Amethyst Graystone was a force to be reckoned with at Hogwarts. As the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, she was brilliant, confident, and adored by her students-a perfect fit for a role many before her had failed to master. But behind her composed exterior was a history she had worked hard to bury.
Once, long ago, she had been hopelessly in love with Severus Snape, the brooding and enigmatic Potions Master. It was a love that burned brightly but never sparked in return. Eventually, she let it go, focusing instead on carving out a life for herself in the very place he had dominated for years. She had claimed his dream job, and that fact only deepened the animosity between them.
Their exchanges were curt and filled with unspoken tension. Severus resented her presence, seeing it as a threat to the order he had carefully built around himself. Amethyst, though outwardly indifferent, couldn't entirely ignore the sting of his constant disdain-some wounds had never fully healed.
But everything shifted one quiet evening when an unexpected message arrived. She had withdrawn from sight for days, and Severus, to her utter surprise, was concerned. The man who seemed to loathe her existence now needed to know if she was alright.
What began as hostility was about to unravel into something far more complicated.