Yours truly | Severus Snape - Sequel to Sincerely yours

The most talented fifth-year witch

Mary stared at Severus, her eyes wide open. The way Severus was eyeing Mary made her feel hot inside. Like there was something boiling within her veins. She had never felt in such a way. But apparently, Severus' head was as cool as ice. After a couple of minutes of staring at Severus, completely motionless, the man tilted his head and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he asked. He glanced at the workstation in front of Mary, clearly suggesting her to begin working on the Draught of Living Death. Maybe the word "suggest" was a good choice. No. Severus' eyes were commanding Mary.

"Go on", he murmured, pulled a chair behind him and sat down in it.

Hands shaking, Mary started making her way towards Severus' Storeroom, attempting to gather the ingredients for the potion. However, the sudden sound of Severus' voice stopped Mary on her way.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked. Mary turned around, looking at the professor with a confused look on her face.

"To get the ingredients", she answered briefly. A gleeful smirk started spreading across the lips of Severus.

"No, no. The ingredients are already here", he said and tilted his head towards a desk at the back of the classroom, where the ingredients were waiting for Mary. Confused, Mary nodded and went to get the ingredients from the desk.

Usually, Mary's hands were as steady as a rock when it came to preparing a potion, especially a potion like this. One wrong movement, and the mixture would be ruined. But tonight, her hands were shaking vigorously the entire time she was working on the brew. She knew she had to make it stop if she wanted to succeed on the potion, but she couldn't help it.

After about a half an hour, Mary ran into a problem. A problem she knew she was going to have if her hands would still be shaking. And they were.

Just turn the fuck around, Mary cursed in her mind. Severus' intimidating eyes hadn't left her back for even just a second. And that was really staring to bother Mary.

As carefully as she could, Mary tried to pick up a slim glass tube full of dark blue liquid, attempting to pour it into another glass tube. A bigger tube which was halfway filled by perfectly clear liquid. But the moment her fingertips touched surface of the first tube, she already knew. She knew that she wouldn't be able to complete the potion on her own.

In order to succeed in that task, one should have a completely stable hand. The dark blue liquid was poisonous, so leaking even a drop of that liquid wasn't in question. And Mary's hands weren't definitely not stable.

Mary stared at the bottle for a few more minutes before she accepted her defeat. She sighed deeply and turned around.

"Um, Severus", Mary squeaked. Severus raised an eyebrow but didn't speak. Mary interpreted that the raise of an eyebrow was the only answer he was going to give. Mary decided to continue.

"Could you... Could you help me?" Mary asked. Severus' eyes glittered gleefully as he stood up and walked closer to Mary.

"What is it that you need my help for?" he asked. Somehow, the way he spoke, gave Mary the impression that he already knew what was troubling Mary.

"It's that tube", Mary mumbled and pointed at the tube which was filled with the blue liquid. Severus followed the direction of Mary's finger, seeing the tube on the table. He furrowed his brows and turned his face to Mary; a questioning look in his eyes.

"How is it that the most talented fifth-year witch I have ever met can't pour liquid from one tube to another without leaking it?" he asked, a teasing tone in his voice. Mary rolled her eyes and gave Severus a smirk.

"Maybe I just want to protect my beautiful hands. If the potion leaks, I'd much rather have it leaking on your hands than mine", Mary said. A smile spread on Severus' lips as he chuckled, shook his head and took the tube in his hand. With a swift motion, he poured the dark blue liquid from the first tube into the tube where the clear liquid was.

"There", Severus said and took a step back.

"Thanks", Mary mumbled and leaned over the table, examining the new mixture in the bigger tube.

After mixing the dark blue liquid with the clear one, Mary's work carried on without any more troubles. Partially it was because there wasn't as much precise work to do after mixing the dark blue and the clear liquid, but mostly it was because facing her fears and asking help from Severus had made her hands stop from shaking.

"Okay, it's done", Mary finally announced and took a couple steps away from the workstation, giving space for Severus to go and examine her creation.

He leaned over the cauldron, smelled the brew, mixed it slowly with a scoop and lifted the scoop, examining the liquid draining back to the cauldron. Mary watched as the man worked, a nervous tingle in her fingertips. She wanted it to be perfect.

Finally, Severus done with examining the brew and turned around to face Mary.

"Flawless", he said. Mary felt a rush of relief washing over her body. She had done it. She had completed the potion on her own. And Severus was happy with the results.

"However," Severus continued, crashing Mary mood from skies back to the ground. "There is something I wanted to make you aware of."

Mary held her breath.

Was it the tube thing?

Or was there something else wrong with the way Mary worked?

Severus took a step closer to Mary and leaned in, a smug look on his face.

"You should really learn to control your emotions", he murmured, his nose nearly touching Mary's. Mary's jaw dropped to the ground. She had been quite sure that Severus had noticed Mary's hands shaking, but she didn't expect him to point it out.

"Only when were working", Severus added, sliding his index finger up Mary's neck, landing on her chin. "I don't mind it apart from that."

Mary felt her cheeks burning. She didn't know what to say. Or what to do. The way Severus was holding her chin made butterflied flutter in her stomach.

"In fact," he continued, a smirk playing on his lips, "I think it's rather cute."

Having said that, he didn't wait another second before smashing his lips into Mary's, going straight into a heated, deep kiss. Thinking about it afterwards, Mary's not sure how they didn't flip over the cauldron filled with the Draught of Living Death as Severus pushed Mary sitting on the desk, kissing her even more passionately.

As Mary was sitting on the desk, Severus closed the gab between them and pressed his entire body against Mary's. Just when Mary thought that she couldn't take no more, that she was about to pass out, Severus tongue began caressing Mary's lips. Slowly but surely, Severus' tongue made its way into Mary's mouth.

While their Severus' tongue was exploring Mary's mouth, his hands wandered to her hips, inching closer and closer to her butt. Before they could reach it, however, Mary pulled away, gasping for air.

"Sorry, I... Um..." Mary breathed, leaning her hands on Severus' chest while trying to catch her breath. Severus placed his hands carefully on Mary's cheeks, lifting her eyes to meet with his.

"It's alright. You don't have to apologize", he said gently, softly stroking Mary's cheek. "I must admit that I got a bit carried away."

Mary nodded, giving Severus a small smile.

"I'll see on Wednesday", she said. Severus smiled warmly to Mary as he nodded and leaned in for another, much more delicate kiss.

"Good night", Severus whispered, resting his forehead against Mary's.

"Good night, Severus", Mary replied, gave Severus one more soft kiss while hopping down the desk and left the classroom.