Chapter One

Severus snuck quick glances at the girl sitting a few tables away from him. She had beautiful black hair and eyes the color of ice. He had been watching her from afar since the previous year. He wouldn't admit it to anyone but himself that he longed to ask her out. She was beautiful, intelligent, kind, compassionate, and a Slytherin. The only problem was that she was James Potter's younger sister. He had hated her for that small, now insignificant fact for her first two and a half years at Hogwarts. On the day he lost Lily, Kat had proven that she was nothing like her brother. He would never forget the day that she had cursed her brother and Sirius Black to hell and back all the while shouting "you don't mess with those in the House of Slytherin". Only to himself would he ever admit that he was in love with Katerina Potter.

He shook himself out of his stupor when he realized that Potions was over and everyone was getting up to leave. He sighed and realized that it was now or never. As fast as he could, Severus cleared his desk and shoved all of his papers in his bag.

"Kat," he called as he ran to catch up to her.

She turned and smiled at him. "What can I do for you, Severus?"

Taking a deep breath and hoping against hope that she didn't say no to him like she did to all the other boys he asked, "Would you go to the Halloween Ball with me?"

Those around them gasped as if they couldn't believe that someone like him would ask a goddess like her on a date. Everyone waited to see what she would say.

"I would love to go to the ball with you. Um," she shyly looked towards the ground and then back to his black eyes, "you have Transfiguration next right?"

"Yes."

"I have seventh year Transfiguration too. Would you walk with me?

"Of course," he said as she started walking out of the dungeons. He had a slight spring in his step, but he didn't care. She had agreed to go to the ball with him and she had asked him to walk with her to class. Could his day get any better?

Kat walked beside Severus wondering how she could have gotten lucky enough to have Severus Snape ask her to the ball. Naturally, not everyone would agree with her opinion of him. Only her closest friends knew of her feelings for him. It was one of her most heavily guarded secrets.

"So what did you think of Slughorn's class today, Severus?"

"It was boring and much too easy as usual. I wish that he would give us a challenge at least once this year."

"Exactly! Wouldn't it be fun to make an invisibility potion?"

"No one has ever succeeded in making one before."

"I bet we could," she said, smiling up at him.

They stopped in front of McGonagall's classroom. Neither of them knew what to say, so there was an uncomfortable silence between them. Kat was the first to break it.

"Thank you for walking with me, Severus. It's a lonely walk from the dungeons to McGonagall's classroom."

"Do you always walk to class alone?"

"I walk to all of my classes alone."

"But you're so popular," Severus exclaimed.

"Most of my real friends graduated already. My other real friend moved to France. There are people who pretend to be my friends and I humor some of them, but they are not my friends."

"I could walk you to your classes if you would like. All of your classes."

"You would really do that for me? I would really appreciate that. Thank you so much!"

"Anything for you," Severus said whispered as he ushered her into the classroom.

She almost didn't catch what he said; he'd said it so softly. Kat tucked those three little words into the back of her mind for later evaluation as she walked to her usual seat on the Gryffindor side of the classroom. Looking at her watch, Kat realized that she had a few minutes before class started and figured that now would be a good time to talk to McGonagall about changing her seat. She hated sitting there, especially with her brother and his animal friends and harpy of a girlfriend.

"Oh, Katerina!"

Kat groaned out loud and desperately wanted to hit her head off of the desk in front of her. If there was one thing she hated more than sitting with Gryffindors, it was being called by her full first name. She glared at the offender who was none other than Sirius Black. That boy just couldn't take a hint. His mother must have dropped him on his head when he was a baby. Kat made a mental note to ask her at Lucius and Narcissa's engagement party during Christmas break.

"Can I help you with something, Black? A trip to the Hospital Wing perhaps? And stop calling me Katerina!"

"But it's such a lovely—"

"What do you want?"

"All right," he sat in the seat next to her, "straight to the point. Would you go to the Halloween Ball with me?"

Kat could only stare at him in disbelief before she was overcome by laughter. "Me? Go to the ball with you? That is rich!"

"Why is that so funny? Stop laughing, Katerina!"

The more she laughed; the redder his face turned, causing her to laugh even more. Pretty soon, everyone in the class was looking at them. Her brother was looking at her like he had never seen her before. Lily, Remus, and Peter were looking around, clearly not comfortable with the attention they were attracting.

"I find it hilarious that you think I would lower my standards and go to the ball with you. You are Gryffindor's man whore. There are more notches on your bedpost than there are craters on the moon. No one want's a plum when someone has already taken a bite—or in your case many bites. I will not degrade myself by going to the ball with you. I am not one of your Gryffindor whores!"

Satisfied that she had made her point she gathered up her things and walked to the Slytherin side of the room. She sat down next to Severus when he moved his books to make room for her. She gave him a small, grateful smile and mouthed the words "thank you". Sirius started over towards them, but his advance was stopped when Professor McGonagall entered the classroom. McGonagall took roll and paused when she noticed that Kat had changed her seat.

"Miss Potter, why have you changed your seat?"

"I feel more at home over here, Professor. After all a snake doesn't belong in a lion's den."

If McGonagall liked her answer or not, Kat couldn't tell. She did, however, notice that the Marauders and Lily looked shocked at her response. She could feel their eyes on her for the entire class as the practiced turning their partners into their favorite animal. Kat partnered up with Severus, which left Lily without a partner as there were uneven numbers of students. Lily looked like she was considering joining them, but the combined glares of Kat and Severus stopped her.

After Severus successfully managed to turn her into an ocelot and then turn her back into a human it was her turn to try. She stared at him for a few moments trying to figure out what to try. They had decided to try and guess each other's favorite animal instead of outright telling each other. Severus had figured hers out with only two clues.

"All right what's your favorite animal?"

"Something that flies," he said. "This is your third clue."

"Well that's madingly unhelpful. I might as well turn you into a butterfly." At his glare she hastily added, "Or a harpy eagle they are magnificent birds."

"Good guess. Harpy eagles are my favorite animal."

"Oh," she blinked a few times in surprise, "I knew that all along. I was just messing with you. I'm sort of physic."

Severus laughed and simply motioned for her to do the spell already. Kat huffed and stuck her lower lip out, something she only did when people laughed at her.

"Aw, you look so cute when you do that. I should take a picture."

Both of them froze when he said that. There was a small uncomfortable silence that only ended when Kat said, "So I'm going to try that spell now."

"Yeah, good idea. I'm ready when you are."

Kat nodded her head. She said the spell clearly while doing the wand movements gracefully. Much to the humor of the Slytherins around them, she closed her eyes as if afraid to see how badly she would mess up. Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw a majestic harpy eagle standing where Severus had just been sitting. She squealed in excitement and changed him back with a wave of her hand without thinking. No one seemed to notice except Severus and McGonagall. Kat definitely didn't like the look McGonagall was giving her.

"How did you do that?"

"I've always been able to do wandless magic. Can we continue practicing? I don't fancy the idea of answering any of McGonagall's questions."

They continued practicing until it got close to the end of class. Kat and Severus quickly put all of their things away and practically ran when class was dismissed. As promised, Severus walked her to her next class, Ancient Runes. After that, she found him waiting outside for her so he could walk her to her next class. Kat couldn't help but smile as he walked with her and asked her questions about her wandless magic. It was nice to have someone who was genuinely interested in her. She could get used to that.