A/N: I apologize if I do not give Snape's character justice, but I tried my best, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please review! –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH)

Chapter 4

Severus Snape had been wandering the grounds of Hogwarts for what seemed like a lifetime, since he could not find Lily, he looked as if he would just have to gather his courage and speak with Annette Negrescu, himself. He pushed back a stray lock of black hair back behind his ear, and realized that he had seemed to have subconsciously walked his way to where the Care of Magical Creatures class was being held, before he had even realized it. Professor Kettleburn was off to the side lecturing two Hufflepuffs, which were obviously not following the instructions he had given them.

It a moment for Severus to find her, Annette was kneeling beside another fellow Hufflepuff, with hair that had been kissed by fire. Annette own copper hair had been knotted back into a bun. She was leaning over a Jarvery, a creature that resembled an overgrown ferret, she was gently brushing it, before allowing herself to fall back on to her bottom, and grab her notebook in order to jot down a "Keeping Log" into the pages. She lifted her quill from the page, and went to dip it back to her bottle of ink, when she turned to glance over her shoulder, seeing her Potions tutor watching her.

"I'll be back in a minute, Jen." She told the Hufflepuff Prefect as she righted herself and brushed imaginary dust from her robes and out of her drab green eyes. With her notebook under her arm, she walked over to Severus. He could see from the tear-stains on her cheeks that she must have been crying earlier.

"What do I owe this pleasure?" she questioned, her voice prickling with anger. Severus could not blame her for being angry with him; he had been rude to her after all.

He pulled out the bag of Ashwinder eggs, "Why did you give me this?"

Annette glared ever so slightly, "For your potion studies, as a thank-you gift for helping me improve my grade."

"I understand that," Severus replied, clearing his throat, "But what I don't understand is why."

"Because," Annette's cheeks began to turn a dusty pink of embarrassment, "Unlike other people you don't treat me like I'm an idiot."

Severus sighed and tried to ignore the fact, that the girl that Annette had called, "Jen," was watching them intently, instead of working on her log for class.

"You're not an idiot, there are just subjects that some people can understand and others don't." He shrugged, and began to walk away, but a thin and small hand clasped onto his wrist.

The Slytherin turned to look at her from over his shoulder, his dark eyes narrowed at her drab green ones. "What's a subject you're not good at?" Annette questioned, she wanted to know that this so called "Prodigy of Potions" also had something he was not good at.

Severus shrugged her hand away and glared, "That is not any of your business."

The storm that had clouded his face, left as quickly as it had shown up, "What's the next potion you're working on?"

"Babbling Beverage." The Hufflepuff girl replied, her arms now crossed over her chest.

"I'll meet in the library after dinner." Severus left the grounds of the Care of Magical Creatures class as Annette returned to sit by Jenna.

"What was that all about?" The Prefect questioned, as she refilled the water bowl with a tap of her wand and then did the same with the food dish.

Annette put the Jarvery back into his pen, and then gathered her and Jenna's notebooks, before she handed them over to Professor Kettleburn. "I don't know, Severus is really cold and distant. And he is strange."

The two Hufflepuff's made their way back inside the castle. "Are you going to ask for a different tutor?" Jenna questioned, both girls were now sitting in the Commons Room of their dorm.

Annette shook her head, putting away her other notebook from Care of Magical Creatures, and dug out her Muggle Studies homework. "No, it's too late for that. I don't care if he going to act the way he is, he's a good teacher and I am actually starting to understand what I am doing."

Jenna flopped herself sideways in one of the chairs, her legs hanging over one of the armchairs, she was flipping through her assignment agenda, "What creature are doing after Jarverys?"

Annette glanced up from the paragraph she had been working on, "I think, it's going to be Fwoopers, right down to bring extra-strong earmuffs. They're going to be worse than the Mandrakes from our second year in Herbology."

Jenna grimaced at the memory and scribbled down to owl her mother for extra-strength earmuffs. The bells in the towers above them tolled, signaling that dinner was going to start in the Great Hall. Annette grabbed her potions book and a fresh quill, bottle of ink and parchment before putting them into her satchel and following the Hufflepuff Prefect to the Great Hall. They sat down at their table and dug into roast beef slices that they had put in between warm rolls with melting butter.

"So what do you think of him?" Jenna questioned, as she poured herself a glass of pumpkin juice.

"I don't know, I hardly know him." Annette looked up from her spoonful of squash to see Severus slumped in the hallway, shoving the last spoonful into her mouth, she swallowed it down with water and ran over to the Slytherin.

She knelt down beside him, seeing tiny thorns erupting from his skin. "Oh, Severus…I'll help you get to the Hospital Wing." She draped his arm over her shoulder, and allowed him to put most of his weight on her, even though he was taller and weighed more than she did.

"Who did this to you?" she asked, once they made it into the Hospital Wing and Madame Pomfrey had scurried off to get something for the pain and for the urchin needles.

"Black." Severus hissed through pain, Annette gently took his hand in her own.

"Why would he do such a thing?" the Hufflepuff had never heard of a Gryffindor being so cruel.

Severus shrugged, and winced in pain. Madame Pomfrey came back and gave the young Slytherin several potions to take, and not once did Severus pull his hand from Annette's as the Urchin Jinx began to wear off. Annette smiled gently at him, as he looked at her sleepily.

"I'll stay with you, until you fall asleep, Severus." She said quietly, and turned over her shoulder to see Jenna peering in the doorway, a mischievous grin on her face.

Annette stuck her tongue out at her best friend, and looked back at her Potions tutor, who was now fast asleep.