A/N: Happy belated new year. Took a bit longer to get this chapter out than I was hoping, since some major re-working had to be done.

Chapter 29 Severus Snape: Future Potions Master

By formalizing his commitment to become her apprentice, Severus' life changed quite significantly in the days and weeks following his meeting with Esmerelda. For starters, Severus was given a lab of his own, a disused classroom known formerly as Lab No. 7. He also was recommended a bevy of books to read by his mentor and actively encouraged to begin his reading as soon as possible to prepare him for the commencement of his formal training next year. Severus would only be sixteen years old at the start of his training the following Fall, so Esmerelda wanted her pupil to be as best prepared as possible. She began assigning him more difficult work in classes, tougher than the assignments Nicole was getting, and possibly even tougher than what Luke got. Resulting from his increased Potions workload, he wasn't able to spend as much time with his friends as he would've liked, with most of his free time either being spent in the lab working on his increasingly-difficult potions assignments, or with Nicole and Lily discussing said assignments. Lily's decision to drop out of advanced potions in favor of pursuing a Charms-crafting career meant her knowledge was now a bit lacking relative to Severus' and Nicole's ability, but she was still a very capable brewer in her own right and strived to help Severus where she could.

On the first of October, Severus was given an assignment by Professor Rosier, an assignment that so far, only her seventh years had managed to crack. Not a single sixth year, let alone a fifth year had managed to solve it, but she had faith in her future apprentice and presented him with a recipe for a cure for boils. Now this cure for boils wasn't just your average run-of-the-mill recipe, oh no, it was modified and significantly faster acting than the standard version most students were taught in class. Severus' task—one that Rosier judged he would just about be able to pull off, but would struggle with nonetheless, was to find an altered recipe that would increase its potency even further. It was a tall ask, and when he was presented with the recipe on October First, his gut instinct was that it was perfect, there was nothing he could do to improve it. Nicole was sat next to Severus in advanced potions when he was given it and her reaction was the same. It was perfect. Nothing needed to be done. Lily, once again, said the same thing when Nicole and Severus showed it to her after class. When Severus told Professor Rosier that there was nothing he could do, she merely laughed and said to look at it again, so he did. Again, and again, and again. He continued to pore over it for the entire first half of October.

Severus was still caught up on improving the recipe and was oftentimes hunkered down in his lab experimenting whenever he had the time to. With Thomas busy training and working on his race-craft for the upcoming second race of the season, Lily embroiled with her prefectural duties, Sandra busy with her Quidditch practice, and the rest of the group all having their own separate activities to worry about, the seven friends weren't spending nearly as much time with each other as they would've liked. The only times Severus was seen out of his lab by Lily or any other of his friends were in class, at mealtimes, or in the dorm; he'd even resigned from dueling club after having achieved his stated goal of besting Walters. Even Lily hardly saw Severus through the first couple weeks of October, although she had her fair share to deal with too, given her responsibility as a prefect and all.

On the third week of October, and thus the third week of Severus' seclusion, he was holed up in his lab after classes when he heard a knock at the door, an impatient-sounding knock. Severus scowled annoyedly at the modified cure for boils brew in front of him, and angrily waved his wand at the cauldron, casting it in a stasis charm.

After checking to ensure that his charmwork was sound, he turned the door and shouted; "Who is it?"

"It's us Severus," came the voices of Lily, Nicole, and to his surprise, Thomas.

His surprise showed on his face for all of two seconds before he quickly masked it and barked out an annoyed-sounding; "Come in!"

The door promptly swung open, its hinges rusting as the nervous faces of his friends appeared in the frame. "What's the matter? Can't this wait until dinner time?" Severus scowled.

Severus, with his greasy, black hair borne of potion fumes hanging down from his head, glared at the smiling Lily and Thomas—Nicole wasn't smiling and looked just as annoyed as Severus was, so he was benevolent enough to spare her his glare.

"Isn't us wanting to visit one of our best friends who's been acting like an anti-social buzzkill not reason enough?" Thomas countered, his broad smile with flashing pearly-whites bellying the sting of his words.

"I'm busy," Severus said curtly, his glare not stiffening in the least, even Lily looked put out now, if her pout was anything to go by. "So kindly, leave me alone and I'll catch up with you all at dinner."

