Under My Skin

Chapter 8

"Grace," he corrected himself stubbornly, "we need to talk."

"I don't have time to talk to you, Professor," she replied unevenly.

"Make time," he replied. He grabbed hold of her arm (like on so many occasions, it was beginning to become a habit) and held her thin frame firmly in place. Her bright grey eyes looked around helplessly, realization dawning that she wasn't going to get out of this one unless God himself decided to show a personal interest in Grace Vasquez.

But then her attitude changed, and her aura of arrogance and sophistication was back. "Excuse me, Professor, but don't you think you're a little too old for me? I could understand how women your age wouldn't come to you, but, honestly, you're practically robbing the cradle." She smirked and shifted around until the hold on her arm was let go. She looked down and noticed dull purple bruises starting to form on her arm. Grace smiled up at the dumbfounded professor and walked down the stone hallway leading back to her rooms.

Severus clenched and unclenched his fists. This shit just was not fair! One minute the little chit was all over him, and the next she's insulting him. Severus was very confused when it came to Grace, even though he was never confused when it came to women. And, not to rain on her parade of course, but women fly themselves over to him, especially nowadays. The nerve of that woman! He didn't need her. He...wanted her.

It was noon, and even though Grace was supposed to be at the Great Hall, enjoying a delicious lunch with all the staff, she couldn't bring herself to get up from the sparkling Hogwarts' Lake. She felt terrible about saying those things to Severus, but she knew that would get him speechless for a while, at least until she figured a few things out. She still intended on writing a letter to Julian, asking him about the uncharacteristic break-in of Hogwarts.

A familiar shuffle of feet from behind interrupted her thoughts. Grace smiled to herself and turned around to be greeted by the joyous face of Ron Weasley. He grinned lopsided and sat down beside the Spanish woman.

"Hey, Ron," she said while staring out into the lake.

Ron didn't reply he simply began skipping stones in the water.

"What's wrong?"

Ron shrugged and replied, "Nothing. Harry and I got in a fight recently and neither one of us will hurt our pride by apologizing. It's a guy thing."

Grace sighed and wondered about the weird ways men thought.

Way above the pair, in the great Hogwarts castle, a pair of twinkling blue eyes watched them, sighing as he did so.

The bloody dunderheads would be arriving any minute now. Severus sighed and sat roughly on the black leather chair next to his already lit fireplace. He stared into the bright orange flames, drinking Old Odgen's, his best friend. Earlier today, Grace was not at lunch, nor was Ron. This angered him. What would Grace see in that weasel? Then again, rumor had it Ron was gay. Maybe Severus was just being childish; he had nothing to worry about.

He drained the last bit of liquid and made his way slowly to the Great Hall. All the other professors, including Grace, were talking quietly amongst one another, waiting for the students. Severus took his place at the end of the table, which, coincidentally, was next to Grace. She eyed him briefly and quickly turned around and began chatting with Professor Qamhiyeh, the Charms professor.

Severus sighed under his breath. He then heard the ever-so-familiar racketing of the old horseless carriages that carried the young students from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts. All the teachers heard it, because Hogwarts had a certain alarm to let staff know if something or someone was coming.

Everyone straightened their teaching robes and got situated at their designated seats. Grace determinedly watched the doors, instead of looking at Severus. It hurt him just a little, but of course he was a master at hiding his emotions well. He too watched the doors, waiting for the older children to bounce their way through the Great Hall, sitting at their tables.

All too soon, the students arrived. He eyed all of them, recognizing all of them from last year. The old man sighed and for the first time that night turned towards Grace. She was staring at the children with bright eyes and a smile across her lips. How could anyone be excited about having to teach these dunderheads? He asked himself.

"Professor Vasquez," he whispered the greeting out the corner of his mouth so no one would notice.

"I sign the divorce papers tomorrow. It's Professor Lopez," she whispered back, still brightly staring at the children who were now down taking their seats at the house tables. Then the doors opened and Minerva McGonagall, followed by a rather large group of first years, entered stiffly. A lot of couples must've gotten busy eleven years ago, Severus smirked to himself.

