Disclaimer: I do not own anything you may recognise. All I own is the plot and the story in itself, please do not copy or take it without my explicit permission.
A Midnight Snack by Silawen
The house was silent, except for the soft scraping sounds of knife and fork against stone plait. The sounds made for an eerie feeling as she carefully made her way through the hall. Tonks was well aware that it was dangerous to her health to be walking around at night, especially in this house where things just didn't seem to stick to one place, only worsened by her severe case of clumsiness. Well aware she might injure herself she ventured on nonetheless – pushed on as she was by hunger – and moved towards the kitchen. The sound of her footsteps rung clear through the hall and immediately the sounds of someone eating ceased, leaving nothing but a scary silence.
She wondered who it might be that was enjoying a meal at this hour. Perhaps it was Remus; he often craved additional snacks a few days before a full moon, but he had gone to bed an hour earlier and it was very unlike him to leave his bed so soon after. Albus and Minerva had gone back to Hogwarts two days ago, and were not expected back any time soon, with the first semester close to starting. The Weasleys, though always very interested in dropping a child or two, had no intention in letting their offspring unsupervised anytime soon and that left her with very few possibilities.
Then who? With the Order no longer requiring a place to have their secret meetings the place had been abandoned by most, safe Remus and herself who stayed overnight while taking care of the house. This, of course, caused some idle talk amongst her friends and colleagues, but they paid no heed. Unlike what the others thought they were not romantically involved. They were friends, as they had been, and she was here only because due to Sirius' death Remus had been utterly lonely and he really needed someone to take care of him after a transformation. She had been the best option as she had no own house – she had rented one for a few months – and no children to take care of.
It was a safe and homey place, especially after the haul-over she and Remus had arranged, and she really liked spending time with Remus. He was a good friend and very nice to talk to; so she was never bored when in the house. Besides after the death of Sirius the house had become awfully empty and the presence of the two made somewhat up for it. For some reason the house seemed to mourn the loss of its master, though of course that was a silly thought.
However, during her stay here, she had gotten used to Remus' habits and none of them included going to the kitchen to eat only an hour after getting into bed. No, that was more her style.
Continuing towards the kitchen she tried thinking of other possibilities, but thought of none. Then her feet connected with a small cabinet, a loud thud the result. Barely keeping from cursing and jumping around; she lifted her foot, rubbing the hurt spot for a short while before setting her foot down again. She almost jumped when a soft voice cut through the air; a dangerous edge to it that sounded awfully familiar.
"Who is there, be aware I'm armed!"
'Merlin, it's Snape! And, as always, positively convinced everyone is out there to kill him.'
That was the last person she had expected to be here; Severus Snape himself.
"Hold yer horses Snape, it's just me, Tonks!"
A pause, then there was a reply.
"Nymphadora?"
"Yes, but don't call me that, you know I hate it!"
"So it is you! Show yourself!"
Shaking her head she finished her way to the kitchen. Snape had this uncanny habit of not trusting anyone. Logic would of course tell her that he had perfect reason to, but then they were in Sirius' house, who would be able to find it except those in the Order? Opening the door – it made a horrible squeaking sound – she saw the dark shadow standing there by the dinner table. He looked her in the eye and nodded, but she could just see him put his wand back in his pocket.
'Superstitious nut.'
She could see he had helped himself to some of the chicken they had left for the next evening, along with a fine wine dated 1600. Of course he had to take the one thing she had wanted to finish herself.
"Bit edgy, are we?" she asked while heading for the fridge.
Lighting some candles on the way she opened the fridge and grabbed some of the tasty looking snacks they had meant to eat with the chicken, no use to save them now.
"It has kept me alive thus far," she heard him mutter in reply.
Rolling her eyes – they were a sparkling blue at the moment and in sharp contrast to her fiery red hairdo – she thought him to be too much of a pessimist. Turning to him she was not prepared what the light of the candles would reveal to her. The plate clattered to the floor and a gasp left her throat as she took in the person sitting calmly at the table. His black robe was cut in several places and she could just make out a red substance, blood no doubt, smeared all over it.
His hair, though normally not a pleasant sight either, was drenched and covered in leaves, as if he had been lying on a forest floor for too long a time.
"You're hurt!"
Her exclamation didn't seem to cause much of a reaction, except for a snide remark.
"Very perceptive, I'm sure that was the reason for your acceptance as an Auror."
As she took him in, seeing the bruises covering him and the dried blood on his pale face, the contrast was hideous. For once she didn't look at the hooked nose and shallow skin, nor the glittering and often sharp eyes, but the hurt that had been done to him instead.
"Nah, it was my sparkling personality. How can you sit there like that, you have cuts all over!"
"Experience, now will you please stop your squeaking?"
"Hell, no. You are not going to just sit there! Either you go to madam Pomfrey or I'll see what I can do till come morning."
"Had I felt the need to go to Hogwarts, Nymphadora, I would not be sitting here, nor will I have your clumsy person do anything to me. You are hazardous to more than just your own health."
