A/N: All characters are owned by J.K Rowling except for Catherine.

Warning: Not for a child audience. Slight sexuality towards end.

Chapter 4

The week passed quickly, and Catherine found herself on Sunday afternoon alone with Severus. Lily and the girls had run off somewhere leaving her alone with him, which she was not complaining about in the least. Her feelings for Severus had become a little more than platonic over the past week. Catherine smiled at Severus, "So, what shall we do?" she asked. He shrugged, "Have you seen the school grounds? We could go for a walk and I could show them to you."

"Zat would be lovely, I 'aven't 'ad ze plea'zure of seeing 'dem yet, we 'ave been so busy" she said. He offered his arm to her as they made their way out of the school.

"So tell me about yourself, what ees Severus Snapes story?" she said, taking his arm.

He shrugged, "There isn't much to tell." He said.

"Well, what about your family?" she asked him,

He stopped walking when they got to the side of the lake and stared out at it.

"Well, my mom's a witch, my dad's a muggle." He said.

"Me as well. My muzzer didn't tell my fa'der right away, eet came as a great shock when 'e found out. But 'e just dealt wit' it." She said smiling sadly. She sat down and leaned against the tree on the side of the lake and he sat down beside her.

"My dad's a right git. When he found out he threw a fit." He said bitterly. "Beat my mom, then tried to beat me, but my mom lost control and blasted him away. It just seemed to fuel his anger even more. He doesn't like much. He hates magic and everything about it." He finished bitterly, staring unfocused out to the water.

"Sounds like my uncle. 'E didn't want me 'ere, thought if 'e sent me somewhere else zen ze magic would leave me. I don't even know if 'e realises zat 'e is married to a witch." She said.

She moved around so she was in front of him. She looked him in the eyes put her hand on his arm and said, "I am really sorry about your fa'der, if zer is any' ting I can do…" he tensed at her touch, no one has ever looked at him like that, not even Lily. He looked into her pretty blue eyes and saw that she really did care. He shook his head, "There's nothing that can be done…" he said.

"Fine, zen, I will just be 'ere for you when you need someone." She smiled and sat back down beside him. They looked into the water, and he started asking her questions about her. He wanted to know everything about her, and she was just as keen to know about him. He suddenly felt himself open up to her. He couldn't explain it but something about her made him trust her. He was telling her things he never trusted to anyone, not even Lily. He trusted Lily, but he always felt a need to protect himself. But he was able to relax in Catherine's presence. His walls wouldn't stay up. He felt them crumble as he continued to tell her everything. She listened, and she never interrupted. She knew this was something he had needed to do for a while. So, he talked and talked, until he had nothing left to say. He had tears in his eyes when he finished. She smiled at him when she noticed and touched his arm again in a comforting way. He wiped the tears embarrassed by his vulnerability.

"That felt bloody good." He said smiling. Catherine noticed the smile really reached into his eyes this time. It made him all the more attractive to her and she felt her feelings towards him deepen.

"I've never told anyone any of those things, there's just something about you that makes me trust you." He said, covering her hand that was on his arm, with his. He started massaging her hand with his thumb.

She smiled at him, "You're not ze first person to tell me zat. I was always ze one zat people went to; even my muzzer would come to me. I just eenjoy listening to people talk about their lives. It's very t'erapeutic for me too." She said taking his hand and linking her fingers through his.

"How so?" he asked.

"Well I realise zat my life isn't zat bad!" She said with a laugh. Severus burst out laughing and the two of them laughed until they had tears in their eyes. He continued showing her the grounds; he showed her the whomping willow, a tree that hit you if you got too close, and he showed her around the lake, around the grounds keeper's hut and took her to the edge of the forbidden forest. "As a prefect, I can't take you in there, if I wasn't then I would. It's dangerous, but it's fascinating as well. I'm sure we'll have get potion ingredients in there, but we can only go with written permission from a teacher." He said.

She nodded, "What kind of creatures are in zer Severus?"

"Loads; like centaurs, unicorns, acromantulas, thestrals and a bunch of stuff that we have don't really know and I'm pretty sure that Hagrid our games keeper has a few monsters in there." He replied. They made their way up to the castle when it started getting dark for dinner. They said goodbye as they made their way to their separate tables.

During dinnertime she talked with Lily, Mary and Arabella about everything that happened that day. Except of course, what Severus had told her.

"I think Snape has found a new love interest," Mary said,

"Who?" Catherine asked stupidly, feeling a tightness in her chest.

"You dumb dumb, he can't take his eyes off you." Mary said. "He just won't stop staring, he's not even listening to his friend who is getting annoyed with him. Look,"

Catherine turned around and caught Severus' eye. She smiled at him and he looked away quickly. "Oh no, don't tell me 'e is going to go all shy now!" she said sounding disappointed. The other three girls started teasing her and didn't stop throughout dinner. Catherine usually wasn't one to embarrass easily, but the things they started saying made even her blush.

Finally when they stopped, Lily looked at her and asked, "Since I'm a prefect, I have go on duty with the teachers patrolling the halls at night, tonight I'm on and I have to go clear out the Astronomy tower balcony, do you want to join me?"

"Oh, sure, why not? Eet should be fun. I ra'der enjoy walking at night. But what ees ze Astronomy tower balcony, and why does eet need to be cleared?" Catherine asked. The girls giggled, and Arabella answered her, "Because that's where everyone goes to get it on!"

"Ok zen, so Lily you and I will go and get it on?" She said with a twinkle in her eye. The girls laughed and made their way upstairs.

