Awkward

Chapter - 8 A Princess from a far away land

Time passed as it always does. All classes were going well except for History of Magic. Miss Hudson was worse than ever after professor Snape rejected her. She yelled and lost her temper at least five times a class on the count. For Seraphina, it was immature behaviour, but she tried hard to ignore it. Severus had similar thinking, but he couldn't blame Jane as Seraphina could. He had joined the Death Eaters to win back Lily's affection. He had no right to judge anyone especially after what he had done, so he did what he knew best--ignore Jane's hateful stares and keep as far from her as possible.

Nobody in the school knew about the proposal drama that had happened in the corridor between Batman and Miss Jane. Seraphina hadn't uttered a word to anyone about it. She didn't want her professors to be the hot topic for gossip. After all, love and choosing the correct life partner is a personal matter. She didn't want everyone discussing such a sensitive matter and passing judgement on Batman. So, she buried yet another person's secret in her heart.

A beautiful Sunday arrived yet again at Hogwarts. When the last sun-rays of the day kissed the heartland, students were on the school grounds talking, sitting and enjoying the dying sunlight. Severus had no time for idle sitting and chatting. He was already having a bad day. The homework students submitted was horrible except for a few students who actually cared enough to listen to him in the class, and far worse, Jane had almost thrown a tantrum in Albus' office that morning for no reason at all. One thing was clear, he was in a bad-no horrendous mood--unwelcoming enough that he would take away a lot of house points if any student even crossed his path right now.

He walked by the empty corridor of the huge castle when a raucous creaking interrupted him. He scanned the corridor for any student, but it was uninhabited, however, a big gate appeared in front of him where a bare wall had stood a few seconds ago. He knew what it was--the Room of Requirement. But it opened only when a person badly required something unavailable to them. So why did it open for him? He didn't need anything more than a strong fire whiskey right now. He opened the door silently to look inside and knew what the Room had for him. Expecting a goodly bottle of fire whiskey, he was taken aback by what he saw and especially what he heard. A girl was sitting on a high wooden stool, her back facing him. Her arms moved persistently. The room was filled with the enticing music of a contrabass and a pulchritudinous voice complementing it. A girl was singing in front of Severus in the Room of Requirement, and he liked it. The divine voice was mesmerizing. Severus felt bewitched by the voice. All he wanted to do was listen to her for eternity. Fire whiskey, Jane, anger, and the students slowly faded away from his mind. The girl was singing something he had never heard before, but it was the most beautiful music he had ever listen to in his life. Leaning against the wall, he listened to the girl singing.

The melodious tune ended; the mesmerizing voice wasn't falling on his ears anymore, but it didn't seem as if he even noticed it fade away. He was still bewitched by what his ears had just listened to. As the music faded away, he was soon back to his normal self, his bad mood dissolving away. Wanting to know who was the possessor of that beauteous voice, he clapped his hands softly in appreciation, wanting to grab her attention. The girl turned, facing him, a startled expression on her face at the sight of him. It was Seraphina. Her small face was scarlet as she jumped off the stool, straightening her clothes as she stood in front of him. One thing was clear to Severus; she hadn't been expecting anybody to be listening to her. They both stood like that for God-knows-how- long when Severus spoke. His deep, cavernous voice filled the room.

" That was beautiful, Miss Barclay, " complemented Severus.

" Thanks, Professor Snape," she replied, her head low with embarrassment.