"With finesse, Mulciber, finesse. Don't stir it like you'd stir a cup of coffee, for God's shake," thirteen-year-old Severus Snape preached.
"Finesse? I'll give you finesse. I will embody finesse!" his dorm mate, the infamous Mulciber replied while stirring even more rapidly and harder than before.
Avery was watching from the side, thoroughly amused.
"What exactly are the two of you hoping to accomplish now?" he asked.
"Here," Mulciber said "is the result of my hard work, dear Ave, a shrinking potion"
"And here," Severus said, gesturing around him "is the result of my hard work, Avery."
"Hogwarts?" Avery queried.
"I have yet managed to stop Mulciber from blowing all of us up with his potion skills..."
"Oi! This is my greatest creation yet!" Mulciber said, defending his work.
"I shudder to think what you consider to be inadequate work," Severus replied.
"Why would you potion a shrinking solution, of all things, Mulc?" Avery questioned his best friend.
"To sneak into Mary McDonald's dorm room, get pertinent information, then blackmail her to go on a date with me, of course," Mulciber answered.
"Now I regret helping you," Severus said, having thought Mulciber demanded he be here because he needed help with his potions.
They all knew how enamored Mulciber was with the plain-looking girl with a mean right hook and O's in History of Magic and Defense. They also knew that he despised muggleborns. When asked about his love for Mary, a supposed muggleborn, Mulciber responded "We'll be like Julio and Juliet " to which Severus promptly corrected him saying exasperated "Romeo and Juliet ".
Severus did not understand it. Last time he checked, Romeo was not bigoted against Juliet or her people. But who knew the 'intricacies' of Mulciber's mind.
Truthfully he didn't like Mary either, it was not because she was muggleborn, but because she told Lily to stay away from him because he is "eyes deep into dark arts" and "a Slytherin Lil!"
Far be it for him, to question the logic of being evil because a talking hat dictated he be put in the snake house and wear green and silver. And as for loving the dark arts, well he did and he intends to use them for good reasons, like protecting his mother from that brute of a muggle husband and getting stronger so that he will protect Lily and himself from everything life might throw at them.
He should have gone to Dumstrung...
"Mulciber, you shouldn't invade someone's privacy or blackmail them to get them to date you, you dunderhead" Severus told him.
"I tried everything" the boy despaired "I sent her flowers..."
"Which she was allergic to," Avery said.
"I did her homework..."
"You stole her notebook and made wrong 'corrections'" Severus reminded him.
"I even told her she was pretty for a mudblood!"
"Wow, Mulc, it's a wonder she's not your wife yet," Severus said sardonically while rolling his eyes.
'I'm going to have to warn Lily about a soon-to-be uninvited guest' Severus thought while looking at Mulciber. While he did not want to tattletale, he knew it was necessary now, as the girls could be changing and his friend, the bloody pervert, wouldn't think twice about looking.