After dinner I made my way swiftly down to the potions classroom. I knocked on the classroom door, hearing Snape grant me permission to enter from the other side. I entered the dark, damp classroom and made my way over to Snape's desk.
"Pull up a chair and sit." I nodded, nervously and grabbed a chair from the corner, pulling it to the front of his desk and sitting down. He was already grading the parchment when I arrived, so when I sat down in front of him he grabbed a pile of rolled parchment and sat them down in front of me. "Once you finish, you are free to go." Snape explained, not looking up from his grading as he spoke. Dipping my quill in the same inkwell as him, I began to grade my classmates' essays.
After a few moments he spoke up, "Have you entered the tournament?" He raised an eyebrow as he continued scribbling on the parchment. I snickered "absolutely not, I have no interest in dying at 17." Snape nodded in agreement, continuing to avoid eye contact with me. "You said this afternoon that your parents died. How?" He asked and I was a bit surprised with his desire to have a conversation. "Oh. They were aurors like my grandfather. During the first war, they were on a mission and a death eater named Antonin Dolohov killed them both. I've lived with my grandfather at Rosbell Manor ever since." I explained and he nodded again. "And Edwin Finley? Are you two of any relation?" I shook my head as I moved my freshly graded parchment to a pile beside me. "Not by blood, Edwin has been my best friend since I could remember. His parents are actually my god parents, I stay with them while my grandfather is off on ministry business or just when I tire of him."
Snape continued to ask me questions while we finished grading essays, I answered every one honestly. I think this is the most I have actually spoken to him in my entire five years at Hogwarts. As we continued to talk, I was slowly becoming more comfortable around him. I was confident enough to ask him questions about his time at Hogwarts and the upcoming quidditch matches.
When I finished my last essay, I placed my quill back in my bag. I moved the parchments I had graded to the spot on his desk where he had been placing his completed essays and slid the chair I had been sitting in back to its previous position. "Is there anything else you need help with, Professor?" I asked and he looked up at me, shaking his head "I have kept you long enough as it is. You are free to go." He scribbled a hall pass on a scrap piece of parchment and handed it to me. "Thank you sir, goodnight." picking up my bag, I walked out of the classroom and made my way to Gryffindor Tower.
The next few weeks were pretty eventful. Snape and I developed a pretty great partnership and Harry Potter was chosen to compete in the Triwizard Tournament, Even though three other champions were already chosen and he is not nearly old enough to compete. The day after the champions were announced, I was helping Snape set up the classroom for his first years potions lesson and I finally spoke up, "Professor, do you think he did it? Harry, I mean." Snape, who was fumbling around his shelves looking for specific ingredients, paused and looked over at me. "I do not think Potter is capable of casting a strong enough charm to trick the goblet." Snape seemed almost disgusted as he spoke about Harry. "Everyone thinks he did it, they've been talking about it in the common room. I think he could be capable, I just don't think he would be the type to do such a thing." My potions master rolled his eyes and continued looking around the shelves.
"Where did I put it?" He growled under his breath after a few moments of silence. "What are you looking for sir?" I asked, turning to watch him angrily knocking glass jars against each other as he searched the lower shelves. "Powdered moonstone. Those bloody Gryffindors have been displacing my shelves again. I will be taking house points next class" I chuckled silently to myself, enjoying his torment just a bit before walking over to the shelves, reaching behind the jar of doxy eggs and pulling out the tiny vial of powdered moonstone. "You should actually take points from Slytherin, because you put this here last week after rearranging your shelves… again" He shot me a menacing glare, snatching the vial from my hand. I gave him a cheeky grin "Where would you be without me." He scoffed and walked over to his desk, sitting down in his chair. "A silent office." He said flatly and I laughed "Touche."
The day of the first task quickly approached, we all sat in the stands cheering loudly for all of the champions as they defeated their dragons and retrieved their golden egg. I stood beside Edwin and Neville Longbottom who were, along with the others cheering very loudly for everyone. But as soon as Harry made his entrance to fight the Hungarian Horntail, the roar from the Gryffindor section was incredible, loud enough to even make the stands shake. The Horntail was ferocious, spitting flame and whacking its tail at Harry, who was hiding behind the large rocks that had been placed in the arena.
Finally after about fifteen minutes of Harry trying to avoid the dragon, he realized he had the ability to use his wand to summon his broomstick. The section erupted with excitement when Harry began to fly around the dragon. That excitement was short lived however, when the dragon broke the chain that was secured around its neck to keep it in the arena, the audience was filled with worried gasps as the dragon circled, following Harry on his broom until he flew out of the arena, almost hitting the large tent that was on top of the teachers/visitors section. The dragon however, scraped the tent with its tail, sending all of the visitors and teachers diving in multiple directions to get out of the way. "Way to go dragon!" came a yell from Fred and George Weasley behind me. Weirdly enough, my immediate thought was if Snape was alright. Luckily he looked to be unscathed as he helped Professor McGonagall up and dusted himself off.
