Teachers Pet

chapter 26: a date

After I returned to my room, I washed my face with cold water to wake me up a bit, and put on my uniform and did my hair and makeup. Today was gonna be rough running off no hours of sleep, I mean I did sleep all day yesterday, but I was still going to start feeling the effects of the all nighter soon. The hardest part was not telling Hermione what happened, I just stayed quiet and let her talk the whole way to breakfast and while we ate. I zoned out as she talked to Harry and Ron, picking at my food and looking up at the potions professor. He walked in a little late and greeted Dumbledore, he went and sat down and looked in my direction, we held eye contact and I just gave a small smile, "Y/n are you listening?" I heard Hermione say I looked at her and then back at Snape, he had turned away and was talking with Filch. "Huh yeah sorry." I said facing her, "Have you got a dress for the yule ball?" she asked, drinking her pumpkin juice. "I don't know if I'm going to go actually." I said looking down at my hands. "Are you kidding? you have too! It's going to be so much fun." I didn't really know what to say, I didn't want to go without a date, but I didn't want to say that in front of Harry after I turned him down. "I don't know" I said shrugging, "Oh come on, I'm going with Ron and Harry's got Ginny, It'll be wonderful." I looked at Harry smiling and Ron just sighed a bit. "Ooo Harry! You asked ginny! Oh my gosh that's amazing who would've thought!" I said teasing him, "Yeah who would've?" Ron said clearly a bit standoffish about the idea, Hermione just nudged him as Harry just laughed. "I'll think about it." I said looking back up at the teachers table, Snape was just picking at his food and I just admired him, thinking about the hectic night we had spent together. I may have been in trouble, but It was still nice to have seen him. I noticed someone else's eyes on me and looked at the other end of the teachers table, Lockhart was staring me down with a creepy look on his face, I just made a gross face and turned back to the trio. I was still wondering what he had up his sleeve, he never punished me for that day after class, and I was always on edge around him. But he was harmless.

I was headed to Snapes for lunch to meet with him to talk to Dumbledore, I was very very nervous, I didn't know what he was going to say or think. My classes had gone smoothly so far, and I was doing fine not stressing about this conversation, but now it was happening and I was terrified. I walked into Snape's room not even knocking because I found no use in it anymore. I saw Snape writing at his desk and shuffling papers together, he looked up at me and I just smiled. "Are you ready to talk to Dumbledore?" I said holding my book in front of me as I walked up to his desk. "Yes, give me a moment." he said, finishing up and standing. "I'm scared." I said bluntly as he walked around his desk and I followed him out of his room and down the hall. "I know, but i'm sure everything will be just fine." he said with a small smile looking down at me. I nodded and we walked in silence the rest of the way. "Will you tell him, I don't know if I can." I said sighing as we approached his office entrance. "What are you so worried he will be upset about?" he said looking at me with furrowed brows. "I don't know, and that's what scares me, I mean what if he just thinks I was being stupid and expells me or something." he just sighed, "Well I won't let him do that, and I don't think hell want to." Just then Dumbledore came walking out, most likely getting ready to head to the great hall. "Well what's going on here? Is she in trouble Severus?" he said grinning. "No Sir, we actually need to talk to you about something." I watched as Severus spoke and looked at Dumbledore, his face got a tad more serious. "Oh?" he said looking at Severus, they had some sort of exchange with their eyes, and I was a little confused. What did they know that I didn't? "Come on in." was all he said and I followed behind Severus.

We sat down in the chairs in front of his desk and he sat down in front of us. "So what is troubling you?" Dumbledore asked, looking at me. I looked over at Severus and he just nodded slightly. I looked back at Dumbledore letting out a breath. "Um last night, I was left a note. And it led me to the Forbidden Forest, and um well why don't you just watch for yourself, instead of me rambling on." I said laughing nervously and gesturing to my head. He looked at Snape and he just stayed silent giving him another look. "Hmm okay." He said smiling. I looked over slightly at Snape as Dumbledore entered my head and looked at the events that happened. I made sure to block him from anything else, and Snape slowly looked at me too, giving me a comforting look. "Wow that is quite a lot my child." he said sighing and giving me a worried look. "Are you alright? Do you feel anything?" he said, his brows furrowing. "Yes I feel fine, and I don't feel anything unusual." I responded. "Hmm well, can you step out for a moment so I can speak to Severus?" he said smiling, "What? No. If you know something, I have a right to know too, especially if it's about me!" I said a little flustered, I wasn't going to leave the room so they could talk about me, I mean I was scared and worried, I didn't need any more secrets being kept from me. He just sighed and I looked to Severus, he just looked at me and then back to Dumbledore, "Certainly she can handle whatever you need to say, Albus." I smiled at him sticking up for me. "I have no doubt she can handle it, but I don't want to scare her anymore than she already is if i'm not sure of anything just yet." He said politely. This was bullshit, I needed to be kept in the loop of things, I began to grow more frustrated as they sat and talked about me as if I wasn't here, I mean it's my body, and it happened to me, so I should be informed of anything they might be aware of. I'm sick of them treating me like such a child, and having all these secrets that they whisper about. I looked down at my feet as they continued on about whether or not I should stay. I looked over at Snape's feet and noticed the shoes he was wearing, they were plain black dress shoes, most of the time they were hidden from his robes, you can tell a lot about a person from their shoes. I had tuned out their conversation but as I stared intently at his shoes, trying to figure out why I felt as if I've seen the same shoes before, I heard a familiar line, "And why should we just expose her to everything now?" Dumbledore questioned, "You know why. She needs to be prepared," I tuned out the rest of what Snape said as a realization hit me. I remembered my first night in the castle, staying in Dumbledore's room. I eavesdropped on a conversation he'd had, and had seen the very shoes and heard the very voice I was seeing and hearing right now. How did I not realize this sooner? His voice was so distinct, I must have been distracted by his cruelty when we first met, and then eventually I would get distracted by my admiration for him, I never stopped to think about this. I slowly looked up to Severus as they continued and examined his face as I thought about what to do. There wasn't much I could do, but something was up, he was talking about me that night, and I'm sure they were talking about me that day outside Albus' office. Everything was making sense, but it also wasn't, I still didnt know why they were so focused about me? "Y/n?" I heard Dumbledore say and Snape looked over at me as I turned to face the old man that now had a serious look on his face. "Y-yes?" I said, I decided to not bring it up right now, and to just try and find out more about what they knew.