Title sounds a bit like R. Kelly's silly little song, but that's really not what I was going for here. Yeah, more drawn out sexual tensions. We'll see if I ever do anything with it. Maybe I'll draw it out till I get more reviews. But then I might be punishing myself more than you. Um, yeah. Enjoy!


Chpt 18- Trapped in the Cupboard

"Peeves!" Snape and Lyric yelled at the same time. Lyric reached out to the door, but Snape had jumped off the ladder and beat her to it. In the dark, her hands closed around Snape's arm.

Snape clawed at the door. "Peeves, you evil little git! Open this door immediately!" Peeves either chose to ignore them, or had flown off down the hall to do some damage with Snape's wand.

Lyric and Snape were silent for a few moments, hoping to get a respond from Peeves. They both realized Lyric grip on Snape's arm at the same time. Lyric immediately let go as Snape jerked his arm away.

"So," she said to the professor. "Go ahead and open it."

"I don't have my wand," he replied coldly.

"You have the password," Lyric insisted.

"And I need both in order to break the ward. This cupboard has many dangerous elements if fallen in to the wrong hands. I had to make sure it was difficult to break into" he hissed.

"Did you also have to make it difficult to get out?" she pleaded at the professor.

"It's not my fault the door locks from the other side!" Snape's voice did a crescendo so that he was yelling.

Lyric was about to yell back at the professor, when she suddenly became very aware of where she was. She felt a wave of panic surge over her. She sank on her knees to the floor as she pictured the walls narrowing. Her heart began racing and she began to breathe uncontrollably.

"What's happening? What are you doing? Are you on the floor?" Snape yelled, fumbling in the dark for Lyric.

Lyric could not stop the fell-fledged panic attack that had suddenly gripped her in the darkness. "Claus-s-stroph-ph-ob-bic," she managed to wheeze in between breaths. The darkness crept out as a blinding white light invaded Lyric's vision. Tears stung her face. She felt the blood draining from her head as she struggled for each breath. Each shallow breath brought Lyric closer and closer to losing consciousness.

Without her realizing it, Snape had grabbed her by the chin and forced open her mouth, and strange sweet liquid trickled down her throat almost causing Lyric to choke. In her current state of panic, Lyric impulsively bucked against her professor, trying to get away from him. But Snape wrapped her firmly in his arms as he held her mouth closed so she would swallow. When the liquid had finally reached her stomach, Lyric heart slowed and her breathing returned to normal. The white light of panic had again faded to black as her body collapsed into Snape's arms.

Lyric felt an overwhelming sense of tranquility lying in his arms, his long limbs tied her up in safety. She didn't want to leave. However, the thought of Rita finding the two of them trapped in a closet in that position invaded her mind, so Lyric finally sat up. Snape held her close for another moment, but must have had similar thoughts and he quickly let go.

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air, made worse due to the lack of light.

"Sorry about that," Lyric finally spoke, suddenly embarrassed at her panic attack. "Tight spaces… make me uncomfortable."

"Uncomfortable?" Snape asked. "Bit of an understatement, don't you think?"

"Alright, so I'm fucking terrified of small spaces!"

"Language, Miss Dumbledore."

"What did you give me anyway?" Lyric asked, still tasting the sweet liquid on her mouth.

"Calming potion," Snape said. "Usually reserved for intense trauma patients."

Lyric wasn't sure if he was joking. So she changed the subject. "Any thoughts on how to get out?"

"Not really. I assume you don't have your wand on you, do you?"

"No," Lyric responded, "I'm in jeans and a T-shirt. Where would I put it?"

"You should know better than to be caught without a wand, Miss Dumbledore."

"Says the man who let Peeves take his wand. That poltergeist is gonna destroy half the bloody school before we get out of here."

Snape remained silent. Lyric wished like hell she could see, wondering what the look on his face was. He didn't say anything for a very long time.

"Well, this is fun," Lyric said, not necessarily talking to Snape.

"You aren't going to start humming are you?" Snape asked, his voice near the ceiling.

"What are you doing?" Lyric asked, turning her head upwards.

