Hearts are Blind (Severus Snape X OC)

Adam & Confusion

"Oh, no!" cried Lucinda. "I've killed a teacher!" She looked around frantically, as if she'd find something to revive him within reach. "Blast..." she whispered when she found nothing. Lucinda didn't know if she could perform CPR if it came down to it. But would that even help on someone who's cracked their head open? She wondered miserably.

Then suddenly she felt his chest rising and falling beneath her and breathed a quiet sigh of relief—he was still alive. How would she have explained the death of a teacher to everyone?

"He's gonna be so pissed..." she said to herself, as she braced her hands against the floor on either side of her professor's head.

Snape, apparently out cold, made no movement. He lay there breathing deeply, as though asleep. Lucinda paused for a moment, unable to resist staring into the face that usually spat animosity at her. He wasn't yelling at her now, or throwing her vicious glares, or making snide comments to her... His face wasn't contorted into a sneer, as it usually was, and his brow wasn't furrowed in agitation. Actually, thought Lucinda. He doesn't look mean at all when he sleeps. He looks almost... normal. She stared at his pale face and the dark circles under his eyes... He obviously didn't get much sleep on a regular basis... or sun. Lucinda narrowed her eyes at him.

Why was he such an asshole?

Suddenly, Lucinda's arms gave a shudder of warning—they couldn't hold her weight any longer, as she'd been halfway to pushing herself off of him this entire time. The extreme dip in her blood sugar had weakened every muscle in her body and she was only just realizing it. Lucinda's elbows unlocked and her chest dropped the few inches back onto her professor's torso. The girl sucked in a breath and her eyes went wide as they raked over the man's face for any sign that the movement had woken him. She didn't dare even let that breath out. She held it tight in her lungs and her hands slipped against the floor from the sweat on her palms. A moment passed and nothing happened. Snape didn't move.

Slowly, Lucinda let the breath out and as she did so, she allowed her head to relax against his chest, her chin pressing down just below his collar. With even slower movements and her eyes still watching the man cautiously, she turned her head and let it rest flat against his chest. A few minutes passed and Lucinda never made the slightest movement. Snape's heart thumped rhythmically into her temple and she steadied her breathing in time with his.

With every beat from this man's heart, Lucinda felt something within her stir. Before this moment, she could separate her feelings from the fact that this guy was not just a bitter and resentful teacher, but that he was a human being. As silly as it was, she'd only just thought about the fact that he had a heartbeat; he was a living, breathing person who slept and ate and lived—had parents, a childhood, friends (well, maybe...) and ultimately, she knew absolutely nothing about him. Did he seem to be an asshole? Yes, there was no doubt about that, but wasn't she just as bad..?

Lucinda sighed and braced her hands against the floor, once more. She definitely needed to move. He could wake up at any moment. Someone else could walk in and find them in a hardly explained-away position... but she didn't want to risk falling again, so she paused. If her arms had been any indication, she might collapse if she were to stand up too fast. Then what if Snape woke up and found her knocked out on top of him? Well, actually... Lucinda's thoughts drifted. It might be better if he found me unconscious and on top of him, rather than awake and on top of him... This latest thought really convinced her to risk passing out on him. Alright, at least if I'm unconscious I can't get in trouble... she added as an afterthought.

For the third or fourth time, Lucinda pushed up on her palms, but—as had been the routine during this ordeal—something stopped her. At first, it was the sudden irregularity in Snape's pulse that froze her in her tracks. The thumps from his heart had quickened just in the slightest and she thought he might be waking up, but then something else entirely grabbed her attention. It was a smell; one that seemed to be radiating off of the man beneath her. It was something like cinnamon—something earthy but sweet; something pungeant, but pleasant. All at once, it wrapped around her mind, filled her senses and nestled itself under her skin, like a feeling that couldn't be shaken—like a pleasant feeling that couldn't be shaken. It was like instant comfort and it was terrifying. The overwhelming sensation was so out of the ordinary, that Lucinda couldn't help the sentence that broke through her lips...