Forget about Love

Snape awoke to screaming early the next morning. He glanced at his clock and saw that it was six in the morning. He rushed out of his room with just his pajama bottoms on. He knew the sound was coming from inside one of his rooms.

Snape’s thoughts paled at the idea that Erica may have found the secret passage into the Slytherin common room and kidnapped one of his charges for dinner. He rushed to her room and slammed the door open with his wand out in front.

He looked over at Erica on the bed. It was then he noticed the sunlight on her arms. There was steam rising from her arms, the sun was hurting her.

“Damn it,” he said. He dropped his wand and rushed over to the bed. Grabbing both the blanket and Erica, he lifted her up and took her into the sitting room. He set her on the couch and looked at her arms. She was burned slightly on her forearms, but he could fix it. He gently ran his hand over one of her burns.

The moment he touched her, Erica’s eyes flew open and had her hand at his neck, gripping tightly.

“Erica,” Snape said while trying to breath. Erica’s eyes widened and she released him. “I’m sorry,” she said sincerely. Snape’s hands went to his throat to check damage.

Erica was about to sit up; when she remembered that she wasn’t wearing any clothes. Snape looked down at her and noticed the same thing.

“Where are your clothes?” he asked. Erica just looked up at him with cool eyes.

“You try sleeping in clothes like mine and then we’ll talk,” she answered. Snape nodded in understanding.

“What happened?” Erica asked. Snape looked at her confused. “You don’t know?”

“I just remember a great pain in my arms, but it seemed like a part of my dream,” she replied.

“I forgot about the guestroom having that window that reflects the same view outside as one would see from a higher room. I didn’t think about it and for that I apologize,” Snape said.

Erica raised an eyebrow. “Wow…Severus Snape apologizing. I never thought I’d see the day. I must be real special.”
Snape just glared at her instead of answering. “Let me get you something for your burns,” Snape said after glaring at her for several minutes.

Snape entered his private stores and started searching around for a burn solvent that could be rubbed into one’s skin to heal a burn.

He finally found it and carried it back into the sitting room. He stopped in shock when he arrived, and just stood there and stared.

Erica was standing in front of the fire, her blanket wrapped around her like a toga, her shoulders bare with her arms crossed holding up the blanket. The back slipped down a bit, showing the silky looking skin of her back. Her long hair tousled every which way looking like she has just been made love to with her eyes going green in the light from the fire. If anyone had walked in at that point, they would have misconstrued the entire situation. Snape was in awe. He didn’t even move when she looked up at him and they locked eyes.

“Professor?” she said. When she spoke it knocked him back into reality. If Snape had been the kind of person to blush, he would have then. He had been caught staring at her.

He handed her the bottle of the burn solvent he went searching for. “I am going back to bed now,” he said.
“Where do I sleep?” she asked as she applied the solvent to her arms. Snape groaned in frustration. He wasn’t giving up his bed, he didn’t want her here among his books, and he couldn’t send her back into the guestroom without killing her. So where to put her?

“Follow me,” he said. Erica raised an eyebrow, but followed him. She had to walk slowly and hold onto the blanket tight. She kept her eyes on his firm back. He looked good in just his pajama bottoms. He had muscular arms from stirring caldrons all day long that weren’t too muscular for his body, but just right.

\'I wonder if he is wearing anything underneath them…\'

Erica frowned and shook her head mentally at the thought. She shouldn’t be thinking of Snape like that, especially with their past together.

Snape was having a problem himself not looking at the girl behind him in just the blanket. They entered his bedroom and Erica was in surprise how nice it was, and how dark.

There wasn’t a window in this room. “Lumos,” Erica said with a wave of her hand. The room flooded with soft candlelight. It would be rather romantic under different circumstances. The room had black carpet and black furniture. The only splash of color was on his bed, where he had dark emerald green sheets and blankets. Even the pillows were black.

“You are real dark aren’t you?” Erica asked staring at Snape’s back. He turned toward her slowly and stared at her.
“Accio wand,” he said. His wand flew into the room from where he left it. He conjured up a cot for her to sleep on and handed her a pillow.

“Good night,” he said as he crawled back into bed.

“Thank you, and good night,” she replied. She walked over to the cot and placed the pillow on it. She kept her back to Snape as she unwrapped the blanket from around her body. She lay down on the cot with the blanket over her body and fell into a deep sleep.

Snape whispered, “Nox” before slipping into slumber world himself.

Erica woke up a couple hours later. At first she was a little disoriented from the night before and was surprised to find herself on a small cot. Then she remembered what happened. She sat up, holding the blanket in place, and looked over at Snape’s bed. It was empty. She listened and could hear a shower running.

