By Dimantrien
AN- Thanx to NicolaPadfoot (I do agree, school must be the worst tragedy ever invented. And don't worry about Sirius and Chase, I'll work on it ^_^ Good luck with your homework! And come to think of it, I should be doing mine too right now…), LiTTle-TeaPoT (sorry if I didn't make their relationship evident, but I'll try to do better), animegirl (thanks for adding me to your fave authors list! I really appreciate it ^_^), squirt12c (thanks, but I don't know how I'm going to write the next chapter with all the holiday work my teachers piled on me…school really, really sucks…), and Christy (thanks for taking time to read my stories, I appreciate it a lot!) for reviewing. Luv you guys!
Chapter 3: The Truce
The bell rang signaling the end of Transfiguration—and Monday classes. Chase went out the door, thinking that she needed to get some serious work done about the hellish assignment that McGonagall had given (Name all the invented cross-species spells ever made, and give a short biography of each wizard who discovered it.).
"Chase! Wait up!"
Chase stopped and whirled around to see James hurrying toward her. She sighed. "What do you want, Prongs?"
"Did you tell Lily?" he asked worriedly.
Chase rolled her eyes. "No I didn't, James…"
A look of relief spread on James' face.
"But only because I'm waiting for you to be the one to do so," she said in a neutral tone, starting to walk again. James trotted beside her, his face paling.
"B-but—Chase, I can't do that! It would destroy Lily! I don't want her to get hurt—"
"If you didn't want her to be hurt more than she already will when she finds out, then you would say it as soon as possible," was Chase's only reply.
"And what about Damaris? You know her, Chase…she's a nice girl, and she's really delicate…I don't know how to break it to her, she looks like she'll break into pieces if something upsets her."
"James, if you love Lily, then you would do what is best for both of you," Chase told him.
"And what is that?" James asked uncertainly.
"Tell her the truth."
"I can't do that!" he repeated.
Chase stopped walking again. "If you don't tell her in a week, I will."
James' face paled even more, if it was possible. "What? Please, Chase…no…"
"James, you know me. I hate interfering with anybody's relationship. But there are certain exceptions to that. Lily's my best friend, and you can't blame me for wanting to tell her things I know so that she won't get hurt. Did you even know what I did on Saturday? I lied to her, James, and I hate lying to her to keep something as serious as this from her…"
James sighed, looking dejected.
"But before that, there's only one question. Which would you choose, Lily or Damaris?"
"I don't know…I love Lily, Chase…"
"Then you should tell Damaris that you're not interested in her."
"But I don't want Damaris to hate me either."
"James, you have to make sacrifices. Either you tell Damaris that she made a mistake, upset her and still be with Lily without any problems, or pick Damaris over Lily and let her get hurt…"
"I'll have to think about it. Will you at least not tell Lily until I make a decision?"
"Fine, James. But do it quick. You have only yourself to blame if this gets ugly." Chase opened the library door and disappeared inside.
James stood in front of the closed library door, looking lost. What is it with Chase and the way her straight-to-the-point comments hit you hard?
*****
The next day, they had their first Potions lesson. They didn't have Potions last week because the new teacher was "dealing with important matters about the reconstruction of Zynergrand." (Sirius had snorted at this announcement. "What help would a bunch of smelly liquid do in rebuilding a castle?") But everybody was glad of the two-hour complicated brew making that they were spared with, since nobody liked a class where the Slytherins were in with them. This time around, though, McGonagall had announced that their new teacher would be meeting them.
After five minutes of waiting, the new professor, clad in purple robes, swept into the dimly-lit dungeon. She looked like she was in her early thirties, and her blonde hair reached down to her waist. There were stares from male students all around, while some girls glanced at her warily.
"Good morning, class," the woman said briskly. "I am here as your new Potions teacher, since Professor Ridgewood has resigned to be of service to the Ministry of Magic."
"More like, 'was sacked because he couldn't add 2 to 8 when it came to Gryffindors' scores'" Sirius said under his breath.
"Before we move into the lesson proper, let me introduce myself. My name is—" She started writing on the board, making it hard for the marauders to read, and when she moved to the right, Sirius let out an audible gasp.
"Oh no…" he moaned. Written on the board in white script were the words "Professor Jayne Witzgromeneirre."
"W-witzgromeneirre?" James stuttered. "No way—is she the wife of that former-Slytherin scum teacher we had in third year?"
"Must be. Witzgromeneirre isn't a very common name, you know…" Remus said grimly.
"Unbelievable. Who would actually agree to marry slime like that?" Lily breathed in amazement.
