Despite himself, Snape ended up turning up for Lily's self-declared Potions lesson. It worried him a little that he did, because it wasn't a logical choice... but he was curious. And when you were as sharp as Severus Snape, there weren't many things to be curious about. Most people he could read like a crystal ball, so the fact that he couldn't do that with Lily intrigued him.

Lily was apparently serious about wanting to learn. She had brought along a pile of books, and even procured permission to use the lab equipment; Sev could only assume she'd gone straight to Dumbledore to ask, since she wouldn't have stood a chance in hell with Fennel.

"All I need," she explained, "is someone to help me. I'm not stupid. You know I'm not stupid." Perhaps wisely, she left no room for Sev to insert a snide comment there. "I could master this, if Fennel could get down off his damn high horse and go over things with me."

"What makes you think I'll be any better?" Snape asked, eyebrows raised.

"Because you're not as bloody-minded as he is. If it's not working, you'll find a better way. And I think you can teach me."

And, almost to his surprise, Sev found she was right. He had never imagined himself as a teacher, would have thought it ridiculous - how could he teach when he found it impossible to comprehend someone might find it difficult to learn?

Instead, he discovered that his uncanny sense for people extended to knowing how to explain things to them. Lily was very bright, but she seemed to have some kind of block about physically preparing a potion. Sev had to use all of his ingenuity to find a way around that block, find new ways of breaking things down and explaining them.

For the first time, he was actually doing something challenging. If learning was easy, helping others to learn was much harder. And, to his shock, he actually enjoyed it. Lily's hard won achievements gave him a better kick than any of his own easy victories.

And, as they ducked for cover under a table from an exploding batch of Swelling Solution, he found a strange and almost terrifyingly novel thought echoing through his mind.

A teacher. I want to be a teacher.


Having a mission in life was new to him. Slytherin might be the home of the ambitious, but Snape had never had any desires beyond learning, and continuing to learn. But now he had discovered an even greater hunger - the need to teach.

Of course, hanging out in house Slytherin didn't give him a great deal of opportunity to do so. Trying to hammer anything into the head of Colin Crabbe was a lost cause, and all slimeballs like Malfoy and Avery wanted to learn were ever-more nasty curses.

Perhaps that was why, when an extremely frustrated Lily ambushed him in a corridor and demanded assistance, he forgot all common sense and agreed to give her another tutoring session.

They met in secret late one evening, something which Sev found in a twisted way hilarious. Here they were, two young students, sneaking out of their dorms late at night, avoiding their teachers, dodging the caretaker... in order to study.

"You realise if anyone notices we've both snuck out, they'll think we're having a secret affair?" Lily remarked to him as they met up in a corridor. Snape snorted. "That's funny?"

"It really is," he nodded.

"Shut up, greaseball."

"Won't your boyfriend get jealous?"

Lily flushed. "James is not my boyfriend!"

"Oh, then how did you know who I was talking about?" She didn't have an answer for that, so she settled for poking him in the ribs with her wand.

"Shut up, you." She sighed heavily. "You know, I wish you guys would talk. I think James would really like you, if he got to know you."

"And Sirius Black?" he said ironically. They exchanged a look. No, not even a dedicated peacemaker like Lily would try to claim Sirius Black could ever accept a Slytherin into his heart.

"It'll never happen, Lily. They're Gryffindors, I'm a Slytherin. We can't be friends. You'd have to be insane to think it."

"I think you're my friend."

He was sort of surprised to find he agreed. "Nobody ever tried to call you sane."

"Well, good. Anyone tries to suggest it, I'll come after them with my leg-lock curse."

"Or one of your infamous exploding potions."


So that was how the secret tutoring sessions started. It was not a regular thing; just every month or so, when Fennel's unreasonable demands grew too much, Lily would catch up with him in the library or pass him a note and they would arrange to meet. The rest of the time they barely talked, although Lily would sometimes nod or smile at him in passing. If any Gryffindors noticed, they just assumed it was her naturally sunny nature, being friendly even to the scummy Slytherins.