"C'mon Sev, you've been working oh, so hard on this, it won't kill you to come out with us to get some fresh air will it?" Lily beseeched, using her honey-sweet voice that she hoped would coax Severus to listen.

It often worked in the past, and she hoped it would in the here and now. With his greasier than usual hair, pale skin, he looked like he needed some sun, some fresh air would do his hair and complexion wonders. Not to mention she needed her boyfriend and had missed him sorely these past two weeks. It didn't work, and her attempt at garnering his attention with her honey-sweet voice didn't do her any favors to him.

"No," he said, his glare stiffening at Lily in particular. he reached up and brushed a greasy lock of hair off his forehead. "As I said, I'm busy, and I need to crack this before the end of the month, so leave me be!"

"Oh for the love of Sayre, Severus, you've been acting like a real asshole these past few weeks! Will you put down that fucking stirrer and listen to me, to us!" Nicole thundered, glaring at him.

For all of ten seconds, no one moved, not Severus, nor Lily and Thomas, only Nicole did, stepping menacingly towards Severus with an angry gait. Lily wore a surprised expression, but there was a subtle gleam in her eyes that told Severus she'd been waiting for this, waiting for Nicole to blow a gasket. Thomas on the other hand looked terrified plain and simple, with no hidden undercurrent. She was the shortest of the quartet, only five foot two, but with an attitude that made her near six foot if she really got going. Now though, with her menacing demeanor and her irate expression she seemed truly terrifying, her temper at its worst truly was unmatchable, save for Severus himself and perhaps Lily too.

"I've had it up to here with your shit!" Nicole growled, taking step after step towards Severus, who stubbornly held his ground but had put down his stirrer and wand. "Especially with your atrocious behavior in Advanced Potions! So you're going to put down the stirrer, put your cauldron under a fucking stasis charm if you haven't already, and come outside!"

In a more quiet tone of voice, Lily added; "We've missed you Severus, you've gone and turned yourself into a bloody Hermit this past fortnight."

"And besides…a breath of fresh air and clearing your head a bit will help your complexion a lot, man, not to mention it might give you some hidden source of inspiration, who knows?"

"Fine," Severus muttered, finally setting the stirrer down and moving to the sink to wash his hands. "You guys go on ahead, I'll meet you by the Snakewood in ten minutes." Severus turned away from Lily, Nicole and Thomas, switched on the tap and began washing his hands.

Besides from their mutual prowess with a stirrer and cauldron, Lily and Nicole also shared their penchant for flaring tempers which reared their ugly head as fast as lightning, but would recede just as quickly. Nicole's scowl and glare quickly softened to be replaced by a smile that reached her eyes. "Alright then Severus, wise decision. I'll hold you to that."

"Good on you, Severus," Thomas added, grinning at his buddy. "Best not to poke the dragon, and you've done plenty of that al—"

"Hey!" Nicole and Lily shouted in unison, two, peeved glares borne of brown and green eyes drilling into the sheepish-looking racer. Thomas quickly held his hands up, the playful look in his eyes softening Lily's and Nicole's edges slightly.

"C'mon girls, I'm only jokin' around," Thomas said, playing down his quip with an easy grin. "See you out there in a bit Severus."

Nicole and Thomas made to leave the room, but Lily did not accompany them, she remained by Severus side as he washed his hands and rinsed out his equipment.

"Lily aren't you coming?" Nicole asked from the doorframe, her freckled face cocked to the side ever so slightly as she regarded her good friend with a curious look.

"I'll be there with you soon, don't wait for me" said Lily, smiling back at Nicole. She gestured with her thumb at Severus, who was behind her and had his back turned to the whole exchange, and mouthed the words; 'I'll make sure he actually leaves.'

Nicole gave her fellow redhead a knowing look and smiled. "Alright then, see you in a while."

Thomas also wore a small grin of approval at Lily's words, with the couple vacating the doorway shortly after and leaving Severus alone with Lily. Once they were gone, and their echoing footsteps down the corridor outside were but a distant memory, Severus turned away from the sink and said; "So you're still here?"

