Cobra's bite

10

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It was my 21st birthday today, so to celebrate that... here's a new chapter :).
***

Excitement was in the air. Yule ball. Suits, dresses, dancing, dates, trying to find dates. Marian sat on her seat at the teachers table and ate while looking around the Great hall once in a while. She saw Harry sitting on his seat at the Gryffindor table taking sips of his pumpkin juice. He then turned to look at the Ravenclaw table. Cho Chang. A pretty Ravenclaw girl who had caught his attention. Cho turned to look at Harry and gave him a small smile which made Harry smile back at her but at the same time spurted out the pumpkin juice that was in his mouth making the girls giggle.

Marian was pulled out of her thoughts when a deep voice spoke from beside her.

"Miss Weasley?"

"Yes professor Snape?" Marian turned to face him and gave the potions professor a small polite smile.

"I needed to ask if you could accompany me today when I teach the Slytherins dance. Extra help would be appreciated."

"Of course. What time is the best for you?" Marian nodded.

"In one hour. The empty classroom by the Slytherin common room."

"Very well. I will be joining you then."

Severus nodded slightly and both of them continued eating. Marian glanced back to her brother, Harry and Hermione.

~

"Miss Weasley will be assisting me today. Be... respectful. I don't want to see any eye rolling or huffing and puffing." Severus spoke when he and Marian stepped in the room full of Slytherin students.

"Yes Professor Snape." The students spoke in a crowd.

"I am aware that some of you already know how to dance. So we will make two smaller groups. The students who already know how to do basic ballroom dances such as waltz... go with Miss Weasley. The others stay with me."

Marian was relieved when she saw that the students who were with her already knew what they were doing. Good, because she really didn't know how to teach dance. She herself was just good enough and knew the steps in the waltz.

She immediately recognized Malfoy, Zabini, Parkinson and a few others from the group.

"Good. Very good. Just like that." She walked around the dancing students. "Mr. Flint. Hand is resting on the lady's waist and not any lower." She said sternly when she saw his hand far too low for his own good.

Marian truly was surprised how well everything is going. No snarky remarks or eye rolling. She even felt respected among the teens. She feared the exact opposite. But this was a nice surprise.

"Miss Weasley?" A fourth year Slytherin girl walked up to her. She spoke in a shushed voice and looked rather panicky.

"Yes dear? What is it, Miss Ellis?" Marian smiled softly.

"I... I think I started my period. Can I go and..."

"Oh. Yes, yes of course. You go on. Do you feel that you can join us after or do you need to rest?" Marian spoke in such a small voice that there was no way that anyone else would overhear the personal conversation.

"Can I go to my dorm and rest? It feels like my cramps are quite bad this month."

"Of course. That's completely okay. You go and rest. I will take care of everything."

"Hurry up!" The boy that the girl was dancing with called with annoyance in his voice.

Marian turned to look at him. "You're fourteen years old Mr. Owen, you can wait when we're having a conversation."