Progress?

The feast was delicious in more than one way. When Dumbledore had dished out his last minute points and everyone was cheering she caught a glimpse of him and gave him a smug grin. He replied with a wink. Snape of course didn't look very pleased with Gryffindor winning the House Cup. She decided she would pay him a last visit after the feast as she suspected he would stay in the school over the holidays. She was pretty sure that he would withdraw to Spinner's End.

So it happened that, when the other students were already in their common rooms, she was on her way down to the dungeons. When she reached the passage that lead to Snape's room she saw him when he closed his office door and marched towards the door of the classroom. He stopped dead when he noticed her in the light of a nearby torch, then he hurries towards her, grabbed her arm and pulled her towards his room looking around if there was anybody watching or following. While his grip was rather rough she knew that it wasn't out of bad intention. He let go of her when they were inside of his room and the door was closed. Silently he stepped away from her. The expression on his face was a mixture of reproach and disappointment. Apparently he was still a bit grumpy about the House Cup incident.

"What do you want?" His voice was icy.

"We haven't been seeing each other much aside from our lessons, so I thought I'd come and cheer you up."

"Did you ever waste a thought about that your presence isn't cheering me up at all?" He obviously was in a pretty foul mood.

"Ehhh..." She didn't quite know what to say.

Evaluating it he was possibly right. She had smitten him with despair, confused him, made him feel awkward and embarrassed and made him feel guilty when he was with her. Upon realizing these things she looked down and shuffled with her feet still not knowing what to say.

"Leave me alone!" he shouted and pointed to the door.

"Uhm okay." She gulped and turned around grabbing the handle. "Ha- Happy Holidays..." she mumbled without looking at him before she left and hurried up to her room.

She felt heavy all of a sudden. While she was somewhat aware of his moods whenever she had been around him she never wasted a thought about seeing it from that perspective. But then again he never really gave her a reason to do so. Whenever she had been feeling bad about being pushy or too much of a tease, she had apologized and he never seemed to be really angry with her.

She sighed as she prepared herself to go to bed. Once again she had a hard time falling asleep. When she was about to give up she heard a rustling sound outside on the corridor and soon afterwards how a male voice whispered her password. She pretended to be fast asleep but noticed that the person entering had lighted their wand. She heard how they closed the door as quiet as possible and then approached the bed.

"Nox." He whispered and the light ceased.

She didn't dare to move though she had already recognized that it was Snape.

He sat down on the edge of her bed and felt for one of her hands because it was pitch black in the room. "I'm sorry." He whispered. Though he was whispering his voice sounded as if he felt very miserable.

She went on pretending to sleep and suppressed the urge to squeeze his hand as he took hers.

"I did you wrong." He lightly squeezed her hand. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I hope you will enjoy your holidays."

He was about to get up and wanted to let go of her hand but she decided it was about time to reveal that she was wide awake, so she grabbed his hand. He was so surprised that he sat down again right away.

"You – you are awake?"

"Yes. I couldn't sleep after that encounter."

"I'm sorry."

"I know. It's okay." She sat up and put a hand on his shoulder. "I should have evaluated our meetings a bit more. I actually thought I had done so but I was apparently wrong."

She could feel how he shook his head. "No. It was me who didn't evaluate things enough." He placed a hand on her hand.

"I guess we can blame it on a lack of communication." Her voice was calm and reasonable.

He felt that he nodded slowly. "I guess that is correct."

They sat there like that for a little while before he finally turned towards her and put his arms around her waist. She didn't know why but for some reason this move caused a tingling sensation to run through her body. She didn't even dare to breath and closed her eyes as she felt his face approaching hers and his lips finally found hers. The kiss was gentle and when it ended he attempted to place his head on her shoulder but since he was a little taller than her it didn't quite work out while still being comfortable. So he detached himself from her instead.

She patted the mattress beside her. "Lie down next to me." She offered but he didn't move. "Is there a problem or are you on patrolling duty?"

"I'm fully dressed."

"Oh. Well you could take off your cloak and your boots. That would be enough."

"Hmm."

"Do you need light?"

"No. I'm fine." He got up.

