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The Triwizard Tournament is a bit unnecessary, you muse to yourself as you walk through the newly decorated halls at Hogwarts. Durmstang, Beauxbatons, and Hogwarts students alike crowd the halls in formal wizarding attire. Hagrid must have gone a bit overboard with the decorations, because there are trees everywhere. You shake your head at the premise of a ball. You’re sure you would have enjoyed it as a student, but as a professor, you only find it irritating. Furthermore, the professors are all required to chaperone. Luckily, you found your old dress robes in the back of your closet. They were a bit small at first, but you used a quick extension charm to size them properly. Normally, that’d be a concern—charms can often ruin clothing—but you have no intention to wear these robes again.
Music leaks out into the hallway leading up to the Great Hall. You pause in your tracks for a moment and take a deep breath. You’re in for a long night, after all. Students flit about around the halls and chat excitedly. You certainly don’t carry the same enthusiasm and seemingly endless capacity for energy that they do. Even so, you take a few steps into the hall. Off to the side, you see Severus hovering menacingly. His dress robes are perfectly tailored—they’re black, as you expected—and his hair is tied back in a neat ponytail. You amble over to him.
“Severus,” you smile, stopping to stand beside him. The Potions professor looks even more disgruntled than usual—a notion you hadn’t even thought possible—as he surveys the ballroom. You struggle to keep your amusement internal. “Enjoying yourself?”
“Hardly,” Severus scowls, crossing his arms over his chest. He indeed looks as if he’d rather be anywhere else. You somewhat share the sentiment, but you won’t speak the thought. Instead, you take a moment to survey the scene around you. Students are slowly filtering into the hall. Thankfully, it seems you missed the opening dance from the Champions.
“As long as the students are having fun,” you eventually murmur. Severus raises an eyebrow at you and you shrug. Sure, there are a million things you’d rather be doing. However, the ball is just for a few hours. You’ll survive, unfortunately.
You and Severus begin walking around, on the lookout for anything suspicious. Severus seems to take pleasure out of breaking kissing couples apart. You have to resist a laugh at the humiliated expressions on their faces whenever the two of you find them. Before long, you begin to join in on the fun too. Severus and you are quickly earning a reputation, as distracted students soon find themselves subjected to your disappointed expressions.
As you make your rounds, you begin to realize that staying with Severus was a good choice. Upon your initial arrival, you felt several gazes fixed on you. Now, Severus seems to ward them off, because the hopeful glances begin to wane. You’re immensely grateful for that.
“You’re rather popular, tonight,” Severus scoffs, once the two of you are back in the Great Hall. For some reason, he almost sounds annoyed. You then remember that the two of you have been together for most of the night, and that any distraction would indirectly affect him too. You push down your guilt and pinch the bridge of your nose. It’s not like you asked for any attention. You would have been fine to stalk the shadows.
“That's probably because of our duel,” you remember to respond, your hand twitching at the memory.1 Severus and you had dueled in a class presentation in Defense. Against all odds, you ended up winning. How you accomplished that feat, you still aren’t quite sure. You think it may have had something to do with the shocked gleam in Severus’s eyes. You shake your head to ground yourself to the current moment and turn to your colleague. “You didn’t have to let me win, you know.”
There’s a strange expression on his face. His lips pull at the edges, as if he’s frowning. “I didn’t.” It takes you a moment to process that statement, and another few to comprehend it. Even after several seconds of contemplation, you can’t quite puzzle out what that means. You decide to change the subject.
“Anyway, thanks for being my meat shield,” you send him a grin. The expression that falls on his face is nothing short of hilarious. You can’t help but let out a chuckle under your breath.
“Your what?” Severus snarls, looking incredibly affronted. His eyebrows are raised and there’s a mild tension to his shoulders.
“Muggle expression,” you wave off, resisting the very tempting urge to laugh. Severus still looks nauseated. His eyebrows furrow and this time you’re unable to stop yourself from laughing. “It’s a video game term, sort of. A shield, basically.” The other professor scowls.
“Refrain from using such terminology in the future,” Severus mutters, his gaze flitting about in an uncharacteristically restless manner.
