The name sounded so foreign coming from Susan's mouth. This thought and the realization of what I had just said hit me at the same time. I held my breath.
"What are you talking about?" Susan asked as she turned to look at me.
I contemplated backing out. I could play it off that she had misheard me. I could do any number of things to get out of explaining Severus…but I didn't.
"You're jumping to conclusions." I said breathing heavily through my nose to keep my voice from wavering too much. "You're assuming I'm a victim of abuse. I'm not. These happened on the walk this evening. We had a run in with some Devil's Snare and the bruises make it look worse than it was."
I immediately hoped that my neck wouldn't bruise and ruin my story of less danger.
"You said Severus." Susan said still stuck on the name.
"I did." I said.
She shook her head. "You hate him. I hate him. We hate him."
"I did." I said. "But now…"
"Well, that's not funny." Susan told me placing her fists on her hips.
"It's not meant to be." I said. "I really didn't know how to tell you but I didn't want it to be like this. I was trying to wait until the moment was right but I suppose this is as good a time as any."
She took a step towards the door.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"To bed." She said. "If I go to bed maybe I'll wake up in real life where this is all just a dream."
"It won't be." I said.
She put her hand up to silence me and walked from the room. I followed her quickly into the dorm where she silently slid into her bed and pulled the curtains around it shut.
The night was spent in broken sleep cycles of dreams all involving Susan sneaking out of bed to tell Dumbledore about Severus and I. Each time I woke up with a jolt and looked over at Susan's bed to see the curtains still closed and Susan still presumably under the covers within.
One dream involved Susan waking me up with Severus' severed head in her hand. I woke up with a whimper and was absolutely unable to fall back asleep after that. I spent the remainder of the night watching as the light in the sky slowly shifted until others finally began to stir.
I waited for any hint that Susan was waking up. Everyone else in the room had already gotten up and changed. I began to think that Susan had already left without my notice when I heard the rustle of covers and the curtains around her bed started to move.
Susan peeked her head out at me. Her eyes went straight to my arms which were covered in more purple and black than they had been the night before. She quickly shut the curtains to which I bounded out of my bed and pulled open her curtains and shut them behind me as I crawled over her.
"Susan." I said sitting on her legs stopping any chance of her leaving me.
"I guess I wasn't dreaming, then." She sighed.
"Nope." I said matter-of-factly.
"How many detentions have you had that you've hidden from me?" She asked.
"We've spent time togeth…detentions?" I asked.
"Well what would you call it?" She asked.
I felt my cheeks blush. Did I dare tell Susan I knew what his hand felt like in mine, about the electricity that travels throughout my body when he touches my waist, or that I know how his mouth tastes on mine?
"Well…" I said weighing my options. "We did spend Valentine's Day together."
"Wait." Susan said lifting her eyebrows in confusion. "Snivellus is the one you've been spending all of your time with?"
"I thought that was evident…I thought that's why you got so upset." I said. "And don't call him that."
"I thought you were hiding detentions from me." She said.
"Why would I call him by his first name?" I asked.
"Well I don't know!" She exclaimed. "This is really strange."
I shifted. "It is strange talking to you about it."
"So you two are friends?" She asked. "That's odd."
"Actually…" I said taking a deep breath and dragging out the moment I'd have to say it out loud. "I'd say we're…a bit more."
Susan's face fell. "You're what?"
I'd never heard her voice that low or that serious.
"We've spent quite a bit of time together." I explained. "He can be rather romantic when he sees fit. He is quite irresistible, especially when he makes snow out of flowers on top of a mountain."
"He what?" She asked.
"Valentine's Day." I said. "I told you I went on a picnic. It was with Severus. He apparated us to Southern France. It started to rain and he turned the rain into snow made of delicate white flowers that melted in the palm of one's hand."
I couldn't help but smile until I noticed Susan's unenthusiastic face.
"I'm going to Dumbledore." She said and began to tug at her legs.
I threw myself flat across her. "You can't."
"Snape is a teacher." She said.
"And?" I asked fully aware of what she was getting at.
"And you're a student!" She shrieked.
"Barely!" I said.
"What does that mean?" She questioned.
"It means that in a few months I will graduate and no longer be a student." I explained.
"It's still wrong." She said.
"What if he and I had been close before Dumbledore decided to hire him?" I asked looking to blur the lines a bit.
"But you weren't." Susan countered.
"But if we had been, would you just expect me to drop him?" I asked.
"None of that matters because you didn't even know him before this year." She said logically.
"Please, Susan." I begged. "You're my best friend. Just give him a chance."