He recognized a few of them almost immediately, which worried him a great deal. First of all, there was a young Malfoy; with the blonde hair and gray eyes, you could never mistake her. She had an air of arrogance and importance, just like her relatives. Severus had seen the little one on many occasions while visiting his godson, Draco. Draco had turned out a lot better than his father, fighting, in the end, for the light.

Someone else he recognized was Potter's girl, Lily. He hadn't even known Potter had a child until a few weeks ago. Apparently, he and Luna got married right out of eighth year and had a child together. There was no mistaking the jet black hair with emerald green eyes. He could tell that the Malfoy/Potter legacy would continue throughout the years, which almost scared him. Almost.

"Aberdayle, Christian," called out McGonagall, reading the names off the longer list than usual.

The hat was put on a rather afraid looking sandy haired boy. The wizened hat almost immediately yelled, "RAVENCLAW!"

The Ravenclaw table clapped and congratulated their newest arrival. And so the sorting began.

It took quite a long time since there were so many children to be sorted. But in the end (all the way down to Zabini, Blake) everyone was sorted and the feast was about to be given. But then, of course, Dumbledore had to make his famous before feast speech.

"Welcome, welcome, everyone! I'dfirst like to welcome the new professors and posistions. Sonow I'd liketo congratulate Professor Qamhiyeh, for she has moved from the Arithmacy position to Charms." The hall erupted in quiet claps and a dark-haired and beautiful young woman waved to everyone. Anyone could tell that she was a favorite among the students, especially the older boys. Whistles could be heard over the claps. "And so I'd like to welcome Professor Lopez, who will be our new Arithmacy teacher." Everyone clapped silently, and craned their necks to look at the gorgeous woman sitting next to Professor Snape. "I'd also like to welcome Ronald Weasley, who has taken over for poor Madame Hooch as the Quidditch Instructor." Loud claps could be heard around the hall; Ron was a very famous Quidditch player, after all. "And last, but certainly not least, Harry Potter has graciously taken over Defense against the Dark Arts for the aging Professor Giarold. He will be missed greatly." Harry's claps were loudest of all for obvious reasons. He waved and flashed a boyish grin. The older girls went crazy.

"Now that everyone has been introduced, I have a few regular announcements. The Forbidden Forest is off limits to any student. Mr. Filch has asked that, as a reminder, everyone beware there is a list of what you can and cannot have in the halls or in the classroom. It's posted almost everywhere, so I doubt you will forget! Now, dig in!"

A wonderful feast magically appeared in the gold plates of the Hogwarts Great Hall. Everyone was laughing, talking, and enjoying dinner. Everyone, of course; except a very sour faced Professor Snape.

An excuse GraceLopez had been using to avoid Severus Snape was that she had way too many things on her mind, what with the new school year and all. Everything had actually been going pretty good for her. It was only in the second week, but so many students had warmed up quickly to Grace. She supposed it was because she was a lot closer to all of their ages than the other professors were.

Severus tried his best to busy himself over the weeks. He tried not to look at the googly stares boys were giving his Grace. Wait, his! Grace was not his! What had he been thinking? He would've laughed had the situation not troubled him so much... that, and he didn't laugh. And he was having a pretty hard time controlling his thoughts as of late. At times, he would get lost in thoughts about Grace, especially during the boring hours of class time. He, unlike Grace in the professor area, was having much difficulty. There were at least three students per class that rivaled Neville Longbottom. They were all a cauldron explosion just waiting to happen.

During dinner in the Great Hall one particular night, he found his nose inhaling the wonderful scent of Grace. She smelled like cocoa. He wanted to reach over and do whatever he was physically able to do to her. It was driving him crazy! Just the mere thought of anything pertaining to GraceLopez had him twitching with nerves. Something had to be done, which was why after dinner, Severus went straight to the Headmaster's office.

"Albus," he began right when he stepped in Dumbledore's office. "I have a problem with this new teacher, Grace Lopez. Not only is she a disturbance to me, but a disturbance to the students as well. Oh, if you only knew about the looks those little insufferable boys gave her once her back was turned...I tell you, Albus, she need not teach here."

And there went that damn sparkle in Albus' blue eyes. "Are you jealous, Severus?" Albus asked quietly.

