He stared at both boys in his office, anger fueling the fire in his black eyes, leaning over his desk to chastise them.
"You wanted a day off from my class to catch up on your Transfiguration homework, so instead of actually DOING it, you convinced Peeves to help you steal the cauldrons from MY classroom? And then you had the brilliant notion of hiding them in Professor Sinistra's classroom because you didn't think they'd be found in time for your class?"
Both boys nodded, one in shame and humiliation, the other with a slight tinge of defiance in his eyes.
Snape had every intention of making that defiance go away, one way or another.
"So. Which brilliant mind between the two of you decided that hanging Professor Sinistra's telescopes in the Great Hall was a good way to try and deflect suspicion from yourselves for the cauldron theft?"
The blonde head looked up, the defiance still clearly shining. "That would be me, Professor. Evan here didn't even stick around for it." The redheaded boy next to him nodded, eyes stuck somewhere on the desk, refusing to look up at the irate Potions teacher. "And I wasn't trying to deflect suspicion. I wanted out of her class, too. I needed to finish my work for her."
Of all the cocky, smug, adolescent arrogance…
Snape leaned even further over his desk, staring his two students in the eyes. "I know the Headmaster's already set a punishment for you for breaking school rules. However, as both your professor and Head of House, believe me when I say you'll be having additional reprimands from myself. I think scrubbing cauldrons twice a week in my workrooms for the next two months will suffice. Now, get up."
Liam Tregand's eyes lost an edge of their defiant glaze. "Wh-where are we going?"
The tall man pointed a finger to the door. "We're taking a little walk, Mr. Tregand. You have another professor to whom you owe apologies and explanations. You, Mr. Dubail, will return to your dormitory and remain there for the rest of the evening, understood?"
The redhead nodded, meekly, as he slipped from the office as quickly as he could.
Severus followed the blonde third year every step of the way from his office to the complete opposite corner of the castle, the top of the northern tower, where the Astronomy classroom and observation deck were located. It had been a clear night when he'd left the Great Hall after dinner. Chances were good any astronomer would be taking advantage of the evening.
He wasn't mistaken.
Selene heard footsteps outside the door before she heard the rapping of someone's knuckles against the heavy wooden door that kept the drafts from the open observation windows from escaping down the stone stairwell. Sighing in a slight feeling of exasperation, she set her quill down next to her wine glass, walking away from the telescope and wrenching the door open, confused when her eyes met those of Snape's, a student in tow.
"Professor. Mr. Tregand. Is there anything…"
She wasn't given a chance to finish her query. "I believe someone has something to say to you, Professor." With a frozen glare and a barely-perceivable lifting of his eyebrows, Snape prompted his student to begin blurting out his confession.
Within seconds, both professor and student were floored by her reaction.
"You stole my telescopes and hung them fifty feet in the air because you hadn't finished your homework!" With every word, the Astronomy professor's voice rose, until she was near to shouting. "Have you any idea how many galleons each of these telescopes are worth? How long I worked to set them up properly? The preciseness of the adjustments on them? The amount of work I've had to put on hold because you decided to pull this idiotic stunt?"
Selene felt her fingernails digging into flesh, realizing with a twinge of pain that her hands were clenched in fists, fighting hard to release them and to gain a semblance of control over her temper. "You arrogant child." Her eyes flickered to his escort. "I assume both yourself and the Headmaster have already set your own punishments." At his silent nod, she once again faced the boy before her. "Every night for the next two weeks, save any evening that the Headmaster and Professor Snape have claimed you, you will be in my classroom, beginning promptly after dinner, translating star charts for me. They will be meticulous and perfect, or I will add additional days to your punishment. You, Mr. Tregand, are not only going to discover a newfound appreciation for my class, but you will be helping me gain back some of the time I've lost, thanks to your exploit. Have I made myself clear?"
The boy swallowed, nodding. Snape found himself slightly shocked. How had she managed to drive the rest of the conceit from his eyes? It didn't matter – all in all, he found himself feeling an appreciation for the Astronomy professor that, until a few days before, he had all but ignored.
