Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Inside me. ❯ New capacities? New alliance? ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer - I still don't own any of the Harry Potter characters.

Author's note - sorry for the patchy update schedule. I have written up to chapter 10 out already in rough form and fully intend to carry on updating this story. I apologise to any readers waiting for updates.

 

 

Slughorn beamed at his two most able third year students, taking in the twin expressions of utter shock and dawning horror.

 

`But Sir, when you said you'd let me work with someone outside lessons I though you meant a fourth or fifth year from my own house.' Lily managed weakly. She noticed that Snape merely remained silently beside her, his sallow complexion paling slightly in shock.

 

`Now now dear girl.' Slughorn boomed jovially. `If you think about the situation logically instead of leaping into siege-like endo-house-only thinking you will realise that Severus is the most logical choice of study partner for you. A pupil in the same classes as you will have the same frame of reference, will have the same periods of time free and is skilled enough not to slow you down as well as being fully capable of keeping secrets.' Slughorn was so busy persuading Lily of this that he missed Severus' reaction to his estimation of the boy's talents. He may not have been in general favour with the teaching staff, but Severus was more than Evans' equal in the field of potions and implying otherwise was more than a little insulting.

 

The children were left alone in the lab together, reeling from Slughorn's jovially delivered bombshell. Severus recovered first. `Look Evans, we're intelligent enough to work competently together. I am willing to declare a truce for the duration of these study sessions with you. After all, you want this extra credit as much as I do.'

 

That much was true. In academic areas Lily's ambition rivalled the Slytherin's and she understood that his truce would be mutually beneficial. `All right then, but with a couple of conditions. Firstly - these sessions are secret, no telling either of our houses, I happen to be quite fond of my skin thank-you very much. Secondly - no politics; we are here to study in a civilised manner, not to insult one another on grounds of base prejudice. I will not make unflattering allusions to snakes et cetera and you will stay away from the subject of breeding and blood purity, okay?'

 

She was surprised when he offered her a hand. `I think I can manage that much, Evans.' She accepted his hand with a smile, perturbed by the controlled flinch she felt as her hand closed firmly but gently around his bony fingers. Mind you, with long skinny hands like those she supposed the risk of breakages would be a worry. Instead of commenting she arranged to meet that Wednesday with the appropriate texts and equipment before parting.

 

`Late back, Snape?' Lucius drawled without bothering to look up from his NEWT level revision book. Rudely denying eye contact with your conversation partner was the latest cool thing to do in sinister conversing circles.

 

`Not especially, Malfoy.' Came the cool response in perfectly measured tones. Such casualness brought about mixes feelings in Lucius. He'd taught the boy such a manner of speech after all, but hearing that mannered, indifferent mode of speech turned upon him was galling, even as the mastery of the technique made him slightly proud. Severus took the seat opposite him, hands folded in his lap and book bag abandoned by his feet like a faithful lapdog.

 

`You're more trouble than you're worth, brat.' Lucius sneered.

 

`Which makes you the greater fool for bothering with me.' His protégé matched the young man's contemptuous tone easily. `If you weren't a nasty scary Dark Wizard I'd say you cared for me somewhat.'

 

`Amusingly the same thought had occurred to me about you.' Lucius shot back without missing a beat, grinning like a predator. They both laughed softly, and Severus followed Lucius' lead, opening one of his own books for study.

 

Lily on the other hand was not so lucky, instead being treated to an intense game of twenty questions back in her dorms, due to one of her housemates noting her absence from her habitual spot in the library. Fortunately no one especially not the Marauders) suspected anything in particular. However secrets are not generally thought of in conjunction with the Gryffindor character with good reason and her housemates' tenacity in questioning her sorely tempted the young muggleborn witch to hex them viciously.

 

`You seem relieved Evans, it would appear that you have adapted to my presence most amenably.'

 

`Shove it, Snape.' Lily snapped, dropping her bag and sitting down at the workbench heavily. `I have had the sort of day that make pyromania positively appealing.'

 

`I'm sorry to hear that, Dido. I shall take care to keep you away from the matches and offer you instead an appealing helping of toad guts instead.' Severus replied without heat, but with a healthy dose of snide sarcasm, gesturing for her to get chopping as he busily skinned something Lily did not recognise. It seemed to be pickled.

 

Matches? Now that was a decidedly non-Slytherin thing to be familiar with. Lily just shrugged though; glad to have avoided the worst of Snape's temper. She never knew what was going to set him off and although he did noticeably rein in the worst excesses of his temperament he still had a bitingly sharp tongue. She was rewarded with a bottle of very complex potion that changed one's eye-colour. It was not immensely useful of itself, but valuable brewing experience and the sight of Severus with bright pink eyes was something she would remember in boring history of magic lessons to amuse herself.

