A/N: OK, so i know it took like, FOREVER for me to get this up... my deepest apologies - but i was busy having the worst week of my life. i seriously thought i'd have to off myself on tuesday night. 2 gigantic exams & a 15 page casefile from Crim. it was ridiculous. and i'm not even kidding you. worst week of my life. along w/ a bunch of family & boy issues... OOOH! I ALMOST FORGOT! there is one other noteworthy thing to tell all of my WONDERFUL WONDERFUL reviewers about - so check out what my roommate told me online this evening - ultimateUSG: seen on highway; black SUV, tinted windows, license plate reads "SNAPE" - LOL, isn't that great! i just wonder who that creative genius is? OK, so more crazy authors notes later... this chapter is a little rough... there might be some revisions in it's future - but let me know what you think anyway! Thanks guys!

Chapter 27

Snape's jaw dropped. He could hardly believe his eyes. He actually stood in the doorway for a moment before it actually started to sink in. Students, boys and girls were yelling, catcalling and shaking their fists, cheering for their favorite to win the fight. Amongst the cheers were such things as, "Get her Natasha!", "Show that new girl who's boss!", and "Chick fight!". These were the things that epitomized his loathing of adolescence and school.

He then came back to his senses and pushed past the remaining students. He was floored to see who the two participants were. Well, he was floored to see who one of the participants was. He'd heard Natasha's name… and that did not surprise him. She was known for starting fights. Natasha had a hold of Lexie's long curls coiled around her fingers, yanking the sophisticated updo out of place.

What shocked Snape more than the fact that Lexie was in a fight was that she appeared to not be winning. "All that training, for what? She can't even take another seventh year girl?" he thought as he made to pry them apart.

The girls took no notice of his presence. Just as Snape was about to reach down to separate them, Lexie pulled her knees up to her chest, put her feet flat on natasha's stomach, and gave her a mighty shove with her powerful legs. Natasha landed some five feet away, on her back, eliciting a chorus of "Oooooh's!" from the crowd of onlookers.

Lexie scrambled to her feet, panting slightly and red in the face. She had three deep slash marks across her fair cheek; just below her eye. Her dark eyes burned with a fire that he'd never seen before… and frankly, it put him off a bit.

But he had no time to fathom the depth of her rage just now for Natasha was scrambling to her feet and making another charge at Lexie. Snape's arm shot out and he grabbed her by her elbow.

"That's enough Miss Zaizen!" he shouted, but she continued to writhe and struggle against this grip, muttering things like, "Stupid bitch! Let me at her".

Snape continued to push her toward the doorway. "Move along you lot. There's nothing to see here." When they simultaneously groaned in protest, his temper took over. "Out! To bed, all of you… before you land yourself in detention with Miss Zaizen and Miss Bane."

The crowd slunk out into the hallway and back to their respected dorm rooms, allowing Snape to guide Natasha through the doorway. He paused and turned to Lexie, Natasha still growling obscenities under her breath as she struggled against his strong hands.

"I will be back shortly to deal with you." He said heatedly.

Lexie harrumphed, crossed her arms and sat down on her bed. She waited until she was sure they were gone before flopping back onto her pillows. Her flat stomach was still rising and falling more rapidly than usual underneath the silky red fabric of her dress.

A few minutes later, she got up and brushed past Dru to go to the bathroom. As she uncharmed her hair and changed her clothes, she went over exactly how this had happened in her head.

When she'd returned from the dance, she made her way back to her dorm room, only to find Natasha waiting for her, as you'll recall, looking quite pissed off indeed. Lexie shut the door and started over to her bed, muttering, "Hey," as she went.

It was then that she noticed Natasha's foot tapping irritably on the floor.

"What's up with you?" Lexie asked as she reached for the clasp of Snape's cloak.

"Why don't you tell me, Lexie." She said smartly.

Lexie blinked. "Well, obviously I don't know what your problem is… otherwise, I wouldn't be asking." She said dryly.

"Oh, but I think you do know." Natasha said, her head bobbling dangerously. Lexie wondered if it would fall off one of these days.

"Look." Lexie said, unfastening the clasp and swinging the cloak over her shoulders and laying it gently on her bed. "I don't feel like twenty questions tonight. So either you tell me what you're pissed about or stop with the attitude." Lexie said flatly. She really didn't want anyone ruining her good mood, least of all her eternally bitchy roommate.

"Who's is this?" Natasha said, picking Snape's cloak up off the bed before Lexie could stop her.

"That," Lexie said trying to swipe the cloak back from Natasha, "Is none of your business." She said as she pulled the cloak back to her.

But Natasha reached out and grabbed the end. She then gave Lexie's shoulder a push; her bad shoulder, knocking her back onto the bed.

"Bitch… I'm gonna tell you something…." Lexie said getting up instantly.