Snape, of course, remained impassive.

Since neither of them wanted the Gryffindors or the Slytherins to find out, and since Fennel was such an awkward old grouchbag, they got into the habit of breaking into the potions labs to borrow equipment. Sev had a few nifty tricks with locks, and they never used anything that would be missed or left anything out of place. If Fennel suspected something was up, he never let on. Truth be told, he seemed entirely too bored with the whole idea of teaching to care.

In fact, Sev wondered what he was even doing still at Hogwarts. He clearly hated being there, and time as a teacher at a school of magic was a springboard to practically any job you could want. So, if Fennel chose to stay instead, there had to be a reason.

He and Lily finally got a hint as to what that was on one of their late-night Potions sessions.

It had started out business as usual. This was the fourth or fifth time they'd met up, and they were getting to be old pros. Sneak out of the dorms, meet by the statue of the one-eyed witch, keep a wary eye out for old Pringle, the caretaker. Creep down to the labs, wait for Sev to cast his unlocking spell, and duck inside. The labs were down in the dungeons, and there was never any chance of somebody being down there late at night.

Except that this time, there was.

Lily froze in midstep, and suddenly clutched hold of his arm. "Sev! Fennel's still in his office!" she hissed, in shock.

Any normal boy would have flown into a well-justified panic at this point.

Sev had never been astonishingly normal. He calmly nodded to Lily, peeked around the corner of the nearest classroom, and beckoned for her to follow him inside. Lily made to shut the door, but he quickly gripped her arm before she could touch it. He sat down with his back against the wall beside the door, and gestured for her to do the same. This way, they wouldn't be seen from outside, and Fennel wouldn't notice that a door had been moved.

He explained as much to Lily by calmly withdrawing a scroll from his pocket and writing it out for her. Lily shook her head in wonderment at him, but made a pantomime shrug and sat down beside him. Why the hell not?

Sev was growing to like Lily. She was fiery, not icy cool like him, but in some ways they were very alike. Lily might get passionately riled up about things, but she knew when to be pragmatic.

The other advantage of sitting there with the door open, of course, were that they were both able hear Fennel talking. For that was what he was doing, down here in his office in the dungeons in the middle of the night.

Who he was talking to, Sev couldn't tell. Either they were further away, had a very quiet voice, or were using some form of magic to communicate. Since this wasn't any reasonable place or time for a casual conversation, he was leaning towards the latter.

Fennel, in contrast, was loud and distinctly snappish. "Yes, I know. I can hardly be expected to- Well, not with Dumbledore here!"

Beside him, Lily's bright green eyes grew wide. Sev, with his naturally devious mind, was far less easily shocked.

"I understand. Yes. Golden opportunity. Yes. I realise that. No, of course I haven't. You have to understand the Fletcher boy is very- He provided the chance himself. He's very keen, you know. Asked if he could help out tutoring the first years next week. And how could I refuse?" Fennel gave an unpleasant, sneering little laugh. It was not so much amusement as a scathing recognition of someone else's stupidity. It reminded Sev of Lucius Malfoy.

If Fennel said anything else to his mysterious communicant, it was too soft for Snape to pick up - and he had excellent hearing. A few moments later, and the office door slammed shut. They heard Fennel's footsteps echo along the corridor, and his shadow swept past their own doorway. He didn't look inside.

Lily turned troubled eyes to Snape. "Did he mean Audley Fletcher?"

"I think so," he said, and his voice was far more certain than the words. Audley Fletcher was a popular, talented seventh year, the son of a famous Auror. If Fennel was planning something that he didn't want to do around Dumbledore, then it was almost certainly something to do with the Dark Arts. And if that was true, the Aurors were logical enemies.

He explained as much to Lily, and she looked worried. "But why Audley? He's just a kid. I mean- well, you know." She remembered that 'just a kid' in this case meant six years older than either of them. "He's not an Auror."