He brushed his wet hands off on his robes, then folded them across his chest as his dark eyes stared intently at his girlfriend who was stood a few meters away from him. Lily's face bore an expression that looked half exasperated, and half concerned.

"Yes, I'm here Severus, because I've hardly seen you at all these past two weeks so don't blame me for wanting to spend as much time as possible in my absent-boyfriend's company," Lily muttered lowly, her lips pursed together in a disapproving frown.

Severus' eyes drifted to his brewing apparatus—still holding strong under the stasis charm, then back to Lily. "I've been busy." He nodded at the cauldron.

"I know you have, but that still isn't an excuse as to why I've hardly seen you at all these past two and a half weeks. It's not the be all and end all if you don't manage to figure this out, right?"

"I don't want to let her down. So I've got to try as hard as I can to solve this," Severus said quietly, letting his gaze drop from Lily's concerned face to some spot on the floor.

"Then don't and be smart about this," said Lily, as if it were the most simple thing in the world. With a determined expression, a fire in her eyes Severus had sorely missed in recent times, Lily marched across the room towards him and sat down atop the work bench right across from him.

"If you don't manage to solve it, I'm sure she won't hold it against you. Only Seventh years have solved this Sev, so if you can't as a fifth year, there's no shame in—"

"It doesn't matter what year I'm in Lily, what matters most is that I'm supposed to be beginning my master next year!" Severus said exasperatedly, he gripped his lank strands of hair and pulled, harshly, his only makes their greasiness even more apparent. "I'm supposed to at least be on the same level as someone due to start their mastery soon. How am I supposed to be on that level if I can't solve—"

He'd been so worked up, releasing all his pent-up frustrations borne of three weeks of consecutive failure, that he hadn't even noticed Lily advancing into his personal space until her fingers were on his lips.

"Hush now Sev, you're all worked up and you'll never be able to solve the problem like this," she said softly, yet chidingly.

The fight leaves him quickly, shoulders sagging, anger abating, eyes softening, as his senses are enveloped with Lily. Lily, his balm, removes her finger from his lips, earning her a quiet groan at the loss of contact. She allows herself a little smirk, but nothing more than that as her fingers find purchase on Severus' shoulders, and her lips touch against his. It's an awkward position, he's sat down on a stool facing away from the bench, while Lily is standing between his legs, hands on each of his shoulders as she kissed him. Lily's lips parted in silent invitation and Severus groans at the sensation, tongue slipping outwards and past Lily's lips as her effervescent scent roots out the potion fumes. Her fingers curl in the fabric of his robe tightly, roughly pushing it off his shoulders before her hand flies southward to his tented groin. Severus is so distracted by the kiss, the lovely feeling of Lily pressing her lips insistently against his with heat and vigor, he hardly notices Lily undoing his fly and reaching into his pants for his member. When her fingers curl around it, she smirks, and he groans, it was a blissful sensation and one he's hardly felt since they left Cokeworth. Lily kisses the corner of his lips one last time, then pulls away with a little smirk on her lips while her hand still wrapped securely around his member.

"You need to relax Severus," Lily said firmly, eyes glimmering deviously, mouth curling upwards into a smirk. "And I think I've got just the thing the doctor's ordered." "And that is?" Severus asked, glancing down at his exposed prick as Lily's grin widens and her hand starts to move.

Lily's grin widens some more and she leans just that little bit forward 'til her lips find his and steal another kiss, knee brushing delicately against his groin. Severus leaned back against the desk as Lily shifted forward to straddle his leg, all the while, her hand never ceases its movement, and it's pulling a series of delirious groans and moans from Severus as two weeks worth of pent up frustration is brought to the fore, and exorcised. Her hand quickens, their kiss turning sloppy and messy as Severus finds his peak, spurting out into her hand, her motion slowing as she helps him down from his high. Lily's eyes are half-lidded shut, breath leaving her lips in silent pants as she pulls away from him.

"Better now?" she asked softly.

"Much," Severus grumbled, spelling himself and Lily's hand clean.

He quickly tucked himself back into his pants while Lily smoothed over her skirt and her top, not wanting to five away what she and Severus had done to any observant individuals they may come across.

