warnings: sexy snape
word count: 1793

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"Oh Merlin Cesira, I'm sorry to hear that. Are you in any pain right now? I must have something for you-"

Penny started looking inside her knackpack filled with all sorts of vials and ingredients, if not a real cauldron, she always brought with her in case someone needed aid.

"I'm fine Penny, at least for now."

"Stop fidgeting Beechwood, at once." hissed Snape, making her flinch in her seat.

Cesira shot him a stern look and gave her a reassuring smile as the Potions Master leaned back into his chair, his hands in front of his hooked nose à la Sherlock Holmes.
Not that he knew who that was anyway.
The three of them were sitting all in different positions inside his empty classroom, giving theories and ideas to each other. It would've been easier if Snape wasn't so arrogant, imposing his opinion on theirs for he was more 'expert' in dark magic matters.

Penny was having the fight of her life trying not to beam at the sight of her two favorite people in the castle finally being able to talk to each other, even if it meant having to assist their little game of constant biting back.

"When I did that, I didn't mean to. I felt uncontrollably furious, I've never felt angrier for a lot of years. And I never get angry, just frustrated." he explained, earning a baffled expression printed on Penny's face.

"Have I missed something, sir? What is it that you've done to her, aside throwing her against a wall?"

Cesira tried to explain to her in a way so as not to get her more upset than it was required for a situation like that, she knew the girl hated when they fought. Even if they weren't friends, she cared tremendously about maintaining an equilibrium with the people she got affectionate to.

Then again, there was Severus Snape in the room.

"I read her mind against her will, Beechwood. That is all."

Penny gasped in disapproval, squinting her eyes at her tutor who returned his dead stare, making her focus on the knackpack sitting on her lap.

"It's brute." she whispered.

"Oh enough with defending Blyde here, she stood her ground. Now, focusing on the real matter, it is possible that my uncalled for aggressiveness stemmed from what it is that is haunting Professor Blyde."

Cesira crossed her arms, putting her thigh on his desk to half sit on it, much to his dislike. She caught his glare fall on her leg before ricocheting back to the door.

"So you have it, as well?"

He pursed his lips. "No, obviously. It influenced me, and I had let it inside my head."

"Maybe it can see those closer to the bearer, and it can control them too." thought Penny out loud. "We shall learn Occlumency! And brew something to keep her sane."

Snape arched his signature brow.

"First: we are not close, stop hoping for it. Second: how do you know that shielding our minds will keep us out of this?"

Penny shrugged. "We have to give it a try."

"I can already shield my own self from it." weighed in Cesira, who was slowly drifting away at the soft sound of bubbles mumbling from some cauldrons, and the enchanted quill scratching a parchment with informations on the desk.
She felt lulled into dreams she never dreamed of for too long.
Perhaps she was simply exhausted from days filled with teaching, flying, dueling with teenagers to perfect the Dragon Club.
Not quite what Minerva had told her to do.

"You are the most incompetent occlumens I have had the regret to encounter. Your walls are as thin as your chance to win the Tournament."

Cesira and Severus stared hatefully into each other, Penny was on the edge of her seat in case one of them was to hex the other. Cesira would certainly be the first to cast.

Then, the fair haired witch smirked. "You could teach us, since you're obviously the best here."

Snape scoffed and rubbed his chin, falling inside his mind palace all over again. Penny and Cesira rolled their eyes, knowing if one of them was to utter one word he would display his growing grumpiness on the pair.

The youngest one checked his harsh features, wishing to get past his unreadable demeanor to get a response before Christmas.

"I don't think he'd be pleased to do it," she mouthed to Cesira, who nodded rolling her eye for the umpteenth time.

"I apologise Beechwood, was I that transparent?" his menacing voice scolded her, even though she ensured not to make a noise.

"Please sir, it's for Hogwarts' sake!"

A tedious amount of time floated by in the potions classroom before the only man in the room spoke up, perhaps using his most annoyed tone yet.

"I will. On my own terms."

Cesira frowned in mistrust and disbelief whilst Penny beamed and clapped her hands in excitement: they were to spend more time together!

"I immediately regret this decision." he muttered with a blank face.