Natasha had the cloak in her arms and jumped over her bed to examine it. She looked it up and down, inside and out.

Lexie was across the bed from her, watching to see if she realized who's it was, or what the reason might be for her having it.

What happened next made Lexie flinch openly. Natasha, in all of her pale, ghostlike glory, took Snape's cloak to her face and sniffed it. She inhaled deeply three times before slowly lowering her hands and putting it down.

"You bloody whore." Natasha said, her eyes blazing.

Lexie didn't say anything.

"This," Natasha said, pointing animatedly at the cloak, "Is Professor's Snape's!" she roared. "Isn't it?"

"Don't be stupid." Lexie snapped

"Oh, first you're sneaking around with our teacher, now I'm stupid. Funny, I thought I was rather clever for being the first to figure it out." She said smugly.

"You're off your rocker. There's nothing going on."

"Bullshit!" Natasha yelled, looking crazier than ever. "You little bloody slut! How long have you been sleeping with Snape? You bitch! I took you under my wing when you first got here! And this is how you thank me? By going behind my back and sleeping with him when you knew that I wanted him. Oh, you're gonna pay for this bitch." She hopped over the bed and started coming at Lexie.

"Natasha! You're acting crazy! Can you hear yourself?" she asked, side stepping her. "I'm not sleeping with him you loony bitch!" she said, trying to head off the violence before it began.

But Natasha would have none of it. Her hand flew. She slapped Lexie with an open hand right across the face, her long talon-like nails scratching her deeply as they passed. Lexie flinched.

"Natasha… I'm warning you… do not do this." Lexie said. She hoped she could talk her out of fighting. As much as Lexie would've liked to just pummel the bitch, she knew that legally, she couldn't touch her. She was 'of age' in both the wizarding world and the Muggle world. Penalties for assaulting a minor were steep. She could probably lose her job for it… if she hadn't lost it already that is for making out with the suspect she was supposed to be investigating.

Natasha screeched like a vulture and swooped over onto Lexie. She pushed her down onto the floor, where the scuffle began. They rolled around, trying to take the dominant position. Natasha's screams had alerted their neighbors. The boys in the dormitory came running and to say that they were pleasantly surprised at what they found would be putting it mildly. Two hot chicks rolling around on the floor. The only thing missing was some mud.

Lexie spent most of the time, trying not to let her instincts take over and beat Natasha to a bloody pulp. In the meantime however, it looked as though Natasha was getting the better of her. She tried to choke Lexie, at which point, Lexie knocked Natasha's wrists away from her neck and brought her forehead up to meet Natasha's, sending her backwards onto the floor, eyes rolling in her head, unconsciousness looming closely.

Lexie thought the fight would be over after that, but no… not yet at least. Natasha shook her head and came right back at her. Little time had passed between Natasha's second charge. Enough was finally enough when Natasha grabbed her by her hair and started beating her head off the ground. There were people staring, laughing, pointing, yelling, and frankly, Lexie was tired of looking like a wimp. After she'd heaved Natasha off of her and was about to go and lay into her, Snape had shown up.

To say that Lexie had been embarrassed was and understatement. Here she was, not an hour after she'd been kissing Snape… and now he was watching her roll around on the floor, fighting with her roommate like animals. Snape's words during her first PT session came back to her. "We, as wizards and witches are above simply pummeling our enemies."

Lexie put on a tight, light weight, white t-shirt with the number 3 on it in faded blue writing. It clung to her nicely but was so soft and old that she wore it to sleep in a lot of the time. She put on a pair of navy cheerleading shorts from the college she'd been taking courses at in the states. It had the school crest inside a white circle in the corner of the right leg.

She examined herself in the mirror. She'd been told that she had a great figure often. But she didn't really see it. She wasn't bony skinny like all the models out there today. But she certainly wasn't voluptuous. She was tan; her skin was a shade of olive… but not the deep leathery skin like true Italians. She saw the beautiful blonde-haired, blue-eyed bombshells and along with the rest of the world, wished she looked that way.

She picked up her wand, pointed it at her head and gave it a wave. Her hair flattened out, the curls disappearing into a smooth, silky curtain. Her hair was about the only thing she didn't complain about. Being a witch, it pretty much did whatever she wanted. She raked her fingernails through it, flopping it mostly to the side, shrugged her shoulders and returned to her room to wait for Snape.

She laid down on her bed, folding her hands over her flat stomach and staring at the ceiling. There was a knock at the door. Dru, who'd been reading quietly on her bed looked at Lexie briefly before jumping up to answer it.

It was Snape. "Good evening." He said waspishly.

"Miss Bane… if you will come with me." He said softly.

Lexie sighed, and got up off her bed.

Snape tilted his head, making her stop in her tracks.