"C'mon. Grab your stuff and let's get going," said Lily.

Severus nodded, packing up his bag, slinging it over his shoulder, then accepting Lily's proffered hand. Hand in hand, they exited the lab and began the short walk to the Snakewood tree. They arrived at the tree in no time at all, finding Thomas and Nicole sat down at the base and sat against the bark. There were a handful of other students there as well, all sat elsewhere around the trunk of the massive tree. Lily greeted the other couple with a wave and plopped herself down sat opposite them, Severus following suit a couple seconds later.

"So you've finally dragged the prospective potions geek out of his habitat," Nicole said sarcastically as Severus sat down.

Severus flashed Nicole a look of annoyance which the redhead was quick to laugh off.

"Glad to see you back in the land of the living Severus," Thomas ribbed, to which he responded with a two-fingered salute that induced even more uproarious laughter from the group.

"If you're both here just to mock me," Severus said with a scowl. "Then I'm going right back to my lab and actually do something I'd enjoy."

Nicole' mirthful look quickly mellowed, as did Lily's and Thomases.

"We're sorry Severus, we were only messing around," Thomas said quietly.

Severus just grunted and leaned back against the bark, his sour mood already dropping.

"So, what've you been up to besides potions these past three weeks?" Thomas asked, sounding genuinely interested in seeing what his friend, who'd made himself scare, got up to.

"Nothing all that much," Severus said. "Just trying and failing to fix that recipe. I'm sorry for not being very…you know…present, but this is very important to me."

"As it should be," Lily said earnestly, her fingers linked together with Severus'. "But we should be important too Sev, you can't just shut yourself away like that," she said gently, her words greeting his ears like honeyed syrup.

"We've missed you man," Thomas said with a roguish grin.

"The same could be said of you," Severus snorted, in reference to Thomas' ludicrous training hours for his second race of the season.

Thomas had been flying on his broom almost as much as Severus had been in his lab, all in hopes of securing a strong finish to impress Paxton and the other scouts in attendance at the next race. With his father's suspension from flying and docking of his pay as a result of his accident, Thomas was more desperate than ever to put in a good showing so he'd be seen as a strong prospect to at least some of the Broom Racing League teams.

"I don't think I need to rehash why this next race for me is very important Severus," Thomas said with solemnity, a stiff look replacing his jovial one. "I need this more than anything, I need a strong result."

"And with how hard you've been training, I have no doubt you'll get one," Nicole said encouragingly, leaning over to steal a kiss from him before pulling away.

Thomas chortled quietly, reaching up with his fingers to brush Nicole's ginger fringe to the side. "I sure hope so."

"How's your father been?" Lily asked, leaning forward in apparent interest.

"He's been doin' better, not great still, but better," said Thomas, smiling, but Lily could tell it was a little forced.

"I'm glad to hear it," she said honestly.

"What about you then Miss Prefect?" Nicole asked, throwing Lily a teasing look. "I've hardly seen much of you in recent weeks, you weren't quite as bad as Severus was—" Severus made an indignant-sounding noise, but Nicole ignored it, "—but you've made yourself awfully scarce too."

"In my defense, I've had a lot on my plate to deal with," said Lily, holding her hands up. She frustratedly tangled her fingers in her auburn curls, and tugged harshly on them, a few strands coming loose. Not a good sign. "Seriously, this prefect stuff blows, on top of all the dueling club stuff, and the amount of homework we've been given, it really is too much. I hardly have enough time to brew these days, or spend time with you guys either."

"To be fair, that's pretty much true of all of us," said Thomas, as he gestured to himself, Severus, Lily and Nicole. "I mean…Severus has been busy with his brewing, I've been flying as much as can be to prep for my next race—"

"—which you'll do excellent in," Nicole interjected.

"—that remains to be seen, but yes, I've been busy too, as has Nicole, and you, Lily," Thomas finished.

"At the very least, I won't have dueling club to worry about next semester," said Lily, still wearing a tired expression. "And if you're interested in becoming prefect next year, Nicole, just let me know and I'll put in a good word for you."

Nicole smiled thinly and shook her head firmly in the negative. "After seeing what it's done to you, I think I'll pass. Maybe take Merryweather up on it though, she's been giving you dirty looks for a while now whenever she spots that badge you've got there."

