young! severus snape x reader
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Professor Slughorn's voice seemed too far away, that Severus wished he did not hear the teacher at the first place. His mind was flooded with so many thoughts, mostly negative things, telling him that his life was going to turn upside down once he realised what was happening in his favourite class that day.

Severus shifted a bit in his seat, eyes widening when Slughorn paired him up with you. A frown was threatening to form on his face, as he fiddled with his fingers under the table, thinking of ways to avoid you but now there was not getting away since his teacher assigned you and him as a pair.

He did not move out of his place, not wanting to go and sit next to you who was surrounded by your friends. He never knew what you thought about him, or if you even knew him at all. He doubted you knew him, it was impossible to think that he was not invisible to you, when he clearly was to everyone else.

Severus felt his heart skipped a beat when you came and sat next to him, a smile was painted on your face as you waved at your best friend who sat not too far from you and him. It was absolutely unusual for you to be paired up with anyone else but your best friend, but the look on your face was not telling him that you were annoyed to be with him instead.

Severus had never been so close to you before. It almost felt illegal to sit next to you, when he thought he could only be doing that in his dreams. He took that chance to admire your beautiful smile, and how kind your eyes were as you finally tore your gaze from your best friend, looking at him.

"Hello, Severus."

You started, and Severus cursed himself for not responding to you right away, too enchanted by you, until you thought he despised your presence.

"I bet you don't want to work with me?"

You asked, smiling, but deep within your heart, you hoped it was not right. You always adored Severus, but you never talked to him, knowing that he would hate for his personal space to be invaded.

"No, that's not true. I— I like you."

Severus stammered on his words, and once he realised what he had said, heat rose upon his cheeks. He shook his head violently, watching as your smile turned into a grin.

"I didn't mean it like that. I mean, I do not hate you. How could I? But I also—"

His words were cut off when you chuckled, and Severus could not hold back a smile. Your voice was music to his ears, and now that he had you talking to him, he never wanted you to leave.

"I understand what you were trying to say, Severus."

And just like that, a friendship was built and Severus could not be happier. The girl he used to admire from afar, was becoming his friend and now he could talk to you without stumbling upon his words anymore. He was comfortable with you, and it was safe to say he started to harbour feelings for you.

Surely, Severus had a crush on you long before you became his pair in Professor Slughorn's class, but it was simply a foolish crush, at least that was what he wanted to think it was. He thought it was not possible for him to get close to you, let alone get his feelings reciprocated, so he just watched you in adoration.

But now as he saw you every day, walking to classes with you, sitting in the Great Hall with you, and walking you back to your dormitories every single night; Severus' heart was yearning for more.

He tried to deny his feelings, not desiring to jeopardise what he had with you. But days gone by and he realised it was not a mere infatuation at all. He would only torment himself if he kept trying to push his feelings away when his poor heart just wanted to surrender to your charm.

"Severus, why are you staring at me?"

The dark-haired boy was shook from his thoughts, face flushed as he saw you smirking at him. He cleared his throat, hoping that you would not notice how long he had been admiring you.

"I wasn't staring."

"Sure you weren't."

You retorted, moving your eyes from him towards the door when a group of boys walked into the Three Broomsticks. You paid no attention to them and snickered at Severus who was glaring daggers at you.

"I was not staring, Y/N."

You almost laughed at how defensive he got, but nodded, grinning at him. You noticed how often he gazed at you now, and a part of you was hoping that your love for him was not unrequited. But of course, you did not dare to make your own assumption.

"Snivellus."

You frowned as four boys approached your table, and you sighed, it would be a lie if you say you did not know them. Severus curled his hands in fists as James Potter and his friends came. He just wanted to have a good time with you, and they could not even let him have that. He would let them be if he was alone, but he was with you, and he never wanted you to perceive him as weak.

"Having a good time, Snivellus?"

He winced when Sirius called him with that name, and he noticed your smile had turned into a frown— He hated it. You were supposed to be happy that day, but they just had to destroy everything he had in mind.

"Y/N?"

If he had not say your name, you would not notice Remus Lupin was there, trying to drag his friends away from Severus. Obviously he just wanted to have some time away from school and yet his friends would want to taunt Severus.

"Hi, Remus."

You greeted him, intentionally ignoring his friends as you were never fond of them. The only reason you knew Remus was because he tutored you on Defence Against the Dark Arts and you tutored him on Charms. If not, you would not even think to approach him since he was always with his insufferable friends.

"Oh, Moony. So this is Y/N."

James chimed in, smirking at you, as if Remus had talked about you to his friends before. Severus gritted his teeth, hating how uncomfortable you looked when Sirius sat beside you, wrapping an arm around your shoulder casually.

"She's pretty."

Sirius commented, and you took his arm off you, earning a chuckle from the Gryffindor. Severus shook his head, not allowing them to disturb you, when it was clear you did not want them there.

"I advise you to leave her alone, Black."

Severus warned, realising his day with you was ruined now. Sirius shrugged and got up, but his eyes were on you.

"Why are you with him, Y/N?"

"It's none of your business."

You responded, glaring at them. James was going to say something when Remus forcefully dragged them back to their table, leaving you and Severus alone. You let out a sigh, shaking your head weakly.

"Severus, are you alright?"

He could only shrug, and you understood right away what he was feeling. Instinctively, you put your hand on his, taking him by surprise. He looked at you, and his heart thud rapidly against his chest when you did not pull your hand away, but you smiled at him.

"Don't worry about them ruining our day. It is our day, after all."

You coaxed him into smiling, and your heart spiralled in joy when you finally saw a smile on his face. Severus nodded, and he squeezed your hand gently, amused to see a timid smile dancing on your lips.

