Hearts are Blind (Severus Snape X OC)

The Barrier Breaks

"Lucy... What's going on here?"

Aurora was looking back and forth between the two of them. Lucinda couldn't see how Severus looked, because she refused to turn her gaze that way. Honestly, she hoped he wasn't looking in their direction either, because Aurora was glaring at him with such a fierceness that she was sure he'd see right through her; he'd know that she'd told her... everything. Thankfully, nothing had really happened. He'd grabbed her in anger, but nothing more. Covered her mouth, but nothing more. Breathed against his hand that clothed her lips and nothing more... She pretended it meant nothing. He was like this with everyone... but he wasn't. That would be nuts.

"Are you okay?"

Lucinda looked back at her friend, who was now standing next to her, peering into her face. "I-I'm fine," she stammered. She composed herself and mentally shook her nerves out. "Sorry, I had a nightmare this morning and I... I guess I'm still a little shaken up." She looked over at the staff table, but Snape was looking off to the side of the room, his fingertips to his temple (a stance she'd seen on him many times while he was thinking). Lucinda sat down at Gryffindor table and her friend followed.

"A nightmare?" Aurora repeated, eyes not leaving her friend as she, too, sat down. "Why didn't you wake me?"

"I'm sorry, Rorie," Lucinda said quietly (a little uncomfortably). "I didn't want to bother you. It was really early."

"So you woke him instead?" She asked bitterly, jerking her head in the direction of the man.

"No," Lucinda said just as bitterly, but out of annoyance for her friend rather than her anger toward said professor. "He was already here. We talked and he somehow got me breakfast before it was time for it..." She trailed off and stared ahead, thinking, once again, about the kindness and compassion he'd shown her, despite the unstable end to their morning...

Aurora fidgeted, looking up at the front of the hall. "Well..." she said with agitation. "Why is he quiet now? What, just because I'm here, he can't speak to you anymore? If nothing is going on that shouldn't be, then he has nothing to hide—"

"Rorie, stop it!" Lucinda hissed and looked at her professor out of the corner of her eye. "You said you wouldn't say anything... He doesn't know I told you about... about everything. He'll never speak to me again."

"So?"

"Rorie, please."

The white-haired girl watched her friend's face. Then she smirked. She was only having fun. It wasn't like she'd actually say anything or tell anyone anything. After all, like they agreed last night, there was nothing to tell because there was nothing there. Aurora turned her eyes of golden fire back on their potions master. He was staring off, looking bored, absolutely careless. Was all of this some kind of stepping stone in his life or what?

"Hey professor!" She suddenly called across the hall and Lucinda jumped at the outburst. "Look, Lucy's here! Isn't that great that she's still going to school here? I thought she was a goner, for sure—!"

"Rori-e-e-e," Lucinda whined. "Please, I am begging you. Stop this."

"I am not doing anything I said I wouldn't," the pretty blonde whispered and winked at her. "I'm only having a bit of fun now that I've got some dirt on him."

Lucinda groaned and hoped Snape would ignore the things she was yelling.

"Yes," she whispered back. "But you will never use the dirt on him so what's the p—"

"It is absolutely a treasure that she is still here, Miss Borealis."

The two girls stopped their whispering and turned to look at the man who had spoken. Snape now looked at them from across the hall and his eyes flashed in the light of the torches. "After all," he continued in a normal voice, but it carried perfectly across the room and into their ears. "I don't know how you would survive even a single day more without her in Potions. I was already tempted to fail you in your next exam. Perhaps Miss Morgan can whisper little instructions to you and I'll look the other way..."