You open your eyes to find yourself still sprawled out across the bed, but now surrounded by a blanket of darkness: you must have slept for some hours. After a second of squinting and attempting to adjust your eyes to the lack of light, you pull your wand from your pocket instead. "Lumos", you exhale, pulling yourself up from the bed and searching for a candle to light. As the flame settles and your vision becomes clear enough to not trip over something, you glance at the time. 'Crap', you sigh internally, 'I seem to be making a habit out of ruining my habits'. A small chuckle erupts at the thought, but you roll your eyes in slight concern of how the past few days have panned out.
"I should be able to make the end of dinner if I hurry up", you mutter to your reflection in the mirror, re-styling your hair and reapplying some make-up to bring some life back to your face. - With a wink at the mirror, you turn and run up towards the Great Hall.
Luckily, as you poke your head around the entrance, it seems that you haven't missed too much after all - the few students left in the castle are all still chatting away and finishing their main courses. Despite a few head turns - most surprised to see you at all, as opposed to your late arrival - you manage to slither in beside Amelia and the others without a fuss.
"Oh, hi [y/n]!", Amelia turns towards you. "Nice of you to join us..", she teases with a laugh.
"Hello Amelia", you grin back. "Yes, well, I can't grace you with my presence all of the time you know, I'm just so busy and important", you say with a sarcastic shrug.
Amelia snorts and waves her arms up and down pretending to worship you - "Why of course, your highness!"
Nudging her with your shoulder, you quickly take the opportunity to grab some food from the table before it disappears.
"So, have you been up to much today? We didn't see you around after breakfast", Amelia fills the silence and smiles.
You look up, trying to stay sociable and not just stuff your face (especially since you'd missed Lunch as well). "Oh!", you smile back, "No, nothing much to be honest. I found a quiet spot and did some reading and, you know, made the most of the peace and quiet." You elegantly bring a forkful of food to your mouth, hoping Amelia might monologue for a while as you ate.
"Oh that's nice, yes I'm going to miss all of this once everyone else returns..", she looks around the hall and sighs gently. -Whilst you agree with her, you think of all the adventures the others have been on so far and the mischief they've been up to: you've got a feeling that they'll be just fine, if not better, when term starts again.
"What were you reading?", she asks, putting her knife and fork down neatly.
Your mind returned to earlier that day, remembering your new favourite book that you'd been enjoying until you fled the tower. - 'Shit, my book', the thought came to you. 'I don't remember picking it up before I left..' - You made a mental note to collect that later on.
"Erm, just bits and pieces for research, you know.. -But I'm open to any book suggestions!"
"Hmm", Amelia smiles and hums a reply, "Well, if you read anything good then let me know too. -I could swear you've read every book in the Library already", she chuckles.
For once, a comfortable silence falls between you, and Amelia doesn't try to fill it with small talk. You finish your plate of food, feeling much better now that your stomach is full again - you just hope that after your nap earlier, you won't be struggling to sleep again tonight. With everything else going on, you really hadn't taken the time to hang out with Amelia and the gang recently, or even enjoy the enormity of the Great Hall at Christmastime during the rare occasion that it is quiet. Admiring the decorations, a strange feeling pokes at the back of your head, as if someone is looking at you. -Your eyes search the hall, but as you look to the front table, all that you notice is a dark shadow leaving through the side-door.
YOU ARE READING
'Silent Night' || Severus Snape x Reader | Short Story
Fanfiction[Y/N] is enjoying her last Christmas at Hogwarts. Over the years, she has developed a shamefully big crush on the Potions Master, Professor Snape. Becoming Snape's assistant, helping with potions and prep-work, has not helped this. However, what [Y...
