in someone else's bed haven't you! You slytheryn girls have always been the same! Whores, the lot of you!" His grin had become a sneer now.
He moved closer and Kriss turned her head away to try and avoid the terrible smell, now pervading her nostrils.
"Miss Firestone isn't it? Yeah, look like your mother you do, with that blonde hair. She was just the same, I remember catching her a few times where she shouldn't have been, too! Like mother like daughter" he said in a suggestive voice, looking her up and down and licking his lips.
Kriss was revolted and afraid of this close proximity and she suddenly felt really sick. So sick she started to gag and decided to make a run for it. Pushing past as hard as possible she bolted down the corridor, her heels clacking on the tiled floor. Filch was still shouting after her. "Whores, the lot of yer! Dumbledore will 'ear about this! Moral standards are slipping at this school, but I'll put a stop to it. Mark my words!"
His words faded into the distance as Kriss ran. Suddenly she didn't feel like going back to the common room. She wanted to get out and breathe some fresh air, to get Filch's smell out of her nose. So she made her way to the outside doors. She put her hand up in a special place on the wall, which unlocked them from the inside. The doors, recognising her, opened to let her through.
It was still dark and very cold outside as snow still covered the ground. Kriss shivered, she only had on her flimsy dress, under the cloak and was really wishing she had her wand with her right now. She could have conjured up some warmth easily. Whenever they got cold, Kriss and her friends said a simple spell that caused heat to gather around their bodies and instantly warm them up.
She stumbled around in the dark for a while, not knowing or caring where she was going. She felt like she had been punched in the stomach. She felt betrayed and hurt. Also ashamed of her self, to have given her virginity to a man more than twice her age, who had turned out to be nothing like the person she had thought him to be. To think how she had admired him over the years, how that admiration had recently turned to love and now..?
Did she still love him? She realised that she still did, even now. How could she? Confusion reigned in her mind. Then suddenly, she tried to rationalise, she couldn't love someone who was truly evil, there had to be a reason for all of this, what if he had been forced to join? But even when she was thinking this, she knew that all deatheaters become so willingly.
She had to get away from here, to be alone and think things through.
The quidditch stadium came into view.
"A broom!" She thought, "I could borrow a broom and fly away, anywhere so long as its not here!" Kriss made her way to the changing rooms, next to them was the quidditch supplies storage shed. It was locked, but Kriss was desperate. She concentrated hard on the lock willing it to open. Kriss was not one of the most powerful witches in the school, but like most when under emotional strain, her magical abilities intensified. Right now she wanted the door to open very badly and she visualised it opening. She felt something happening and stood back, watching as the door swung open.
Once inside Kriss stumbled over something left by the doorway. Cursing at the noise, she found what she was looking for; the broom stands. Feeling around she grabbed a broom. This particular one felt very good in her hands, as light as a feather and so smooth, she knew it must be an expensive model. She decided at this moment her need was greater than whomsoever it belonged to, so she took it.
Kriss was about to turn around when there was a footfall behind her. Fear and panic rising in her stomach once more, she turned around, thinking she would make a dash for it. But whoever it was, was now telling their wand "Lumos!"
The light blinded her and she put up her arm to shield her eyes.
"What the..Oh its you! What are you doing in here?" said a voice Kriss recognised.