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.
...
"What are we having for dinner?" Emma asked as she walked into the kitchen.
"I'm making pasta. The easy one, with the tomatoes."
A frown appeared on Emma's face. "Oh."
Aunt April quirked an eyebrow as she drained the spaghetti. "Oh? Not good enough?"
"It's fine," said Emma. "Severus doesn't like pasta."
"Well, then it's a good thing he's not having dinner with us tonight, isn't it? Set the table, will you?"
Emma silently walked over to the cabinets and took out two plates and two sets of utensils.
"You know what you've forgotten to tell me?" said Aunt April, as she mixed the pasta and the sauce together.
"What's that?"
"You've been telling me all about your new friend, all summer long..." She poked Emma teasingly. "But what you haven't told me, is whether or not you two are boyfriend and girlfriend yet."
Emma paled, her eyes widening. "Aunt April!"
"What?"
"No! It's not like that! We're just friends."
"Just friends?" Aunt April laughed. "Come on, Emma, you're obviously crazy about this kid."
"It's not like that, okay?" Emma dropped herself on her chair by the kitchen table, her cheeks warm with colour. "He's in love with Lily."
Her eyes snapped to her niece. "You're kidding?"
"No," Emma muttered, playing with her fork. "He doesn't like me that way."
Aunt April sighed as she set the steaming pan down in the middle of the table. "I'm sorry, darling."
"It's fine. They're both my best friends. It's nice if they end up together." Emma tried to sound convincing, but she knew her aunt would see right through it, so she busied herself with scooping pasta onto her plate.
"Well, yeah, but –"
"Aunt April!"
"Alright!" She put her hands up defensively. "Alright. I'll drop it."
Emma nodded. All throughout dinner, she didn't speak again.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"CROOAAKK!"
"Alright, alright, hang on."
With a vegetable knife, Emma peeled the skin off a cherry tomato she'd taken up from breakfast and cut it in half. She'd barely laid them on the desk when her toad gobbled up both halves and called out again.
"Yes, Croak, I'm on it!" She laughed. "You can't eat them with the skin, your little stomach can't digest it. Be patient."
Before she'd finished peeling the next tomato, Croak stuck out his tongue and licked her face.
