Hearts are Blind (Severus Snape X OC)

Notes of Ruin

There was a smoldering in the air—a tightness; a choking catastrophe; an eye-watering, nose-lifting, stomach-turning, foul stench and it was surrounding her. There was no escape from it. Her retnas burned. Her throat rejected each breath and fought to close her airways to fend off the unnatural aroma. Alas, it found its way to her tongue and along the rigid bumps of her taste buds. It steeled her senses, consuming every thought and every anxiety she'd held earlier. Now it was just this. Just the heat and the smoke and the vulgarity.

Tears sprung from her eyes unexpectedly, yet discreetly—as an after-thought. They streamed through the blood and the dirt on her face, leaving glistening trails of absurdity. Her chest shuddered with the sob that could not escape her before and now it burst forth violently.

"No!" She cried. "No!" She screamed, but her voice never reached her ears. Her vocal cords were frozen and useless.

No sight befell her blurry eyes and no sound reached her ears. All she could ascertain was the burning, rotting smell in the air. She thrashed her body wildly, as that was her last ditch effort to stop this. She had to stop this. Her wrist burned the longer this went on and she couldn't stand it anymore.

She had to stop this...

~

Lucinda fell to the floor in a tangle of her blankets. The dream (or in this case, the nightmare) pulled away from her instantly. Gasping and shaking, the memories from her nightly scene started to fade as quickly as she had woken. Lucinda braced a hand on the floor beneath her and brought her other to her forehead to wipe the sweat away. A few calming breaths later and she opened her eyes to a strip of moonlight falling over her pale arms.

It was not yet morning.

A quiet, held-breath later and she recognized the soft sighs and snores of the other girls in her room. They continued to sleep and Lucinda was glad she hadn't woken them. As for her, there was no use even bothering climbing back into bed to try and rest more. Her nightgown was soaked in sweat and her heart was still going about a mile a minute. No, regardless of the time, Lucinda was finished with sleep for this night. So, she picked herself up, deposited the wad of blankets back on her bed and then she headed for the showers.

A few minutes later she was comfortably sat in the common room (freshly cleaned and dressed), at one of the tables by the window. She'd brought her potions work downstairs with her and decided to work on it for the time being. Besides, she still hadn't finished her Everlasting Elixir. Honestly, she was absolutely furious with herself for not finishing it yet. She was the best in the class and most everyone had already written up their final essays. Granted, she didn't think they were trying to take on such a complex recipe as she was, but still... She hadn't fallen behind like this before; not in any of her subjects, but especially potions. It's like she didn't even know who she was anymore...

Snape had already given her a weeks extension on the project and if she didn't have it done in the next few days... well it would all be for nothing. She took a risk using the formula she did and it was too late to try and create a simpler one now. All at once, her ambitions had gotten the best of her. She bit off more than she could chew, which normally didn't happen. No matter the size of the bite of life she took, she always chewed and swallowed it down with a burning excellence. She had always been that way. If there was even an ounce of determination in her blood, she found a way to finish what she started, no matter the sacrifice—

Lucinda sat up straighter in her chair, eyes finding no particular spot on the wall as they glazed over in sudden thought. "Oh." She said to the empty room. Well, that was it, wasn't it? Why hadn't she thought of it before?