A/N: As always, paragraphs in italics indicate a flashback...

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Katrina weighed what Severus had said, wondering how she should respond. She was disappointed that he had offered separate beds. She wondered if he didn't want her in his bed. She frowned slightly, "Separate beds are fine."

He responded with a frown of his own and a small nod. "Help me move your things to my room."

It only took them ten minutes to move her clothes and toiletries to his room. Severus' room was identical to her old room, except for having a fireplace. He moved his large bed to one side of the room and transfigured a chair into a second, smaller bed. He then cast a series of new wards over his room. He focused on the space under the door and on any other small spaces their 'guest' could access in his animagus form.

Finally satisfied, he cleared space in his wardrobe for her clothes and things. Once those were settled to his liking, he cast a silencing charm on his room.

"Katrina, I want you to be wary of Pettigrew. I will do my best to keep him away from you, but there is only so much I can do. I also want to apologize in advance for how I will be forced to treat you with him here."

She approached him and placed a hand on his arm, "I understand, Sev. And I promise not to take any of it personally." When he gave her a small smile, she couldn't resist leaning up and kissing him. It was the first kiss she had instigated since they had wound up together again, and it reminded her of their very first kiss…

"Oh, you're here again," he drawled, barely sparing a glance in her direction before returning to the pile of books on the table.

Kat smirked slightly. It was the same greeting he had given her every evening for the past sixteen days. And she always responded in the same manner, "Yes, I'm here again."

He moved some of his books to give her a space at the table. Settling into her space, she pulled her own books and parchment from her bag. She arranged her things but hesitated before speaking again. Instead, she silently studied the boy across from her.

His head was lowered over his parchment as his quill skimmed its surface in graceful curves. His lanky black hair brushed the parchment, hiding his prominent nose, thin lips, and sharp features from her view. After two weeks of studying with him, those features were as familiar as her own were. He wasn't handsome, and perhaps never would be considered such. But he was striking in his own way. His voice could be sharp as steel or soft as silk – depending upon his mood. He was a brilliant student, especially in Potions where she believed his knowledge rivaled their teacher's.

The first three days she had shared his little hideaway in the library, he had been harsh towards her but she had remained calm and immovable. By the fourth day, he had demanded her assistance with a paper for their Transfiguration class. She had happily helped him, in exchange for his help the following day on a paper for Potions.

Those two days had set the tone for the following ones. They alternated seeking assistance from the other. As their personal strengths balanced the other's weakness, their arrangement worked exceedingly well, and their marks reflected it.

Today was her day to request his assistance, but this time it was in Defense. At the moment, though, she was content to simply sit and consider her unlikely study partner.

"Are you going to do any work tonight, or will you simply sit and stare at me all evening?" he asked without stopping his writing.

She blushed slightly as she realized that she had indeed been staring at him. "Sorry," she muttered, "I was just thinking…"

"A first for you, I'm sure," he said, finally putting his quill down and sitting up to face her. He brushed his hair away from his face with his long fingers.

She laughed lightly in response. She had learned to distinguish his truly vicious remarks from those he meant to be jokes. "I'm sorry, I hadn't meant to stare at you," she said gently.

He shrugged and shuffled his papers a bit, "Don't worry, I'm accustomed to it."

She could hear the self-deprecation in his tone and realized he had taken her statement the wrong way. She knew how her fellow Gryffindors treated him, and the names they called him and she realized he was grouping her with them. "Oh! No, I didn't mean that," she said hastily. Somehow they had gone from playful to serious. But she realized she needed to make him understand her. She had begun to recognize that she truly enjoyed spending time with him – even if it was just studying – and she didn't want to lose that now.

"Then, what did you mean?" he asked defensively.

She realized he was close to packing up his things and leaving and she worried that if he did that, he might not come back to his spot. "Severus, can we talk? Not about class work," she added quickly. He didn't respond, but he didn't make any move to leave either so she took his silence as acquiescence. "I… I need to tell you how much I enjoy my time spent with you." She immediately saw the suspicion and anger in his eyes and wasn't surprised when he shot out of his chair.

"If this is a joke-" he growled before she cut him off.

"It isn't," she said calmly, rising and approaching him. "I'm very serious about this." His eyes grew large as she approached and he backed up a step, his back hitting the shelves behind him. She approached him as one would a wild animal, slowly and calmly. "I've begun looking forwards to my evenings with you. In fact," she said, drawing close enough to place a hand on his arm, "I think I'm falling in love with you."

Slowly moving to her tiptoes, she leaned up and kissed him. It began as a chaste kiss against his immovable, thin lips. Then, his brain seemed to finally catch up to what she was doing and he began to respond to her. His lips moved beneath hers and one of his hands crept up to the back of her neck, holding her close. Her hands moved to his back, slowly stroking him.

When she finally pulled away due to lack of air, they were both breathing heavily and a blush stained his cheeks, adding some much needed color to his face. "Oh," she sighed, "That was…" she trailed off for lack of a fitting adjective.

His hands moved to her arms and he pushed her away slightly, "Why me?" His eyes roved over her face before settling back on hers, "You could have your choice of any man in this school. Why would you choose an unattractive, unpopular Slytherin?"

She raised a hand slowly to his face, cupping his cheek and stroking his high cheekbones with her thumb. "You're not unattractive to me," she said honestly. "Yes, your features are sharp and your nose may be considered big," she leaned up and placed a kiss on the tip of said nose, "but they are part of you." She smiled up at his bewildered face. "As for being unpopular, they don't know what they are missing. You are brilliant, funny, and kinder than you let on." She kissed him again for a moment before pulling away again.

"I would really like to get to know you, Severus. I know you're not an easy person to get along with, but I think the challenge is worth it." She moved her hand from his cheek and brushed back a strand of hair that had fallen into his face, "Will you let me get to know you?"

He nodded, his eyes ghosting closed as she kissed him again. When she pulled away again, he finally spoke, his voice a hoarse whisper, "I don't know what I have done to deserve a chance to be with you."

She giggled softly, "You've been yourself, Severus, and I don't deserve a chance with you."

He silenced her with a kiss this time, and neither of them got any homework finished that evening.