Severus woke to the sound of knocking on his door and sat up on the leather couch in his sitting room. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he looked at the table and saw that it was nine in the morning and that they were beginning to serve breakfast in the Great Hall. The time had been moved to nine for Dumbledore figured that no one would wake up early after the celebration of the previous night.
Severus furrowed his brow and wondered who would be disturbing him. He ran a hand through his hair and stood up. He stood up from the couch and straightened out his clothing. He soon made his way towards the door and opened it only to find that Mrs. Weasley, Ginny Weasley, and McGonegall were all standing at his door. He stared at them and his eyes immediately narrowed. "Yes?" he asked as he stared down at them.
"May we come in Severus, there is something that we would wish to ask you," McGonegall asked as she looked at him. Severus looked down at her and gritted his teeth. His gaze turned from Minerva to the sixteen year old girl standing at her side and his eyes narrowed. He didn't like to have company and he much less wanted a student from Griffindor in his private quarters. He reluctantly stepped aside and allowed all three of them to walk into the room and closed the door behind his visitors. He motioned for them to sit on the couch however they all shook their heads.
"What is it Minerva?" he asked as he stared at her.
"We were wondering if you'd seen Miss Lovegood," she asked as she looked up at him. He stared at her and blinked, his thoughts on the seventeen-year-old girl whom he hoped was still peacefully asleep on his bed. He turned his gaze to Minerva; he maintained his neutral mask over his face as he stared at the women before him.
"Why is it that you are looking for her?" he asked as he stared down at her.
"She's missing. No one has seen her since last night and Harry says that there was something wrong with her when she left. Besides she wouldn't have left without saying anything, besides she'd drunk quite a bit when I'd left her so she was in no condition to leave alone," Ginny said as she looked at Professor Snape. Severus turned to look at her.
"Isn't it than possible that she slept somewhere in the castle?" he asked as he stared down at them.
"Yes, that is why we've been searching for her. She's not in Ravenclaw tower, she's not in the hospital wing, she's not in the library, Astronomy tower, and she's not in any of the classrooms or hallways. She's nowhere to be seen," Minerva said as she looked at him.
"Have you thought to check the room of requirement?" Severus asked as he stared at them. They all exchanged looks.
"I don't believe we've thought to check that," Molly said as she stared at Minerva. Severus stared at them with a raised brow.
"I'm pretty sure that Harry searched it, Ron mentioned that Harry headed there," Ginny said as she turned her attention to her mother.
"Well I do not know what to say to you. I honestly don't know what it was that you thought that you would gain from me," he said as he stared down at them
"Well we figured she might've said something to you. She did spend a large part of the summer with you and by what Ginny's told me it seems that she didn't much mind," Mrs. Weasley said as she looked into Severus' eyes. Severus merely stared at her and nodded.
"Well I'm not sure what to say, I hardly saw her last night," he said civilly as he stared into her eyes.
"Well thank you very much Professor Snape. We're sorry that we've disturbed you," Mrs. Weasley said as she gently grabbed her daughter by the arm and they made their way towards the door. They opened the door and stopped when they saw that Minerva was still staring at Severus. She was eyeing him somewhat suspiciously. She walked towards the door, but as she reached the two Weasley women she turned around and looked at Snape.
"Severus, why are you still clothed in yesterday's clothing?" Minerva asked. Severus stared at her and wondered why she was behaving so strangely. When they were sitting together the previous evening she'd kept asking him about Luna. She'd asked him why Luna had sat next to him at the ceremony, why she had hugged him and asked him why he was calling her Luna instead of her surname. Why was she suddenly caring so much about what he did and didn't do?
"I haven't had the chance. I was very tired and fell asleep in my clothing. You three have just woke me from my slumber, which is the reason why I have not had a chance to change," he said as he stared down into Minerva's eyes, his voice was cold as his eyes were narrowed at her. She merely stared at him, in a calculating way. A thick silence fell over the room as the Head of Griffindor and the Head of Slytherin stared at each other. Perhaps ten minutes seemed to pass by and just as Minerva was about to say something Severus heard the dreaded sound of the door of his bedchamber opening.