Lily gave a hollow laugh, hair falling loose down her back as she shook her head in apparent amusement. "She can have it for all I care. Hell, I'll put in an excellent word for her next year if she wants it so badly."

The four friends shared a chuckle, even Severus, some of the tension he'd accrued over the past few weeks leaving his body with each laugh he gave.

"Will you guys be there to watch my next race" Thomas asked, once his laughter had abated.

Lily nodded determinedly. "Of course. It's the week after Halloween, isn't it?"

"That's right."

"Good. And I'll make sure Severus shows as well, he won't be cooped up in his lab if I have anything to say about it," said Lily, grinning at Thomas, then at Severus.

"I was planning on watching the race Lily, there'll be no need for…that," Severus said dryly. "I was hoping that I'd have finished my project for Esmerelda by then. It's due by Halloween anyway."

"Has she mentioned what you'll get if you manage to improve it?" Nicole asked, brown eyes shining with interest.

"Not yet," Severus shook his head, then leaned back into the bark. "She's…been tight-lipped about it. I just hope that I manage to…to find something soon. Even if it's something as simple as adding a stir or two, perhaps, or altering the temperature slightly, I must be missing something."

"Or maybe you might want to try adding a…non-standard ingredient?" Lily suggested, a quiet sigh accompanied the half-shrug of her shoulders, "who knows, right? It could be anything so it might be worth a shot."

"That's true," Severus conceded with a deferential nod. "I do know where the potion can be improved, the parts of it that can be better, but it's just a question of how at this point."

"We're sure you'll find it Severus. If anyone can, it'd be you," Lily said warmly.

Nicole's smile lent further credence to Severus' words, but Thomas' unamused look quickly sapped away at his confidence.

"Can we not talk about Potions, please?" Thomas groaned, dragging his hand over his face.

Lily and Nicole both shared a laugh at his expense, while Severus only smirked and rolled his eyes.

After Severus' little…intervention of sorts, he spent far less time in his lab, and enjoyed the company of his friends once more. Halloween was on the horizon and that meant that the entire focus of the castle was directed towards the sacred holiday as well as the race that would follow soon on its heels. Thomas continued to train as hard as ever, through sunshine, rain, and fog, Thomas persisted; with Nicole oftentimes joining her boyfriend out on the grounds to observe his technique and give feedback where she could. Sandra sometimes joined them too, owing to her experience at riding a broom, she was able to give pointers here and there. Caroline and Scott occasionally went down to watch too, but they were both busy with their Gobstones and Dueling Club responsibilities as well so they weren't able to observe Thomas in flight as much as they'd have hoped.

While Severus was now spending more time with his friends and less in his lab frustrating himself over the difficult assignment he'd been given; Lily seemed to be headed in the opposite direction, but not by choice. As prefect, and a lower-ranking fifth year at that, she was often saddled with more of the grunt work Prefects had to deal with, namely the organizing and arranging of the Halloween decorations that were to be put up around the castle. Lily's area of responsibility was the West/Horned Serpent Wing, with other prefects from other houses being assigned to supervise and oversee the decorations in their respective areas of the castle. To further add to her troubles—and take away from her time spent with her friends—Michael, her male fifth year counterpart, was piss-poor when it came to managing people. He was nice, could crack a smile, and got along well with just about everyone; but he'd been given the job thanks to his academics, not because of his ability to delegate tasks, manage people or lack thereof. The end result, was a frustrated Lily, who wore her anger and temper on her sleeve a lot more as Halloween approached, and most of the house ending up giving her a wide berth whenever she appeared looking frazzled and peeved. Severus did his best to calm her down though, whether it was through his words, or by letting her vent, even getting her off; but all only served as stop-gap measures that momentarily took away her frustration before it returned in full-force by the end of the day.

