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Enjoy

Chapter 4: Realisations

The first day of term passed much more quickly than Melora would have liked; she thoroughly enjoyed teaching, and even though some of the students caused her more agro than she ever thought possible she found herself wishing that she'd chosen this career path instead of an Auror. Her first Duelling class was with the first years, due to their age Melora tried not to give them anything too ambitious. Instead, she helped them practise blocking spells which went down relatively successfully (if you don't count the incident in which one student missed aiming at his partner resulting in Melora being thrown a good four metres into the air and landing in the entrance hall). Her day was kept very busy, for when she was not teaching, she was inspecting the castle. Of course, being so close to Black in her school days meant she knew all the secret passageways out of the castle and was monitoring them on a daily basis. She could not understand why he would break out of Azkaban and come after Harry, for he must realise that he'd be caught for sure. Melora had managed to keep her mind firmly off Sirius since she'd been assigned this task by the head of the Auror office, he said that she was the most capable Auror the Ministry had and also her past with Black could be to her advantage.

Her feelings for Sirius were long diminished, they died the day she found out that Black had betrayed her and their friends. She had not seen it coming, Sirius seemed so loyal to Lily and James, and he doted on their son Harry and was even named godfather. The night of their murder however he had seemed edgy and restless, after failing to persuade him to come to bed, Melora gave up and went to sleep herself. She was shaken awake not two hours later by Remus, who looked positively terrified…

"Melora, wake up!" yelled a frantic looking Remus.

"Huh, what's going on?" She mumbled sleepily, opening one eye slowly seeing Remus bending over her.

"It's Lily and James!" He shrieked, causing Melora to sit bolt upright and jump out of bed. "They've gone Mel, they've gone! He got them not two hours ago! We failed!"

Melora felt has though she'd been hit with a ten ton weight. How could he have got to them? They were protected by the Fidelius charm, Voldemort could not have got to them unless they secret keeper had divulged the knowledge of their whereabouts. Sirius would never…

"Remus no, no they can't be dead!" She screamed, her wide eyes streaming with tears. "S-Sirius would never…"

She broke off at the sight of Remus' face, and felt her heart shatter into a million pieces. He heart didn't want to believe it, but her head said that it was the only explanation into how Voldemort had found where they were hiding. Then a nasty realisation hit her; Sirius was not in bed. She had though she heard the sound of him disapparating, but dismissed it down to tiredness on her part. He must have left the house that night.

"Mel, there's more" he went on clutching her shaking hand in his own. "Sirius was tracked from Lily and James' house to a small town in Cornwall, but it was not the Auror's that tracked him down first."

Melora felt her breath leave her.

"Peter was on his way to the Potter's that night with information." Remus continued. "He obviously saw the wreckage and their…bodies. He went after Sirius and –" His voice broke off "you know he was never the best dueller, couldn't seem to hit his target. Sirius killed him and thirteen other people with one curse! All they found of Peter was his finger and blood stained clothes!"

"NO!!" She wailed in despair, falling to her knees. "H-He loved them, said he'd do anything to keep them alive! He adored Harry as his own son! Why would he kill them all?"

"Listen," he said, crouching down and laying his hands on her shoulders. "Harry survived, I do not know how, but when the Auror's reached Godric's Hollow, they found Harry crying in his cot; completely unharmed."

"B-But how?" she whispered, extremely confused. "If he was willing to kill a boy's mother and father, why would he have misgivings about killing their child as well?"

"That's the point!" he breathed. "He's gone Mel; he aimed his curse at Harry and for some reason it rebounded on its maker! V-Voldemort is…gone, all because he couldn't kill a small child!"

Melora sat there completely lost for words. Voldemort gone, how could a small baby rebound the more evil curse upon the Dark Lord? How could his parents die, whilst he survived? Lily and James were both extremely remarkable wizards and Harry's powers hadn't even shown themselves yet. She felt tears fall freely from her eyes; in one night she had lost three of her best friends, and the man she loved had betrayed them all. How could one's life go wrong in two short hours? …

At first she fell into denial, Sirius couldn't possibly have done the awful things that Remus described. But as time grew, she found herself coming to terms with what had happened. The evidence was overwhelming, and even when her supervisor informed her that Sirius wished to speak with her she declined. How could she look into the face of a murderer she had once shared a bed with? Twelve years passed and Melora found herself healing, and it was only now that she felt a more complete person. The nightmares still plagued her occasionally, but a simple sleeping draught soon sorted that out. It was only now that she felt it possible to move on, to forget the past and look into the future; however uncertain the future may be.

