Chapter 24: "And I hope that I don't fall in love with you."

The MMAP were in session in Remus's classroom, squabbling over what CD to put on next, whilst Circe strummed her guitar as she tried to follow whatever tune was on. She was trying to teach Cedric a few chords and keep him away from the CD player. Apparently he'd imposed quite the reign of terror until Circe had turned up. Apparently the class were sick to death of Oasis. Well, the young men were. The young ladies were happy to have on whatever Cedric wanted. The Diggory boy was obsessed with them. Circe had yet to listen to their album in any great detail, but was keen to let the other boys garner some kudos with their own albums they'd turned up to the meeting with. Every time they came back from Hogsmeade, they had their pockets full of sweets from Zonkos, their clothes smelling of beer from the Three Broomsticks and their arms full of parcels of music from the Post Office. Apparently the first-class owls had been rather bogged down as the MMAP were trying to order CD's as fast as possible to get first dibs on the club's CD player. Luckily the tension in the group had lifted somewhat when Lee Jordan had turned up with his own player and a set of headphones.

With a few Gryffindors sitting in their own corner, taking turns on Jordan's headphones, most of the other MMAP members were arguing over which album to put on next. Cedric was distracted with Circe's demonstration, and Ron and Seamus were having a rather heated discussion over their selection. Controlling a room full of teenagers was rather like trying to herd cats

… and keep them from clawing each other's eyes out. Circe thought with a roll of her eyes.

"Will you teach me Live Forever?" Cedric asked her.

Circe looked into the boy's watchful eyes. He didn't need her help to be any 'cooler'. She'd have girls fainting in the quads if Diggory learnt how to play guitar casually.

"I'll have a listen to it…" she said noncommittally. "Here, have a strum."

She handed Cedric the guitar and wandered over to the arguing Gryffindors.

She spotted Harry looking rather sorry for himself, leaning against the wall of the classroom. The poor boy hadn't been to Hogsmeade at all. Something to do with his permission slip, Mcgonagall had told her. And it was doubly dangerous for the boy to be outside of the Hogwarts grounds now they knew Black was certainly close. Thus, Harry didn't have any vested interest in what music to have on, having no CD's himself. She motioned him over with the curl of her finger and he stood by Ron's side as the red haired boy continued to argue with Seamus.

"Boys… boys. Why don't we let Harry choose?" Circe said diplomatically.

Harry turned a little shy and scratched at his head.

"Yeah, alright. Go on mate." Ron said, stepping back to allow Harry a look at the collection on the table.

"Umm.. I dunno. This one." He said, laying a hand on a seemingly random case.

"Why that one?" Circe asked, craning her head to see what he'd chosen.

Suede. Interesting…

"It… reminded me of this film that my Aunt and Uncle used to watch when Dudley was away for the night. I'd have to hide in the cupboard and pretend I wasn't there for their "date night"."

Circe tried to stop a grin from spreading all over her face. "Was the film called 'Ghost', by any chance?"

"Yeah."

"Good thing this isn't a pottery class then…" she smirked.

The only one who seemed to understand the reference was Hermione. She giggled demurely.

When had she turned up…? Circe thought.

"What?" Ron asked Hermione flatly.

"I'll tell you later."

Circe laughed as Granger coloured bright red, popping open the CD and placing it in the player.

The Gryffindors waited silently for the music to start. As the twanging guitars and psychedelic synths filled the classroom, they looked at one another with pleased little nods.

"Like his dad you know that he's had

Animal nitrate in mind..."

Circe walked away from the player, satisfied she'd avoided another argument with Potter's aptly chosen banger. She sat at Remus's empty desk and cast an eye over his untidy workstation. She bemoaned how he could work in such a space. How did he find anything he wanted? Since Black was spotted in the castle a few months ago he hadn't been the same. He'd been quiet, distracted, uncharacteristically distant. It also seemed his transformations were taking a larger toll on him physically. He'd said to her one morning in the Staff Room, when he'd emerged with fresh blue bruises and angry-looking cuts on his neck, that "when I'm agitated, the wolf is agitated too.". Circe didn't have to ask what Lupin was worried about. With Black so close, his whole persona seemed subdued and out of sorts. His desk was a little microcosm, showing his slipping grasp on his equilibrium.

