A/N: In this chapter I mention N.E.W.T.s (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests). When I first started this fanfic the last few Harry Potter books weren't out yet and I didn't have a firm grasp on what students experienced in their final year of schooling (or that they didn't even need to attend the final year, depending on what profession they intended on pursuing). Well, as I have come back to this story and started writing it again, I've realized that it is unlikely that some of the people in Lucinda's Potions class would actually be in there, due to the advanced curriculum Snape would be teaching to his students in their last year, preparing them for the N.E.W.T. I might even have some of this wrong. JK Rowling doesn't really talk about the tests too much in the books and it's also been a while since I've read the last few of them. I tried to do some research, but for the story's sake, let's just say this: It's true that Aurora and Gabriel dislike Potions and aren't that good in it. They do require Lucinda's help a lot of the time, and lord knows how they passed their O.W.L.s (ordinary wizarding levels) with high enough marks to get into the advanced class, but they seem to have gotten into it, regardless, along with a few others who seem slow on the uptake of potion making. I can only assume that the careers they have in mind for themselves require a N.E.W.T. in Potions and they somehow just squeaked by into the advanced class. Happy reading and I do hope you enjoy this enough to leave me a teeny tiny review.

Chapter 12

October moved along very quickly. It was already the 29th. There were times that Lucinda feared her only year at Hogwarts would end before it had a chance to really blossom. You hear about muggles and how the students in that society hate school, skip school, slack off in school (although wizarding communities had their own share of slackers), but honestly how could you ever want to skip a class at Hogwarts? Lucinda had barely begun to scratch the surface on what it truly meant to be a witch and what her potential was and she couldn't imagine missing even one class session, let alone the entire day (besides, of course, the 24 hours that she was in the hospital wing). I guess that's why it astounded her so much that Aurora, Clover and Gabe would deliberately miss all of their classes.

Snape kept looking at her, like it was she who had skipped class. It wasn't her fault they decided to pick the one day he had a quiz. Oh yes, they all owled in sick and were going to be "in bed all day", surprisingly all three of them, but no one was fooled. It was just that none of the staff could really do anything about it. So, professor Snape was looking at Lucinda like he wanted to shake the truth out of her and give her detention for the lot of them. She could have joined them. They asked her to. She politely declined (which earned a scoff from Aurora) and left that morning for Potions class. He should be grateful she didn't skip; glad to see her, even. Or at least, it would just be nice to have him glad to see her at all.

Ever since the day inside the apothecary, Snape's demeanor around her had changed. It wasn't that he had started being mean to her again or anything; he just didn't really talk to her, at all, not unless it was relating to a potion. Lucinda knew it was best that way, but she still missed his usual acknowledgement toward her across the Great Hall at breakfast or in the hallway. She used to stay after class to help him clean up and to chat for a few minutes, but he'd stopped encouraging that, as well. As much as she had grown to like Tristin a lot in the last couple of weeks, he wasn't really interested in potions (and neither were any of her other friends). They had plenty of other things to talk about, but it would be nice to discuss the ingredient makeup of a paralysis potion sometime. Snape was the only one to do that with…

"Lucy, I can't do this without you," said a nervous whisper from the girl's right.

It was Beatrice Aberdeen. Without Aurora or Gabe in class, she had sat next to Lucinda at the start of the lesson. They'd become somewhat friends, as well, but Beatrice was one to disappear a lot. Mostly because, Lucinda found out, the poor girl was so terrified of everyone most of the time. She was extremely paranoid and often left in the middle of class due to a "bad feeling". This was also why she sometimes slept on the couch in the common room (like the night Lucinda found her there and placed her jacket over her shoulders). She said she would wake from a nightmare about someone climbing through her window or something sleeping under her bed. Honestly, her stories were creepy and made Lucinda uneasy. It was no wonder Beatrice was paranoid, having nightmares like that. It didn't help that she was clumsy, nervous and constantly exhausted.

