Chapter 4: Running Out of Time

Zaria took off her chic black glasses, folded them, and placed them in her lap. "Sarah, you can trust me with anything."

She took another deep breath and told Zaria everything, but the shocked reaction that Sarah expected never came. Instead, Zaria laughed a bit and said: "Martin and I have been dating for a week now, secretly of course. I was dying to tell someone…I'm glad you have a similar dilemma."

Now they were both laughing, just from the shock of coincidence. "Any ideas on how to tell the others?"

Zaria rolled her eyes. "I don't even know how to tell my sister. Amanda's in Hufflepuff, Sarah. It's not like she's really tolerant of Martin's pureblood behavior most of the time."

"True." Sarah didn't know if her family would even like to hear about it either. Although Severus was a Slytherin and that counted for something, he was a half-blood and not well to do. Sarah also realized that anyone she liked would never be up to her parents' high standards.

"Well we'll figure it out eventually."

- November, 1976 -

A month later, they still hadn't figured things out. The secrets grew in their own ways, though. Zaria became the sister that Sarah never had. They passed knowing looks to each other whenever their love interests were near, or whenever their friends made snarky comments that tried their patience. More importantly, they worked as a team to keep everything a secret.

Another cause of stress was added to the equation by their Gryffindor friends, because Lily and James were now dating officially. The fact that they were now a power couple made each of them even harder to stand up to. When the whole group was together, Sarah felt a tension as thick as an iceberg forming between them. Every disdainful remark they made towards Severus, Martin, or any other Slytherin seemed like an immediate stab in the back.

Severus was also growing restless. Their very last tutoring session had arrived, since Professor Weaver decided Sarah didn't require his help any longer. Sarah suspected that the professor knew something was going on between them, and didn't want them using the empty classroom for any possible frivolity.

- Severus' POV -

Severus was suffering with the current situation. Sometimes their hands brushed during Potions and he made a sad smile to himself. He was the happiest he had ever been, but it was all so bittersweet. He hated the reserved nature of their relationship; Severus wanted to kiss her when he wanted to, or put his arm around her in the hall. One hour a week to do all of that was simply torture.

He was so proud of her- she came a long way in a short time in terms of her knowledge of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Severus' first impression of her as a snobby airhead couldn't be farther from the truth. He felt such consuming, overpowering love for this girl; it was something he thought to be impossible after things with Lily ended so badly. But the feelings he once felt for his childhood friend faded to the background; he didn't even feel jealous when Potter and Lily went public with their relationship. Well, maybe he was a little jealous, just because they could go public. It was time to move on from his childhood, but Severus couldn't have chosen a more inconvenient person to do such a thing with. Their situation faced several obstacles on a daily basis. Controlling himself around Sarah was just one.

Together, they sat in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, alone for the last time. Ever since the fateful day of their first kiss, Severus couldn't look at the room in the same way. The subject was always his favorite, but the classroom became an obsession of his in its own right. Sometimes he went there alone throughout the week to work on other assignments, or just to escape the pestering, immature youths surrounding him. It was his sanctuary in many ways. Even during class, when it was full of other students gossiping and bickering, he imagined they all disappeared to leave just Severus and Sarah.

Today, she wore Muggle clothes. Jeans hugged her curves spectacularly; he ran a hand over her hip and kissed her as soon as she walked in the door and set down her purse. "I've missed you," he said into her hair as they hugged.

He held her tightly, and thought he'd just refuse to let go if she asked. Of course, she didn't. "I missed you too Severus."

Hearing his name leave her delicate mouth was pleasure in and of itself. He felt her long neck and kissed it. Then he sat down and pulled her into his lap; at 5'1", she was easy to maneuver. Severus loved how strong she made him feel.

Just when everything was heating up, she cooled things down by saying, "I don't know what we're going to do after today."

Severus, turned on and not wanting to waste a single second of their time, kissed her collarbone and said, "Let's worry about that later and enjoy things while we can."

For the next forty minutes, sublime passion was the only thing on their minds. But it didn't take long before Severus began to worry again. What if she decided their relationship wasn't worth waiting for anymore, after this last tutoring session finished and they couldn't be together? He wished things were as easy for them as they were for Potter and Lily, who constantly flaunted their seemingly perfect relationship. It just wasn't fair.

"Severus, will you wait for me?" They always seemed to be on the same page.

He held her, breathing in her sweet scent of vanilla mixed with raspberries, and leaned down to kiss her nose. "I'll wait as long as it takes."

