A/N: Thanks to my reviewers ^_^ Hope you all had a great Christmas!

The next day, Severus was woken by the sound of loud banging and a heated argument.

Getting out of bed, he quickly got dressed and cast a detangling spell on his hair, before making his way to the source of the racket.

"-I simply cannot grant you entry! Bugger off back to your own common room, girl!" Severus heard the ghoul ,which guarded the entrance to the Snake's Den, roared furiously.

"Bloody shut up!" a familiar voice snarled. "_Stupify!_"

Severus stuck his head out from behind the blocked passageway to find himself face to face with the Ravenclaw from the day before.

"Snape," she breathed in surprise.

"Is there any reason why you woke me up by trying to fight your way into the Slytherin common room?" he asked irritably.

Siara scowled and threw her head back defiantly.

"As a matter of fact, yes. I came to tell you that appearing at breakfast this morning may be worth your while," she explained, before smirking and darting away.

Severus stared after her, puzzled.

###

Severus sat down at the empty Slytherin table and ducked his head down, only glancing up when he felt a pair of eyes burning into his head. Siara smirked proudly at him with a mischievous glint in her eye.

The doors of the Great Hall threw open, announcing the noisy arrival of the fifth year Gryffindor boys. They proudly made their way to the Gryffindor table, receiving adoring looks from all but two pairs of eyes in the hall.

Lily, Severus noted, wasn't with them.

"Snape!" someone coughed.

He looked up quickly and met eyes with Siara, who pointedly looked at the Gryffindor table.

Intrigued, he watched them carefully.

Time seemed to slow as each of the Gryffindors took places at the table. Reaching for their goblets, they raised them for a toast. As they came together, the crystal goblets exploded and burst into flames in their hands, sending shards of crystal into their skin, accompanied by ash and burns. Their faces were covered in ash as they tried desperately to remove the embedded shards, crying out in pain.

The onlookers, excluding the teachers, burst into fits of laughter, some crying with mirth.

Tears of laughter streamed down Severus' cheeks as he watched James painfully remove his broken glasses and exchange embarrassed, bewildered glances with his friends.

Siara smirked at Severus triumphantly.

After recovering, Severus sat finishing his meal. He was again disturbed by the loud opening of the doors. Glancing up vaguely, he froze in mid-bite as he watched Lily approach him.

"Sevvie, I-"

"What do you want?" he demanded, cutting her off sharply. Insults began racing through his mind.

'Ah...which to pick?' he thought absent-mindedly.

"I merely wanted to come and ask if you were okay, Sevvie," she replied, a wounded expression on her face.

Severus' lip curled into a sneer.

"'Merely' indeed. Ever mere is a Mudblood such as yourself, when in the presence of a Pureblood." he smirked.

Inwardly, he congratulated himself as he watched her face contort into an expression of dejected horror.

"What the hell has happened to you, Sevvie?" she asked, her voice laced with tears.

"You," he whispered venomously, an underlining blanket thick with scathing hatred clearly audible in his voice.

Lily burst into tears and ran out of the hall, James at her heels.

Siara moved over from her table to sit with him, raising her glass to him.

"Nice one, Snape," she congratulated quietly.

Severus smiled.

###

Hmm...I might make this the last chapter. I've got another one written but I don't know if it'd be best to leave it like this as it is.

r+r!

#Arien#