"Good. Now, get out of my sight before I decide to make it a complete month." The boy looked at his Head of House, who nodded, before turning to leave, walking at first, then quickly sprinting down the stairs before either professor could turn their wrath back to him. With a heavy sigh, Selene turned her back to the door, gathering papers together, stacking them and sliding them in a folder. She was tired and distracted; no more point pretending to get work accomplished tonight. "Thank you."
Her words stopped Severus as he was turning to leave. "Thank you for what?"
"You kept your promise."
Her matter-of-fact reply struck him for a second. He wasn't sure if he was surprised by the gesture, one that he wasn't terribly used to from his fellow colleagues, or slightly hurt that she might have thought he wouldn't.
Of course I kept my promise.
With one last look around the room, Selene set the wine glass and bottle she'd laid out for later back in a cupboard and blew out the oil lamp on the small table where her notes were kept, walking to the doorway and shutting the heavy door, using her wand to lock it. She looked up at him, for the first time since answering the knock on her door. "And, thank you for the coffee the other day."
He jumped slightly at her words. "How did you know that was me?"
Selene gave him a deadpan stare. "I can't see Dumbledore scaring a house-elf into scampering up the tower stairs so quickly." She began to walk down the stairs to her apartments, stopping suddenly, turning to look upward again. "And whenever you decide to repeat the gesture, I prefer it black."
Severus stood in place, a wave of confusion swirling in his mind as he watched her descend the staircase.
Whenever I decide…
Quickly yet collectedly, he flew down the stairs, catching the swirl of her grey robes entering a doorway. As if his mouth acted completely of its own volition, he heard his voice echo off the cold stone walls. "I usually have coffee early in the mornings instead of breakfast in the Hall, if you'd care to join me sometime."
Coffee? You just asked another professor to have coffee? Severus, you complete and utter fool…
Selene stood, hand on the doorknob, completely unsure of what to say.
Of course, if Julius were here, he'd know what to say. 'Brilliant, sis. Tell me, however do you find yourself in these predicaments, where your sarcastic wit comes around to haunt you? It's a talent, I swear.' Bloody mouth of mine…
She looked over her shoulder, an odd sort of expression on her face.
From where he stood, he almost could swear it was regret. Either that, or chagrin.
"I'm usually going to sleep in the early mornings, so I don't know how often that would be. The hours I keep and all…" Her voice trailed off, a small part of her kicking herself for turning him down.
Stupid girl. It's coffee, for Morgan's sake, not a date. It wouldn't kill you to lose an hour of sleep and get out of your damned tower once in a while, would it? Gods above and below...
Severus nodded. He should have known better in the first place. If he'd given it a moment's conscious thought, he would have realized an astronomer probably kept odd hours. "Of course. Well, I won't keep you, since I'm sure you have work to finish. Good evening, Professor."
Selene felt a twinge of guilt as he turned away, the subtle change in his voice when saying her title hitting her like cold air. Biting her lip, she hesitated for a moment, until he reached the stairs, and then found herself blurting out the question her inner voice was now berating her for asking.
"Do you like merlot?"
Severus' feet stopped their strides. With a quizzical expression on his face, he turned and answered her. "I do, actually. Why do you ask?"
With a deep breath, she forced herself to stop fidgeting with her sleeves. "My family owns a vineyard in Italy. My brothers send me a few bottles of wine now and then, since I rarely make it home to visit. Since it's late for you and still relatively early for me, I thought you might care to join me for a glass. Unless you'd prefer coffee…"
It was his turn to stand in mild shock.
Selene bit her lip for a second, before reminding herself to stop such an immature and completely uncharacteristic nervous habit. "It's alright. You don't have to, really. It's just that I get tired of drinking it alone, and usually by the time I'm done with grading and work, it's the middle of the night and everyone else is sleeping, so I never have anyone to share it with or talk to. But it's late, and you probably have plans for tomorrow, so I won't keep you."
She didn't notice the fact that he stood in front of her until she was done rambling. "I've had a long day. A glass of wine would be lovely."