"It's obvious. People who are also slime themselves," Chase answered. "Which means that…"
"She's a Slytherin," the others moaned.
Professor Witzgromeneirre looked around at them. "You," she said, glancing at Peter, who trembled. "What is the common ingredient found in all Sleeping Draughts?"
"Er…um…" Peter squeaked.
Witzgromeneirre narrowed her eyes. "Clearly. You must be a Gryffindor, by all standards," she said in a voice dripping with disgust. "Sit down, boy. And if I call you again and you don't have an answer, it will cost your house more points."
Peter gulped and sank back to his seat. "She's horrible," he told them, his lips quivering.
"Oh, stop acting like a big baby, Pete," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "Everybody knows that the common ingredient is beetle eyes, it's not the main one because there are different ingredients that would suggest how complex the potion is—"
"OK, we know now already, just shut up Mr. Ace Potions Master," Lily said sardonically.
"Why, thank you for complimenting my strengths, Lil," Sirius deadpanned.
"Pettigrew!" Witzgromeneirre barked.
Peter shot up like an arrow. "Yes, Professor?" he said.
"Why is it that beetle eyes, though common among all the draughts, are not the main ingredient?" she demanded him.
Peter glanced sideways at Sirius. "Because…uh…because different draughts have different levels of complexity, therefore the main ingredient depends on how each one is stronger than the other," he replied.
Witzgromeneirre didn't look satisfied. "Black, you were muttering the answer to him. Five points from Gryffindor."
"What?!" Sirius blurted out, standing up. "I didn't do any such thing, Professor!" Normally Sirius didn't mind if teachers took points from him, but this one, just like all that Ridgewood had done before, was going too far.
"I saw what I saw, Black. Now take your seat." Sirius didn't budge. "Sit down, Black!" Witzgromeneirre exploded.
"Give me proof that I told Peter the answer while he was reciting," Sirius said stubbornly.
"If you don't take your seat, I will give you detention!" Witzgromeneirre said in a level tone.
"Give me proof first," repeated Sirius.
"DETENTION! I have never seen a student behave so obstinately!" she shouted.
Sirius smirked. "I don't care. I get five detentions a day—"
"AND I'LL GIVE YOU TEN MORE IF YOU DON'T SIT DOWN THIS INSTANT!!!" she raged. Her pretty face was red with anger.
"That's fine by me. The more the better," Sirius said brightly, obviously enjoying their professor's lack of control.
"OUT! OUT OF THIS CLASSROOM! YOUR HEADMASTER SHALL HEAR OF THIS, YOU MARK MY WORDS!!!" she screamed, pointing a finger at the door.
Sirius willingly marched out. "Goody, it's about time I visited old Dumbledore again. We've been close friends since second year," he said, just to blow Witzgromeneirre up more.
Witzgromeneirre strode to the door and slammed it behind him. "If any of you," she said in a dangerous tone, staring around at the class, "act the way Black just did today, I will make it certain that the punishment will be very severe."
The whole class listened silently. "For this day we shall learn how to make a more complex Sleeping Draught, though not the most potent one which is the Draught of Living Death. The potion we shall produce should take effect for ten hours or so. Any student who does not fulfill this requirement in his or her potion shall do the honors of making the antidote for the whole class, which, I guarantee you, is extremely difficult to prepare," she said with a sort of villainous smile.
"What a bitch," Celeste remarked in a low voice to them.
"Shhh," Lily shushed. "If she hears you she'll probably add poison to your draught…"
"Hell, I wouldn't drink any potion made in this class," said Celeste. "Let's just see if she can make me…"
"I will put all of you in pairs to work on the potion. Let me see…" she looked at the list of students on the roll of parchment marked "Attendance." Her lips curled into a smirk. "Yes. Gryffindors to Slytherins."
All the Gryffindors groaned.
"Now then, Pettigrew, you work with Nott," she said first, eyeing Nott, who must be three times wider than Peter. Peter whimpered as he went over to Nott's place.
"Rosier, you work with Schoharie, and Potter, I think you should go with Avery…" Both Celeste and James glared at their partners in greeting. Avery looked much more displeased with the partner arrangements than James himself. Of course, it was probably because James scared him too much with all the hexes he did to him last year.
"This is better than Snape, but if he's paired with Lily…" Celeste said worriedly.
Fortunately (if you could call it that) Lily was paired with a skinny new Slytherin girl whose face looked extraordinarily like a chipmunk (an evil chipmunk, of course -_-).
"Miss Gilchrist and Miss Bulstrode…" Witzgromeneirre continued. And then she said the thing the marauders dreaded the most. "Snape. You go with…" she looked at her attendance sheet. "Miss Tarlise."
