The heart of a Black (A Severus Snape love story)(Watty Awards 2012)

chapter 4

A/N: I know Snape is a bit out of character for the chapter, but it worked so please bear with me, he'll be his normal grumpy self in the next chapter. I promise! Now onto the chapter

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    Aria leaned back in her bed, it was late, but she couldn't sleep. It had been several hours since she got back from detention, but Professor Snape was still on her mind. Something had been different last night and she wasn't sure what it was. He had been nice to her, well as nice as he can be. They hadn't fought and their silence hadn't been awkward. In fact she might say it had almost been comfortable. She got up, pulled her robe on and went out of the Gryffindor common room as quietly as possible. She couldn't sleep so she figured she'd go for a walk. She knew how to get around Filch, the grounds keeper without getting caught. She wondered around aimlessly until she found herself on the third floor near a certain classroom. The door to the classroom was open so she peeked her head in. Nothing was the same in the dark, the room looked creepy, almost like death itself would reach out and grabbed her. At that moment, the precise moment a hand touch her shoulder. She let out a scream and jumped, covering her mouth as she turned to look at whoever touched her. 

   "Miss. Black" Professor Snape looked almost concerned as he watched her cover her heart as if he scared her half to death. She was almost as pale as the ghost that wonder the castle. "What are you doing here? Especially at this hour."

    "I don't know, I couldn't sleep so i decided to take a walk, it lead me here." Her eyes moved around as if she expected something to jump out at her. He had never seen her so jumpy. "I'm sorry, you scared me, and I'm just being childish, thinking there's something in the dark out to get me."

    "I've found that there's always something in the dark, Miss. Black" Professor Snape didn't mean to make her look more frightened, but he felt the need to tell her the truth, to tell her what he knows. "With this war going on, there is always the need to watch the shadows."

    "Professor?" Aria looked up at him. She frowned, he was starting to scare her a little bit. She swallowed.

    "I'm sorry" he spoke causing her to look up him with a different expression on her face. Surprise, no one had ever heard him apologize. They would be right, he had never felt the need to apologize to anyone, but for some reason the look on her face, the fear that he had instilled into her, made him want to. Made him feel the need to apologize. "Why don't you come into my office and I'll get you a cup of tea, Miss. Black."

    "That sounds nice, actually" Aria smiled as she followed him to his office. "and please if you insist on calling me, Miss. Black, can you do it only in class. My name is Aria, or Athena if you'd like, my mother used to call me Athena when i was a little, before she died"

    "Athena?" Professor Snape asked curiusity actually present in his voice. "Why Athena?"

    "It's my middle name" Aria sat down in the chair he motioned to her when they entered his office. She looked around. There was not much different about it then when the other teachers had this position. He hadn't changed it at all, he hadn't been one to personalize, that was one thing about him. He took a seat next to her as he summoned up two cups of tea. "I want you to know that this changes nothing."

    "What do you mean?" He had leaned in closer to her, to put some sugar in her tea. How he knew that, she was unsure, though he may have seen her do it in the great hall on occasion. She felt herself blush at the closeness of his face to hers. She hoped he didn't see it.

    "I mean, I still hate you" She leaned closer to him so she could reach for the cream the rested by him.

    "And I you" He replied as he leaned in closer. She could feel his breath on her lips, her eyes meeting his. She felt nervous all of a sudden, even more nervous then before, and scared. Not the kind of scared she was when he placed his hand on her shoulder in the dark, no this was a different kind of scared. One that could only be describe as when one has their first kiss, but she already had hers, or so she thought. Their lips finally met after what seemed like eternity. He grabbed her by the nap of the neck and pulled her closer to him, the kiss becoming rougher.

    She wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her into his lap. They both needed to stop, they both knew this, but neither wanted to. It was wrong for them to be like this, for them to kiss, especially when she was already in a relationship, but all her mind could think about was how wonderful he felt against her, how amazing his kiss was, and how much she wanted more. She ran her fingers through his hair, finding it much softer then she could have imagined. She felt his hands on her stomach, his hand was cold against her bare skin and she knew that she should stop this before she ended up bent over his desk.

    "Sir" She whispered pulling away from him. She touched his face softly before dropping her hand to her lap. She wanted to look away so she didn't see the disappointment he might have in his eyes. "we can't"

    "I know" He whispered back before looking at her as if it might be his last time he would see her. He hide the emotion ver well in his eyes, but it was slightly harder to in his voice. She hadn't been prepared to hear it. "This is wrong and I'm sorry if I am continuing to be inappropriate towards you"

    "No, its not that sir, I would love for this to happen, I mean... I would love to... well you know" Aria suddenly felt shy. She wasn't sure how to tell her teacher that she wanted to have sex with him. "But you're my teacher and no matter what I can't help thinking what my father might say, and about how much you hated him and why you take that hate out on me. I just can't I'm sorry, but so you know, I never hated you."

    With that she left the room with a few tears in her eyes. She realized suddenly that she didn't hate him, she had never hated him. It had taken her a long time to realize that she was actually in love with him. She had taken Neville as her boyfriend when he asked a year ago, because she wanted to believe she was in love with him, but she wasn't and she also knew that he wasn't in love with her. He was in love with Luna Lovegood and if she had any mercy at all for him, she would let him go. She would break up with him, so that she could sort out her feelings for a certain professor. She sighed as she climbed back into bed. Tomorrow as going to be a long day.