Another Kind Of Magic - A Severus Snape Fanfiction

Rage

Happy New Year! :)

Professor Snape frowned as he stood in front of the mirror. His hand brushed carefully over the mark Ms. Flower's inept magic had left on his bare chest. It was barely visible, only a faint layer of translucent sparkles covered the spot where his heart gently pounded against his ribcage, and yet, it bothered him tremendously. He wanted it gone. He had already tried to treat it with numerous anti-potions, but it had resisted all attempts at being removed, as if it were tattooed on to his skin, as if he were branded.

"Foolish girl," he hissed angrily, rubbing his chest with the palm of his hand, hoping that this would do the trick. Instead, it only seemed to make matters worse, since the mark began to glitter more intensely under his touch.

With an irritated grunt, he removed his hand, and instantly, his black eyes widened in shock at what he saw. He leaned closer to his reflection, his gaze focused on the blemished skin. Was he imagining this? The Potions Master squinted and then blinked. No, it was still there. Without a doubt, the tiny sparks were spelling out a word.

His index finger cautiously traced the faint outlines of each and every letter, before his quiet voice slowly read them aloud.

"Lena."

It was her name. The name of his most irritating, most incompetent student. The name of the girl who had tricked him into thinking that she indeed was interested in him, the girl who had deceived him so cruelly, leading him on to make a fool out of him. And for what? A better grade? Vengeance? He thought back to the parchment he had received from her. She obviously had been upset about the supposedly harsh way he had been treating her, which was ludicrous in itself because he had just done what he was supposed to do. Teach. And most importantly, keep her at arm's length, for he had sensed that she was trouble, but never would he have thought that she would resort to exacting revenge. And in what way she had done it!

He had been convinced that she wanted to be kissed by him. He had seen it in her mind. Pictures of himself caressing her, holding her close, covering her lips with his. Those images had done something to him; bewitched him, held his mind captive; he hadn't been able to shake them off. Just like that, her daydreams had also become his. So it hadn't taken much to make him snap. A chaste little kiss on the cheek had been enough to blow his fuses, and he had simply taken what he wanted, had finally claimed those soft lips that had been teasing him.

It had felt so right to have her in his arms, almost as if she belonged there. But, Merlin, had it been wrong.

Lead on by a student. How long had he been doing that job? Well, long enough that he shouldn't have fallen for a trick like that. Not that anyone had ever attempted something similar before, but he still should have known better or at least expected it. Students usually came up with the most outrageous ideas, and this wasn't any different, it wasn't an exception. Obviously. He should get over it.

But he couldn't. Not with her name inscribed on the skin right above his heart. Not with her image burned into his mind. Not with the suffocating feeling of being horribly betrayed. Not with this overwhelming desire to hold her again. And especially not with the memory of her shy, sweet voice confessing to him three words he had never heard from anyone before. I love you.

Rage pulsed through his veins, shutting down any other feeling. He grabbed the closest item within reach, which happened to be one of the larger potions bottles he had procured to erase her mark, and with impossible force he flung it straight into the mirror, which noisily burst into thousands of tiny little fragments.

His blood was boiling, and he knew he needed to do something about it, if he didn't want to wreak any more havoc in his living quarters.

He hadn't felt this kind of loss of control over himself in a very long time, and back then he had sworn to himself that he would never let it happen again. Yet, here he was, destroying his posessions.

Desperate for some sort of distraction from the horrible turmoil raging inside of him, he stepped out of the bathroom and gathered his clothes. He needed to get out, even if it was just for a little while, but the fresh air of a clear winter's night would surely soothe his senses.

He was just closing the last button of his frock coat when he heard it.

A persistent scratching and rattling at the door.

Warily, he retrieved his wand and aimed it directly at the door, or rather the source of the noise that was behind it.

Probably Peeves. Or a student. Severus narrowed his eyes at that thought. That student had picked a very unfortunate time to play pranks on him. Not that any other point in time would have been better, but now the Potions Master had found a very welcome outlet for his destructive anger. May Merlin have mercy on that poor soul.

Severus muttered a spell and the door flew open. To his utter surprise, it wasn't a student who stumbled into his living room, but rather a huge black cat.

He recognized it immediately, only adding to his fury. Had she sent it? Why? To mock him?

"Get lost!" he yelled at the creature, but it wouldn't obey. Instead, it caught the end of his frock coat with its sharp fangs and gently began to pull.

"What are you doing?" he complained loudly as the panther tried to drag him out into the corridor. "Have you gone insane?" Of course, he knew the animal didn't understand a word he was saying, but it felt good to direct at least some of his frustration towards Ms. Flower's familiar. "Let go already!"

The more he resisted and attempted to get rid of the panther, the harder it tried to force him out of his chambers.

This was ridiculous! Had everyone gone mad, including that oversized cat?

And then it struck him. A very unpleasant sense of sinister foreboding washed over Severus. Had something happened? The animal wanted him to follow, didn't it?

Hastily, he threw on his cloak.

The panther gracefully darted into the corridor, Professor Snape rushing behind it with flying robes.