Severus lay on his bed, Jaci snuggled close to him. He sighed deeply and draped an arm over her, making her look up at him. She smiled and lightly kissed him.
"Severus?"
"Hmm?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Why do you act so cruel and sneer all the time here?" Jaci whispered. Severus looked down at her rather shocked.
"What do you mean?" Jaci sat up and looked at him.
"Severus, sure when I met you, you were a jerk, a real pain in the ass, but here you act like an asshole. You act like you hate these children with a burning passion, especially Harry Potter, why?" Severus just looked at her, he didn't know what to tell her. Finally he sighed and stood, he walked out of the room, leaving Jaci there, lost and confused.
Jaci awoke with Severus by her side, she didn't know what time she had gone to sleep, or what time Severus had come back from where ever he had gone to. Jaci sighed and got up, shaking her head. She didn't understand anymore, back in America she knew who he was, what he did, here she didn't, and she didn't want to know who he was anymore.
Severus awoke with a start, he had heard something in his living room, quickly he got up, grabbed his wand and ran off, he saw someone moving in there and quickly jumped them.
Jaci let out a scream. "Severus! What the hell are you doing?" Severus' eyes widened in the dark and he quickly got off of her. He helped her up, but didn't make a move to hold her anymore. He quickly walked to the fireplace nearby and stood there, his hands crossed, looking down. Jaci sighed and shook her head. She took several steps closer to him, seeing if he would back away.
"Jaci…"
"Severus…" they both looked at each other and laughed. Severus gently took Jaci into his arms. He held her tightly and breathed in deeply.
"I'm sorry that I didn't talk to you, I just had no idea what to tell you. I…"
"Forget it Severus, I shouldn't have asked."
"No, you had every right to ask…"
"Severus, just drop it, okay?" Severus sighed, he wasn't going to not talk to her about this, but he'd tell her later.
"Why don't we go get showered and dressed and go down to get breakfast?" Severus asked. Jaci smiled up at him and nodded. They walked back to the bedroom to get ready for the day.
Harry, as well as the entire Hall looked up, everyone was anxiously waiting for Snape and Miss Cortez to walk in, to see if they were holding hands again. Harry growled as he saw Draco walking in, with that girl again! They weren't holding hands or anything, but they were talking, and that was enough to make Harry's blood boil. He quickly looked down, hoping Draco hadn't seen him. Just then the doors opened again and everyone looked up once again and were astonished.
Severus growled, so he was holding Jaci's hand, so what? What was the big deal? Severus sighed, he was the big deal, it was Severus Snape who was walking in with a beautiful wonderful woman, holding her hand and trying not to smile at all the little jokes and things she was telling him.
He led her up to the table once more and they sat down to eat. Jaci made quick friends with McGonagall and Hagrid soon they were talking and laughing all together. Soon the entire staff was crowded around Jaci and Severus, listening to Jaci's hilarious stories that made them double over with laughter and begin to cry. Severus was having a hard time trying not to laugh. Soon it was time to go and the other teachers made Jaci promise to tell them more at lunch. Jaci smiled and nodded.
Severus stood and helped Jaci out of her chair, he took her hand and they walked down the Great Hall once more, with most of the students looking at them in wonder. Jaci smiled at everyone and gave a little wave to Harry, Ron, and Hermione who waved back and smiled.
Jaci watched as Severus begin teaching nervous first years that day, he had to explain simple things to them and Jaci could tell that his patience was running thin through his last class. He was trying to explain the day procedures and expectations, but every five seconds a child would raise his or her hand with a completely out of topic question and Severus looked as if he wanted to murder them, but he held it all back, thankfully.
Finally the last class of the day filed out of the room and shut the door behind themselves. Jaci stood up and walked up behind Severus, he stood, rigid before her, staring at the closed door. Jaci gently laid her hands on his shoulders and began to massage his tense back. She heard Severus sigh, and Jaci smiled. He was tired and she could tell, poor guy. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed herself against his back.
Severus smiled, Jaci was trying to get him to cheer up, and it was working, sort of. He slowly turned and looked down at her. Jaci smiled up at him, waiting for him to say or do something, but when a minute passed and still he did nothing, her face fell and she began to worry. She turned around and just began to walk back to his desk to pick it up because she had nothing else to do. Severus looked at her curiously and walked up behind her, trying to put his arms around her but she pushed them off of her.
