Prohibition | Severus Snape

The Beast

November brought windy nights to the castle. Sofia continued teaching by Severus' side 3 times a week and proceeded to improve her own classes. Severus was becoming more comfortable with having Sofia around his space. By mid-November, they got used to working quietly together side by side.

"Did you go into my storeroom Greene?" She heard his voice from the hallway one evening. 

"I would hardly say I managed to go into it. It is an absolute mess."  

"Watch it, Greene." She heard the sound of crystal viles softly clicking against each other.  "I can not find the pearl's dust...If I find out you shattered it..." he warned her. Sofia huffed as she made her way over to the potions storeroom. She watched as Severus was roughly moving every vile looking for the pearl dust on the third shelf. Sofia observed him, thinking to herself that if she ever wanted to reach that shelf on her own she would have to at least climb up the second step of the ladder. 

"Top left corner." She smirked. His head paused. He slowly looked up, as his slender fingers snatched the vile. 

"You know, if you cleaned this room more often maybe you'd find the things you're always looking for..." Her cheeky voice followed him as he marched back to the classroom.

"And you know if you keep up this tone you will be the one cleaning that storeroom instead of my students." She could almost hear the smirk on his face. Sofia rolled her eyes as she knew she had already sorted the storeroom multiple times while Severus was away, she was always driven mad by the mess and unorganisation of his storage spaces. Severus was well aware of that fact, although he wasn't planning to acknowledge any of Sofia's efforts. He refused to admit that her secret intentions made his life a little easier on some days. 

The second weekend of November rolled around. Sofia spent her entire Saturday rewriting old lesson plans and reading. She didn't feel like socializing with the other professors. Severus also enjoying his solitude in his office. He graded some of the papers which he had leftover from the week and similarly to Sofia spent some quality time reading. A few students came knocking at his door throughout the day. They noticed that he was slightly more irritable than usual. Severus was unsure whether this was due to the fact that he finally had a day off and didn't want the children to disturb him, or that every time he heard a soft knock on his door a part of him secretly hoped it was Sofia. By the time the sun was setting Sofie knew it was time to grab some food and maybe reach out for some human contact. Upon entering the great hall she saw Hagrid sitting at his usual place.

"Hi, handsome!" She laughed leaning her body across from him at the teacher's table. 

"Sofie! I thought yeh forgot about me by now?" He smiled looking down at his food. She felt guilty. She had promised she'd visit him as often as possible, but after starting the potions classes she had completely neglected him. 

"I know! I'm so sorry. I actually wanted to ask if you would like to have some tea later at your hut?" 

"How can I say no te that?" Hagrid smiled. "I was meaning to show yeh something I found in the Forbidden Forest anyway." 

"That's amazing! I'm excited Hagrid,  I'll make my way to your hut after I change out of these annoying robes." Sofia waved as she hurried back to her room with her plate of food. She always preferred to eat in her room instead of the great hall. Not because she preferred to eat alone, but because she simply disliked being in such a large hall. She always enjoyed having someone around when she ate, but something about the size of the hall always made her feel uneasy. Maybe it was the memories of eating there as a student 3 times a day which forced her to push to find alternatives. 

Dusk shadowed over the castle, the clouds became long and dark. Some stars became visible from Sofia's windows twinkling over her. The sky was a deep purple shade. She took in the beauty of her surroundings one last time before changing into some black jeans and a simple sweater. She pulled her short hair up into a ponytail and rushed out through the quad. She made her way along the lake until she could finally see the tall black trees from the forbidden forest getting bigger. Even after being at Hogwarts for years, she still felt a chill creep up her spine as she looked out into the pitch-black forest. She quickly knocked on Hagrid's door and waited as she admired the grey stones. Soon enough the door opened to reveal what once was home.