Severus too had been behaving oddly around her. Circe hadn't had much time to relish the repaired relationship between them before his erratic behaviour had begun. It was as if the roles had switched between them: she was now the lucky one if she got more than the standard courtesies expected from him. He'd been rather occupied brewing Remus's wolfsbane, but she'd seen the huge vat of it he'd brewed a few months back and knew that it couldn't be taking up any more of his time. She had tried to suppress the nauseating thought that maybe their friendship was just dwindling. But she still caught him from time to time casting her long, thoughtful looks from the other side of the Great Hall, or she'd feel the presence of heavy, dark eyes on her as she marked papers at her desk. As she'd look up, she'd see the telltale flash of a dark robe disappearing around the door and she knew that she'd just missed catching Severus in the act. She'd also had a few more dreams to the same tone as the one she'd had in the library. It didn't help that whenever she stood face to face with Severus, her mind often wandered to the myriad of bent and twisted positions he'd had her in during her slumber.

"Oh in your council home he jumped on your bones

Now you're taking it time after time."

Circe blushed, thinking that perhaps this wasn't the most child-friendly album to have put on after all. Still, the kids looked like they hadn't quite registered the meaning of the lyrics from the sheepish look she'd cast about the room. It was a catchy little number, and she couldn't help but hum along to the odd melody of the chorus under her breath.

"Oh, what turns you on, oh?

Now he has gone.."

The door to Remus's classroom flew open and Severus waltzed in. He waved his wand and the shutters at the windows slammed closed one by one. His black cloak billowed behind him as he walked up the central aisle of desks. Circe's whole world seemed to slow down as Severus strode resolutely up to the front of the classroom, almost in beat to the music.

"Oh, what turns you on, oh?

Now your animal's gone"

"Turn that racket off. Sit down. Have your textbooks ready on page three hundred and ninety-."

Severus's eyes widened as he spotted Circe, partially concealed by a rather large pile of papers on Lupin's desk.

"Hello Professor." she said with a small smile.

Circe didn't think that her sat at a desk should have garnered such a dramatic response from Severus.

"P-professor Smith…" Snape stuttered as the students moved quickly around them, tidying away and rushing to their desks hurriedly.

"Thank you, Professor." Cedric said as he handed Circe's guitar back to her.

Snape's eyes popped as he saw his present in the hands of a student and Circe felt a little embarrassed.

"Uhh, is there something I can help you with, Professor Snape?" she asked.

"I have been tasked with covering for Professor Lupin as he's recovering from…"

"Yeah I know." she interrupted quickly. "I told Dumbledore that I could do it. Seen as I was here anyway managing the MMAP."

Severus cast a cynical eye over to the CD player, 'Animal Nitrate' still playing at full blast.

"I said turn that racket off now!" he shouted.

Circe waved her wand and the lid popped open. Heavy silence settled over them.

"Alright boys, quick as you can. Tidy this all up." she said gently.

"So… who exactly is covering Professor Lupin?" Hermione asked, glancing from Circe to Snape.

"Me." Circe and Snape said in unison.

They looked to each other in confusion.

"I can do it, Professor Snape." she offered cordially.

Her eyes flashed over to Seamus's textbook, already open on the page Severus had instructed him to turn to, drawn in by a sepia sketch of a toothed and clawed monster on the paper.

"No, there are… important things that I feel need to be covered amongst our student body." Snape said monotonously, fixing her with a pointe glare.

Circe grabbed Seamus's textbook from him.

Da Vinci's sketches of the werewolf anatomy? Her eyes drifted from the diagram over the top of the book's pages, back to Severus.

"Werewolves?" Ron asked the question for her, now he too sat at his desk with the open textbook in front of him.

"But sir…" said Hermione. "We're still going through the chapters on Hinkypunks."

"Miss Granger." Snape said viciously, rounding on the bushy-haired girl. "I was under the impression that I was taking the lesson, not you. Page three hundred and ninety four! Now!"

Circe made a point of lingering at the back of the room. She eyed Snape suspiciously, unsure of what game he was playing exactly. She thought she'd managed to get through to Severus about cutting Lupin some much-deserved slack, but perhaps not if this is what he was planning to teach. She folded her arms and fixed him with her most pointed, judgemental look as he began the lesson. He refused to look at her, or even ask her why she was still there. Instead he resolved to carry on regardless with what he had planned.

"The name 'werewolf' is derived from the old Norse-"

"Old English." Circe interrupted him.

The whole class turned to her, eyes wide, and then turned back to Snape waiting for him to bite her head off like he had done with Hermione.

