"What was I supposed to do? Obliviate the children?" Eleanor spoke quietly into the empty Potions Classroom. Snape had his back to her, but occasionally turned to address his opinion on her nephews idea on letting it her secret 'slip'.
He was enraged over the boys poor decision making. Potter was asked to keep one thing a secret to keep his own aunt safe and he managed to screw it up per usual, at least that's what Severus thought of the situation.
Snape shrugged in consideration.
"In all honesty we should have obliviated the boy as soon as he had found out."
Her red lips pursed into a frown,
"And who's fault was that, Severus?" She recalled the memory of it being Severus who slipped her name in front of the boy his second year.
His dark eyes peered into her own after remembering that incident himself. He seemed to take a deep breath before stating his own commentary, "It's the boys own fault for being such an aggravating pest for prying." He mumbled just enough for Eleanor to make sense of his quiet words.
"It's not his fault."
"Of course." He growled under his breath.
"Of course what?" She leaned her rear on the back of his demonstration desk.
Severus aggressivly emptied out a whole bottle of liquid peppermint into his cauldron before tossing the bottle away with the same amount of aggression.
He walked passed her not saying a word. His shoulder brushed her own as he went into his supply closet.
Severus didn't say anything until he retrieved another bottle and brushed shoulders passed her yet again.
Eleanor began to think he did that purposely, but didn't think much about it as Severus had finally spoken up, "It's just that I'm not suprised, not suprised at all that you take the boys side of things... especially when it comes to, oh let's say— the one thing that's keeping you safe!"
He popped open the bottle cap before pouring it into the simmering cauldron.
"This isn't about my safety, anymore. He already knows I'm alive. He sent Crouch to kill me—"
Severus slammed down the bottle, "—And you're just so lucky he didn't use a different curse then!"
The room grew quiet.
Even Severus knew that his comment was out of line.
Eleanor remained still for a short amount of time before traveling across the classroom to retrieve a new stack of notes for tomorrow's class. "I have to go."
Severus's eyes followed her as he slunched in a regretful state from his choice of words.
He cursed under his breath before walking around the table to stand beside the woman who hovered over his desk to grab all that she could before leaving the room.
"Eleanor you know I didn't mean for it come out the way it did." He tried to explain, Eleanor turned around only to bump into his chest.
He noticed the watery glaze that coated her hazel orbes; although Severus would describe them to look more like a juniper green up close.
She pushed herself away from him, but Severus shielded her from leaving.
"Let me through—"
"No." He breathed heavily, "No, everytime we argue you walk away before I can manage to speak out."
Eleanor blinked.
"Will you listen?" He asked
It took a moment to get a response from the professor. Her only acknowledgement to his question was by dropping the stack of notes and sitting down at a desk.
She narrowed her head his way for him to begin.
Severus nervously stared at her before he got an idea and turned himself around to hasten through the drawers in his desk in desperate search for something.
Once he had pulled out a small stack of letters he's kept to himself for the past few years. Severus walked around his desk once again to lean back and faced a confused Eleanor.
He pushed his dark hair out of his face before reading off the papers that trembled anxiously in his hands, "I know it's wrong...to admit how I feel..." Severus spoke out in a hushed tone, "But continuing to ignore it will only make it worse for myself."
Eleanor's features had been much softer than before.
Severus cleared his throat before shuffling through the papers, one that had been much more crinckled than the rest had been picked. "I was hesitant at first, but I figured that was because I despised her brother. Eleanor is her own person, she's very independent and isn't ever afraid to speak her mind. She's also patient and kind to everyone she greets, unlike me who can't decide whether if I hate teaching or people in general..." He looked up at her, "I wrote that the holiday of your first year teaching."
She nodded with a small smile.
He flipped to another piece of parchment. "I can't name many people I can enjoy having a conversation with than her. She sees through my flaws and imperfections, but isn't afraid to point out when I'm being a complete dick. Luckily, she's really good at forgiving me for my mistakes. I hate it when things get awkward between us, just like after any argument— I have my point and she has her own. Eleanor usually gets confused on whose side I'm on when we argue. Sometimes she likes to think that I argue against her, but my intentions are only for her own good."
