Emma Moore, professor in Healing at Hogwarts, has to suppress her feelings for her old best friend and now colleague Severus Snape, who she hasn't seen in ten years, while figuring out who killed her aunt.
...
It was the evening of January 30th and Severus was in one of the worst moods Emma had ever seen him in. All night they'd spent waiting for Lily, because it was her fifteenth birthday and she'd promised to come see them. Severus had gotten her a present, wrapped up in lovely sky-blue paper, even raided the kitchen for sweets, all for Lily.
But now it was five minutes from curfew and they knew she wasn't going to show up.
"I'm sure something just came up," Emma said for the umpteenth time. "We'll talk to her tomorrow."
"Merlin, Emma, will you shut up?" Severus snapped, stomping through the hallways towards the dungeons. "She obviously chose her Gryffindor friends over us. And I can't even blame her."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Severus stopped in front of her so suddenly, she jumped back. "Why would she want to hang out with us?" he said. "I'm a Slytherin; Gryffindors hate Slytherins. And you... Look at you!"
She glanced down unconsciously. "What about me?"
He scoffed. "You're a Hufflepuff," he said as if it was the most disgusting thing in the world.
Bile rose in her throat. "And?"
He stepped back, staring her down. "See, that's what I mean, you don't even see it. Hufflepuffs are such dim-wits."
"Don't call me a dim-wit!" She went to swat him, but he grabbed her wrist and twisted it painfully. "Ow! Severus, let me go!"
He pushed her back and turned around to walk away, muttering something of which Emma only caught the word, "... idiot..."
Her eyes teared up as he walked away from her. "You know," she called after him, "just because Lily let us down, doesn't mean you have to start acting like a twat as well!"
She didn't let the tears fall until she was safely back in her dorm.
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Emma did not remember how she made it back home. The way back to Hogwarts was a blur of rain, tears and dizzying regret. I should never have told him that, were the words that haunted her mind. What was I thinking?
Upon entering the castle, she made her way straight to her quarters, avoiding people as much as she could. Luckily, no one stopped her.
When she finally reached her office, she locked the door behind her and sunk into her chair. She cupped her hands over her face, forcing the tears back.
Stop. Don't go back to that. She'd learned long ago that it was pointless to cry over Severus. Why could she still not control herself?
She sniffed loudly, leaning forward in the chair. What was she going to do? Severus knew her big secret now. He knew that she was in love with him. Surely he couldn't be friends with her anymore. She didn't even know how to face him after that.
