Something different I Severus/Lucius/Y/N

boundaries blurred

As Lucius departed, the latent effects of the wine suddenly became more pronounced, leaving me feeling a bit unsteady on my feet. Intending to take a shower before turning in for the night, I made my way across the room, but my balance failed me just as I reached the entry door. 

With an ungraceful stumble, I collided with the door with a loud, resounding boom that echoed through the quiet of the room. 

 "Uh, I hope nobody heard that," I muttered to myself, wincing both from the noise and the minor shock of the impact.However, within seconds, a concerned knocking at the door suggested that my hopes were in vain. 

"Are you alright in there?" came Severus Snape's worried voice from the other side, his tone more alarmed than I had heard it before.Fumbling to regain my composure, I managed to pull myself up and open the door, revealing a visibly concerned Snape. His usually stern features were softened by genuine worry, which unexpectedly stirred a warmth within me. 

The care he showed in that moment, so at odds with his usual reserved demeanour, was oddly endearing. 

 "Professor Snape, I... I'm fine, just a bit clumsy," I said, attempting to brush off the incident with a light-hearted tone, despite still feeling slightly off-kilter from the wine and the fall. 

 "I heard a loud noise. It seemed prudent to ensure that everything was alright," Snape explained, his eyes scanning behind me as if searching for any further cause for concern. 

 At that moment, his evident concern and the intimacy of the late-hour check-in muddled my thoughts, and I found myself responding with a flirtatious undertone that even I hadn't anticipated. "Always my knight in shining armour, aren't you, professor?" I teased lightly, leaning against the doorframe slightly more than necessary. 

Snape's expression flickered with surprise at my teasing, a hint of uncharacteristic confusion crossing his normally impassive face. After a moment, he reached into his robe and pulled out a small vial containing a clear liquid— a sober-up potion, commonly used among wizards to counteract the effects of alcohol.

"Perhaps this might assist you," he offered, extending the vial toward me, his voice regaining some of its usual composure.

I waved a hand dismissively, still leaning casually against the doorframe. "Oh, I think I'll manage without that. But thank you, Professor, for your... knightly concern," I continued, my voice playful, the words rolling off slightly tipsy and more daring than I might have intended under normal circumstances.

For a moment, Snape just watched me, his dark eyes assessing. Then, almost imperceptibly, the corners of his mouth twitched—a rare hint of amusement softening his stern features. "Very well, if you believe you can handle the consequences of your revelries on your own," he remarked dryly, the potion disappearing back into his robe as he tucked it away.

The air between us was charged with a curious mix of tension and levity. Snape, typically the epitome of strict decorum, seemed to momentarily reconsider the boundaries of our interaction. Perhaps it was the late hour, the effects of Rome's romantic allure, or the simple fact that we were far from the familiar confines of Hogwarts, but he allowed the moment to tilt toward something more informal, more personal.

"However, should you need assistance, or more accurately, adult supervision, feel free to knock on my door. It appears you're more of a handful than I anticipated," he added, the trace of a smirk now playing on his lips.

His quip about being a handful hung in the air, eliciting a light chuckle from me as I prepared to say good night and close the door. However, as I shifted my weight to end the conversation, the wine's effects proved stronger than I had anticipated. Suddenly off-balance, I stumbled forward, nearly collapsing into Snape.