Double Dare

During dinner I sat by myself at the end of the Ravenclaw table. Celeste, Jade and Ruby were sat at the Hogwarts table, and Draco was sat with a huge scowl on his face at the Slytherin table. I chased a potato round my plate, passing time. Suddenly someone sat opposite me; it was Tempest. She smiled.

"Hello Lenore. Why are you on your own?"

I shurgged; "suddenly my friends are too good too good to hang out with me"

"Surely not! What about Draco?"

"Boy problems, time of the month, y'know"

She giggled; "well, Ill keep you company"

I managed a smile; "thank you"

"So what are you doing after dinner?" she asked; reaching for the ice-cream.

"I've got detention with Snape"

"Ahh, have fun"

"Uhm...I will"

I dropped my fork and pushed my nearly empty plate away from me; before grabbing a bowl and helping myself to some ice-cream.

"So, uh, what's going on with Draco?"

She shrugged; "I'm not sure. Please don't repeat any of this to Draco... Over Christmas he sent me letters saying he was sorry, and I didn't really believe him. Then he explained what happened with you and Snape, and told me we were similar somehow, and then today was begging for another chance"

I looked at her, astounded; "really? But, Draco's so proud! He actually begged?"

"Near enough. I mean, he didn't get on his hands and knees, but, I lost count of how many times he said please..."

"This is so out of character, did you poison him?"

"I know what you mean. I don't get it, I'm half-blood, he knows that!"

"...You've done something to him. Well, not you, but like, your presence or something"

She laughed; "me? You're kidding right?"

"Nah, if what you say is true, Draco's...In love with you"

Her eyes widened; "well, that's a bombshell I wasn't prepared for"

"Don't tell Draco I meddled, but, go out with him. He really is a lovely person! He can be really cruel to people he doesn't like, but, maybe you can change that about him!"

She seemed to ponder it for a while.

"Oh, and don't suddenly go out with him, he'll know I've meddled, play it out"

She laughed; "ok... When's your detention?"

"Eight"

"It's ten to"

"Shit, thanks Tempest, I needed a talk"

She smiled and waved me off. I jogged down to the dungeons and through to Snapes office. He looked up at me and smirked.

"Someone's late"

I looked at the clock; "one minute!"

"I don't tolerate tardiness on any level!"

I rolled my eyes and sat next to him.

"So what're we doing?"

"I have a tonne of work to do, so, you just entertain yourself"

"Where did it come from?"

"...Idiotic students perhaps?"

I sighed; "so seriously, what can I do?"

"Honestly, nothing"

"Wow, an hour of more boredom!"

"I'm sorry, but if you wanted a fun boyfriend, I wasn't the best choice you could have made"

I sighed loudly, slid down my chair and folded my arms across my chest, scowling. Severus smirked and carried on with what he was doing. I sat in a sulk for a few minutes before getting up and pacing around his office. I looked at the door that led to his bedroom and looked back at him.

"I'm going to go read in your room"

He nodded, not even looking up. I went through to his room. The fire was burning, providing the only light in the room. I looked through his books before picking one out and sitting with it by the fire. I hadn't read very far when my eyelids began to feel heavy.

I woke up the next morning in my dorm bed, quite confused. I sighed and got ready for the days happenings. On the way to the Great Hall I saw Celeste, Neville and Seamus. They all glared at me as I walked past; I gave them an equally disgusted look. I slumped down at the Ravenclaw table and looked exasperatedly at all the food in front of me. Just then Draco slid up next to me.

"What's up?"

I shrugged and picked up a red and green apple, analysing them both.

"Sorry about yesterday, just, got a lot, well, going on"

"It's ok Draco, no need to apologise"

"Oh, uhm, ok then"

I sighed; "red or green apple?"

"Green, obviously"

I nodded and put the green apple back, taking a bite out of the red one.

"So really, what's up?"