Her hand turned the knob she'd been holding for what felt like hours, pushing open the door, leading him into her apartment, a snap of her fingers causing candles to spontaneously light all around the room. Gesturing to her living room, she walked toward her small kitchen. "Have a seat. Just make sure you don't sit on Galileo."
His eyes traveled the room, wondering who, or what, Galileo was, until he noticed a small, smoky grey cat that blended in perfectly with her couch, the green light in its eyes the giveaway. Opting for the safer option, standing, Severus walked across the room to the large bookcases that lined one entire wall. Titles leapt out at him, all in order by author, like a decent library would be. Books on astronomy of course, but a variety of other subjects; philosophy, history, works of fiction.
Some of these books graced his own shelves.
The sound of a cork popping free from a bottle drifted from the kitchen, as one title caught his eye. "You read Strauff?"
Selene walked back into the living room, two wine glasses in hand, passing one to him and taking a sip from her own, sinking onto the couch, avoiding her cat. "I do. He actually lectured once when I was in university. He was brilliant."
"He's a complete irrational lunatic."
"What?"
"His arguments on how the wizarding world is antiquated and needs to evolve with the Muggle world. It's asinine."
She set her wine glass down on the glass tabletop of her coffee table, looking up at him. "We are antiquated. Look at our world. We use candlelight and quills and parchment. We keep ourselves separate from their world, living in castles and hiding from the rest of the world. Granted, in some places wizarding kind has managed to segue into the normal population. However, we already are involved with Muggles. Look how many Muggle-born children are sent owls every summer. There is a wealth of our kind marrying Muggles, simply because marrying our own kind often leads to some form of incest these days. Bloody hell, how can you actually disagree with the argument that we've purposely locked ourselves into a world two centuries past?"
He sank into a chair across from her, setting his wine glass on the same tabletop, leaning forward. "Why would we want to enter the hell on earth that the Muggles have created over those two hundred years? War, violence, disease, hatred, destruction. How can you see the good in modernizing our world?"
Any of her previous nervousness fell away as she launched into the impromptu debate. "I'm sorry. I must have completely overreacted to that pesky war that happened while I was in school. And then there was the whole Grindelwald affair that killed my grandfather. And the current state of our world. As much as the Muggles have destroyed their world, we haven't faired much better. There's still crime and war and destruction. Hell, we have to wipe memories and cover up attacks on their world just to protect our precious existence. What gives us a right to be so holier than thou about it? We're far from perfect."
Severus bit his tongue, catching a slight bitterness in her parting shot. "It's not about perfect. It's about preserving our world. If Wizard-kind entered the Muggle lifestyle, they'd either depend on us or persecute us. Frankly, neither sits well with me..."
"Or me."
The edge in her interruption gave him a moment to pause, staring across the table at her. Picking up the wine glass, he swallowed a sip, letting the flavor rest on his tongue before speaking again, feeling the need to change topics, the sudden fire in her eyes reminiscent of her anger the other day in her office. Clearly, someone had a bit of a temper that they kept under control. "I never knew you were Italian. You have almost no accent."
Selene instinctively began to relax, sinking back onto her couch, holding her glass by the stem. Something about thinking of home always relaxed her. "I am. Well, part. My mother was originally from Greece. Her family moved to Rome when she was young. She now lives in Sicily, with my brothers. They started the winery when I was still little."
"They make an excellent merlot."
She smiled, rising to her feet and entering the kitchen again. "You should try their cabernet." She returned with a bottle, the label in Italian, with a picture of grapes growing on a vine under a crescent moon. Handing it to him, she settled back in her seat. "They swear that harvesting the grapes at night, instead of during the day, makes all the difference. All I know is that they make an excellent wine."
"I take it that you're not involved with the winery, then?"
"Havens, no. Gods, worrying at the least chill in the air; fretting over the amount of rain or heat; tending acre after acre of crop." Selene shook her head, strands of her hair slipping from the knot she wore it in to frame her face. "Besides, I left for school at eleven, went to University, and then came here to teach. My heart's not there anymore. No, I'm the intellectual in the family. The 'black sheep', as Muggles would say. Just give me a book, or my telescope, or someone to argue and debate ideas with, and I'll be happy for hours. It drives them mad. Julius still teases me for being a bookworm.
