The snake and the lion (Severus x OC)

12- The best thing that has ever happened to me

The following Monday, Rose and Severus took advantage of the early morning commotion to sneak back to the Great Hall.

Letting themselves be carried away by their desire, they had decided to push their luck to the maximum that weekend and had postponed leaving the dungeon until the last moment. After all, they had nothing to lose. Both were already in danger, there were only a few weeks left until the end of the school year, and neither had parents to whom their teachers could write complaining about their behavior.

After saying goodbye with a knowing look, each one headed to their house table. Severus sat alone, but Rose took a seat next to Lily.

"Rose! Where have you been?" Lily asked, with a mixture of relief and anger. "I was worried about you, you just disappeared."

"Don't worry, I'm fine," Rose smiled, still with her head in the clouds. However, she noticed that James and the marauders were listening to their conversation.

"I went looking for you yesterday," Lily insisted, "but your usual hiding place was... it wasn't there," Rose blushed when she heard that. It would have been very violent for both of them if Lily had discovered the location of the dungeon door. She was glad she had used the most advanced protection spells she knew.

"You shouldn't have worried," Rose didn't want to give details in front of the boys, but Lily wasn't willing to give in.

"Have you been with him?" she whispered, approaching Rose, and pointing with her head at the Slytherin table. Rose glanced at Severus out of the corner of her eye and nodded. "All weekend? Doing what?"

Rose turned completely red, remembering. She could still feel the touch of his hands on her skin, and the softness of his kisses.

"I can't tell you here," she whispered, trying to hide her blush.

Lily looked at her with bewilderment, but after a few seconds her eyes widened, understanding.

"Oh..." she managed to say. Then, she was also aware of the ears that were attentive to their conversation. "We'll talk about this later," she muttered. Rose sighed, resigned. That was going to be a very long conversation.

***

Minutes later, the seventh years headed to Charms class.

Rose and Lily were walking behind the others, talking in low voices. A student bumped into Rose, but she didn't see his face and she didn't give it any importance, since the corridor was full of people, but then, they both saw that they were surrounded by Slytherin students, who didn't leave them room to pass.

Lucius and his friends pushed through the crowd, advancing directly toward them with a menacing air. Lily pulled out her wand, and Rose tried to do the same, but then discovered that her pocket was empty.

The Slytherins attacked all at once, and Lily was unable to protect her friend, who was thrown backwards. Immediately, Lucius confronted Rose, putting himself between Lily and her, and began to cast curses on Rose without giving her a chance to defend herself. Rose tried to dodge them but was hit.

James, Sirius and Remus came to her aid, but Crabe, Goyle and Nott stopped them, while Lily continued fighting a pair of Slytherin students. Some Gryffindors went to defend her and found themselves fighting other Slytherin rebels.

Through all this, Lucius gave Rose no respite, and continued to throw her back, again and again, to keep her away from her friends. They came close to a moving staircase, and Lucius forced the girl to remain motionless on the edge that joined the first step of the stairs to the floor of the corridor. Rose realized with horror that, as soon as the ladder moved, she would inevitably fall into the void.