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Severus seemed to have always noticed you. But, he didn't know when he started to notice you.
You may have been in the same house as he was, but you were so easily looked over. You didn't stand out very much, since you were pretty much the normal, cookie-cutter Slytherin. With being a halfblood, though your muggle relative was a great-great-great aunt on your father's side, you were average in your academics, and to his standards in physical looks as well. You were the definition of 'normal'.
Well, you did stand out during your third year when he shared defense with you. Your boggart morphed from something innocent, spiders (who wasn't afraid of them), into your older brother chastising you for not being as good as him, for failing your family name. You ended up crying before you could try the counter spell. People didn't stop talking about it until the next year. Even now there were still hushed murmurs over the issue.
Maybe it was when you presented? That could have been it, he was still trying to gain control of his new alpha status as well and, and was just as sensitive to the scents other newly presented people gave off. But you seemed to particularly draw his eyes and his nose.
He presented a week before his fifth year of Hogwarts, and it was quite the shock to his father when he presented as an alpha when everyone around him was convinced he was a beta.
Lily, however, presented on her birthday the same year, as a beta. Severus was more than disappointed at the fact, as he knew that if she presented as an omega, he would most definitely be seen as an more than adequate mate. But, the reality of it was the fact muggle-borns were more likely, statistically, to present as a beta more than any other gender.
But nonetheless, he would still try to catch her attention, even if James Potter was trying to do the same thing. At least he was an alpha too and now had to see him as an equal.
Then you presented a mere two months ago, during the first month of your sixth year. And now it was November and Severus couldn't stop subconsciously zoning in on you when the two of you were in the same room.
And then there was the incident when you went into your first heat not even a week ago and it had been haunting him ever since.
Everything was fine, he was heading to the astronomy tower for his evening class when he caught the scent of something that he couldn't quite explain, all he knew was that he liked it. It was a sickly sweet, tantalizing scent that set his nerves on fire.
He didn't even realize what he was going by following you until the hospital wing's doors shut on his face, shutting the image of you being carried by your friends into the wing from him. And then he noticed his raging hard on and fully came to terms with what happened.
You were being escorted to the hospital wing because you went into heat, and he was following you, because it was the scent you were giving off. The friends that were escorting you were betas giving by their background neutral scents.
He didn't know what to think of the whole thing.
He stood outside the door for a solid five minutes until he got the alpha part of his brain under control to leave the wing.
It's self-explanatory that Severus missed his class, he was too embarrassed to go seeing as his little hard problem seemed to want to go away just by will, he needed to deal with it. And the only way he found he was able to deal with it was by picturing you.
It was usually Lily, seeing as he was still pinning after the red-head, but that image just couldn't do it.
He couldn't stop himself from vividly recalling your scent and picturing what you would look like with your lips wrapped around his prick. How you would react to his touches, if it was his lips around your prick. Would you be coy or completely innocent and easily overwhelmed?
Whatever images his mind conjured of you obviously did a good job, because he was spilling himself over his fist in record timing.
He sat flushed and panting in the bathroom for who knows how long. But what he did know was that he wasn't as devoted to Lily as he originally thought.
It may have been a week after the incident, and five days since you returned from the hospital wing, but Severus was still not over it.
He was confused and betrayed by himself because he was so sure he was in love with Lily. How could he be devoted to her when he was there in that bathroom jerking himself off to the image of you after only scenting you? It was logical and it was simply pissing himself off.
He needed to do something about it, and soon, or else he was going to lose his mind.
--
His plan was carefully made, just like he liked it.
Severus memorized your class schedule, when you went to the library to study, the days you went to watch quidditch practice with your friends, and so on. He had it down to the minute.
After all, there was no way he was going to approach and corner you in a room full of people, and especially in your common room when everyone secretly listened to everyones conversations. No. It needed to be when you were either between your classes of if you went to the library alone.
The whole process took a few months to get it perfect to Severus's standards, and it was in February when he finally put his plan in action. But during this time, even without meaning to, when it came around the time of your heat, he found ways to be closer to you. Whether it was sitting a desk away from you in classes, or even being your partner in potions. He found ways to get closer and subtly watch your reactions to him, to see if you were repulsed or not.
The only thing he got from that was how sluggish you movements got when he happened to send his scent your way.