"Excuse me, Professor?" Snape said dryly.

"'Wer' is Old-English for 'man'. Saxon. Not Norse."

Circe eyes up Severus with a look that said "try me".

He cleared his throat awkwardly and continued. "Old English, then. Thank you Professor Smith…"

As Severus talked on about the origins of the werewolf and the means by which one recognises one, the class sat in their seats a little dumbfounded. Circe saw Ron elbow Harry in his ribs and cast a furtive glance back to her, a mischievous smile on his face. Circe couldn't help but colour red a touch. Severus set the class to work on copying out the diagram of Da Vinci's into their notes. Circe pretended to help Neville with his drawing as Snape paced up and down the rows of desks.

Hermione's hand shot up into the air about fifteen minutes later.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" Severus asked shortly.

"I've completed the diagram, sir."

Severus regarded her coldly and audibly groaned. "Would you like congratulations?" He asked, his voice dripping in sarcasm.

"Sir, perhaps we could learn something more relevant to us." she continued, ignoring his dig. "Perhaps you could teach us the patronus charm…?"

Hermione spoke more to Circe than to Severus. Circe raised her eyebrow at Snape and stuck her lip out. A look that said "what do you think, Severus?". Snape was less eager. In fact, red hot alarm bubbles in his chest at the thought and he scowled back at her.

"I mean, it would be useful to equip you with that spell." She thought aloud.

Circe's gaze settled on Harry. The boy looked at his hands awkwardly, being the only one amongst them who had been taught the spell by Remus. Circe had heard them quite a few times practising the charm when she'd come to annoy Lupin in his office. Potter had rather frustratingly been depleting Lupin's chocolate supplies of recent…

Circe regarded Severus closely. He started clenching and unclenching his hands as he often did when he was nervous. She recalled how strange Snape had been the night Black had snuck into the castle, trying to cast his patronus when her back was turned.

Can he not cast one? Is that why he couldn't help me when I was attacked at the start of the year?

"Professor Snape, perhaps you could-"

"No!" He roared.

The whole class flinched at his sudden outburst. He began to visibly shake. Circe looked at his ashen face and frowned. He caught her eye for a tense second and looked to his boots evasively. A silence, so still that Circe could hear the caw of the ravens outside, descended over the classroom. She was unsure how to proceed. What to say next. Her chest tightened as she watched Severus seemingly hyperventilating.

"Get out, all of you…" he whispered.

"But sir, we still have half an hour of the lesson left." Granger dared.

"Get out! Ten points from Gryffindor for your insolence!"

The class groaned and made faces of disgust at Severus. He marched over to Lupin's desk and lay his hands down firmly on the surface, his back arched like an alley cat.

Circe could do nothing but watch him, mouth open in confusion as the students shuffled out past her. When Severus did not turn, she reluctantly turned to leave too.

"Granger, ten points awarded for a healthy, inquisitive mind." Circe muttered under her breath. "And Neville can have another five for a well-drawn diagram."

The Gryffindors grinned graciously at her and left with broad smiles, where there had previously been confused frowns. Circe, on the other hand, lingered by the classroom's door, and after one last look at his hunched back she left Severus to his brooding. She closed the classroom door behind her and sighed as she leaned heavily against the wood. She stood there for a few minutes, wondering to herself whether it would always be like this between her and Severus. Going from one emotional blow-up to another. Always having to watch him turn his anger outwards and onto people who didn't deserve it.

"Expecto patronum…" she heard, as small as a murmur.

It was muffled through the heavy wooden door, but the words made Circe snap her head up and turn to the old keyhole. She peered through the tiny space and saw Severus, his back still turned to her, shoulders still raised high. His wand spewed a reedy, thin, silver light and it sputtered out.

"Expecto patronum…" he tried again, and Circe saw the silver light swirl into something that resembled a shape and then it diffused away to nought again.

Severus picked up a dirty mug from Lupin's desk and threw it into the wall. As it smashed, Circe flinched and almost ran from her hiding spot.

"Expecto patronum!" Severus shouted, pointing his wand into the roof.

His whole face illuminated in white light as the spell took form, his expression set in a firm scowl. Circe watched Severus's eyes follow his patronus around the room as his scowl was slowly replaced by a gut-wrenching look of pure sorrow. She tried to shuffle around and follow the trail of the patronus, but maddeningly as soon as she positioned her head in a place where she thought she could see the animal, it would scamper off in another direction.

It's quick. Deft. Strong….

