Heredity vs. Solidarity (S. Snape)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Darkness settled Sunday evening, and Severus sat by Selena’s side, not speaking a word, and not bothering to even attempt a conversation. He picked irritably at the hem of his robes, well aware that Selena’s eyes watched him carefully, her own stare rather puzzled.

Regardless of the fact that she was lying in a hospital bed, Severus found her beautiful, one single part of the whole equation that he simply couldn’t ignore. He avoided her eyes, knowing that one look into them, and he would crumble beneath his self-restraint.

He was sitting here for a reason – had been all day – and he wasn’t about to forget about it now; her protection was far more important than the simplicity of his presence.

“You haven’t spoken to me the entire time.”

For a few seconds, Severus ignored her. Her voice had been soft yet reproving, merely stating a point that she hadn’t missed his lack of speech. Of course, he wasn’t stupid. He knew eventually she would say something, he just didn’t realize how much it would hurt him as the words left her lips.

“It’s a tender silence,” Severus replied, voice monotonous, and eyes settling across the room onto the door that belonged to Madam Pomfrey’s chambers. Selena frowned, and almost hesitantly, touched his hand.

“It’s not tender when you haven’t said a thing since yesterday,” Selena whispered. “What’s wrong, Severus? I don’t like when you are so quiet.”

“It’s nothing,” he said quietly, but Selena knew better. Severus pried his hand out from underneath hers, and stood slowly. Selena felt a cold distance between them that made her shudder involuntarily, and as he paced gently before her, she knew his mind was reeling.

“I would like to ask that you don’t set foot in our dungeons again, the exception being during class,” he requested calmly, finally finding his voice, yet still avoiding her eyes.

“I don’t under –“

“And that you try to keep our friendship discrete,” he continued. “It seems that we are gaining some unwanted attention from the likes of people who I would rather you not associate with.”

Selena flared up at once.

“You can’t tell me what I can and cannot –“

“I am protecting you, Selena,” he interjected sternly, black eyes finally meeting hers as his body ceased moving. The orbs were not the calm ones that for the past couple of days she was so used to seeing, but they were the dark, and impassable ones that she originally feared from the very beginning.

“Preventing me from doing things is not protecting me,” Selena said angrily. “I can and will do whatever I wish – regardless of what you say!”

“You will get hurt!” he insisted. “Don’t you understand!?”

He moved a step forward and cupped her face within his hands, a concerned crease forming between his slender brows. He was at a loss. He only wished she could understand – that he could tell her the very reasons why, but in doing so would merely be pushing her away.

Selena eyed him disdainfully for several long seconds, but like usual, her anger slowly melted away, and she sighed in defeat.

“You want to keep me away from you?” she whispered. “You no longer want me around you?”

“Only in public,” he agreed softly, sensing the troubled note in her voice. “The library is fine. The Slytherins won’t even think about…” he trailed off, quickly realizing his mistake.

“The Slytherins?” Selena repeated. “So, they are who you don’t want me to be around? What have they been saying? What have they said that has you so worried?”