Lucinda shook her head and looked down at her cauldron. Seeing it starting to turn black, she quickly shook a bottle of beetle eyes into her palm, pinched up a few and then sprinkled them into her potion. The liquid inside instantly started to lighten. Then she looked sideways at the yellow-haired girl and gave her a reassuring smile. Beatrice followed suit and saved her own potion.

The whole room was deadly quiet, save for the occasional clinking vial, chopping knife, or muffled cough. This exam was one of five of the most important ones they'd have all year and that didn't include the final at the end of the year that determined whether or not any of them passed their N.E.W.T. How could her friends be skipping on a day like this? It was no wonder Snape was in a bad mood. He'd have to take time out of his day to have them make up the test.

"Ten minutes left."

Lucinda looked away from her cauldron again to stare at the man at the front of the class. Professor Snape had said the words without looking up from the book on his desk. She was actually somewhat relieved he wasn't glaring at her anymore; although glaring was better than ignoring.

Right, right, she shook herself again. Only ten minutes left.

The potion was almost done and Beatrice made it this far, so Lucinda had confidence that she'd finish with full marks. The two girls took each of their sparrow throats out of their jars and placed them in the cauldrons. Two stirs. Then it was time for the Spracklen. Lucinda glanced at Beatrice and then down at her own sprig of red plant. Home free, home free, they were home free. Just one last thing… She picked up the piece of plant and brought it under her nose, breathing in deep.

Peppery. Perfect.

Lucinda placed it in her cauldron, stirred again and then took the potion off the heat. Finally, she turned to watch Aberdeen finish. The girl glanced nervously back at her, picked up her own sprig of red plant and smelled it. She was about to place it in her cauldron, when Lucinda went wide eyed. She could smell it from where she was. The mint was undeniable. It filled her senses and Lucinda shot a hand out and slapped the Dagala out of the girl's grasp.

Every head in the class turned to look at them, because not only did Lucinda startle Beatrice by slapping her hand, she also let out a loud "NO!" in the process.

"What's going on over there?" Snape had gotten to his feet and was making his way to their table. "Miss Morgan, what possessed you to interrupt someone else's potion—?"

"It was the wrong ingredient," she replied, staring at him, chest heaving, hands shaking.

"And?" He asked, looking skeptical of her sanity. "That is the point of an exam. Sometimes you put the wrong ingredient in if you haven't been paying attention. I can't correct the mistakes if someone doesn't first—"

"It was Dagala!" The girl nearly screamed.

Snape went a little paler than he already was and snapped his head in the direction of the Aberdeen girl. "How did you—?"

"She didn't." Lucinda interrupted him again and her voice shook. "She didn't professor. I was right there. She picked the Spracklen from the same plant as I did."

No one said anything. Professor Snape looked from one girl to the other. Lucinda kept her eyes locked on his, but Beatrice had hers drawn down to the table.

"Miss Aberdeen." He barked.

The girl jumped and snapped her head up to look at him. "Yes?"

"You will receive at most eighty percent on this exam."

"But the plants were switched!" Lucinda blurted, staring wildly at her professor. "That isn't fair—!"

"Regardless if that actually happened…" Snape replied, shifting his gaze slowly from Beatrice to Lucinda. "Miss Aberdeen should have recognized the difference between the two. For that, she gets points taken away."

"So, you really would have rather she just—"

"Class dismissed!" He yelled, though his eyes didn't move from hers. "Leave your cauldrons off the heat and go. I'll grade them as they are."

There were a few hisses from the Slytherins as they all filed out, but Lucinda didn't pay any attention. She stayed glued to the spot behind her table, waiting for the room to empty. Beatrice was the last one out, as she glanced imploringly behind her, then the dungeon door was shut and they were alone. Snape instantly broke eye contact with her and walked to the furthest table in the room to start examining the potions. He only got as far as the second cauldron before she was in front of him again, on the other side of the table.

