Something Like a Hero

Part 1

"Have you heard?" said Neville from the Staff Room.

"About what?" said another voice.

"Someone's in love with Snape!" exclaimed Neville as if it was the most shocking news of all time.

Harry, who was just passing by at the time, stopped immediately in his tracks as if he'd been petrified. If he were a cartoon, his heart would have jumped out of his chest and bounced on the walls of the castle so fast was it beating. Surely he had better things to do than worry about who was stupid enough to fall in love with someone like Snape.

Against his better judgement, he practically glued his ear to the door and listened.

"Who is it?" asked the other person eagerly.

There was a pause, and then Neville said, "Lydia Abbot from Ravenclaw."

"A student?" said the voice of a stunned man.

Another pause, and then everyone in the room roared with laughter. Harry chuckled thinking that indeed it was quite funny. In fact, it was the joke of the century. No one in his right mind would ever fall in love with Snape.

After four years of being a teacher at Hogwarts, Harry still hadn't seen Snape on a good day. The Potions Master was always moody and glaring at Harry with loathing. Snape's horrible personality hadn't improved one bit as the years went by. He was still bitter and impossible to live with.

Harry had to admit that Snape was quite intriguing, though. Every time Harry thought he had figured him out, he found he hadn't at all. Snape wasn't the typical villain. He fit the category very well, but there was more to him than met the eye. And then there was his sudden change of looks. Snape had cut his greasy hair and the result turned out to be quite attractive. Not that Harry had noticed that much, but the new haircut must be the reason why the sweet Lydia Abbot had suddenly fallen in love with the bastard.

While Harry walked to his room, he felt very aware of his heartbeat and didn't know why.

Lydia Abbot was in love with Severus Snape. So what?

It was funny. That was it. Then why wasn't Harry laughing anymore?

Teenagers were stupid, Harry thought to himself. There was no way someone sane would like Snape.

However, Snape did look a lot more distracted and distant these days. He always seemed to be drifting away, except, of course, when his eyes came across Harry's. In the past, Snape had usually given Harry his coldest look. But ever since Harry had started to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, Snape's glares had changed. Instead of freezing Harry, Snape's new glare set him on fire. Harry didn't understand why his body reacted like that. He couldn't understand why every time their eyes met he shivered, and a weird feeling ran through his whole being.

Harry worried about that, but in four years he had learned to deal with it quite well. He ignored Snape just like the ex-greasy bastard ignored him.

But ignoring Snape was becoming very difficult, especially after the haircut and his new looks.

Harry kept walking absently through the corridors of the castle.

What was it about Snape that intrigued him so much? Just his new looks? That wasn't enough. Harry wasn't a shallow person that only cared about appearances. If that wasn't the case, then what was it? Why did the fact that Lydia Abbot liked Snape bother him?

Harry shook his head, trying to get rid of those silly thoughts. He shouldn't be wasting his time thinking about Snape. He had more important things to think about, like DADA lessons.