"You're right, Y/N."

The ball was in a few days and Severus still had not made any move to ask you to go with him. He was wrecked, practicing in the mirror every day to ask you, but when he met you, he was dazzled, and he had forgotten everything he wanted to say.

He did not want to go to the ball with anyone else but you. He did not even fancy the idea of the event, but he knew you loved it, and he would love nothing more than to be your date during the ball.

It was selfish of him to wish that nobody would ask you before he found the courage to do so. He knew there would be other boys trying to be your date, and Severus could only hope, that you turn down every each one of them, until he asks you to be his date.

That morning, Severus was determined to ask you. He practiced a few times in front of the mirror, and he even asked Lucius if he was doing the right thing, considering the older wizard was more experienced than him in this kind of thing. He put his shame away when Lucius teased him endlessly, but now he was more confident to see you.

As he walked into the Great Hall, his stomach churned when he saw Lupin sitting across you, talking to you about something. He looked around him and he noticed everyone was finding a date for the ball, since the day was coming really soon, and then it hit him hard, that Remus was asking you to be his date.

Severus froze, watching as you smiled broadly at Lupin, nodding at something he was saying. He bit the inside of his cheeks when the Lupin grinned at you, and the gleam in his eyes was making Severus feel sick to the stomach. 

And the sight in front of him was nauseating. You looked so perfect with Lupin, and suddenly Severus felt so left out. It was as if he was could never compare to the werewolf and he believed you must have been friends with him because he was lonely, and you were too kind to tell him the truth.

Rushing out of the hall, he left you waiting for him who did not come for breakfast. You wondered where he went, but you just assumed he had something else to do that morning before classes started.

But once you got into class and sat next to him, you noticed something was bothering him. You nudged him with your elbow, and he sighed, not even glancing at you. You tilted your head a bit, looking at him but he was stubborn, trying as hard as he could not to look at you.

"It is not healthy to skip breakfast."

You said, a small smile was formed on your lips when he hummed at your words. Perhaps there was something troubling his heart, and as soon as the class ended, you would want to ask him about it.

However, Severus knew you would ask so he decided to walk out of the classroom before you did. You knitted your eyebrows together, running after him when you noticed he had left you behind.

"Severus, did you just leave me?"

You asked, raising your eyebrows at him. Severus looked at you, a smile was threatening to grow on his lips when he saw how irritated you were. You always walked with him, and it offended you when he left you behind.

"I didn't mean to. You were too slow."

He reasoned, causing you to roll your eyes. You chewed on your bottom lip, contemplating whether you should ask him about the ball or not.

"Have you decided what to wear to the ball?"

You tried, smiling at him. Severus was stunned at your words, and the image of you being on the arm of Remus Lupin instead of him was suffocating him. He bit back a groan and he shook his head.

"I'm not going to the ball."

"What?"

You were flabbergasted at his words. Severus chuckled under his breath, seeing how shocked you were to know that he was not going to the ball that you were so anticipated for.

"I'm not going, Y/N."

He repeated, and you nodded weakly.

"Oh, I see."

You breathed out, not realising your steps were getting slower as your gaze fell on the ground. And you did not even notice you had stopped walking. Severus cocked his eyebrow when he saw you were falling behind, sighing, he walked over to you.

"What's wrong?"

Severus' heart was wretched to see a sad smile on your face. He loved your smile, but not the one which you give when your heart was dejected. He was worried, and he wondered if he was the cause of it.

"I'm not going to the ball too."

You said, and it all made sense to him. You did not want to go, when your heart wanted to, that was why you were sad. But being you, you would always smile, no matter how hard you try to cover it up from him, Severus knew how genuine your smile was.

"You are going to the ball, Y/N. You have been excited about it for weeks."

He pointed out, confused when you changed your mind drastically. You shook your head, and the sad smile which he hated was no longer there. You were grinning now.

"I don't care about the ball. You're not going, so I'm staying with you."

Severus blinked a few times, trying to swallow the fact that you were not going to the ball because he was not there.

"You can't do that, Y/N. I know how much this means to you."

He started to feel guilty now. He thought you wanted to be a good friend for him, not knowing how much you wanted to go to the ball with him.

"And what about Lupin? You agreed to be his date, didn't you?"

As painful as it was for him, he wanted the ball to be the one you dreamed of. Even if he could not be your date, he still needed you to experience it, since you were eager about the event so much.

"He never asked me to be his date."

You frowned, and Severus was staring at you with wide eyes. You gave him a smile, not knowing where it all came from. You breathed in sharply, deciding to tell him the truth.

"Let me be honest with you, Severus. I do not want to go to the ball with anyone else but you."

You revealed, smiling nervously at the boy who you proudly called friend, but you wanted to be more than a friend to him.

"I waited for you to ask me to be your date. But you're not going, so I decided not to go."

You chuckled half-heartedly, heat rose from your stomach to your chest. Severus was taken aback, never expected you to be so honest with him. And he never expected you wanting to be his date.

"I said I'm not going to the ball because I thought you are going with Lupin."

He said, rubbing the back of his head nervously. You smiled, and your heart swelled at his words.

"I wanted to ask you but I never thought you would want to go with me."

He added, making you laugh. You stood on your tiptoes and pressed a soft kiss on his cheek. Blood rushed towards his face as he put a hand on his cheek, smiling at your sweet gesture.

"I want to go with you."

You assured him, linking your arm with his. Severus' face flushed furiously and his smile only widen, realising how lucky he was. The girl he admired from afar was going to be his date to the ball, and he would be eternally grateful as it was one of many other dates to come for both of you.

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I love writing about young Severus. He deserves all the love in the world.

22nd June 2021