"Looking," he responded.

"In the dark?" she asked confusedly.

"This is my store cupboard, I know where everything is," he replied coolly. "I found the calming potion, didn't I?"

"What are you looking for?" she called up the ladder.

"Something that'll destroy the door. I know there's got to be some Aderate acid up here, my second years were just making some last week. Here it is, I think."

"You think?" Lyric asked quietly as Snape came off the ladder. Lyric heard the acid splash against the door. Then nothing. "Now what?" she asked him.

"We wait."

Lyric, who had been sitting on the floor since her panic attack, felt Snape sit down next to her. She breathed deeply and was caught by the scent of pipe tobacco. She felt the warmth of his body next to hers. Lyric smiled quietly. In the dark, Snape wasn't quite so scary.

"I'm sorry for the panic attack earlier," Lyric said, finding the silence awkward.

"It's quite alright, Miss Dumbledore. I don't blame you. Can I ask why you panicked like that though?"

"Um, just a bit claustrophobic is all. Ever since I was six and my cousin Corlissa locked me in a trunk in my aunt's attic. Took a day for my aunt to realize I was missing, and another six hours for her find me."

"Ah," Snape said, having moved closer to the door to see if the acid was working. When he came back to sitting position, he moved closer to Lyric, pressing himself against her. "Cruel cousins, then?"

"No, not all of them. Corlissa is just a particularly nasty excuse for a human being. She feels the need to be a terrible ass because she's got a rather sizable one. She and Rita Skeeter would get along famously."

Snape let out a noise that sounded like a chuckle, but Lyric couldn't be sure. Again silence consumed the cupboard.

"Ever read Poe's 'The Cask of Amontillado?'" Snape asked.

"That's not funny, Professor," Lyric said, a hint of panic rising in her voice.

Snape chuckled again, but this time Lyric was sure it had been a laugh.

"Are you, Professor Snape, laughing? Have you gone mad? Who are you?" Lyric mocked, her previous feelings of panic disappearing.

"Don't get too excited, Miss Dumbledore, it was just a cough. I didn't laugh."

"Liar."

"That acid isn't working," Snape said frustrated as he leaned towards the door. He moved back against the wall, sitting even closer to Lyric. He leaned his face close into Lyric's; she could feel his breath against her cheek. "We may have to spend all night here, you know?"

Lyric heart began to quicken again, but not because she was panicked. "Professor, I-"

Just then, someone outside the door bellowed, "Bat wings!" and the door flew open and the light from the corridor flooded in. Lyric and Snape both shielded their eyes from the light as Dumbledore walked into the cupboard. The smile on his face seemed to fade as he saw Snape and Lyric huddled together on the floor. "Peeves flooded the Great Hall and locked all of the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins in their common rooms with your wand, Severus. I trust you can take better care of it in the future."

"Sorry sir, little bugger grabbed it when I wasn't paying attention." Snape said, jumping up off the floor and away from Lyric.

"Don't worry, he'll think twice before coming down to the dungeons anytime soon."

"Thank you, sir." Snape turned to Lyric, "Under the circumstances, Miss Dumbledore, you are free to leave tonight. We'll save your work for Tuesday perhaps, in my office, eight o'clock sharp."

"Yes, Professor Snape," Lyric said, finally getting up off the floor herself. Snape quickly left the cupboard and headed to his office. He shut the door with a slam that echoed through the halls.

"Lyric," Albus started, "are you alright?" He knew of her claustrophobia.

"I'm fine, really. Professor Snape gave me a calming potion he had in the cupboard. It was fine."

"Good. I'll let you get to bed. Come by my office, sometime. It's been too long since we talked."

Lyric felt a pang of guilt. While her and Tristan we're setting up the prank, she had only been to visit her uncle once, and after getting in trouble, she felt she couldn't face him. "I will, tomorrow night. I promise."

"Good night, dear."

"Good night, Uncle Albus." On her way back to Gryffindor, Lyric passed Peeves in the hallway. Without being able to stop herself, she smiled at the poltergeist. She wanted to tell him thanks, but just managed to restrained herself.