At eleven that night, Lily and Catherine made their way out of the dormitories. They were walking down the silent hallway towards the tower when they heard voices. They quickly jumped behind a suit of armour to see who was going up to the balcony. Peering around the suit of armour, Catherine noticed it was James with a pretty girl from Ravenclaw. Catherine giggled. Lily looked and shook her head angrily.

"Let's go get him," she said.

Catherine shook her head, "Let's allow zem to get all 'ot and 'eavy, zen we will jump out at zem and do whatever eet ees zat you do!" she said with an evil glint in her eye. She was very annoyed at how James treated Severus, and felt that he deserved some revenge. Lily looked at her and grinned evilly.

About ten minutes later they were slowly and quietly making there way up to the tower. They were trying not to giggle as they heard groaning and James talking dirty. They were about to jump out when they heard footsteps behind them. Catherine jumped to hide while Lily turned around to see who it was. Thankfully it was just Severus. "Your on duty tonight?" Lily asked him quietly.

"Yeah, Lucius asked me to take his place. I'm supposed to come clear out the balcony, but I see you beat me to it" he said also speaking quietly. Catherine stepped out from behind the armour and Severus jumped at the sight of her.

"What are you doing out of bed? You know I can give you detention for this." He said with a smile.

She shrugged and whispered back, "Lily and I were going to go get it on!" He smiled and shook his head at her. They heard another moan and some more dirty talk and the three of them suppressed laughter. It was the most pathetic thing any of them have ever heard. "Potter!" Severus said quietly, finally recognizing the voice. "Let me please!" he looked at Lily,

"We'll go the three of us, Merlin knows what he'll try to do to you," she said. They made their way quietly up the stairs. Once at the top, Severus stepped out, "Well, well, well Potter, what's this? More rule breaking, well I believe a detention is in order and 20 points from Gryffindor, you too Fawcett, and 10 points from Ravenclaw." He said. Catherine could hear the sneer in his voice.

"Watch it Snivellus. You better back away if you don't want to get cursed." James said threatening him. At that point Lily and Catherine stepped out with their wands drawn,

"I would listen to him if I were you Potter" Lily said. "Or you might find yourself with more than just a detention"

James scowled at the three of them and stormed off.

"Well, I'll stay up here and make sure no one else comes, I brought a book anyways, you ladies go to bed" Severus said as he sat down on the bench that was there.

"Thanks Sev, that's sweet of you," Lily said sweetly, and just as Catherine was saying goodbye to Severus, Lily disappeared very fast. "Where did she go?" Catherine asked, "I can't find my way back on my own, zat bitch! Severus can you take me please?"

"I can't, sorry, I have to stay up here for at least an hour, I can bring you after" he said.

"Fine, I suppose eet could be worse, I could be stuck wit' some prat boy" she said as she sat down next to him and shivered a bit. He smiled at her and put his arm around her. She scooted closer and started pointing out the various constellations to him.

"I see you like Astronomy?" he asked her,

"No actually, I find it useless, but I try and succeed in all of my courses. Eets a bad 'abit of mine" she replied with a smile. He laughed and looked into her eyes. She felt butterflies in her stomach and she looked back into his.

"I really like you Catherine," he said, not taking his eyes away from her.

"Me too, Severus," she replied

"No, I mean I really, really, like you. As in, I have feelings for you." he said.

"I know what you meant silly, I'm not an idiot, " she said with a smile. She leaned over and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. She figured that was good enough, she didn't want to push the matter; they'd only known each other for a week now, plus she wasn't sure how 'experienced' Severus was. She, on the other hand, was very experienced. She was ashamed to say that she was a little loose at Beauxbatons. She never slept around, but she did move quickly in her relationships, to say the least.

"I feel ze same way." She admitted with a smile. He smiled and leaned towards her and kissed her softly on the lips. She returned the kiss, trying not to get carried away. He was a good kisser she thought as the kiss deepened, I guess 'e ees more experience zan I t'ought. She thought to herself. She was having a hard time keeping her good intentions as his tongue entered her mouth. She let out a small moan and massaged his tongue with hers. She seemed to have lost control with her hands and they were working all on their own accord. Just as things were starting to heat up, they heard voices making their way up the tower stairs. They broke apart and Catherine jumped behind the bench to hide. Luckily it was so dark no one could see her hiding there. The voices got closer, but stopped dead when they noticed Severus. "Shit" said the boy's voice.

"What a shame Fawkes, looks like I'll have to take points from Hufflepuff, from you as well Andrews. So that would be ten points each from Hufflepuff." He said sweetly. The boy cursed as he made his way back down the stairs with his girl. Catherine came out of her hiding place, and turned to Severus, "and you take 20 from James, plus you give 'im detention?" she said smiling a bit. He shrugged, "I don't like Potter, plus he's always up here, never seems to learn. Come on it's late, I'll get you back to your common room."

"Do we 'ave too? I was quite enjoying what we were doing." She said as she pressed up against him and put her arms around his neck. He grinned and kissed her again. She pushed him against the wall and kissed him back like she's never kissed before. Her hands were rubbing him everywhere and he was responding enthusiastically. She was starting to undo his pants when he stopped her and said, "I really should get you back. Prefects aren't supposed to actually use the balcony." He said breathing hard, but smiling too. She was panting and didn't want to stop but nodded and followed him down the stairs. They walked in silence back to Gryffindor tower and Severus gave Catherine another kiss and left her outside the portrait of the fat lady.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review!