Sev gave a thin-lipped smile that had nothing to do with being amused. "Ah, Lily. Is your little Muggle world so uncomplicated?"

She scowled, half-seriously. "You know, you can be pretty damn offensive when you want to."

"It's a talent," he agreed flatly. Lily sighed.

"I'm not an idiot. I know that just because Audley's not involved doesn't mean somebody wouldn't..." She sighed again. "It's just... rotten, okay." She nibbled at her lower lip worriedly. "What'd'you think Fennel's gonna do, Sev? Are they gonna kidnap him, hold him to ransom?"

"Not a chance. They're out to kill him."

Lily jumped in shock. "What? How could you possibly know that?"

Sev met her startled gaze with his usual cool mask. "Logic. You heard the same conversation I did; it's pretty clear Fennel's not working alone, and he's not in charge."

"And this leads to murder how?"

"Anyone who can command a powerful wizard like Fennel has more than one servant, and more than enough influence to get them where he needs them. If this is a kidnapping attempt... why farm it out to a Potions expert?"

Lily gasped. "They're gonna poison him!"

"No," said Sev.

"What?" Yet again, she couldn't follow his line of thought.

"Oh, it'll be poison that kills him," he said darkly. "But nobody will know it. They're clever. They don't plan to do this any way that can be traced back to them - that's why it can't happen in front of Professor Dumbledore. They know about him; they know how easily he sees through things."

"But they don't know about you," Lily added. She regarded him from under lowered brows for a long moment. "The way you think... it's pretty damn creepy, I've gotta tell you. Nobody should have to think like that."

"Ah, but they always will," Sev said coolly. "And as long as they do, so will I."

"And, thinking like you, what do we do now?"

"What I always do," Snape reminded her. "Watch. And wait. And see what's what."


The next day was a Sunday, which left them time for subterfuge before Audley Fletcher's life was put in danger. A few 'chance' words with Professor Fractalis in a corridor revealed that Dumbledore was coming back from his conference on Wednesday. A 'casual' remark to Professor Parilia, head of house Hufflepuff, revealed that the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had Potions Wednesday and Friday. Then he 'bumped into' Lily in the library.

That was, in actuality, the hardest part. He kept his nose firmly in his book whilst Lily surreptitiously tried to persuade James and Sirius to leave her alone. They finally quit when she threatened to have Sirius read through her notes on the Goblin Wars for her.

Lily waited a while more before casually sauntering over to the shelf by his table. "So, done your research yet?" she asked as she pretended to browse.

"Wednesday's the danger zone," he said softly. "Dumbledore'll be back, but not 'til late, and Fennel might chance his hand if he's desperate. We're helpless if he's in with the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. We need to make sure Fletcher only comes to our class on the Tuesday."

"Oh, and how in the hell are we supposed to do that?" Lily demanded irritably.

"Simple. Fletcher's in an exam year, and he's studying hard. They won't let him out of enough lessons to come to all the first year labs. So we just have to make him choose to come to ours."

"I do believe my question still applies."

"Who are the most giggly girls in Gryffindor?" he asked her.

She frowned in puzzlement, but answered promptly "Jade Creevy and Helen Beck."

"Talk to them. Tell them Audley Fletcher's gonna be sitting in on some of the classes, but he can only come to a few and it might not be ours. Send them to go giggle at him."

Lily quirked an eyebrow. "You think Fletcher's gonna be moved by a few lovestruck eleven-year-olds?"

"Yes," said Snape simply. As always, he knew people. Audley Fletcher was a classic golden boy, handsome Quidditch captain with high marks - the kind of student James Potter would be in a few years time. But unlike the mostly amiable Potter, Audley Fletcher had a deep-rooted vain streak - and hero-worshipping pre-teens were exactly what would prompt him to come along to their Potions lessons.

Lily shrugged, but deferred to Sev's judgement. As she got up to leave the library, she turned back and said "Hey. D'you want to know the reason you're still alive right now?"

"I'm sure you're about to tell me," he said, not looking up from his history assignment.

