As soon as she got to her dorm Emma rushed to her bed and quickly pulled the curtains. She was overwhelmed and quite exhausted. Her roommates were already to sleep and their steady breaths were only the sound she could hear. Emma changed into her pajamas and cast Lumos. She placed the piece of cake in front of her on the bed and looked at it carefully, completely dumbfounded and quite suspicious. At least two questions were banging against her skull: why did Snape hold onto that and if it was still safe to eat. What if he thought she wanted to poison him and kept that as proof to present to the Headmaster? Emma's intentions were misread and her simple act of kindness interpreted as threat. At least that was the only sensible explanation.
The light at the end of Emma's wand disappeared and the girl crawled quickly under the covers, placing the cake slice on the end table. Once her heart rate slowed down she fell into a comfortably deep sleep and woke up just in time for breakfast. The day waiting ahead would hopefully be lacking in extreme surprises and difficult encounters. Emma could handle them surely, but she also needed time to take in and understand just what was going on around her. She was in a weird mood but had no time or will to dwell on it further as she prepared to go down for breakfast. That day herbology was first, so there was a high chance of getting that delphinium plant from the greenhouse. Emma realised it was too early for them to bloom, but nevertheless it would not hurt to ask professor Sprout for advice on that matter.
„Thanks to sharing a dorm with you I was questioned more meticulously," Luise's voice pulled Emma out of her thoughts down in the common room as the other stopped right in front of her. „It's annoying that I have to deal with that because of you, Emma." Luise looked down at her, as she was very tall. Emma glanced up and let out a sigh.
„If there was something I could do I porbably would have, Luise," she responded and tried to pass the other by, but she was promptly stopped. „What is it?" she asked with irritation.
„Maybe it really was you who started all of that," the girl seemed to want to let out all her anger on Emma for which she did not really have neither patience nor will. „Just to bring attention to yourself. Otherwise no one would really notice you, right, Emma?"
„Do you really not have anything better to do, Luise?" Emma said with exasperation and pushed through the other. „I'm not going to spend my time explaining myself to you. Please carry on with your business."
Emma walked down the staircase and towards the Great Hall. She suspected that more of that accusatory encounters were ahead of her. Or that she would get the looks from others. Thank goodness that she would at least be able to prevent the Severus Snape rumour from spreading. Emma shivered slightly at the very idea of having that sort of burden on her shoulders for the rest of the year. She's been a nobody up until now and she would definitely prefer things to stay that way.
„Emma!" May's voice reached her ears and she followed to finally sit down next to her friend at the Hufflepuff table. To her surprise Owen and Greta were there, too. It's been quite a while now that she has seen them both. They looked slightly concerned.
„Emma," Greta started. „You can't imagine the fuss Gryffindor girls are throwing because of that interrogation! It's ridiculous and since they know I know you, they keep bugging me."
Emma grimaced.
„I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to-"
„No," Greta interrupted. „That's not what I mean. I don't care. But if they don't calm down this will escalate to something more serious."
„We're also worried about you, Emma," Owen leaned in closer to her. „We don't want you targeted. They all seem to forget that you are not the only victim and with that young Gryffindor lad still at the Hospital Wing being tested for the poison ingredients matters are getting a bit more complicated..."
Emma honestly wanted to take a break from the general commotion that regarded her and the incident. After all she had much more important things on her list now to get pulled into pointless drama. She did not really know what to answer and only glanced at the teachers' table at the end of the hall to see if Snape was sitting there; he was indeed, and quite focused on a conversation with professor McGonagall. Owen started discussing the strategy to avoid getting caught up into issues with Greta and May and so they temporarily shifted their focus off of Emma and she had a chance to fill her plate. Acquiry of delphinium was of real importance now. She could not waste her time on the commotion.
Suddenly professor Snape looked at her and Emma stopped her fork half-way to her mouth. Their mutual eyeing lasted for a few seconds and Emma was the one to break the contact. She was sure her pale cheeks turned pink but moving her hair to the side successfully hid that from the general view.
„Are you listening, Emmie?" May nudged her suddenly and she looked up and at her friend.
„No."
„I asked you if Luise already talked to you."
„Oh, she did, this morning," Emma furrowed her eyebrows forming a questioning expression, waiting for further explanation. „Why all of sudden?"
„She looked pissed yesterday. I think you should watch out for her, Emmie. She might want to get a revenge."
Emma shook her head.
„She can do whatever she wants. I don't have time for her, May," she responded truthfully, but that didn't seem to convince any of her friends.