"Come," she said coldly, "you'll be late for dinner." She began to walk through the doorway, but he grabbed her and turned her to face him. His face was angry and confused.
"What is wrong with you?" he spat. Jaci glared at him.
"Get your hands off of me," she said coolly, it only pissed Severus off more. He placed both of his hands on her arms, gripping her tightly, drawing her closer.
"What is wrong with you?" he growled.
"Get your fucking hands off of me!" Jaci said. Severus growled and only held on to her tighter. Jaci had had it. She quickly swiped her leg under both of his, making him loose his balance and fall to the floor. In Severus' fall, he'd let go of Jaci, but when he landed the ground he growled as the sharp pain flowed through his body and he quickly kicked out his legs to do the same thing to her.
Jaci was prepared from a comeback, so she neatly jumped so he couldn't hit her. She glared down as he groaned on the floor, because she'd jumped, his leg hit the desk, hard. Severus cursed up a storm. He slowly got to his feet, wincing as the pain seared through his entire body, his leg was throbbing. Jaci watched him the entire time, not making a single move to help him.
Was that woman mad? Severus growled once more, shaking his head. When he had finally gotten up and sat himself down on his chair to check the damage, making sure that nothing was broken did he look up. She was gone! First she turns away from him, then she curses again, drops him to the floor, leave him there, without helping him up, and then she leaves!
Severus' eyes went wide. She left! Where did she go? Quickly, his body protesting with the pain, he stood and ran out of the room, he went to his office, nothing, his quarters, no where to be seen, he peeked into the Great Hall and she wasn't there either! He growled in frustration. Where had she gone to? If she left him, he'd go mad!
Quickly, this being his last hope, Severus walked out to the grounds, he had searched the entire castle, asking most of the portraits, he even asked Filch! Severus walked quickly toward Hagrid's hut, searched around there, the Greenhouse, the Lake, finally he walked to the Quidditch. He stood in the shadows, looking up at the seats, he finally found her. She was sitting on the highest seat available, looking up at the night's sky. Severus let out a big sigh of relief and began climbing the stairs as quietly as he could to get to the top.
Jaci knew he was coming, she could hear him no matter how quiet he was trying to be, he was breathing too loudly, obviously this man had never had to sneak around as if his life depended on it. Jaci had spent too much of her life sneaking around, she had perfected sneaking around abilities. Jaci sighed loudly as he finally climbed the last stair. She counted how long it took him to get his breath back, he was a bit out of shape. He needed to go running more, or be running for his life more often.
Severus walked up behind Jaci and placed his hands on her shoulders. She didn't jump as he thought she would, in fact she didn't move at all. He'd expected her to scream or something.
"You've obviously never snuck up on people before." Jaci's voice shocked him, he hadn't expected her to talk.
"Why did you do that?" he asked. Jaci knew what he was talking about.
"You wouldn't let go of me Severus, I defended myself against you." Severus growled.
"You make me sound like I'm some kind of criminal." Jaci laughed. She stood and turned to face him.
"And what's to make me think that you're not?" Severus growled. He grabbed her wrists tightly and brought her closer. He bent his head and kissed her, roughly. Jaci tried to push him away, but he only held on tighter. Finally she brought her knee up to meet with his groin. Severus groaned and let her go.
"Don't you ever fucking do that again you asshole!" Jaci yelled at him. After a few seconds of deep breathing and a bit of whimpering, Severus stood up once more.
"What in bloody hell is wrong with you woman?" Severus yelled.
"Wrong with me? Wrong with me? Oh no Severus Snape, I think the question here is what is wrong with you." Severus looked at her confused once more.
"What do you mean?" Jaci growled. She ran a hand through her hair, and then, as if barely noticing what she was doing, she growled. "Damn it Severus, now I'm doing things like you."
"WHAT do you mean?"
