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.
...
Was she? The truth was, she'd never been ready for this in the first place. Helping him train had been one thing, but sparring with him, attacking him so that he could get better at defending himself... It made her stomach turn. And yet, she'd agreed. Because if there was anything she could do to help him stand up to those bullies, she'd do it in a heartbeat, no matter how uncomfortable it made her.
And so she found herself saying, "Yeah. Yeah, sure."
He stood up and assumed his duelling stance. She did the same, though her own felt awkward and wrong.
"Ready?"
She wasn't supposed to ask. He'd told her time and time again that he should always be ready, because he never knew when Potter or Black would hex him in the back like the cowards they were.
He rolled his eyes. "Just go."
"Rictusempra!" she shouted. It was a spell carefully chosen; the only duelling spell she was willing to cast on her best friend. The tickling charm. He'd been annoyed at first, until she pointed out that it didn't matter what she used; all that mattered was that he learned to stop whatever was cast at him.
Severus blocked it with Protego, then dodged the next one. Spell after spell he dodged and parried and blocked, until all Emma could see was the bright light of third-year magic.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Before Emma's brain could even process the words, she found herself being flung back like a ragdoll, as her legs locked together and her arms snapped to her sides. Her body froze. She couldn't even scream when her head hit the wall behind her.
"Emma!"
Tears welled up in her eyes as he undid the Body-Bind Curse, allowing her to move her limbs again.
"What the hell, Severus?"
"I didn't mean to!"
"You never said you'd attack me! Why would you do that?"
"I was just seeing if I could cast something among the defensive spells. I didn't mean to make it so strong, I swear."
She groaned, rubbing her hand over the painful spot on her head. Fortunately, it wasn't bleeding. "Don't do that again. You know I'm no good at this."
"I won't," he said, before a smile spread across his face. "I did it though. I can defend and attack at the same time."
"Well, of course you can. You're brilliant at this."
He sat down against the wall next to her. "Do you think she'll be impressed? If I beat them?"
Who? The word died on her lips with realisation. Lily, of course. She was all he could think about.
"She should be," she said, forcing a small smile. "It's bloody impressive."
He grinned, but she averted her gaze. I'm impressed, she thought. Doesn't that count for anything?
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