(A/N: I am home again! With beautiful internet connection! So here's the next chapter. Things start getting...heated. Really appreciate the reviews and sorry about the late update again. Really nervous about this chapter, but it had to happen! Let me know what you think and read on! Wonderwhiterabbit hopping off)

In the Head of the Snake

Chapter 27: Challenges

Snape stared at the ceiling. He lay on his bed, nighttime silent around him, only his thoughts for company. And his thoughts were the very last things that he wanted right now. Mainly because foremost in his mind was Ginny Weasley. She was most likely in her dorm right now. Sleeping? Or staring up at the ceiling like him? What was on her mind right about now?

Most likely the Chamber of Secrets. What had she remembered about it? She said she would tell him everything, but he was not sure of that promise. The last thing on her mind would be him, that he was certain of!

Or he would have been certain of that a week ago. Now, he was not so sure. She had kissed him again. Twice! That little...what? Bitch? Slut? No, child. She was a child for Merlin's sake! And the worst part was, while she had stood over him, her face so close to his he could feel her staggered breathing against his own, he had wanted to kiss her back. To take her in his arms and force those stupid lips onto his own. He had never felt that before; it was a longing. A wanting...

Something in his head clicked as he remembered, "That's not just it though... The whole year, my, er, longing? I think I can call it that. My longing for Potter grew. It got so bad that I had to find a, er, exit for it. I couldn't use magic; it would make things much worse. But then, at the Yule Ball, Neville had asked me to go along with him. And, I, er..." She had trailed off as her embarrassment had reached its pitch. What had happened to that embarrassment? How had it just disappeared and been replaced by this bold-headed minx that now taunted his every thought. And then the aura had appeared. That hadn't happened often since he had started spending more time with her. After her admission, he had bluntly stated "You kissed him," as if it had meant nothing. As if it was merely a line from a text book. But now he saw it was so much more. When Ginny had first kissed a boy, she had gained control of herself by taking control of another. She was dating Michael wasn't she? He should look at him. Give him a bit more of his attention.

Stop. Snape was shocked. He didn't want to give Michael more attention because he wanted to see Ginny's influence on him, he wanted to give Michael more attention so that he could compare them. A comparison of Michael to Severus was too disgusting a thought. He could not sleep like this!

He threw off his covers and sat up, letting his feet fall over the edge of the bed. He bent over for a moment, his elbows resting on his knees as his hands held his face, his fingers trailing through his black greasy hair. What had this stupid woman done to him?

. . .

Ginny carefully looked around the corner, her breath held tight in her throat. Mrs Norris had just trotted past her hiding place, her bright eyes glittering in the moonlight filtering in through the large arched windows.

Please don't sense me, Ginny prayed.

And somehow the animal hadn't. Ginny let loose her held in breath and relaxed against the wall. She didn't know why she was out of bed, walking around the castle alone. She hadn't been able to sleep. Her mind had been plagued the whole day by the memory of her nightmare, and the thought of sleep repelled her in fear of reliving the dream yet again. She didn't want to forget it, not again, but she didn't want to be reminded of it every night either. And so here she was, running from her bed, heading who knew where but trusting her feat to take her there nonetheless.

She looked up to get her bearings. She was in an alcove somewhere on the fifth floor where the ground sloped downwards to meet with the fourth floor without the need for stairs. She normally came this way in case the castle was not feeling generous, and the stairs were all feigning ignorance on where the fifth floor actually was. Now that she looked at it, she was heading towards the Ravenclaw common room...

Michael.

She wouldn't deny it, she needed him right now. If not to push the insistent Harry from her mind, then to push everything else away as well. She had told so many lies to Michael the past few days – especially the lie covering where she had slept last night – it would be only right to make up for it. She trotted off up the sloping ground, heading towards the talking door knocker that was the entrance to the Ravenclaw Tower. She encountered no one else as she slipped through the quiet castle.

I am a mouse, she thought, Silent. Quiet. Up to no good.

Soon she stood outside the commonroom. She did not want to go in, so instead she decided to wait for someone to come out. Not bloody likely in the dead of night, she scolded herself.