„You always ignore the important stuff like that and get screwed over," Greta chimed in with her high-pitched voice with a matter-of-fact tone to it. „Just keep an eye on her. She can be pretty nasty."
„And why would I do that? You're the ones who are phased by what's happening," Emma's irritation grew slightly. „If you want to help me out then just observe what's going on and then tell me if there's something actually odd. Or dangerous," she sent Greta a challenging look. Why were they all bothering her?
Emma finished her breakfast while the three kept discussing different news of girls' experience with the interrogation. She really wanted to go already, so without anything much to say she just stood up and before any of her friends could say anything Emma waved at them shortly and turned to leave. That's when she bumped into someone. Intuition told her it was probably the last person she should be bumping into at that point. When she turned to see who it was, Snape's face met hers with an annoyed expression.
„Hawthorne," he grunted.
„I'm sorry, professor."
Emma quickly made herself scarce and soon was outside and heading towards the greenhouse. With enough luck she might find professor Sprout inside before anyone would come in. She crossed the semi-frozen grounds with grass pleasantly crunching under her feet. That day was crisp and sunny, yet chilly enough for Emma to feel it deep inside her bones even through thick wool coat she threw over her robe. The greenhouse neared in sight and Emma finally arrived at it, opening the door swiftly.
"Good morning, miss Hawthorne," professor Sprout greeted her energetically, carrying a large clay pot with what seemed to be a palm plant. The plant was giving out squealy noises and sneezing occasionally, though Emma could not spot its mouth or a nose.
"Good morning, professor. I do have something I'd like to ask about."
"Oh?" Professor Sprout sent her a curious look and as soon as she left the pot in the further corner of the greenhouse she returned to Emma. "What is it?"
"It's about a delphinium plant. They bloom in spring, but I wonder if maybe it is possible to get the same properties from other parts of it that I could somehow get in wintertime..."
The woman's expression changed ever so slightly to concern and leaned her heavy waist against the nearest block table.
"Miss Hawthorne," she started. "Are you brewing something?"
Emma knew instantly what the implication of that question was. She sighed.
"No, professor. I..." she trailed off, trying to figure out an answer that would be closest to the truth. "Someone asked me to find this plant. I could say it was a challenge. I don't usually take challenges, but... you see, the prize is quite tempting."
Emma made an embarrassed face which got her professor Sprout's sympathies.
"Oh, you students," said the woman shaking her short-haired head. "Only delphinium bulbs have similar properties to the actual flowers. But I would say the research on the bulbs in terms of their use in poisons," here she eyed Emma, "is not that well described. I suggest you stay away from that kind of research while at school, miss Hawthorne."
"Thank you so much, professor."
Emma realised that straight up asking the witch to provide her with a bulb like that would get her on the bad side of professor Sprout, so she only thanked her once again and began preparing for class by putting on protective gloves and goggles. Her best bet was Snape's ingredients stock or breaking into the greenhouse at night. That was, of course, until she would figure out a better way to get that bulb.
No one bothered her for the rest of the day and while glancing around the greenhouse did not bring her any further knowledge on if there were any delphinium bulbs there, she still had one more herbology class on the following day and at least three evenings to sneak in there. And there was that upcoming detention with Snape that evening. Emma was relaxed after dinner, having had a cup of delicious tea and enough cake to last her until the next day. She managed to forget having bumped into professor Snape earlier that day and she simply strolled down into the dungeons, focusing on how heavy her body felt after having eaten. Funny how her attitude changed over the course of recent days.
She knocked on the door.
"Come in," came a harsh voice and Emma entered the office.
"Good evening, sir."
"Hawthorne," Snape responded tersely and motioned to the chair opposite of his at the desk. Emma took the seat and waited for him to take a seat, too.
"At this point your detention is pointless, Hawthorne."
Emma sat up and her face showed a puzzled expression.
"You have become more of my assistant than a culprit. Tonight is the last day of your detention. Make sure you don't cause me any more trouble or else I will be sending you to Filch. I do not care how you feel about that, but I have given you a fair warning."
Snape's words came to her as a great surprise and Emma couldn't tell if she was relieved or disappointed. Or something else. She would need at least a few hours to figure out how to feel about what Snape just told her. She knew one thing, though. That easy access to his storage would be taken away from her. Emma did not know how he felt about her anymore, his attitude was confusing and he acted as though the never gave her back that piece of cake last night. But Emma wished he showed some kind of a sign.
"Yes, sir."
Snape was looking at her questioningly as though he was expecting something more to come pouring out of her mouth, but hearing nothing he shifted his eyes away from her.