Severus leaned back in the chair, taking another sip of the wine. "I quite agree. It annoys Dumbledore that I refuse to leave the school for holidays like the rest of the staff. However, everything I want is here. My books, my research..."
"Exactly." Her hand reached for Galileo, petting the soft fur instinctively. "Sometimes, it's like no one understands it. My brothers love their fields and their wines. I love my telescope and the stars. I understand their passion, but it's as if they can't understand mine."
He set the empty glass down on the table again. "People rarely do."
Selene scoffed under her breath, finishing her own glass, rising to fetch the bottle, returning to refill both glasses. "Well, it's nice to have someone to commiserate with about a travesty such as this." She held her glass up in a toast, her lips tugging at the corners into a smirk.
With a nod, Severus held his own glass up in kind, taking a sip a moment later. "How is it we've taught at the same school for all these years and never actually had a conversation?"
Selene cocked her head to one side, thinking for a moment. "Because there are seven floors between your classroom and mine. Because I rarely eat meals with the staff in the Hall. And because I make it a habit of avoiding most of the insanity Dumbledore allows to take place in this castle."
He allowed a smirk of his own to cross his face. "Touché, Professor."
"It's only the truth. After spending ten minutes in Trelawney's company my first year here, I opted to avoid most of the staff. Having to explain to a clairvoyant the correct pronunciation of your first name tends to take away your confidence in your coworkers."
She was shocked to hear him actually laugh. Not loud, but a soft chuckle.
"Trelawney doesn't exactly inspire confidence in Dumbledore's abilities to hire adequate teachers for this school, does she?" Severus swallowed again, the wine sliding smoothly over his tongue and down his throat. "However, considering we've never had a competent Defense professor, or a few of the other classes for that matter, I tend to forget about it."
Selene smirked over her glass. "Am I one of those incompetent teachers that you tend to forget about, Professor Snape?"
His eyes caught hers over her wine glass, just barely catching the teasing quality to her words. "Hardly. You actually care about making sure your students learn something instead of being their friend. You don't assign work below their capabilities – you strive to make them reach for it. You don't coddle your students, you make them earn their grades. Those qualities more than make you competent."
A slender black eyebrow quirked upward. "Well, coming from you, that's high praise indeed. Thank you."
He searched her face for a mocking smile, her voice for a jeering tone. When he found neither, Severus actually felt himself begin to relax slightly.
Intelligent, capable of holding her own in a debate without taking personal offense, charming. Perhaps I have been a little harsh on my opinions of the Headmaster's hiring choices after all…
An hour went by, then a second, and still they talked, discussing everything from their shared contempt for the favoritism of Gryffindor students to the recent Quidditch match to more philosophy and literature. The glasses found themselves refilled a second time, then a third, until finally an empty bottle sat between them on the small table, and both professors jerked as they heard the clock tower chiming one.
A guilt-ridden look crossed Selene's eyes, as if she'd possibly committed some minor transgression. "I'm sorry. You've probably got plans for tomorrow, and I've kept you up gibbering about nonsense…"
Severus rose smoothly from the chair he'd been in for almost three hours now, holding his hand up. "It's been well worth the time, so please don't apologize. I rarely get to speak with someone intelligently, let alone for so long. And as for tomorrow, my plans include hiding as long as possible from the melee of insanity that has been planned, so staying up later than usual did nothing to disrupt them."
Selene stood as well, smiling slightly. "Good. I would have felt guilty if you'd had plans for the day." She walked to the door, holding it open for him gracefully, nodding at him as he bowed his own head in farewell.
As he stepped through the threshold, he stopped and turned. "My offer for coffee some evening still stands, Professor Sinistra. Perhaps you'll find my library as interesting and diverse as I find yours." Without waiting for a reply, Severus turned and began walking towards the staircase, down the stone steps to the lower dungeons and his apartments.
As Selene closed the door behind him, the full weight of his words finally hit her.