Wait, was that… a tail?

Circe felt her own wand in her pocket twinge ever so slightly, and a pleasant feeling of happiness spread through her own chest. She gasped and drew back from the keyhole, massaging her collarbone as the feeling flowed through her like warm whiskey. However, before she could return her gaze to the keyhole and garner a proper eyeful of Severus's patronus, it dissipated back into nothing, flickering out like a dying lightbulb. All she could hear after that was the sound of Severus bitterly weeping.

------

Circe moved back to her and Lupin's table at the Three Broomsticks with another round of Butterbeers for the two of them. As she pushed Lupin's pint towards him, she caught the flinch of pain that flashed across his face and he unconsciously rubbed at his shoulder with his spare hand.

"Another bad moon?" she asked sympathetically.

"Yes. The wolf is getting more and more agitated with being trapped in the… In the place where I transform."

"Where do you go to transform?" she asked curiously.

"Ohh no. The last time someone asked that, it piqued their curiosity too much and they almost got themselves killed for it."

"Surely it'd be better to tell me, just in case I stumble into it one night."

"You won't "stumble into it"." Remus said flatly. "Not without Filch having to scrape Professor-Smith-pulp off of the grass in the morning."

"What does that mean?" Circe asked incredulously.

"Drop it, Circe..."

"Eurgh, fine!" She took a swig of her beer and slumped back into her chair.

The door to the pub swung open and closed, letting in a flurry of snow. It was still bitterly cold for late January and Circe preferred to be inside, by a warming fire, drink in hand, rather than patrolling the Hogsmeade streets outside checking the Hogwarts students were behaving themselves.

How much trouble can they get up to in Hogsmeade anyway? She thought.

Minerva had told her that she was to watch out for any underage wizards trying to sneak a drink in the Three Broomsticks, and where better to do that than from within the Three Broomsticks itself! Quite a few times already she'd given the death-stares to a few hopefuls who tried to sneak their way into the pub, all stopping dead in their tracks when they saw Circe's face giving them a harsh, reproachful look from her table by the fire. She felt rather hypocritical. Underage drinking in the Three Broomsticks was a Hogwarts rite of passage. Something she herself had done when she was a teenager. But still, she had to wear her 'responsible adult' hat, otherwise Minerva would have her guts for garters. The bitter wind whipped at her hair again and she glanced at the door to see Fred and George standing at the threshold. Circe narrowed her eyes at them and their faces dropped. Fred turned to his twin and gave him a clip round the ear.

"What the- George! This isn't Zonkos!" he said in mock stupidity.

"Oh, silly mistake. Ever so sorry Freddie."

They closed the door behind them and went running off into the Hogsmeade streets.

Circe couldn't help but giggle once they were gone from sight. "For goodness sake, that's the third time they've tried to sneak in here today. Or was it the fourth? I think I need to start writing names down for Minerva. D'you have a spare bit of parchment?"

Lupin delved into his pockets and drew out various bits and bobs. A lighter, a spare button, a quill.

"Umm... " Lupin patted himself down, searching for something for Circe.

Eventually he drew out a long square of blank paper, his eyes lingering on it for a second longer than it should have. He hurriedly moved to push it back into his inside pocket as Circe grabbed it from his hands.

"That'll do." she said, picking up the quill and poising her hand to start writing.

"No! Don't write on it!" Lupin said, alarm in his voice.

Circe stopped dead.

"Umm… why?"

Lupin reached out to take it back from her but Circe snatched it away from him, grinning widely.

"What is it, Remus?" she asked.

"Nothing…"

"Oh come on, Remus. You've been so secretive recently. I thought I was your friend." she pouted, putting on her best attempt at a guilt trip.

Remus sighed and looked furtively around the pub. He took his wand out and motioned for Circe to lay the paper flat.

He pointed the tip to its surface and spoke in a low voice. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Circe leaned forward and watched in awe as dark splotches of ink bloomed across the parchment's surface. The splotches became shapes that she recognised… and words that she read aloud…

"Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present…"

"The Marauders Map." Remus smiled warmly.

"Is this… Hogwarts?" Circe asked in amazement, folding the map out and burying her face in it.

"It is."

"Where did you get this, Remus? There are passages on here that even I don't recognise."

"I made it. Well, I co-created it."

Circe glanced at Remus. His eyes gazed at the map but Circe knew he was looking far away. Far back in the past. She knew what a look like that meant…

"With Sirius Black?"

