Hearts are Blind (Severus Snape X OC)

Here Comes The Cliff

There's something I've forgotten...

The look on her face had given him a mixture of emotions. As ghastly as the situation was, he couldn't help the instinctive anger that flared up at the sight of her face. She had kissed him. She had no right to be appalled. And was it really such a bad thing? Sure, he was her teacher, but he should have been the one in shock, not her. To be fair, he was at first, but then it seemed to sink in. Especially after he realized it had, in fact, not been his imagination. You would think something like that would have the complete opposite effect on him. Yes, you would think that... As it was, he felt very calm. A little troubled, but calm; perhaps even pleased—very, very, deep down... Maybe not even that deep down...

"Severus, is everything alright?"

Snape turned to see a pair of blue eyes watching him tentatively. He blinked his own dark ones back at them.

"Just fine, Headmaster..." the potions professor replied after a moment of thinking silently. "My mind seems to be... wandering lately."

Albus looked at the man curiously from over his goblet. "Well, go on." The Headmaster said pleasantly and then took a sip from his cup.

Severus looked ahead of him at the tables of students stretched out below. It was the lunch hour and he instantly scanned the Gryffindor table for her face. He'd already seen where she sat at the beginning of the meal, but she had since moved spots, so he had to find her again. She'd gone from her usual spot next to the Borealis twins, to the opposite end of the table where the Aberdeen girl was. Then on her way back to her original seat, Xavier Michael had stopped her.

The boy had grabbed her sleeve with a quick hand and leaned toward her, saying something. Lucinda stopped, inclined her ear, trying to hear him better, no doubt. Then after a brief pause, she abruptly plopped down next to him, though she faced in the opposite direction, with her feet in the aisle. She rested her elbows behind her on the table top as she spoke to him. A few minutes passed without much movement on either of their parts and then the girl suddenly threw her head back in a howling laugh. Snape could even hear it from where he sat. Strangely, he didn't feel any jealously. Was he surprised by that now? Oh lord...

"Severus?" Albus spoke again.

Snape turned and looked at him, mentally shaking himself. "Uh, yes—I'm sorry, Headmaster." He cleared his throat and took a sip from his own goblet. "It's nothing of importance. I just... No, it's nothing. My mind has run away with me again."

Dumbledore arched a bushy eyebrow, but said nothing.

Snape moved his food around his plate, not paying much attention to what it even was, hardly seeing it at all. Minerva McGonagall was sitting on his right side, speaking to Hagrid. He only caught a few bits of their entire conversation; words like: "stroll" and "lucky" and "midnight". The rest was blocked out, as he continued to glance up at the Gryffindor Girl and the students she spoke with. Eventually his fist tightened around the fork in his hand as the inevitable happened. Tristin Samael was walking directly to her, just as she was making her way back to her table. Snape clenched his teeth down as Samael stopped the girl in the middle of the aisle and didn't let her pass. For one small moment Snape reached for his wand when the boy put his hands on her shoulders. He only stopped, because Lucinda instantly shrugged out of Samael's grasp. She said something to him; what it was, he didn't know, but it caused a few neighboring students to turn and look at them. Samael's lips moved in a reply and he reached for her again, but she tossed her hand in a dismissive gesture and then stormed right past him. Severus relaxed. She was pissed. Thank the gods.

"You know, Headmaster..." Snape said suddenly and casually pushed his plate away from him "...there is something I'd like to discuss with you."