"No," Celeste whispered. Lily and Remus threw disgusted looks at Snape, and James gave him a "touch her and you die" expression. It was most probably because Sirius wasn't there to do it, but Chase was still one of his friends, and she was kind enough to let him sort things out with his problem before saying anything to Lily or Damaris.
Snape ignored them; in fact, he appeared to be quite pleased. He had had a crush on Chase ever since they first met, but he tried to hide it by attacking her with hexes too whenever there was a marauder-Slytherin brawl. Everybody could see right through him, though.
Chase took a seat next to Snape, looking slightly ill. But when the marauders gave her sympathetic glances, she rolled her eyes and mouthed, "I'll live."
Witzgromeneirre wasn't done yet. "This potion will take about a month and a half to brew, so I suggest that you spend a bit of your free time with your partners to work on your potions." Everybody groaned, including the Slytherins. Being paired with opposing Houses was enough, but giving up two hours during weekends to sit down for a project without starting a fight…now this was simply too much. Snape's grin widened.
"For now, you should copy—" The door banged open, and a smug-looking Sirius came in.
"Professor Dumbledore said that I'm allowed to be in class," he announced, apparently not noticing the sullen looks all around. He showed Witzgromeneirre a piece of parchment with Dumbledore's signature on it. Witzgromeneirre had a sour expression on her face.
"Very well. Your partner is Preston."
Sirius' face fell, and as he went back to his seat to fetch his things, James explained the joint project to him.
"And she said we have to spend some time with our partners on weekends so that the potion will turn out okay…Avery's a piece of cake, I guess, but Chase wasn't so lucky, she got paired with Snape—"
"WHAT?!!!" Sirius shouted. Witzgromeneirre whirled around and said in a peeved voice, "Ten points from Gryffindor, Black!"
Sirius was forced to keep his mouth shut, only settling for giving Snape his worst glare. All throughout the class, Snape kept annoyingly close to Chase, who strained to move as far away from him as their box-sized table would allow. Finally, after fifty-five agonizing minutes, the bell rang and the students rushed to the door, and Professor Witzgromeneirre's announcement of their assignment ("A roll of parchment on how wizards have discovered the Spring of Dreams") was barely heard over the stampeding feet.
"Oh, man, I have to work with that Slytherin girl for ages," Lily moaned as they climbed the stairs to the Great Hall. "She's absolutely horrible, and she smells bad…"
"Stop whining, Lil," Celeste said. "Your problems aren't nearly half as bad as Chase's. Working with Snape…that Witzgromeneirre is positively evil."
"She can't just do that!" Sirius ranted. "Ridgewood always used to say that Snape was 'brilliant' in Potions…shouldn't she take her fellow Slytherin's advice and let him work alone?"
"She's probably just pampering him. She's been voted the Slytherin Head of House, since she's the only former Slytherin in the staff," Rhiannon commented.
Chase shifted her backpack. "I don't see what you're all fussing about. I'm his partner, not any of you."
"But Chase, it's Snape." James waved his hands in the air for emphasis. "We're talking about major scum here. Resident oil mine. Certified grade A slimy Slytherin sneak."
"Can we just change the topic?" suggested Remus. "It's not like Snape's going to miraculously act in a civil manner towards her if we talk about his negative traits, no matter how much we like to do so."
"He's right," Celeste agreed as they reached one of the largest staircases among the 142 in Hogwarts. They were going to two different directions at that point. Celeste, Rhiannon, Remus, Lily and James had Arithmancy while Chase, Damaris and Sirius were off to The Study of Ancient Runes. Peter had a free period since he had only CMC and Divination as extra subjects. The others had three.
"See ya guys later," Sirius yelled down the hall to their five retreating friends, his voice reverberating through the corridor. A prefect who was walking near them glared at him as he passed.
Chase and Damaris were chatting already when Sirius turned around to shout at their other friends, and he saw Chase say something to Damaris. Damaris suddenly blushed and walked faster. With Chase strolling in her normal slow ultracool strut, Damaris was easily ten yards in front of her when she reached the Ancient Runes classroom.
Wonder what that's about, Sirius mused as he followed Chase in.
*****
The dungeons were seldom visited by students, since it was cold and dim, a generally unpleasant place. Only the Slytherins, whose common room was like a mini-version of the whole of Hogwarts' underground floors, seemed truly at home in them. A pair of feet's steps echoed down the deserted corridor and stopped at one of the doors that lined the whole hallway.
