Yours truly | Severus Snape - Sequel to Sincerely yours

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The next morning, when Mary opened her eyes, reality hit her harder than ever. Reality in which she and Severus had been caught kissing in the Potions corridor by none other than her best friend, Clary. Against what one wight think, Clary wasn't sympathetic at all towards Mary. Or Severus. In fact, she had attacked Mary and called Severus a pedophile. Of course, the reason why she had attacked Mary might have been partially caused by Mary's careless choice of words.

Nonetheless, they were still in trouble. Mary had no idea what Clary was going to do. Last night, when Professor McGonagall had been alarmed by their screaming and she had interviewed Clary about her accusations of someone being a pedophile, Clary had kept her mouth shut. But had she changed her mind after sleeping through the night?

Mary rolled over her side and checked if Clary was still in her bed. She wasn't. Her bed was neatly made, and her bag was missing.

Had she gone to the library? Mary thought.

It wouldn't be news if Clary had gone straight to the library on a Saturday morning, as she had so much to do during the weekdays that she rarely had time to do her homework. It was only during the weekends when she was able to properly open the schoolbooks and began working on the assignments given by their teachers.

"Morning", mumbled Alison, who had just woken up and was now rubbing the sleep off her eyes.

"Good morning", Mary replied and got out of her bed. As she began to make her bed, Alison opened her eyes fully and noticed the empty bed next to Mary's.

"Where's Clary?" she asked. Mary glanced at the empty bed before turning her eyes to Alison's dark blue ones.

"No idea", Mary said and continued working on her bed.

****

After breakfast, Mary and Alison decided to go and see if Clary was in the library. Usually, when she wanted to study early in the morning without waking up Mary and Alison, she went either to the library or if the weather was good, by the Black Lake. But as it was the beginning of October, the weather was no longer that good. It wasn't exactly cold, but it wasn't warm either.

"I don't think she's here", Alison said quietly, trying her best not to anger Madam Pince. Mary took a one last look at the study area where Clary usually spent her Saturday morning, and after seeing it was indeed empty, nodded.

"Okay, she's definitely not here", Mary announced. There was a thought lingering in the back of her mind. A thought which had been growing and growing ever since Mary had first noticed that Clary had gone missing.

Has she gone to the Headmaster's Office?

"I don't think she's by the Black Lake. It's raining", said Alison, who was observing the grey sky through the library window.

Realising that Mary wasn't going to respond, Alison continued speaking.

"Maybe we should go back to the common room", she suggested. "Who knows, maybe she's gone back there while we were eating."

Mary was still eyeing the cloudy sky, her mind going through thousands of explanations why Severus had kissed her after yesterday's lesson. Each getting crazier than the one before.

"Yeah, maybe", Mary mumbled and followed Alison out of the library.

Before she even noticed, Mary and Alison were back at the entrance of the Slytherin common room. She had followed blindly Alison whilst forming a story in which Mary and Severus had had an accident while brewing Amorenthia. That would explain why Severus had kissed Mary. And no one wouldn't question why she was in the Potions Classroom last night. Professor Dumbledore knew that Severus was giving her private lessons.

"You're here!" Alison exclaimed as she and Mary entered the Slytherin Common Room. Mary felt her heart skip a beat when her eyes landed on the blonde figure sitting in an armchair by the fire.

"Yes, I am", Clary said rather coldly.

Alison, who had no idea what Clary had seen last night, blinked and tilted her head.

"What's wrong?" she asked. Clary glanced at Mary before turning her ice-cold eyes back to Alison. She took a deep breath before she started explaining everything that had happened after she had left the Slytherin common room last night.

Alison stared at Mary in disbelief. Then, she turned to look at Clary.

"You didn't go to Professor Dumbledore, did you?" she asked.

Mary held her breath as she waited for Clary's response. Concluding from the way Clary had behaved last night, and the way she was behaving now, she had gone to Dumbledore. On the other hand, Mary knew Clary wasn't that cruel. Clary was smart enough to know, that telling Albus would cause both Mary and Severus life-lasting problems.

"No", Clary finally said. "No, I didn't."

Mary took a deep, relieved breath and gave Clary a grateful smile.

"However, I did go to meet someone this morning", Clary added. Mary nearly choked as she heard those words. Had she gone to see Professor McGonagall?

"Who?" Asked Alison. To Mary's surprise, Alison seemed surprisingly serious when she looked at her girlfriend.

"Professor Snape", said Clary.

Both Mary and Alison stared at Clary in bewilderment.

Severus? Why on earth would she do that? She nearly ripped his head off last night!

"I went to make a deal with him", Clary continued, now locking her eyes with Mary's. Something about the way in which Clary looked at her told Mary, that she wasn't going to like this deal.

"W-What kind of deal?" Mary's voice trembled as she spoke.

"I won't tell Professor Dumbledore IF you end whatever that was going on between you two. That means no more private lessons. No more hanging around after lesson. No more nothing. You are not to study, to speak, to do anything privately."

A cold rush of both anger and disbelief rushed through Mary's body.

"You can't do this", Mary whispered.

Clary raised an eyebrow, no sign of mercy or empathy in her eyes.

"Yes, I can. And I will."

Mary couldn't believe what she was hearing. Yes, Clary hadn't gone to Dumbledore. But this wasn't a much better option. What Clary was demanding, was impossible.

"Please, don't", Mary begged. "You're my best friend."

But no matter how much Mary begged, the look on Clary's face didn't shift. Even Alison asked if Clary should reconsider her decision, but Clary remained unwavering. After what it felt like an eternity, Mary too had to give up and admit that it was over. Clary wasn't listening.

"Fine", Mary said, a new kind of coldness within her voice. And not just in her voice, in her body. It was as if the realisation that she was going to lose Severus had banished all the emotions out of her body.

"As this deal concern's me as well, I want my say in it", Mary said, her voice completely emotionless.

"I want the same terms to be applied on you."

Finally, the look on Clary's eyes shifted. It was still cold, but it was now also confused.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Mary took a deep breath and pierced her eyes through Clary's body.

"As long as this deal is in force, I will end whatever that was between us two. That means I'm no longer helping you with homework. No more hanging out during our spare time. No more nothing. You are not to study, to speak, to do anything with me."

Now it was Clary's turn to look at Mary in bewilderment. But Mary didn't care. She couldn't have ever imagined that Clary could force her to do something like this. After all, Clary knew what it felt like to not being able to be with the person she loves. Or maybe that was the whole reason why she was doing this? Was this a revenge?

"Mary, can we please talk about this?" asked Alison. But Mary didn't want to talk. She was done with talking. If Clary wasn't going to listen her, she wasn't going to listen Clary.

"No", Mary said shortly and left.