Loved By You. (A Severus Snape Love Story)

Chapter Thirty-Three: Caught in the Act

With a knock on the door, it opened instantly as Severus was eagerly awaiting my arrival. We had a lesson to plan for the first years that were coming in next period, that we had completely forgotten about. To be completely honest I had almost forgotten about all of my apprenticeship classes with everything going on. Recently I had just been sitting at the back of the class and watching the kids while Severus did his thing. Really, there was no point in me being there at all, but I just assumed that Severus liked to have me around for support.
"I think we should do something different today Severus. I feel so useless, I never do anything anymore."
"Fine. You do what you want. You teach them today and I'll get some marking done." He growled, as he sat behind his desk, not even meeting my eyes.
"Okay great." I grinned. "What do you want me to do?" I bounced over to him, perching on the edge of his desk, facing him.
"I don't know Aria, you're the one who wanted to teach them, make a decision." He sighed, still not looking up from his work. I acknowledged his bad mood but I didn't want to let him ruin my pleasant one.
"I'm thinking a quiz." I wondered aloud, letting my feet sway as they dangled from the desk.
"You mean a test." He replied bluntly.
"No, not a test, a quiz." I corrected.
"What's the difference." Snape retorted with a slight roll of his eyes.
"Tests are boring, quizzes are fun." I informed him. "We'll put them in teams and they can work together to get the answers. They can learn the value of teamwork and -"
"I don't care what you do, they're first year it hardly matters, just get on with what ever you're going to do." He snarled, cutting me off mid sentence. "God why can't this day just be over." He whispered to himself. And that was the end of my good mood.
"Right that's enough." I snapped. "What the hell is the matter, Snape? Why are you being so short with me? What's wrong?"
He buried his head in his hands before running his finger through his hair, realising himself that he is being particularly moody with me.
"It's just everything." He exhaled. "Umbridge, Dumbledore, Us." Snape expressed
"What do you mean us?" I questioned. "I... I thought we were good. After last night I assumed that we were better than ever. I don't understand."
"It's not that." Severus said, shaking his head, finally looking at me as he rose from his desk. "We are good, we're perfect but it's just what you said. You want to start again, take things slow, I 'm not even allowed to kiss you." Snape took my face in his hands, his body closer to mine than ever. "Aria, I don't want to start again, we worked so hard to get to where we are. I want to be able to touch you, I want to be able to kiss you, I want to have you show up at my door every five minutes and I want you to want to be with constantly, like you used to, even if I am a moody bastard more than half the time. My life is so full of darkness, I need you there to bring the light." Slowly I covered his hand with my own, pressing my lips into his cheek, leaving a ruby stain that I quickly rubbed away with my thumb.
"I'll always be here Severus, it's not like I'm going anywhere. We went so fast in the beginning, I just need sometime to catch up. I like it when we just talk, I like getting to know you. Can't it just stay that way for a little while?"
Snape never replied. He simply moved away from me in silence. Although he didn't seem happy, he wasn't as frustrated as before.
"You better get started on your quiz the students will be here soon." Snape suggested, and I did as I was told.