Yet again she was lucky; someone quietly opened the entrance, clad in a black cloak with a hood.

"Excuse me," Ginny stepped out of the shadows and the clad-figure jumped. "Sorry," apologised Ginny, "I need to talk to – "

"Ginny?"

It was only now that Ginny realised who she was talking to.

"Cho."

There was an awkward silence, but Ginny filled it hastily, "Er, I was looking for Michael. Do you think you could fetch him for me?"

"Yeah, no problem," agreed Cho just as hastily and turned back to the commonroom.

Ginny fidgeted as she waited. She didn't have to guess where Cho was off to – it was a Sunday night. Harry always wanted to see her before the week started afresh. He thought it was a secret, but nearly everyone knew where he disappeared off to. Something in her squirmed in anger. All the more reason to be with Michael tonight.

The commonroom door opened once more, and there stood Cho and Michael, the latter a little dazed by sleep but excited by the prospect of running around the castle at night. The boy needed to get out more.

"Well, I'll see you two around, yeah?" and Cho hurriedly walked down the corridor, her steps echoing much too loudly around them.

"You called?" Michael said to Ginny as soon as the steps had disappeared.

"I did," Ginny breathed and kissed him. She caught him unexpectedly but he took her in his arms and held her clumsily to him. Ginny couldn't help but feel the difference of him to Snape. His lips were still a child's lips, soft and untrained. He was going through that awkward growth faze that fifteen year old boys always experienced, his arms and hands too big for the rest of his body. And he had no control over any of his body, that she could feel.

They pulled apart and she could see he was blushing. She was tight enough against him to know why. He was still a boy, nothing at all like Snape. Nothing at all like Harry even. Right now though, none of that mattered. All that she wanted right now was what Michael was. A distraction.

"Come on!" and she took his hand and pulled him down the corridor, the opposite direction to which Cho had gone, both giggling like the teenagers they were.

Michael grabbed her back to him and kissed her chastely, but she wriggled free and trotted just out of his grasp. He raised an eyebrow. In her mind, she saw Snape doing the same action. He did it all the time, sometimes unconsciously. It always made her smirk. She shook her head angrily; this was not the time to be thinking about Snape!

Michael ran after her and she skipped just out of his reach around a corner. He ran around and she laughed as he ran right past her, leaning against the wall. He turned and rolled his eyes, annoyed at his mistake. He walked back to her and put two hands against the wall, trapping her.

"Gotcha," he said. Their faces were inches from each other. Ginny couldn't help but remember Snape doing the same thing to her. His eyes were black pools, swimming with unknown emotions. Michael's were empty compared to his. And yet Michael leant down and kissed her. Snape would not do that. He would not take the initiative. He would not let himself go for even a moment. She was better off like this. Better off with Michael, who did not sneer at her, who did not think she was a silly little girl, who thought she was the sun and stars of his life. She kissed back. Furiously. Hard. She lost herself in him.

And apparently he lost himself in her too, because a moment later she felt his hand on her bare skin along her stomach. Her tummy fluttered to life.

"Not here," she whispered in his ear, biting his lobe.

"Uhhuh," he agreed with a moan, not ready to stop.

Ginny ducked under his arms and pulled him further down the corridor. She knew an alcove along the way that would work, tapestry guaranteed. Distraction indeed.

She found it and hastily pulled Michael after her, the tapestry falling back into place muffling their giggles. Michael's hands were back on her bare skin. Hers were somewhere intertwined in his hair and along his back. The fluttering in her stomach had turned into something stronger.

Guilt guilt guilt guilt, said something at the back of her mind, but she shoved it back along with the ever-present whisper of Harry. She didn't care about any of that now. She wanted to be reckless and Michael could help her with that.

She pulled away from him and her shaking hands started unbuttoning his shirt. She looked to his face and couldn't help but laugh at how wide his eyes were in surprise. This was Christmas come early for him, for sure. She had a shoulder bare. She kissed his jaw, down his throat and onto that shoulder. That child's shoulder. And bit it. Michael let loose a moan. Ginny liked it, and bit again. His arms were around her again, pushing her against the wall of the alcove and in turn his body against her. She felt daring. She felt reckless. She felt him trail a hand down her side, over her butt and onto her thigh.

