Chapter One
I huffed shoving a strand of my coppery brown hair behind my ear for what seemed like the hundredth time. The steam billowing from my cauldron caused my normally sleek hair to frizz and for small beads of perspiration to appear on my brow which I wiped away impatiently, this wasn't my favorite part of potions. Adding a final measure of lavender to my cauldron my sleeping draught was finished. I looked up to signal to professor Slughorn that I was done, only to find three people I hated and one that I did not standing in front of me, that was a downside of having Lily as a potions partner.
"Hello Lupin," I said to the one I did not hate.
"Hello Natalie," he responded with a smile, Lupin and I have always gotten along. I glared at the other three: Sirius Black and James Potter; and behind them bouncing slightly in order to be seen was Peter Pettigrew.
"Would you look at that James?" Black remarked in mock horror, "we weren't even acknowledged! How utterly insulting!"
"Here, we had better help Foster along, hello Natalie, how are you today?" said, Potter apparently deciding to play along.
"Fine thank you Potter, Lily is helping Sherri over there" I said answering his unspoken question "oh yes, Black" I acted as though I just noticed him; "oh and Pettigrew,"I actually didn't notice him. As I glared at Black I saw my own hated reflected in his grey eyes. "I'm obligated to be civil to you Potter" I began redirecting my attention to him, " Because you happen to be dating a good friend of mine," I gestured to Lily's currently abandoned cauldron, "but that not is the case for you," I turned back to Black as I spoke the last word.
"Good, I'm glad you can stop pretending to tolerate me," Black said with a smile, "oh wait," he continued "you never did afford me that courtesy. Have you noticed that you're not very nice for a Hufflepuff?"
"And have you noticed that for a Gryffindor you're a bloody coward," I sneered back, my voice raising. I wasn't in the mood to tolerate him today; as I thought this I could feel myself set my jaw and the hairs on the back of my neck prickle as I mentally prepared an onslaught of insults. However, before I could begin Professor Slughorn finally made his way over to examine my potion. He smiled at me warmly and stirred the pale bluish liquid in my cauldron, sniffing it once or twice then rose up and smiled warmly again
"Perfect once more Miss Foster excellent job. How would you like to attend a little dinner party I'm holding in about a week's time?"
"Thank you sir and I would love to," I replied modestly picking up a bottle, "oh," I remembered something suddenly. "Would you like me to bottle it?"
"Oh yes that would be wonderful," he smiled at me again then turned his attention to Potter and Black "as for you boys, I would like to see your potions now please." I stifled a snigger as they led him over to their shared potions station. One of their potions was spitting jets of black sludge and the other was overflowing with violet bubbles. "oh dear," I heard Slughorn murmur as he inspected the hazards with an outstretched spoon. By this time I was having a very hard time containing my amusement and accidentally let out a small snort of laughter, one which Black noticed immediately. He shot me a glare and I smirked in return, but then decided that it was probably a good idea not to provoke him any further in case he decided to send one of those potions flying my way. I turned my attention back to bottling my potion still sniggering. Class seemed to end very quickly after that, and I was glad, anything to get me closer to the trip to Hogsmeade this evening. What made me especially excited was that it was the full moon which always made the visits exceptionally enjoyable; I loved walking around the little town under the moonlight. The bell rang signaling the end of class and I shoved my books into my bag and joined Lily as I exited the classroom.
"How do you tolerate them?" I asked for the umpteenth time shooting a glare in the direction of Potter and his cronies.
"I don't know I just...do," she turned to me abruptly grabbing my arm and dragged me to the side. "I have something very important to tell you," she was smiling widely and looked as if she was about to explode. She leaned into me and whispered in my ear excitedly "I really like James" I forced a smile onto my face giving her hug.
"you're really good for him, I'm happy for you."
"You are?" She seemed surprised and relieved "I thought you would be mad at me because you hate them so much,"
"I don't h-" Lily shot me a look, "ok I don't really hate Lupin. Anyway I'm happy you're happy," I forcibly smiled again, doing my best to make it look natural. "Oh I'm going to be late for care of magical creatures, I'll talk to you later," I waved goodbye and rushed away.
I sprinted down the hill to the small crowd gathering near the edge of the forest which I knew to be my class. As I rushed down the final decline I slipped on the moist grass and collided with someone, and needless to say we both fell. Huffing I blew a stray strand of hair off my face I got up and offered my hand to the person I fell on. He had greasy black shoulder length hair and crooked nose.
"Severus?" I said surprised "I didn't know you were in this class," I pulled him to his feet. I knew him mainly because of Lily, she hung out with him a lot. But ever since she started hanging out with James and the other marauders, neither of us had seen him much."Sorry, about knocking you over,"
"Oh Natalie," he replied equally surprised releasing my hand "It's okay," this sounded forced but if he couldn't forgive a simple mistake, not my problem.
"Natalie!" Sherri called, Sherri was one of my best friends and a Hufflepuff like me, she bounced over to me her curly blonde hair jumping like springs around her face. "Come on over here! I'm so excited for Hogsmeade tonight" she paused noticing Severus,
"Is something wrong?" I snapped if there was one thing I can't stand its people discriminating based on house, like that Slytherins are bad or that Hufflepuffs are stupid, or anything else.
"No," she responded carefully " I just wanted to stand over there," she motioned to a shady area under some trees where a small group of Hufflepuffs were laughing along with some Gryffindors, it did look nice, but I had a point to prove.
"Why don't we just stay over here?" I suggested, I turned to Snape, if that's okay with you..." I trailed off. He swallowed then replied shortly,
"Sure."
"Great," Sherri said unenthusiastically.
"Excellent," I said. I had a feeling this was going to be a very interesting class.