She heard his robes rustling and a moment later he sat down again apparently about to take off his boots. She lay back down again. It was hard to believe. Last time she had asked him to stay with her for the night he had declined. Possibly he accepted now because she actually hadn't mentioned anything about spending the night with her. She had merle offered him to lay down beside her for convenience. While she thought about if she should ask him again to stay with her for the night laid down beside her. Since she was lying pretty close to the edge of the bed she slid over to the other side a little but he didn't move.

"I thought you possibly need a little more space."

"Oh. Thank you." He moved closer.

She lifted her head and tried to push her pillow a little into his direction but since he didn't lift his head she only pushed it against it. "Uhm don't you want a little of the pillow?"

"I'm fine without."

"Oh okay." She pulled her pillow back.

So there they were, lying beside each other doing nothing but possibly staring into the darkness. After a while she noticed his hand feeling around until he found hers that were folded on her stomach. She smiled to herself. Under all the coldness and cruelty he could be pretty sweet. So she turned onto her side, moved a little closer to him and rested her head against his shoulder while putting one arm on his chest and wrapping the other around her own waist. She could feel how he slowly placed his hand on hers and pressed it onto his chest so she could feel his heartbeat through all the stuff he was wearing. He either had a strong heartbeat or she felt it because he was excited. She decided it was better not to ask as she didn't want to end up having ruined the moment.

He loosened the pressure on her hand. "Did you feel it?" He was whispering again.

She nodded slightly. "I did."

He turned around and attempted to slide his arm under her but failed because of her blanket. She sat up and giggled and covered him with the blanket as well before she sank back and nestled up with him. The man who always seemed to be so unapproachable, cold hearted and cruel could be tamed just like that. Her head was resting against his upper chest while his was resting on her head. His hand was stroking up and down her back, at first with a little hesitation but since she didn't seem to mind he got more confident. She wasn't sure if she should do anything with him. With almost the same hesitation she began to rub his neck gently. Immediately he stopped stroking her back so she stopped as well.

"Sorry..." she whispered.

He slightly shook his head. "I was just surprised."

"Then you don't mind?"

"Not yet."

Sometimes it was nasty that he expressed himself so vaguely but she didn't complain. There was no room for complaints. Not tonight. She didn't want to chase him off now that he finally seemed to feel comfortable being so close to her. As he continued stroking her back she continued rubbing his neck. She couldn't ignore a new wave of tingling sensations running through her body but she took good care not to make any sudden movements or sounds he could misinterpret. After a while he suddenly slid his hand under the top of her pyjama and went on as before just now on her naked skin. She bit her lip as she yet again felt a wave of tingling sensations within her. She had possibly done the same but she couldn't get her hands under his frock coat even if she tried so she hadn't much of a choice but to continue rubbing his neck.

Actually this was already quite a progress in her onion so she decided it was probably for the best if she just enjoyed the situation as it was and actually it was pretty comfortable and soothing. There wasn't much to say and not much to do and slowly the soothing feeling took over her body and she felt pretty tired.

It was sort of a surprise when she woke up. For a moment it felt like still dreaming but she soon realized that this was real. She was lying on her side and engulfed in his arms. She must have fallen asleep last night and him as well since he was lying close behind her and she could feel his chest moving up and down calmly. She wondered if he was still asleep but didn't dare to move as she didn't want to wake him or scare him now that he apparently stayed with her for the whole night. So she closed her eyes again and smiled to herself. What she didn't know was that he indeed was already awake. He had been awake for quite a while wondering why it was still so dark. Slowly he moved his hand towards her face and stroked through it with a few fingers. It tickled a little but she made no sound. Soon his fingers reached her lips and traced them noticing the smile but before he could withdraw his hand again she took it and placed a kiss on his fingers.

"You – You are awake?"

"Mhh. Obviously." She giggled softly.

"What time is it?"

"Most likely morning."

"But why is it so dark?"

"The curtains are bewitched. When my room was decorated by Professor Flitwick, I told him that I prefer to have it dark when I sleep. So he bewitched the curtains to not let through any light."

"I see."

