Chapter 14

Snape had moved Lexie's training session from the Wednesday before Halloween, to Halloween night, Saturday. Lexie was annoyed because her feast would be cut short due to her need to be in Snape's office as soon as she'd had her dinner. She had to remind herself that the reason she was at Hogwarts in the first place was to find out if Snape's claim to have reformed was true. So she bit her lip and took one for the team.

So instead of staying and enjoying multiple courses of delicious sweets with the rest of the students, she was making her way down to Snape's dungeon only fifteen minutes after the wonderful, infamous Hogwarts Halloween feast had begun.

Lexie had been using her little training sessions to get a handle on Snape's actual position, Death Eater, or spy. She was surprised that Snape didn't seem to like the Death Eaters much more than anyone else she knew. The only problem was, this didn't fit in to the picture she'd been painting of him.

It was a strange thing how the incessant acting out (on Lexie's part) and punishing (on Snape's part) had all but screeched to a halt since their one-on-one sessions had started. Snape would take a portion of each session to discuss a little bit about the Death Eaters, sometimes it would be about their history, others it would be about their positions on certain issues, and still others it would be about some of the scenarios that Lexie might find herself once she became a Death Eater.

While all this information was useful, and certainly made spending all this time with Snape more tolerable, Sophie was drilling her, insisting that she hurry up and find out what his deal was so she could get out of there before she was exposed. However, the problem was, you couldn't rush perfection… and she had to be as close to perfect as she could when it came to Snape. Lexie wanted to let him open up, or blurt out something incriminating whenever the time was right for him. She didn't think forcing the issue was an option.

Tonight was the night that Lexie was dreading. Tonight she had to do physical training with Snape himself. Personally, Lexie thought it was unprofessional of Snape to suggest physical contact between the two of them, nonetheless, Lexie wondered what it would be like between them, begin forced to put their hands on one another.

Tension had been silently growing between them ever since the night that Snape saw into her memories. He'd thought many times about invading her thoughts again, just to see if he was in there more than the two occasions he'd already seen. But then he immediately put the idea out of his head. There were more important things to be searching for if he was going to use his Legilimency skills on her, such as whether she was in this for the right reasons, or if there was something more that he should know.

Before Lexie knew it, she was in Snape's office and he was explaining the process of their P.T. to her.

"The only, I repeat, only time we resort to physical violence," Snape said, pacing around her in circles, "Is when we are trying to ward the attacker off until we can obtain our wands. It is not something that we like to regress to. We, as wizards and witches are above simply pummeling our enemies. So. Kindly drop your wand onto the floor." He said stopping in front of her with his hands clasped behind his back.

Lexie was hesitant, but she did as she was told. Snape stretched out his foot and kicked it across the floor. Lexie watched it roll, but as soon as she took her eyes off of Snape, she felt a terrible crushing sensation against her windpipe and felt herself being slammed into the bookcase. Upon closer examination, she discovered that Snape's forearm was pinning her neck to the shelf. It was getting more difficult to breathe, but Snape didn't let up.

"Never take your eyes off of your attacker, Miss Bane." He said in an explanatory voice.

Lexie tried to calm herself enough to let some of her tactics come back to her. She turned her head to the side and shoved his forearm upward with as much force as she could muster. She then ducked out quickly and turned to face him again.

He turned to face her. "Well done." He said simply. "Now, attack me." He said standing at ease across from her.

Lexie wasn't sure what the appropriate way was to 'attack a teacher'. So she took this opportunity get him back for all the crap he'd been putting her through since they'd first met. She ran at him and swung her right fist toward his head. But with a simple flick of his hand, he'd blocked it. Instantly she swung with her left fist, but again she was denied. She went back to her right hand, but this time, rather than simply blocking it, he grabbed her fist and wrenched it around behind her back pulling it upward, much like McNair did that night he'd caught her following him. Snape pushed her forward until she was face down on the desk in front of her. The side of her face was smashed onto the cold wooden surface.

The pain was excruciating. Her already bad shoulder was being pulled back into the same position as it had been the night it had been dislocated in the first place. She couldn't even muster up enough strength to push him off of her. Tears were welling up in her eyes and she bit her lip to try to fend them off.

It was only then that she realized that Snape was speaking into her ear. He was practically laying on top of her as she was bent over the desk in a rather inappropriate position. "Never leave yourself vulnerable to the sort of moves you cannot get yourself out of. If you are going to swing at your opponent, you must be quicker." He said, his shiny, black hair brushing the side of her face. It tickled and sent chills running down her spine. She shivered.