Eleanor's face slowly dropped while Severus flipped to another page.
"I told myself that I would never forgive myself if something bad happened to her, I sworn to protect her and for the first time in a long time I decided to make that decision for myself and not just because Dumbledore asked me to. The dark lord...." Severus's voice faded off as looked at the writing before clicking his tongue and decided to skip that section. "Um..."
"Severus?" Eleanor had asked and suddenly his head snapped up to her. "What is this about?"
His soft dark eyes stared at her before he swallowed. Severus continued to search for a particular page. "I fell in love with her so quick that it took me over a year to adjust to the realization that I fell to begin with. At first I was timid with the fact, but than she kissed me and it seemed very clear to me that she is the woman I want to be with. Eleanor and I 'dated' for almost two weeks before she claimed our relationship to be a mistake even though the both of us knew that it wasn't even close to the truth. I wanted to give her time to heal and collect before I tried again. Unfortunately Sirius Black came into the picture by the next year and after I had found out that Sirius Black was indeed innocent, I knew almost instantly that things weren't going to be the same. It broke my heart, but I figured that you can't break what's already broken and to make things worse she's already engaged to him."
Eleanor stood dumbfounded with her arms crossed and eyes wet while she listened to his words.
His lip began to quiver and he bit it to keep himself composed. He went back to the first page he had read and adjusted his throat.
"Even though it doesn't make sense anymore, I still love her and always will." Severus finally read outloud before dropping the papers on his desk and rubbed his eyes.
Silence had once again filled the atmosphere in the room. Severus stood there quietly wiping away any threatening tears willing to break loose. He sniffed with his now pink large nose and waited into the silence.
Severus looked back to Eleanor.
Her mouth gapped and eyebrows furrowed together. It was obvious that it had effected her emotionally due to her loss of words.
"W-what are you expecting me to say to that?" Eleanor quietly asked
Severus shook his head, "I didn't ask you to say anything. I asked you to listen."
A tear ran down her face. She wiped it away with the sleeve of her sweater. Taking a deep breath she nodded and began to speak, "Severus, I'm so sorry." Eleanor approched him and to his suprise she wrapped her arms around him and brought him in for a hug. He instantly pulled hed close to him while he buried his face in her waves hair.
He listened to her heavy breathing which sounded like crying. In response to that he held her tighter. "I know." He whispered in her ear.
"I don't want you to think that I don't care because I do." She spoke, "If things were different, what I'm about to say would have been different as well." She broke apart from him, "We're friends."
Severus softly narrowed his eyes down at her.
"And saying that," Eleanor pushed up on her toes and soon enough Severus felt a warm kiss being placed on his lower cheek. His face heated up. "I love you in that sense."
In all honesty Eleanor knew for a fact that if she wasn't engaged to Sirius, she might have changed the situation around and confessed her love to him as well, but it would have been wrong.
She loved Sirius.
Severus had a small smile on his face before he bent own to kiss the top of her head.
"We're okay?" He asked
Eleanor nodded with a smile, "I think it's cute that you wrote it down on paper."
He blushed in response.
Suddenly a knock came to the door and Eleanor backed up a bit.
"What?" Severus called in his once again annoyed monotoned voice.
The door opened and Mcgonagall had walked in, "Oh, good the both of you are in here." She adressed, "You might want to hurry over to the great hall entrance... Umbridge has got news to spread." Mcgonagall was about to close the door, but opened it again. "Severus, you have something on your face."
Eleanor turned to Severus with wide eyes. A faint lipstick smudge was seen above his jaw.
The door shut.
"Sorry." Eleanor apologized and wiped it off with her sweater.
AN: Please Register to vote also Happy Pride Month 🏳️🌈 (wish they had all gender quality flag emojis) If you can please sign the petitions for George Floyed, David McAtee, Breonna Taylor, Emerald Black, Julius Jones, Robert Fuller, Oluwatoyin Salau, Tete Gulley, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery & Iyanna Dior— many more and everything to make a change.
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