𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 | 𝐡. 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝟓𝟕 - 𝐭𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞

𝙄𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙊𝙥𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙖 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙥 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙡, 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙭𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚, 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙙.

As she woke up with her head against the rim of the bathtub, her head felt as though an axe murderer had used her skull as a sharpening stone, a splitting headache like this should have been illegal and as she tapped her finger to the bottom of her nostril she realised it was happening again. A thick drop of crimson on her fingertip, she let out a groan of annoyance, they were testing her patience now, and she had to think of something... the last thing she remembered was thinking about adding bath salts to her hygiene routine, and given she had a salt shaker in her right hand, she must've fallen asleep before she managed to test out that theory.

Standing up, she cracked open the window from the bathroom and climbed onto the ledge, noticing the moon was still high in the sky, it was at half-crescent and hiding behind a blanket of clouds and stars. If it was appropriate she would have gone for a walk, to let its cool light shine down on her through the gaps in the buildings and skyscrapers.

She knew she wasn't fortunate enough to be able to go back to sleep, so, with a slight shuffle in her step she made her way to the kitchen in the hopes of making herself a coffee where she was unfortunate enough to encounter the one person who could make her headache even worse.

Severus Snape.

Ophelia stopped in the doorway, looking at the back of him with disdain, a part of her wanted to reach forward and strangle him for the stupid 16-page essay he demanded from her over the holidays but then again, that would mean actually touching him, and she wasn't sure who was the last and she certainly did not want to be the first. Shoving down her violent intentions to the very bottom of her brain, she moved properly into the kitchen to fill up the kettle with water.

"You've improved Le Fay..." said Snape's voice behind her, her back tensed as his voice filled her ears making her skin crawl. "I can't hear your thoughts anymore."

Ophelia scoffed, aggressively spooning her coffee into her mug. "I thought that was the whole point of your stupid lessons."

"Coffee, no sugar, very little milk." demanded Snape without so much as a please or thank you.

"Kettle's there," she said pointing to it, "Help yourself."

Snape grimaced at her, he didn't like her very much either and she knew that, she would amp up her bluntness around him, regardless he continued and without thinking she rolled her eyes. "You learned very quickly... in fact, you have advanced past what I am capable of teaching you into the realm of the unknown-"

"Isn't that good news? You don't have to put up with me as often anymore."

"That you never stopped to think if you should, just because you could didn't mean it was an invitation to break the natural law."

"You're still sour over the fact I brought James back aren't you?" Said Ophelia coyly, looking a him steadily as she poured the boiling water into the mug, "I mean, I've just about ruined your life haven't I? I brought back your childhood rival, your ex-best friend and your childhood taunter or whatever... blimey, this isn't your year is it, Severus."

"Professor," corrected Snape, Ophelia bit her inner cheek to stop herself from saying something like "There is no need to call me professor, sir." but she didn't even want to call him sir.

"You're in uncharted waters now, Le Fay, no one can help you if you drown out there," said Snape

"Good thing I can swim." snapped Ophelia. "At least I've been that close to water, you look like water is allergic to you."