Erica lie back down and let out a sigh of relief. She wouldn’t have to deal with a half naked Snape this morning. She stood up and wrapped the blanket around her just like last night.

She sighed and picked up the pillow Snape loaned her and placed it on his bed before proceeding to make the bed. She was just finishing when she felt a presence behind her. She froze before flying up over the bed and landing on the other side, all without losing her blanket.

She looked up at the man on the other side of the bed and breathed a sigh of relief. “Damn Snape, you scared the shit out of me,” she said putting one hand on her chest. Snape smirked. He was dressed in his usual black outfit, complete with billowing robes.

“Interesting how easy it is to scare a creature of the night,” he said. Erica bit her tongue to say anything else. “May I take a shower, or do you have a problem with a ‘creature of the night’ using your shower. Despite what you may think, I still need human needs…”

“Like you need to eat?” Erica nodded.

“Yes, I need a glass of blood, not human blood, just blood of any sort, except vampire blood, of course.”
Snape sneered at the thought, but nodded. “Take a shower and I will order breakfast for me and blood for you.”
With that he disappeared into the sitting room. Erica just stood there stunned. Most people would freak out if she asked for a glass of blood in the morning, but Snape just went about like it was nothing.

\'Guess he really doesn’t care, or he figures this will all be over soon. That or he’s planning on killing me…\'

Erica shook her head at that thought and walked into the guestroom to retrieve her clothes and then walked into the bathroom.

The bathroom was gorgeous. It was brightly lit with silver everywhere. The floor was a bright emerald green with silver snakes engraved on it. The mirror was oval with an emerald trim. The sink was silver with a silver snake engraved on the faucet, and the shower was the best part. Unlike a normal shower, this one was more like a waterfall pouring down on you. Next to that was a gigantic emerald green bathtub with silver snake faucet. It looked big enough to fit a least three people in it comfortably, but Erica doubted Snape ever tried.

“This is so gorgeous,” Erica said out loud to no one particular.

“I agree,” Snape said. Erica turned to see him in the doorway. He was holding something in black.

“I thought you would like something besides those dirty clothes to wear. Minerva dug this up for you if you would like,” he said placing the black outfit next to the sink. “I will take my leave of you now. Albus would like you to go to his office when you are able. Breakfast will arrive shortly.”

Snape turned and walked out of the room with robes billowing out behind him. He walked into the sitting room and picked up his bottle of fire whiskey. He sank down into one of the armchairs in front of the fire. He leaned back and sighed.

She still looks beautiful. Snape took a swig of his fire whiskey and laid his head on the back of the chair. He sighed again as his mind wandered back to his school days.

Erica was standing in the shower letting the water run over her in waves. She felt relaxed and yet still tense.
It is just because Severus is in the other room. Relax girl.

Erica sighed and stepped out of the shower and dried herself with a quick drying charm except her hair. She picked up the outfit McGonagall picked out for her.

It was a dress, which was something Erica despised, but it was very beautiful. She put it on and looked at herself in the mirror.

It was black, but upon closer inspection she noticed that there was a design in silver all throughout the dress. There were roses all along the dress in silver, but very faint. The dress appeared to be velvet, but felt like silk under her fingers. It was a long dress that went down to the ground. It had a low neck with silver trim that showed off some cleavage, but still remain in taste. It was tight in the bosom, but she could still breathe and it showed off her figure great. The arms were belled out with silver trim like the neckline. There was also silver trim along the bottom of the dress. Erica bit back a giggle.

\'I can’t believe that the head of Gryffindor owns something with Slytherin colors on it.\'

Erica dried her hair and looked at herself in the mirror again. Her light brown hair flowed over her shoulders and down her back. She realized that the back of the dress was low. It stopped at the small of her back and was held together with interwoven strings charmed to tie automatically to fit the wearer.

Erica smiled and nodded. She transfigured her boots into comfortable shoes that would go with the dress and stepped out of the bathroom. She put her clothes back in her room and walked into the sitting room.
She had to smile. Snape was sitting in his chair with his head back, eyes closed, and a bottle of fire whiskey in his hand.

Erica walked over and touched his hand to wake him up. She gasped as a strange sensation took over and she found herself in his thoughts.

------

“Hi, My name is Erica. What’s yours?” a fifteen-year-old Erica said holding out her hand. She was dressed in her Gryffindor school outfit talking to a sixteen-year-old Severus dressed in a Slytherin school outfit.
He sneered at her before turning away from her and paying attention to the professor in their Defense against the Dark Arts class.

