The Art of Taking Chances || Severus Snape x Reader ||

Chapter 14: A Chance Worth Taking

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A/N: BAHAHA I just know there's one part that might piss y'all off.

 "At least then we won't always wonder what could've been."

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As expected, you woke up the next morning with a nearly blinding headache. It was one of those strong, painful aches that seemed to be splitting your skull down the middle. It was such an intense headache that you felt queasy in your stomach...and whatever was left of the Firewhisky wasn't helping much either. Despite the feeling of something gnawing on your cranium, the dread and guilt of what had happened the night before had doubled overnight, and was far worse than the headache that you knew would pass before the end of the day. 

The moment your eyes had opened, everything came rushing back to you (and the aching soreness in your legs was a huge reminder too). The Three Broomsticks, the drinks, seeing Remus again, remembering what he had told you about Sirius, Severus fucking you on his sofa were all VERY clear in your head. None of the memories being hazy like you had imagined they would be. 

It didn't take long for you to recall that you had told Severus all the things that Remus had mentioned to you. You were embarrassed that you had let yourself be so vulnerable around him. Severus wasn't your boyfriend, or at least you didn't think that he was. There was no reason for you to confide in him to that extent. Sirius Black was your problem and was your burden to bear. On top of talking with Severus about...everything, the whole "Sirius Black wants to see you again" thing was another bridge you'd have to inevitably cross.

You were grateful at first that you had woken up before Severus, you had been curled up next to him when you went to sleep, but it seemed that the two of you had spaced out over the course of the night. He was sleeping soundly on his stomach, his arms shoved under his pillow and his charcoal colored hair swept over his face. Severus was actually a very quiet sleeper, which was against everything that you would've expected.

You saw a window of opportunity here. In theory, you could've just snuck out of his chambers and back to your own with a silent prayer that no one would catch you in your walk of shame. As you thought about it though, you'd have to talk to him about it at some point, and running away wasn't going to solve anything. It'd buy you some time, but the flip side of that meant you'd have to wallow in the guilt more than you needed to. So, you opted to stay.

You were tempted to wake him, but you knew how you'd feel if someone had woken you up after a long night of drinking and sex. You left him to snooze for a while, quietly getting out of bed not to disturb him. The rush of blood to your head when you hit your feet only made your head pound harder. You brought a hand to your eyes, hissing under your breath at the intensity of it. You had a feeling that he had a pain relief potion lying around that you could use, but you weren't too keen on going through his personal stuff.

You found your blouse from the night before, slipping it on along with your panties. You were pretty sure that you were far past the point of being decent around Severus.

You dragged yourself to the kitchen to think, taking a moment to observe how different his kitchen was from yours. You didn't give yourself a chance to look around last night, and now you were noticing that his entire personal quarters was the opposite of yours. Just like how your office spaces were so different. You found yourself figuring that you could at least get a kettle going for the two of you. 

A cup of tea and honey would cleanse your pallet as well as give you some sort of boost before diving into this conversation that you knew was coming. You thought about it while you filled the kettle with water to be boiled.