By Marie Noire
They’d
been revising for nearly five hours when she finally stretched back in her
chair with a yawn and patted him on the back to draw his attention away from
his own Potions notes.
“Hrmm?”
he grunted by way of a reply, looking up at her like he had just been woken up
from a deep sleep.
“It’s
past midnight, Severus…either we take a break and get some food or I’m calling
it a night. What do you say?” she
smiled, although her eyes were weary.
“Ahem…
I didn’t notice the time. Is it really
past midnight?” he coughed in embarrassment.
“By
my Time-Keeper, it’s quarter after… but I’m not surprised you didn’t notice.”
She paused, looking at his various spread papers meaningfully. “You’re really passionate about this, aren’t
you? I mean you’re tops in the class
and Professor Jekyll thinks you’re god’s gift to Potions.”
He
flushed at the compliment. “I suppose I
am… passionate about it, I mean… not god’s gift… ahem…” Inwardly, he cringed at his sudden habit of sounding
like a babbling idiot around her. She
was easy enough to ignore when he only saw her from across a classroom… but the
one-on-one revisions were making him entirely too aware of how pretty she was. The fact that she was a Gryffindor barely
seemed to register in his mind.
“I
knew what you meant, Severus… allons,
let’s go raid the kitchen. I bet there
are plenty of leftovers from dinner.” She tugged at his sleeve.
“But…
we’re not suppose to wander the halls at night. What if we’re caught?” he protested as she pulled him through the
library doors.
“Caught
by whom? Peeves? None of the teachers are up this late
either, I imagine. If someone stumbles
on us, then we tell them the truth. We
were studying and got hungry. We’re not
going to get expelled for having a snack-attack, now are we? Besides, as long as we’re quiet, no one will
catch us.” She insisted as they rounded the corner and heading for the great
dining hall.
Despite
his misgivings, she was right… the school was quiet and still all the way to
the kitchens… even the house elves were nowhere to be seen. She winked at him as she pointed at the
remains of a large roast on a counter top.
His stomach grumbled softly and he was reminded that the two of them had
skipped dinner to revise. Now the idea
of sneaking to the kitchens for food seemed like the best idea of the
millennium. She handed him a plate and
together they finished off the leftover roast.
Conversation was slow to start in favor of eating, but soon enough, she
broke the silence.
“What
are you going to do after graduation?” she asked as she piled a few more slices
of roast on her plate.
He
shrugged. “I’m not all that certain
yet. I want to pursue Potions of
course, but I haven’t decided how.
Maybe I’ll research new ones…test combinations that haven’t been tried
yet.”
She
nodded thoughtfully. “I can certainly
see you making breakthroughs in potion-making… on the cover of the Daily
Prophet… Hogwarts Grad Severus Snape Discovers Cure For Vampirism…”
He
chuckled at the extremity of her suggestion, but flushed with pride
nonetheless. “I doubt that…”
“I
think you’d make a brilliant professor.
You could teach and research those new potions of yours. You’d never let anyone get away with
anything, that’s for certain.” She suggested.
“I’ve
thought of that… not sure I’m cut out to be a professor thought. We’ll see.” He shrugged. “What about you? What are doing after graduation?”
“Well…
since I spent most of the last seventeen years with my mum here in England… I
promised my dad that I’d go to a wizarding university in Paris. I’ve already been accepted to Beauxbaton’s
School of Higher Wizarding. I think
I’ll be majoring in some branch of Charms.” She explained around a swallow of
pumpkin juice.
“Why
Charms?” he asked, uncertain as to why he was troubled by the idea of his
uninvited study partner going to live in France.
“It’s
my best subject. And I enjoy it. I’ve been working on modifying a few of the
simpler spells on my own.” She admitted with a pink blush to her cheeks.
“Have
you? Which ones?” he queried curiously.
“Voyons…well…the levitation one…I’ve got to where I
can get an object to float in one spot without moving for up to a week without
recasting the spell. The petrifaction spell…
I can work at a longer distance and the duration I longer. A few others too.” She listed a little
reluctantly.
“How
have you gotten such results?” he wondered aloud.
She
bit her lip. “Promise not to laugh?”
He
looked taken aback. “I don’t laugh at
anything that gets results.”
“Eh, bien… I don’t suppose you remember that section
in fifth-year Charms about musicology?” she sighed.
“Vaguely.”
“Well…
I rather enjoyed it and found that using musical elements combined with material ones yielded a significantly
improved outcome. I’ve even created a
spell or two that are worked using only musical elements.” She whispered
conspiratorially.
A
rare smile spread his mouth.
“Brilliant! Can you show me?”
She
glanced around, as though looking for any errant house elves. “Well… d’accord.” She hopped out of her chair and fetched what
looked like a glass ball from her bag.
“What
on earth..?” he mumbled.
She
smiled and abruptly dropped the ball, which promptly bounced off the floor and
right back into her hand. “Relax… it’s
just clear rubber… a Muggle toy called a super ball. I used it because it wouldn’t break.”
That
said, she placed it on the table, right by his hand and took a few steps back,
her wand still in her pocket. She took
a deep breath and closed her eyes, clearly concentrating. Then she opened her mouth and began to
sing. He distantly recognized the words
as those used in the levitate spell, but he had never heard such a voice! Her soft soprano was clear and soothing… it
wasn’t until the ball was several feet off of the table that he was able to
focus on it. It was floating gently in
tandem with her voice, without the benefit of a wand! His jaw dropped slightly as he watched it float towards her in a
gentle ballet before landing in her hand.
She
smiled at him expectantly. “Well… what
do you think?”
He
blinked. “That was… superb. Amazing!