About twenty or so minutes after Harry and the dragon flew away towards the school, we all spotted something small flying towards us. Once everyone realized it was Harry, the relieved screams and cheers erupted again. He flew down and scooped up the egg before landing, the crowd erupted into a boisterous chant "Harry! Harry! Harry!"
When Dumbledore dismissed everyone back to the castle, I walked back with Edwin who continued to talk about how amazing the dragons were. When we arrived at the main entrance hall to the school, I stopped and Edwin paused his dragon lesson. "What?" He asked and I nodded my head in the direction of the dungeons. "I'm going to go make sure Snape is okay. The dragon almost took off his head." Edwin gave me a knowing smirk "Have fun." He laughed and continued toward the common room for Harry's 'We're glad you didnt die' celebration.
I made my way to the dungeons, knocking on Snape's office door. "What is it?" He yelled and I opened the door slowly, stepping into the office and closing the door behind me. "I believe I said 'what is it?' not 'come in'." He spoke harshly, hanging his black, wool cloak on a hat rack in the corner of the room. "S-sorry Professor, I just wanted to check and make sure you were alright. The dragon did almost kill you… and several others." I spoke softly, trying to avoid the piercing eye contact he was shooting my way. "And you decided that I was the one you wanted to annoy?" He said, his tone sharp as he took a seat at his desk and still glaring at me. I shrugged, looking down at my feet. "I wasn't intending on annoying you, just wanting to check and make sure you are alright." There was no confidence to be found in my voice as I tried to justify to him why I decided to bother him on a Saturday after he was almost decapitated by a very angry dragon. "I'm sorry for bothering you Sir, I'll leave you to enjoy the rest of your Saturday." I turned to walk towards the door and he spoke up, surprising me a bit "No, stay Astrill. I need assistance with this bloody grading. I have gotten too far behind this week, and since you decided to pay me a visit I assume you have nothing better to do with your Saturday." He sounded less cruel towards me and more annoyed at the fact he had given so much homework, he was not several hours behind on grading. I nodded and pulled up a chair a fair distance beside him at his desk.
After about two hours of successful grading, Snape looked up from the parchment he was reading and took a deep breath. "I am not one to usually offer this… however, I am grateful for your assistance and I would like to show my appreciation." I cocked an eyebrow at him as he stood and walked over to a door in his office that was usually hidden by a dark green curtain. He walked into the room and returned a few moments later with a bottle and two glasses. "I assume at your Grandfather's ministry galas you have had wine before? Correct?" He asked as he poured some of the dark red liquid into each glass. "Yes, I have. However, at those events most of the ministry employees get horrifically drunk by the end of the evening and are hopping around like toads. It is a wee bit unsettling." I laughed and Snape chuckled… he actually chuckled! He handed a glass to me and I accepted it and thanked him, taking a sip of the wine, "I must attend one of those events, I am usually invited along with most of the other teachers but I have never been fond of ministry frivolity." I smiled and took another sip from the glass. "If I wasn't required to attend, believe me, I would be curled up in bed with a book. If you ever attend however, you should tell me, I will make sure to save you a seat for the 'after show' as Edwin and I call it." He sat in the chair beside me and took a gulp of his wine.
As we talked and drank we became more and more open, speaking about everything from his time at Hogwarts to my Grandfather and his ministry brethren. It was nice to be able to speak freely with my usually gruff and uninviting Potions Master. Before we knew it, we had finished the bottle of wine he had brought into his office. As he looked at the empty bottle and then back to me he spoke, "We have two options, Miss Astrill, we can finish this grading and you may be dismissed." I was so enjoying my time with him I hoped the other option would be to continue it. "Or, we can step into my sitting room and continue our chat over another glass of wine." I looked up at his now standing form, his long teaching robes flowing at his sides in this drafty dungeon. "I would enjoy continuing our conversation." I responded, standing beside him. He picked up both of our glasses in one hand and gestured towards the door "Very well, follow me." I walked behind him a short distance to the door, which he opened and stepped to the side, allowing me to walk in first. At this point I am lucky the wine is surging through my veins. Otherwise, the idea of having another drink with my professor in his quarters would have my heart residing in my throat.
When I walked into his private chambers, I stopped to appreciate the room. It was small but cozy, the fire was already roaring and his dark green furniture was inviting. There was a book left on his small table beside the chair near the hearth and a couch was placed across from the chair. Snape walked around me and gestured for me to have a seat on the couch, he placed the glasses on the side table and walked to an adjoining room to grab another bottle of wine. When he returned he filled my glass again and handed it to me, taking a seat on the couch beside me.
We sat and talked for a while while we drank our wine. Somehow as the conversation continued we drifted closer together and to my surprise I leaned in and pressed my lips to his. Our wine glasses sat forgotten on the side table, his hands came up to hold my face to his as our lips melted together. All at once it seemed my brain caught up with what was happening and I sobered up incredibly quickly. Breaking our kiss, his eyes opened and he looked at me. The terror present on my face, I said nothing to him as I bolted out of his chambers and through the classroom door.