Perhaps Another Time, Severus [A Severus Snape Fanfiction]

1994

1994

The Yule Ball was only a few days away and Shaylah still wasn't sure she would attend. Nate had been pestering her but she had finally told him that perhaps it was best he asked someone else. It wasn't right to keep him waiting, dangling on a line she would never draw in.

A sixth year Gryffindor boy had stopped her on her way to Charms class and mustered all the courage he had to ask her to the dance, running his fingers through his black hair nervously but he quickly ran off when Severus approached them, scowling. She didn't even get the chance to thank him for the invitation.

A fourth year Gryffindor by the name of Seamus had also extended her an invitation as they sat in the Great Hall for dinner. She hated to turn him down but the fire that was burning into her from narrowed eyes both at the Head table and from Nate across from her, made it a little easier.

"Shay, please let me take you," Nate begged after Seamus returned to his own table. It seemed he refused to take someone else.

Shaylah smashed the potatoes on her plate into a bowl shape with her spoon before looking across the table at him. "Ok, I'll go with you," she conceded. Nate beamed as if he had just won the Triwizard Tournament himself.

"We'll have a great time!" he exclaimed, grinning.

Shaylah returned her attention to her potatoes as Carrie cut in, "I'm going with Michael Franks from Ravenclaw." She pointed over to the mentioned table at a boy with chin length golden curls and a light dusting of freckles across his nose. He gave her a big smile as he put his arms into a circle and pretended to dance. His housemates laughed, shoving him and making kissing faces in response.

"He's cute," Shaylah said, earning herself an unimpressed look from Nate. "You're cute, too, Nate," she complimented and his green eyes brightened. "I have to go to the library to finish my homework for Professor Snape and Flitwick, would anyone care to join?"

"Don't you have a potions lesson tonight?" said Carrie, "It's Thursday."

Shit. "Oh no! I completely forgot! I have to go." Shaylah shoved a few more bites of food into her mouth and scrambled to her feet.

She glanced at the Head table, only now noticing her moody teacher's absence. She slapped her hand to her forehead as she made her way out of the Great Hall, she was really in no mood for the attitude she was sure she was about to receive.

A scrawny Ravenclaw boy with gray eyes stopped her on her way to Severus' classroom. He was by far the most confident one who had invited her to the dance but she gracefully declined, not even stopping to hear him out.

The door was ajar when she arrived and the potions master was arguing loudly with someone heavily accented. Karkaroff. The Dark Mark, his Dark Mark was coming back. Shaylah listened for a moment, already knowing what this moment meant, before running through the door in a false panic. "I'm so sorry I'm late, Professor."

Karkaroff huffed, his eyes narrowing in on the intrusion, before leaving the room without a word. Severus was leaning against his desk, his fingers gripping the wood so tightly that his knuckles were white. He straightened, making his way to the table they always brewed at, as if the interaction had never happened. "Tonight I thought you could watch me brew, examine my movements and methods. Learn by example."

She silently watched him add ingredients, his hands moving gracefully as if conducting a symphony. It had always fascinated her how he handled something so delicate with such confidence. She watched in silence across from him, palms flat on the table on either side of the cauldron. The slowly changing colors danced over Severus' features as he added and stirred, soft bubbling of the brew the only sound in the room, until his smooth voice shattered it. "I didn't know you were married, Miss Epans." He didn't bother looking at her as he spoke, his concentration still entirely on his work.