Chapter Seventeen

A Love Story

Jane was waiting for the Gryffindor sixth years to come to class with her. However, there was about half an hour until class started, so she sat behind her desk checking homework. After a while the door opened and she looked up out of habit to see who was coming. It was Harry Potter, alone, without the two friends he usually hung out with.

'Hi, Harry!' Jane said, looking back at the parchment she was checking. 'Where are your friends?'

'Hello, Professor! Ron and Hermione have Potions and I don't go to that class.'

Jane looked up again. Everything became clear to her – Professor Snape had not allowed him in his classes. Then she focused back on the homework with a blank look. Neither Harry nor Snape was particularly likeable for her to worry about their relationship.

'I understand you're in the Order of the Phoenix, too,' the kid said at last. 'And I want to tell you that I sympathise with you very much.'

The teacher almost jumped on her chair. So someone told this unreliable boy about the Order of the Phoenix?

'Harry, how do you know all this?' she asked, simultaneously sifting through the images that popped into his head.

'Professor Dumbledore told me,' the boy replied simply. There was no lie, Dumbledore was definitely to blame. Apparently, he often shared important information with the Boy Who Wrecked Everything, while at the same time withholding much of it from his older associates. But why had he provided himself with such a large security gap, she wondered?

'What else has Professor Dumbledore told you?' Jane asked as she continued to peer into his head.

'Oh, some things,' Harry said vaguely.

The things in question included confidential information about the Order of the Phoenix, Potter had attended their meetings and knew quite a few members. Jane felt sick. It was true that the organization leaked like a sieve when it came to keeping important information within it, however this yet another security breach irked her.

But there was another thing – the year before, the students and various Order members fought the Death Eaters over some useless prophecy in the Ministry of Magic. A woman from the Order named Emmeline Vance had died in the skirmish, and Sirius Black had been wounded. It was all Potter's fault, of course. Worst of all, this wasn't his first failed attempt to save the world. And now he was scheming a new one.

'Professor Snape told me what you are planning,' Jane lied. 'And I can tell you it's not reasonable at all.'

'Professor Snape wouldn't tell you anything, he hates you,' Harry answered with a slight delay.

'He's not very warm to you either, so he told me. You decided to fight Lord Voldemort again.'

'It's not true!' the kid screamed immediately. 'He couldn't have told you!'

'Then how do I know?'

Little Potter was silent.

'Harry, I know what you were trying to do. In freshman year, you were found half-suffocated by a Devil's Snare along with your friend Ronald. And your other friend Hermione was found in the Chess room. You said you were trying to save the Philosopher's Stone from Lord Voldemort.'

'But…'

'In your second year, you and Ginny Weasley were found almost dead in a dungeon. In the third, you tried to save your godfather, almost causing a small apocalypse. In the fourth year, a man died because of you. And I don't even want to talk about last year.'

Jane stopped to catch her breath.

'What I'm trying to tell you is that you need to stop trying to save the world. At your age, I was in the same danger from Lord Voldemort as you are now. But my mother hid me at Hogwarts. And she did well. Otherwise, I wouldn't have lived to reach adulthood. I suggest you do the same. Instead of looking for a fight, start taking care of your safety. Do you wish your parents had sacrificed in vain?'

'N-no.'

'Then listen to me.'

The teacher was still breathing heavily when an owl knocked on the window. Lily was asking her something about a suitor of hers. Reading the letter allowed Jane to calm down and tell Harry, 'Don't take it to heart. Just stay safe.'

Harry, however, stood transfixed, staring at the floor. Yes, Voldemort had to be removed, she thought, but not by a child. Her best hope lay in Professor Dumbledore.

In the evening, Jane was just coming home from the canteen when she heard a voice behind her, 'Undead, if you can spare a minute.'

'Yes, Snape,' she replied icily and looked regretfully at the door to her room, which was only a few metres away. If she had hurried, she would have been in there by now and they wouldn't be able to take her out even with a cannon, as the Muggles said.

'I found this on a student of mine,' he continued, waving a picture of her with Lily and the band in front of her face. It was one of the those they had taken at the "Raw Magic" opening.

'Should I be alarmed by this fact?' she pointed out ironically. She still couldn't get over the humiliation when Snape found her among the trash cans.

'The debauchery of your students with similar "musical" activities is your business. But I won't let you drag my students into it.'

'I have Professor Dumbledore's permission to engage the students in music. As for your students, I haven't even lifted a finger at them. One of mine must have given him the picture.'

'You are responsible for your students, whatever they have done.'

'I don't think so. I'm not the head of the house and the students are not "mine". Take your claims to Professor Flitwick.'