"Everything's different, I don't like it"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Suddenly the girls are too high and mighty to even look at me. Suddenly they think they're Gryffindors and that makes them better than me. You're all angtsy, and Snape's suddenly really busy and can't take a break to accommodate me"

"Well, as soon as people associate themselves with Gryffindors they instantly become dicks. I'm NOT angsty, and Snape's a teacher! He's going to busy, he can't just drop everything for you"

"He used to be able to"

He shrugged and draped an arm over my shoulders.

"Come on, let's take a walk before classes"

I nodded and let him lead me out of the castle. We sat on a grassy verge in silence watching people walk around. Draco kept on looking at me intently, as if doing that would strike up conversation. It eventually did.

"What the fuck are you looking at?!"

He laughed; "sorry, it's just still sinking in"

"...What is?"

"Who you're married to!"

"Oh, go do one!"

He laughed again and punched my shoulder playfully; "I'm happy for you, you know I am, but you have to be able to acknowledge how bizarre this is!"

"Well, yeah, but so what?"

"Five months ago, we were just average kids having a laugh, now you're married! To a teacher! And not just any teacher, Snape!"

"I s'pose, ish. But really, so what? You'd be fine with it if it was someone else, it's just that it's him..."

"Well...YEAH! Don't get me wrong, I'm totally made up for you, but...Yeah..."

We got caught up in our conversation and didn't notice the grounds empty and the school quieten. We were still talking halfway through first lesson, which was when a member of staff came to find us. Luckily for us, it was Severus.

"WHAT, are you two doing out of lessons?!"

We looked around and cringed.

"Oops, sorry sir, we got really caught up" Draco said. He looked at us sceptically.

"Don't think that because of our...Status, you can not go to lesson"

I looked at him oddly; "why would I do that? I forgot to go to lesson! It's got nothing to do with you"

"Uh-huh?"

"Seriously Severus! You're so full of yourself! Not everything I do is about you. Draco and I came to chat before lessons, got caught up in our conversation, and forgot about lessons! Plausible no?"

"...No. And don't speak to me like that"

"Why? It's just us three, you're not my superior here"

"Don't push me"

"Look, we'll go to lessons! You can stop bitching at us!"

I grabbed Draco's arm and dragged him off with me, leaving Snape stood there quite dazed. Draco looked at me, quite astounded at what had just happened.

"I could seriously punch that man sometimes"

Draco sniggered; "trouble in paradise?"

I punched his arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"I can't punch him. I can however, punch you"

He sighed and rubbed his arm. We finally got into Herbology; Professor Sprout glared at us.

"Where have you two been?"

"Uh, hospital wing" Draco lied.

"Where's your note?"

"Uh, she didn't give us one"

"Right, where have you been?!"

"Snape needed us to do something for him"

"Stop lying Draco. We were sat outside and forgot we had lessons, ok?!" I snapped before taking my seat.

"Detention for the both of you. Eight pm."

"Fine"

I dumped my bag on the table and slumped down on it, sulking and watching everyone get back to their practical. Draco sat next to me and nudged me.

"What's wrong? You've suddenly gotten really temperamental"

I shrugged; "must be that I'm surrounded my dicks"

"But you were fine till Snape turned up"

"He knows how to get to me"

"Ok...I'll just leave it"

"Good plan"

He slipped over to Tempest and began helping her discretely. Seeing them mess about like a young couple in love made me smile, and there was no way I could hide it other than to bury my face in my bag. They kept on getting dirt on each other, at one point she wiped a bit on his face, and he laughed! So much for Tempest playing it cool. But their antics got me thinking about how boring Severus and I were now. Before we were married it was all fun, secret meetings and love letters. Now, as opposed to being a young newly-wed couple – which we were supposed to be – it felt like we were an old married couple who were starting to hate everything the other does. If we weren't at school our relationship would be brilliant, but this place is starting to ruin us, and quite quickly! We've not even been back for two whole days.