After class I decided to take a stroll around the courtyard, to get some fresh air before starting my homework. I was completely minding my own business when I was bombarded by one of the many Weasley's, although I must admit my favourite, George.
"Aria." He shouted, catching my attention before running up to me. "Who's taking you to the Christmas ball?" He asked completely out of the blue. He seemed breathless and excited yet slightly nervous.
"No one." I shrugged as I came to terms with his sudden appearance. "I guess I'd never even really thought about bringing a date, is everyone else going with someone?" I asked, worried that I will be the only one of my friends going solo.
"Of course. Fred's taking Angela, Ron's working up the courage to ask Hermione since he missed his chance last year, and we're trying to convince Harry to ask Ginny so it works out for everyone."
"And you? Who are you taking?" I wondered, assuming it would be Katie bell or someone like that.
"You." He nodded in my direction, just in case I didn't quite get it. A crazy smile spread across his face.
"What." I laughed, genuinely amused.
"Well, I mean; Will you go to the ball with me?" He smirked cheekily, bowing down and pretending to make a scene.
"I suppose so." I shrugged sarcastically, rolling my eyes as I forced him to stand up right again. "But just as friends." I added, making sure he understood that nothing was going to happen between us.
"Sure." He agreed, although he didn't seem to be entirely committed to it.
George left as quick as he came but I was glad. There was only one man I wanted to see right now and he certainly wasn't one of the Weasley boys. I was grateful George had been thoughtful enough to ask me to the ball, but I quickly began to realise there was only one person I truly wanted to take me, even though I knew it could never happen.
In an instant I ran from the courtyard all the way down to the dungeons of Hogwarts, banging on Severus' door waiting for him to open it.
He appeared in the door frame looking annoyed and confused at the sudden racket echoing into his office. I burst into the room, kicking the door closed behind me. I grabbed Severus' face in my hands and immediately stuck my tongue down his throat. My hands travelled up and into his hair, running my fingers through his obsidian locks, while his rested on my waist, pulling my hips closer to his body.
"Fuck going slow." I gasped, in between breaths. Severus let out a low chuckle as lifted me onto his desk, continuing to kiss me as he did so.
The moment had become heated and passionate so quickly that neither of us could keep up. Without warning my hands flew towards Severus' belt buckle and began undoing it, and almost simultaneously Snape began to unbutton my shirt. Unsurprisingly my task was completed faster than Severus' and so I moved on, now beginning to take off Severus shirt.
Just as he got to the last button our moment of passion was interrupted by a hollow knock on the door.
"Fuck." I said in a panic as I began to do up the buttons of my shirt, while Severus simply let out an animalistic groan. Just as he made a move to do up his trousers the door was pushed open, revealing none other than Harry Potter.
For a minute the whole room froze. Harry looked at us blankly, he seemed to be embarrassed by the sight before him, although he didn't look in the least bit surprised. Snape's face had turned from a sallow white to an enraged red, he was furious. I, on the other hand, didn't know how to respond, I was shocked, angry and embarrassed but mostly I just wanted to be sick.
Once the initial moment passed, things sped up pretty fast. Snape flew at Harry, wand in hand, backing him into the wall. Harry retreated from Snape although he too had his wand out, and it was pointed in the direction of Snape's bare chest.
I screamed at Snape to stop, knowing how unpredictable he was, and when he didn't listen I simply pulled out my own wand, disarming the professor.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing here Potter." Snape spat, his hand out-stretched about to reach for Harry's throat.
"Severus Stop!" I repeated, gingerly getting closer to the situation.
"Aria, give me my wand." He demanded, retracting his hand but not backing down.
"No." I yelled. "Leave him alone."
"I'm not going to hurt him." Severus assured, but I wasn't convinced. "We all know what he saw, he needs to be obliviated. He can't leave this room knowing what he knows. NOW GIVE ME MY WAND!"
"Severus, you're scaring me. Leave him alone. He won't say anything, I swear. If we just explain to him- " I cried, not knowing how to continue.
"We don't need to explain anything to him. He's the one who should be explaining why he thought it was a good idea to come barging in here." Snape shouted, turning to face Harry waiting for a response. When Harry finally did speak he wasn't scared like I though he would be, he knew he had the upper hand.
"I saw the two of you, on the map." Harry explained, pulling out the marauders map I had heard him mention once or twice.
"What do you mean you saw us." I questioned.
"I can see where everyone is in Hogwarts whenever I want to." He started, only talking to me, no longer acknowledging Severus. "We all knew you spent a lot of time with Snape, no one thought anything of it, we just assumed you were down here making potions or planning lessons for your apprenticeship classes. But I'm not stupid. I saw the two of you in his chambers, almost every night and the following morning. I knew something wasn't right. I had to tell Ron and Hermione, they never believed your story about the boy in potions class anyway. It made sense. Hermione always said you'd explain in your own time but I was tired of being lied to. I had to know what was going on. You know that we don't trust Snape. I just wanted to make sure you were safe." He explained, a solemn look on his face, although his wand was still firmly pointing in Snape's direction.
"I can't believe you spied on me, Harry. You've crossed the line." I yelled. Tears grew in my eyes but they were born from rage, not sadness. I couldn't believe he had caught us on purpose. "You don't need to worry about me, I can handle myself. Now tell him you're not going to speak another word of this to anyone." I ordered, my voice shaking as I spoke.
"That's not good enough Aria, don't you understand. We can't trust him." Snape snarled.
"Yes, we can. He's my friend." I pleaded, hoping each of them will co-operate with me.
"He's a friend who just went behind your back to find out secrets about you, he invaded your privacy, how can you possibly still trust him?" Severus hissed, attempting to make me turn on Harry.
"Because although what he did was wrong, and believe me I'm just as angry as you are right now Severus. He was trying to protect me, he cares about me, he was looking out for me and that's all the explanation I need from him. You can't really blame him given the situation."
Severus was no longer listening to my persuasion and I could see the emotion building up inside him. He was through with being patient.
"I fucking knew that something like this was going to happen. I knew I should have listened to my better judgement and stopped this from happening. This is going to ruin my life. But what would either of you know about the consequences, you don't care, you're just children." He spat, more furious than ever. The was a dead silence in response to Severus' comment, until I worked up the courage to challenge his words.
"What did you just say?" I whispered, although you could still here the venom in my tone. "Well go on, tell me. Say it again" I yelled, once he failed to answer.
"Say what again? That your just a child. I knew from the beginning this would never work. I'm not risking my job for this, I'm not going to spend the rest of my days locked in Azkaban for you. It's different for you, if anyone finds out about us you'll be the victim in the whole situation, nothing will change for you, because all they see is a child." He spoke, every word out his mouth stinging like freshly cut wound.
I looked Snape dead in the eyes but never said a word, after a moment of silence I dropped Snape's wand to the floor, took Harry by the arm and left the room with a slam of the door.
As soon as we began to walk away from Snape's office I dropped Harry's arm, and started to walk off in a separate direction from him.
"Aria." He called on me. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what to say..." He spoke softly now that he had realised the damage he had caused.
"Nothing you can say will change what just happened." I shot back. "In fact, how about you do me a favour and don't say anything to me for a while. I don't want to see you." I demanded, walking away, leaving him standing in the middle of the dungeons.
I refused to let this situation isolate me from my friends so I caught up with Hermione the next day, although I made sure to meet her at a time when I knew she would be alone so I didn't have to see Harry, or even Ron for that matter. I didn't really want to tell her about me and Severus but I had to speak to someone, even if it was just a small conversation about school. I just hoped Harry wouldn't mention to anyone what he saw. I didn't need another reason for Severus to hate me.