A/N- Ok, so this took slightly longer than originally planned…but it's here now, and I'm here and we're all here! I think I may have been drugged. I swear The Great Dragon has had it out for me ever since I paid in check form and they have been slowly begrudging me ever since. But Chinese food….ah…the one reason I love Minneapolis, Chinese delivery, apparently this happens in most cities and such, but I'm from small-time suburbia and Chinese delivery is the best invention ever, besides the typewriter or the laptop. Please read and review (Dreaconin, thank you for badgering me, continue to do so and I may actually continue to work on this) but hey, yeah, thanks to those that have reviewed, and I know who Merry Gentry is, Miriam is not her. This just a Miriam/Severus chapter (no love, just talking), I tried to post this story on The Restricted Section, but it wasn't NC-17 enough. Meh, I like it the way it is, I don't really write dirty, I can read it though.

Three

Miriam wandered easily down into the dungeons. It was dark; that was to be expected. She rounded a corner and a sight not to be expected took her breath, rendering her totally speechless and immobile for more time then necessary.

Professor Snape stood in his bedroom doorway naked to the waist, tiny jets of water slowly trailing down his marble frame. He was well-built, he wasn't so much thin, he was more toned, more feral. His onyx hair was damp and hung in shadowy tangles just past his shoulders, the towel wrapped around his tapered waist left little to the imagination nor did the narrow river of hairs starting at his navel help deplete that image from her mind.

Miriam gulped, the small noise pounding in her ears, she shivered as a thrill of want went skyrocketing through her, 'Back out slowly, Miriam. Back out, go back up the stairs and act as if you've seen nothing, there is nothing to be concerned over…'

Miriam finally listened to her thoughts and hurried back to and up the stairs. She re-entered making as much noise as possible. This received the desired effect of calling him forth from the dark recesses of his bleak hole, the undesired, well…maybe partially desired effect, was that he came out in nothing but his towel.

Miriam gulped down a sudden squeal and, in a sense, sucked up her nerve and faced Professor Snape with a stern demeanor before breaking into a lopsided grin.

"Severus, I'm sorry to intrude upon you without proper warning, it's just, well," her composure broke completely and she began giggling like a little schoolgirl, "Dear God, Severus! Why in hell didn't you put some clothes on before swaggering out here!" this of course was said brokenly through a trill of giggles.

From the expression on Snape's face, Miriam could tell that he found nothing in the current situation amusing. He was glowering at her through his partially lowered lashes, his glare both smoldering and vexing. Rivulets of water were still careening slowly down his sculpted frame and the towel was held in place as if he had just hurriedly thrown it on. He took a step towards her and Miriam took one back.

Her mind began to yell violently at her, a repertoire of, 'Run, damn you! Run! Make haste! Escape! Flee!' and yet she stood there, rooted firmly to the ground, challenging him with her eyes and her stance to do something about her presence, and he did.

"Professor Gentry," he hissed angrily, "I came out here in such a hurry because I thought that all hell had been loosed and my lab was in danger, now seeing that you are the cause for such a horrendous and monstrous noise, I am very glad I came, very glad indeed." he eyed her over slowly and Miriam had a terrible urge to grab his towel and run. She didn't, of course, but she really, really wanted too.

"Severus," she teased softly, her soft, dark drawl diminishing the anger that had been wafting around him in thick clouds, "I'm not complete chaos," she thought for a second before quickly adding: "most of the time. I came down to speak to you about something, something rather important." as an after thought she added lamely: "Please."

Snape eyed her pensively a few more moments before making a wide berth around her and eyeing her like she was some venomous snake pit to strike at any instant, funny, she was feeling the same way about his delectable visage as well. "Speak, Miriam, and I may listen."

Miriam took a shaky breath before beginning, "Severus, I was hoping that we could talk about non-class related things. Random topics, if you will, events that have nothing to do with class subjects or itinerary," she paused, and realized with growing panic that she was rambling, "but such things are, of course, only important in class and seeing as we are not in class…"

"For Merlin's sake, woman!" Severus eventually bellowed, interrupting her never-ending tirade, "Do you have a point-of-matter to this conversation?"

