Horrible Day

Severus Snape was having a horrible day. Anyone who looked at Severus today would be shocked to find an extremely small suggestion of rouge lingering in his cheeks. Not only had he managed to rip his cloak on the way back from the lake, ("Don't Ask" he growled at anyone who asked.), he couldn't seem to get this potion right. An unusual experience for one so adept at potions as Severus Snape. It needed to be a color of pale green, and at this point it was darker and thicker than it should be.

"I can't believe its not working right," I grumbled to myself, sneering over the cauldron. Who would have thought that I, Severus Snape, was having trouble with a simple truth serum, It wasn't even something overly potent, just enough to be able to coax (rather than force) secrets out of a- a friend. I couldn't believe what she had done, even more that I had fallen for her clever ruse.

Should have hexed her while I had the chance, I mentally chastised myself. Now she's got me right how she wants me, all worked up so I can't even get A SIMPLE POTION RIGHT!.. At this my fellow classmates looked at me in suspicion. Damn, I yelled at myself again, I said that out loud. I will get this right. . Just three more stirs counterclockwise, pausing for two seconds, then two more clockwise then another pause before one last stir counterclockwise. Yes, there it was, that lovely pea green that I knew and loved. I slipped a flask over the edge of the cauldron as soon as the thickheaded professor turned his head. The man had no idea.

I had to get it to her somehow without provoking more of her mistrust. Therein lied the problem. I went through my typical list. Pastries, no, she hates sweets like that, especially coming from me. She sits at a different table so it'd be suspicious if I were over there anyway, much less bearing gifts of 'peace'. Maybe I can get that foolish Hickam boy to do it for me, he was dimwitted enough surely. But still, I don't trust the boy. He asks too many questions. How to get it past Adele's lush lips--And then it hit me, like an advantageous bludger to a seeker's fragile skull. The idea was amazingly brilliant while somehow horrifying because of the fact that I had anything to say about her lips. I have to do it, I told myself harshly, it's the only way to know for sure.

I knew where she would be after her last class. She was always sitting outside the library reading. She once told me that the common room felt too stuffy for her tastes and that she thought the librarian had some sort of personal grudge against her after she accidentally spilled some potion on her borrowed textbook. She really should have been a Slytherin if you asked me. She possessed the traits common to those of Slytherin, all except pure blood, which is why, I believe, she got shoved into Ravenclaw. And I was right. There she was, reading something incredibly thick. I didn't think her attention span was that long, I mused to myself as I approached. I had already slathered my unusually dry lips with the stupid balm I had concocted, allowing that annoying tingling to further distract me from the task at hand. Luckily I wasn't questioned by anyone on the way there. The balm wasn't strong enough to have me randomly spitting out my innermost secrets, but if questioned I would have told them the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

After the fiasco at the lake, I went happily, well as happily as I was capable, to the rest of my classes. "I am amazing" was my mantra for that day. Seeing the shocked expression on Severus' face as I walked away was enough to make my week, even if I did have to endure Divination while I could have easily been back down at the lake with my own devious purposes. After my last class I decided to go to the library, as I always did. The common room was too stuffy for reading; all the other Ravenclaws were extremely bland, what with studying being their entire lives and all. I couldn't go in the library itself either for more than a few minutes. Ms. Pince has some sort of grudge against me over a borrowed potions book. You'd think she'd forget something so small as a drop of blister balm on the cover, but apparently not.

"Divination is the most pointless class I have ever taken." I mumbled to no one in particular on my way through the corridors. I quickly ducked past an umbrella stand that was oh-so-obviously supposed to knock me on the head, ala Peeves. Finally I got to the library and managed to locate a copy of Death by Divination by Alfred Marcos. As thick as it was, it wasn't overly dull, being about how people have shocked themselves to death trying to predict their future and seeing horrible death omens. I sat outside and began to breeze through it. Then I saw Severus.

He was stalking towards me like an angry bat on a rampage. I stood up as he approached. Something about him was different. If I had looked closely enough I would have seen that slight blush still residing in his cheeks. "What are you doing here?" I asked. "Thought you'd still be standing at the lake." I quipped with a smile.

"I came for you." He spoke harshly, as if it hurt him to say it.

"What?" I barely had time to get that out when he grabbed me firmly about the shoulders and kissed me. I was shocked needless to say. He smelled so good. A slight hint of sweat mixed with some sort of spicy cologne that I had never smelled on him before. Then again, I was never that close to him while he wasn't sopping wet. I felt his hands slowly move from my shoulders to the small of my back. It felt like it lasted forever. I could feel his hand softly holding on to my shirt as I let my own drift up to his head of now clean hair. Finally he leaned back. I was gasping for breath.

"Why did you kiss me at the lake?" he hissed, an obvious smirk on his- now rouge tinged- face.

I started to spit back "Because I wanted a 'Thank You, Adele' out of you!" but I suddenly mumbled, "Because I like you, Severus." I let out a gasp and flung a startled hand to my mouth, as the smirk on his face grew even wider. "What did you--"

"Good." He said softly as he leaned down to kiss me again.