"As I was saying, would you rather she just put it in there?" She fumed, hands gripping the table top. "Shouldn't this be some kind of exception?"

"Exception to what, Miss Morgan?" He asked, marking something on the paper in his hands and not looking at her.

"Exception to the grade!" Lucinda raged. "A traumatic event was narrowly missed today! We could have both died!"

"You think I don't realize that?" he snapped, clenching his teeth together and looking up at her. "You think I'm some asshole teacher who doesn't give a shit? I don't keep Dagala in my classroom. That means someone brought it in here."

"I didn't—"

"I wasn't insinuating that you did."

Lucinda didn't reply. He held her gaze a moment longer, before he looked back down at his paper and continued writing. A few minutes passed and the girl eventually sat down at the first table, even though her professor had long moved on to the fourth. She looked ahead at the front of the classroom; her arms stretched out in front of her and her back slouched in the chair. He was right, of course. Beatrice should have recognized that it was the wrong plant. It would be against the rules to give her full marks on a potion that wasn't finished, even though it very nearly was. If it wasn't for the Dagala, everything would have been fine…

Who was it? Who smuggled it in there… and why? It wasn't like it was an accident. This was planned…

"Lucinda."

The girl looked over at the sound of her professor's voice. He stood at the other side of the room, having finished that row of cauldrons. He was looking at her with what might have been a meaningful gaze.

"Mm?" She replied, eyebrows arching in curiosity.

"Have you taken your Sucrosulin today?"

Lucinda blinked at him. Strange. He hadn't asked her about that in a while. Did she look pale or something? She couldn't think of why else he would ask.

"Yes, professor, I have," she said, eyes still holding his regard. She waited, but he said nothing. "Why do you ask?"

Snape folded the piece of parchment in his hands, walked to his desk and then placed it in one of the drawers. Lucinda watched him as he then proceeded to walk back to the table she was at. She felt her heart lodge in her throat when his fingers closed over her own. "W-What—"

"Look," he said calmly and pulled her hand toward his face. "Your fingernails are blue."

Lucinda snapped her hand back like a spring, probably a little more forcefully than she needed to, for Snape's eyes went a little wide. "You noticed that?" She asked, examining the nails for herself. "Why would you even pay attention to something like that?" Her face was already starting to go red.

"Well, why not?" He snipped, his voice defensive. "You obviously needed someone to notice it, so as to remind you to go down to the Great Hall and eat something."

Lucinda looked up at him and narrowed her eyes. "Did it occur to you that my nails are blue, because it's cold in here?"

Professor Snape leaned down to meet her gaze at eye-level. "Go eat something." He said with a jerk of his head towards the door.

"Why are you so angry?"

His face faltered and he tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean?" He asked, eyes searching her expression. "I was under the impression that you understood my mood—"

"Cut it out." She snapped, shrugging off his cool demeanor (which was just serving to annoy her further). "I'm not talking about right now."

Snape's eyes went wide again. "You have quite the attitude, Miss Morgan." He snarled and straightened back up. "You've cut me off on at least three different—"

"Because you won't listen to me."

It looked as if her professor was fighting back the urge to strangle her. He clenched his hands into fists for a second or two and then relaxed them again. "I'm listening." He mumbled through his clamped teeth and glared down at her.

"Look at me like that all you want," the girl said, her voice suddenly sounding hurt. "I'd rather that than have you ignoring me completely."

