Chapter 23

Monday brought a fresh wave of guilt to the front of Lexie's conscience. Not only had she gotten drunk at a Death Eater gathering (which was a sin, in and of itself), she'd kissed her teacher; the teacher she was conducting a criminal investigation on, but on top of it all… she'd conveniently forgotten to tell Lexie about that part of Saturday night. She'd also left out the part in which she'd admitted, inwardly that… she'd liked kissing him.

Even after her buzz had worn off and the hangover set in, Sunday morning, her lips still tingled from where Snape had kissed her. She found herself constantly pressing her lips together and running her tongue over them unconsciously, wondering if his taste still lingered there.

She tried to scold herself for thinking that way… but there was just no getting around it… Snape had been hot that night. "Downright sexy." She thought to herself. Given the opportunity, Lexie wondered what would've happened, should she have been allowed to accompany him back to his personal quarters.

No! She mustn't think like that. But she couldn't help it. It was so wrong… but that made it all the more desirable. Something forbidden… she shivered.

Little did she know that these thoughts were not just hers alone.

Snape had been practically banging his head off of the wall in disgust since Saturday. His actions had been completely inappropriate. He should've had more control. Snape was always in control of his actions. What had gotten into him?

Well, that was answered easily enough. When you had a beautiful girl on your arm all night, smelling her hair and perfume all night, a scent so intoxicating that it still lingered in his nostrils… that exquisite gown, hanging off of her sculpted figure. It didn't help the matter that she'd been drinking and had been growing increasingly friendly with him as the night went on.

But still…

At any rate, at least they didn't have to see one another until Wednesday. Unfortunately, when one wants time to move slowly, it has an obstinate way of doing just the opposite. Before either of them knew it, Wednesday was upon them.

Lexie was standing outside Snape's dungeon classroom, wondering how she should handle herself. She could play the 'casual' card… but somehow, she didn't think that she could fake 'casual' today, under the current circumstances. There was always the 'Hey, I was drunk' card… which when used, the player simply chalked their behavior up to their drunken state. Yet, there was a snag with this as well… maybe not outwardly… but Lexie knew, that given a second chance at the evening, minus the excessive champagne, she more than likely would've found herself in the same position anyway (the same position being snogging Snape outside the castle gate). At least Snape didn't know that. Finally, her last, and probably best option was to put her head down and go to work, ignoring him as best she could.

Yes, that was what she'd do. Just try to avoid eye contact until it was less uncomfortable, or until he approached her about it. This was one thing that Lexie hated herself for habitually doing. "Be a woman." She told herself. "Stand up and take responsibility for your actions. You're not sorry about it… don't act like you are."

She jumped when the dungeon door banged open. She was at the back of the line of students, as far away from Snape as she could manage to be without being in another zip code. She clutched her books to her chest and snuck inside as inconspicuously as possible.

"Like tiptoeing is going to stop him from seeing you Lexie…" she thought curtly to herself. She took her seat at her usual desk, rummaged through her things in her bag and prepared to take notes.

Snape, on the other hand was not playing the 'avoidance' card. He paced behind his desk and made ready to begin the lecture. He let his eyes fall on her. Her curls were back today. The sleek, shiny, elegant style she'd chosen the other night had been replaced with the springy, spiral curls. She looked five years younger today than she had on Saturday night. Her makeup was more modest, which, in his opinion, suited her.

He privately wondered, as he watched her staring intensely at the desk, if she was ignoring him. If she was, there was little he could do about it just now. So he continued on with the lesson, letting her think that she was winning the little game going on between the two of them. He smirked. He could easily end this little charade by simply calling on her to answer a question. He had a feeling that she had no idea what was going on in his lecture, and it would, indeed, be a cruel thing to reveal it.

Normally, he wouldn't have hesitated to embarrass a student in front of a group of their peers. But, as she was a Slytherin… and had given him one of the most steamy, romantic, passionate, legitimate, real kisses of his life… he thought that perhaps, she deserved a break. That is, unless she was regretting it; which would explain her behavior. But, she could also be playing coy. 'Women…' he thought to himself, inwardly shaking his head. He would never understand them… not that he'd ever made any great effort to do so. And this case was no different. He put the thought in the back of his overstuffed mind, where it remained hidden until such time as he chose to break it out again.

When class had ended, he dismissed them. Lexie scrambled out the door, dropping her quill once, her Potions book once and tripping over her untied shoelace, evoking a genuine snicker from Snape at her desire to get as far away from him as possible in the least amount of time. He loved to feel as though all those around him were intimidated by his mere presence. And this was a special circumstance indeed. And he enjoyed it immensely… even more than usual. He looked forward to their next conversation… which, coincidentally, would be later that evening.

Lexie had her head down and was walking briskly down the corridor to go to her next class, when someone reached out and touched her arm on her way past.

"Lexie?" asked a male voice with a crisp, refreshing Irish accent. It was music to her ears. She turned. It was the boy who'd slept two sleeping bags down from her on Halloween in the great hall.

"Hey!" said the increasingly attractive fellow with his beautiful brown eyes and charming smile.

"Hi…" she said back, wondering why such a handsome prince was bothering to stop to speak to a toad like her.