 

They took it in turns to choose projects, remaining civil over the course of the term and Lily gradually began to view their study sessions as a welcome escape from the mundane stress of everyday school life. She even began to become accustomed to Snape's acerbic manners.

 

`You don't like people much, do you Severus?' She observed one grey afternoon in mid-November.

 

No.' was the laconic answer. He looked up from decanting the Lachrima Vita with an indifferent expression that was marred by the bruising down one side of his face. Professor McGonagall had confiscated his and the Marauders' wands that morning in an effort to improve discipline. Instead Black had decided that Snape was looking at him funny (to be fair he was right) and had slammed Severus' head against the wall a few times to teach him a lesson. One would think that previous experience would have taught him that such methods did not work on Snape. They had both fled before detentions could be handed out.

 

`I suppose not.' Lily acceded, thinking over how he was generally treated by said people. `You ought to go to Madame Pomfrey to get that bruising looked at though.

 

An expression of startlement crossed his face before he was able to school his features and Snape went over to a conveniently located mirror. Surprise and then loathing were visible on his face as he registered his physical state. He took up his wand, muttering charms and watched the damage fade away to sick green and yellow hues. His ability to perform healing charms disturbed Lily, although she wondered at his inability to perform the healing completely. `Which reminds me,' he continued vaguely, `would you like to come looking for fresh ingredients with me? I'm running low on a few things and fresh ingredients can be more efficacious.'

 

Lily giggled. `Are you asking me to go out on a date with you?'

 

Again there was that controlled flinch and his voice was cold. `If a trip into the grim Forbidden Forest to grub about in the mud for roots and berries constitutes a date in your mind then I find myself forced to comment upon the negligence of your housemates.'

 

This time it was a full-blown laugh of relief. The idea of Severus Snape being in love with anyone was a downright disturbing concept. The boy had entirely too unhealthy obsessions with (Defence Against the) Dark Arts, potions, Slytherin politics and the darker side of life in general. `Alright then, I'll come grub about in the muck with you - after all I'll probably end up using half of the stuff we unearth, so it's only fair that I lend a hand.' That last garnered her an incredulous stare and Lily realised with a mental start that Severus probably had a rather unusually negative interpretation of the concept of fairness.

 

At the appointed time they made their way across the school grounds towards the forest in comfortable silence until curiosity compelled Lily to ask a question that had been bothering her since Severus had invited her on this expedition. `Why not just ask Professor Slughorn for the use of the communal school supplies or get a fellow Slytherin to pick up the necessary supplies when he or she goes into Hogsmeade?'

 

`Politics Evans.' Lily's silence told him that she had not understood his explanation. `Asking a Slytherin for a favour puts you at a disadvantage in house politics, something I am loathe to do. As for Slughorn, he could easily extrapolate what we a re brewing if we used only his supplies and he could thus gain valuable insights into anything I happened to invent in my time in these sessions. He may seem a foolish old man, but he is a Slytherin after all.'

 

Lily felt a strange mixture of feeling wash over her at that. Sorrow predominated. However, she kept her mouth shut and followed her stuffy-partner, feeling strangely at ease with a boy only a few months earlier she would have doubted could even have tolerated her presence in the same room as he with only hexes resulting.

 

Once they were in the Forbidden Forest Snape' posture changed, relaxing, yet retaining his usual alertness. He seemed comfortable in the frightening place, leading the way with familiarity and pointing out difficult patches of terrain to her. Fortunately the trip was uneventful and they gathered what they needed without undue difficulty, although finding a good stand of murtlap to harvest roots from did pose a challenge. Lily straightened up from putting the last of the tough roots into an ingredients bag and inhaled the woody, damp air of the forest, savouring its scent. As she did so she noticed that Severus seemed distracted. As she watched he stopped mumbling to thin air and instead extend a hand, sliding it over the empty space before him, like a child interacting with his imaginary friend. Then he noticed her staring and dropped his hand, leading the way back without mentioning what he'd done.

 

Lily's mind worried at that strange little interaction as she trotted along behind Snape, striding to keep up with him. It was halfway across the quidditch pitch that the facts clicked into place and she stopped, ejaculating gleefully, `Thestrals!' Snape stopped, startled by both her shout and the triumphant way in which she pronounced the grim word. `You were talking to and stroking a thestral, weren't you?' To her triumph his black eyes met her own stare and he made no reply, as good as conceding the point in his own way. It wasn't until she got back to her own dorm that she realised what that particular nugget of information meant.