The Great Hall was surprisingly quiet that morning, but it was not something unexpected, considering that it was Saturday and most students did not even come for breakfast. You were sitting at the y/h table, your friends from the same house refused to get out of their beds, saying that it was too early, hence you had to sit there alone whilst waiting for your best friends to come. Your focus was glued on the fascinating pages of your book when you heard a pair of footsteps that you had grown accustomed to since your first year.

"Hello, gorgeous. Are you waiting for someone?"

You did not have to look up from your book to know whose voice it was, a smirk was cracked on your lips as you slammed your book shut, keeping it in your bag.

"Calling me gorgeous will not help the fact that you're late, Fred."

He snickered at your words, sitting across you as George took a seat next to you, casually wrapping an arm around your shoulder.

"Wow, you're so affectionate today. What do you want from me, Mr Weasley?"

You cocked your eyebrow at George, who immediately dropped his arm from your shoulder, smiling sheepishly at you as you could tell that he wanted to ask for your help.

"We need your help."

"Of course, I will help you. As long as it doesn't include a prank or something that could put me in trouble."

You murmured, remembering that one time you joined them doing a prank, which ended up quite badly, and Snape freaked out when he found out you were a part of it. The Potions Master lectured you about how careless you were for a few weeks, and you never wanted to experience it ever again.

"Snape will murder us if we ask you to do something bad, Y/N."

Fred shrugged his shoulders, and you nodded, agreeing with his statement which was absolutely true. He could be protective over you sometimes, but you were glad that he always looked out for you, making sure you were doing the right things instead of something that you might regret in the future.

"We need to borrow your notes. Please, Y/N?"

You rolled your eyes playfully at the twins, but nodded at them, before three of you started to walk out of the Great Hall together, heading to your common room so you could take your notes for them.

"You should watch our next quidditch match, Y/N."

George suggested, as they were talking about how you were always stuck in the comfort of your room and the library, instead of going out to have some fun. You pressed your lips into a thin line, shaking your head at your best friends. They actually knew that you would always watch their quidditch match, and you would not miss it for the world, no matter how much you would rather be inside of the castle, you would always be there to cheer for them.

"Yeah, you should. I mean, you can watch Gryffindor beat y/h team easily!"

Fred added, and you slapped his arm playfully, bursting into laughter as he pretended to be hurt. Their laughter died down, and they gave you familiar grins that you knew very well. It meant a certain professor was there, watching over you.

"Miss L/N, I need your help. Can you come with me?"

Snape walked over to you, asking for your help while eyeing the twins suspiciously. You never noticed that he was there because he was not in the Great Hall, but perhaps you were too busy talking with your friends that you had not noticed everything else around you.

"Of course!"

You chirped, nodding violently, as you had nothing else to do for the day. You looked at the Weasley twins who just smiled at you, and you were sure there was something in their eyes that you could not quite understand. It was like they were thinking of something, but they wanted to hide it from you. Shrugging the thought off, you waved at them while continued to follow Snape on his trails.

"I'll give my notes to you this evening!"

You shouted, so they could hear you, and you chuckled as Fred tried to mock Snape with his body gestures. You would catch up with them later in the evening like you always did.

"Why are you in such a rush?"

You huffed in annoyance, trying to keep up with your professor's long strides. At your comment, Severus slowed down a little bit, and you were internally thankful for that. Sometimes you wanted to curse his long legs for making you seem slow while walking with him.

"What were you doing with the twins?"

He asked, raising his eyebrows as he glanced at you. You knitted your eyebrows together, trying to match his pace which seemed to be faster now after he talked to you.

"I was just hanging out with my best friends."

You said, almost like a question, as you wondered if it was not obvious that you were good friends with George and Fred. Snape swallowed your words, nodding slowly as he opened the door to his office for you, like a gentleman he was. You walked in, thanking him politely and he shut the door behind him once he was inside his office as well.

"How can I help you?"

You took a seat across him, the one that you always occupied whenever you came to his office for your extra lessons. It was not an exaggeration to say that it was officially your chair, that no one else had ever sit there after you, since you noticed that he kept it behind his table whenever there would be visitors to his office. Sometimes you thought his doing was special, but it was just a chair, so it could mean nothing to him.

"Are you just friends with Fred and George?"

He returned your question with another question, not even bothering to answer you first, making you tilt your head in confusion with his antics. You thought you made it perfectly clear how close you were with them, since you had known the twins since the first day you came to Hogwarts. They literally helped you to cope up with everything, and you were really happy to have them as your best friends until your final year.

"Yes, that's obvious, isn't it? I'm pretty sure you remember that I even went to the Yule Ball with George."

You said casually, thinking about that one time when you agreed to be George's date to the ball, as friends, of course, because you would rather to be on his arm rather than accepting invitations from other boys. Snape leaned back against his chair, watching you silently as he pondered about something that you could not tell.

"Of course, I remember. I was the one who taught you to dance."

Severus stated proudly, and you rolled your eyes, but failing to hide your smile as you could still remember how patient he was with you. You kept messing up during the dance lesson but the professor kept his composure and stayed calm, not wanting you to embarrass yourself in front of everyone during the ball, so he taught you very well.

"I kept stepping on your foot!"

You pointed out, a chuckle escaped your throat as the image of Professor Snape scowling at you was still fresh on your mind. He was so angry and he wanted to scold you so bad but he decided against it as you apologised profusely, not desiring to be on his bad side.

"I was very close to poisoning your drink after you did that."

He joked, a smirk was on his lips. He watched you, astonished, as you laughed at his words, as he had never seen you laugh that way before with anyone else. It seemed like he got to see a different side of you every day, that you had never showed anyone else. Severus tore his gaze away from you when he realised you had been staring at him, a mischievous smile was painted on your face.

"What are you up to, little witch?"

He questioned, knowing you had something on your mind. You almost laughed at the nickname that he called you, but he seemed unperturbed by it. You stood up from your chair and walked towards him, your contagious smile never vanished from your face as he found himself smiling as well, breaking out of his walls.

"Let's dance, Professor."

A childish giggle erupted in your chest before you could stop it, and Severus shook his head at your suggestion. It was a lie if he say he was not tempted to accept it, but he wanted to see how serious you were.

You were going to take his hand and ask him to dance when something tugged within your heart, and you could feel a growing pain in your chest. Instinctively, you put a hand on your chest, as you tried to catch your breath once you found it hard to breathe. It felt there was something physically grew in your chest, tightening your lungs and you did not know what was happening to you.

"Y/N, are you alright?"

Panic rose in Snape's chest when he saw you froze in your steps, clutching your chest as you shut your eyes tightly. He quickly squeezed your shoulders, frowning when you winced as soon as he touched you. You knew there was something behind your pain, and it was connected to your professor but you decided to shake the thought away, thinking that it was absurd.

"I'm perfectly fine, Professor. I– I have to go now. I'm sorry."

Severus could only watch as you walked out of his office in a rush, realising that you were hiding something big from him. He wanted to force you to stay and tell him what was going on with you, but he knew it would mean that he did not respect your decisions and he never wanted you think of it that way. He let you walked away, trusting your decision and respecting your boundaries.

If there would be a student that deserved his uttermost respect, it would be you.