She didn't know why she did it. She just wanted to forget about everything. She just wanted to feel something else for once. So she let his hand pull her leg up and around him. She felt his hand shaking as it drifted up around her clothes and onto her thigh. He was pushed tight against her, his whole body thrumming with the longing that she had inspired in him. And the fluttering in her tummy had grown to something unnameable. And then he pushed up against her, grinding himself into her. This time she was caught by surprise and she gasped. It was so good. It was so bad. It was so wrong. But he did it again and again she moaned. She pulled his head towards hers, and kissed him furiously, spurring him on.

And that was how they were when the tapestry was thrown aside.

. . .

"They are just children, Severus," said Flitwick, in a voice he must have thought was calming.

"Precisely!" he snapped, "And children should not be out of bed, never mind doing what these two were doing!"

"We were just making out!" shouted Ginny, red in the face. It was bad enough they had been caught, but by Snape! What were the bloody chances!

"A woman of your calibre might call that 'just making out' but I can assure you what you were doing was well enough past that, Miss Weasley.," Snape didn't even look at her. She felt the flush turn from embarrassment into anger.

"I agree with Filius," said Minerva McGonagall, glowering at Snape. So far she had kept quiet, instead watching Snape pacing in a billow of robes and listening to him bicker and snap. "They are just children. And it is not as if we have not encountered children doing this before. It is quite common in fact," she raised a hand as she saw Snape get ready to shout again. "We have steps to follow, Severus," she turned to Ginny and Michael. "Twenty-five points will be taken from you both for being out of bed after curfew. A further twenty-five will be taken for the state in which you were found. A further ten from Miss Weasley for the cheek she showed Professor Snape when he caught them. And then two detentions each, separated."

"I quite agree," said Flitwick.

"Well I quite disagree," drawled Snape in a deathly quiet voice. "Only twenty five points?"

"Protocol, you know," tittered Filius, joined with McGonagall's nodding head.

Snape knew he was beaten. He turned in a swirl of black, giving a venomous look at Ginny as he stormed out the room.

"You may go back to bed, Mr Corner" said McGonagall stiffly, "Filius, thank you for your time. Miss Weasley, a word."

The other two left, Michael looking forlornly down at his feet and Professor Flitwick walking briskly after him. The door closed behind them with a soft thud and Ginny forced herself to look up.

"Yes, Professor McGonagall?" Ginny enquired respectively.

"Miss Weasley, please sit," she pointed to the hardbacked chair across her desk. Ginny obliged. "I hope you know how lucky you are it was not Professor Umbridge who found you? She would have done more than just deduct points and hand out a few detentions."

"Yes, Professor, I know," Ginny mumbled.

"These are not times to be roaming the night on some teenage-driven frenzy," continued McGonagall. "I know you and your friends are already facing dire consequences if you get caught going to that little meeting you seem to be having."

"Does everyone know about those?" exploded Ginny.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," said McGonagall, "and I sincerely do not want to hear any more about it."

"Yes, Ma'am," Ginny subsided. "So then, Professor, what do you want to talk about?"

"I want to know why this episode has made Professor Snape so angry."

Ginny blinked, not too sure that she had heard right.

"Sorry Professor, but isn't Snape always angry?"

"That's Professor Snape, Miss Weasley, and yes, granted, he is often angry, but in these sort of scenarios, such as the one of you and Mr Corner, he is normally quite calm," explained McGonagall.

"I'm not sure, Professor," Ginny shrugged.

"How have you and Professor Snape been getting along in classes?"

"Getting along?" Ginny laughed. It was odd, she thought, how easy it was to lie to the old crone, but to Snape she couldn't get away with anything!