A week before he got you alone, he shadowed you practically everywhere, from your classes to when you went to lunch and dinner and so on.
No it wasn't creepy. At least to him it wasn't.
You were doing research for your Defense paper on Inferi in the back of the library when Severus found his perfect chance. You were insistent that you wanted to go to the library alone, you didn't want any distractions since you were already behind on it. He had overheard the conversation with your best friend in the common room before you headed out.
It all happened so fast, you didn't have time to react.
One moment you were putting a book back on the shelf, the next you were pulled into a secluded corner with onyx eyes pinning you to the wall.
Your instincts screamed for you to submit at the alpha who was possibly a threat, but all you could do was stand there and stare at him with a confused and fearful gaze.
Severus had his hands pinning yours to the wall, but lightly so he didn't hurt you of course.
"U-Uh..." You stuttered out, glancing to the side at the floor before your eyes snapped back up to his.
"What is it with you?" He growled in a low voice, "Why do I- or rather everything besides my mind- drawn to you?" The tone of his voice was accusatory, like you were doing such a thing on purpose.
"I'm sorry?"
Severus huffed in annoyance, "There's something about you that draws me to you and I can't explain it. It's annoying more than anything, but I don't know why I am. Everything was fine before you presented." He spat, harsher than his words before.
It seemed that every time Severus spoke, his frustration rose, and with that, he let his control slip for a split second.
"After I presented? Severus," You started, your body shaking slightly, "It's my scent, it's got you all weird hasn't it?" You asked suspiciously, even as you were still slightly afraid of the dark-haired wizard.
"Yes it's you god-damned scent, it's driving me insane," He stopped, noticed your shaking and let go of your arms but didn't step away from your form and you relaxed slightly, "You've ruined everything for me, all I've ever been able to focus or think about is you because I caught you scent when you first went into heat."
Severus watched with rapt attention as your face lit up with recognition, "You were that alpha that followed us to the hospital wing?" You only got a nod in response, "I-I, uh- um," A blush started forming on your cheeks that made Severus now highly confused along with his frustration, "Uh, the reason behind your anger is probably more primal than you think.."
"What are you talking about, just spit it out," He snapped, sending your body ridged again.
"You're drawn to me because we're compatible." You blurted, flushing immediately again and shrinking away from the alpha.
Now Severus took a step away from you in confusion. He had a good idea what you meant by your words, but he didn't want to believe it, and he wanted to hear it from your lips. The same petal pink pair he has fantasied about for months.
You took a deep breath to settle your nerves as you started up again in explanation, "I-If it's particularly my scent your drawn to, not necessarily me," You ignored the pang of sadness that racked through you as you spoke, "It means we are compatible, that our immune systems are compatible, and our genders are in the fact I would most likely bear you the strongest pups. That's all it means, it means nothing." You added in a whisper.
So it was just simply pheromones?
The silence that washed over the two of you seemed to go on forever. You didn't meet his eyes, you couldn't. And all Severus could do was study you. What you said had made sense, and he vaguely remembers reading or hearing something similar to what you had explained.
"I could ask to move seats in the classes we share, if it's a bother," You whispered into the silence, "I-I wouldn't mind, I don't want your schooling or anything to fall behind because of something like this."
"Why would you do that?" He snapped unintentionally, "We work fine together in potions, it would be unnecessary to move." He added quickly.
You nodded, "O-Okay."
Severus stood there and took everything in as a whole, not so confused as he was before, but still not knowing what he should do about it all now. He could ignore it as you had suggested, that was the easiest thing to do. He already tried ignoring you, ignoring the scent that always seemed to draw him to you.
"Tell me something, [Name]," Severus started, making you jump as he stepped towards you again and pressed his chest to yours in order to keep you in place, "If you say we are compatible, for mating that is, shouldn't you be just as effected by my scent as I am to yours?"
Your eyes darted up to his for a split second before staring straight again, which meant you were starting at his Slytherin neck tie.
"I-I don't have a very good sense of smell," You started in a small voice, "Which is why I have a hard time controlling my own scent, let alone smell anyone else."
Severus grinned at your answer. If you did have the same reaction he had towards your scent, you would practically under his control. And maybe, just maybe, he would have an answer to all his problems.