Remus nodded. "And the others."

"The others?" she glanced back to the names on the front of the map and thought. "You must be Moony." she said with a smile.

"Wormtail was Peter. Padfoot, Sirius. And Prongs was James."

"What weird nicknames…." she paused, hoping Remus would lead on from her statement. When he didn't offer up any more information she moved on. "So, you've had this since you were in school?"

"Well… no actually. I confiscated it from Harry yesterday."

"Harry?!" she asked in surprise. "How the bloody hell did he get it?"

"Not a clue. The last time I saw the thing it was in Filch's office, under lock and key."

Circe was immersed in the detail of the map. She scanned over it's many pages and her eyes lingered over the names of people and students that she recognised. It was nothing short of amazing. It put the small map of the sewage network that Severus and her had put together to shame. The thing buzzed in her hands as she felt the strong magic radiating off it.

"God, I would have killed for something like this when I was in school."

"Hmm well it's a miracle it's still here." Remus said dully, folding his arms. "I think Severus would have thrown it into the fire if I hadn't been in the right place at the right time to smuggle it to safety."

"He saw all of this?" She asked, giving the map a rustle.

"Well, no. The map has been charmed to recognise friend and foe. Watch." Remus took his wand out again and pressed it to the paper.

The map melted away before her and was replaced by a few lines of text.

Circe read them aloud "Mr Moony would like to congratulate Professor Smith on her excellent choice of friend." She laughed and looked up with a bright smile to Remus as the line disappeared and a new one emerged. "Mr Prongs agrees with Mr Moony, but would like to add that her taste in lovers is considerably worse…"

Remus laughed as Circe scowled at him.

"Mr Padfoot would like to hope that perhaps Professor Smith can convince the Potions Master to wash his hair properly. Oh for goodness sake, his hair is fine! We all have moments of dubious personal hygiene in our teenage years... "

"Yes, but Severus was rather greasy when he was younger…." Remus smiled brightly, his old, warm self shining through once more.

"Hmmm…"

"But what's worse, really? Having an awkward spotty, greasy phase or literally having your teenage years plagued by this incurable curse that turned you into a monster each month?"

"Clearly you didn't spend that much time around teenage girls." Circe said with a grin.

Remus chuckled and took a swig of his beer.

"How… how did the others look out for you when you were… transformed?" Circe asked delicately. "Surely it would have been dangerous for them to be around a werewolf during a transformation."

"I didn't tell you? At your party?"

"No, you just said they were "there for you"."

"All of them spent months, years, learning how to become animagi. The wolf doesn't seem to mind the company of animals that much."

"Oh wow, what were their animal forms?"

"James was a deer."

"Prongs." Circe said, miming out some antlers on her own head, demonstrating her understanding.

"Peter was a rat."

"Worm-tail. Clever."

"And Sirius was a dog."

Circe felt all of her muscles tense. She looked at Remus, feeling all of the colour drain from her face.

"Was he a big, black dog that always looked a bit skinny and scruffy? Like an Irish wolfhound-"

"Irish wolfhound…" Remus said with her.

"I fed him a chicken leg…" Circe whispered, wide eyed.

"What?!"

"I've seen him, Remus... In his dog form!"

Lupin rose from his feet, his thighs crashing into the table and sending his beer toppling over. He grabbed the map from Circe's hands and went striding from the pub.

"Remus… Remus!" She called after him, but he did not stop.

Circe kicked her chair away and tried to run to catch up with him, but as she emerged out into the snowy Hogsmeade streets, Lupin was nowhere to be found. She looked around and spied Fred and George loitering in a dark spot opposite the pub, trying their best to hide from her. She rushed up to the twins and accosted them.

"Professor Lupin. Tell me which way he went and you can have one beer in the pub."

"Three." George replied, arms folded.

"Fine…"

"That way." Fred said, pointing out towards the Shrieking Shack.

Circe shuffled through the snow, keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of Remus. She came to an eventual halt as she stood outside the Shack. The dank, abandoned building poised ominously on the distant hill, her friend nowhere to be seen.

Perhaps those Weasley twins led me on a wild goose chase.

"Damn it!" She said out loud, kicking up the snow in a plume of white.