Erica shrugged and turned back to the teacher.

Class let out and Erica was talking to a young Lupin, James Potter, and Sirus Black when Snape walked up behind her.

“My name is Severus Snape,” he said before walking away. Erica watched him walk away in surprise while the boys with anger.

“I wonder what got into him. Usually he never talks to Gryffindors unless forced,” James said. The boys shrugged their shoulders and walked off to their next class. Erica followed Snape.

When she finally caught up with him, he was in the library studying. She sat across from him and pulled out a book, quill, and parchment. Snape eyed her with curiosity before turning back to his book.

They studied together in silence. Finally Snape spoke up. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Studying,” she said. “Plus I wanted to talk to you, but you looked busy and I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“What about?” he inquired. Erica looked up and locked her brown eyes with his black ones.

“I want us to be friends,” she said before looking back at her book. “Why?”

She sighed and looked up at him again. “I think that you are pretty smart and I want to get to know you better. Is that a crime?”

“Obviously you don’t understand the houses,” Snape said. “Slytherins and Gryffindors have never gotten along, and probably never will. Why would you want to be friends with a Slytherin?”

“I don’t. I want to be friends with Severus Snape. Do you think that is possible?” she said looking directly into his eyes.

“But I am a Slytherin,” he said. “Your logic makes no sense.”

“I’ll make you a deal. We become friends and you are no longer a Slytherin, and I am no longer a Gryffindor. We are simply Severus Snape and Erica Kartake, two people who want to be friends. Sound fair?” she said holding out her hand.

Snape eyed her hand for a few moments before taking it in his own. “Fair,” he said.

The two went back to studying in silence, but this time with the beginnings of a friendship between them.

----

Snape opened his eyes and sat up. The first thing he noticed was Erica lying on the floor.

“Erica?” he asked concerned. She groaned and started to stand. Snape stood and helped her up. Once standing she turned to Snape and thanked him.

“What happened?” he asked. Erica shook her head.

“Damned if I know,” she said putting her hand on her head. “I was just coming over here to wake up you up, I touched you, and then I had a dream of when you and I decided to become friends. Then I woke up.”
Strange she would dream about the same thing I was thinking about.

It was at this point he noticed the dress she was wearing. She was beautiful; there was no mistake about that. The design on the dress was stunning and quite detailed. The neckline was tasteful, yet was low enough to get his blood boiling. He was secretly thanking God that he wore enough layers to cover up the fact that his pants were getting a little tight.

Erica looked up and noticed something in Snape’s eyes before they turned cold again. She didn’t have enough time to distinguish what it was before it was gone. Her heightened smell was picking something up, but it was so faint that she didn’t think anything of it.

“So, where’s breakfast?” she said. About then Dobby appeared with a tray of food and a glass of a thick red liquid.

“Your meal, sir,” he said. Dobby sat the tray and glass down on the desk and then disappeared. Snape walked over to the desk and picked up the glass.

“Here is your blood. I believe it is pig’s blood if that makes any difference,” he said handing her the glass.

“Thank you,” she said taking the glass from him. Snape just stared at her as she started to lift the glass to her lips.

“Are you going to watch me drink this?” she asked. Snape looked into her eyes. “Why not? Should I turn away just because I am aware that you are drinking blood?”

“Sorry,” she said angrily. “It’s just that most people wouldn’t want to watch someone drink blood.”

“Well, I’m not ‘most people,’” he said. She shrugged and drank her blood. Snape stood there and watched her. She was very careful not to spill anything on the dress. When she finished, he handed her a napkin and she wiped any extra blood from her mouth.

“I can see why most people wouldn’t be able to handle it,” he said taking the empty glass from her.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” she asked. Snape looked back at his food and then at the empty cup in his hand before looking at Erica.

“I lost my appetite,” he said. Erica started laughing, distracting Snape from the empty glass of blood.

She had her own unique look about her. Her face lit up when she laughed, which was something would choose to forget, but couldn’t. A knock at the door distracted Snape from the laughing beauty. He walked over to the door and opened it, forgetting about the glass in his hand.

“Interesting Severus. If you want the rumors about you being a vampire to stop, you may not want to encourage it by drinking thick…red…blood?”

“Enter Lupin,” Snape said. Lupin entered cautiously. Erica was smiling, but she was over her giggles. Snape placed the empty glass on the table and turned to Lupin.

“To what do we owe the honor of your presence?” Snape said crossing his arms across his chest.

“We have decided not to evacuate the children from the school,” Lupin said.

“WHAT!” Snape and Erica said simultaneously jumping up.