The Beginning to Another
By: SecretBeauty-NM-LM
Severus sat at his desk, twirling his quill between his fingers. He sighed.
He had just completed the written portion of his Potions exam, whereas the
others were still on the mixing ingredients part. There was a 'poof' of purple
smoke and a horrid smell filtered through the room. Severus sighed again. This
was the third time Frank Longbottom had messed up his potion. He sniffed.
Though from the smell of the smoke, he was getting closer to the mark.
He looked around, smiling to himself (or as close to a smile as he could
get) when he saw another done. She was slouched in her chair with her
nose in a book. She turned to look when someone dropped their jigger on
the other side of the room. He'd recognize those bright green eyes
anywhere. Her flame red hair was a clue too. Lily Evans.
He frowned.
He should have figured that she would have been finished too. Professor Slughorn walked by and picked up his phial and essay. He proceeded down the rows, then stopped at Lily's desk.
"Already finished Miss Evans?" he held her phial up to the light. "And the perfect color as well!" he continued to marvel. Severus was fuming. How was it that that witch always got all the attention for her work when his was just as good if not better?! The phrase 'stupid Mudblood' came to mind, but that was fruitless. After all he was a 'Mudblood' himself. He knew that blood had nothing to do with the quality of the witch or wizard. His own father was a Pureblood and he was as low quality as one could get. He was a rude and abusive drunk. The other down side was that he happened to be quite an exceptional wizard. Severus was becoming more and more angry when, luckily, Professor Slughorn broke his thoughts.
"Are all exams turned in to me? Good. Now, what I have in mind next--" the bell rang. There was the busy sound of papers being gathered and students filing out the door into the dungeons. "Great job as well Severus!" Professor Slugohrn called as he was about to exit out the door. "Uh-huh," was all his response.
"Severus," he turned to see who was calling his name. Correctly. It was Lily. "Yes?" he raised an eyebrow, actually wondering what she could possibly want to talk to him about. She brushed a strand of hair from her eyes. They shone like emeralds.
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about Slughorn. Ever since I helped him stun some mermaids in the lake so he could get come of the yellow seaweed, he won't leave me alone."
"Hello Lily!" Slughorn called from down the hall.
Lily waved and smiled, which both dropped as soon as he was out of sight. "See what I mean?" she gave a wry smile. Severus just stood there. Lily looked around and shifted uncomfortably. "So yeah…that's it," she adjusted her schoolbag and walked away.
Idiot! He scorned himself. He was going to say he understood, though that didn't lessen his annoyance, but words woulnd't form. He was still in awe of her smile. It lit of the dingiest corners of the dungeons. He would just go up to her later.
Entering the Slytherin common room, he tossed down his schoolbag and plopped down into a winged chair by the fire. He stared into the flames, watching them lick their way up the back of the chimney. He had two hours to relax befire his final exam. He closed his eyes and awoke two hours later with the sounds of hushed voices and sniggers. He opened his eyes, blurred from sleep, things slowly came into focus. He saw the tall slender form of MacNair dashing across the room, and the large, cumbersome form Goyle trying to hurry away. He shot a biting charm his way (or the 'butt-biter' charm, this being the favored target). Goyle let out a yelp and clasped his backside with his hands. Severus now had fifteen minutes before he was due in the Great Hall before his final exam. He took out his potion book and began making his own corrections to the potions.
