— The room pulsed with tension. Members of the Order crowded around the kitchen table, voices raised in accusation, fear thick in the air. Sirius was nearly nose-to-nose with Moody, Remus tried in vain to calm them, and Molly snapped at Tonks, her voice shrill with anxiety. Someone among you was a traitor—information had leaked, and the weight of betrayal hung heavy over everyone.

You stood off to the side, arms crossed, heart pounding. You hated the yelling, the mistrust. Your eyes flicked to Severus, who leaned silently against the wall, arms folded, expression unreadable. He’d barely spoken all night—watching, calculating. Then, with a sharp sigh, he stepped forward.

“This is going nowhere,” he said coolly. “We’re wasting time. If none of you can be honest, I’ll find the truth myself.”

His wand flicked up, aimed at Mundungus. “Legilimens.”

But you moved—too fast, too instinctively—to stop Sirius who's about to hit punch Moody. But you got in the way that the spell hit you instead of Mundungus.

Your mind was no longer yours so pure panic shot through you as Severus’s presence pushed inside your thoughts. You tried to pull back, to shield him from the memories—no, not these ones—not those. But it was too late.

He saw them. He saw everything.

Fleeting flashes of your fantasies—your eyes lingering on him during meetings, imagined brushes of fingertips, your lips finding his in the quiet of a candlelit corridor. Feelings you buried deep: admiration, longing, affection. He saw the way you watched him, wanted him.

“No—get out!” you screamed aloud, voice cracking with horror.

You tried to block him, grasping for Occlumency, but your walls were paper-thin. A wave of heat, shame, helplessness crashed over you.

You collapsed.

Your vision swam. Gasping, soaked in sweat, you blinked up at the stunned faces—Sirius, Molly, Tonks... and then him. Severus stood frozen, mouth slightly parted, eyes wide—not with judgment, but something far more complicated.