Yours truly | Severus Snape - Sequel to Sincerely yours

Not now, not ever

Mary was sitting comfortably on the bench, her mind wrapped into the book she was holding in her hands. She assumed that as she was sitting there, enjoying the book, the festivities upstairs were currently at their highest peak. She could imagine Dumbledore giving a brief, hilarious speech before announcing the feast to begin, delicious food appearing on the four long tables where the students were eating, and on the one where the teachers were seated.

And Severus amongst them.

Trying her best, Mary tried to ignore the picture of Severus sitting by the High Table, eyeing the spot in the Slytherin table were she, Clary and Alison usually sat. Perhaps even noticing that Mary was gone.

Had he noticed that Mary wasn't there?

No. Stop those thoughts immediately.

She turned her mind back to the students. The Weasley students were with no doubt sitting with their best friend, Lee Jordan, and making funny faces and joking about how Snape was in his element during the Hallowe'en.

Fuck. Him again.

Clary and Alison, then.

Clary and Alison were probably sitting by the table in their usual spot, enjoying the food and the decorations. What would they be talking about? Maybe how beautiful the decorations were?

No. That wasn't like them.

Alison would be probably urging Clary to make peace with Mary and forget the deal between her and Severus.

"Go away, Severus", Mary muttered.

To Mary's surprise, someone responded.

"No, I won't", he said. It was a voice of a man. A low, velvety voice. It was Severus' voice.

Quickly, Mary turned her head to face the dark-haired man, seeing him standing at end of the staircase, out of breath, with a mixture of fear and worry in his eyes.

"Thank god, you're alright", he sighed, the hard look in his deep onyx eyes melting into a relieved one. Mary jumped up as she saw the man starting to approach her with swift footsteps, causing Mary's mind to twirl with confusion. Without a warning, Severus wrapped his arms around Mary, pulling her into a tight hug.

"You're alright, you're alright", Severus reiterated quietly as he held Mary in his arms. Mary, who had no idea what was going on, tried to push her body away from Severus.

"No", Severus muttered and tightened his hold on Mary. "I'm not letting you go, ever again. Not now, not ever."

Mary could only blink in complete bewilderment. The last time she had seen Severus was a couple of hours ago in the Potions lesson, and there he had been acting as if he didn't know who Mary was. Acting in a way in which he had been acting ever since he had made the deal with Clary. So why was he acting differently now? What had changed?

"Um, Severus", Mary started, but was cut off by a loud groan and a thump. This caused both Mary and Severus to jump and turn to face the staircase, preparing to protect themselves. Seeing that there wasn't an immediate danger, Mary turned her green eyes to Severs.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I'm not absolutely certain", Severus started, still keeping his eyes locked to the end of the staircase, "but I believe that was a troll."

"WHAT?"

Severus' eyes glittered with slight amusement as he explained that during the feast Professor Quirrell had announced that there was a troll on the loose in the castle.

Mary stared at Severus in shock, thinking about the possibility of being cornered by a troll all alone whilst the rest of the school was enjoying the feast.

"I have to go and see what that sound was", Severus murmured, placing his hand reassuringly on Mary's cheek. "You go and wait in my room. You'll be safe there."

Mary nodded, a storm of fear and worry rising inside her body.

"Just be careful", she whispered, looking deep into Severus' eyes. Severus' eyes softened as he gave Mary a warm smile.

"I will", said and placed his lips softly on Mary's before turning around and running up the stairs, leaving Mary alone in the dark corridor.

After Severus had disappeared from sight, Mary carefully opened the door leading to Severus' personal chambers, a scent of dried herbs and old books rushing to her nose. Hesitantly, Mary stepped inside the room and closed the door behind her.

Mary had been inside Severus' personal chambers two times before. Once, when Severus had told her that they couldn't be together, even if both of them had feelings for each other. The second time had been a shorter visit. Severus had found Mary reading in her spot and suggested that Mary should keep some of her books in a bookshelf inside his personal chambers.

Unsure of what she should do, Mary grabbed one of her books from the shelf and sat down on the red sofa next to the bookshelf. She flipped through the pages until she found the spot in which she had gotten the last time she had been reading the book. And it had been a while. After Clary had discovered the relationship between Mary and Severus, she hadn't been able to access the books she had put in Severus' shelf.

After reading for about a half an hour, Severus opened the door and entered the room, searching for Mary's face. Noticing Mary sitting on the sofa and reading a book, his eyes softened.

"Good, you're still here", he sighed and leaned on the bookshelf. Mary nodded in acknowledgement, still unsure of how she should behave around Severus.

"What happened to the troll?" she decided to ask, trying to avoid an awkward silence between them. Severus sighed again, this time an annoyed edge within his voice.

"It's gone", he started and sat on the sofa next to Mary. The feeling of him being so close to Mary, speaking to her like they used to do before the whole Clary-incident, sent shivers down Mary's back. She wanted this to last. But she didn't want to get too hopeful.

"That Potter-boy and two other Gryffindors had been stupid enough to think that they could defeat a full-grown mountain troll. Somehow, they had indeed managed to stun it", Severus explained, rubbing his face with the palm of his hand, trying to wipe away the annoyance.

Mary stared at Severus in shock. Three first year students had gone after the troll?

"They could've been killed!" Mary gasped, picturing the scenery of three young kids lying dead on the floor, beaten to death. The thought made her feel sick.

"That's what Minerva said", Severus remarked and turned his dark eyes to Mary.

For a moment they just stared at each other, lost of words. They hadn't been alone with each other in many weeks.

After sitting in silence for a while, Severus drew a deep breath and took Mary's hands in his.

"Mary", he started, the look in his eyes turning into a serious one.