Forget about Love

Erica had wonderful dreams that night. She didn’t remember them, but she awoke well refreshed and happy.

She started to move to get out of bed when she realized that there were extra limbs on her body and a distinct smell of spices. She kept her eyes closed and breathed deeply. It was heavenly.

The arms around her tightened and then she opened her eyes. She was face to face with Snape. He was holding her in his bed.

Erica smiled slightly before attempting to move again. Her movement woke Snape up. His dark eyes slammed open and connected with her eyes.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” she said quietly. Snape groaned. “It’s okay, I should have been up an hour ago.”

Erica turned and looked at the clock. It was almost ten. They had slept for five hours. She turned back to Snape, who was watching her. “What?”

“Nothing, I was just thinking,” Snape answered.

“What about?”

“The Halloween dance,” Snape answered truthfully. Erica’s eyes went wide with remembrance.

“Oh,” she said before rolling away from Snape and standing up. “We should get ready, I believe that we have to teach sixth and seventh years how to fight hand-to-hand and then we have to work on the potion again.”

Snape nodded before standing as well. Both of their clothes were disheveled from sleeping in them.

“You can take a shower first,” Snape said making the bed. Erica nodded and went to her room. The sunlight was on one side of the room, unfortunately that was the side of the room Erica needed to get to.

“Professor?” she yelled. Snape walked in and looked at her. She was taken aback at how he looked. His vest was removed, leaving him in a white shirt and black trousers. The first two buttons were undone showing off a little of his well-chiseled chest from all the potion work he had done.

“What is it?” Erica was knocked out of her trance at the sound of his voice and looked at him in the eyes. “I…I can’t get my clothes,” she said pitifully. Snape looked over to the clothes folded on the side table in the full sunlight.

He didn’t say anything. He walked over, picked up her clothes, and walked back.

“I apologize. The house elves obviously weren’t thinking when placing your clothes there,” he said before walking out of the room and back down the hall to his room.

Erica crossed the hall and entered into the bathroom. She shut the door and started to disrobe. Her thoughts weren’t on her actions through they were on Snape.

\'It is strange. Back in school he would never apologize for anything, and now he is almost always apologizing for things he has no control over. He’s not the same man anymore, but yet he is. Time heals all wounds they say. How much longer will it be until our wounds heal?\'

Snape was making the bed quietly when he heard the water start up in the bathroom. He finished quickly and walked into the sitting room. He poured himself a glass of fire whiskey and sat in his armchair. He stared into the fire and thought back to the night when life went to hell, the Halloween dance.

Erica smiled as she stepped out of the shower and put on her own clothes. It was nice wearing something so beautiful, but it wasn’t what she would usually wear. It was nice to be back in her own clothes.

She walked out of the bathroom with the dress in her hand. She didn’t know what to do with it so she carried it into the sitting room.

Snape was sitting in the armchair with his eyes closed. Erica smiled then frowned. Something about this situation was familiar.

She placed the dress on the couch and walked up to Snape. She looked at him with curious eyes. Her stomach growled loudly then.

She gasped and looked back up at Snape. She was hungry and she needed blood. She could hear his heart beating in his chest and could almost feel the blood pumping throughout his body. He looked delicious right then. Erica shook her head at the thought. There was no way she was going to drink human blood, and especially not Snape’s blood. Not if my life depended on it.

His eyebrows were creased like he was having a bad dream. She reached out to touch wake him up when she remembered every time they touch each other when one is asleep.

She started to take a step back, but her boot caught a crease in the carpet causing her to fall forward, right onto Snape. Her cheek grazed his and she felt the familiar shock before slipping into the darkness.

-----

Snape was standing off to the side at the Halloween dance. He had gone alone. He was drinking some punch and appeared to be thinking. The doors to the Great Hall opened and he looked up. His eyes went wide.

It was Erica and Lupin walking in together arm-in-arm. She was smiling and he was beaming. He had never looked so happy it made Snape sick. Like the rest of the guys, Lupin was dressed in black slacks and a dark shirt with a cloak in their house colors.

The girls had a little more leeway. He turned his gaze to Erica and his jaw dropped.

She looked beautiful, even in Gryffindor colors. She was wearing a crimson dress with a gold design on it. Her hair was up in ringlets with gold streamers and red flowers in it. It was low in the back and in the front. The dress went down to just below her knees and she was wearing heels.

Snape was in shock. He knew for a fact that she never wore heels. They had had a conversation about it before their argument.
Remembering the disagreement, Snape instantly felt angry, but there was no one to blame but himself.

“Hello Severus,” someone said. Snape turned to see Lucius standing beside him with Narcissa on his arm. Snape nodded before looking back out at the couples dancing. He saw Erica and Lupin dancing and laughing. Lucius caught his gaze at the couple.

