Agnes awoke in a chamber illuminated in dim, blue light. She was a bit confused as to why she was awake. A glance at the clock told Agnes that the time was within the hour of 5 AM. Frustrated with her unwelcomed early rising, Agnes threw her legs over the bedside and forced herself into a seated position. She looked about her bedroom chamber. She saw Beatrice sleeping between the bed pillow and the wall. She saw her book containing Magical Theory lesson plans on the nearby table. She saw her calendar she used to mark the day. The calendar revealed that the students that left for Winter Holiday would be returning later in the day. Agnes sighed and flopped onto her side. The motion briefly disturbed Beatrice's slumber. The feline lifted her head to assess her surroundings. Finding no threats, Beatrice laid her head down and closed her eyes once again.

Bloody hell… Why am I up so early? Ugh.

Agnes tried to follow Beatrice's example and go back to sleep as well, but she tossed and turned. Her mind and body weren't tired. The witch continued her restless antics for a long while. The sun had risen more, making the room brighter, and the songbirds started to make themselves heard. Agnes looked at her clock once more and read it was a little past 10:00 AM.

Acknowledging that she wouldn't be getting any more rest, the witch stood from her bed and began her day.

After tending to her human morning routine and getting dressed, Agnes donned her robe to depart. Once Beatrice's fresh food and water were provided, Agnes opened the door to leave. She closed the door behind her and turned to go to the left like she always did. But she stopped herself mid pace.

A black lump had caught her eye. It was out of place and didn't belong there. Upon further inspection, Agnes noted that this mass moved ever so slightly. It was… breathing! Agnes approached the thing with caution. She readied herself to reach for her wand if need be. She moved closer and became even more alarmed. Lowering her wand, Agnes gaped at the sight before her.

Laying in the corridor across from her bedroom chamber was a sleeping Severus Snape.

Agnes's shoulders slumped forward as she sighed. Completely putting away her wand now, she walked to the slumbering man's side.

"Hey!" Agnes called. There was no response - no sign of movement.

"Hey!" She called louder. Nothing happened.

Agnes prodded Snape with the tip of her boot. "Hey!"

Still nothing.

She lifted her foot and rocked Severus's shoulder with the upper sole of her boot. "HEY!"

Still the man did not stir.

More annoyed than ever now, Agnes shook the man harder. Her foot rose and fell in a stomping motion. "HEY! Get up, GET UP you lazy git!"

Snape's body shook violently. Snape jumped and crawled to the side to avoid any further attacks. He looked up to face his unknown assaulter with widened eyes.

"Stop, STOP! Unhand me! What is the meaning of this you-" Severus silenced upon seeing a flustered Agnes standing over him. In one swift motion, the Potions Professor stood to his feet.

"What is the meaning of this? Explain yourself!"

"Explain MYSELF?!" Agnes quipped in gaw. "YOU'RE the one out here sleeping outside of my chamber door. Explain YOURSELF!"

Severus opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself to observe his surroundings. He saw Agnes standing to the front of him with her closed fists placed firmly on her hips. He saw to the left of him the door leading to Agnes's private chambers. He saw where he stood, but he was confused. He couldn't recall himself ever going to this part of the castle. He couldn't remember.

He remembered reading in his own private chambers in bed the night before. And he remembered closing his book on the bedside table before turning in for the night.

"I…" Severus lost himself trying to reason why he was in this predicament.

"Don't tell me you sleepwalked!"

"I… don't know…" The words left Severus's lips without his knowledge. His brow furrowed in concentration. He tried to force himself to remember.

"You don't know? You mysteriously appear outside my door and you don't know how you got here?!"

Lost within himself, Severus did not respond. Several uncomfortable minutes passed in silence. Agnes huffed and shook her head in frustration. "Well, if you ever do remember," Agnes said. "Please do relieve me of this mystery."

