Summary: It's Severus' 7th and last year at school and his future is set. He has finally found a place where he is content and accepted, even admired. But when he meets someone who could turn his life in a completely different direction, will he choose the path already laid out for him or will he make the difficult decision and take a chance on love:HBP Spoilers:
Chapter 1: A Bad Start
Severus shoved his potions book roughly in his bag at the end of class. He was thoroughly frustrated. Once again, Lily Evans had beaten him. He had been sure that his invisibility potion had been top notch, but of course, Evans had managed to out do him. Severus wasn't sure how much more of it he could take. He began to file out of the classroom with the other seventh-year students, when he heard Professor Slughorn call him back. "Severus! If you could just stay behind a moment, I need to speak with you about something." Severus sighed and navigated his way through the students filing out the door, back up to Slughorn's desk. "Severus," Slughorn said, when Severus reached his desk, "I believe you know Miss Karen Cordova." He indicated a girl with wavy, shoulder-length, brown hair and startling, ice blue eyes. She gave Severus a small smile. He sneered back at her.
Of course he knew her. She happened to be the worst student in their NEWT potion's class. In fact, she was so terrible that it was hard for him to believe she had managed to get high enough exam results to even be in the class. "As you know, Karen isn't quite up to scratch when it comes to this class," Slughorn said. Severus thought this was a very large understatement. Not one class went by without Karen blowing something up or knocking something over. "And her father is very adamant about her continuing on with the class," Slughorn continued. Severus glanced at the girl. Her cheeks had turned pink at the mention of her father and she was now studying the dungeon floor very intently. "Her father is a very important man and we're quite good friends, so he and I struck up a deal. He said that he'd keep his end of the bargain, if I got Karen through the class with a passing grade, and well, I certainly couldn't just allow her to pass no matter how terribly she was doing. So, I was hoping that you wouldn't mind tutoring her." Karen's cheeks were now a deep crimson. Severus noticed that Slughorn didn't specify what Slughorn himself would get out of the arrangement.
"But… I thought… Lily?" Karen protested awkwardly. Slughorn laughed.
"Yes, Lily did offer to tutor you, but you two would never get anything done. You two are good friends and instead of studying you'd be gossiping and giggling."
Karen began to object, but Slughorn interrupted her loudly.
"So! What do you say Severus?"
"Well, I-" Severus began.
"I would make it worth your while. If you tutor her I can get you an apprenticeship with Carlos Ramirez, right after school ends," Slughorn added hastily. Severus stared at him in barely concealed amazement. Carlos Ramirez happened to be one of the most revered potion's masters in the world. Working with him would be an experiencing of a lifetime.
He instantly agreed to tutor the girl. Slughorn clapped his hands together.
"Fantastic! You can start with tonight's homework. Now, if you don't mind," he said, motioning them towards the door, "I have papers to grade, inventory to take…"
"So what did your father offer Slughorn to get you around the rules?" Severus asked casually as they walked to the Great Hall for lunch.
"How am I supposed to know?" Karen snapped. Severus raised his eyebrows. He had not expected her to have that sort of personality. She had seemed to be more soft and pretty. He sincerely hoped that she wouldn't be trouble for him.
"No need to be rude," he said with a smirk, "I was just curious." She spun around to face him.
"Listen, Snape. I know that Slughorn is bribing you with some really fantastic offer, but if you make this anymore terrible for me than it has to be, you'll have to answer to James and Sirius." Severus stared at her for a moment in slight surprise. Then, he smirked her again. He was highly amused.
"Is that so? Well, then, I'm really frightened. As if I haven't dealt with Black and Potter a million times before." Karen rolled her eyes and started off down the corridor. Severus strolled after her.
"What foul thing is crawling up your arse, anyway? You're starting us off on the wrong foot, don't you think?" he said in the most saccharine voice he could manage. She continued to ignore him.
"Where and when tonight do you want to meet to start on Slughorn's homework?"
"Library at eight," she replied bluntly. When they entered the Great Hall, the two split off in different directions; he went to the Slytherin table and Karen went to the Gryffindor table.
When Severus sat down at the long table, the only other Slytherin in his NEWT potions class, David Johnson, asked, "What'd Slughorn want?" Severus propped open a book.
"You know that Gryffindor girl that can't make a potion to save her life?"
"The Karen girl? Yeah, I know her."
"Turns out she got into the class on sheer luck."
"Obviously."
"Her father is paying Slughorn to keep her in the class," Severus continued, taking a drink from his goblet. David laughed loudly.
"I believe that, but what does this have to do with you?"