"You'll bleed to death!"
"Dramatic, but unlikely. And lower your voice, woman, I do not want the wolf to wake up."
"Don't call him that!" she cried out indignantly, her voice high-pitched.
She could see him smile slightly and shrug, obviously he was not listening to anything she said. Or he was just baiting her, which was also a very likely possibility.
"Fine, act that way."
Pouting a bit, no doubt to Snape's amusement, she stepped forward, noticing his body tense up. His eyes, pitch-black, shot up to hers and she could see his mind form plans already. His stare was almost rude, even more so when it lowered to her lips. She licked them self-consciously, which resulted in a low chuckle from the person before her. Again she pouted, out of annoyance this time, as she saw how he was trying to unnerve her. Well two could play this game. With two sudden steps she was next to him and grabbed the outer robe he was wearing, the one cold from water and blood.
Immediately he tensed up more and shoved the chair back, surprise on his face as his hand stopped close from his wand-pocket.
"What are you doing, woman, hands off!"
Quite amused at his loss of composure, she smirked.
"How am I to clean those cuts when you have your robes still on? Don't worry; it's nothing I haven't seen before."
"No doubt," was his only reply.
"As I see it, you have three options. One; you go to Hogwarts and visit madam Pomfrey. Two; you let me clean your wounds, or three; I call Remus and we decide together."
"How about you just go to bed and leave to alone to deal with it?"
"Let me think…no, doesn't fit any of the categories I'm afraid."
She turned to the hall and popped her head out of the doorway.
"Let's see, he has great hearing so perhaps he'll hear me. Remus!"
It didn't take Snape long to get behind her and roughly place his hand over her mouth. First instinct was to bite, but after a few seconds she was reminded who this person was and that biting him was not an option. She could just feel his breath on her neck as he listened intently, apparently afraid Remus would come running down the stairs to her aid, or something of the kind. She was only slightly aware of his hair tickling her ear and tried swatting at it, but his other hand shot out to grasp hers, pushing them down.
"Hush, woman, I don't want the wolf to wake up. He'd mother me to death if he found out."
Images of Remus brushing and braiding Snape's hair, before picking out a nice purple dress, came to mind and an unladylike snort left her, smothered by Snape's hand to a soft murmur. He looked down at her and raised an eyebrow.
"Now, no yelling, Miss Tonks, understood?"
She nodded quickly, though she was also slightly insulted at the rather teacher-to-pupil comment. Eying him as he took his hand away she stepped back. She mourned the loss for one split second, but pushed it away. She really needed to find a boyfriend, these thoughts weren't good. Pouting once again she rested her hands on her hips, he was being most disagreeable.
"Well? Decided yet, a, b or c?"
"None, as I said I'm quite able to aid myself."
"And just how were you imagining reaching your back?"
There was silence and Tonks sighed slightly, this was starting to get annoying, he was being annoying. She had met children that were more agreeable than he was which was saying something. It was a hands-off attitude that was starting to get ridiculous. She would not hurt him, much, if he would let her. Granted she might do something stupid, but it wouldn't be on purpose.
"Come on, Snape, I'm not going to hurt you, it'll be in your own interest and Remus won't have to know. You can be on your merry batty way in no time."
He seemed to ponder this, then eyed her again.
"How about I just leave?"
"If you had somewhere else to go you wouldn't have come her, chances are Poppy would be waiting in your room at Hogwarts."
"Point taken."
He was massaging his temples with his fingers now and she could see how tired he looked. His face seemed even more shallow and fallen, his skin white as a sheet and he was sweating slightly. The comment she had been about to throw at him died on her lips. ('Why Severus that almost sounded like a compliment!')
When sparring insults with him like this one often forgot that he was, in fact, human, and she had forgotten that he was severely wounded. As she looked at him she realised how much of a defence system the harsh ways were. Both for himself and those around him.
"Tough night, eh?" she asked in a whisper and he looked up at her, scowling as he saw the sympathetic look on her face.
"How did you guess, most inept! Don't bother feeling sorry for me, Miss Tonks, in fact, spare me."
Ignoring him again she walked up to the fridge and grabbed herself something to drink, a fizzywizzyfrosty would do.
"But of course, heaven forbid someone caring for you; the big bad bat of Hogwarts. Seriously, I don't believe you at times."
Stepping back to him she placed her drink on the table and with a quick movement of her wand summoned a bowl of water, a cloth and some healing herbs.
"Now, disrobe and sit down or I will call Remus. Trust me when I say that hundreds of screaming Hogwarts girls don't compare to the volume I can produce."
Scowling again he sat down, but made no attempt to disrobe. His hands were resting on the table as he looked at the glass of wine before him. Making a decision Tonks stepped forward, grabbed the glass and emptied it in the sink in one fluent motion, of which she was quite proud.
He didn't move.
Instead of staring at the place where the glass had been he was now looking at her, his eyes devoid of feeling and emotion.
