Velvet was very glad when lunch began. It wasn't that she disliked Defense
against the Dark Arts-That stuff was thrilling, but that three hours alone
with Remus was quite a lot. Remus was very nice, but just a little too
interested in her in a very physical way. He would take any excuse to
touch her-correcting her stance or her wand technique. He would always be
talking about other stuff, too. She would be lucky to get through any
DADA. She was careful to always be distantly polite to him so that he
never noticed how annoyed she was.
But when she sat down at lunch with a slight scowl on her face, Snape noticed. "Your Defense class didn't go as well as you had hoped." He looked over to Remus who was stirring his soup in a very dreamy manner. "Looks like you've acquired another fan."
"Remus is very nice," she said staring solemnly in her soup, then she added in a slightly disgusted voice, "I just wished he'd pay more attention to the subject he's teaching, not."
"The student he's teaching," Snape finished for her. She blushed and still wouldn't look up from her soup; she obviously was not used to this kind of attention.
Struggling to break the awkward silence she said in a voice that was supposed to be sarcastic but was really more sad, "Of course, who could resist me?"
Snape looked at her, his face blank; he was wondering how anyone so young could sound so bitter. "Apparently, you are winning the staff over."
She cocked an eyebrow, "All of the staff? Why, professor, I'm flattered."
"I didn't," he stuttered. "What I mean to say is you have won some of the staff over."
She leered at him. "Soon, you will join us on the dark side and together we will rule the galaxy." She fell into a fit of giggles while Snape looked at her with his lips pursed together. "I'm sorry; it's a line from a movie." She was still grinning.
Herbology was only slightly better than DADA had been. Professor Sprout was very kind, but plants just weren't her thing. Luckily, she was let loose early because Sprout felt that the only quick way to learn about Herbology, was to read about it. Anything that she had questions on, Sprout would answer next week. Hopefully they could move through the required Herbology quickly.
And so it was that she was out early looking at the rose bushes when something extremely purple passed by her. She turned around and saw the most Muggle looking girl she'd seen so far. Her hair was vivid purple and her bag was covered in buttons of people like David Bowie. She blurted the first thing that came to mind.
"I love David Bowie!"
The girl turned around and grinned madly at her. She began speaking very excitedly, "You're kidding! No one in the history of my five years at Hogwarts has even recognized anyone on my bag, much less liked it. You must be some sort of weirdo."
"I'm American-it boils down to the same thing. Of course DB is the man (ok the androgynous man). I am so glad there is someone here who speaks music, I'd thought I'd entered The Twilight Zone."
"Yeah, it's a real drag that they won't let us have any technology on campus. By the way I am Nanashi Nerys-call me Nani. I'm a fifth year Ravenclaw although everyone thinks I should be in Slytherin." She grinned evilly.
"I'm Velvet Mephorria the teacher assistant."
"Michael told me all about you. He was impressed that you knew who he was, he doesn't seem to realize he is so small he stands out. Oh, bugger, I have to go now-don't want to be caught you know." She flew off across the campus, but dropped a notebook.
Velvet picked up the notebook, intending to return it to her whenever she saw her again. Then, she walked into the dining hall and sat down with the history book. She was in a sort of book trance an hour later when she heard a horrible scream. She jumped, having just been reading about an attack of giants.
She walked into the hall and saw Snape scurrying with a boy under his arms, trying to shield him from anyone who might be able to see. But Velvet saw it was Draco Malfoy, and his hair had all fallen out. Snape was muttering something like that if he ever found out who pulled this stunt he was going to kill them.
Velvet was struggling to breathe as she turned back into the dining hall. To entertain herself, she picked up Nani's notebook. In it she found some decent doodles of people around the school. There were some nice ones of Snape and a few decent ones of others, but mostly they were extremely violent pictures of pranks on other students, and the most recent one was of young Mister Malfoy without hair, there was an explanation at the bottom.
The little brat thinks he owns the school, and what's worse is he distracts Professor Snape from doing his job. Snape is so scared to offend the little bastard he treats him like he's God. Where does he get off being mean to Michael.
"Excuse me, but I think that I dropped that." Velvet looked up to see Nani, purple hair and all.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to look at personal stuff, it's just that I am somewhat of a drawer myself. Curiosity got the better of me. Also, if you are worried about it I just would like to let you know that as I do not have permission to take off points from houses, I suppose I also don't feel the need to share minor errors of students. Especially funny ones."
Nani finally grinned and sat down. They chatted for a very long time until Nani noticed that Hermione entered the room. She just sort of stood up and wandered away without her notebook while Hermione approached the table.
"Were you just talking to Nanashi Nerys?"
"Yes, she's quite interesting."
"You mean she didn't try to turn you into anything or kill you?"
"She turned me into a newt.. I got better." Velvet grinned, but Hermione looked at her rather blankly. "Rent some Monty Python the next time you're in Muggle-land."
Hermione just rolled her eyes in a very I'm-superior-to-you sort of way.