He stood up slowly and released her, letting his hand touch her skin ever so softly as he ran his fingers down to her wrist. Lexie was furious, not only had he managed to outsmart her, but she was sure he'd felt her shiver at his touch, and she didn't even know why she'd done it! She stood up to face him. Snape noticed a bit of a fire passing through her dark eyes. He wondered what she would try next.

She took a step forward and gave a quick jab that just missed the side of his face as he ducked away. Next, being undeterred, she gave him an uppercut to the stomach, which did not fail her. But upon contact, she was surprised to find that he was quite fit. He wasn't particularly thin, muscular or wiry through the middle, but he was solid. He doubled over, but barely. She took this opportunity to put the heel of her boot into his throat and back him into the bookcase now. Her balance was good and she had good leverage, however, she was just simply smaller than he was.

He reached his hands up and grabbed her by the ankle. With one mighty shove, Lexie felt herself hit the floor. Her head smacked painfully off of the stone floor and the wind was knocked out of her simultaneously, leaving her to writhe around on the floor, gasping for breath and waiting for her vision to become clear again. Tears were leaking out of the corners of her eyes and she couldn't stop them.

"Get up!" Snape barked at her.

Lexie stood again. This time he'd already begun advancing on her. She ducked away as his arms snatched at her. Once she was behind him she used her foot to trip him up. She reached around him with one of her arms and pushed him backwards over her outstretched foot.

A second later he was on the ground, just like she had been a moment earlier. Lexie, elated with triumph stepped over him and knelt down, straddling him over his upper torso. She could see him gasping for breath, but took the opportunity to grasp his wrists and pin them to the floor. She sat down on his stomach and waited for him to make a move, waggling her eyebrows in a triumphant sort of way.

It was only when Snape's breath returned to him did Lexie realize how very naughty this position was; far worse than the previous had been. First she was embarrassed, mortified. She was straddling her Potions teacher on the floor of his classroom.

Next however, she was surprised to notice that she was slightly turned on. Snape was a control freak and Lexie suddenly found herself in a dominant position. She remembered thinking to herself, "Wow… that's kinda hot… controlling a control freak!" She figured that as soon as Snape gathered himself, he'd toss her off of him and she'd go rolling across the dungeon floor. But he didn't.

He just laid there for a moment, unmoving, staring up at her.

"I'm sorry…" Lexie said all of the sudden, "I didn't hurt you did I?" she asked in concern.

"No…" he said. His voice was even softer and more velvety than she'd remembered it before. His hands pushed upwards, against her grip, and she let go.

She flinched when his hands made contact with her hips, pushing her backwards so that he could sit up. Her heart was suddenly racing, beating so hard she could feel it in the back of her throat. She pulled herself off of him and offered him a hand.

She wasn't offended when he didn't accept it, but instead pushed himself back up off of the ground, never taking an eye off of her. Where would they go from here?

Most people who found themselves in the position they'd just found themselves in would usually proceed to fornicate thereafter… however…

Lexie was now trembling as well. What was going on? She just stood there. When Snape came at her, she didn't object. Instead, she let him push her up against the store cabinet where she heard her back make a solid thud as it hit. He'd grabbed her wrists and pinned them up on either side of her face. Their bodies were touching now, he was pressed right up against her. She could truly feel his chest rising and falling now. She could feel his heart beat. And she was close enough to his face to see that his eyes actually were black as coal. They had a mischievous look in them that she'd never seen before.

"That was a pathetic attempt to ward me off Miss Bane." He said, knowingly.

She swallowed. "Shit!" she thought inside her head. Their faces were so close… she could've sworn his lips brushed her cheek once, only for a second. Her eyes drifted shut. All reason had gone out the window and she found herself wanting him to kiss her. "What's taking him so long?" she wondered growing increasingly irritated. How long were they going to stand there like this? She opened her eyes to find him staring seriously back at her. His eyes locked on hers. There was a moment where they simply stared at each other. Then his eyes dropped to the floor, then back to her face, which was now flushing extravagantly. He was drawing nearer… his lips were just to the left of hers, hovering just above her hot skin.

Just then there was a loud banging on the door, which made them both jump. (You know the kind… the kind of jump that happens to you when you're doing something that you know you shouldn't be.) Snape took one last look at her before turning his head to look at the door. Lexie was panting freely now.

"What?" Snape snapped at the door.

"Severus? It's Minerva… we have a problem!" she said. It was easy to hear the concern in her voice.

"What kind of problem?" he asked back, in an obvious attempt to try to dismiss her.

"It's an emergency, we've locked down the castle. Could you please just open the door?" she said exasperatedly.

