Hearts are Blind (Severus Snape X OC)

The Morning After Surprise

"What is the last thing you remember?"

She didn't look at him. Partially, just because turning her head even slightly to the right made her head pound and her stomach start to back up into her throat. Then there was the little fact of how she woke up and her complete mortification about it. It was bad enough that she apparently made a fool of herself in front of everyone, but then her teacher had to take care of her like some drunken prom date (if prom even existed in their lives—which it didn't). To make matters worse, she'd vomited all over the floor; HIS floor, in his bedroom, but not before flailing in a dreaming stupor and falling off of his bed. So, what did she remember last? How was she supposed to decipher that? There were many things she remembered and they were all "last things", but they could have happened at any point in the night. After a moment, however, one thing did stand out beyond the rest.

"Tristin..." She said quietly and knit her brow.

Snape tensed beside her. A new wave of irritation washed over him and he gripped the arm of the couch a little too tightly, but he held his tongue.

"Seeing Tristin leave..." she continued suddenly "...after talking to a girl with black hair."

The potions professor watched her face cautiously. She kept her eyes forward, staring at the wall above his bed. Her gaze was slightly unfocused, as she was undoubtedly trying to put the pieces of the night back together in her mind. He had the urge to say vile things about the boy she was probably thinking about, but the slight expression of sadness on her left him feeling defeated.

"So..." The girl glanced down at the steaming cup in her hands and sniffed. "So did he ever come back?"

On second thought, maybe he didn't care.

"No, he didn't come back at all." Snape said a little meaner than he needed to. "Nor did he seem to give a damn that he was feeding you poison. He probably left because nothing and no one is more important to him than his own—"

He stopped, because Lucinda had raised her right hand between them. He would have been mad, but he saw her fingers shaking and her eyes had been squeezed shut.

"I know you hate him." Lucinda said with some difficulty (it seemed that even talking was having an effect on her throbbing headache). "But please don't voice it right now." She lowered her hand and replaced it on the cup in her lap.

"Fine, I won't." He snapped. Then he added, "Drink the potion already. You'll feel a lot better."

The girl looked down at the potion. It didn't smell very good. She was afraid that, even though she might feel better afterwards, she wouldn't be able to keep it down long enough to let it start working. That's all she needed: another vomit session in front of him.

"I'm afraid I'll get sick..." she whispered, feeling her cheeks flush.

"It doesn't matter. Drink it."

He was starting to get pretty annoyed... Well, more than usual while in her presence. If she would just listen to him, she'd feel better instantly and then maybe she'd stop shaking and shivering and putting a hand to her forehead every few minutes. But maybe he was just in a bad mood, because the girl's concern was obviously surrounding Samael Scum.

Snape heard a slight clearing of the throat and turned his attention on the girl again, only to find that she had drunk the entire contents of the cup. She looked like she might be sick just for a second, but then her face relaxed. The color came back to her cheeks, her shaking subsided and she even let out a contented sigh.

"Wow, you were right." She said finally looking over at him. "I do feel better."

"You should." He sneered. "I added a cheering potion to it."