"Yes, alright," hushed McGonagall. "I just had to make sure. Although I can't deny I would like him to go soft just once. When I was younger the number of times he caught me daydreaming..." she trailed and Ginny quickly jumped in, "Yes, well, thanks for the chat Professor, I should...er...be getting to bed then..."

"Yes," McGonagall quickly agreed, "yes you should."

Ginny was half-way out the door before McGonagall called back, "Oh, and Miss Weasley, if I am any in the wrong about my thoughts, know that Professor Snape is a challenge that few have conquered."

"Er, okay?" said Ginny unsurely and slipped out the office.

She ran on light feet up the corridor and turned to take her usual shortcut when she came to a halt. Her way was blocked by billowing black robes, hands crossed over a chest, and a face full of fury.

"Professor Snape," nodded Ginny and she tried to step around him. He sidestepped and blocked her way. Ginny tried to keep her anger down, but she could feel it burning. It was a Monday tomorrow and she really needed to catch a few hours sleep before her hectic schedule the next day. "Please, Sir, may I pass?" she asked as nicely as she could, although her teeth ground out the last words.

"I need an apology," he drawled out slowly.

"And I need sleep, Sir," she replied.

"I would have thought you got enough last night," he said acidly.

"Not in the open!" she hissed and pushed him into the secret passage. She was surprised that he let her touch him, never mind steer him away.

"You seem to be spending much time with men in closed places," he said instead.

"According to you they are boys, not men," she snapped back. "And do you know what Professor McGonagall just asked me?" she demanded of him.

"Well if you want me to read your mind to find out I can very happily oblige!"

"Like you would da –"

"Oh I would very easily dare, Miss Weasley. I might be able to find out why you were snooping around my private quarters. What you were thinking when you kissed me again! And yes, what Professor McGonagall was just talking to you about."

"Well I'll tell you, Sir," said Ginny slowly, keeping down that insistent anger. "She was asking why you were so much more angry tonight than normal. She was asking how our relationship was like in the classroom."

"What did you tell her?"

"I told her it was rocky at best."

"Liar."

"Of course I lied to her."

"Now she's going to be hounding me for the next week. Woman," He spat the word as if it were a curse.

"So why?" asked Ginny, trying to catch him off-guard.

"Why was I angry?" scoffed Snape. "You tell me, Miss Weasley."

She hadn't actually given it a thought. She had just reckoned she would pull the answers out of him eventually. But now she had a moment and the words came suddenly to her lips, "You were jealous."

She watched as he sighed and massaged his temples in that tired way he did when people got easy questions wrong.

"Worried?" she supplied and he raised an eyebrow in a perfect arch. "Oh I don't know! I definitely can't read minds and I'm horrible at guessing! Just tell me, why don't you?"

"Why don't I? Because I don't want to..." he took a step towards her, "Because I like it when no one can read me..." yet another step, "because I like it when no one gets to me..." one more step and she had to backpedal into the wall, "because I don't like it when people do get to me..." he took another step and she was trapped, "because you get to me."

"I get to you," she whispered, her eyes wide as she looked up to him.

"Yes, Miss Weasley," he nodded slowly. She was shaking and she didn't know why. It wasn't as if she hadn't been near him before...as if she hadn't kissed him before...as if...

All her thoughts disappeared as Severus Snape leant down towards her. Her shaking grew, but all he did was whisper softly in her ear, "You definitely get to me..."

And then he was gone in a swirl of black.

Ginny leant against the wall, breathing so deeply the small corridor echoed her. One thing she was sure of though; Professor McGonagall was wrong, Snape was not a challenge, he was a bloody impossibility!

. . .

Snape was quite pleased with himself. So the girl wanted to play with him, huh? Well he could very easily play back. He listened to her just outside the corridor and felt extremely smug with himself and the state he had left her in.

His mood swung a bit low however when he thought of the day he had to face. Mondays...never good days. Especially with Potter. Trying to teach that boy Occlumens was more challenging than teaching a blast-ended-skrewt to fly. But he would try. He had to.

(A/N: tell tell tell tell tell! Tell me your thoughts! Reveiws and PMs welcome! Wonderwhiterabbit hopping off!)