Heaven Sent
Long Way Down
I was dead sleeping in your bed
Floated up from the ground and looked down
Then finally I could see completely
Heard the angels' song
I know what you are
I could never tell
They sang what you are
This far away, you're a miniature to me
Are you sorry you almost disappeared
Now I know what you are
I could never tell
They sang what you are
Now the notes are fading
and everything is turned around
And I can't help but think it
Its a long way down
And everything is changing
and everything is turned around
And I can't help but thinking
its a long way down
Now I know what you are
I could never tell
They sang what you are
Long Way Down- Guster
-----
Lydia groaned, rubbing her eyes. The library, for being a place where one was supposed to read and study, was poorly lit and now her eyes were starting to hurt. Snape sat beside her at the worn table, the trusty Bulgarian to English dictionary flung open between them. It was a Saturday, a week from the last Hogsmeade Weekend, and the two had been trying to decipher the mystery of Gifford Ollerton's journal for hours. They had long missed lunch and the hour was fast approaching dinner.
And how much had they gotten done? Three pages- three pages out of eight hundred and seventy six. Yes, this was going to take forever…
Snape threw his quill down and leaned back in his chair, "This is ridiculous."
"No, it isn't. It's just time consuming," Lydia reasoned.
"Time consuming? I've been looking for the meaning of the same word for over half an hour! The whole project is a little more than time consuming."
"Well, it's not all going to be in the dictionary…"
"Then what?"
"Just figure out the words around it and try to work through it that way," she suggested.
"Really that is a great idea, except for when I've already done that," he said bitterly, his brow almost meeting his eyes.
"Being unpleasant isn't going to get us anywhere," said Lydia, frowning.
"And what do you suggest I do?"
"Perhaps you could skip that line and go back to it later. Then, perhaps, you could stop your abhorrent growling. It's rather distracting." Lydia made it a point to set her head back to her book and started scribbling blatantly on her scrap piece of parchment. Determined not to look back at him, she heard him let out a breath, but soon enough heard the scratching of another quill against the paper. She smiled.
They continued to work quietly with the occasional few words passing between them to discuss a new finding. There weren't many of those though. It was mainly Lydia who spoke, but it was Snape who broke the silence about a half an hour later.
"Lydia," he whispered. She looked up from her work expecting a new bit of information, however simple. Anything was needed at this point.
"Yes?"
"It means path."
"What means path?"
"The word I couldn't translate earlier. I went back to it. It means path."
"Oh, good," she said, absentmindedly, scribbling another note from the page she had down.
"I apologize if I distracted you."
"No really, it's fine," she said. Snape looked at her as if she was sprouting another three legs, "What?"
"How can you possibly be so patient about this whole thing?"
Lydia shrugged, and began to pick at her nails, "I don't know… I wasn't aware that I was," she supplied uncomfortably, but Snape didn't say anything more. He gave a mutter of some sort, and went back to the page he was working on.
-----
Lydia staggered into the dormitory around eighty thirty, yawning and rubbing the life out of her eyes. Morrie and Elle were pouring over some bad romance novel on the floor, and Emmaline Vance, who was seldom to be found with in the dormitory because of her pre-Madonna issues, was brushing her long black hair out in front of a small floating mirror.
"Where the hell have you been?" Morrie said, looking up from her book.
Lydia sighed, "The library."
"Why the bloody hell were you in the library all day?"
"Research with Severus," she answered simply, starting to walk off towards the bathroom, but Morrie had jumped up and caught her blouse in her hand.
"Whoa, whoa- hold on here? Severus as in Severus Snape?"
"Yes."
Elle got off her perch and walked over, her head titled curiously, "You were with Snape?"
"Did you not hear me the first time? Yes, I was with Snape," Lydia said, exasperated.
"You were alone with him?"
"Yes."
Elle looked appalled, "But Lydie, what about Remus?"
"What about him?"
"Are you cheating on him?"
"What?! Are you people insane!" Lydia exclaimed, "Number one- I am not going out with Remus, number two- Severus and I were in the library researching, and I for one have no intentions of getting involved with him in that sense!"
"You were alone with him," Emmaline Vance pointed out from her position on the bed, running the brush through her waving black hair.
"That doesn't mean anything!" Lydia said, worked up. Emmaline made a tsking noise.
"How wrong you are…" she shook her head, "Any girl alone with a guy these days means something. If this gets around the school…"
"I've been meeting with Severus for over a month! What makes you think people haven't noticed?!"