As the dust settled around her, Circe sighed heavily and there standing in the path up to the castle was Severus. She looked at him wordlessly and he back at her, a bewildered expression on his face. Circe hadn't seen Severus since the cover-mixup day and he looked about as happy to see her as if he'd stumbled upon Remus at the wrong time of the month...Circe looked glowingly pink stood against the white landscape, her cheeks as rosy as any angelic frescoe in the Scottish Gallery. The softly falling snow settled in her hair and on the ends of her long eyelashes. Her chest rose rhymically from her run out of the village and Severus found his own breathing mirroring hers. He took a step towards her, something deep within him longing to draw closer to her. Breathtakingly beautiful as she was, his defenses dropped for the briefest of moments.

But he forced himself to stop. The fright of his depth of feeling seized his limbs again. He halted in his tracks and turned around away from her, hoping that if he didn't have to look at her then her angelic spell would be broken. Circe almost screamed at him. Frustrated beyond words at his erratic behavior. She groaned loudly and bent down to scoop up a handful of snow.

"Will you… will you just…" she stuttered. "Cheer the fuck up, you yo-yoing, maudlin bastard!"

She threw her hastily made snowball in his direction. She hadn't intended it to, but the ball of snow hit Severus square in the back of his head. She gasped as Severus froze.

Circe couldn't help herself when she began to laugh. It was partly a hysterical reaction, fearing that she may have just laid the last nail in the coffin of her and Severus's relationship. Snape turned around slowly, the last bits of snow falling off his shoulders, his inky brow raised indignantly.

"Professor Smith, that was incredibly childi-"... another snowball hit him directly on his nose.

Circe laughed, her high, clear tone ringing in his ears like church bells. Severus snarled as he ducked low to the ground and bunched together his own retaliation ball. He threw it back towards her with all his might and she squealed as it struck her on the shoulder. As one, Circe and Severus threw caution to the wind and let their pent-up tension loose on one another. The two of them descended into an all-out snow flinging session: ducking behind trees, and hiding behind rocks, Circe screaming in delight. She slipped precariously on an icy patch of ground and went toppling to the floor. Severus lost sight of her as she disappeared behind a large boulder. He moved slowly to inspect, a snowball poised in his hand as he checked to make sure Circe was okay.

"Circe…?" He asked, a little concerned that she may have hurt herself from her slip.

But a moment later, Circe rose suddenly from her hiding spot and lugged a particularly large snowball at Severus. It went zooming past his ear harmlessly and he allowed himself a hint of a smile as he hurled his reserve snowball directly at her temple. After a while, they both collapsed in an exhausted slump in a drift when eventual truce was called. Both of them were left panting. Wet hair plastered to their faces and stingingly cold hands.

"Well… I'm glad I got that out of my system." Circe chuckled to herself.

"Professor, you are impossible." Severus said breathlessly, casting a side-eye at her.

Circe scoffed at him and rose to her feet, stumbling around in the snow until she made her way onto the path again. As reality set in once again, she realised that she'd still lost Remus's trail and she was at a loss for what to do now. Severus, as always, was being a riddle wrapped in a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Maddeningly unpredictable, just as their little snow frenzy had proved. Circe turned to him, the ghost of a question on her lips. But what did she even want to ask him? What was there to say? And why did it feel like they were both in the pillow-talk stage after a steamy session of shagging? Perhaps it had been the breathless way Severus had called her "impossible". Perhaps it was the flush of colour in both of their faces after their activities. Perhaps it was the downright sinful way they were both eye-fucking each other in that moment.

"Impossible, am I?" She scoffed. "Takes one to know one, Snape."

She bit at her bottom lip and smirked. Severus felt his loins stir at the small but powerfully seductive expression.

She broke her gaze with him with a long sigh and left. As Severus watched Circe walk away towards Hogwarts, he was left a little befuddled in her wake. How had she managed to draw him…. Him!... into a snowball fight?! Perhaps it was finally his time to slip into madness unperturbed. Lord knows he'd felt driven close to it by his loneliness and destructive habits in the years before Circe arrived at Hogwarts. But Circe was her own madness. Maddening in her chaotic kindness and tornado-esque presence. She was a madness that he felt happy in.

Who was it that said love was a type of madness anyway? He thought to himself.

Severus acknowledged the thought he had just had, and found it less alarming than he had led himself to believe it would be. It actually felt liberating to finally consciously admit what his heart had told him was the case for a while. He resolved to deal with the existential dread this admittance would bring later. Now, it was progress enough just to sit in the snow and privately just accept…

I hoped, I prayed that I wouldn't fall in love with you, Circe. But I rather think it's happening against my better judgement...