'Listen, Undead, I thoroughly understand what you're trying to do. You are trying to brainwash every student you come across. You want them to believe in your "methods" and your "music" which, by all accounts, are a total failure.'

'I cannot understand where you get the courage to criticize my methods and my music. Why aren't you hiding in the holes like before, Snape?'

'And how do you find the courage to humiliate yourself with your 'concerts'?

A hurricane was already raging in Jane's head, and her eyes were flashing lightning. Panting with anger, she reached into her pocket for her wand, but Snape was faster and grabbed her wrists. She tried to twist his arms, but she couldn't budge an inch in his firm grip. All she could do right now was show him the opening of "Raw Magic" and the chanting crowd. He immediately countered with the image of Anthony sighing at Lily's picture, trying to convey as much anger as possible.

'You're not right, you're not right at all,' she whispered frantically, showing him an image of Lily also sighing after Anthony.

Snape persistently tried to learn more about the matter, but Jane closed her mind. He continued to push against her mental barriers, and she began to pull away. He pressed her to him so that she wouldn't escape him. It was the first time they were so close to each other and Professor Snape felt an urge to be with her. He hesitated for a split second but then decided to give in to the urge. Leaving the questioning for later, he let go of her wrists, wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her. Jane accepted the kiss at first, but then quickly pulled away from him, drew her right hand and slapped him. He glared at her, grabbed her hands and twisted them behind her back. Taking advantage of his precarious position, she took a step back, wrapping her leg around his as he took a step forward and tripped him. Snape swayed, she tried to push him back but he leaned into her and dragged her with him to the cold stone floor.

Jane was lying on her back, pressed under Snape's weight. She barely felt the impact with the hard floor. She felt an inexplicable attraction to Snape, made even stronger by his proximity. She could push him aside and let him lie there, but her will was leaving her. Why was she so attracted to an ordinary teacher, even if he was also a double agent? Should she give in to him or try to cast a nasty spell on him? She hesitated for a few seconds, then made up her mind.

Nothing would happen to her with one more man, even if he was Professor Snape.

Wrapping her arms around his chest, she pressed her lips to his and kissed him.

They kissed like that for a few seconds, then Jane shifted beneath him. He pulled away from her and slowly stood up, then helped her to her feet. She took his hand and led him to her room and he just followed.

By this time Lily, the boys, and Anthony had huddled in a nearby alcove, mouths agape. They had stopped here on their way to Lily and the boys' room, where they planned to smuggle Anthony. As soon as the door to Jane's room slammed shut, the students were finally able to shut their mouths and have a brief argument.

'Are you sure that what is happening there is consensual?' Anthony was the first to come to his senses.

'It seems so to me,' August replied.

'What if she does something to him?'

'How come – she?' Lily whispered. 'He could hurt her more.'

'And what can we do about it?' Jerry interrupted.

'We knock on the door until they open it…' Anthony began.

'And then?'

'…then we lose 250 points from Ravenclaw and 50 from Slytherin. I advise you to do just that if you wish to get ahead, Anthony,' August muttered.

'Let's assume they're old enough to know what they're doing and just leave them alone,' Lily suggested.

'The lady is right,' August agreed. 'Come, let's see what question Eaglie will ask us this time.'

'And I hope it's not difficult,' added Euphem. He always had trouble answering the questions.

'And where will Anthony sleep?' Seth asked after a moment.

'In my bed,' Lily answered, hastening to add, 'And I will sleep with Euphem.'

'Wow, a woman in my bed,' he rejoiced.

'Quiet! And you'll behave yourself, otherwise, I'll slap you, too,' Lily threatened him.

'Yes, sir!'

In the morning Severus Snape woke up in an unusual place where he had no recollection of going to sleep at all. He was lying in a wide bed with a blue four-poster canopy. On the nightstand to one side of him were left a pair of blue-rimmed rectangular glasses that glinted slightly in the light coming from the window. Something globular and furry was curled up at his feet, which Severus couldn't get a good look at because something else was resting on his shoulder, preventing him from getting up. He slowly turned his head to the other side and looked at the thing in question. Long, thick hair of an indeterminate shape spread over his chest, beneath which a white neck showed, and under his back, he could feel an arm, apparently thrust there in an attempt for him to be used as a pillow.

"Jane Undead," Snape recalled in a flash. The woman he fought with in the hallway last night, where she looked so much like her late mother in her anger that he kissed her without much thought. She immediately slapped him, but then, apparently realising her mistake, kissed him a second time and dragged him into her room. Clothes were flying everywhere, he was kissing her neck while she was sitting on the desk… Finally, she dragged him into bed, and he didn't resist much either. He hadn't been with a woman in a long time, but did it have to be Undead? True, she looked a lot like her mother, especially in some moments, but that was no reason to jump her.

