Over the next few weeks Sasha and Severus snuck out together nearly every night. It had become a bit of an addiction for both of them. They almost always went back to their favorite spot in the forest, but once in a while they would go down by the lake to have a change of scenery… not that they were paying much attention to their surroundings.

Their midnight outings were used mostly to worship each other, and experiment with new ways to reach absolute physical bliss. Severus found himself so looking forward to each nocturnal rendezvous that his focus on his studies was suffering. His grades had slipped for the first time since the incident with Lily in his fifth year. Truthfully, if he had to trade grades for the loving attention of Sasha Innes then he was more than willing to make the sacrifice.

On one of the rare evenings that they decided not to risk meeting for a venture outside he had taken the opportunity to sneak into the restricted section of the library. Unable to find what he had been looking for, he'd had to resort to the book store in Hogsmeade instead, and trying to sneak his purchase back to the castle without Sasha seeing it had not been easy. Thankfully, he'd found it well worth the trouble.

The book gave detailed (and even illustrated, in many cases) instructions on the art of sexual pleasure for wizards and witches and he found it to be most informative. In fact, he was looking forward to having the chance to try out as much of its content with Sasha as possible over the remainder of the school year.

They had not, as of yet, actually consummated their relationship. As a matter of fact, the subject had not even been discussed. It was as if mentioning it was completely taboo, even though they occasionally talked about all the other interesting things they were getting up to in the moonlight.

One night, lying naked beside the Black Lake, with Sasha's head on his chest, Severus commented. "It's getting a bit colder now. We'll have to find somewhere indoors to go soon, if we're going to keep this up."

Sasha giggled. "Oh we are going to keep this up. We'll have to find a place."

Feeling a bit smug, he said "It'll have to be somewhere we can make soundproof. You have a tendency to get a bit loud."

"Yes, well, that's your fault isn't it? Tonight, for example. Merciless!"

He grinned. "I can't help it that you're so very tasty."

Sasha felt her face get hot and she knew she was blushing. "Merlin's beard, Sev! You've got a filthy mind, you know that?"

His laugh was devilish. "Yes, but you love it. Besides, if you're honest, you don't seem to much mind the taste of me either."

She hid her face in his chest and giggled again. "No, I don't, but I don't go talking about it do I?"

"I don't believe that for a moment. I'm sure as soon as you get back to your room you tell Adrianne every detail" he teased.

"I do no such thing!" Sasha slapped his thigh, embarrassed. "Not that she doesn't try, mind you. She and Clara both. They're relentless."

Severus smiled. "Avery asks me too. I answer him with riddles. It makes him furious. Quite a bit of fun, actually."

"Sure, until he starts to work them out!"

"Have you actually tried to have a conversation with Avery? I wouldn't worry about it. There's more chance of Filch being made Minister of Magic than there is of Avery figuring out anything I've said to him." Laughing, he added "Probably a better chance of Filch's cat being made Minister of Magic."

"Ah, you laugh now, but I heard she's an enchanted cat who has human-like intelligence and will live to be at least thirty-five.

He snorted. "Thirty-five? That's a rather precise estimate for hearsay."

Sasha snickered. "Well, it's what I heard!"

Severus tilted his head to kiss her hair. "You're a very silly girl" he teased.

"Yes, but I'm your silly girl, aren't I?"

He smiled at that. It was a very pleasing thought. "Are you?" he asked, sounding a bit shy.

She nodded. "Absolutely."

"That's nice" he said, still smiling. He had smiled more this school term than he had before over the course of his whole life.

"Oh is that all it is? Nice? Don't go overwhelming me with your tremendous show of emotion Severus; I won't know what to do with myself!"

Severus rolled his eyes. Girls and all their emotions! He had learned very early in life that revealing too much of one's feelings was asking for disaster.

"Just because I don't gush on about everything that goes through my head doesn't mean that I don't… appreciate… you know what I mean. I don't have to say it."

"Of course you don't have to, if you like not letting me know how you feel" she mumbled, starting to get a bit annoyed. "You haven't even actually ever referred to me as your girlfriend."

"Are you?" he asked her, somewhat surprised. "Honestly I hadn't actually thought about that."

Glaring, Sasha sat up and reached for her clothes.

"Oh come on, don't be like that!" he said, suddenly realizing that he had crossed the line from teasing into rudeness. "I didn't mean for it to sound bad. I just meant that I hadn't wanted to assume anything about us. I know we're… together, I suppose, in that sort of way. I just hadn't dared try to label it as such. Too much worry of tempting fate I suppose. I don't generally have a lot of luck. Not the good sort, anyway, and I don't like to count on pleasant things lasting very long."

Sasha was in the middle of buttoning up her shirt and she looked at him thoughtfully. "But you do want me to be your girlfriend, don't you?"

He nodded emphatically. "Of course I do. Now lay back down. I don't want to leave a moment before we have to."

She did as he asked, smiling contentedly. "Well, we do have to soon. I have a transfiguration quiz tomorrow and I have to get at least some sleep tonight or I'll never pass."

"Do I have to start tutoring you in that subject as well?"

She smiled at the offer, but shook her head. "No. We manage to find far better things to do with our time than that. I just need to get a bit more sleep. Of course, that hasn't worked out so far because we also find better things to do with our time than sleeping, don't we?"

"We do" he agreed. "Much better."