"I haven't—"

"You have." She cut him off for possibly the sixth or seventh time that day. "And I'm sorry for not letting you speak, but I have things I need to say…" Lucinda swallowed difficultly and felt her palms starting to sweat. Snape didn't say anything. It might have been the fact that she'd apologized for interrupting him, but she currently had her eyes on the table, so his face could have looked any sort of way. She wasn't even sure why she suddenly had the need to say any of this to him, but now that she'd started, she couldn't stop… "You're angry with me..." she continued slowly. "You've barely spoken to me in the last couple of weeks. Even when you didn't like me, you still spoke to me, if anything just to insult me… So, the only conclusion I can come up with for your lack of communication is that you're mad at me for something. I-I'm a pretty sociable person and I like to talk—" Her voice caught and she used the opportunity to chance a glance at him. She was surprised to find him still looking at her. She thought he'd have cast his eyes to the floor or the ceiling by now. "I don't…" she pressed on, bravely keeping his gaze. "I don't like this feeling. Maybe I'm self-absorbed, but I don't want to feel like I'm not liked or wanted. Not long ago, you asked me to stop being angry with you… All I'm asking is for the same in return."

"I'm not angry with you." He said, eyes finally traveling away from her face to stare at the table top.

"I don't accept that." Lucinda replied matter-of-factly and moved her head into his line of vision again. He looked at her reluctantly and she felt her stomach twist sourly. "Because that means…" she began, after capturing his gaze again. "That means that you're ignoring me for some other reason."

"There is no reason."

"So you don't deny that you have, in fact, been ignoring me?"

"I…" Merlin's beard, why the hell was she leaving him speechless?!

"Professor…" Lucinda said quietly. "Are we not friends?"

"No." He said before he could stop himself.

It was her turn to be speechless. She looked back at him, heart pounding in her chest, eyes shamefully watering. "No?"

"No." He repeated, quickly turning from the girl and walking away. "You can't be friends with a teacher."

He heard her chair scrape against the stone floor as she stood, but he continued on his way to his desk with his back to her.

"What a load of crap!" She exclaimed behind him. He could hear her voice growing louder as she followed after him. "At least for me—you were my friend. I considered you my friend! I don't know what changed, but—" Actually, now her voice was fading. He turned around to look at her, only to see her retreating form headed for the door, "—I can take a hint. Fine, teachers aren't friends with students. Great. That's great—makes my life easier, actually—"

"Lucinda, don't leave upset like this—"

"How can you stand there?" She turned around and pointed at him. "How can you just stand there and tell me that we aren't friends? That we can't be friends. And then you don't want me to be upset?!"

"No, I don't want you to be upset."

"You are unbelievable." She shook her head and tilted her face to the ceiling, hoping for something to fall down on him. "Look, do me a favor and at least just switch my potion with Aberdeen's, alright?"

She was looking at him then. He brought a hand up to fist the back of his hair, as he watched her reproachfully. "Why?"

"Are you kidding me?" She asked, looking positively livid and exasperated all rolled into one. He didn't like this look on her… "Beatrice will FAIL the class if you don't. She can't afford to have any points taken away. I, on the other hand, can."

"I will not taint your record for her—"

"TO HELL WITH MY GOD DAMNED RECORD!"

He was stunned into silence again. She was getting very good at making him shut up. What he didn't know was that she had never spoken to anyone that way in her life. She was respectable to a certain degree and somewhat outspoken, but not like this. This was downright crazed behavior towards a teacher. But he was more than that. She really did think of him as a friend, but apparently, she really was just another student to him.

"You want me to switch the grade?" He asked, voice steady and threatening.

"Yes." She said without hesitation. "Yes, just switch the grade."

Professor Snape walked to where she stood, just beside the classroom door. She had her hand on the doorknob, but dropped it as he approached.

"If you do this, there's going to be consequences."

"What kind of consequences and why?" She asked, hardening her stare at him, but clasping her shaking hands behind her.

"I refuse to do this if it means your grade will drop."

"Professor—"

"But, I'll do it if you make up the points through extra credit."

Lucinda narrowed her eyes. "What kind?"

Snape felt a warmth spread through his chest at her words. What kind, indeed… If he were to go off what flashed through his mind in that very instant, she'd have ran away screaming. What vile thoughts were these and where were they coming from? "Extra potion making, of course." He replied calmly. "In here—" he gestured behind him "—so, that I can observe. I still have your ingredient from Jasper and you were going to make the potion anyway. This should be the easiest extra credit you've ever done—"

"Why are you doing this to me?"