Severus could only watch as Agnes sauntered to wherever she had been going before finding him. She didn't even turn to look back at him. Not that he had expected her to anyway. Severus couldn't have cared less about Agnes at that current point in time. He was more concerned in wondering how he had gone from his bed to a corridor in an almost complete different part of the castle. The Potions Master stood there for quite a while pondering the answer to his dilemma. His feet finally moved to take him back to his sanctuary.

The halls were empty - for the moment. An occasional drip of water falling to the stone floor could be heard every now and then. It was the perfect scenery for Severus to focus on his thoughts. He reflected on all of the information he had recalled from the previous night. He was completely dumbfounded; and that didn't happen very often. The last time Severus had seen Agnes for a prolonged period of time was over a week and a half ago. He remembered that he had gone to see her in the early morning. Severus didn't remember what he had said to her, but he recalled that their encounter had ended by Agnes escorting him out of her chambers.

No matter how much Severus pondered, he couldn't come up with any explanation. All he had learned was that he was very tired. After enduring his useless endeavors, Severus decided to just push the whole ordeal out of his mind. Instead, he just took comfort in the calming silence around him. All that accompanied the wizard were the periodic drips of water and the sound of his bare feet padding against the cobblestone floor.

Wait. Bare feet?

Severus immediately looked down to the floor in alarm. The sight of his toes confirmed that he was indeed barefoot. Severus stood in place staring down at his pale phalanges. Had he actually slept walked? Severus opened the door to his bedroom. Once inside, the wizard took off his robes. Underneath the black clothing was his sleeping shirt. He removed his pants to reveal the bottoms that he typically slept in.

Snape sat on the edge of his bed in total bewilderment. He stared at his knees.

How… peculiar…

Severus shook his head and silently laughed at the outrageousness of the situation.

The students had returned to Hogwarts the previous evening. It was the first class since their return. Severus scoffed to himself knowing that Agnes would most likely be sleeping at this time. His attention then turned to his classroom as the students began to walk through the door. His lips were pursed into a prude grimace. He sat at his desk in his adjacent office enjoying his last few moments of peace.

When the last student strolled in and took to their seat, Severus waved his wand to slam the classroom door shut. He put his wand away temporarily and retrieved a stack of parchments on his desk. Severus moved to stand behind his podium at the front of the room.

Professor Snape joined his hands together, touching his fingers together at their fingertips, and turned to the students before him. The mild chatter that filled the air immediately came to a stop.

"I hope that you all have thoroughly enjoyed your Winter Holiday… I also hope that you are all confident with the results of your exams."

Severus looked out to see the students' faces. Some simply stared blankly back at him. Others wore confident smirks. The rest were plagued with anxious anticipation.

"Hmm…" Severus pursed his lips. Without saying another word, Severus busied himself with passing out the midterm results. Usually Severus enjoys observing their visages to pinpoint the ones who didn't fare so well. But today, he couldn't be bothered.

Standing back at his podium, Snape joined his hands together once again. He pivoted to look out to the students. "I hope you found your results… satisfactory."

He paused and glanced over each of their faces. "As it is the first day back after Holiday, we'll do something simple. Turn to page 293."

Severus stepped off of the step to walk along the aisles. "We will be practicing conjuring the Wideye Potion. I certainly expect ALL of you to know how to brew this potion perfectly. Don't muddle it up."

Professor Snape finished his rounds about the desks. He then seated himself at his desk to the front of the classroom. He tuned out the bustling of the students collecting their cauldrons and other supplies. The classroom gradually filled with chatter as the pupils began to communicate with their partners. The children busied themselves with their assigned task.

Severus shielded his face with his hand. Slowly he became lost in his thoughts… again. He thought back to yesterday morning. Severus was mortified knowing that he had slept walked. Nevermind Agnes Blackwood of all people had found him. Quickly pushing that unwanted memory away, it was replaced with fragments of the night he had visited Agnes in his drunken stupor.

Severus stumbled over his own foot as he turned toward the corridor. His hand on the wall beside him prevented his fall. There! There was Agnes's door. He just had a little farther to go.