"You will come with me to the Hospital Wing today, miss Hawthorne," he finally said and rose to his feet. Emma's eyes widened insignificantly. Would they be doing some testing and sampling with that Gryffindor boy? "Get your things."
They left the office and headed towards the Hospital Wing without saying a word to one another. Soon Snape was quietly opening the door having madame Pomfrey nod at him gently. Emma mimicked the evening greeting and followed the man. Soon they were standing at both sides of the bed.
"G-good evenig, professor Snape," the boy was already sitting up, probably having been informed about the visit in advance. Emma took a closer look at him. The boy was very skinny and has a yellowish complexion. His hair looked like straw and his face was covered with pale freckles. Emma waved shortly at the boy, but he didn't return the gesture, probably too intimidated.
"Hawthorne," Snape brought her attention to himself. "Grab this boy's hand and hold it until I say otherwise."
Emma nodded and gripped the small palm of the second year boy. It was pleasantly warm while hers very cold. Snape traced his wand across where they were intertwined and a few sparks left the tip of it.
"I will drip a sample potion on your hands. It might sting."
And so little droplets of thick purple substance rested on two palms and left two big blurry spots over them as it spread.
"Now you will both tell me what sensations you get."
Snape placed a few drops of some other liquid on the purple spots and as soon as he did, Emma hissed. The boy remained still.
"It stung a lot more than the first one," she spoke.
"I felt nothing, sir," the boy answered.
Snape furrowed his eyebrows and continued pouring little droplets over other different spots on their hands. It lasted about an hour before the testing was done and Emma could see that the Gryffindor boy was almost asleep by the end of it. She realised she didn't know his name, but she figured now was not the best time for that kind of interaction.
"You can release. We're done here, Hawthorne. Come on," Snape stood up from a stool he was sitting on and Emma nodded.
"Good night," she said to the boy who seemed very relieved and took the chance to turn to his side and drift off to sleep immediately.
Snape looked at the boy and at her, pausing for a longer moment, and then walked towards the door. Emma followed and kept following him straight back to the dungeons. As soon as they arrived at the office again, Snape stopped abruptly and Emma bumped into his back again, quickly taking a step back as soon as she regained balance and muttered a 'sorry'.
"You can help me for the last time or leave, your choice," he spoke with a puzzling tone to his voice. So he actually spoke of help? He wanted her around, that was for sure. Why else would he get her all the way down there instead of releasing her from her duty back there, where she was close to her commonroom? Did Snape in fact want her around for real? Or did he just want to make it even more annoying for her, having to walk back up the stairs after a long day? No, that was not that.
"I will stay, professor," Emma responded and Snape immediately turned away from her to open the door leading to his office.
Help meant cutting the ingredients and stirring the potion again. Although this time it was more than just one, and in smaller cauldrons. It seemed that the antidote took a lot more of work than Emma suspected and she had to admit she was quite impressed by the logistics of it. She enjoyed working in such silence, keeping up with the accurate manual work. Professor Snape acted differently when he was doing his own job and not teaching. His face seemed less grimaced and he showed some vigour, something Emma was not able to see for those few years that he was teaching her. He never glanced at her, only barked instructions, but Emma realised he seemed to be accepting of her. She didn't want to spoil that, so she made extraordinary effort to keep her mouth shut and not ask about last night.
They were done within two hours and it was already almost midnight. Emma yawned after wiping the last laddle and she sat down for a brief moment, thinking only of getting to bed safely without Luise bothering her on her way there. Snape walked off to the adjacent room on the side of the chamber and clanking noises came from that direction as he was moving about. Another yawn had Emma shut her eyes tightly and as soon as she opened them, there was a steaming mug before her. She looked up confused.
"Just drink it," Snape muttered and took a sip from his own mug. "No questions needed. Also no, it's not poison."
Emma's eyes dropped and she couldn't help but smiled, though she tried to keep it away from the man's sight. The liquid was just black tea, bitter and strong. She liked her tea served in any form, really, so she eagerly sipped at it, letting the warmth bring her relief. She was done drinking rather quickly, not wanting to overstay her welcome.
"Thank you, sir," she stood up and headed towards the door. Emma managed a quick glance around the shelves, but obviously could not spot the label she was looking for. "Good night."
"Yes," Snape had his back turned to her. "Just go, Hawthorne."
Emma smiled and left the office, feeling something blooming in her chest, although she could not pinpoint the exact thing it was. She would have to take some time to process it all, anyways. But she had some more pressing matters to tend to now. She had to protect both Snape and herself from further rumours.