"Because you didn't ask me to be one of those giggling girls for you."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he said mildly.

"Well, good."

"After all, I wouldn't want you to upset your boyfriend."

It was just as well he'd mastered the charm to stop fast-flying objects.


Sev was not at all surprised to see Audley Fletcher beaming goofily at them from next to Professor Fennel when they filed into class. The contrast between the two was striking; whilst both men would be considered attractive in classical terms, Fennel's face was distorted into a perpetual scowl, and Fletcher couldn't stop grinning. The sheer difference that made in the eyes of the teenage girls was quite amazing.

Snape, personally, found Fletcher's vapid grin very irritating. Fennel might be unpleasant - and, apparently, embroiled in a murder plot - but at least he was intelligent. Fletcher might be pulling the top grades, but when it came to spontaneous wit he was sorely lacking.

For a change, the Slytherin and Gryffindor boys were near-united by mutual dislike. The girls were all blushing and giggling excitedly, and even icy Narcissa Salenica had an unusual touch of colour to her cheeks. Malfoy, who'd been practically marking his territory ever since he'd met her, was looking deeply annoyed.

Fletcher, as Snape had expected, was completely oblivious to the dozen or so laser glares headed his way. He bumbled his way cheerfully from cauldron to cauldron, excited girls flocking around him.

The only one to remain coolly unimpressed was Lily. James and Sirius were looking smug, as if they personally were somehow to thank for her attitude.

Sev had no time for such petty interplays, however, focusing his attention solely on Fennel. The teacher looked annoyed at all the attention Fletcher was getting, but you'd have to know he was up to something to guess it was anything more than his usual irritated attitude.

Whilst the other girls bugged the handsome seventh-year, Lily was playing her part to perfection - bugging Fennel. Every time he looked about ready to move towards his assistant, Lily was there, asking questions - just like she always did in Potions, only more insistently. Most of the time Fennel brushed her off quickly - but even so, it was enough of a distraction to lose him whatever tiny opportunity he'd spotted.

It couldn't last forever, however. Sev had the eyes of a hawk, and he didn't need to devote a fraction of a percent of his attention to the laughably simple potion work. He never took his gaze off Professor Fennel... and he saw when the teacher oh-so-casually let the tiniest drop of some purple solution fall into Sirius Black's cauldron.

Well-chosen, observed the cool, detached part of Snape's brain that always noted such things. A Gryffindor, for the Slytherins had a bad enough reputation to be suspected of doing something to Fletcher deliberately. Sirius Black, for he had a history of messing around with magic and trying things he shouldn't. No one would believe it had been anything but a foolish accident.

Sev's brain had already run through the possible purple liquids Fennel could have chosen to add to this particular mix, and come to a conclusion. Any minute now, Sirius' cauldron would hit exactly the right temperature... and its contents would violently explode.

A moment later: "Professor! My potion's gone green."

Fennel's eye-rolling sneer looked exactly the same as it always did. "Why am I not surprised, Black? Fletcher! Deal with it."

Audley reluctantly broke away from the trio of girls he was wowing with his Quidditch stories, and came over to Sirius' side. He leaned over the potion to study it more closely. "Now, what do we have here?"

Idiot. Anybody who did that over a potion that was already doing something unexpected deserved whatever they got. However, he doubted Lily would see it that way.

No doubt if it was Lily who had twigged what was about happen, her answer would be to cry out for them all to get back, the potion was about to explode - because Lily was fundamentally honest. Sev, on the other hand, was fundamentally devious.

He moved in closer to Sirius Black, and fixed his best sneer in place. "What's the matter, Black? Can't make a simple Shrinking Potion? Or are you just sucking up to get your place on the Quidditch team?"

Sirius could always be relied upon to react explosively. His hand flew straight to his wand.

"Expelliarmus!" snapped Sev. He judged it perfectly, wrenching the wand from Sirius' grip with enough force that he staggered backwards - straight into his own cauldron.

The brilliant green mixture went everywhere, flooding harmlessly across the floor.