And you did it without even using your wand!”
Her
smile broadened as she came back to the table.
“Thanks, Severus… that means a good deal coming from you… I mean it.”
He
shrugged. “Why should you care what I
think?”
She
blushed again. “Well… you are one of
the few people who I know would tell me the truth regardless of how I might
react. If you thought it was stupid,
you’d say so. And you are not easily
impressed.”
“True
enough…” he admitted.
A
comfortable silence descended while they both cleared their dishes and began
the trek back to the library. He wanted
to take her hand as they walked; as he had seen other students do in the light
of day. But he resisted the urge
carefully, chiding himself for being childish.
As they drew closer to the library, he swore that her heard whispering
ahead. Tally must have heard it as
well, for she slowed her step, brow furrowing as she tried to make out the
words.
“Can
you see them? Are they studying?”
“Hush
up… I don’t see them. If that
slime-ball lays a hand on her, I’ll punch his big nose off his face.”
“Guys,
hurry up… we are not supposed to be in the halls. What if Peeves shows up?”
“Oh
can it, Peter.”
Tally
and Severus rounded the corner silently to find James, Sirius, and Peter
crouching by the library doors and peering through the crack, trying to see
beyond. Tally’s stance changed, her
hands straying to her hip immediately as she stopped.
She
cleared her throat loudly and nearly sent the three boys through the roof. “What are you three doing here?” she
demanded in an angry tone.
Sirius
was the first to recover, approaching her confidently, sneering at
Severus. “Keeping an eye out for our
friend, of course.”
Tally’s
sweet smile did little to tamper the sarcasm in her voice. “How sweet… go to bed, Sirius. That goes for you two as well.”
“Great.”
James said cheerfully enough. “Come on,
Tally… we’ll walk you back.”
“Severus
and I are not done studying yet, thank you very much.” She replied coldly,
ignoring James’ offered hand and walking through the library door. She all but ran to the table without looking
back, her blood boiling.
“The
nerve of those gits!” she growled.
“Thinking that they can direct me.
Just who do they think they are?”
She
turned to address Severus and was momentarily stunned when he was not behind
her. The sound of someone being thrown
against the library door sent her running back outside. There, Sirius had shoved Severus against the
wall and was snarling aggressively.
James and Peter stood to one side, having the decency to look shocked at
their friend’s actions.
“I
swear to God, you touch one hair on her head and I will hit you so hard that
Salazar Slytherin will feel it. You got
that, trash?”
“Let
go of me.” Severus replied fairly evenly.
“Or does it make you feel superior to bully those smaller than you… and
of higher intellect?”
“You
ugly sonofa-“
“SIRIUS!”
she shrieked, causing yet another wave of heart attacks among the boys. Without warning she threw herself at Sirius,
knocking him off of Severus purely by the element of surprise, several choice
phrases streaming out of her mouth in angry French. “Don’t you EVER threaten my friends again!”
“Tally!”
he yelled. “What on earth has gotten
into you? WE’RE your friends
remember? Not that greasy excuse for a
wizard!”
“If
you are going to behave like this, Sirius, then you and I are NOT friends…
understand?” she fired back, her voice deadly serious. “Now go to bed before I kick you all the way
there myself. Peter… James… goodnight.”
Sirius
picked himself away from the wall, rubbing his jaw where she had struck
him. “What are you saying, Tally?” he
asked in a softer voice. “I’m just
trying to protect you. I mean, have you
forgotten who he is?”
Her
eyes narrowed. “Remind me, Sirius… just
who is he?”
“Severus
Snape! A Slytherin! A greasy, prejudiced slime-ball who’s
probably feeding you the wrong answers just to make you fail… jut so he can
congratulate himself on topping a Gryffindor.” Sirius grumbled.
She
nodded. “Severus…are you helping me… or
hurting me?”
He
didn’t look surprised at the question and answered on beat. “Helping you… as of right now, I will be
taking your grade in Potions as seriously as my own.”
“There’s
your answer then, Sirius… if you still feel that way… then YOU are the one
being prejudiced… not him.” She said quietly, turning and heading into the
library with Severus in tow.
“Goodnight, Black. See you in
Muggle Studies tomorrow.”
Severus
stood in startled silence while Tally marched off in a considerable
temper. The other three boys, with
Sirius looking particularly stricken, eventually followed her path towards the
Gryffindor common room. Severus
remained at the library door, vaguely noting that he should extinguish the
lights and lock the door for the night before Peeves or the Bloody Baron showed
up. She had… stood up for him? To her own Gryffindor housemates, no
less? Why? True, he was helping her with Potions… and technically she was in
his debt… but such a display of fury for the sake of a Slytherin was not in
usual Gryffindor habit… even one with a debt.
Could
it be that… even as he was starting to genuinely enjoy her company… to the
point of wishing they could spend time together outside of studying… was she
possibly feeling the same? His heart
lifted at the idea. He had never
thought of it before. Certainly he
noticed others in the school pairing off together… James and Lily, naturally…
Sirius and whomever he was dating at that particular second of the day… Lucius
and Narcissa. But he never paid much
attention and preferred devoting his attentions to his schoolwork over the
nubile charms of his female counterparts.
This was not to say that he didn’t notice when a pretty Ravenclaw passed
him in the hallway or when a sultry fellow Slytherin sat across from him at
dinner… he just noticed and then went on with his business. But now this fair-haired Gryffindor was
stealing his concentration from him.
He
wasn’t certain he liked this.
But
he couldn’t deny that the light in his soul unquestionably felt more
comfortable than his usual heavy-hearted mood.
How could he have known then how everything would end up?