"I was uh… wondering…" he said shyly, scratching the back of his head absentmindedly. "If you'd… er… want to go to the dance with me on Saturday?" he asked, a hint of color rising in his cheeks.

Of course, the dance. Hogwarts wasn't exactly known for it's social gatherings, but once in the winter, before Christmas and once in the spring, just before graduation, they held a semi-formal dance for the seventh years. Those students who were old enough to attend were allowed to invite only the students in their year and the year below them, to keep the numbers relatively small.

"You want me… to go to the dance with you?..." Lexie said stupidly.

"Well… of course, you don't have to, I mean… if you don't want to." he said hurriedly. "I know it's rather last minute… you've probably had a date for ages now…" he said and Lexie could suddenly sense an overwhelming sense of embarrassment and inadequacy coming from him.

"No… no, that's not it. Um… well, I wasn't really planning on going…" she said honestly.

"Oh… OK, well… no problem." He said, taking a step backwards, still fiddling with the back of his head nervously.

"No! I mean… yes." She said, a thought suddenly occurring to her.

"Yes?" he asked, stopping in his tracks.

"Yes… I'd love to go with you… erm… what did you say your name was?" she asked, rather embarrassed that she didn't even know the guy's name.

"Oliver. Oliver Wood." He said, stepping back up to her.

She smiled warmly at him, trying to put him at ease. "Well, it's nice to meet you Oliver… formally, I mean." The plan was forming rapidly in her mind.

"Wow… uh… great!" he said, smiling broadly. "That's great. So I'll meet you in the entrance way around 8 on Saturday?" he asked congenially.

"Sure." Lexie agreed, nodding. "That'd be nice."

"OK!" Oliver said beaming. "I'll see you later then."

"Bye." Lexie said as she watched him walk away with a bit of spring in his step.

During Potions that day, Lexie had the unshakable sensation of smugness… triumph coming from Snape. She didn't need to look at him to be able to tell, it was impossible to ignore. And she didn't like it, not one bit.

"He thinks he's got me wrapped around his little finger." Lexie muttered to herself as she trudged on to her next class. "Well… I'll show him. I'll be back in control by the end of Saturday night."

It was tradition, at least at her other school, for the heads of houses to chaperone the dance. Whether they liked it or not… and in most cases, it was not. So she assumed that since her school followed most of Hogwarts policies, Snape would be mandated to oversee the dance in interest of monitoring his students behavior. And if that was the case, well, Lexie would be back on top… figuratively speaking of course.

She knew that this little tryst with Oliver Wood, who, as it turned out, was the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team (which only fueled the fire of her brilliant plan), couldn't be anything that even remotely bordered on 'serious' as he was probably only about 17 years old. Jail bait. However, it would serve her purpose. It wasn't as though she wanted to make Snape jealous… per say… it was more the fact that she needed to show him that she wasn't dependant on him for companionship.

Lexie didn't believe in wearing dress robes. They were too much like her everyday apparel for school. Growing up in a Muggle household, she became accustomed to wearing their attire. She rather enjoyed getting dressed up in fancy gowns just as much as she enjoyed wearing blue jeans and hooded sweatshirts. Later that day, following the end of classes, Lexie perused her closet, mulling over what to wear to the dance. She came upon a little number that was just too perfect to pass up. She smiled, satisfied, and went about her day, feeling elated and looking forward to the weekend very much. Saturday night, would be a most interesting evening indeed.

Little did she know just how interesting it would actually be.


A/N: SO, i wasn't planning on writing tonight, maybe a little bit of editing. but, when the spirit moves ya... as a good friend, a wise girl, once said, "it felt good, so i went with it"... and that i did. this chapter is dedicated to my loyal reviewer "PUDDLEMERE UNITED" - please don't stay mad at me for long! don't worry - he is only a "means" to her "end"... if you take my meaning! to the strictly snape lovers, he'll be playing a much larger role in the next chapter and i'm REALLY TRYING to make the pace pick up w/ the actual events that need to be accomplished for the story to EVENTUALLY end... this story has been in progress for well over a year now, and it's only been recently that i've started adding new chapters REGULARLY - so... HELP ME FINISH THIS STORY! it'll be the 1st story i've EVER finished, should i happen to do so! you can help me by REVIEWING! reviews give me encouragement - and encouragement motivates me to write! if you review, then i'll continue to write - i know there are some LURKERS out there... please - i IMPLORE you! take 5 seconds - write a word or 2... "that was great!" or "you suck - don't quit your day job!" - ANYTHING! OK, now that the pathetic-ness is over - i'll be off to bed. "For in dreams we enter a world that is entirely our own... let him swim in the deepest ocean, or fly over the highest cloud..." - or something that dumbledore said like that! i get some of my best snapeish ideas when i sleep - so... off i go!

p.s. - this is just a side note, in my literature class - i've gotta write a sonnet. i've never written poetry before, but i'm gonna give it a whirl. most people write sonnets about summer days & compare them to their perfect lovers... but i think i'm gonna try to do one that's dark, satirical, or cynical about my "lover" - which will be, who else? severus snape. wouldn't that be an interesting addition to my story?