Damn his clumsy legs! Damn the spinning walls!

Finally, after much struggling, the wizard made it to his destination. Severus could hear a female voice coming from the other side of the wooden door.

"This is the end. He had made a mistake. That is all. I just need to learn to leave the poor man alone, Beatrice."

The end? What did they mean? The end of what? What poor man was being bothered? Whoever was bothering some poor, unknown man, her voice sounded very nice. The poor girl sounded so sad. Severus thought that she needed some comforting.

Severus opened the door. One step into the room, however, Severus's foot had caught itself in his pants leg. He felt himself falling quickly to the ground. In an attempt to catch himself, Severus threw out his arm. But it wasn't enough. His weight crashed down with brutal force. Severus winced as he assumed the worst.

Silent once again, Severus tentatively opened his eyes. He lifted his head to assess his situation. He was greeted by the sight of a calico cat with an arched back hissing at him. Further into the room, Severus saw a woman with dark curly hair staring at him with her mouth agape. Severus moved forward to say something, but what he held wasn't very stable. He felt it wobble under his hand and threatened to send his body tumbling down further. Looking down, Severus saw a chair with only two legs and two planks of wood on the floor below. He could only assume the chair that he held had four legs at an earlier time.

"I… didn't mean to break your… Well, let's nevermind that. No…" Severus spoke in an attempt to calm the distressed woman. Severus finally identified the woman as Agnes as if seeing her for the first time.

"It isn't the end. You don't need to hold back anymore."

Agnes seemed to be looking at Severus as if he had grown two heads. She appeared to be very disturbed. She opened her mouth to speak.

"Professor Snape?"

Severus paused. He wasn't sure that he had heard her correctly. Whenever they were alone, she never called him 'Professor Snape.'

"What?" Severus asked.

Her mouth opened once more.

"Professor Snape."

He stared at her in confusion. She doesn't usually call him that. Again, she spoke.

"Professor Snape? Professor Snape… Professor Snaaaaaape."

Severus suddenly felt a touch on his shoulder. He jumped, startled.

Severus jumped back into his chair. A female Ravenclaw student filled his view of vision.

"Professor Snape," She said. "Do we add more parts unicorn horn or more parts mugwort to the Wideye Potion?"

Severus stared at the girl for a moment before answering. "Mugwort in Wideye Potion? Are you mad? If you'd taken proper notes, you'd know the answer to your stupid question! Now go. Leave me."

Severus shooed her off with a wave of his hand. He saw her face fall before she retreated back to her work area.

"The old git fell asleep," he heard a student whisper. Had he fallen asleep? Oh well. Severus couldn't be bothered to try and find the one who'd spoken.

With the Ravenclaw gone, Professor Snape sighed heavily and dropped his face into his hands. He didn't have the mental capacity to deal with these imbeciles today. He let out another heavy breath as his mind took him elsewhere.

What was he thinking that night? Why had he said those embarrassing things? He didn't really think that - did he?

What had she thought? Did she think that he was mad? Did she find him disgusting now? What could she possibly be thinking right now? She probably wouldn't be thinking anything right now because she most likely was asleep.

Fucking hell, why do I even care?! She's just a damn woman, not the bloody muggle Queen!

Severus combed his fingers through his hair as he desperately attempted to clear his thoughts. Severus's attention quickly shifted to the sound of an explosion. Off in the far corner there was a pink flame blazing in a cauldron. Done with it all, Snape pushed his chair out from underneath him so abrupt that the piece of furniture crashed down to the floor.

"TEN POINTS FROM RAVENCLAW!"

Agnes had just finished handing out the midterm results to her third year class. The young Ravenclaws and Slytherins put away their things to prepare for their next class. Agnes had decided to give the exam results out at the end of the day's lecture to cut down on the distractions.

"I hope that you all had done well." Agnes called out to the departing students.