Chase stepped inside the seldom-used classroom. It was completely dark except for four lamps in each corner of the room that glowed a green color. A cauldron was already placed on top of a floating flame near the front of the room, and the silhouette of a boy with an extremely large nose stood next to it.
"Good evening, Tarlise," Snape greeted her in a self-righteous tone.
"Well, that's one opinion," Chase muttered, dropping her bag in one of the chairs. She had just been to the girls' dormitory to fetch her Potions ingredients and had just witnessed another make-out scene courtesy of Rhiannon and Sirius.
"You look a little upset today," Snape remarked, opening his Potions book and scanning the recipe for the draught.
Chase sighed. "Really Snape, it's none of your business. Let's just get on with this dumb project."
Snape didn't answer and continued to read his book.
"Jeez, how d'you expect to read anything in here with the classroom this dark?" Chase commented, flicking her wand and causing the lamps to emit a white flame, bathing the room in light.
Snape shielded his eyes for a moment from the sudden brightness. "Slytherins prefer the dark," he said simply.
"Well then, I wouldn't be surprised if all Slytherins had vampire blood in them," Chase said under her breath, but Snape's sharp ears caught her words.
"I assure you, Tarlise, that none of the Slytherins are vampires, or any other Dark creature that your imaginative mind might think up. You should know by now that Salazar Slytherin himself valued purebloods the most."
There was no conversation after that. Chase worked silently, and to Snape's credit, so did he. Only when Chase was literally out the door did Snape speak.
"Tarlise, may I have a word with you?"
Chase stopped and rolled her eyes, turning back to face him warily. "What do you want now?"
"I've been thinking for quite some time now," he started. "See, it will be much easier to work on our project if we got along. So I suggest that we make a pact."
"That's very mature of you," said Chase indifferently. "But I think we're getting along fine already, so there's no need to be so formal—"
"I'm not just talking about a pact on a month and a half basis, Tarlise," Snape interrupted smoothly.
An expression of disbelief fleeted across Chase's face. "Are you talking about a friendship, Snape?" she asked, her tone taking on an incredulous note, as if Snape just told her to seriously jump off a cliff.
"Well…technically, yes," Snape answered hesitantly. "But fine, if you want this project to be a disaster, and ruin our grades, then don't tell me I didn't suggest a better option—"
"You make it sound like a tragedy or something," Chase sighed. "All right, Snape. But there have to be certain conditions before I accept the pact."
"Like what?" Snape asked.
"First of all, you're not to call Lily a Mudblood," said Chase coldly. Snape paled at this demand, but said nothing. "Second, whenever some of my friends play a prank on you, don't include those who weren't in on it on your revenge. And no extreme physical damage to those who did."
"You're asking for quite too much for that, Tarlise," Snape said softly. "If that is how you will agree to the pact, then I must make some conditions of my own. I will consent to your second condition if you and your friends do the same for the Slytherins."
"Fine by me. Third, and most importantly, we will have a truce, but we are totally platonic to each other. No misleading thoughts that just because I'm not fighting with you anymore, it means something more than friendship. Agreed, Snape?" Chase said.
This was obviously too much for Snape; he hadn't expected that she would say that. He must have assumed that a friendship would mean that Chase accepted him already, but she had just made it clear that he had to get rid of his crush on her. But, if given the choice, it was better to be on platonic terms with Chase (though Chase had already made sure of that even when they were rivals) and be her friend, than have a futile crush on her as her enemy. "I guess so," he said, looking a bit disappointed. He stretched out his hand.
Chase, for a moment, narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "If this is just a joke you're playing on me…"
"I assure you, it isn't," Snape insisted, and there was no malice behind his voice. He was, unbelievably, telling the truth. The look in his face was so earnest, Chase nearly had the idea that this was just an impostor using Polyjuice Potion. Snape never showed facial expressions beyond contempt, hatred, amusement or malevolence. At least, not to the three other houses that he and his other fellow Slytherins made fun of. "So. Truce?"
Chase nodded and shook his hand. "Truce."
Funny. His hand didn't feel as slimy as the marauders often insisted it was.
*****
AN – So there you have it. Chase and Snape are friends. And sorry if this chapter was so Chase-centered, I don't have much time to think of the scenes in this chapter with the third quarter exams less than a month away… Sigh… I swear I'm in a time warp. Only a few weeks ago I was taking the second quarter exams and now here's the continuation of the nightmare… Anywayz, review! If somebody makes my day by reviewing then I may just tear myself from my books (and I don't think that it will take much hassle to do so, since studying is boring beyond belief ^_^) and work on the next part. Thanx.