Hard to Come By

Chapter 8

Ham and cheese sandwiches are always good.

Your mood lightens significantly once you're walking down the hall munching on dinner. You grabbed a bowl of grapes to take with you as well, knowing a simple sandwich wouldn't fill your stomach. You hold your sandwich and wand in one hand while the other carries the bowl of fruit.

The small ball of light coming from your wand lights up just enough of the dark halls so you can see a couple feet in front of you.

On the way back to your rooms you have to walk down a hallway that has magnificent arches, letting in the cool night air. You step to the rail and lean forward a bit and look at the stars above. Unlike in the Muggleworld's cities, there is no light pollution here. It leave the sky immensely clear so the stars can be easily seen, and a fantastic idea pops into your head.

You look around to make sure there are no students out past curfew to follow you before taking a detour down an adjacent hallway. 

You were a good student, but sometimes you needed an escape. Somewhere away from the crowded common room and dormitories, somewhere silent and vacant.

There's many towers in Hogwarts and you made one of them yours.

It's the closest tower to the exposed hallway you just came from, but it's high enough to see the beautiful night sky. You make your way quickly up the stone steps, your chest filling with excitement.

When you get to the last few steps, you see the black tapestry that tells you you're here. Gently, you move the decades old fabric out of the way and walk into the starlit room.

Just as beautiful as you remembered it, and you haven't even looked to the sky yet. It smells old and dusty but it's one way you can get away from work. You take a bite of your sandwich to only be interrupted.

"Of all places, I didn't think I'd run into you here," you roll your eyes, recognizing his voice instantly. You turn to the side the voice came from and see none other than Snape himself stargazing.

"I figured perhaps I'd see you at supper but you were absent," he continues lowly. He doesn't move from where he stands by the balcony and instead has his head tilted to the sky.

"I was busy," you reply dryly after swallowing a mouthful of sandwich. You make the decision to not let him ruin the view and walk up to the railing, keeping an appropriate distance from him.

You crane your neck up and look at the sky. The view of it here, as always, is unmatched. The both of you look up to the sky together in silence, putting aside the argument you had today. If you could even call it that.

You slowly raise the sandwich to your mouth and the silence breaks with a crunch of lettuce. You quickly whip your head around, not expecting the noise of eating to be so loud, and you get a good look at him in the moonlight.

His hands lay on the railing and the light from the sky casts a beautiful shadow across his face. His cheek bones and nose harshly accentuated.

God he's a work of art.

In this moment, he is just Severus and you are just Y/N. Off the clock, no papers to grade, no schedule to stick to. Just two people enjoying the night.

You continue to slowly chew your food while looking at him. He's apparently annoyed by the noise, throwing you a classic sideways glance. You lift your hand to your mouth, "sorry," you swallow the bite, "I got hungry."

"It's quite alright," he says to you and turns his body so he can still look at the sky and see you as well. You have no idea what he's going to say but you're not ready for whatever it is. You came here for peace, not passive aggressive arguing.