Clarice had just closed her door to head the quidditch game when she realized she forgot her scarf. It was November now and it had been getting quite chilly.
"Running away from me?" She heard a familiar voice and swung around. She sighed a breathe of relief when she realized it was only Severus.
"Never, just forgot my scarf. Hang on one second." She went into her bedroom to grab her plain black scarf. and came back out.
"No house representation?" Severus asked her.
"I don't have a Hufflepuff scarf." Clarice said and he chuckled.
"Well they're not the ones playing today. It's Gryffindor vs. Slytherin." He informed her and she smirked at him.
"Which is why I'm playing dumb because I don't care who wins." She replied and gave him a playful shove. They had been flirting like crazy the last few weeks, but nothing had come out of it. Both of them were too scared to admit how they felt, so they left it at that.
They walked out to the grounds and climbed their way up into the staff seats.
"Professor Bates! I saved you a seat!" Lockhart yelled while waving his arms in the air like an idiot. Clarice rolled her eyes and ignored him. Instead she sat down next to Filius and made Snape sit next to Lockhart on her other side.
"I see you're rooting for Slytherin Clarice?" Filius asked her.
"Huh? Oh no I don't care who wins. I just enjoy watching." She smiled and then followed his eyes to her scarf. It was no longer plain and black, but now green and silver.
"Severus! Did you charm my scarf?" She looked at him and smacked him which caught the eyes of some other professors. They had noticed them spending a lot of time together. They always show up to meals together and leave together. They do patrols together at night and she had been helping him out with his sixth and seventh year classes as well. Most of them were just happy that Severus had found someone to be himself around. He had been much happier these last few weeks and the students have noticed that as well. He had been assigning a foot less of homework and started awarding house points to houses other than his own. He was different.
"Perhaps I did," He chuckled and waited for her to change it back, except she didn't. "You're not going to change it back?"
"What? You don't think green looks good on me?" She asked and swung it around her neck dramatically accidentally smacking Filius in the face with it. "Whoops! So sorry"
"Any color looks good on you. Especially Slytherin colors." He said and suppressed a laugh towards Filius giving her a glare.
"Ya know, I don't think I've ever seen you in any other colors." Clarice admitted.
"That's because I don't own any other colors." He replied while pointing to the game that had just begun. Clarice watched intently, but got bored quickly.
"You could wear Slytherin colors. Dark green would bring out your eyes." She said while watching one of the twins beat a bludger towards a Slytherin.
"Psh. Nonsense. Black is in style." He said.
"Yeah at funerals." She giggled and he nudged her in the ribs. "A little color wouldn't hurt."
Another man walked into the stands and kicked Lockhart out of his seat to sit next to Severus. She hadn't seen the man before and knew he definitely wasn't a professor.
"Severus." He greeted and turned to the game.
"Lucius, how are you?" Severus greeted him in his monotone voice he used to use on the students which made Clarice wonder who this man was.
"Fine, just came to see Draco win his first match." He replied. Clarice thought he sounded like a snob.
"Very well, they're up right now. Ninety to thirty." He replied and the men sunk back into their seats. Clarice didn't say another word to him though... until she noticed a certain bludger.
"Severus? Is it just me or is that bludger only going after Potter?" She questioned him and he spotted it when she pointed it out to him.
"That's definitely been tampered with." He confirmed.
"What do you do?" Clarice asked him and he shrugged.
"Severus you can't be serious right now, he could get hurt." She tried to get him to do something.
"That's part of the game, sweetheart." Lucius said to her and smirked. She threw up in her mouth a little bit. Harry ripped through the staff stands and soon after came the rogue bludger heading right towards Clarice. Severus shoved her out of the way and caught her before falling to the ground.
"Are you okay?" He asked her with his hands still clutching her sides.
"I am now. Thank you. That thing would have smashed my brains out." She laughed and he sat her back up, but left his hand on her lower back.
She watched Harry go after the snitch with Draco on his tail... and the bludger. They dove into the pits and disappeared for a bit. It wasn't until they saw Draco fall to the ground when Harry came back up. Lucius looked annoyed his son had fallen. Harry was inches away from wrapping hands around the snitch, but once again the bludger had returned and whacked his arm hard. He didn't let this stop him and he reached out again, but fell onto the ground.
There was a loud gasp from everyone and some even left the stands to go check on him.
"Harry Potter has caught the golden snitch!" Lee Jordan announced and everyone cheered loud. The bludger, who was still after him, came inches away from his head as it slammed into the sand. Hermione ran out and blew the thing to pieces. Funny how a student had to do it and not the staff.
Of course, Lockhart was the first professor to arrive and took a look at Harry's arm.
"Let's go check on Draco. He's still on the ground and no one rushed over to help him." Clarice said annoyed that all of the attention was on one student and not the other. She stood up and made her way to the field. She didn't check to see if Severus was following her, but she assumed he and Draco's father did.
"Hey, Draco, are you feeling okay? Are you hurt?" Clarice asked him while kneeling down to his side.
"My ribs, I can't breathe." He choked out and she looked behind her to see if Severus would pick him up and take him to the hospital wing. She found that no one had followed her down and that Severus and Lucius had left. Now she was really annoyed, not only at Severus for not checking on one of his own students, but at his father for not checking on his own son!
"This might hurt a bit, just try to hang on while I get you to Madam Pomfrey." She said as she scooped the boy up in her arms. She was lucky he didn't weigh too much, this was going to be a long walk. Draco groaned every once in a while and she whispered that he was going to be okay and that they were almost there.
After she had dropped him off, she marched down to Severus' classroom and barged in. No one was in there... not even him. She decided to just go back to her room and deal with him later.
She walked in quickly, not even noticing the man sitting on her couch, and went to her kitchen to make a cup of tea.
"I'll have a cup too."
"AHH WHAT THE HELL SEVERUS WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!" She spun around and yelled at the man who was so relaxed on her own couch.
"Just wanted a cup of tea, that's all." His voice had gone back to his normal tone and not that awful monotone act he had on before.
"How did you even get in here?" She asked him.
"You haven't changed your password. Salamander?" He said her password and she shook her head.
"Guess it's time to change that," She muttered and handed him a cup of tea. "So..."
"Sooo?" He mimicked her.
"What was that about before?" She asked him.
"What do you mean?" He asked back.
"You know, Severus." She said and he sighed. There was no avoiding this.
"He's an old friend. I have a reputation to maintain." He said. "He also couldn't face his son after he lost them the game."
"That's horrendous. You said that a month ago and look at you now. You've changed. You don't have to go back to that if you're happy now." She said to him, but he stayed silent only sipping his tea. He wanted to tell her that he was only happy when she was around.
"I'm just saying... You shouldn't have to pretend to be grouchy to assert dominance over your so-called friends." She admitted. "I'm sorry that sounded mean."
"It was a little mean, but I guess it was called for. Lucius isn't exactly a friend... anymore. Just an... acquaintance." Severus said.
"Anymore?" Clarice questioned him.
"It's a long story." He said.
"We've got time... and plenty of tea." She smiled at him and Severus sighed.
"I'd need something stronger than tea, Clarice. Besides, it's time for dinner." He stood up and held his hand out for her to take. She sighed and took it and they made their way to the great hall.