The witch's resisted the urge to burst out laughing when the two wizards kept staring at her wide eyed almost like a deer caught in headlights. 

She simply smiled at the bewildered faces until the emerald eyed wizard shot up from his chair and awkwardly touched the witch's face confused by her sudden awakening. She couldn't resist the urge anymore and laughed startling both of them. 

The shocked looks were replaced with bewildered ones, eyeing the witch as if she was crazy.

She held David's hand in hers, "It is indeed me David. There is no need to be alarmed. Don't you know the face of the witch you constantly annoyed for the past few days," she laughed.

He looked at the hand that clutched his and swallowed hard. His peculiar behaviour didn't last long however and he recollected quickly. 

Suddenly, he wrapped his arms around the witch's shoulder tightly when he realized she woke up from her coma. Both her and the potion's master were shocked by his sudden behaviour.

Florina stayed stiff in the black-haired wizard's arms looking at the other wizard over his shoulder. The onyx eyes stared back at her intensely, the wizard's expression extremely unreadable. 

Sometimes, she gloss's over the similarities between the two wizards as both were wearing the same black coat and had the same shoulder length black hair. The only difference was that David was much taller than the potion's master and his appearance in general was more muscular, his hair well-cared for.

The witch felt extremely awkward laying in the wizard's arms while the other was watching. She slowly brought her arms around David's waist holding him weakly. 

That however made him hold her more tightly as he whispered, "I will never let you go again, no matter what happens. I will be here whether you remember me or not."

His voice was barely inaudible to the witch as it was muffled by her hair. Somehow however the other wizard was able to catch most of it and frowned.

Finally the emerald eyed wizard left the witch slowly but not before giving her a quick kiss on her forehead. He sat back on his chair gazing at the witch intensely. Florina's smile fell, her cheeks hot and blushing.

"Thank you David," she murmured softly.

Severus sat up in his chair. "It is good to have you back Woods," he said in a monotone voice slightly frowning "you had most of the staff and the students worried over your well-being."

Florina nodded the colour rising more in her cheeks, "I didn't mean for all that to happen Sir. I honestly didn't even know my body was here until Ro..." She stopped herself abruptly before she revealed too much.

Severus's eyes narrowed at once, his onyx eyes pouring into her ocean blue ones. 

They stayed like that for a short while until the potion's master broke the silence, "But seeing you suddenly come back to life and regaining consciousness will definitely arise some questions especially when the reviving potion wasn't enough to keep you alive."

The witch gasped. "You used the reviving potion on me!" she exclaimed "But that's a very rare potion and it needs permission from the minister—"

"There is no need to concern yourself with that at the moment Woods," Severus said in his deep voice which remained monotone "Professor McGonagall managed to convince the minister to let us have the potion in exchange of brewing an entire dozen stack of reviving potions by the start of next month."

Florina gasped again louder than before. "But sir that is extremely difficult, not to mention the amount of time and rare resources its needed to brew such a delicate potion. It can take up to a year for the potion to brew and be ready. And wait...what about the ingredients needed?...They are very hard to find and even more expensive to buy –"

"Woods," the potion's master interrupted hotly "I said don't concern yourself with these matters. That was the agreement between the minister and the school. It is my responsibility and I am planning to follow suit."

The witch felt very embarrassed by what her coma has caused to the potion's master, whom she was certain will take full responsibility of brewing those potions without help. 

Not that Dumbledore won't try to assist him, it's just that she knows Severus will deny any outside help.

She wanted to get up and apologize immensely to him but seeing his sour attitude towards her, she remained silent. 

Suddenly Severus got up smoothing down his coat. "Since you finally woke up from whatever trance you were in, my presence is not needed anymore. Good night to the both of you."

Without waiting for their reply, he disappeared behind the door shutting it silently behind him. Both the wizard and witch exchanged looks.

"Did I do something?" Florina asked David who continued staring at her.

He shook his head softly smiling, "He is just getting loopy from staying up all night. You know you gave us a couple of frights Florina, we weren't able to get a rest worrying about you."

"Oh God," Florina let out a breath hiding her face in her hands "I am...so, so sorry for what happened. I truly didn't mean for all that to happen...I –"

"Of course you didn't silly," he laughed getting closer to her "But you don't know the extreme relief we are feeling now...yes even the greasy bat of the dungeon is feeling extremely relieved."

Florina chuckled, "He didn't seem relieved to see me David. It's almost the opposite actually."

He shook his head once more, "Like I told you, he just needs some sleep and he will return to the slime ball we all know and love."

The witch busted out laughing at his sarcasm as she hit his hand playfully.

Well at least David is still his sarcastic self, she thought.

"What happened during my...absence?" Florina asked the emerald eyed wizard quietly whom his intense smile didn't flatten.

"Well, I don't know where to begin Florina," he said as he crossed his legs "a lot has happened actually. Your heart stopped...completely stopped...TWICE... we thought we lost you for sure and the damn potion wasn't doing anything to help."

"Really?" Florina blinked twice "I meant more like what happened in the school?"

David nodded thinking to himself. "We found the book or rather Snape found it and gave it to Dumbledore." He frowned slightly "The old man didn't come out of his room ever since he was given the damn thing, as if he got cursed by it. He took all our classes while we were away though. I heard he hired substitute teachers to teach our classes while we were away. Me and Snape will start teaching again tomorrow, the old man gave us one week to rest. Not really sure about you though."

The blue eyed witch shrugged, "I am fine honestly. I can start teaching from tomorrow if he says so. It will help take my mind off a lot of things..." she stopped remembering a very important detail "and I also need to read the entire book for him and memorize it. Wasn't that why we brought the book to begin with?"

