Eye of the Beholder

Chapter 40. Epilogue.

Things carried on as usual after the Christmas holidays ended. Students returned, classes started, and homework was assigned.

For Sasha, life became a bit more complicated. Upon returning to Hogwarts, Cho and the other Ravenclaws exclaimed in surprise and made a fuss over her change in appearance. When pushed for details, she only revealed that Snape had provided her with a potion that would significantly fade it. The students raised their eyebrows at Snape voluntarily doing such a thing, but were not surprised that he could.

Word soon spread around the school of what happened. She was immediately congratulated by Albus Dumbledore, who commented on not just her appearance, but on the warmth and happiness she seemed to extrude. Blushing, as she knew he suspected the real reason for her happiness lay not just in her appearance, but in a certain Potions Master.

Draco made a point of confronting and congratulating Snape on ‘curing that Ravenclaw chit of her ugliness’, and hinted that his father had informed him of the real reason how it had happened. Draco assured Snape that ‘mum was the word’, and walked off feeling superior at his inside information. Snape laughed to himself, and made no effort to correct Draco’s thoughts.

Pansy Parkinson shot Sasha cruel looks of seething hatred what she passed her in the halls. With her pug-nose held high, she waddled away seething with jealousy, her jowls wiggling with the motion.

Lucius Malfoy never did remember exactly what had happened that night. With the little bits of information he had gleaned from Avery, it sounded like the Dark Revel was quite a success. However, his instincts still told him that something was not right with Snape. He still had his suspicions, and waited patiently for Snape to slip up, revealing the small chink in his armour that had to be there.

As for Sasha and Snape, things were awkward for the first little while. After spending so much time together, she found it difficult to go back to sleeping in her dorm room. Snape, for once, found the silence and emptiness of his dungeons rather quiet, and lonely. However, just the every day pressures of classes, both teaching (for Snape), and attending (for Sasha), kept them occupied. Fairly often, Snape and Sasha would both be nt fnt form the dining hall in the evenings, however nobody, except for Dumbledore, noticed. Even if they did, it was considered a coincidence, if they thought about it at all. If Cho noticed that, occasionally, Sasha’s bed was not slept in the previous night, she chalked it up to her pulling an all-nighter, studying.

Sasha and Snape continued to see each other for the remainder of the term. Sasha, unwillingly, had to return to her mother’s house in the summer. Snape, brushing aside her tears of sadness at leaving him, reluctantly let her go. The only thing that kept her sane during the summer months was the thoughts of going back to Hogwarts for one final year. One more year with Severus.

For Snape, he took the separation in stride, keeping his emotions and thoughts to himself if Dumbledore happened to ask in passing about her well being. Snape would never admit that late at night, when the loneliness became too great, he would get up from his oversized bed and walk over to his armoire, opening it up. He would reach in and carefully pull out his old Slytherin jersey. Holding it up to his nose, he would inhale the faint scent of her, lavender and something very feminine, before carefully replacing it. He held on to the memory of that scent as long as he could.

Lying in bed, he was comforted by the thought that out there, somewhere, there was someone who thought of him not as a Death Eater to be manipulated and exploited, or as a greasy git of a Potions Master, but as a man. There was someone who actually wanted to touch him, seek out his affections, or tauntingly withhold hers when she knew he was ready to literally beg her for them.

He would fall asleep knowing, understanding, that for possibly the first time in his pathetic life, he was truly loved.

~fini~