On the bright side of things, Severus was making good headway on his project, and was zeroing in on a possible alteration to the recipe that would indeed, improve it. A couple weeks after his chat with Lily, Thomas and Nicole at the Snakewood Tree, and just a day shy of Halloween; he was in his lab fiddling with the heat of his potion when the door banged open and in stomped Lily looking as frazzled and angry as ever. Severus jumped at the sudden noise, quickly fumbling for his wand to put his cauldron under a stasis charm, before turning around to take in the sight of his angry girlfriend. Her hair was frazzled, the plaits she'd braided them into falling apart, her green eyes crackled with electricity, and the curl of her lip was rather telling of her pent-up frustration.

"Argh! This Michael is…he's the worst is what he is!" Lily snarled, throwing her hands up in frustration. "Honestly! He doesn't do jack shit when he's at his best, and when he's at his worst, he does negative work!"

Okay, so maybe Michael doesn't get along well with everyone, Severus thought to himself as Lily belted out her frustrations. She continued to rant, throwing her hands and flailing her arms every which way like a crimson tornado. It was a miracle that Severus had cleared up his messy workspace an hour ago, lest Lily have toppled all of his ingredients, cauldrons and whatever else he'd had laid out around his lab. He wisely positioned himself between his brew, and the irate, Hurricane-Lily as she ranted to thin air about her frustrations of the day.

"He's just terrible!" Lily screeched, sounding more and more like a shrilly Petunia by the second. "The worst prefect I've ever seen, and he had the nerve to tell me that I, needed to relax! And do you know what he said I should do to relax?"

Severus dumbly shook his head, still standing between Lily, who was a lot closer now, and his cauldron.

"He said that I should get myself off! And he said it loud enough that at least three or five people heard, the stupid ponce!" Lily thundered, her mouth curled in the ugliest snarl he'd ever seen as her usually-beautiful features contorted into something truly hideous.

Severus opened his mouth to respond, but Lily's stiff, emerald glare silenced him before he could even get a word out. She took a series of deep, calming breaths, and in a tone that was much quieter, but so much more menacing and deadly, she said; "And do you know what happened after that Severus? The arsehole had the audacity to grin, so I damn nearly slapped him. And then one of the volunteers, a fucking sixth year, had the sheer gall to, and I quote, 'volunteer his services.'"

The meaning was not lost on Severus, his anger rising to quickly match Lily's as a dark look passed over his face. "Who said that?" he asked, low and threatening.

"As if I'd even think about telling you," Lily said with a withering glare. "What? You'd go after them and hex them six ways to Sunday, and then, mister, you'll earn yourself a suspension. So no, I'm not going to tell you who volunteered to help get me off, because I already dealt with the problem, myself."

For a moment, his anger fell, replaced by a sense of curiosity as his mind cooked up all manner of sadistic fantasies of Lily, dealing the problem herself, as she'd claimed. "What did you do to him? This…sixth year, what did you do?"

Feeling smug, Lily allowed herself a predatory smirk, the cackle she released into the heavy air of the lab chilling Severus to the bone. "It's funny you should ask that Severus, because while I said I just barely restrained myself from smacking Michael for his…lewd suggestion, I did walk up to this six year, and slapped him. I got myself a detention tonight, but eh, I don't care, it was worth it."

Severus eyed her suspiciously, dark eyes narrowed as he stepped closer to Lily, who still looked tense. "I think there's something you're not telling me," he said ominously.

"You're right," Lily said, exhaling with her words. "Professor Kennedy heard what I'd done, the slap wasn't all that quiet to be honest, and reprimanded me in front of everyone else, then, I told her what the person had said to me, and we both got detentions for it."

Her eyes glimmered mischievously as she walked closer to him. "Then, when we were all leaving, I hit him with a hex when no one was looking, he won't be able to get himself off for a week!" she crowed triumphantly. "Quite a fitting punishment, I'd say."

Severus couldn't have described how proud he felt of his girlfriend right there and then. No words would've done justice so instead, he kissed her fully on the lips and let his actions convey his feelings.

"Wonderful," he whispered, pulling back for only a moment, before kissing her again. "I would've gone for that castrating hex, but this works well too."

Lily grinned against his lips, tongue flickering out to invite him to come and play. "Maybe, if he'd actually tried something, then yeah. Seems a little harsh for a lewd comment, no?"

"Perhaps," said Severus. "But then again, you've always been more measured than I have."

Lily's grin broadened as she pulled away, her eyes still shining with mischief.