Lost in her own thoughts, Melora felt her body collide with something and felt a pair of arms grab her to prevent her hitting the stone floor hard. Looking up she saw a disgruntled looking Professor Snape holding her. For a moment he simply stared at her, and she became lost in his eyes. She felt his grip soften, as if he was relishing in her touch and she moved in closer to him so her head rested on his chest. She expected him to push her away and yell at her for being so clumsy, but he simply pulled her towards him closer. She closed her eyes and felt her heart beat alarmingly fast; she could feel his heart racing in his chest too. After almost a minute, she slowly pushed herself from his chest and looked up and met his gaze. He seemed unsure of where to go from her, and if she was honest herself neither did she.

"I-I apologise Severus," she breathed. "I was miles away."

"So it seems," he replied softly. "We must stop meeting like this." He gave a small smile.

Melora felt butterflies at his smile; she was right, it did take years off him. Flushing an impressive pink, Melora let go of Severus and straightened her robes. Looking back at him, she saw his gaze was still on her and his smile had not wavered.

"I erm, don't know exactly why I'm down here." Melora said, mentally kicking herself for sounding so dim. "I think I was on my way to audit the dungeons."

"Then may I escort you?" Severus asked, a slight pink tinge reaching his cheeks. "I do not wish you to collide with a valuable statue and break it."

Melora chucked, and felt his hand brush the base of her spine as she walked past him. Melora was still in shock at her bodies reaction to the previous encounter, her heart was beating so rapidly she thought it was in danger of leaving her chest completely, and her whole body was shaking. She had never felt a spark between someone before, not even Sirius. She was puzzled at his reaction; he had been a lot less than friendly to her since her arrival, and now her head was embracing her and offering to escort her. She did not know what to make of his behaviour, and she certainly didn't want to get her hopes up by thinking he might be feeling the same as her. Severus held the dungeon door open for her and closed it when they were both inside. Feeling that she had better get on with the audit instead of simply standing there staring, Melora raised her arm and began direction her wand around the classroom, trying to reveal any evidence of human activity out of the norm.

"I trust you had an eventful first day" Severus said conversationally. "I heard about the incident with Mister Frost, he does seem to have a knack for misdirecting spells."

"Ah yes that," Melora smiled, moving behind his desk with her wand. "He did apologise, although that was after he'd broken into hysterics when I landed on my back."

There was silence for a moment, save for the whispered spells Melora used to detect intrusion. She could see Severus out of the corner of her eye watching her, and she felt that if she blushed anymore today she would permanently turn bright pink. Once she had completed the classroom, she pocketed her wand and moved towards the door. Severus caught her arm before she left and turned her around.

"I would like to apologise, again, for being unnecessarily unpleasant to you since your arrival." He said, his usually harsh voice replaced by a softer one. "And I can assure you that such out bursts will not occur again. I would like to start our professional relationship over."

"I quite agree Severus," she replied, feeling the familiar butterflies in her stomach once more. "I really must get going; I still have the entire castle to inspect."

"Of course, I shall not detain you any longer." He answered, removing his grasp from her arm.

Melora gave him one last smile and left the room. Severus felt rooted to the spot, as if his legs had turned to concrete. His heart was still thumping loudly in his chest, and he felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him. He knew he had feelings for her that he found her more beautiful than anything and that he felt alive in her company, but he had no idea how strong his feelings had multiplied. Just holding her made his heart sore with longing for her, and every time she left the room it felt like the light had gone with her. He just wanted to be in her company ever moment of the day, to just simply look into her dazzling eyes and bask in the warmth which seemed to radiate from her. He had not felt this way about anyone since…Lily. He knew these feelings well; he was falling in love with Melora, and fast. It seemed that each time he saw her, his love grew a little. Ever since her arrival, he had struggled with his feelings feeling as though he was betraying Lily's memory by falling for another woman. He knew his love for Lily would never fade completely, but his love for Melora was growing stronger and it was only a matter of time before he completely fell for her. He felt very wary of these feelings, as the last time he loved a woman she ended up dead because of him. He had always blamed himself for Lily's death; if he had not mentioned the prophecy he overheard to the Dark Lord, then maybe Lily would still be alive.

But those days were behind him, being a Death Eater had cost him the woman he loved and he would never return to his old ways. This was his second chance, and he wasn't about to mess it up.

It wasn't until Thursday afternoon that week that Melora had Harry and his fellow third years for their first Duelling lesson. Professor Lupin was to take them to face a Boggart for the first hour of the lesson, and then Remus would escort them to the Great Hall where she had moved the house tables to the edges of the hall to create space for them to duel. Melora was quite looking forward to this class; Severus had agreed the night before at dinner to assist as her duelling partner for the demonstration. Of course, she could have asked Remus but she had barely spoken to Severus since Monday, and she felt that she needed him around her. Severus arrived five minutes before class was due to start.