David hummed to himself then shook his head. "I don't think that will be a very good idea Florina. He...well...he won't..." he trailed off unable to face the witch with the bitter truth.

She moved forward and nodded prompting him to continue but he kept gazing silently at her. 

Annoyed by the sudden silence, Florina inhaled a sharp breath "He won't what David? Why did you stop?"

He let out a deep sigh, "He might not want to meet you Florina." 

The witch arced a brow at that while he went on "He has been ignoring you ever since Snape gave him the book. Like I said, he didn't get out of his office once but he is specifically avoiding you. He even promised Snape to shower you with house elves who will take care of you while you were unconscious but we didn't see even one house elf."

"Heck, even that Bubbles elf disappeared!"

So Rose was right! she exclaimed in her mind, Bubbles did indeed leave Hogwarts to meet her mistress.

Florina gave him a weak smile and shook her head lightly, "Oh don't be dramatic David. He might just want to get some privacy after he obtained the book. He might be reading it as we speak –"

He interrupted her at once, "No Florina, you don't understand. Before we left for the quest, before I even revealed myself to you, I heard him telling Snape that it must be you who reads the book or else he will get cursed by the book's curse. I bet he is waiting for you to wake up with batted breath so that you can read it for him..."

The witch titled her head to the side confused, "How did you hear him? Severus is practically an eavesdropping alarm, he always knows when he is being eavesdropped on."

"I...I..." he stuttered thinking for an excuse, "It's...it's not important now. The moral of the story is he desperately needed your assistance and now he is suddenly ignoring you like you don't even exist. Something must have happened for that sudden change."

"Like what Mister conspiracy theorist?" Florina let out a sarcastic chuckle.

"No Florina, now is not the time for sarcasm nor jokes," he frowned at her his face serious "I need you to listen to this very carefully before anyone comes here. I have been thinking of his sudden change for this past week and I came up with only one conclusion."

Florina arched a brow at him, "And that would be?"

David turned left and right making sure no one was around to hear him as Florina followed him with her eyes.

When he was sure that they were alone, he brought his chair even closer to her and whispered, "I think he was just using you to get the book. He wants to horde it's treasures for himself. Someone must have convinced him that you are the only one who can get him the book and read it as well without any harm falling on him."

"I can even go as far as to say for certain that that was the reason he hired you. If he bestowed you with the job and a home to stay in, you won't be able to tell him no to anything he asks from you."

"What?" Florina whispered shocked by his deduction. She took a second to consider his mental deduction but quickly shook her head.

"Do you hear yourself David?" she laughed bitterly "You sound like one of those mad conspiracy theorists on muggle televisions. You seem to miss a very important piece of information, he hired me because I was right for the job."

"I don't want to seem egotistic but you are implying that I was just that dumb girl who was a scapegoat for the headmaster. What are you even basing this genius upon? What is the evidence behind it?" she challenged eyeing him suspiciously.

He sighed shifting in his seat, "Florina, I didn't mean to offend you in any way. I can say for one I am absolutely certain of your intelligence and your abilities. I have seen them blooming during our..." he stopped himself at once before he reveals that he knew her when they were students.

She scrunched up her face in confusion. 

He paused to recollect his thoughts and said calmly, "Florina, I am telling you this for your own good. So instead of immediately denying my thought, just think about it for a good minute. And the evidence is right there in front of us," he took a deep breath "why would he hire someone who just got out of a mental asylum if he didn't need her help desperately?"

Florina's eyes widened both in shock and rage. She said as slowly and eerily as possible, "Are you serious?"

David was confused by her anger and looked back innocently. 

It didn't take him much time however to realize his mistake and he immediately shook his head, "Oh come on Florina, you know very well I didn't mean it like that. You are as sane as I am and you know it."

"How else am I supposed to take it then?" she whispered staring down at her hands.

He moved forward and held her hand in his startling her. The ocean blue eyes locked with his emerald ones both not blinking once. 

He pulled her forward until they were inches apart absentmindedly squeezing her hand tighter, "Please forgive my lack of finding suitable words. What I meant was why would he hire someone immediately after they get out of the hospital? Cannot he wait for a year or two until they recover and get back on their feet. Why now? Why the urgency? And why did he finally get rid of Binns so easily when everyone was practically begging to get rid of him?"

He noticed his grip on her hand got tighter and he immediately left it but still maintained the distance. From that close distance, the witch could see his face more clearly. He was a carbon copy of his brother only the face that was staring at her looked more weary and beaten. It was evident that the years weren't merciful enough to that handsome face.

She turned away from him and fiddled with her fingers, "David, this crazy theory of yours is just a theory and will remain a theory until proven otherwise," she turned back to him and gave him a weak smile, "I just hope this madness is not true though. That's all I can say."

The wizard gave her a handsome grin of his own moving a caramel strand of hair behind her ear, "And all I am saying is the old Kester's behaviour is extremely suspicious. Honestly now I understand why Snape is such a paranoia. No one is to be trusted Florina. Even me."

Author's note:

Hey guys! I hope you are liking this so far! I cannot wait for the next chapter, it's gonna be EPIC!! There will be a massive breakthrough in this story and some loose ends would be tied as well.

So question of the day is, I have been littering some Easter eggs in the latest chapters so... did you find some of them?

If you liked this chapter and my story, please click the lil VOTE STAR. Make sure to tune in for the next chapter ;)

See ya all in the next one. Love ya!