Dinner that evening was uneventful and rather dull as McGonagall was preoccupied with Dumbledore and Snape was in an extremely surly mood. Apparently, Draco Malfoy was being a pain about his hair, or lack there of. Madame Pomfrey had given him a quick regrow formula and his hair was already an inch long, but he was still unhappy. The fact that half the Gryffindors were wearing bald caps didn't help matters much.
Once again, Remus grabbed her arm. This time, she twisted around and explained that she had some errands to run and that she would see him tomorrow, good night. Snape started to come out of his mood, amused by this exchange. Remus asked her what kind of errands, and Snape came up and said, "She was so concerned for your welfare that she asked me if she could help me make your potion. Seeing her true interest, I agreed." He smiled a smile that looked like he wanted to gnaw through some trees. Velvet struggled to keep a straight face.
"Yes, and I think we better be off." She and Snape exited. She nearly fell over she was laughing so hard. She finally managed, "I can't tell you how grateful I am.. The look on his face was priceless."
"Don't think I am letting you off that easily. You are going to come with me and learn how to make Wolfsbane potion."
"Hey, could we slip a little anti-love potion in it?"
Snape smirked.
The dungeon was creepy. But the things floating in jars around his office were even creepier. Velvet watched as Snape moved deftly around the dungeon gathering things to his cauldron. He explained what he was doing and she watched very closely, taking mental notes but not speaking. Finally he said, "This is a very difficult potion, I doubt that you'll get it right, but certainly you'd be willing to try." What made this potion so difficult was that the timing was extremely important. If you were off by as little as a second the entire potion was a waste. Snape was clever enough to be able to look at the potion and know when it needed to be added to, but most wizards had to try to time it; they rarely made a successful potion.
Velvet looked at all the ingredients and thought back over everything he had said. Suddenly, the world began to slow and the background in the room faded-all that existed were the ingredients and the cauldron. Slowly, she began measuring things out and adding them to the cauldron.
Snape watched in wonder as Velvet began adeptly measuring and adding. She was moving so quickly, but she looked as though she was half-asleep. He decided not to interrupt her.
It seemed to take years for the potion to slightly change its shade, which meant she needed to add more to the mixture, and then suddenly, she was finished and the world returned to normal. She looked at Snape who had a look of amazement on his face.
"I think, that just maybe, you don't need my help with potions," he said blandly. He looked at her potion-it looked like the best he had ever made; it was nearly perfect.
Velvet looked at him-she looked a little confused and a little pale. "I think I'm going to go to my room now."
Snape just nodded, still staring at her potion as she slipped away. When he finally looked up he noticed that, in her confusion, Velvet had left her bag. He went over to it and noticed a notebook labeled Nanashi Nerys. What was that doing there?
He opened it, and was disturbed to see pictures of himself along with pranks that Miss Nerys had pulled on other people. He even laughed out loud at a picture of Ron Weasley with spiders in his hair. But the last picture in the notebook made him very unhappy indeed.
But when she sat down at lunch with a slight scowl on her face, Snape noticed. "Your Defense class didn't go as well as you had hoped." He looked over to Remus who was stirring his soup in a very dreamy manner. "Looks like you've acquired another fan."
"Remus is very nice," she said staring solemnly in her soup, then she added in a slightly disgusted voice, "I just wished he'd pay more attention to the subject he's teaching, not."
"The student he's teaching," Snape finished for her. She blushed and still wouldn't look up from her soup; she obviously was not used to this kind of attention.
Struggling to break the awkward silence she said in a voice that was supposed to be sarcastic but was really more sad, "Of course, who could resist me?"
Snape looked at her, his face blank; he was wondering how anyone so young could sound so bitter. "Apparently, you are winning the staff over."
She cocked an eyebrow, "All of the staff? Why, professor, I'm flattered."
"I didn't," he stuttered. "What I mean to say is you have won some of the staff over."
She leered at him. "Soon, you will join us on the dark side and together we will rule the galaxy." She fell into a fit of giggles while Snape looked at her with his lips pursed together. "I'm sorry; it's a line from a movie." She was still grinning.
Herbology was only slightly better than DADA had been. Professor Sprout was very kind, but plants just weren't her thing. Luckily, she was let loose early because Sprout felt that the only quick way to learn about Herbology, was to read about it. Anything that she had questions on, Sprout would answer next week. Hopefully they could move through the required Herbology quickly.
And so it was that she was out early looking at the rose bushes when something extremely purple passed by her. She turned around and saw the most Muggle looking girl she'd seen so far. Her hair was vivid purple and her bag was covered in buttons of people like David Bowie. She blurted the first thing that came to mind.
"I love David Bowie!"
The girl turned around and grinned madly at her. She began speaking very excitedly, "You're kidding! No one in the history of my five years at Hogwarts has even recognized anyone on my bag, much less liked it. You must be some sort of weirdo."
"I'm American-it boils down to the same thing. Of course DB is the man (ok the androgynous man). I am so glad there is someone here who speaks music, I'd thought I'd entered The Twilight Zone."
"Yeah, it's a real drag that they won't let us have any technology on campus. By the way I am Nanashi Nerys-call me Nani. I'm a fifth year Ravenclaw although everyone thinks I should be in Slytherin." She grinned evilly.