Fighting against the flow of her classmates, Juno made her way to Agnes's desk. The Slytherin wore a beaming smile. Agnes remembered seeing that Juno had an excellent score. "Your hard work is paying off, Juno."

"Thank you, Professor! I couldn't have done so well without your guidance."

"Oh, I'm sure you could. You would just need to apply yourself."

"I'm glad you think so! So… How was your Holiday, Professor?" Juno's proud beam had transformed into a smug smirk. Agnes could only assume the girl was thinking about herself confessing of fancying Professor Snape.

"It was alright," Agnes replied.

"Just alright?"

"Yes. Just alright."

"So… nothing exciting happened?" Juno asked.

"Well, there was a Christmas party the Headmaster threw for the students who stayed over the holiday."

"Yeah," Juno said. "I had heard about that from Basil. There isn't aaanything else?"

Well, Agnes thought to herself. There's possibly the biggest mistake that I've made in my life. Merlin's Beard, what was I thinking? The man was drunk. It wasn't even real. Just the influence of alcohol. I doubt he even remembers anything of it outside of… waking up. Boggarts!

Juno watched Professor Blackwood's face fall. Her professor blankly stared out into nothing. Agnes's cheeks momentarily flushed before changing to pale white. Professor Blackwood looked as though she was going to be sick.

"Are… you alright, Professor?"

Agnes slowly panned her face to Juno. "Yeah. I'm peachy." Professor Blackwood didn't sound very sincere.

"Does it have anything to do with Professor Snape?" Juno asked.

Agnes mulled over Juno's words.

Professor Snape? Snape. Severus Snape. Severus.

One would think I were this girl's friend instead of her professor…

"Juno, I'm afraid that this conversation has reached its end. There are just somethings a teacher should not discuss with a student. The main one being their personal lives…"

"Sooo, that's a yes?"

Professor Blackwood stared at the young Slytherin female. She wasn't really sure what to say. Juno shared an identical stare directed toward her teacher. Juno was impatiently waiting for an answer. The student's ears perked after a long silence was broken when she heard Agnes let out a heavy sigh.

"If I'm not mistaken, your next class will start soon. It's best you not be late."

"Oh… Right. Alright." Juno said, void of emotion. She paused to glance at her teacher just a little longer in concern. Knowing Agnes was right about her needing to go to class, Juno reluctantly left the room.

With Juno finally gone, Agnes collapsed into her chair. Her shoulders slumped forward into a slouch with yet another heavy sigh. Agnes tilted her head back against the headrest of the chair. At last, she had some quiet. At least until the next class came in.

The clack of her heeled boots echoed through the corridors as Agnes exited the Great Hall. The house elves had done and excellent job with the night's supper - like always. However, Agnes was bothered.

Severus was not seated at the teachers' table tonight.

On one hand, Agnes was relieved because she didn't have to face Snape. On the other, Agnes was also greatly concerned. Agnes remembered Severus telling her something about not forgetting to eat. He should take his own advice as well. Agnes tried to think nothing of it, though. Snape could just be in his classroom grading stuff or something. She didn't know what the man did in his spare time!

Arriving at the door to her private quarters, Agnes grabbed the materials that she had come for and left for the Magical Theory classroom.

Agnes entered the classroom and lit the candle that rested on her desk. Having procrastinated over the Winter Holiday, Agnes needed to organize and revise her lesson plans. She busied herself as time passed by quickly.

Knock, knock!

There was a knocking followed by the creaking of the door. Agnes looked to identify the rude intruder. She hadn't said that they could enter!

In the threshold stood Professor Severus Snape.

Surprise.

"Yes?" Agnes asked as she placed her quill into its inkwell.

Severus opened his mouth to speak, but his voice failed him. A few illegible sounds escaped from his throat. With words eluding him, Severus stomped out of the doorway and down the corridor.

Agnes, now confused, returned to her work. She was so close to her stopping point. She moved her arm to pick up the quill when movement in her peripheral caught her eye.