- Sarah's POV -

Sarah was close to tears as their last minutes ticked away. Sarah never dreamed she could feel so strongly about one person in such a short period of time. She had no idea what was going to happen, or when she'd finally be able to tell Lily, James, Amanda, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Bridget. Even thinking about it sent a billion knots to her stomach.

The Christmas break coming up was her only consolation. She figured she could at least tell her parents. Severus was a Slytherin, so they would have to approve. Sarah decided that even if they didn't, she wouldn't care anyways.

She didn't know how her friends became so much more important to her than her own family. Perhaps it was because they seemed to place their Death Eater business above everything else, and only cared about power. There was a lot about the Death Eaters that she didn't understand…for one, all the senseless murders of Muggleborn wizards and witches. What's the point of taking over the world if no one is left in it?

Her mind snapped back to reality when there was a knock at the door. She jumped out of Severus' lap and whipped out her wand, pretending she was about to practice a spell. The door opened a bit, and Zaria poked her head in. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything," she began quietly, smirking a bit as Sarah let out a sigh of relief. "Just thought I'd let you know that I told the others you won't be joining us in Hogsmeade today because you have a letter to write to your parents. They understood."

Sarah was thankful for the cover-up that bought her and Severus more time. "Thanks Zaria."

"Oh, and I'm supposedly helping you with the letter," She winked. "Don't get too out of control." Then she shut the door once again. Sarah laughed. That meant that Zaria was probably going to sneak around with Martin somewhere too.

"Well, that was a surprise." Severus looked pale. Of course, he knew that Sarah told Zaria and that she and Martin had a secret relationship too, but he didn't know that she was so actively promoting it.

"A very nice surprise."

Severus waved his wand and said a few incantations that Sarah had never heard before. Suddenly, a brown couch appeared in the empty corner of the room. "There, now we can sit on something a bit more comfortable."

"Wow!" Sarah couldn't believe all the magic he could do. "They never taught us anything useful at Beauxbaton's. All I learned was the French language and really basic magic…"

He led her over to the couch and they both lay down to face each other. "Tell me about Beauxbaton's," he said in his usual cool and calm voice.

"Honestly, it was more of learning magic for housework than anything else. My parents wanted me to come to Hogwarts to learn "real" magic…my mother said: 'We have an elf to do chores for us. There's no need for you to bewitch the dishes. It's a waste of your time.' I'm not sure why they sent me there in the first place; my only guess is that their school was a little more luxurious than Hogwarts, so I'm sure my parents bought into that as a symbol for the educational quality."

He nodded. Sometimes, Sarah liked the fact that he wasn't one for words. It always allowed her to speak her mind. "Well I'm glad you're here now," he said

"Me too," she smiled. "I haven't been this happy in a long time. You'll come to my house for Christmas, won't you?"

"I'm not sure that meeting your parents now would be the best idea," Severus said with a slight frown.

"It'll be fine. Besides, Lucius likes you…and the same can't be said for the majority of people we know. My dad doesn't care about who I date, so my mom's really the only person to remotely worry about. Even if she doesn't like you, she'll be polite. Wouldn't want to be improper…"

"Was that supposed to be reassuring?" He smirked and tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear.

She shrugged. "I tried."

Back to kissing. Sarah relished his clumsy inexperience. She didn't know why, but it made her feel special. The first boy she kissed was the most popular guy in school, and had already had dozens of girlfriends. Sarah was just another in his long line of flings, but she didn't see the faux nature of the relationship until its end. He meant everything to her, and she gave him her first kiss. Now, kissing Severus, all she wanted to do was to give him her first kiss instead. She wanted to relearn all over again.

"I should go," she whispered. "I don't know if they'll believe I took two hours to write a letter, but I think any longer is pushing it a bit too far."

"Probably." They got off the couch and he made it disappear. Slowly, they kissed one last time. She fought the urge to say that she loved him, thinking it would come across as too forward. They had only been dating for a month, after all.

"Well good luck telling Potter and the rest of them. I'll see you in Potions."

"Okay," she said. She died a little inside when she walked to the door to leave, turned around one last time, and saw overpowering sadness in his dark eyes. Sarah forced herself to turn away and open the door, but she couldn't forget that look.

She decided she could never forgive herself if she made him that sad again, and vowed to seriously begin thinking of how to phrase her confession to the others. Sarah loved him deeply, and knew they both couldn't survive as secret much longer. Their attraction to each other was simply too powerful to fight. Sarah knew she would have to choose between friends and love very soon. The sick, nervous feeling she felt lately reappeared in her stomach. Things would never be the same once she told everyone, but she knew it would all be worth it in the end.