"I'm Velvet Mephorria the teacher assistant."
"Michael told me all about you. He was impressed that you knew who he was, he doesn't seem to realize he is so small he stands out. Oh, bugger, I have to go now-don't want to be caught you know." She flew off across the campus, but dropped a notebook.
Velvet picked up the notebook, intending to return it to her whenever she saw her again. Then, she walked into the dining hall and sat down with the history book. She was in a sort of book trance an hour later when she heard a horrible scream. She jumped, having just been reading about an attack of giants.
She walked into the hall and saw Snape scurrying with a boy under his arms, trying to shield him from anyone who might be able to see. But Velvet saw it was Draco Malfoy, and his hair had all fallen out. Snape was muttering something like that if he ever found out who pulled this stunt he was going to kill them.
Velvet was struggling to breathe as she turned back into the dining hall. To entertain herself, she picked up Nani's notebook. In it she found some decent doodles of people around the school. There were some nice ones of Snape and a few decent ones of others, but mostly they were extremely violent pictures of pranks on other students, and the most recent one was of young Mister Malfoy without hair, there was an explanation at the bottom.
The little brat thinks he owns the school, and what's worse is he distracts Professor Snape from doing his job. Snape is so scared to offend the little bastard he treats him like he's God. Where does he get off being mean to Michael.
"Excuse me, but I think that I dropped that." Velvet looked up to see Nani, purple hair and all.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to look at personal stuff, it's just that I am somewhat of a drawer myself. Curiosity got the better of me. Also, if you are worried about it I just would like to let you know that as I do not have permission to take off points from houses, I suppose I also don't feel the need to share minor errors of students. Especially funny ones."
Nani finally grinned and sat down. They chatted for a very long time until Nani noticed that Hermione entered the room. She just sort of stood up and wandered away without her notebook while Hermione approached the table.
"Were you just talking to Nanashi Nerys?"
"Yes, she's quite interesting."
"You mean she didn't try to turn you into anything or kill you?"
"She turned me into a newt.. I got better." Velvet grinned, but Hermione looked at her rather blankly. "Rent some Monty Python the next time you're in Muggle-land."
Hermione just rolled her eyes in a very I'm-superior-to-you sort of way.
Dinner that evening was uneventful and rather dull as McGonagall was preoccupied with Dumbledore and Snape was in an extremely surly mood. Apparently, Draco Malfoy was being a pain about his hair, or lack there of. Madame Pomfrey had given him a quick regrow formula and his hair was already an inch long, but he was still unhappy. The fact that half the Gryffindors were wearing bald caps didn't help matters much.
Once again, Remus grabbed her arm. This time, she twisted around and explained that she had some errands to run and that she would see him tomorrow, good night. Snape started to come out of his mood, amused by this exchange. Remus asked her what kind of errands, and Snape came up and said, "She was so concerned for your welfare that she asked me if she could help me make your potion. Seeing her true interest, I agreed." He smiled a smile that looked like he wanted to gnaw through some trees. Velvet struggled to keep a straight face.
"Yes, and I think we better be off." She and Snape exited. She nearly fell over she was laughing so hard. She finally managed, "I can't tell you how grateful I am.. The look on his face was priceless."
"Don't think I am letting you off that easily. You are going to come with me and learn how to make Wolfsbane potion."
"Hey, could we slip a little anti-love potion in it?"
Snape smirked.
The dungeon was creepy. But the things floating in jars around his office were even creepier. Velvet watched as Snape moved deftly around the dungeon gathering things to his cauldron. He explained what he was doing and she watched very closely, taking mental notes but not speaking. Finally he said, "This is a very difficult potion, I doubt that you'll get it right, but certainly you'd be willing to try." What made this potion so difficult was that the timing was extremely important. If you were off by as little as a second the entire potion was a waste. Snape was clever enough to be able to look at the potion and know when it needed to be added to, but most wizards had to try to time it; they rarely made a successful potion.
Velvet looked at all the ingredients and thought back over everything he had said. Suddenly, the world began to slow and the background in the room faded-all that existed were the ingredients and the cauldron. Slowly, she began measuring things out and adding them to the cauldron.
Snape watched in wonder as Velvet began adeptly measuring and adding. She was moving so quickly, but she looked as though she was half-asleep. He decided not to interrupt her.
It seemed to take years for the potion to slightly change its shade, which meant she needed to add more to the mixture, and then suddenly, she was finished and the world returned to normal. She looked at Snape who had a look of amazement on his face.
"I think, that just maybe, you don't need my help with potions," he said blandly. He looked at her potion-it looked like the best he had ever made; it was nearly perfect.
Velvet looked at him-she looked a little confused and a little pale. "I think I'm going to go to my room now."
Snape just nodded, still staring at her potion as she slipped away. When he finally looked up he noticed that, in her confusion, Velvet had left her bag. He went over to it and noticed a notebook labeled Nanashi Nerys. What was that doing there?
He opened it, and was disturbed to see pictures of himself along with pranks that Miss Nerys had pulled on other people. He even laughed out loud at a picture of Ron Weasley with spiders in his hair. But the last picture in the notebook made him very unhappy indeed.