She considered me. "For you. But if I think anything is wrong I will not hesitate to go straight to the Headmaster."
"Deal." I agreed. "Now get dressed."
"For what?" Susan asked.
"We are going to go down to Severus' classroom." I jumped up and down in the excitement of Susan meeting him under the circumstance. "Though if you want to meet him in your bed clothes, then by all means, let's go."
"Oh, no no no no noooooo." Susan objected. "I said I would give him a chance. I didn't mean that I would actively spend time in his presence."
"Come on, Susan." I whined. "I've spent time with you and Mark before and didn't complain."
Susan gave me a challenging glance.
"Okay." I said. "I complained very little though."
She kept her eyes on me.
"Alright." I moaned. "I complained a lot but I still did it because you wanted me to get to know him and I want the same of you with Severus."
Susan groaned. "Fine."
She still dressed at a slower rate than usual. I waited as patiently as I could but as soon as she started playing with hairstyles I grabbed her by the hand and pulled her from the room. She protested momentarily but soon accepted that this was what was going to happen. I pulled her through the halls, the closer we became to the entrance to the dungeons the more excited and nervous I became for the encounter. We turned to enter the stairwell that led down to the potions room.
"You're serious?" Susan said. "You're actually with Snivel…"
"Don't call him that!" I warned. "Did you think I was lying?"
"I could hope." Susan said. "I'm still hoping you'll turn around and start laughing because I believed your prank."
I rolled my eyes and shook my head as we reached the bottom of the steps and I turned to the classroom entry.
I took a few steps inside the classroom. Susan looked more than ever like she would be sick. I made my way to the door connecting to his office when Severus emerged from the ingredients cupboard dressed in his normal black robes. He froze and his eyes went from me to Susan repeatedly.
"She knows." I said.
His shoulders relaxed. "What made you decide to tell her?"
"It was sort of an accident to be honest." I said.
"But she's accepting?" He asked.
I made an uncertain squeak. "She seems…"
"No." Susan interrupted. "I'm sorry, Ruby, but you cannot bring him to my wedding."
"Susan." I said in a scolding tone.
"No." Susan said. "I'm already compromising on your dress color you aren't bringing him and ruining everything."
"Well it's my plus one and I'll probably bring whomever I want." I said eying Severus apologetically.
"Or I just take away your plus one so you have to come alone and I can set you up with someone good." She snapped crossing her arms over her chest.
"Susan, stop it." I warned.
"No!" She shouted. "He gave me a T. He thinks I have the intellect of a troll. He's the one with a troll brain!"
I opened my mouth to tell her to stop.
"I do not!" Severus raised his voice. "You earned that grade. You barely made a coherent thought the entire essay. Perhaps if you paid as much attention to what I am trying to teach you as you do to Mark Wizenby you could be a straight O student."
"You leave Mark out of this, Snivellus!" Susan shouted.
"50 points from Ravenclaw!" He yelled in response. "It may have escaped your pea sized brain but I am a professor and you can't speak to me like that."
Susan pursed her lips ready to verbally attack. "I can see how the power would go to your head. Much like your blood must have when James Potter pantsed you back in the day."
I could see the color drain from Severus' face.
"Stop it!" I screeched over both of them. "Stop it, both of you! What is the matter with you? You're acting like children! Apologize!"
"I will do no such thing." Susan argued giving Severus a death stare.
"That's not an option." I said. "Apologize."
"I'm sorry, Susan." Severus offered.
"You would be the first to apologize just to seem like the better person." Susan snapped.
"Shut up, Susan." I said. "No one is any better or worse for being first or second to say sorry. Continue, Severus."
"Seriously, Ruby." Susan shouted at me. "Have you been struck with some kind of stupid charm, because he is a ridiculous choice!"
She turned on her heel and headed for the door which she slammed shut behind her when she exited the room.
"That went…well." I said sarcastically.
"She's not going to say anything about us to anyone, is she?" He asked.
I looked over my shoulder at the door through which Susan had just stormed. "No. I don't think she will. She might seem angry but she won't want to get me into trouble. Your safety will be an unfortunate side-effect."
"I'm sorry I argued with her." He said.
"It's fine." I said. "I'd be worried if you didn't. She was really rude. I think she was really hoping that this was all some kind of joke. I'll talk to her. Everything will be fine. It might just take a few more times."
Severus nodded his head without looking at me.
"I should probably go find her." I said. "Maybe we'll try this again…in a decade or so."
Severus breathed a small laugh.
I reached out and brushed his hand with mine before leaving through the same door as Susan.