Darkest Desire

4. Unfortunate Circumstances (EDITED)

For all the Harry Potter fans out there, this is about where the story lines up with the fourth book (aka The Goblet of Fire). The beginning of the chapter is still my imagination but later on events of the book will start appearing. Hope you like it.

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Trying to strike a balance between ignoring each-other and arguing seemed to be key to the cohabitation project between Aurora and Severus. The Potions Master had learned to accept the presence of the young witch residing at his house, and Aurora had had to acknowledge that the Professor wasn't all that bad. They'd settled into some sort of quasi-comfortable routine in which they just kept to themselves and didn't try and continuously find things to argue about. They still rubbed elbows on occasion, of course, but they'd learned to keep their distance and quietly admitted to themselves that they respected one another. Not that they'd ever admit to such a thing out loud. Severus sensed there was something different about the girl he was supposed to be looking after, something that didn't quite add up. And Aurora had come to the realization that the Potions Master was in fact quite accomplished and competent, in his own silent and broody manner.

The Potions professor had to admit that Aurora was seemed indeed more than capable of handling herself. There was this silent confidence in her bearing, this almost innate self-assured quality to her stride that was at odds with her age and young appearance. It was strange, almost as if she were restraining herself while still in absolute control. It was an almost familiar habit, but it took Severus a while to recognize it since he didn't expect it in someone so you. It was a  trait he'd become quite adept at practicing a long time ago. But for him it had been a matter of survival. Why would a young girl such as herself need to reign herself in to such a degree? What was she hiding?

Aurora, on the other hand, was getting the distinct impression that there was much more to Severus Snape than met the eye. His serious demeanor spoke of a will-strength and self-control that seemed unusual for a mere faculty member at Hogwarts. Closed off and solemn, there was this grave and scholarly quality to his bearing, one that suggested hidden depths and well-hidden secrets. What kind of secrets could a potions professor have that required him to be that earnest and stern? What was it that he was trying to hide away so forcefully?

And just when Aurora thought of maybe finding a way to get through to him, to see what the man was all about, they got into another argument over something silly and inconsequential, and she ended up doubting herself. There were truly times when she wished she had just told her parents to kindly piss off. That she hadn't listened to them and stayed home. And more importantly, that she should have hightailed it out of there as soon as she saw Severus bloody Snape....But, here she was, stuck with a man who was as closed off as a vault at Gringotts and seemed to have the emotional range of a dementor.

After the "shopping incident" the two had gone back to completely ignoring each other. Which was perfectly fine by Aurora.

It was one of those days in which the sky seemed to be weeping, a carpet of  dark grey clouds covering the sky as far as the eye could see. Aurora had taken a book from the bookcase in the living room. She'd expected to get into another argument with Severus over it, but strangely enough he'd merely given her a calculating look as he watched her take it from the shelve. It was an old tome, several hundred pages thick, and one of the few ones in the house that wasn't dedicated in its entirety to potions. She had been amazed at the amount of books that Snape possessed, and most of them were potions-related. Plants, effects, properties and characteristics of hundreds of potions, recipes, enhancements and improvements were recorded in detail in books all over the house. So when she found a book on dark spells and curses and its application to tranfigurative magic Aurora was more than happy to dive into it.