"I hope you won't cast that hex on me if I ask if I can get you off," Severus said silkily, eyeing her up and down.

Lily didn't even bother deigning him with a reply, instead, she shucked off her outer robe with alarming speed, then drew down her skirt and knickers in one fell swoop, and deposited herself on the stool across from him. Severus grinned salaciously and cast a locking charm on the door, then turned his attention to Lily and her glistening femininity.

"I want to try something," he said softly, kneeling down before her and bringing his face level with her cunt. "Something that's…well, I don't know if I'll be any good at it, but I've heard that it…feels good."

"You want to eat me out," Lily said plainly, eyeing her boyfriend smirkingly. "I'm not opposed to that," she tossed her hair over her shoulder and shifted forward on the stool slightly 'til her sex was just inches from Severus' face. "By all means, experiment away my good man."

"Gladly."

Slowly, Severus inched forward, and begin proceedings by laying a kiss directly atop her folds, savoring the arousal dripping from her and tasting it tentatively. It tasted…odd, a little sour, but mostly sweet. He kissed her again, gently, and she moaned, hands tangling in his hair.

"F-fuck Sev, Mmm, this is good," she moaned, tugging his head back a bit so she could see his face.

Severus smirked, and kissed again, now adding a bit of tongue that glanced across her core. Lily groaned impatiently, the fist that gripped his locks tightening, and Severus knew she wouldn't take his teasing well at all today. Instead, he focused on bringing her to orgasm as swiftly as could be. He wasn't all that experienced when it came to lapping at Lily's sex, he'd never done it before today so there were plenty of miss-steps along the way, but by following her moans and grunts and learning her preferences, he had her nearing orgasm soon enough.

"A bit further lef—yes, yes Sev, right there!" Lily cried, tightening her grip on his hair. "O-oh! Yes, more, more, more!"

Her arousal gushed over him like a wave, some of it swallowed, the rest dripping down his chin or pooling between her quivering legs on the stool. Without skipping a beat, Lily's fingers untangled themselves from his hair, pulled him upwards, cupped his cheeks and kissed him. Her gratitude communicated through the kiss far more effectively than words could ever hope to.

A short while later, after they'd cleaned up and straightened out their clothing, Lily and Severus were toiling over the latter's cauldron, while he told her of his adjustments he made and how he thought, this would be the one that cracked the recipe Esmerelda had given him.

"I swear Lily, this is it, I just know it," Severus said with a broad grin.

He'd taken the potion off the stasis charm and was now stirring it clockwise eleven times with the stirrer.

"What did you change from the base recipe?" Lily asked, frowning at the deep-green solution.

"It was only a small alteration," Severus muttered. "But it was right under my nose the whole bloody time!"

"To be fair Sev, with the size of the honker you've got, there's a lot of things that are right under your nose, aren't there?"

Severus just rolled his eyes and gave a sarcastic-sounding laugh in response to Lily's well-timed quip. His sarcasm only served to spur her on, to his dismay, for she added; "in fact…next time you go down on me, why don't you put that nose of your's to good use, eh? I'm sure that it'd—"

"Shut the fuck up, I'm not doing that," Severus grumbled, now sounding annoyed.

Lily only laughed, but his acerbic response thankfully brought their topic of conversation away from his nose and back to the potion. "So, you were saying?"

"I'm altering the time it spends on the burner, for the final heating stage," Severus explained, now looking back to his potion. "By reducing the time spent under heat, for the final stage, from five minutes to four minutes thirty, it should be just enough for the excess salamander fat to burn off, but also short enough that it doesn't burn and reduce its potency. I think this is it Lily, if it isn't four minutes thirty, I'll try again at four minutes forty, but I know for a fact that if I can burn off all that salamander fat with less than five minutes under heat, then the resulting potion will be more potent."

"There's the potions master I know," Lily said proudly. "Out of curiosity, what convinced you to try this out?"

"I'd been tinkering with the heat control for quite some time now," Severus explained quietly. "Altering the burn time and the intensity of the flame for close to a week, trying to find an alteration that would…benefit the potion. But the original inspiration actually came from when I was out by the Quidditch field last week watching Thomas practice. Sandra was saying something about how the heat, or the air temperature affects certain characteristics of the broom, so that inspired me to fiddle with the heat control of the recipe and see what works."