"Jealous! Why should I be jealous? No, Headmaster, I, Severus Snape, am not jealous. But do you honestly think we should just let the boys stare at her like this and not concentrate on their work? I'm looking out for their best interest." Ha, like that's going to fool him, he thought sadly.

Albus smirked and replied, "Severus, MissLopez is highly qualified in her field to teach and not mix business with pleasure. I'm sure that although the attention is acceptable, it is not wanted. Now try and get along with her. She's very interested in Potions and you will both get along fine. As a matter of fact, I think you should go right this instant and apologize to her. Now, Severus," he added, noticing the angry expression on the younger man's face, "it's not very polite to treat our new staff member this way. We all have to learn to like each other professionally, whether we like it or not. Go on now."

With a heavy heart, Severus walked slowly to Grace's rooms. He passed by various paintings and statues, all looking upon him with a stern eye. He scowled at them all, and continued walking, looking straight ahead. He walked down the lonely and silent corridors slowly, and when he rounded the corners near her quarters, he was met with the still body of Grace Lopez, lying on the stone floor.

Hours later, Severus was still sitting in an uncomfortable chair in the Hospital Wing near Grace's bed. As soon as he had found her, he picked up her limp body and brought her to the infirmary. He had been by her bed ever since, except for when Madam Pomfrey had to run tests on her. But as soon as she was done, he came rushing back, because, although he would never admit it to himself, he felt empty without Grace being there to give him his own medicine of witty comments.

"Severus," Dumbledore announced himself.

All Severus could do was clear his throat to indicate he heard the old man; he had been at Grace's bedside for a day without food and water (and Dumbledore knew this was unhealthy for the already thin man)and she had still not woken up. Her eye was now swollen and she had a good few bruises everywhere on her body.

"You have to eat something, my boy."

After a while, he replied, sullen, "I'll eat when I want. Grace needs to get better first."

"Are you, ah, saying Grace is your top priority? Even though, just yesterday you were saying she shouldn't teach her and the boys shouldn't be staring at her. Why, Severus. You're staring at her the exact way the boys are!"

Severus shook his head no and replied, "I have nothing but concern for the woman. I'm worried she was...sexually harmed by one of the students. We're just waiting for the test results. But do you see those bruises on her neck and face? And when Poppy examined her, she had what we think was semen around her legs, but we couldn't be sure."

"I see. Well, will you please let me know--"

"No need, Albus," Poppy interrupted, walking out her office with a bundle of parchment in her hand. She looked sadly from Albus, to Severus, to the limp body of Grace sleeping on the bed. "Professors, I want you to take a look at this, please." She set the parchment down on Grace's bedside table and sighed. She flipped through some, landing on one with fingerprints. "I ran a few standard tests along with the ones we needed, like fingerprintsandjust the normaltests.Well, when her fingerprints showed, I realized that I recognized them; they are Hermione Granger's fingerprints. Exact same, Headmaster, for the tests do not lie," she added, noticing the disbelieving look on Dumbledore's face.

Severus remained seated in his chair, and if he hadn't been so shocked, he probably would've jumped out his chair and cried, "WHAT!" Instead, he detached himself from every emotion concerning Grace...or Hermione?

Before anyone could say anything else, however, the woman's body stirred and she opened her good eye, yawning. All Severus could think about was that the woman's breath stunk from being closed and un-brushed for a whole day.

Standing up from the chair he had restricted himself to, Severus swept past the Dumbledore. "I need to go." The girl - yes a girl, as she was no longer a woman in his eyes - had deceived him. She had deceived them all. He paused. 'But why had she deceived them? Because she wanted to humiliate me, that's all it was. Potter and Weasley are in it too.' Severus continued onto his chambers. Snarling as the paintings nearby began whispering. Lowering the wards he stormed in and sank into his favourite chair. Summoning a glass of Ogden's best.

Resigning himself for a night of blurred numbness, he poured his first glass, lit the fire and set back to relax.

A/N: Wow, thank you for the awesome reviews you guys gave! I encourage you to give me more encouragement though, haha. Hope you all liked this bit. And it might've come out a little later than usual, but I'm definitely going to try and update a little faster! Once again, THANK YOU SO MUCH. Hope you review again... and again... and again... and again...