A/N: Welcome to my first ever Harry Potter fanfic. I do not own Harry Potter, just the plot for this story and any OCS. Reviews are most welcome, please leave one. –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH)

Chapter 1

Annette had hardly scratched the surface with her Potions essay, when the strong, gag-inducing smell of vinegar entered the common room of Hufflepuff House. She looked over at the scrawny and tiny first year that Jenna Baum, their House Prefect was leading into the common room. He had dark chestnut hair and freckles spackled across his face. She tried to her best to ignore the stench that the young first year was drenched in and struggled to drag her attention back to her Potions essay, if she did not get a good score on this essay, she would really be in trouble, and she would end up failing the one class she dreaded, the one class that she could not grasp.

She still struggled with Transfiguration and Charms, but the two classes that she exceled in was Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology. Sighing in defeat, she put her quills back into their cases and corked her bottle of ink, with a flick of her wand, the parchment that hardly had a paragraph on it, rolled itself up. The fifth year Hufflepuff sighed and lay back on the couch in the common room, listening to the crackling of the fire as it popped and hissed in the hearth, and looking at potted plants that hung on the low ceiling.

She reached blindly on the coffee table for her Charms book; if she studied hard for Charms then maybe that class would stop being such a headache. The only thing that made her glad that tomorrow was Thursday was the fact that she had Ghoul Studies. Every Tuesday and Thursday, she had Ghoul Studies with Professor Haak, even though it was considered to be an extracurricular activity, Annette found it to be the class she enjoyed the most besides Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures. The bell tolled loudly throughout the castle, it even echoed deep into the caverns of Hufflepuff House, Annette sighed and hauled herself off the couch, she had used up her lunch hour in trying to figure out her potions essay, and needless to say it seemed like a total waste of a good meal now.

She gathered her supplies and put them back in her satchel. She grabbed her timetable from off of the coffee table that sat in the middle of the chairs and couches and could hardly hold back a groan of disappoint and frustration, she had Potions after her Charms class with Professor Flitwick, she had already had Potions this morning right after breakfast, she swore that sometimes the fates were against her. Following Jenna Baum out of their House common room and into the noisiness of the kitchen, and the House Elves hard at work, as they joined the rest of the students in the crowded hallways and made their way toward Professor Flitwick's classroom.

"If you're really so worried about your Potions grade, why don't you ask Professor Slughorn if he could assign you a tutor?" Jenna suggested as they found their seats, and waited for the rest of the students to enter, they were streaming in like salmon.

Annette knotted her copper brown hair up into a loose bun, instead of it swaying down her back, she tried not think about how exhausted she looked, she could practically feel the bags under her olive drab green eyes. "You really think he would find me a tutor?" she questioned, just as Professor Flitwick waddled into the classroom, and began his tapping his wand against the podium for silence.

Jenna shrugged, "It wouldn't hurt to ask."

Annette nodded in reply and unrolled a fresh scroll of parchment and uncorked her bottle of ink, dipping her quill in, she began to take notes while Professor Flitwick started his lecture on the Concealing Charm.

She would get through this class, and then find some way to either avoid her second dose of Potions Class all together or suffer through it. She knew that avoiding the matter of probably failing the class, and that finding the solution to her problem would be better than faking an illness and going to the Infirmary.

The lower catacombs of Hogwarts were drafty and cold; Annette rubbed the fabric of her robes along the flesh of her goosebump covered skin, wishing she had remembered to grab a jumper while she was in the common room of her house. She had left Charms after Professor Flitwick had finished his lecture on the Concealing Charm and was busy answering questions from the students that were actually intrigued by the subject. Taking a deep breath, and struggling to stop her teeth from chattering, she stood outside the door of Professor Slughorn's classroom, she could hear his booming and cheerful voice, and the smell of ingredients brewing together. Trying her best to steel her nerves, she pulled open the door and walked inside.

Students from the Slytherin and Gryfinddor Houses were busily working away at a Befuddlement Draught; Annette carefully made her toward Professor Slughorn. The man was large and wide, but always seemed to be happy. He was nice to Annette, no matter how many times she struggled and ended up failing in creating the potion that was assigned. He was currently chatting with one of his male students, who from his green and silver tie, could easily be seen as a Slytherin. He had long stringy, greasy ink-black hair that went down to his chin, obscuring his face from view. He also seemed to be thin, rather gangly, maybe a little tall for his age of fifteen, a fellow fifth year.

Annette hesitantly cleared her throat; she could not help feeling nervous. "Professor Slughorn, may I speak with you?"

The Potions Master turned to face her and grinned. "Hello, Mrs. Negrescu. How may I help you?"

"I'm sorry for interrupting your class, Professor Slughorn…I was wondering if-if maybe you could assign me a tutor? I really don't want to fail your class." The Hufflepuff girl replied.

Professor Slughorn grinned and clasped a meaty and pudgy hand onto the scrawny boy's shoulder; he had just been talking too. "I'm sure, Mr. Snape, would not mind tutoring you. He is excelling in my class; he is one of my brightest students."

The fifteen year old boy looked up at Annette, his eyes were dark, nearly black. He was also very pale, with long and thin fingers, he brushed some of his string black locks out of his face to get a better look at the fellow fifth year he would be tutoring. "Meet in the library after dinner, we can start then." His tone sounded bored, as if trying to help with her worst subject was going to be a waste of his time.

"Okay," Annette smiled ever-so-slightly. She tried to ignore the snickers from James Potter and Sirius Black, the infamous pranksters at Hogwarts. "Thank you." She carefully made her way around a crowd of students, before she found the door.

Her cheeks flared pink, as she heard James Potter jeering toward Snape, "I can't believe you are so bad at getting a girlfriend that Professor Slughorn had to assign you a girlfriend." The cruel laughter of his fellow Gryffindors echoed out into the halls as Annette found herself in the safety of its silence, after the heavy wooden door slammed shut behind her.

She had a tutor, maybe there was some hope left for her dreadful Potions grade after all.