"I'm supposed to tutor her."
"Tutor her? Well, that's not too bad." David strained his neck to get look over at the Gryffindor table. "And she's not too bad looking, either. I wonder if she'd be willing to let me tutor her in something else, if you know what I mean." Severus looked up from his book, disgusted. Seeing the look on his face, David laughed again.
"What?"
"She's a Gryffindor. Not to mention a bitch." David smirked.
"It's not like I'd have to talk to her. And a Slytherin can shag a Gryffindor, as long as there's not a relationship." Severus shook his head and went back to reading his book. David was the closet thing Severus had to a friend and most times he was content with his company, no matter how arrogant he was. They didn't spend much time together, as David had several other pompous friends from the Quidditch team that he liked to hang around with. David was arguably the most popular Slytherin, since the departure of Lucius Malfoy. He was good-looking with brown hair and a strong build. He also had a deep voice that girls seemed to adore. Severus looked up from his reading to take another drink and he caught Karen Cordova staring openly at him. He scowled at her and she quickly turned away.
000000
"And as if my embarrassment wasn't already monumental he just had to rub it in," Karen relayed to her friends. "'What did your father offer Slughorn to get you around the rules,'" she mimicked. She lay back, resting her head Remus' lap. "How horrible can my life get?" Remus laughed.
"Your life is far from horrible."
"It won't be that bad," Lily added, "Severus really isn't terrible once you get to know him better." James snorted in disbelief, not looking up from his Transfiguration essay. Lily ignored him. "I'm serious. You just have a pre-determined disposition to hate him. It comes from spending time with these gits."
Karen sighed.
"I just wish my dad would stop controlling my life and let me take the classes that I want."
"He worries," Remus replied.
"Stop defending him. I'm trying to despise him."
Karen and Remus had been friends since the summer before their third year, when Remus and his family had moved in next door to her. When they returned to school, Remus introduced her to his friends. Now, James and Sirius were like brothers to her. She and Remus, however, were closer. They had tried dating in their fifth year and although it hadn't worked out they remained loving and affectionate.
"Don't you have to meet Severus?" Remus said, stroking her hair from her face.
"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Karen asked playfully. Remus smiled.
"Never… but this is a chance for you to begin to understand potions, you really should take advantage-"
"Okay! Okay, I'm going. Just spare me the lecture." She smiled at him and grabbed her bag, heading out of the dormitory.
Karen found Severus at a back table in the library, scribbling in his potions book.
"You realize you're destroying that book don't you?" she asked, announcing her presence.
"I'm improving it, but I wouldn't expect you to understand that." Karen scowled at him, but it didn't seem to faze him at all. "The invisibility potion is very basic," he continued, "It's the beginning of the year, so the potions will only get more difficult." Karen rolled her eyes.
"Can we please just get this over with? What's the assignment again?"
"You don't even know the assignment? Merlin… 'Write an essay on the properties of the invisibility potion and name the potion's legal uses,'" he recited. Karen took out a piece of parchment.
"Okay. How should I start?" she asked as she wrote her name at the top of her parchment.
"Start how you want. You're going to write the paper, not me. I'll correct it when you're done." She looked up at him in disbelief. He was back to writing in his book.
"You're a terrible tutor."
When Karen finally finished her essay two hours later, she was exhausted. She simply wanted to go to bed. Hopefully, she would be able to run the essay by Severus quickly. Karen yawned. "All done. It's good too," she said handing him her parchment across the table. She watched as his scanned the parchment, frowning.
"If you think this is good, then it would probably lower my IQ if I read what you thought was bad." He dipped his quill in red ink and began marking out full sentences, crossing out words, and writing notes on the sides. Karen stared at him in horror.
"What are you doing? I worked hard on that!" He looked at her skeptically, but said nothing. "Excuse me, but could you please explain to me what is wrong with this sentence?" she said, pointing to one of the many sentences with a bright red line running through it.
"Here," he said handing the parchment back to her, "Fix the stuff I marked and it'll look like you at least know what you're talking about."
"But I don't know what's wrong with it!" Severus stared at her for a moment and then smirked.
"We're in a library. What do you find in libraries?" he asked as if he were talking to a small child.
"Books," she said blankly, although slightly annoyed with his tone.
"Good. And do you know what you can do with those books?" Karen scowled at him, refusing to answer. She did not like being made fun of.
"You can look things up. I suggest you try it… I'll meet you here Friday, same time, I'm going to bed." With that, he stood up and left the library." She glared at his back until he disappeared out the door.
Jerk.
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