Double Dare

Lessons continued as usual on Monday. I was sat in my usual seat at the front with Draco in Potions. I hadn't seen Snape since the Halloween dance. During the lesson he seemed to be avoiding me. I sighed and dropped my head on the desk. Draco smiled meekly.

"You okay?"

I looked up and sighed again; "...No"

He hugged me loosely before carrying on with his work. I looked up at Snape; he was entirely engrossed in his marking. I was one ahead of the rest of the class, so to set me level with them again Snape had me just read my notes. I looked over at Draco; he'd nearly finished his work.

"Hey Draco...When you hand that in, give him a note?"

"Sure...But has it really come to this?"

"...Yeah. Silent lesson, no opportunity for me to get near him, he's trying to avoid me! If I'm to help him this afternoon with his first years, how awkward is that going to be?"

Draco nodded; "okay"

I grabbed some parchment and began scribbling my note to Snape, asking why he was avoiding me. Draco finally finished his work. I slipped the note into his book before he took it up. I peered over my book to see Snapes reaction when he read my note. He sighed and looked up at me. I looked back down at my book, knowing he was writing a reply. A while later he came over. He dropped Draco's book in front of him.

"Look over your mistakes, maybe you could get Miss Page to teach you a thing or two in paying attention"

He went back to his desk. Draco opened his book, I snatched the note that was lying there and read it whilst Draco grumbled about his obvious mistakes.

"Lenore; I'm not avoiding you as much as just distancing myself from you. Surely you're aware of how inappropriate the other night was; if found out I could lose my job. It's not that I don't like you, quite the opposite. We just can't. My apologies"

I sighed and looked up. Snape wasn't at his desk; he was wandering around the class keeping everyone quiet.

"I swear sometimes he just hates me"

I looked at Draco; his work had a lot of scribbling, underlining and circling on it. I nodded.

"Did you just, do the wrong essay?"

He shrugged; "apparently"

I rolled my eyes; "you're an idiot, come here..."

I began scribbling notes down to help him. He reached over and took the note. He read it and tutted.

"Men, they're all the same"

I shrugged; "I'll live...You however, need to get this right!"

He looked at his work; "fine"

I quickly scribbled down another note and slipped it into Snapes pocket as he walked past. I watched him sit at his desk and read it. He looked up at me and shook his head. I sighed and nodded. I turned back to Draco. He was correcting his first lot of mistakes.

"Looks like I've got a free afternoon"

"Huh?"

"Snape's cancelled my afternoon session with him"

"Well he would he's a coward and can't face up to what he's done"

I rolled my eyes; "or, he's protecting the only constant in his life. If he loses his job what else has he got?"

"Well, he'd had your for certain, he could build a life with you...It'd probably be better than this anyway"

I shrugged; "he knows what he's doing"

"No he doesn't! And I don't get why you're defending him! You really must be in love with him"

"Fine! Do this work on your own!"

I turned away from him and spent the rest of the lesson staring at the wall. I went to go meet Celeste and Neville at lunch. They were sat in the courtyard snuggled up. I slumped down next to them and sighed.

"...Something wrong?"

"Meh"

They looked at each other, concerned. Celeste got up.

"Sorry Neville, girl stuff"

He nodded as she dragged me away.

"C'mon, spill, what's up?"

"Snape's distancing himself from me"

"...Why?"

"He could lose his job"

"...For what? Flirting with you?"

"Uh...I didn't exactly tell you everything about Halloween"

Her jaw dropped; "oh my God you did get off with him!"

"Yeah...And he said he needs to stay away from me or else...He won't be able to like, resist? And could possibly lose his job"

She nodded; "but...Dumbledore, he's very understanding. I think if he sees that Snape's in love, no matter what rules it breaks, he'd allow it..."

I shrugged; "why go through the hassle?"

She sighed; "I don't think you two should just, give up so easily..."

"Well...Whatever"

We went back over to Neville. He smiled sweetly at us and took Celeste's hand. I sighed as they sat all snuggled up and coupley.

"...I'm gonna go catch up on some homework" I said getting.

"Okay...We'll see you later then?" Celeste asked. I nodded and went to the common room. I sat by the fire writing up essays and reading notes. It didn't take long for me to finish, so I decided to go on a walk. I sat down by the lake watching the still waters, contemplating the situation with Snape. I decided to just leave it for a while. I went back up to the castle. I went to the library to find a book to read. I curled up in one of the oversized chairs and began reading. After a few hours it began filling up because lessons were over. Tempest came in. She noticed me and wandered over.

"Hello"

I smiled; "hey"

"What're you reading?"

I shrugged and showed her the front cover. She nodded.