"Leave me alone," he hissed.
Tonks shuddered, at the moment he was almost scaring her. She had forgotten that he was in fact the one teacher everyone at Hogwarts feared for his harsh and scary ways. It would be so much easier if she just apparated to her room and forgot about the man in her kitchen, even if he was hurt. But then who would clean his wounds, take care of him. No doubt he'd been through this before, alone. Could she, as a member of the Order, just leave? Could she, fancying herself a good person, just do that?
It would be so much easier, but also so much more wrong. She would just have to bite through the comments and do what she had planned to do.
"No."
She raised her gaze to his, those cold empty eyes…dark, pitch-black as if they had forgotten how to show feelings. Those cold eyes that were now regarding her; trying their best to scare her, to make her go away. But she wouldn't; not now she could do some good.
"No?"
He chuckled and the eyes showed some mirth, as if she had made a joke.
"Are you planning to act the hero? Help the poor victim of the enemy's wicked actions? How very Gryffindor of you."
The cold eyes were back, staring at her as she tried meeting them.
"No," she said again, this time more resolute, "no, planning to help a friend."
This time she was sure she could see a slight flash of surprise in those bottomless pits, before they were their normal cold orbs again.
With a few steps he was to his feet and in front of her, the swift motions causing her to stumble back and bump into the wall behind her. She swallowed as he placed his hands against the wall, leaning forward and lowering his gaze to look her in the eye. Terror went through her as her hands crept down for her wand.
"Do I scare you?" he whispered, breathing against her ear.
Nodding slightly she closed her eyes to block out the cold look in his eyes, her hands trembling, frightened as she was.
"Good, now leave me alone."
His voice was hoarse and this made her open her eyes again. He seemed tense as he moved to avoid physical contact. She should have been insulted, but she wasn't when she saw that his eyes were clearly avoiding looking at certain parts of her body that were moving up and down with every sharp intake of breath. She was immediately reminded that he was, underneath it all, only a man, and that he would be as much affected by their close proximity as she was, though for different reasons.
"No."
Again that no, she was starting to make a habit of it. Self consciously licking her lips again she saw his stance change as he seemed transfixed on the tongue darting out. He was still leaning into her slightly and for the first time Tonks considered other uses for that venomous tongue, though she instantly chided herself for such thoughts. When she looked him in the eye she saw lust, lust mingled with surprise. Surprise about who or what, she wasn't sure, but at the moment she was more interested in the lust.
However, it seemed that her pause had allowed him to snap back to reality, for she saw his eye narrow and his body about to pull back. Without thinking her arms shot up and her hands clasped the back of his head, pulling his head to hers. A murmur of surprise escaped the wizard before her lips descended on his and he felt forward willingly, crushing her against the wall.
For a short while Tonks didn't know what was happening, except for pressure against her body and the lips covering hers. His tongue requested access and she gave it willingly, feeling one of his hands tangle in her – momentarily – red locks. Her own hands had left his head and were now desperately trying to unbutton his robe, but this proved to be a mistake. The movements made Snape glance down and with a growl of frustration he stepped back, entangling himself quickly.
"No," he whispered hoarsely, "I am making a huge mistake, no."
"But Severus!" Tonks whined; she had gotten rather aroused and was not pleased with these current events all of a sudden.
He looked at her and for a moment she thought she saw a sliver of regret.
"Though I prefer your method of disrobing a patient, Miss Tonks, I think, for both our sakes, that I'll choose option A."
With a final whoosh he had apparated, leaving Tonks all alone in the kitchen. She let herself slide down the wall, gazing at the abandoned table and looking awfully dishevelled. Closing her eyes before placing her head in her hands there was only one thing left for her to say;
"Damn!"
AN: Just did a quick spelling error check and noticed some of the many mistakes. Please mention more if you review, I want my spelling to improve. Now, for those that reviewed:
sYnergY's DualitystocktonwoodRumielf, Jess and those like-minded: Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the story.
SilverthreadsI haven't seen that movie, so it wasn't intentional, but I'm glad you liked it.
parselmouthThank you for your comment, it made me re-check the spelling, though I'm sure there are still mistakes. (It's a foreign language to me.) I am planning to write another 'chapter' – or two - in this, but it won't be a very long story. It's more of a way to let out some steam while I work on my long stories. I write Snape well? blushes My, thank you, it's always a pleasure to hear that. Our dear greasy git is a rather hard character to comprehend so I always appreciate such notions.
MST3KguruK10 I'm sorry that you find Snape OOC. Perhaps you give me some pointers while you say what makes him so? Snape is a hard character to grasp and write well, so help is appreciated. However, this is not a self-insertion. I do not particularly like Tonks and would not want to be her. Also, why is it such a sign of a 'self-insertion'? Yes it may be cliché, but it is also something that shows Snape is still human. I would appreciate some pointers on it all.
I am pondering a sequel; I even have most of it written down, but I need some more time to think it through.