"I'll help your weak little nose to see about this," Severus whispered as he let go of his control to saturate the air around the two of you with his scent. At the close proximity you were with the alpha, there was no denying that you smelt him.
And almost immediately your knees buckled and you crumpled against the wall, and to the floor if it weren't for Severus reaching out to hold onto you.
Your breathing became uneven as each breath filled your lungs with his musky scent. Now you could understand what was going on with Severus, you could easily find yourself addicted to his scent. But you couldn't, you were ruining his life by being compatible.
You finally looked the alpha fully in the eyewash a pleading look to get him to stop.
You shivered at the chuckle that came from Severus, "I could make you do anything now, couldn't I [Name]?" He asked innocently, "I can see how enraptured you are by me now, do you think if I tried hard enough, would I be able to send you into a heat? With how dilated your eyes are, I would think it's a possibility."
"P-Please," You whined, "I-I'm sorry, I'll owl my parents to take me out of Hogwarts, just please st-stop."
Severus hummed at the thought of you being willing enough to leave school to make him stop. He could simply stop and go back to trying to ignore you for the rest of the year, after all, there was only one year left before graduation.
"Alpha," You breathed, your head falling back against the wall, "Alpha, please."
At that moment, Severus knew he made a mistake. No, he's not being regretful for his actions of stalking you the past few months, but he was regretting scenting you.
He could smell the arousal leaking into your natural flowery scent. You weren't going into heat, thankfully, but his own scent was arousing, and that could potentially be a bad thing if there were other alphas in the area.
Severus pursed his lips and quickly gained control of himself before he got hard, again, because of you.
"Grab your things, we are taking this conversation elsewhere." He stated firmly, letting go of you, but helping you steady yourself on your feet first.
"B-But my paper," You reasoned as you sluggishly still made your way to your bag and textbooks on a table near by.
"I'll help you with it if you hurry up," He hissed, now helping you shove your things into your bag and ushering you out of the library and off to an unknown destination.
Soon enough, you found yourself in a very similar position as before, but this time, it was in an empty classroom behind a locked door.
Your mind was still trying to catch up from what Severus's scent did to you, as well as trying to will away the hard on that was treating to pop up at the moment. If he felt the same way when he scented you, you could understand why he would be upset.
"W-What do you want from me?" You finally asked.
"A few things actually, thank you for asking," Severus drawled, leaning against one of the empty desks, peering at you with cold dark eyes, "You're going to.. let's say date- it's a prettier word, for a while and see if I can stand you. If not, I will continue to ignore your very existence, do you understand? Not many things get me this troubled and confused as the issue that we are 'compatible'."
You nodded quickly, practically willing to do anything at the moment.
"Good," He stood swiftly, already finished with the conversation apparently, "I'll escort you back to the common room."
"Okay..." You mumbled, allowing the wizard to manhandle you out of the room and towards your shared common room.
"I'll help you with your paper this weekend," He said breaking the silence as you approached the dungeons, "Think of it as a study date if you will. The more time we spend together will make it easier to figure out if we will work together or not."
"Why would you even want to try?" You blurted, instantly blushing at your poorly chosen words.
Severus shot you a glare, "Because obviously nature thought we would be fine together, might as well see what it is all about."
"But you're not attracted to me, yes my scent, but not me, so why even try?"
You were right. Why would he try when he was positive the only person he had romantic feelings for was Lily?
Because he wasn't sure if Lily was the only person to attract him like that. He could try to like you, maybe even love you, but that was all he could do, try.
"I wish to try because there's a reason I'm drawn to you, and I am determined to prove it's not just nature, I refuse to think so. Do you understand?"
It vaguely annoyed you that he talked like you couldn't understand the simplest commands, "I understand completely, I can still be annoyed and just as skeptical as you." You shot back, crossing your arms over your chest.
"We're here, I'm going to my dorm." You said quickly as you two stepped into the common room, dashing off to your dorm just as you said.
Severus stayed in the doorway, watching you disappear to your room.
It could work, your biology wanted it to. He was on the verge of sending you both into a premature heat and rut.
He would just keep telling himself that it would, and just maybe you could replace the spot Lily took within his heart. It would be easier for him if you could just simply slip into the spot she took up. And whatever you thought about it, you could learn to like it, or else Severus could make you. He would be your alpha anyways, you'f have to submit.