"So, how're you?"

I shrugged; "pretty bummed out to tell you the truth. How're you coping?"

"I'm good...What're you down about?"

"...Everything"

"Is it Snape? I know you had something with him..."

I nodded reluctantly; "we went a bit too far...Now we need to, well, stay away from each other"

"That's awful...Are you sure there's no way of getting around it?"

I shook my head; "I doubt it"

"You could at least try?"

"I could, but...You know Snape. He's not exactly known for...Niceness, subtlety, whatever, y'know?"

She nodded; "well, if you love him you should..."

She got up and left. I hated it when she did that. I sighed and put my book down. I jumped up and went to go find Snape. I ran into Draco on the way.

"Hey I need to speak with you"

"Uh...Not now Draco"

"You going to Snape?"

"Uh...Yeah"

He sighed; "this is more important"

"Is it really?"

"Yeah! Come on!"

He dragged me in the opposite direction. I sighed and went with him.

"Right...What's so damn important?"

"I just came from the dungeons, walked past Snapes office...Dumbledore's talking to him about something important"

I shrugged; "Snape's pretty much Dumbledore's lackey! They do a lot of important business together"

"I don't think it was on that level of importance...You know how Dumbledore knows everything?"

"Yeah..."

"As in...Everything?"

I shrugged; "I highly doubt Dumbledore's going to involve himself in something as petty as a kiss"

"A kiss, no, a whole load of kisses and feelings? Maybe!"

"You're just involving yourself Draco"

"Yeah...Because right now you're too love-sick to see what's going on! Stay away from Snape for a while...Let the dust settle before you go bursting into his office telling him that if you're in love nothing else matters!"

I sighed; "fine"

"Shake on it!"

I shook his outstretched hand.

"Right...Now c'mon, let's have Snape-less fun"

"There's no fun without Snape" I sighed. He looked at me, not impressed by my response. I burst out laughing; "I'm kidding! I'm kidding, Jeez!"

He rolled his eyes and let me drag him off. We wandered around the castle chatting about anything but the bet. At dinner we sat together at the far end of the Slytherin table.

"So...What shall we do later?"

I shrugged; "we're really running out of things to do! It's boring here!"

"Tell me about it"

"I think, I've read all the books in the library...No corridor is unknown to me...You can dump me in the middle of the Dark Forest and I'll find my way back in less than fifteen minutes...We need to get out!"

He laughed; "all I can say is, 1, NERD! 2, naughty, some corridors are forbidden, and 3, yeah, I probably could too"

I laughed too; "I'm not a nerd! Some of us have moved up from Kippers ABC's!"

"Just what are you insinuating?"

"I'm insinuating; you're a fucking retard!"

"How dare you! Just, how dare you! I'm no retard!"

I laughed; "prove it!"

"Uh...I know long words"

"Like?"

"Uh...!"

"And what does it mean?"

"...How the hell should I know?"

"Want to hear a better word? It's much more fun to say"

"Come on then loser, hit me with your word of wonder!"

I laughed; "floccinaucinihilipilification!"

"...Wow that is fun! ...What does it mean?"

"The act of assessing something as worthless"

"Ahh...So, we do that all the time"

"Indeed, I bet you never knew it had such a fun name!"

He laughed; "I didn't! I guess you learn something new every day"

"That you do!"

"But, it still hasn't solved the problem of what we're supposed to do until Christmas"

"Yeah...Fuck..."

"For now...Let's just eat"

I nodded and carried on eating my dinner. I looked up at the staff table. Snape was sat, stabbing his food, looking more miserable than he usually did. Draco noticed me looking at him.

"Hey! Slag!"

I looked at him; "what?"

"Stop looking at him! You're only teasing yourself"

I sighed and looked at my plate. After we ate we decided to just go back to our rooms. The girls were still out with their new boyfriends so I was alone. I lay on my bed staring t the ceiling. Just then there was a taping at my window. There was a jet black owl there with a letter. I let it in, it dropped the letter on my lap and perched itself on my desk. I opened the letter and instantly recognised the writing.

"Lenore. I had a meeting with Dumbeldore earlier. He knows about what happened. As you may have guessed he does not approve of the situation, however, under certain circumstances there's nothing he can do about it. For now, don't worry yourself about it. I don't wish to distance myself from you but at the moment I must. But, at the right time I'll let you know where I stand. But also, for me to do that, I need to know where you stand. Please write me your response and give it to my owl. Thank you. Severus"

I smiled to myself; there's a chance I can be with him! I grabbed a piece of parchment and wrote down my feelings before giving it to the owl. It flew off. I flopped down on myself trying hard to not grin as much as I was.