"Good afternoon Severus, I trust your ready for me to beat your sorry butt?" Melora chuckled.

"You presume too much Melora," he answered, removing his wand from his pocket and wearing a wicked smile. "But I'll go easy on you."

Melora raised her eyebrows. "Thank god for that, I was starting to get scared." She said sardonically.

Melora could hear the familiar chatter of students in the corridor, and Remus entered the Great Hall with the third years. Melora saw Snape wore his usual sour look; Melora suspected that he did not want the students to see him as anything other than the grumpy potions master. Remus joined Melora and Severus at the front of the class.

"I hope everything goes well Mel," he said, ignoring Severus' scowl.

"Thanks Remus," she replied warmly. "They can't be any worse than the first years I had to teach on Monday, I'm still getting back pains" She added darkly, rubbing the base of her spine.

Remus chuckled, bade Melora a good day and left the hall. Melora turned to the group of impatient students before her, who seemed eager to begin duelling.

"Right, good afternoon third years!" She exclaimed. "As you know, my name is Melora Conner and I am an Auror from the Ministry of Magic. I have agreed to assist Professor Lupin in teaching Defence against the Dark Arts by giving you Duelling lessons."

Melora cleared her throat and continued. "Duelling is one of the most important aspects of being a wizard. Skill at duelling may one day save your life, and I should know." She said smiling slightly as many of the students looked impressed. "I have been informed that you have been, ah, shown how to block unfriendly spells. However, due to the incompetence of my predecessor I would like to go over blocking again. I would like you to get into pairs and I will explain our first task."

"That was very unprofessional, smearing the previous professor." Severus whispered in her ear as the students noisily got into pairs.

"He deserved it" Melora replied, earning her an impressive look from Severus.

Once the students had finally got themselves into pairs and the noise had died down, Melora continued. "Professor Snape has kindly agreed to assist me in a demonstration of using a successful blocking spell. Once we have demonstrated, I would like you to take it in turns in your pairs to disarm and block. Right, as you know the most widely used disarming or blocking spell is Expelliarmus."

Melora and Severus turned to face each other, Severus smirked slightly. They lowered their wands to their sides and turned to walk five paces, Melora then turned and raised her wand over her head and Severus did the same. Severus counted to three, and before he even had time to react Melora got there first.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" She yelled, sending a jet of red light that hit Severus directly in the stomach and knocking him off his feet.

He quickly rose to his feet, brushing down his robes and retrieving his wand from a terrified looking pupil. Melora gave Severus a smug look before returning her attention to the baffled class, none of whom seemed to want to look Severus in the eye. Melora instructed the class to do the same, and before she could even blink dozens of jets of red light bounced around the room. She and Severus spent most of the class helping pupils to their feet and mending broken noses. By the end of the hour, only Harry's friend Hermione Granger seemed to have mastered the spell by launching her partner across the room and catching her opponent's wand swiftly in her hand.

"Well done Miss Granger, ten points to Gryffindor!" Melora said delightedly, making Hermione flush with pride.

Melora made her way over to Harry and his red-haired friend Ron Weasley, Harry struggled at first with the spell by like Hermione had managed to get it relatively under control towards the end of the lesson.

"Well done Mister Potter, I think another ten points to Gryffindor is in order" She said, earning a triumphant look from Harry. "You are quite the dueller; we could use your type in the Auror office."

"Really professor? I've never thought about it actually." He replied, grinning at Ron.

"Well you should, with you history I dare say you'd get in no problem." Melora replied. "Oh and please, don't call me professor, its Melora. I am but a lowly Ministry employee." She joked.

Once all the students had dissipated back to their respective common rooms, Severus approached Melora and put one hand on her shoulder leaning towards her ear.

"Impressive duelling Melora, I see I have met my match" He said, making her jump.

"Never under estimate me Severus, I am full of surprises." She replied her eyebrows slightly raised.

"Oh I can imagine." He breathed, making her body melt at the sensation of feeling his warm breath on her neck.

Melora pulled herself together. "Professor, you wouldn't be flirting with me would you?" She asked innocently.

Immediately, colour rushed to Severus' cheeks. "I would do nothing of the sort." He said pleasantly, though Melora noted the mischievous glint in his eyes.

"That's alright then." She answered, brushing past him. "I shall see you at dinner, Severus."

Severus was left in the Great Hall feeling slightly embarrassed; he never flirted in his life, he could never see the point. It seemed Melora was bringing him out of his shell more than he thought.

Author's Note: I thought I'd bring out the flirty side of Snape, hehe.

Peace xx