Adrianne was, as usual, waiting up for Sasha when she got back to their room, in spite of the fact that it was nearly four in the morning. Clara, to Sasha's relief, had long ago succumbed to sleep.

"What are you doing up?" she asked her friend. "You're going to be a wreck for that test tomorrow."

"That's a funny thing coming from the girl who stays out till all hours with her lover!" Adri taunted.

Sasha laughed. "Lover? I like that. It's not technically true though. Well, I don't think so anyway. Don't you have to be actually having it off to be considered lovers?"

"From what I've pieced together you are in fact having it off. There are more ways than one to do that aren't there? You're lovers. It's quite scandalous."

"Ah, well. I suppose it doesn't matter what it's called, does it? Either way, scandalous or not, I am happy. Deliriously so, in fact. If I weren't sure I would flunk right out of Hogwarts I think I would stop sleeping altogether so I could spend even more time with him." Sasha smiled dreamily, remembering some of the night's highlights.

Adri shook her head, not for the first time feeling a bit envious. She herself hadn't had any romance since the summer. "With the way you go on he must be very good at what he does."

Sasha nodded. "He is. He got a book a while back. He doesn't know I know about it. I don't have the heart to break it to him. Besides, it's been a great asset, that book of his."

"Oh leave it to Snape to get a book on that!" Adrianne snickered. "Always so studious, is your lover. Glad to know it's paid off." She made a mischievous face. "So when do you intend to take things to the next level?"

Sasha rolled her eyes. "That is absolutely none of your business!"

"You don't know do you? Haven't talked about it?"

"No" Sasha admitted, blushing. "Was it that obvious?" she giggled. "I suppose we will when the time seems right."

Adri had been wondering about some things, but hadn't wanted to ask about them lately and spoil Sasha's good mood. Now though, she couldn't contain her curiosity any longer.

"He hasn't been pining after Evans anymore has he? You haven't said anything, and he doesn't look all depressed these days, so I assume you're in the clear?"

Sasha shrugged. "He hasn't said anything, and you're right, he doesn't really seem to be depressed does he? I did catch him looking at her the other day when she kissed Potter after the Quidditch match. He looked a bit hateful, but he always looks at Potter like that, so it might have been nothing. I can't say."

"Well, it seems to be going all right. Just don't let your guard down. You never know with boys, what they're thinking." Adri bit her lip, debating on whether or not she should bring up what had been on her mind for the last few days. "Sash?"

"Hmm?" Sasha mumbled, smiling up at the ceiling.

"People do say things, you know. Mostly about his friends, but… I mean, I know in our house it's sort of common, but… we've never mucked about with… People say that he's going to be a… one of His…"

"Adrianne what in the hell are you on about?"

Adri sighed. "Well, you must know as well as I do that all of the boys he hangs around are planning on becoming death eaters. You do know that, right?"

Sasha felt her face get hot and her eyes narrowed in the darkness. "So? What's your point?"

"Nothing, really. I just… Well, we mind our own business, I know, but we do try not to get mixed up with those types. We've always been against it. I guess I just wondered if you were still planning on being against it, or if things will be different. You know, if he does become one of them."

"Who says he is?" she snapped. "I've had absolutely no indication from him that he has any such intention and I think it's quite rude to assume something like that Adrianne. Severus is clever and ambitious but he's not a murderer and you know it. I'm offended that you'd even ask me such a thing!"

Adrianne knew she'd struck a nerve, and she felt sorry, but at the same time she knew that it had needed mentioning. "I'm sorry Sasha. You didn't answer my question though. What if he was one? What would you do?"

There was a long silence. Sasha had always quietly opposed Slytherin house's association with You-Know-Who. Quietly because doing so loudly did not bode well for one's long-term survival, she knew. The stories she had heard about what went on among that particular group of wizards were enough to give a person nightmares, and she did not share their ideals. In her opinion, someone had better do something about Him and his death eaters, and all they were getting up to, before things got much worse. Her grandmother kept telling her that she thought Albus Dumbledore should have ended the trouble long ago, just like he'd done with Grindelwald.

Sasha had a sneaking suspicion that if Professor Dumbledore thought he could have ended it, he would have by now. What did that mean for everyone's future? Who else stood a chance, if Dumbledore did not? It was a frightening prospect.

"Severus is a half-blood Adri. I told you that."

"That doesn't necessarily matter Sasha. Answer the question. What will you do if he…"

"I don't know!" she shouted, making Clara jerk in her sleep. "Is that what you want me to say? I don't know what I'd do. I love him, don't I? What do you when someone you love so much does something that scares the hell out of you? I don't know."

The truth was, she had heard the rumors. Adri was right. All of Sev's friends had death eater parents, and all of them were well on their way to taking the dark mark themselves. Sasha had been lying when she said that Severus had never given her a reason to believe he would join them. He had given her plenty of clues insinuating that he had great plans for after his graduation, and she was not stupid. She'd simply been so happy with him that she had been ignoring the obvious.

"Why do you have to bring it up?" she asked, her voice cracking. Tears began to fill her eyes as thoughts of her sweetheart in a mask filled her head. "Why can't you just be happy for me?"

Adrianne slid out of her bed and went to sit on Sasha's. "I'm sorry Sash. I really didn't mean to upset you. I'm just nervous for you, that's all."

"Well, don't worry about it. I'll deal with it when… if I ever have to, all right?"

"Ok Sash. Ok."