"Very well." He said shortly. He turned back to Lexie who was looking perfectly mortified at the thought of Professor McGonagall finding them this way, even though nothing had actually happened.

He let go of her arms, which dropped instantly to her sides. "Into the storeroom." He told her seriously in a hushed voice, gesturing with his head to the closet at the back of the room.

Lexie nodded, sidestepped him and hurried as quietly as she could to the back of the room to slip inside the closet. She pulled the door shut most of the way shut, leaving it open a crack so that she could listen.

Unfortunately, Snape had stepped out into the hallway. A moment later he came rushing back into the room. He made his way quickly back to the storeroom and opened the door. "Come with me. I have to take you to the Great Hall." He said, his voice sounding strained and worried.

Lexie stood opposite him, wondering what this could be about. "Quickly." He said reaching out and grabbing her by the wrist harshly. He dragged her out of the closet and began pulling her across the room. She had to trot to keep up with his long strides. He didn't speak while they walked briskly through the dungeon corridors.

When Lexie found her voice again, she found the nerve to ask the question she'd been dying to ask, "Professor… what's going on?"

They began scaling the uneven stone stairs leading up to the Great Hall. "Sirius Black." He said, taking the stairs two at a time. "He's inside the castle."

"What!" Lexie blurted out. No sooner than she'd spoken, did her foot slip on a stair and she fell clumsily onto her hands and knees, wrenching her wrist, unintentionally out of Snape's grasp.

Her palms were bruised and her knees aching. Snape stopped, reached down, grabbed her arm and pulled her back to her feet with ease. He didn't keep his grip on her, which she found herself slightly disappointed about.

"How could that happen?" she asked, scampering up the steps in an attempt to keep stride with him so that he could explain what he knew before they were back in the company of the rest of the students and faculty.

"They're not sure. The castle's been locked down and we are going to perform a thorough search. All students are being taken to the Great Hall." He told her as they emerged into the light of the upper castle. They were crossing the foyer when they bumped into Professor Lupin.

Snape stopped and straightened up, immediately tensing. Lexie had noticed a bit of animosity between the two of them, mainly on Snape's part. She had no idea where this dislike was stemming from. From what she knew about Professor Lupin, he was a great guy… even-tempered, kind and fair.

Lexie stopped at Snape's side as Lupin approached them. "Ahh… Severus, I see you've heard the news then?" he asked, also looking nervous.

"Yes, Lupin. I've been informed." He said curtly.

"Good… they were hoping that you'd be kind enough to conduct the search of the third floor…" he said calmly.

"Good evening Miss Bane." Lupin said managing a weak smile.

"Professor…" Lexie greeted him.

"Fine. I was just escorting Miss Bane here into the Great Hall." He said, still seeming more annoyed that they'd run into Lupin rather than that a convicted criminal could be lingering inside the castle.

"I can take her." Lupin offered.

"That won't be necessary." Snape said, puffing up to his full height.

"Oh, it's no trouble. I think they're waiting for you…"

Lexie looked from one to the other. Snape looked livid, Lupin simply uneasy.

"Very well. See that she doesn't take any detours. She has a way of finding herself in places where she's not supposed to be." Snape said looking at her angrily.

Lexie frowned at him. Where the hell had that come from?

"Of course." Lupin replied. "Miss Bane… if you'll just come with me then." He said, steering her away from Snape. He led her to the Great Hall quietly. Lexie looked over her shoulder to see Snape hurrying up the stairs, taking these ones three at a time.

"Professor…" Lexie addressed Lupin as they approached the entrance.

"Yes?" he asked. It was amazing that his voice remained calm and amiable even in such a situation.

"Do you think he's still in the castle somewhere? Sirius Black that is?" she asked hesitantly. She wondered whether he'd share anymore information with her than Snape did.

"I'm not sure Lexie." He said grimly.

It was nice to hear another adult use her first name. But it didn't make her feel much better.

"It's possible, of course… however… now that we've discovered the painting of the Fat Lady slashed to pieces… he's probably realized that someone's figured out that he'd been inside the castle. I assume he probably fled when she wouldn't let him inside the dormitory."

They made their way into the hall without any further conversation.

Lexie watched Professor Lupin walk away. She flopped down in her usual spot at the Slytherin table. A mass murderer, inside Hogwarts castle. This place was supposed to be an impenetrable fortress. Chances were, he was probably there for Harry Potter… however, Sirius black had proven before that he didn't mind killing multiple people to get to the one he wanted. And for the first time since she'd been at this school, she felt truly afraid.