Sorry for not updating a while...My writing/roleplaying partner has been busy, and thus has resulted in the pause in my story.

Severus thought. "I think not." He answered and turned away. "You may leave if you wish." He told Slyvia blankly. His pale hand grabbed some vials and started to pour in the potions. It was long and boring work but he knew it had to be done.

Sylvia began chewing on her tongue. "I could help you with that Professor." Sylvia said. She didn't know what caused her to want to stay. But she didn't change her mind. "Why am I staying?" Sylvia thought to herself.

Severus peered up at Slyvia. "This won't get you extra credit." He said and looked back down as he filled the vials carefully. "But if you want to stay so be it." Severus couldn't imagine why she was willing to stay and help but he didn't ask.

Sylvia smiled at the professor. "I kind of realized that." Sylvia said. She squat down and started helping the professor with more than likely the most boring task ever. She made certain she didn't mess up. She didn't even know why she stayed...but she felt like it was a good thing to do.

Severus glanced at Slyvia for a quick moment before looking into the cauldrons. "Are you going to try and get to know me better or have you forsaken that impossible task?" He asked dully, hearing the echo off of the walls.

"Maybe...Why?" She asked curiously She looked at the cauldrons and thought for a few minutes. "What is my problem..sitting here with a professor?" She thought. Sylvia glanced at the professor for a few moments and smiled.

"Just curious." Severus answered shortly. "Wanted to figure out just how annoying you'll be tonight. Knowing you I imagine you'll be quite annoying." He started putting some of the filled vials on his shelves to make more room on their work table. There was still much potion to put away.

Sylvia smirked and started pouring more potion into vials. "I imagine I can get quite annoying...my brother and sister plus all the teachers tell me I'm annoying." She said smiling. She glanced over at him and looked back to the potion.

"Then stop acting that way." Severus said plainly. He imagined it couldn't be that hard to be less annoying to the people around you. "And I was wondering something. Why exactly do you keep looking at me as if I can't see you doing it?" He asked and looked at Slyvia with his black eyes.

Sylvia went pale. "Er...I really don't know." She said. "I will take your advice on stop being so annoying." She added...She looked away and smiled. "Why was she looking at him?" She asked herself...She played with a piece of her hair.

Severus smirked rather coldly. "Good. That probably means that I will no longer have to give you detentions during class." For some reason though he didn't like the thought. He was almost getting used to the idea of having Slyvia help him with his work at night. An unfamiliar tugging started in his stomache, one which Severus found hard to ignore.

Sylvia smiled. "Well...if you give anymore detentions for messing up...then you will probably see me." She said chuckling. She had grown used to getting detentions most nights. She felt something in the pit of her stomach...she tried to ignore it and get back to work.

Severus smiled if you could call it that. It was more like a twitch, a slight raising of the left side of his mouth. " If only you could not mess up. You could be a better student if you listened and did everything that the book and I tell you exactly as we tell you. It's not a hard thing to do." Severus found himself chuckling but not like he was used to. It sounded slightly genuine.

Sylvia actually laughed at that. "I will try Professor." Sylvia said noticing the left side of his mouth twitch. "So tell me...did you almost smile?" She asked nicely. She usually didn't spend so long with a professor..but he was different.

Severus' face turned back into the hollow mask it usually was. "I'm not completely sure if it was a smile. I don't do that very often. So you tell me. Was what you just saw on my face a smile?" He hadn't genuinely smiled in years. The only time he ever smiled was rather sarcastically at his students.

Sylvia stopped smiling. "More like you were tempted to smile." Sylvia said. She wondered if he had actually smiled ever. Sylvia wondered if he was always so cold and lonely. She had been surrounded by people who liked her. She slightly smiled. "You should try to cheer up a bit." Sylvia said

Severus looked up at Slyvia suddenly. He hadn't expected her to say something like that and was half tempted to give her more detention. "It's not as easy as you would think. I have to reason to be cheery like you do. And I'm tempted to do much more than smile." He answered and shook his head.

Sylvia's face went pale. "Oh...okay Sir." Sylvia said still looking sickly pale now. She looked away and filled up one more vial. She should have kept her mouth shut. "I'm sorry..I shouldn't have asked that." She said still looking away.

Severus shrugged plainly. "It doesn't really matter. I'll answer any questions you have if you want to ask me some. I feel generous tonight but only if I can ask you some later." He wasn't sure why he was letting the girl get away with any of this but he tried not to think to hard on it.

Sylvia slightly smiled. "You were in slytherin house were you not?" Sylvia asked...or rather stated. She smiled. "Were you friends with Draco's father?" She asked. She didn't know why he was being so generous..nor what he was going to ask her.

What will his answer be? Dun dun dun...okay that was sorta lame...I'll try to post more often.