Nokomis Lennyn sat in front of the common room fireplace with her friends, lost in thought and not really following what was being said. Periodically she would look at one of the three girls and smile, pretending to be following the conversation. Lately the subjects the group had engaged in were not of interest to Nokomis and her attention was turning more often to the quiet boy in the corner. She knew him well enough, they shared a few classes and sat together in Potions, but he never seemed to notice anything unless it was in a book. She had been trying to get his attention since school started last month to no avail. Nokomis reached up and loosened her tie so that it just draped around her neck and undid the top two buttons on her blouse. She pulled the green satin ribbon from her long, black hair so that it fell in her eyes. As she tucked a stray lock behind her ear, a voice brought her back to the conversation.

"You're not staring at that greasy Snape are you?" asked Monika Ravenhart with a look of disgust on her face.

"And what if I am?" Nokomis answered her, a glare in her black eyes.

"He's just weird," Rashelle Parkhurst said in her nasally voice. "I mean just look at him! He's gross!"

The four girls had turned their attention to Severus. He sat at a table in the corner of the room with his nose in a book as usual. Every so often he would point to something in Ian Castleberry's book and then Ian would scribble something onto his parchment.

"He may be a greasy git," Alexxi Myoti said to the group, "but at least he is nice enough to help Ian with his homework."

"Well, Ian is the only one that I know who has ever been nice to him," Nokomis stated. "He could just be using him though. He's never helped him when Potter and his gang started their pranks."

"Remember last year after we took our O.W.L.S.?" Monika said laughing as her brown hair fell into her face. "I hope he has new underwear this year in case he gets flipped again." Rashelle and Alexxi both broke into a fit of hysterics at the memory. Nokomis sat in silence remembering how badly she wanted to attack James, but not wanting to be flipped herself she just watched, powerless to stop it. Having heard enough from her friends for one evening, Nokomis got up, gathered her books and walked over to the table beside the one Severus and Ian were at. She sat down, pulled out parchment, her quill and Advanced Potions book and opened the book to the chapter they were to read. Her hand only paused a moment before she began to write and soon the parchment was filled with her thoughts. When she finished, she folded it and tucked it under her book and pretended to read her assignment. After hearing Severus and Ian get up to go to bed, she looked over and noticed that Severus had left his books on the table. She tucked her note in the between the pages of his book, gathered her things and went to bed herself.

Nokomis awoke the next morning before the others and dressed quickly, grabbed her brush from her bedside table, and went down to the common room. Noticing that Severus' books were gone, she sat at the table where he was the night before. As she brushed her hair, she wondered if he had read her note. Noticing it was still pretty early, she tossed her brush onto the table and hurried to the Great Hall, hoping to catch him alone. She glided into the room and noticed him at the table. There were a few younger students there, but no one who would care about seeing the two of them together. As she approached him, he glanced up and caught her eye for a second before looking back down at his plate. Nokomis sat down across from him and filled a glass with pumpkin juice. "Need a refill?" she asked Severus, holding the pitcher. He looked up at her and she noticed a blush in his normally pale cheeks. "It's ok you know," Nokomis said with a sweet smile. "I didn't put anything into it."

"Um...I guess so," Severus answered, holding his glass. He looked at it and then took a small swallow. Realizing it wasn't harmful, he took a longer drink. "Can I ask you something?" he asked.

"Sure," Nokomis answered, reaching for an apple. "You can ask me another question."

Severus' face became flushed again at that moment and he cleared his throat before continuing. "Are you planning some elaborate joke or something? I'm used to things like that you know."

"What makes you think I would be playing a joke on you Severus?" Nokomis asked. "Have you ever seen me laughing at what that twit Potter does to you?"

"You think he's a twit?" he asked looking in her eyes for the first time.

"Of course," she said smugly. "But I didn't join you to talk about that. I wanted to talk to you about the note I wrote to you."

"You really wrote that?" he asked with a slight lift in his voice.

"Yeah," she admitted, feeling flushed herself. "Couldn't you recognize my handwriting? We did work together in Potions class those few times."

"Oh yeah," Severus remembered. "Why do you choose to work with me all the time?" he questioned her.

"'Cause if I work with anyone else, I end up doing all the work," she said. "You are the only one who knows anything in that class besides myself. I think you know more than Professor Slughorn."

Severus smiled slightly at that comment and reached for another muffin. "You know," he began, "normally at this time I'd be running off to the library or something, but I don't think I will today."

Nokomis smiled back at him and watched as he moved his hand closer to hers. Before he could reach however, the doors swung open and Severus pulled his hand back. "Hey Snivellus," James Potter's voice rang out, "time for you to leave so I don't lose my appetite." He sat down at the Gryffindor table closely followed by Sirius, Remus and Peter, who were laughing at his joke.

"Actually," Severus retorted, "I am not finished with my breakfast, so I think I'll stay." Severus reached for the pumpkin juice and filled his own glass and then Nokomis'.

"What's this?" Sirius began, joining in. "Got yourself a little girlfriend Snivellus?" This comment was greeted with a new round of laughter from the group.

"Don't be serious Sirius," James said with a smirk. "Who'd want to be slimed on a date?"

"You're just jealous that a pureblood would be interested in me," Severus said, anger showing in his black eyes as he rose from the table. "You can't even win the heart of a mudblood."

"So you want to play dirty Snivellus?" James asked getting to his feet and pulling out his wand, followed quickly by Sirius.

"Expelliarmus!" Nokomis shouted, pointing her wand at James and Sirius. "Enough of this foolishness," she said as she caught the wands in her left hand. "Sorry Severus," she said turning to him with a sly smile, "but I'm not at the stage of this relationship to see you disrobed."

"How about Potter disrobed?" Severus asked with a mischievous look gained by finally having the upper hand.

"No thanks," Nokomis answered smugly getting up. "I wouldn't want to spend the morning in the hospital wing. Let's go back to the common room before a professor comes to break up our little party." She walked to the end of the room still holding onto the wands she snatched from the marauders. After Severus had exited, she tossed James' and Sirius' wands to the floor and followed Severus to the dungeons as they stared at her in disbelief.