"So I guess going outside some more paid off, didn't it?"

Severus smiled but shook his head. "As I said, it's just a hunch, so let's not count our Fwoopers before they've hatched."

Lily looked at him as if to say, fair enough, and shrugged her shoulders. A mere half hour later, Severus' brew was done, and he quickly ladled out a portion of the brew into a small vial. He then grabbed the original vial of the cure for boils he was given by Esmerelda and set them down side by side. The altered version, to an untrained observer, looked identical to the original; but the vapors that Severus' altered brew was giving were paler and less smoky, which hopefully meant that less of the potion had been burned off in the final heating stage. Severus then grabbed the two vials, original and altered, and the recipe he'd scribbled out, and stuffed all three items into his pocket.

"Are you coming?" he asked Lily, gesturing to the door.

Lily nodded, grabbing her bag and shouldering it. With his cauldron packed away, and everything else as it should be, he held his hand out for Lily, without a moment's hesitation she took it, and the two left the lab for Professor Rosier's office. They walked on in silence, Severus constantly running over scenarios in his head if the brew he made wasn't perfect and if it could even be improved upon further beyond the thirty second alteration. He didn't have much time to ponder additional changes that he could've implemented, for they soon arrived at the nondescript door to Esmerelda's office.

"Go on ahead Sev," Lily said, nodding at the door. "I'll catch up later for dinner, yeah? I'm gonna make a start on my Transfiguration assignment."

"Alright," Severus replied. "If you want…you could always borrow mine if you need some inspiration. I'm all finished with it."

"Already?"

He couldn't resist a smug smirk. "It was easy."

Lily scoffed loudly and rolled her eyes, arms folding across her chest. "Yeah. Sure it was. Anyways, I'll catch you later. See ya."

She then turned away and headed off down the corridor out of sight, while Severus walked up to the door and knocked on it.

The door swung open swiftly, and there, at her desk, was Professor Rosier. She wasn't alone though, for in another chair was none other than Headmistress Maxwell, both women nursing what appeared to be coffee.

"Sorry to bother you Professor, I'll just—"

"Nonsense Mister Snape, I was just going," said the Headmistress, cutting him off before he could leave. "As a matter of fact, your Professor and I were just discussing you, coincidentally. What are the odds that you'd show up."

"Slim," Severus said to the Headmistress.

Turning his attention to his mentor, he said: "Professor, I've finished the brew and I've brought along my alteration, I think I've done it."

Esmerelda blinked slowly, the surprise she felt evident on her lined face. "Really?" she asked, making not secret of her surprise. "Well that's wonderful Severus, bring it in here and let's have a look then."

Severus did as he was asked, entering the lavishly decorated office. He briefly nodded to the Headmistress and moved to Esmerelda's table where he deposited the two vials, and the altered recipe.

"What did you change this time Severus?" Esmerelda asked.

"Heat control," he said simply. "I altered the time of the burn at the end from five minutes down to four and a half, and I think…that it was just enough to burn off the salamander fat, so in theory, I think the potion is more effective now."

Esmerelda's broad smile was as effective an answer as ever. She didn't even bother to check the potions, merely levitating them over onto another table as she gave her congratulations to Severus.

"In all my years of teaching here, I've never had a sixth year, let alone a fifth year solve this, you truly are remarkable Severus," Esmerelda said proudly, her green eyes shining.

Severus flushed a dull shade of red and murmured his thanks for her compliment.

"Well done Mister Snape," said Headmistress Maxwell. "I see that Professor Rosier hasn't made a mistake in her choice for her first apprentice."

"Indeed I haven't," Esmerelda said, now smiling openly at her pupil.

"I'll see myself out then," Maxwell said with a small nod. "Carry on as you were."

The stout Headmistress then swept from the office, his plain, gunmetal-grey robes billowing behind her as she went.

After explaining to the Potions Mistress his rationale for the change he made, Severus left the office with a blindingly bright smile on his face, feeling better than he had in weeks.

A/N2: Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and that you all have a fantastic new year!