She turned around in his arms as far as possible to be able to place a hand on his cheek. "Thank you." she whispered and lifted her head to kiss him gently.

"For what?"

"For spending the night with me."

"But... we... didn't..."

She placed a finger on his lips and shook her head. "We still spent the night together even though we fell asleep." She lowered her hand again.

He said nothing.

"Do you feel uncomfortable?"

"No. I'm just worried."

"Why?"

"When it's already morning the other teachers might wonder where I am."

"I see." She sighed a little.

"I'm sorry."

She shook her head again. "I can hardly complain."

"Still..."

She once again silenced him by putting a finger on his lips before kissing him again. "No really. Last night I didn't want to ask you to stay with me for the night because I was afraid I could chase you away again. So I can call myself happy that you spent the night with me anyways."

He once again said nothing.

She fell silent as well, turned her head away from him a little and stared into the darkness. The moment she began to wonder if she should get up and open the curtains she felt his hand touching her cheek turning her head towards him again with gentle force and before she could say anything she felt his lips wandering from her forehead over her nose down to her lips. She closed her eyes. While starting gentle the kiss became more and more passionate over time. The hand that he had placed on her cheek wandered down her neck, over her shoulder down her side to her waist where it remained for a moment before starting to explore her belly. A shiver ran down her spine and where it ended ripples of heat started to pulse and spread through her body. His hand was about to slide under her pyjama top again when someone knocked at the door.

Immediately he detached himself from her and she sat up.

"Ms. Block? Are you there?" It was Dumbledore.

"I just woke up." she said.

"May I come in?"

"That wouldn't be uhm appropriate... currently. I – erm – I'm not...decent."

Snape sunk back into her bed.

"Indeed that would be inappropriate. I'm looking for Professor Snape. Could you please tell him that I want to talk to him in case you meet him?"

"Sure."

"Thank you. Also – you should hurry if you want to have something for breakfast."

"I see."

"I see you later. A good day to you."

She eavesdropped until Dumbledore's steps vanished and then sunk back into her pillow.

"Well I guess you heard him." She said after a minute had passed.

He sat up. "Obviously."

She sighed, scrambled out of bed, grabbed her wand from the bedside table and poked the curtain. The sun was shining and she squinted while opening the window. Then she turned around to him. He was putting on his boots. She went around the bed, passed him by and poked the other curtain with her wand as well. Meanwhile he picked up his cloak from the floor while getting up. She stepped over to him and smiled.

"I guess it's possibly better if you leave this room last. It would look a bit suspicious if you now went to Dumbledore's office."

"I guess you are right."

She went over to the armchair and sorted her clothes into the right order.

"Ah wait." He sounded a bit alarmed.

She turned around her bra in her hand. "Hm?"

He turned around towards the window upon noticing the bra.

She giggled, put the bra aside and walked towards him. "If you still don't feel comfortable seeing me like that I will change in the bathroom." She embraced him from behind.

He gulped slightly. "I – I will just look out of the window."

She let go of him. "Okay."

She walked back to the armchair and began to take of her pyjama. She just threw its top and pants onto the bed and then started to dress. She was facing the fireside while doing so she didn't see that he was sometimes secretly peeping over his shoulder. Even though he acted pretty timid and overly decent around her – he was a man after all. When she was fully dressed again she walked over to him to open the second window as well and then fluffed her pillow and folded back the blanket. She would make the bed later unless a house-elf would forestall her. He had turned away from the window and watched her for a moment before approaching her again.

"You should really hurry. Breakfast is almost over."

"Ah yeah." She took a look at the clock. "Indeed. Time is ticking away." She walked over to her bedside table and took her wand. "What will you tell Dumbledore where you have been?"

"He usually doesn't ask me unless it's important."

She smiled vaguely. "Since he was curious in the past and used Legilimency on me..."

"I'm a good Occlumens."

"I...I see. That is good then I guess."

"Indeed."

She walked over to him. "Well...I guess this is Good Bye then?"

"Obviously."

She hugged him tightly before she stepped towards her door. Before she left the room she turned around a last time. A lonely tear ran down her cheek but she was smiling when she said: "I see you next term Professor." She left without giving him time to reply.