"You come to Laredo and I think 'okay, fine I'll take care of this guy until daddy gets home', then I get to know you, or at least I think I get to know you. I fucking trusted you, I gave up my virginity to you. Then, we go off to my ranch, I take you to my ranch and then daddy comes home, and I can understand why you ran. What I couldn'tunderstand is why you never came back for me. Why you left me there to fend for myself. I though you cared for me, but I guess I was wrong, huh Severus?" Jaci turned away, she began to make her way down the stairs.
"Jaci, damn it wait!" Severus yelled. He began to follow her down the stairs, chasing after her, but Jaci only picked up speed.
Severus saw it all as if it was in slow motion, Jaci lost her balance and cried out. Slowly, second by second she began to fall, she hit the stairs hard, first on her head, then her body twisted so she would land on her back, but then she began to roll down the stairs, her stomach hitting the next set of stair, then her back, each time she tried not to cry out in pain, but it was useless. Severus stood, horrified, he was frozen as he watched Jaci tumble down, until finally she reached the dirt floor with a soft thud.
Severus came out of his shock and rushed down to her. She was unconscious and already her face was beginning to bruise. She was bleeding, but Severus couldn't tell from where, he figured it was from the wooden splinters from the staircase. He took off the cloak he was wearing and wrapped Jaci in it, she groaned. Severus picked her up and practically ran her into the castle.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione, along with most of the school, were already heading back up to their Common Rooms when the doors to Hogwarts opened. Everyone turned to see who was walking in, most of them gasped.
Snape rushed in, Jaci wrapped up in his cloak, eyes wide with…well Harry thought it was fear, but he couldn't be sure. Everyone quickly noticed the trail of blood, and they made way as Snape practically ran through everyone, heading to the Hospital Wing. Hermione was standing in his path, so she moved, but not after getting a glimpse of Jaci's face. It was bruised and she appeared to be unconscious.
As Snape disappeared down a hallway, everyone burst into whispers, each person asking the same question, 'what had happened to Jaci?' Hermione quickly took Harry and Ron aside.
"I saw Jaci's face…" she started.
"And? Did she look okay?" Ron asked quickly. Hermione sighed.
"No, she looked bad, her face was…" Hermione went on to describe what she had seen. Harry and Ron stood horrified.
"What could have happened to her?" Harry asked, they began to make their way up to the Common Room.
"I don't know, but whatever it was, it wasn't good." Hermione nodded at Ron's comment. They each went to their rooms, mainly wondering what could have happened to Jaci.
Madam Pomfery had just finished tending to Neville Longbottom when Professor Snape ran in, he searched the room for her, he ran over to her, holding out Jaci in his arms.
"Please," he pleaded, for the first time in his life, "please help her, I don't know what's wrong with her." Madam Pomfery glanced down at Jaci and gasped.
"What happened to her?" Madam Pomfery had him set her down on the bed.
"We were at the Quidditch pitch, the tallest tower, and more than halfway down, she fell and she just began to…to tumble down, all the way down." Snape looked up at Madam Pomfery, trying to hold his tears back. "Will she be all right?"
"I'm going to try my best Severus, now you'll have to wait outside." Snape nodded and walked out.
"Severus?" Snape looked up to see who was talking to him and to his surprise it was McGonagall. She was standing there with Hagrid and Dumbledore. McGonagall walked slowly over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"How is she?" she gently asked. Snape tried hard to keep his composure, but he felt a tear gently and slowly slide down his face, he quickly wiped it away. He took a deep breath and burst into tears. Hagrid quickly walked over to him and gently led Snape down to a chair. Dumbledore sat next to Snape and McGonagall and Hagrid stood on each side of both men. When Snape had calmed down a bit, Dumbledore patted Snape's hand.
"What happened Severus?" Dumbledore said softly. Snape sighed.
"We argued, and well, she fell down the Quidditch pitch stairs, from the tallest tower." McGonagall gasped. Hagrid looked down and shook his head.
"Will she be all right?" Dumbledore asked. Snape shook his head.
"I don't know, she was bleeding so much, but I couldn't tell from where, I just wrapped her up in my cloak and brought her here to Madam Pomfery."
"Do not worry Severus, I'm sure Madam Pomfery will do everything possible to help Jaci." Dumbledore patted his shoulder again and McGonagall and Hagrid nodded reassuringly. Snape shook his head, he didn't know if that was true.