“Sure,” you agree easily, not at all bothered. Severus frowns at that, as if he expected you to react differently. You don’t say anything else, instead deigning to think about the complex expression on his face. Why did he assume you would be irritated? You’d much rather avoid a simple word than avoid him. The realization makes you stiffen for a moment.
“What?” You flinch as the remark breaks you out of your thoughts. You turn to Severus, who has a puzzled expression on his face. Well, it’s hardly obvious, but you’ve learned to read the small signs of emotion in his face. His eyes are ever-so-slightly squinted and his lips are pulled in a flat line currently, speaking to his internal confusion.
“Nothing,” you shake your head, biting your lip. You’re not about to explain that you just realized your rather complicated feelings for Severus during the Yule Ball, of all times. That would be a rather messy and awkward conversation, especially since you know for a fact he does not return your feelings. You take a deep breath and pretend not to notice Severus’s attentive gaze.
“Enjoying yourselves?”
You look up to find Minerva standing next to the two of you, a knowing grin on her face. She wears elegant velvet robes and her hair is pulled back in an easy bun. You greet her and compliment her on her outfit, to which she smiles. Severus doesn’t greet her, instead deigning to remain in his brooding and bemoan his suffering.
“I am most certainly not enjoying myself,” Severus snarls, crossing his arms over his chest. Sure enough, the venom in his gaze has only seemed to become more potent in the time you’ve spent in the Great Hall. You can’t necessarily blame him for the feeling—this chaperoning is getting to be rather tedious and boring. Even so, you’re glad to have an excuse to spend time with him. Not that you’d ever verbalize that sentiment, though.
Minerva looks between the two of you, mischief gleaming in her eyes. You hardly have the time to wonder what it signifies or run away in terror before she’s leveling an expectant gaze at you and extending a hand. “Care for a dance?” You blink at her in complete shock and bewilderment for a moment. It takes a purposeful throat clearing from Severus for you to break out of your stupor and answer the professor.
“Sure,” you shrug, taking her hand. The gesture is clearly a platonic one meant for a colleague, so you find no flaw with it. You allow her to lead you onto the dance floor, ignoring the strange feeling of eyes on your back. You don’t last longer than a few moments of dancing before you find yourself blurting out the question on your mind. “You’re up to something, aren’t you?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean,” Minerva says, her eyes alight as she spins you around. You roll your eyes and continue dancing. It seems you won’t be getting a straight answer out of her. You take the time to simply enjoy the atmosphere around you. Minerva and you whisper about some of the pairs dancing around, taking note of who is dancing with who. It’s lighthearted fun and it ends far too soon. At the end of the song, Minerva bows to you and you return the gesture.
“You’d better go back to your partner,” the professor smiles, glancing behind you at where Severus is evidently standing. You shake your head in amusement.
“Minerva, he’s not—” you try to say, only to turn and find that she is nowhere to be found. You glance around in bewilderment, before eventually returning back to your place next to Severus. His fists are clenched at his side and his eyebrows are furrowed—both signs of his anger and irritation. You wonder what could have happened to set him off.
“Well,” you say breathlessly once you return to his side, admittedly a bit breathless from the dance. Minerva is, unsurprisingly, quite skilled at dancing. It was fun regardless, however. You wouldn’t be able to gossip about the students with Severus in the same way you just did with Minerva. Of course, you don’t even necessarily wish to do so with the Potions professor, but it’s still relieving to let loose a little. Severus lets out a strange snarling sound and you glance over at him.
“That cunning old hag,” Severus hisses, glaring at Minerva across the hall.
“What?” It’s your turn to be confused. You squint at him in bewilderment, wondering what Minerva could have possibly done to incite such anger from the professor next to you. He wasn’t like this when it was just the two of you. Idly, you wonder…. No. You stop that thought process before it can get anywhere.
Meanwhile, Severus shakes his head. There’s a dark expression on his face, as he crosses his arms over his chest and glares ahead. It feels as if he’s steadily avoiding your eyes. You decide not to call him out on it, for fear of deterring him further. Severus lets out a rather strangled breath and, to your surprise, walks away.
You watch his retreating back, unable to shake the feeling that you’re missing something.