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As the end of october approached and the scottish weather grew harsher and colder, teaching for Cesira became a true survival game: she had to physically train her students to build strength and resistance for flying lessons and quidditch matches; her daily routine would begin at dawn sharp to take the kids jogging and working out in the midst of freezing winds and frequent downpours (Penny always provided them with her own anti illnesses potions, if Snape caught her she would fear for her life). Then came the lessons that her enemy so amiably loved to interrupt with the most various excuses fot the sheer purpose of pissing her off.
The free time that divided her from dinner was dedicated to club meetings or teaming up with Snape and Penny to investigate her case.

Cesira always felt on the edge of collapsing mid air, falling off her broom right into the arms of certain Death. Sometimes she preferred such a rushed end then having to deal with the insufferable, yet admirably intelligent, dungeon bat.
Penny was lovely and kind, of course. Hadn't she been merged with their noble quest, she would have fought Snape in the blink of an eye.

What made her nerves really shriek and bound to a nervous breakdown though, were the incessant news regarding Death Eaters moving to flush out who killed so many of them.
No one ever saw her face, nor her hair she often dyed to completely erase her identity.
Sometimes she wondered how she used to look like under layers of scars and grief.

"My, this is something I never dreamed of seeing."

Cesira stepped into the Grasslands, where the magic of Hippogriff Club happened. Adorable creatures were taken care of by students, some of them were boots deep into mud to study lanes of plants.
Professor Sprout, Penny and the legendary Hagrid strolled back and forth to help those in need, yet Cesira almost didn't recognize the tall man scribbling something on a diary.

Professor Severus Snape was wearing a sage woolen shirt, seaweed work pants, combat boots and a black apron hugging his narrow hips and if possible making his broad back stand out even more. Flasks containing flashy solutions hung from his belt, his black wand tucked into his back pocket.
A thestral foal nuzzling its little head against his legs, which he seemed not to mind at all.

Cesira longed to formulate a snarky comment, but the truth was that she was left completely speechless by the utter shock of seeing the brooding professor whom she didn't trust and found incapable of respecting everyone else, looking so... different.

She could bet her life on the threats he must had made toward the kids not to utter a word on his choice of robes.
He looked regular, less him.

Maybe that was the reason behind her being so absorbed into checking him out that she didn't quite see the very object of her thoughts to be standing right in front of her.

"Spying on other clubs, are we?"

The baby thestral followed him suit, trotting around him. He sighed and with a snap of his fingers conjured a piece of meat, tossing it away to keep it distracted for a while.

"Says the one prying on my morning jog from the Astronomy tower."

He crossed his arms, unfazed.

"I won't stand here all day listening to your proofless accusations Blyde, speak."

Prick.

"The library is closing in an hour, we have to get to the restricted section."

Snape grunted and moved to the right to prevent her from seeing what they were up to.

"We're no dunderheads, witch, well, at least I am not. We can get inside whenever we need something."

Cesira pouted and raised her brow, zooning on his visible strong neck emerging from his shirt.

"Alright, you tell that to Madam Pince if you so strongly wish to be murdered."

She knew he knew she was right: no one could get past Madame Pince, not even him. Snape's ugly face restrained itself from giving away him agreeing with her, turning right.

"Beechwood, off we go!"

Penny trotted up to them, her working robes completely covered in mud and other liquids Cesira didn't want to know the nature of.
Snape flicked his wand and they both returned to their usual robes, included Cesira.

"What the-" she looked down her fresh clothes: a gray cloak of her own above a blue tunic with a brand new wand holster, dragonskin pants and boots.

(very similar to Rakepick's robes)

Snape showed the phantom of a pleased, knowing grin to Penny.

"Your clothes were shredding," the wizard commented, walking past her with his head slightly bent down to plant a deep whisper in her ear.

"I could see through them."

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"Hi guys! Working hard, are we? Uhm, we were wondering if you could move to another table..." Penny smiled at the Ravenclaws crouched above huge books to revise their notes, they remembered Cesira of the tiring hours she had spent there with Francis and Hazel.

Yeah, them...

"We're not wondering: we need this table." she weighed in, placing her hands on the wooden surface to catch their attention.

As soon as they realised it was a teacher asking them they started packing, albeit accompanied with loud scoffs and annoyed murmurs.

Heavy steps stopped behind the two witches.

"Get. Out."

The Ravenclaws gulped in unison and disappeared from their sight like golden snitches. Cesira and Penny turned around with accusatory eyes, crossing their arms in sync.

Snape's signature stare jumped from one woman to the other.

"Well, why won't you start looking for books?"