Unfathomable Desire

Chapter 28

I spent the next few weeks apart from Severus. I saw him in classes and he remained distant, giving me my space. Sometimes this angered me; I wanted him to speak, to beg for my forgiveness. Other times, I felt like I couldn't get far enough away from him. I felt betrayed. If what he told me was true, then I could understand his reasoning for not telling me, but I was still hurt.

I kept my word and didn't tell anyone what I saw. Mack noticed that I was staying in the common room more often and I simply told her Corey and I had an argument. She tried getting me to talk about it but I withdrew. The emotions were too raw for me not to trust myself to not accidentally reveal anything.

Corey noticed my lower mood as well, so he would often try to make me laugh to cheer me up without asking too many questions. It was nice being around Corey, his easy-going attitude made life feel more bearable.

I watched Corey in potions class on a Friday afternoon as he was cutting ingredients for a potion we were meant to make.

"You know you're doing it wrong?" I pointed out.

"You tell me that every time," Corey said slowly, focusing on his precise cutting. "But you never show me how."
"I try to, but you get annoyed with me."

"Because you don't show me, you take over."

I continued observing hit cutting. Not only was he using the wrong ingredient, but he was cutting really close to his fingers.

"You're going to lose a finger, please stop," I said as I took the knife from his hands.

Corey quickly grabbed the knife back. "Shouldn't play with knives, y/n." He tsked before hovering the knife over his ingredients. "Show me."

I scooted closer to him, placed my hand over his and guided his hand to make a smooth cut. Our heads were close together and he looked at me through his eyelashes.

"I like when you touch me this way, y/n," he said as he smirked.

"Shut up, Corey," I whispered, continuing to guide his hand.

"Maybe you can show me in more detail tonight," he said flirtatiously.

"You really struggle to focus, don't you?"

"It's because of your beauty, it's distracting."

I leaned back, looking at him. I knew he was trying to get a reaction from me, trying to make me feel better. But the compliment felt nice.

I rolled my eyes. "You can cut it yourself if you're not going to take this seriously."

Corey grabbed my hand and kissed the top of it. "My apologies, please continue."

I drew my hand back, shaking my head, when Severus spoke from the front of the class.

"Mr. Albini, this potion does not require you to work in teams."

Severus made is way to our table.

"She was just helping me," Corey said, looking at his potion.

"You shouldn't need assistance for this potion," Severus said, glancing at Corey's work. "Actually, it appears you do need assistance." He leaned against his palms on our table. "This looks like the work of a second-year, or a very intelligent troll."