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.
...
The weather was nice, for a winter day. Emma sat on one of the low walls around the courtyard, fiddling with her wand. Her eyes were trained on the castle doors, as she waited for her friends to emerge. She set the wand down next to her and pulled the elastic band out of her hair to re-braid it.
When she was done, she patted the wall next to her to pick her wand back up – only it wasn't there. Finally tearing her eyes off the castle entrance, she looked down. No wand. She jumped to her feet, scanning the ground around her, but her wand seemed to have disappeared into thin air.
"Looking for this?"
She spun around at the sound of the voice. Black and his friends stood in the middle of the courtyard, grinning at her. He flicked a wand up and down in his hand – her wand.
Oh, shit.
"Not so tough without a wand, are you, Moore?"
"That's mine! Give it back!"
"Give it back?" Black echoed. "Now, what would be the fun in that?"
Her knees trembled. She tried to stay calm, but in all honesty, she felt naked without that wand. Vulnerable. Her hands balled to fists, as she racked her brain for something, anything, that she could do.
"Give it back!" came another voice from her left. Her heart leapt when she saw Severus coming to her rescue, his wand already drawn and a murderous look on his face.
Black laughed, nudging Potter to do the same. "And what are you going to do about it, Snivellus?"
The other students in the courtyard moved back, creating a circle around them. Excitement buzzed through them in anticipation of a fight.
Severus was the first to fire, but Black parried it easily. "Give it back," Severus growled again.
"You'll pay for that," said Black, a smirk on his face.
The four boys quickly had him surrounded, forcing him to swivel his head around to keep an eye on all of them equally.
"Come on, Severus," Emma whispered. "You've been practicing so much. You can do it."
Just as Black jumped forward, Severus cast her spell, a sphere of semi-translucent white light forming a shield around him. It was stunning. Black's spell ricocheted off it. Emma couldn't stop a laugh from bubbling up her throat as the four boys stood there, gaping at the new magic.
Suddenly, someone shouted, "Professors coming!" and within seconds, the crowd scattered. Black threw her wand to the ground in anger and turned to leave, his friends right behind him. Severus picked it up, letting the shield evaporate, just as McGonagall stepped into the courtyard.
"What's going on here?" she barked as the students hastened inside.
"Nothing," said Severus as he passed the wand back to a beaming Emma. "Just practicing."
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