Immediately the eyes of the three women turned to stare at Luna who was standing in the living room. She was still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and was completely unaware of the fact that anyone was in the room. The mouths of all three women dropped open as they stared at the seventeen-year-old girl wearing a black button up shirt that was clearly not hers and a pair of what looked like black boxer shorts.
Severus closed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth, as he knew that this did not look right at all. The girl was coming out of his bedchamber, wearing one of his shirts and what looked like to be one of his boxer shorts, though, he knew that they belonged to Luna. He ran a hand through his hair and turned around to see Luna looking sleepy still. She looked like she was standing in the room half asleep. "Where am I? What time is it?" she asked in a sleepy voice as a yawn came out of her mouth.
"Severus what have you done?" He heard McGonegall's voice say softly with a tremble of horror and anger.
"Ginny, you need to leave. Professor McGonegall and myself need to be alone with Luna and Professor Snape," he heard Mrs. Weasley say. Ginny's eyes were wide with horror, wondering what happened to her friend. She reluctantly turned away from the scene and opened the door, her mother looked horrified and so did McGonegall, but Ginny could see the change coming over McGonegall's face. Her fear was slowly turning into livid rage.
"Send down Professor Dumbledore," McGonegall said before Ginny could set a foot outside the door. But at that moment Dumbledore was already standing before Ginny. Dumbledore did not stand-alone either, Remus Lupin stood behind him, and he was holding several pieces of parchment in his grasp. Undoubtedly he was holding the Marauders Map in his hands. There was a look of severity about Dumbledore and Remus looked sick and worried.
"No need Minerva, I am already here," Dumbledore said in his severe tone of voice. He looked down at Ginny. "You may leave Miss Weasley," he said as he looked down at her. Ginny nodded and walked out of the room. Dumbledore and Remus stepped into the room and closed the door behind them.
"What's going on?" Luna asked, but as she finished her sentence she fainted. Everyone stepped forward in concern, but Severus and Remus were the first to react and by far the quickest. However, Severus was the closer of the two and therefore he was the one that caught her before she hit the ground. He gently held her in his arms and brushed the hair out of her face. Remus stepped forward and took the girl from his arms, picking her up and taking her to the couch, glaring at Severus. He laid her down on the couch and checked her vital signs to make sure that she was all right.
"She's just tired, I haven't done anything to her," Severus said from were he stood in a cold voice.
"Not by the looks of it," Remus said through gritted teeth as he glared at Severus over the couch. He than turned his gaze back to Luna and pushed loose hairs out of her face. Luna was like a little sister to him. He loved her like one and he wanted to protect her from everything. He couldn't bare the thought that perhaps Severus had raped her. After all, by what Charlie said she'd had quite a lot to drink. It would've been only to easy for Severus to take advantage of Luna. He knew that they were dark thoughts, but he also knew that everyone in the room was thinking the very same.
"I must say Severus that at the moment you don't inspire very much confidence. The circumstances are very suspicious. You lied about not having seen Luna, she's wearing you're clothing, she came out of your bedchamber and she was drunk last night and didn't know what she was doing," Minerva said as she glared at him. Her voice was harsh and dripping with contempt and anger.
"Minerva has a point Severus," Dumbledore said as he stared at him. Severus turned his gaze to Dumbledore's sparkling blue eyes.
"What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Or does that not apply when the person to be proven guilty is not Harry Potter," Severus said as his gaze hardened. Molly Weasley was standing close to the door, still staring at Luna horrified. Dumbledore and McGonegall were standing close to each other and Remus Lupin was still kneeling down in front of the couch staring at Luna with concern and trying to wake her.
"That is unfair Severus, for you are still being given the chance to prove your innocence," Dumbledore said as he stared at Severus.