He felt used and drained. His back was stiff and ached, and as for his muscles, they felt as if someone had poured lead into them. Maybe he should have been angry or even furious, but Snape didn't feel that way at all. Instead, he smiled inwardly. Still, it wasn't clear who used whom.

Suddenly feeling a sharp pain in his stiff back, he shifted and turned to one side. Jane also moved in her sleep and put an arm around his waist. Obviously, there was no way out for now. At least the furry thing that had taken up residence at his feet left its hideout in displeasure, hopping to the ground. Snape found out that it was just a calico cat, and judging by the fact it had curled up at his feet rather than hers, it was most likely female. Severus looked out the window but saw nothing more than a snow-covered mountain peak shrouded in clouds. He watched it for a while, but soon got bored and started looking around the room curiously. Luckily for him, there was a book left on the bottom shelf of the nightstand, so he reached down and picked it up. It was "The Encyclopedia of Magic Rock". Severus began flipping through it in an attempt to recall a band he knew and soon came across a vaguely familiar picture of a woman. Beneath it was written Jane Susan Undead.

Severus scrutinized the photo, thinking he might have been mistaken. But everything matched –curly brown hair (he even turned to check), rectangular-rimmed glasses, dark eyes. It seemed his coworker had been pretty serious about it before. Before what? Before the Dark Lord returned, he told himself sourly. Maybe even her stories about him and the Death Eaters were true. After the duel with the Death Eaters in Hogsmeade, he had revised his theories about Undead, though he still hated her. And now… he looked back at the sleeping woman, holding the book in his hand. He didn't hate her anymore, he finally decided.

"A musician," Snape thought with an uneasy feeling, "which means money, attention, and no doubt, lots of men. I bet seven to two that the money ran out long ago. But what does she need a mere high school teacher like me for?" Severus couldn't finish his thought as he was interrupted by an authoritative voice that broke the silence.

'Jane, get up! You're late for work! Get up – you have class in 20 minutes!' the voice commanded. 'Jane, Boggarts take you, get your arse off the bloody bed!'

Severus looked around to determine where the voice was coming from, but he didn't spot a wizard or even a patron that could be its material source. He nudged Jane, but she only moved and turned to the other side. He shook her harder and this time asked her, 'Jane, what's that supposed to be?'

'A nasty alarm clock!' she muttered sleepily, then called out in the direction of her desk. 'Shut up, it's Saturday.'

'You're not going to trick me, Jane,' the alarm clock replied in an edifying tone. 'Get up now!'

Jane rose in bed cursing ("Kappi take you!") and, focusing on Snape for a moment, told him, 'Severus, hand me that damned machinery if you please.'

Snape placed the book on the table, got out of bed and walked over to the desk which was littered with various items.

'How does it look?' he asked, rummaging through the mess piled on the counter where the sounds were coming from.

'An orb with arrows,' Undead said. 'No bigger than a Bludger. If it's easier for you, you can knock everything to the ground.'

After this generous invitation, Snape pushed the top of the pile, which fell to the floor with a series of thuds. Now with fewer candidates for a small spherical annoyance, he easily navigated the sound and pulled the little impudent beast by the leg.

'Let me go, you're not Jane!' it squeaked pitifully, but Snape paid it no mind. After taking it to its owner, she glared at it and hastened to tap it with her magic wand, which she had left under the bed.

There was an instant silence in the room. Already awake, she dropped it on the floor next to the bed and smiled at Severus.

'Good morning, Professor,' she said, wrapping both arms around him. At this point, Snape found out that if he had had any desire to run, the last chance had just flown by.

"Maybe it's not that bad," he smiled to himself and turned to Jane.

Jane and Severus didn't come down to the Great Hall until lunchtime. They were even a bit late, so when they walked towards the High Table, all the teachers fixed curious faces on them. Snape had barely eaten half of his portion when Professor Dumbledore spoke to him with concern, 'I looked for you last night, Severus, but you were nowhere to be found in your office. Where did you go?'

'I was in the library,' Snape excused himself quickly.

'At three in the morning?'

Jane almost laughed, drawing Professor Dumbledore's long stare. After he didn't try to get anything out of her, she calmly looked away to her soup and continued eating.