Severus had returned. His robes fell back to his side from having billowed behind the person who wore them. Severus's face was partially covered by his hair. Honestly, the Potions Master looked rather disheveled and frustrated with himself. Obviously he had something that he wanted to say. His hands supported his weight as his upper body leaned into the classroom.

Agnes folded her arms on the desk in front of her. She gave Severus her complete undivided attention, but her staring at him just flustered him even more. The poor Potions Master opened his mouth again.

"I-I…"

Severus paused to collect himself. After releasing a sigh, he tried again. This time, he allowed his words to spew out how they wished.

"I-I… don't see the importance of speaking to you about… the events that occurred the other morning, Blackwood. However, my conscious is eating away at me."

"Yes, yes, yes." Agnes waved her arm as if to dismiss him. "You were sleeping outside the door to my chambers."

Severus tilted his head to the side in puzzlement. "What…? No, no, no! The other morning that I… spoke to you. And obliterated your chair…" Severus's gaze fell to the floor after having admitted his past actions.

"Oh. Right."

"Yes… right. Anyway," Severus shifted his eyes from their fixation on the grout below to Agnes. He was determined to let out the monologue that he had been rehearsing to himself all day.

"It is… unnerving. And very unfamiliar. I didn't mean to say things that I did not mean. I don't know what else to say… other than I'm sorry for any confusion that my drunken state may have caused."

"Do you also mean to say that your actions were false as well?"

"Actions?" Severus repeated.

"Yes, actions. Did you also mean to say that your actions as of late were false? That they don't mean anything? All these strange and unexplained behaviors?"

"Yeees…?"

"Right. Well, it's been obvious that you never cared." Agnes's face tightened into anger. She flipped loose parchments from her desktop without caring that they may rip into various different locations about the wooden surface before her. She slammed her lecture planning book shut before directing her piercing gaze to Severus.

"I don't know why I ever expected different results than the ones that I have received."

"I… never said that I didn't care, Agnes."

She shuddered when her name left his lips. He rarely, if ever, called her by her first name. Even during their years in Hogwarts.

"I care for you as a person… I suppose. Which… I can hope to assume explains the difficulty that I'm having."

"No, Severus, you don't care. I've told you how you make me feel and how you've hurt me. You don't care. I have cried for you. I've felt deserted due to you. You don't care. I love you, but you do not love me, Severus. You just simply don't care."

"Blackwood! I-"

Agnes wasn't finished speaking. She ignored whenever Severus had started to talk.

"It feels as though ever since you knew your power over me you relished in making me cry. And now every time we finally start to get along, it seems that things go sour. You don't sympathize. I could swear that you actually like whenever I'm in pain, Severus. I try to show you that I am not the person that you think that I am. I tried to tell you all of my fears. You have even seen my tears!

I know you don't care, but for some ungodly reason I still care. And I don't know how to stop. It's killing me."

Agnes's face was flushed a bright red. She was mad and hurt. Speaking her feelings only made the emotions that she had been feeling for so long that much stronger. Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks but she fought them off.

"When we were Hogwarts students ourselves, we used to have so much trust for one another. As much trust as any pair of house members could have. Or at least we did for a short while. After our time apart following our graduations, it appeared that you had just given up. Especially after that Lily Evans died."

Agnes saw Severus flinch.

"Given up on life. Given up on yourself. Given up on having at least some form of relationship with another human being. Never even attempting, or thinking, of having some form of a relationship with me - your friend. Your friend during your Hogwarts years. Your friend who you thought had interior motifs upon coming back into your life.

I didn't mind the idea of our relationship never being sexual or any sense of romantic. I had never minded. I would have been just fine just being friends with you. Like our Hogwarts days.

Contrary to what my family or anyone else believes, Severus, I did not become a Death Eater because it was in the family."

Severus cringed. He didn't want to think about anything involving He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

"I became a Death Eater to be closer to you. To have your back and make sure you were some degree of the word safe."

