The Assistant || Severus Snape x Reader ||

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"Yet? Feeling confident, aren't we?" 

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It took some adjustment to get used to your newly established dynamic. 

His boldness had completely taken you by surprise, considering it was so out of character for him. Truth be told, he was trying to unpack that himself. This was hardly a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. For now, you didn't really care what it was.

All you knew was that you were much more than his assistant (although, you still had to fulfill your duties), and you were seeing a side of him that you had a feeling hadn't come to light in years.

His sensitivity was particularly shocking. There had been numerous times where you almost convinced yourself that this whole thing was some warped dream the first time that you saw his soft side. There was no way that anyone, not even your closest friends, would believe any of this.  Severus Snape, infamously known for being a block of bad vibes, was a real softie at heart. 

Well...when it came to you at least. 

One thing that didn't come as a surprise was how expertly he was able to hide it. He still kept up his hateful, dark, and scary professor charade when you were around others or in your Advanced Potions class. If you spoke out of turn or made a mistake, he'd still made a snide comment or throw out an insult. The difference was that he didn't mean it, and he didn't have that empty look in his eyes when he said it to you. Sometimes, if he was in a really good mood, he would have to fight the urge to laugh or smirk when he was telling you off.

Despite these things, he was still keeping things at a distance. This wasn't going to be something that you would just jump right into. 

You had barely dipped your toes in the water, feeling things out to see what was next. You both had your concerns and skepticism, which was good. This wasn't an ordinary set of circumstances.

Even though your confession for one another had been less than unclear, you were at a bit of a trial and error phase. Being romantically involved with a professor was a major gray area. Dishing out what was acceptable when and where, and what was totally off limits was critically important. Discrepancy was going to be key.

You both made it a point to live your day to day lives as normal as possible. While you had been cautious to keep it under the radar, that didn't stop Alicia from being suspicious.

"Just what are you thinking about now?" She said with the slightest bit of annoyance in her tone.

Realizing that you hadn't heard anything that Alicia had said in the last five minutes, your stomach flipped. Your hand shielded the bright sun from your eyes as you sat on the Quidditch practice field next to your curious best friend. You leaned over to re-tie your shoes as a subtle way to act casual.

"My bad. Just thinking about my Herbology grade. What were you saying?" You asked, changing the subject.

Alicia wasn't having it. She leaned back on her palms onto the grass of the field. The two of you had snagged the field for a few hours to practice scoring with the Quaffle. You could never get too much scoring practice. However, when the two of you plopped down onto the field to take a break, it was clear that Qudditch was the last thing on your mind.

"Mmhm. Okay, you care to tell me what's going on with you?" She retorted sassily.

It was hard to get things past Alicia. She had been friends with you for a long time, and there wasn't much that she didn't know about you. Any telltale signs that you were lying were blatantly obvious to her.