Chapter Five

Rose and Severus landed just where Rose had intended: the potions classroom, albeit a bit harshly. They both collapsed onto the stone floor in a pile.

"You couldn't have brought us somewhere with a rug?" He growled.

Rose shrugged him off, setting him on his back and standing.

"What mushroom did you step on?"

"I didn't step on it, I kicked it. The Thestrals startled me."

Rose frowned down at him, her hands on her hips. "Severus, you don't have time to be ornery. What mushroom was it?"

He shut his eyes in exasperation.

"It was a Red Death."

Rose didn't feel as rushed now. She crossed her arms, a small smile spreading across her face.

"Oh … okay, I see. So, the largest and most obvious of the dangerous mushrooms?"

Severus didn't open his eyes to acknowledge this.

Rose continued. "Right, the one whose antidote is worth about fifteen galleons?"

Severus maintained his calm expression.

"And the one, that if not treated properly in twenty-four hours, can lead to permanent paralysis?"

Severus' eyes snapped open. "Yes, that's the one! Now help me or I will be sure to have you replaced."

Rose grinned, stretching her arms languidly, then sitting beside him on the cool ground.

"I don't think you'd actually have me replaced." She told him.

Severus shut his eyes again, snorting in disagreement.

"Because you've been throwing around threats for a while, and nothing ever seems to happen."

"Rest assured it will happen after this insolence."

Rose studied him, frowning. He had been smiling when he had said that. She hurriedly got up, rifling through the antidote cabinet, located in the same corner of the room as Severus' desk.

She found the jar of bezoars, hurriedly shaking one loose and into her palm. She steeled herself a little before turning back to Severus. She had shoved bezoars down the throats of fellow coworkers, poisoned from collecting ingredients or from an experimental potion taste testing gone wrong. But this felt different, and stranger. She didn't feel comfortable doing this to a supervisor who she already had a tumultuous relationship with.

But, Rose realized, she really had no choice. She didn't trust anyone else to do it.

Rose stepped briskly toward him, kneeling beside his head. She brushed some of his dark hair that had fallen across his face to the side. His face twitched, but his eyes remained shut.

"Er — Severus. Are you ready?"

"Do it, Rose." He commanded.

It had been a moment since Rose had used this form of antidote on someone else, but the muscle memory returned quickly. In one fluid movement, she had wrenched open his jaw, forcing the bezoar past his tongue and into his throat. She stroked his throat forcibly twice to ensure he had swallowed it. Severus let out a few gasping, choking noises, before swallowing fully on his own, then laid in silence.

It would take a few moments. Rose waited patiently, her hands folded on her lap, studying him.

He laid still before finally opening his eyes, rolling onto his stomach, and kneeling. His face was covered in sweat, some of his hair sticking to his head and face in thick locks. He panted, attempting to catch his breath.

He raked his hair back from his face with his hand, removing the clasp on his cloak and letting it fall in a pool behind him.

He finally looked at Rose, still kneeling beside him. "Thank you, Rose. Really."

-o-o-o-

Rose felt unsettled after Severus' poisoning.

She was finally starting to piece together smaller clues and hints that she had formerly disregarded.

She couldn't believe how long it had taken her to come to this realization — perhaps because it was a more recent progression, she wasn't sure.

I'm not just a coworker to him anymore, I think, she thought.

She wasn't sure why she hadn't foreseen this previously: of course he was acting this way. He was a sad, lonely professor. Naturally, he would be drawn to a young woman of a similar age.

But, she thought. He's never drawn to anyone. Why would he be drawn to me?

While Rose was puzzling this over, she wished she had someone to bring it up to. It felt too … personal to bring up to even Ella or Oisin, she wasn't sure why. She was feeling oddly protective of Severus lately, and feared their initial response would be to make a mockery of it.

This wouldn't have been an issue just a week ago, why was it now?