Thanks for all the reviews so far. I am glad that you all like my story so far. Here's another chapter. Let me know what you think about this one!!!

Chapter Fourteen

Alex was bored. Ever since they had called a truce, she had found herself with nothing to do when she wasn't doing her duties as a student teacher. Today was probably the worse case of boredom that Alex had ever felt. Everyone seemed to be busy but her. Lia was working on grading some projects and didn't want to be bothered. Fiona and Remus had both disappeared off somewhere. Now Alex was making her way down into the dungeons to see what Snape was up to. Maybe he could give her something to work on.

She stood outside the classroom, watching Snape work on some potion. He seemed deep in thought and concentration.

"What are you making?" Alex asked as she stepped into the room. He glanced up at her, looking somewhat surprised at seeing her. It was rare that she came down there in the evenings. In fact, outside of class and mealtimes he rarely saw her.

"Well? Are you going to answer me or just ignore me?" Alex asked taking her usual seat on top of a desk.

"What do you want, Alexandra?" Snape sighed impatiently.

"I'm bored." Alex shrugged, swinging her legs back and forth.

"And may I ask how that concerns me?" he asked as he stirred the bubbling potion counterclockwise.

"Well since you are supposed to be teaching me how to be a teacher, I figured that you would have something teacherish for me to do." Alex stated, watching the potion turn from green to a pale yellow. Snape glanced up at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What, did your little group get tired of having you bug them?" he asked mockingly. Alex shot him a dirty look.

"Actually no. Lia is grading some projects and Fiona and Remus have disappeared off somewhere. Where, I don't really want to know." Alex chuckled. She could tell that there was something between the two. Snape just shook his head and turned back to the potion.

"Well, aren't you gonna give me something to do?" Alex asked rather indignantly.

"And what, per say, do you suggest I give you to do, Alexandra?" Snape questioned, clearly irritated at her.

"I don't know. Grade papers, make a potion, something!" Alex shrugged. Snape realized that he wouldn't get her to leave him alone unless he gave her something to do. Glancing around the room he spotted a rather large pile of papers that were waiting to be graded.

" Fine. You can grade those papers there. And make sure you grade them correctly. I don't wish to have to go back and correct your mistakes along with the students." Snape said, pointing to the to pile. Alex grinned happily and took a seat behind his desk, grabbing a quill from the desk drawer. The papers were from the 5th years. They were essays written about the forgetfulness potion.

"I expect that you will find Neville Longbottom's essay to be well written since he seems to have already mastered the art of forgetfulness." Snape commented as Alex started on the first essay.

"Why do you have to be so mean to him? It's not his fault that he isn't any good at potions. Not everyone is perfect." Alex argued as she scanned through Amaya Grace's essay. It was good but very monotonous. It just didn't flow right.

"The boy is a simpleton. He destroys everything he comes in contact with." Snape argued, adding in another ingredient into the potion he was brewing.

"You have no faith in people, do you Severus?" Alex asked as she marked some errors that she found in the essay.

"Who said that you can call me that and how does Longbottom count as people?" Snape asked.

"You don't really expect me to call you Professor, do you? Plus, you're calling me Alexandra." Alex stated, picking up another paper. "And its not just Neville that you don't have faith in. You put no faith in anyone. Especially me! You have acted like you are waiting for me to mess up ever since I first started here." Snape made to deny the accusations but Alex cut him off.

"Don't you dare deny it! You don't trust anyone. How do expect people to like you when you are so horrible to them?" Alex asked marking a grade on Draco Malfoy's essay.

"Why should I care if other people like me or not?" Snape questioned, acting like that had been the most foolish idea he had ever heard of in his life.

"Well I can see not caring when it concerns the students, but what about friends? Aren't you ever lonely?" Alex asked, wave of sympathy overcoming her for some odd reason.

"Why the bloody hell do you care, Miss Harper? As I see it, my social life and my feelings are of no concern to you." Snape lashed out, clearly annoyed. Alex just rolled her eyes and continued on with the essays silently.

It was getting late in the evening and Alex was only halfway through the stack of papers. Snape was still working on the potion and Alex had finally figured out what it was. It was a pepper up potion. Probably for the infirmary stock, since he was brewing it in a large amount. Suddenly, Snape let out a gasp of pain and clutched his forearm.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked, thinking that he had burned himself.

"Something just came up. I have to see the Headmaster. When you are done, lock the door on your way out." Snape instructed then left the room before Alex could reply. Alex stared at the empty doorway in confusion. What the hell just happened? She shrugged and went back to work on the essays.

It was very late when Snape came back from the death eater meeting. He hadn't been able to find out any helpful information. Voldemort still didn't trust him enough to confide in him. The classroom was cleaned up, surprisingly. The pepper up potion was finished and set out in the vials he had intended to put it in. The essays were all corrected and stacked in a neat pile on his desk. Snape couldn't help but feel impressed as he surveyed the room. Glancing through the essays, he realized that she had graded them fairly and to his liking. Heaving a thankful sigh, Snape locked up the classroom and headed to his quarters in attempt to get a few hours of sleep before the first class.