“A little jealous Severus? Don’t worry, I’ll fix that.”

Before Snape could register what had happened, Lucius and several other Slytherins were over at Lupin and Erica. He couldn’t hear what they were saying so he started to move closer.

“Hey there Lupin, do you mind if my friend cuts in? He would love to dance with such a delicious creature,” Lucius said looking at Erica’s chest with hungry eyes. Erica moved behind Lupin to hide herself from his eyes.

“Lucius just leave us alone,” Lupin said. Lucius looked at Lupin before lifting his fist and knocking him to the ground. Lucius stepped forward and grabbed Erica’s arm tightly.

“You know, I was coming over here because Severus was moping around, but now I think I’ll keep you for myself.”

“Let her go Lucius,” Snape said. Lucius turned and looked at him and smirked.

“What do you want Severus? I thought you were sulking over by the punch bowl. How about you go back over there and let me have some fun?” Lucius said turning back to Erica. Snape took a step forward and placed himself between Lucius and Erica.

“Just leave them alone Lucius. It isn’t worth it.”

Lucius glared at Snape before whipping around and grabbing Narcissa’s arm and disappearing in the crowd. Snape turned to Lupin and offered him his hand.

Lupin stared up at Snape with confusion in his eyes before taking it. Snape pulled Lupin back up and turned to Erica.

“I hope we are still friends?” Snape asked quietly. Erica nodded and watched as Snape walked back to the punch bowl. Lupin placed a hand on her shoulder.

“That was weird.” Erica nodded.

“Yeah, it was. Maybe I should ask him to dance?”

Lupin laughed. “He would never dance. He is just in a bad mood because he realized that the best man won.” Erica took a step away from him.

“I am not a prize to be won Remus. Remember that.”

Erica turned and walked out of the dance and went back to her room. Snape just stood there at the punch bowl and watched her go.

He looked back over at Lupin who was glaring daggers at him. What had just happened?

-----

Snape’s eyes opened with a jolt. He instantly noticed the additional weight on him and saw that Erica was lying on top of him. He could smell the shampoo she used earlier. It smelled like apples. He took a deep breath and enjoyed the smell of it, the smell of her.

Erica stirred before waking up. She felt something soft and warm beneath her. Suddenly she remembered that she had fallen on Snape and instantly stood up, her cheeks red with embarrassment. Snape stood and looked at her. She was wearing the same clothes she was the first day, and it was making him warmer than he was before. He took a deep breath before speaking.

“Are you alright? What did you see?”

Erica looked up into his black eyes and sighed. “I saw the dance, when you helped out Remus and me. I don’t think he ever properly thanked you.”

“No, he tried to kill me instead, remember?”

Erica gasped. She remembered when James and Sirus thought it would be funny to send Snape over the Shrieking Shack to meet with a transformed Lupin. Luckily she convinced James and Sirus to rush over there and stop him before Lupin killed him.

“I remember,” she said. Snape sighed and walked out of the sitting room to take a shower. Erica fell onto the couch and sighed.

She was getting hungry and had since she refused to kill anyone she went about the rooms searching. In his private labs she noticed a small cage filled with rats. Rat tails and rat eyes are important ingredients in most potions…and also have a ton of blood in their bodies just waiting to be drained.

Erica reached into the cage and pulled out a fairly large rat. She listened and still heard the shower running. She sighed and then allowed her teeth to sink into the squeaking animal. It was dead in seconds as she drank all the blood from his body. She was filling up fast. One rat was enough to fill her for most of the day. She would need to drink again later that night.

She stood up and wiped her mouth clean. She held the dead rat in her hands and turned to go back into the sitting room and toss the rat into the fire. She turned around back to the door and came face to face with Snape.

He was staring at her with surprise in his eyes. “Hungry?” he asked. Erica gulped and nodded.

“How long were you standing there?” she asked.

“Long enough to be reminded of what you have become. You aren’t the same girl you were then, you’re a monster.” Snape turned and went back to his bedroom. Erica just stood there with a dead rat in her hand and tears filling her eyes.

“Lucius was right. I am a monster. I shouldn’t even be here,” Erica said to herself. She dropped the rat and went to the bathroom to wash her hands.

The blood ran off her hands and down the drain. When all the blood was gone from her hands Erica turned the water off and looked up at the mirror in front of her. She saw nothing in it. Her lack of a reflection was just another reminder of what she had become, and of what she had lost.

A knock on the door to his quarters forced Snape to come out of his bedroom. He had been sitting in there thinking about Erica and how he had almost forgotten what she was. Even if it was a mistake, there was no way she could change what she had become.

Snape walked into the sitting room and looked around. Erica wasn’t in there. Strange.

Snape opened the door to reveal Dumbledore and Lupin. Both of them were standing there with sad expressions on their faces.