Miriam winced at the scathing in his low voice, "Of course, right, sorry about this." He looked at her expectantly, "What I am about to tell you must remain between us, kept between friends; per say…. What would you say to student-teacher relations, rhetorically speaking?" The silence that passed afterwards was thick enough to choke on, and uncomfortable enough to pass for what seemed like eons.

Finally he spoke, "This is rhetorical?" Miriam nodded, "I have nothing against student-teacher relations, minding that nothing ever evolves. Lupin, a Defense Professor four years back, had quite a friendly relationship with Potter and his friends, most students enjoyed him, so I wouldn't castigate you if you wished to have a few young friends." he looked at her for a moment before concern filled his fathomless eyes, "Miriam, are you alright? You're as white as a sheet; come, sit down, let me get you something to drink. Water? Tea? You look like you could use something stronger, I am going to dress and I'll return with a nice draught of Firewhiskey, and then you can rhetorically tell me what in Merlin's name is wrong with you." He said this last bit with an endearing smirk.

By the time he had returned, Miriam had worked out exactly what she was going to say, how she was going to say it, and just what she wasn't going to say or do. Her mind, however, had different plans.

"Severus, I had several encounters, of sorts, with Harry Potter, first on the train, then in the carriage on the way to the school, and finally in my classroom only a few hours ago."

"And these encounters should concern you so much because? Now I know Potter can be a prat, but it has hardly sent anyone into vapors, well…not quite yet."

"These weren't exactly…well were not exactly teaching inspired moments, Severus, these were brief moments of insanity and…I may have made the biggest mistake of my life, a mistake that could endanger not only myself, but all of us."

"This mistake, Miriam, what was it?"

"A moment of insanity; that I fear may happen again because I'm not sure if I have the will to fight its pull." There was a dawning in Snape's eyes and he shook his head, uttering a soft: "Curses, Gentry, can't you find men your own age to satisfy your urges?"

"It's not as if this was entirely my fault, Severus, he was very persuasive." At Snape's raised eyebrow, Miriam went into the defensive, "Ok, fine, he wasn't exactly persuasive, but brute lust can have that effect at times and I had never…" Miriam abruptly shut her mouth.

Snape's eyebrow rose even higher, and his voice came out in silky, coaxing waves, "You had never what? Miriam, been with a man? Potter can hardly be classified as a man, but had you never known a touch before, you can only assume that what you felt was indeed sex in the arms of a grown man, and not some sniveling boy."

Miriam's mouth gaped just slightly, "How did…?"

"How did I know? After our meeting at The Poison Apple, a few things dropped into place: your secrecy, your misbegotten son, your glamour," at her shaken gasp, Snape smiled, "Don't worry, I will tell no one, but your naiveté to think that no one would wonder why an unmarried woman such as yourself would have a son was purely whimsical…I began some research and I discovered a few other things that, for your benefit, I will keep solely to myself. But your virginity, that was apparent due to your glamour," when Miriam made no motion to speak or ask why, he continued, "An experienced woman, were she trying to hide, would not take on the illusion of every teenage boys' wet dream."

Miriam flushed a brilliant cherry-red, "Bravo, Severus," her husky voice was deceptively soft with only the faintest trace of anger, "While trying to find a way around my walls, did you ever stop to think of why I may have them there in the first place?" with that she turned on her heel and marched out of the dungeons, leaving Severus Snape to stare unabashed in her wake.

'Men!' her mind screamed, 'They think they know tit from tat, but when it comes to secrets or sex, they'll try their damndest to get to both!' all Miriam could think of in reply was a lame: "Here, here!" she slammed into her bedroom and stopped dead…

In the middle of her bed someone had left a bouquet of roses, petals from hundreds of others lay strewn around till her room looked like a lake of eerily calm blood. A note on the table read:

Miriam,

Here's a rose for every time I've thought of you.

I can't wait to see you again, you're the one thing in my life that matters,

and you understand me completely. I believe I may be in love with you.

Forever yours,

Harry

Hell had frozen over, and Miriam was going to have to avoid both the Devil and the Hero, unfortunately, she couldn't quite seem to make out who was who.

A/N- I must get to my History of Cinema class now, remember, if you don't review yourselves and have someone else tell me things, I still will believe no one reads and it will not get posted. So review and I will post. That may be a threat, I'm still considering it.