Snape looked back at her. She had her eyes drawn straight ahead, staring at a spot somewhere on his chest. He felt a small wave of guilt start to bubble up inside him. "Doing what?" He asked seriously.

"I can't keep up with you—I really can't." She replied, her voice suddenly shifting to something much less confident. "I just want you to be honest with me, whether it be to tell me I'm just your student and nothing more or to finally admit that we're friends. I can't keep being jerked around like this. One minute I don't exist and the next minute you're concerned with whether or not I'm eating enough—Then you tell me we're not friends at all and the next you want me to spend extra time alone with you, making potions. What is all of this?"

What the hell was she doing? Did she know how all of that sounded? It sounded very, very bad! Any moment now, Snape was going to tell her to stop being childish and get the hell out of his sight. That would be the logical thing to do… But, although Lucinda thought her words were a mistake, they must have had some kind of effect on her teacher. Only a second more passed before she felt her professor's hand graze the underside of her jaw.

"I can assure you..." He said suddenly, his voice dropping to very little more than a whisper. "There is nothing that I'm doing on purpose to leave you so confused." He grasped her chin with his hand. He really expected her to slap him, but she didn't. She didn't even flinch. She just kept her face pointed straight ahead, though her eyes opened a little wider at his touch. When she made no motion to pull away, he tilted her jaw up so that their eyes met. "I'm sorry that I can't sort out my own thoughts before I turn them into actions."

Lucinda's heart jumped violently behind her chest. If she wasn't confused before, she was now. "So…" she spoke quietly, feeling her breath shallow from their close proximity. "Just stop then."

"Stop what?" He asked, still holding onto her face and staring at her so intently she thought her insides were going to catch fire. "Stop ignoring you? Stop insulting you? Stop caring about your academic standings? Or maybe stop showing an interest in you?" His words were slightly biting, which confused her more. He, on the other hand, had completely lost his fucking mind.

"Stop being inconsistent," she said only halfway confidently and then pulled her chin out from between his fingertips. Then she was gone without another word, leaving her professor standing there wishing he'd had a chance to redeem himself first…

It didn't work. Ignoring her just didn't work. It never did to begin with, really. He was fooling himself and for good reason. Things weren't just getting complicated; they already were. He couldn't even go two weeks and he was back to requesting her presence in his classroom alone; to talk to her and spend time with her and… make her do extra credit? Was this serious? And why, oh why, did he have to touch her? Red lights were flashing and the warning bells were sounding, but he could not stop. He had this unresisting urge anytime she was in front of him. The moment at Jasper's was the start of his mistakes. It was just a hand on a shoulder, nothing more—but it was more. To Severus, it was more. It was plain instinct, honestly, to give her a subtle touch when her attention was on another man. Snape cringed and leaned his forehead on the classroom door. As bad as this was, he was enjoying it. Was he that power-hungry and evil? How sick could he get?

He knew this was only going to get worse. He tried to stop it, but she kept coming back. She was even more resilient when he was doing his best to stay away from her. Ignoring her only made her fire burn brighter. Who knew what this did to her now…

There was only one of two ways that this could go: she could end up hating him and then Severus was sure he'd be getting an earful from Albus if she ran to him about what happened, or… she could end up doing the complete opposite, which was possibly worse than her hating him.

He should not have touched her. He should have let her leave and let it all diminish from there.

But… Severus thought and balled his hand into a fist.

He could still feel her smooth skin beneath his fingers. He wasn't sure what he would have done, had she not pulled away when she did…

"What will you do now?" He whispered to himself.

"Probably write naughty words on your board when you leave."

Snape jumped and looked wildly around the room until his eyes came to rest on a little man hovering cross-legged a few feet away from him in the air.

"PEEVES!"

A/N: I had some trouble with this one. Sorry, I suck. Haha. The next chapter will be the All Hallows Eve Ball!