"Get dressed please." He said, not looking away.

She could feel his eyes on her. At least she thought she could, as she looked down at her appearance. "OK, so maybe the shorts are a tad short for a meeting with a teacher."

"I'll wait outside." He said, closing the door behind him.

Lexie wrinkled her nose and found a pair of sweatpants to pull over her shorts.

Meanwhile Snape was in the hall, sweating slightly. This was bad. This was a problem. Not only had he kissed this girl on two different occasions, but now he was enjoying the sight of her in her pajamas. "But then again," he thought to himself, "What red-blooded man wouldn't?" He rubbed his face and tried to shake the image of her slim, toned legs out of his mind. But they were only replaced but her flat stomach and perfect breasts which no one could miss in that practically see through t-shirt. This was it, he'd officially lost his marbles. "This is ridiculous…" he told himself, pacing back and forth.

But he was interrupted by the emergence of Lexie from her room. He snapped back into professional mode at her appearance. "Let's go." He said coldly. And they began the walk to his office. Upon arrival, he wrenched the door up and shoved her inside. She wasn't surprised.

"Would you mind telling me what in bloody hell was going on up there?" he asked, moving over to his desk.

"Professor… I was provoked."

"Well, I must say, that's a new one." He said, sounding both amused and annoyed as he sat on the edge of the desk.

"She attacked me!" Lexie said, her voice rising, wondering if she'd really lose her temper with him this time. It wasn't the occasion for sarcasm, she thought.

"Yes, and why, pray tell, was this not a one-sided fight?" he asked. "You should have been able to beat her senseless with your eyes close and one hand tied behind your back after all the training you have done with me. Has all of our PT been for nothing?" he asked.

"Of course not…" she said blushing, "I thought that I was supposed to be discreet." Lexie said angrily. "Fly under the radar."

"Well… at least you have a good excuse." Snape said. Lexie wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or sincere.

"Professor, do you know why she attacked me?" she asked, exasperated.

Snape raised his eyebrows.

"She thinks something's going on between us!" Lexie shouted, flinging one hand pointlessly toward their dormitory.

"Does she now?" Snape asked in a higher-than-usual voice, sounding surprised.

"Yes. She does." Lexie huffed.

"Clever girl." Snape mused, aloud.

"CLEVER!" Lexie blurted out.

Snape enjoyed watching her get wound up. It was just so out of character for the normally calm, sometimes clumsy girl that he was growing to enjoy more and more, both physically and personally. To hell with the fact that he was angry with her…

"Well… there is, isn't there?" Snape said, getting up to circle her.

He stopped behind her and ran his hands down her bare arms.

Lexie felt her eyes drift shut. "You mean this?" she asked, lolling her head to one side.

"No…" he said, brushing her hair over her right shoulder, giving him access to the back of her neck. "I'm talking about you training with me to become a Death Eater." He said letting his lips brush her ear. It was burning hot. He smiled into her hair.

"Mmm…" was all she could say. He supposed this was in agreement to what he'd said, but then again, it was inaudible.

"And… why exactly did Miss Zaizen choose this evening to start a fight with you over me?" he asked, sounding pleased with himself probably due to the fact that two of his seventh year students were fighting over him. He moved his lips to the spot behind her ear and placed his lips gently on it. He heard her exhale shakily and took that as permission to carry on with his ministrations.

"Your cloak…" she breathed stupidly.

He placed another kiss just below her jaw line on the side of her neck. Then another just below it before saying, "What about it?"

"She… knew it was yours." Lexie said, her brain in a fog. Damn, he was good at what he was doing. "She's…"

Snape placed another kiss on the back of her neck, letting his teeth drag sensually over her warm, soft skin. "Yes?" he asked, he felt her swallow.

She could feel the warm vibrations on her neck and it gave her the shivers, "Jealous… she's jealous. She wants you." She said, leaning back into him fully.

She leaned her head back on his shoulder as he suckled gently on the side of her neck. This was going too far, he thought vaguely. He then pulled his mouth away, rather suddenly, and ran his hands down her arms once more before moving out from behind her. He heard moan in protest.

Seeing no need to tempt himself any more this evening, he got on with it. "Detention Miss Bane."

"What!" she blurted out.

"A weeks worth." He said, leaning back in his chair.

"A week!" she said before she could stop herself.

"Yes. A week… unless you'd like to make it longer…" he said smugly.

It was then that she caught on to his intentions. Her eyes lit up and she then knew why he was smiling the way he was.

"Whatever you think is appropriate sir." She said, trying to sound solemn, rather than gleeful.

"I think a week should do it." He said, leaning forward and steepling his hands on the desk in front of him.

She nodded. "A week it is." She waited to see what he had up his sleeve next.

He was still smiling slightly at her as he said, "Goodnight Miss Bane."