"I did nothing foul to her!" Severus shouted as he looked into Dumbledore's eyes, for he could see what Dumbledore believed.
"All right Severus, please explain to us than," he said as he looked at him.
"I noticed when Luna had left the Great Hall and I followed her out into the entrance hall and I saw that she was sitting on the floor. I walked over to her and I noticed that she was drunk so I offered to take her home, however she recoiled away from me when she heard the word and absolutely refused. So I offered to take her to take a cleansing potion and she allowed me to lead her down to the Dungeons, which is the only place were there is a cleansing potion in this castle. She fainted of exhaustion on the way down so I carried her and placed her in my bed and covered her with a blanket. I got the cleansing potion and poured it down her throat, but she was too tired to wake up."
"That doesn't explain the change of clothing," Remus said as he glared at Severus.
"I wasn't done yet!" Severus shouted as he stared down at him.
"Please continue than, Severus," Dumbledore said calmly.
"She awoke at six thirty in the morning, I'd fallen asleep in a chair next to the bed. She was tired and she wished to continue sleeping, but she asked me if I could lend her something to sleep in for she said her dress robes were too binding. I gave her the shirt. She went into the washroom adjacent to my bedchamber and changed into the shirt, the shorts that she is wearing are hers. She told me she always wore shorts beneath her robes. She crawled back beneath the covers and went to sleep and I came out here and I slept on the couch. I woke up when McGonegall and Mrs. Weasley came knocking," he explained as he stared into Dumbledore's eyes.
"Why should we believe anything that you say? Your serpentine tongue is used to creating lies that are plausible," Remus said as he looked up at him. "Why did the girl not know where she was? Why did she not know the time? Why was she disoriented if you gave her the Cleansing potion?" Remus asked as he stared over at Severus Snape.
"The girl has a name, it is Luna, and in case you haven't noticed Lupin, by our law she is considered a legal adult," Severus spat back. "Also the reason that she was disoriented was because she was half asleep if you had not noticed. She's told me that she hasn't had any sleep at home and that is the reason why she is so tired."
"Why should we believe that what you're saying is true?" Minerva asked.
"Because I would never rape anyone! Because I am decent and rape is a detestable, vile, abominable act!" Severus shouted. Remus stood from where he kneeled.
"You are not a decent human being! Like Sirius has always said you were a greasy git in school that never got any. Perhaps that is the reason why you raped her!" Remus shouted angrily. As they were both about to launch at each other they were glued to their spots by Dumbledore's wand.
"That is quite enough," Dumbledore said sternly and severely. "Calm down the both of you, there is to be no more shouting. Do you want everyone in the castle to know what is happening here?" Both Remus and Severus glared down at their feet and fell silent. Dumbledore than waved his wand when he was sure that neither of the two men would do anything to each other. Severus took a deep sigh and looked over at Dumbledore and walked over to him.
"Professor Dumbledore, I swear I did not rape Luna," Severus said earnestly.
"What good is that?" Remus said, turning around to face Dumbledore and Severus. Severus however ignored him.
"I did not rape Luna!" Severus exclaimed.
"Why should we believe that?" Remus asked. Severus turned around to look at him.
"Because I LOVE HER!" he shouted and everyone stood shocked. Severus turned around and looked into Dumbledore's shocked eyes and felt the tears in his eyes. "I am madly in love with Luna, I would never, NEVER do anything that would cause her harm," he said as he looked into Dumbledore's eyes. He turned around to look at Remus. "Would you ever do anything at all to harm Tonks?"
"Of course not," Remus said in a quite voice.
"And why not?" Severus said as he was trying to prove his point by having Remus state it.
"Because I would rather die a million horrible deaths than to be the cause of her suffering," he said as he looked down at his feet. Severus turned around and looked into Dumbledore's eyes.
"I would do the same if I ever hurt Luna," Severus said as he looked into his eyes.
"Professor Snape?"
TBC…