“What is going on here?” Snape asked as the two men entered his quarters. Lupin instantly began searching the quarters while Dumbledore turned to Snape.

“What the hell is going on here Albus?”

“Severus, do you know where Erica is?” Dumbledore asked. Snape glared at him.

“I am not the girl’s father, but I am sure she is around here somewhere.”

Lupin entered the room with a distraught expression on his face. He looked up at the Headmaster and shook his head.

“I was afraid of this,” Dumbledore said turning from Lupin to Snape. “She’s left Hogwarts.”

“What!” Snape said rushing out of the room. He searched every room in his quarters before returning to the sitting room. Dumbledore and Lupin were both sitting on the couch.

“Why would she leave?” Snape said falling into an armchair.

“Did you two have an argument or something?” Dumbledore asked calmly. Snape looked at the Headmaster before nodding his head. Lupin jumped up in a flash.

“What did you say to her?” Lupin growled. Snape stood and faced Lupin with his classroom glare.

“It is none of your business what I said to Miss Kartake.”

“Her name isn’t Kartake anymore. It is just Erica now. Weren’t you listening to her story earlier? Her family disowned her…”

“I was listening,” Snape said interrupting Lupin. Lupin grabbed his wand and pointed it at Snape.

“If you have done anything to hurt the woman that I love I swear I’ll kill you,” Lupin said in a deadly voice.

Snape didn’t move. He was getting angry and it wasn’t just at Lupin. He was getting angry with himself.

“I didn’t say anything to Erica that wasn’t true Lupin. She and I both know that I wouldn’t do anything but speak to her truthfully.”

“Bullshit,” Lupin shouted. “You don’t care for her at all, so why should you tell her the truth.”

“Don’t you dare say I don’t care for her,” Snape yelled.

“You could care less if she died.”

“She is dead, technically.”

“Did you cry when the papers said she was dead? I bet you just sat in your room and laughed about the whole damn thing.”

“I did care when I heard she died. I did cry. I thought I had lost the only person I ever lo…” Snape stopped and slumped back into his armchair.

Lupin lowered his wand and stared at Snape with wide eyes. It wasn’t like Snape to reveal a weakness like love, but he had done it just now.

“You love her?” Lupin asked quietly. Snape didn’t look at Lupin.

“This isn’t important right now,” Dumbledore said standing. Lupin and Snape turned to him. “We have to find Erica now. The sun is up, so she couldn’t have gotten very far.”

“I’ll go talk to Harry. He may have something that could help us,” Lupin said leaving the room. Dumbledore turned to Snape.

“Severus, do you have any idea where she might have gone?” Snape shook his head. He heard the door to his rooms open and shut behind Dumbledore. Snape stared at the fire, his mind wandering to Erica. He stood and walked into the bathroom. He removed his shirt and unbuttoned his pants.

“Please keep your pants on,” a voice said. Snape jumped and held onto his pants. He started looking all around the room, but he couldn’t see anyone.

“Who’s there?”

“Erica,” she said. “Look up.”

Snape looked up and nearly had a heart attack. Erica was sitting on the ceiling looking down at Snape. “What the hell are you doing up there?”

Erica stood up till her face was right above his. “Just thinking,” she said casually. Snape watched as she walked over to the edge of the ceiling and stepped onto the wall. She walked down the wall and hopped onto the floor, landing directly in front of Snape.

“Looking for me?” she asked.

“Dumbledore and Lupin were worried about you,” he said calmly. Erica stared at him. “What about you?”

Snape glanced at her through his hair. “Perhaps,” he said, “now could you please leave me so I can take a shower?”

Erica’s eyes widened and nodded. She walked out of the bathroom and sat down in the sitting room. She stared into the fire and thought about what she had heard earlier while sitting on the ceiling in the bathroom.

----

“Bullshit. You don’t care for her at all, so why should you tell her the truth.”

“Don’t you dare say I don’t care for her.”

“You could care less if she died.”

“She is dead, technically.”

“Did you cry when the papers said she was dead? I bet you just sat in your room and laughed about the whole damn thing.”
“I did care when I heard she died. I did cry. I thought I had lost the only person I ever lo…”

----

Erica was in shock when she heard that. Never before had she heard such an argument between her two friends. Sure when they were in school they had fought, but never where she could hear them.

Snape stood under the water and let it beat down on his skin. It was disturbing the things she could do, but it also explained how she could find out about the Dark Lord’s plan undetected.

He was also hoping she didn’t hear the conversation between him and Lupin earlier. He couldn’t believe what he had almost said. He loved Erica? It was a ridiculous thought. How could he love a vampire?

He shook his head at the thought. It would never work out anyway. Snape finished his shower and dressed quickly. He stepped out into the sitting room, causing Erica to turn towards him.

“Let’s go,” Snape said walking towards the door. Erica stood and followed him out the door.