The Stars on the Staircase

A Drop of Dittany

~+~Old Wounds - A Memory~+~

It had been the second last week of apparition lessons. The ministry official had placed the hoops the greatest distance apart yet. It was a beautiful spring day so we were outside, the hoops at the bottom and top of the hill respectively. We were all buzzing with excitement. Close to getting our apparition licences and happy to be out in the sun.

On the first round we were taking turns apparating down the hill to near the gamekeeper's hut. We were waiting in line and chatting animatedly because the Ministry Official was down at the bottom of the hill. When I was second to the front of the queue I spotted Severus on his way up the hill. He must have been on his way back from his Hogsmeade errand already.

I smoothed my dress, hoping I looked my best if he was going to be watching from afar. I wanted to make sure I looked cute as I popped from one hoop to the next. When it was my turn, I tried to picture the bottom hoop clearly in my mind, but at the last second my eyes strayed over to him and I felt my concentration slip right when it should not have.

As soon as I was being squished through the air I knew my trajectory was off. I was not going to land in the hoop. I tried to shift my course, refocus on the target, but it was too late. With a sudden pop I was out in the air and then, falling. I closed my eyes and braced for impact. What I hit was not earth, but two black clad arms that slipped out to grab me from the air. "You missed." He teased in my ear as he held my body against his chest.

"You distracted me!" I muttered in embarrassment, looking over to see my class gawking at me in the arms of Professor Snape. "Thank you. Put me down now please, people are looking."

"The least I could do is put you where you intended to go." He smirked and started walking over to the hoops.

"Severus! Stop! Drop me!" I whispered as he got closer.

"Don't tell me what to do. I'm in charge of your safety." He smirked. Evil. So very evil.

"Severus! I am going to be made fun of for this." I warned him in my head.

"Why?"

"Because you're a famously grumpy teacher, why would you carry me?!" He is playing dumb and I'm not sure why, he never took this kind of liberty with our secret.

"Look how cute you look today, no one is going to blame me." He teased.

Finally we arrived at the hoops and he set me down. "Focus is key." He instructed loudly as the cherry on top of what is sure to be my friends teasing all day. The giggling was somewhat smothered at first, but as he got farther up the hill more peels of laughter started leaving my friends mouths.

"I can't decide who loves who more." Violet began when he was safely out of ear shot and most people around us had stopped looking over at me quizzically for my strange interaction with the Potions Professor.

"What?" I asked her, waiting for the teasing and hating it all the while.

"You or old men." She could barely tell her own joke for the snickering.

Greta is gasping for breath. "Flitwick!" She erupts between gasps, a punchline with no setup because she is laughing too hard to make a well worded jab. I look between the two of them.

"What?!" I asked, affronted that they had a joke they haven't looped me in on, at my expense. When had they been chatting about this?

"Flitwick loooooves you. He wants to put you in his pocket. God he practically cried at charms club last night. Now this. Oh my god. I know you're one of those ageless people that makes friends with all generations, but seriously. Old men just go nuts for you. Now Snape carries you over here like you were on the cover of a romance novel. It all just confirms for us that you are an old man lover." Violet is wiping off tears.