"A month?" Elle looked as though she was about to faint.
"You mean to tell us that you've been hanging around with the weirdest kid in school for a whole bloody month?" Morrie said.
"Wow, I knew there was something wrong about you, but this-"
"Shut up, Emmaline! Shut up, everybody! I don't care what you think!"
"We're just trying to help-" Elle began.
"If I wanted your opinions, I would hex it out of you!" Lydia shouted, finally reaching her breaking point. She flung the book she was carrying on the ground, and stormed to the bathroom, making sure to slam the door shut.
Once inside the small room, she quickly locked the door just as someone started fiddling with the knob. There was knocking, "Lydie, come on, open up…" she heard Elle's voice through the wood of the door.
"Go to Hell!" she yelled back, smacking the toilet seat down and sitting upon it, her arms folded and a scowl on her face.
There was no more knocking.
Lydia couldn't believe them. She couldn't understand why they would care so much, why they acted like she was so odd. And all because she was hanging out with Severus Snape. And maybe they didn't like him, but they couldn't dictate to her who she was going to hang around with. Screw them, all of them.
-----
Later that night, Lydia had been sure to see that everyone in the dormitory was asleep, before she crawled out of the bathroom and sunk into bed. She had also been sure to wake up before all of them, so she would not have to deal with the situation.
It was true. After much contemplation on the now familiar toilet seat, she decided she had overreacted over the whole thing. She would apologize for throwing such a hissy fit, but for now, she was too tired to do anything but get down to breakfast and have a cup of hot tea.
The Great Hall was fairly empty when she arrived, a few students scattered about. Well, it was early and a Sunday. Lydia quickly found her seat at the end of the Ravenclaw table and poured herself that desired steaming cup of tea, adding a bit of milk to soften the drink. As she brought her cup to her lips, she caught sight of Severus entering the Hall, a book in hand.
He must have seen her too, for their eyes met, and he crossed- no, prowled over to her table. In many ways, he was the King of Cats, reminding her greatly of someone to portray Tybalt.
He stopped in front of her, the table blocking the small space between them, "Can you work today?"
Lydia put her cup down, "I've acquired quite the backload of homework." She murmured.
"I want to get this done."
"It's going to take a long time, you realize."
"I know that," he hissed, "But I want it done as soon as possible, but you continue to waste time with your silly escapades."
"Are you talking about last weekend?"
"What else would I be talking about?" He was glaring now, a characteristic she had grown to become familiar with.
"Forgive me, but it was a Hogsmeade weekend."
"You didn't see me trolloping off to town, did you?"
Lydia's mouth dropped, "Trolloping? I was trolloping, was I? If you call a simple trip to the local town trolloping-"
"A simple trip to the local down with Lupin," Severus growled, looking more and more unpleasant by the moment.
"What does Remus have to do with anything?"
"We could have been working, but instead you feel that your little boyfriend is more important than this project."
"What is it with people thinking he is my boyfriend?" Lydia sighed, and pinching the bridge of her nose, "Look, I'm sorry, but you can't expect me to drop everything for this one project. I mean, it's not really even that important-"
"Malfoy wants it done."
"I'm aware of that, but-"
"He wants it done by the New Year."
Lydia was taken back. The New Year? That was in only two months. He wanted it done in two months? That was mad.
"You're kidding."
"No, I'm not. He needs it by New Year's."
"Wants it or needs it?"
"Wants, but needs it by Febuary at the latest."
Lydia took a breath, "How important is this? Really?"
Severus looked at her for a moment, thinking, "Extremely important," he whispered, "He wanted you to help me specifically."
Lydia nodded. So, it was important. She couldn't just let it lie now. Looking down at her tea, she could see the reflection of the ceiling in the liquid.
"Can I finish my breakfast?" she asked.
Severus nodded, "I'll meet you at our table in ten minutes." And with that, he turned, stalking right back out of the Great Hall, just in the way he arrived.
Lydia gulped. Suddenly, things just got a bit more stressful.
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A/N- Sorry about this being short, but I'm going away for about two weeks on Friday and I'll have no means to get another chapter out. So sorry about that! Have no fear. I will be back to updating at the start of the New Year, so Merry Christmas everybody! And Happy Hanukkah too!
I'd like to thank everybody who reviewed! I would address people, but I really should be packing and have to get this up as soon as possible…
SO PLEASE, I BEG OF YOU, PLEASE GIVE ME SOME LONG RAMBLY REVIEWS!