Chapter 5: A Startling Discovery for a Cold Potions Teacher
"I'm sorry Professor, I didn't..." stuttered Liana, "I didn't realize that you would have been asleep. I'll go back to the tower now."
"You mean to tell me Miss Potter that you came all the way down from Gryffindor Tower to wake up your sleeping Professor to tell him that you didn't know he'd be asleep and that you'd like to go back to bed?" spat Professor Snape, "would you care to enlighten me as to why you are awake at such a horrific hour of the morning as this is?"
Once again, caught up with everything that had been going on in the past day and a half Liana broke down into tears. There in the middle of the Potion Professors classroom Liana dropped to the floor and started crying. She cried over everything that had possibly gone wrong; from the treatment that she had received from her classmates to the evil stares from her teachers Liana felt very alone in the world. Yet, there was one person who had a great sympathy for her. That person reached down and gently took Liana into his arms placing a chaste kiss on her forehead, and rocked her back and forth. If there was one thing Professor Snape did not enjoy it was a crying girl.
"I miss them so much, Professor" sobbed Liana.
"Shhhh, it's all right little one, I know" comforted Snape.
Something changed that night for Liana. Instead of being scared like normal that the things that occurred in her dreams would come and actually kill her, a strange calm filled her body. Although on the outside, her Potions Professor could be harsh looking and even terrifying Liana had come to learn the real person beneath the stone-incased shell. She felt like nothing bad could happen as long as she was in his arms and when he moved to stand up once again she quickly latched onto his clothing.
"You really should not be done here this late at night Miss Potter" whispered the Professor, "you need to return to your tower and rest; you've had a hard day."
"Sir, I cannot do that" whimpered Liana, "I'm too scarred to go back there. This is the only place I feel safe, surely you cannot deprive me of that!"
"If any student or faculty member found out I would lose my job and you would be expelled, I cannot do that, even if nothing happened" Professor Snape said sternly.
"Please, I cannot go back there" cried Liana.
And there the Potions Professor and Gryffindor Student stood for what seemed like hours. Professor Snape tried to make a kosher way for Liana could stay, but every time he came up with something, a reason why it could not work appeared.
"Fine, you may stay Miss Potter but a few rules must be laid down first" Snape snapped sharply, "first: you are to tell no one that you spent the night down here. Second: we will not share a bed, and we will not sleep in the same room. Third: Unless absolutely necessary this will not happen again. Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal, Sir" said Liana.
Liana had to try to keep up to the Professor who walked at least two times faster than she did as they made their way down the halls of the dungeons. They finally arrived at a painting of what appeared to be a peacock and when Snape said his password, they were allowed in.
"I forgot to mention, at no point is my chamber's location to be shown to anyone and my password is definitely to be forgotten" Snape exclaimed.
After Liana's eyes finally adjusted, she looked around at the room that she would never have imagined to be Professor Snape's. This appeared to be a sitting room and library. The walls were covered in head to toe bookshelves that were made of a dark mahogany. In fact, most of the wood pieces in the room were mahogany. Two large armchairs and a sofa sat in front of a blazing fire and in an opposite corner stood a large grandfather clock.
To their right was the door that led to Professor Snape's bedroom. When they entered, Liana was once again surprised. This was not the bedroom that she had been in earlier; this bedroom had a large four-poster bed draped in green and silver tapestries. Another fireplace was next to the bed and an emerald green rug and sofa were in front of the fireplace. There was only one word Liana could think of that fit the description of the room and that word was cozy.
After a brief argument over who would sleep where, Liana was left in the green bedroom to tuck herself in. Professor Snape returned to the sitting room where he contemplated what had just occurred.
"Am I becoming too soft?" he asked himself, "she's a student Severus, you cannot and you will not start to have feelings for a child."
However, Severus knew the truth was sometimes hard to admit, she was not a child, she had never been a child and she would never be a child. One is not a child when they experience the murder of their parents. One is not a child when they have experienced everything that she had. Liana was definitely not a child and as Snape slowly started to go to sleep on the sofa, he realized:
"I'm falling for the girl" Snape whispered aloud, "what have I started."
Author's Note: Sorry about not updating this in a half decent time, I got bogged down with work. As long as there are some reviews here and there I will update this though. I hope you enjoy.