"Agnes, I'm sorry. I-"

Once again Severus was ignored and cut off.

"I have tried to talk to you. I have tried to be a nice person. I have tried giving you space and trying to understand that you just don't feel the same as I do. And I almost came to accepting it. Then… then the night of the Christmas party happened. We had sex, Severus."

Agnes looked Snape directly in the eye. Her pause was long enough to give him the chance to say something. Anything.

However, Severus never said anything. There was nothing that he could think to say. He was speechless. It was true that they had… done that. He couldn't deny that it happened. Still, he could think of nothing to say in this moment.

"Do you understand how confusing that is?" Asked Agnes. "I'm not sure how intimacy works for men, but to a woman a scenario like this is extremely confusing. Women need trust, need to feel loved, and a woman needs to feel completely comfortable with a man before she exposes herself in that manner. Or at least that's the type of woman that I am. And now? You act as though I don't exist - that you despise me - and then you willingly perform an act of love?"

Still Severus said nothing. What could he say? He tried his best to maintain eye contact, but it was very difficult. Every so often he would avert his gaze to a different thing. Agnes saw that Severus's lips quivered as if he were about to cry. That small, simple detail betrayed the stoic persona that he was trying to portray.

In the end, unable to look at her, Severus's gaze fell to his shoes.

What more could he do?

Nothing.

"Even after all of these events," said Agnes. "It is clear to me that you just don't care. And honestly, that's okay. I've stopped trying, Severus."

Severus's eyes widened. He felt his jawline loosen. He had no way of being prepared for that statement. She's stopped trying?

"I will leave you along," she continued. "You don't have to try to pretend that you care anymore. Unfortunately, I will forever continue to care about you. I have found that I cannot change that no matter how hard I have tried."

Again there is silence between the two. Again Agnes waits and gives Severus an opportunity to give any form of a response. Again Severus never gives one.

Agnes came to a stand. She rubbed her palms against the sides of her robes before her hand clasped the other's wrist in front of herself.

"You may leave now, Professor Snape."

What? Leave? She wanted him to leave? He didn't know why, but Agnes assuming that he did not care hurt Severus to his core. After processing everything that Agnes had said, Severus released a sharp exhale. Apparently he had been holding his breath? How strange.

Severus pushed himself away from the classroom's threshold with the heels of his palms. His wrists were numb from holding his weight for so long. Severus didn't realize that he had been in the same position for the entire time.

Finally finding his voice, and some words to go along with it, Severus spoke.

"Good evening to you… Professor. I'm sorry to have ever bothered you."

With one swift motion, Severus closed the door behind him as he left. He turned and made his way down into the dungeons. Where he belonged.

Farther into the corridor in the opposite direction than Severus had gone, a pair of blue eyes reflected in the darkness. Soft thumps suggested the owner of these were walking out and away from the shadows. The candlelight shone onto golden strands of blond. Out stepped a female student.

The girl paused to look at the closed doors that lead to the Magical Theory classroom. Stepping further into the light, silver flashed around a silver snake emblem over green stitching. The student stood there for a good while before slowly walking in the same direction Professor Snape had gone.

Author's Note: Oh. My. God. IT HAS BEEN FOREVER! And I am so sorry. I do apologise. Just like I always do. I've even have some people that were worried that this would be an abandoned story! :

Me taking so long to update was not intentional at all.

I have good news, however. I have plenty of ideas. Lots. I'm sure you all will enjoy them. I'm also sure that you will not enjoy when this story ends. BUT DO NOT FEAR! There are many great things to come.

After I finish typing this up I'm going to start typing up the outlines. This chapter was the last chapter that was outlined so now I need to work on that. The end of this story is quickly approaching.

I will also be working on the outline and my ideas for the NEXT story.

That's right. This story isn't the end.

The next story won't be a sequel per say, but they will be related along the same timeline.

Thank you for sticking with me for so long!