Snape wasn't so lucky though, she noticed with her peripheral vision. The headmaster was staring at him, surely extracting information. She began to barely covertly observe Professor Dumbledore's face, which at first looked concerned, then edifying, then amazed, and finally pleased. He had obviously managed to pry a lot out of Severus, judging by the wide grin that had spread across his face. The headmaster then looked at Jane, who put on the most innocent expression possible and hurried to focus on her bowl. However, she couldn't stay focused for long because she knew the headmaster was gazing at her. Eventually, she looked up and gave a brief "report" of last night. She was very interested in what Professor Dumbledore had learned, but she didn't think it wise to try and find out. She would surely betray more than she would learn.

She couldn't help but make a sour face, but she soon got over it – she wasn't in love with Professor Snape after all, she didn't even really like him. She was completely indifferent. Perhaps she would even regain her former hatred, but she was unlikely to seek him out for anything anytime soon. She didn't need him at all. She ate the rest of her third slice of pie without even looking at him and hurried to get up from the table. As she stood up, she glanced at Professor Dumbledore to excuse herself for leaving the table and to say goodbye. But on the way, her eyes met those of Professor Snape, and for a brief moment, she felt as if struck by lightning. She excused herself hastily and left the table in an instant.

In the afternoon, Jane tried to read a book, but last night's story was disturbing her. As she was all sticky with sweat from the midnight "exercises" she went to take a quick shower. She thought the bath would help clear her head, but Snape's ghost still seemed to haunt her. She wasn't in love with him, she couldn't be, she told herself, but she didn't really believe it. Finally, when she was already rinsing in the shower, she decided to talk to him and explain firmly that she didn't want the incident to happen again. He might sulk, but he was unlikely to contradict her.

Overcome with determination, Jane returned to her room, dried her hair, and put on her finest robes to boost her confidence for the conversation with Snape. When she finally got ready, it was already dark outside. This slightly annoyed her as she wanted to talk to him at a normal time but there was nothing she could do about it.

She left the hairbrush on her desk and walked decisively to the door. How good it was that most of the men in the school were either too old or too young to pay her any attention. Too exhausted to bother with anyone, she was enjoying the lack of worshipers at the moment. Carl stopped pestering her about two weeks ago when he got a new girlfriend, now she just had to convince Snape to stop as well and everything would be fine.

Eager to finally be done with this story, she hurried down the stairs. The lower she went, the faster her heart beat. At first, she thought it was from the fast pace she was keeping, but even as she slowed down, she felt excited and confused. By the time she reached the door, she was already breathing in gasps of the musty air, unable to calm down.

About a minute later she managed to regain some semblance of composure and knocked on his door.

'Hello, Severus!' She greeted him with a smile as soon as he opened it.

Snape gave her a surprised look and answered in a relatively polite tone, 'Good evening, Jane. What brings you here?'

'I wanted to talk to you,' she said, adding in her thought "about last night."

'Come in,' he invited her, opening the door wider as he studied Jane closely.

She stepped into the room and looked around curiously. It had hardly changed since her last visit a few months ago. At the bottom of the small window, there was a massive desk with a chair, all the walls were covered with cabinets and bookcases, and in the armchair in front of the fireplace lay a book about the Goblin Rebellions. Professor Snape took the book, closed it and placed it casually on the desk, then motioned for Jane to settle down.

'Well, what's the matter?' he asked in a cool voice as Jane still hovered hesitantly behind the armchair.

'It's about our relationship,' she said, trying to hide the tremor in her voice. He was just pulling the only chair in the room up to the fireplace. She tried to look him in the eyes but felt his gaze piercing her and stared at the bookcase behind him.

'What do you think we need to clarify in our relationship?' Snape asked calmly.

But Jane was silent as a fish. She wanted to tell him that she didn't like him, that she wanted nothing to do with him, but she couldn't. Moreover, she felt that what she wanted to tell him was not true. As she fought the urge to just run to the door and up the stairs, she circled behind the armchair and occasionally grabbed its back.

Snape liked her, that was obvious. As obvious as that she should stay away from him. The bad thing was that she never managed to stay away from men, even when it was clear they were getting her into trouble.

As she wondered what to do, Snape sat back in his chair and turned to her expectantly.

'I wanted to say that I like you,' she finally blurted out and immediately put her fingers over her mouth.

He didn't say anything, just smiled slightly and continued to watch her.

Jane continued to pace the room, thinking of what to say. Sometime during her third lap, Snape gestured for her to sit in the chair, but Jane just shook her head. It was so quiet one could hear the crackling of the fire in the fireplace.

During her fifth lap, he calmly patted his lap. Jane hesitated for a second, then walked around the chair and straddled Snape's lap. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him with passion.