(Author's Thanks: Myk, Kazuko, and npetrenko for reviewing.

Author's Notes: *grins* Here's a little treat for you all. Every couple of chapters I'm going to surprise you all with a side story about one of the pairings in Nest of the Phoenix. A bit of an explanation on how they got together, if you will. Reviews would be appreciated, and it'd be amusing to see the guesses on which pairings I'll do a short story of next.

Disclaimers: All characters in the story belong to J.K. Rowling.

Warnings: This story will eventually be slash. If you are against homosexual relationships, please do not read this story. Any furious rant against slash in a review will be mocked. Thank you.

Enjoy the first side story of the Nest of the Phoenix!

~Cinaed)

Side Stories from Nest of the Phoenix

By Cinaed

Short Story One: Bill and Severus

Severus Snape glanced around the damp dungeon and fought back the urge to sigh. While it was true that most people enjoyed Potions class, it was also all-too-accurate that students rarely stayed after class to discuss the projects they did in class.

Was he simply a good teacher but a horrid conversationalist? Was that it? Did people think he was boring outside of educating Hogwarts learners about Potions?

So the professor could bottle glory and pause death with a few brews but couldn't hold a decent tête-à-tête if his life depended on it. How was that for irony?

This time the sigh escaped his lips, and he rested his head in his arms, pressing his cheek against the cotton fabric of his plain black robes. The clothing rustled, lulling Severus into a sense of security. Did it matter that no one seemed to remember he existed? Headmaster Dumbledore had a use for him, and that should have been enough. He was one of the unsung heroes, and always would be.

Yet it wasn't enough. The Slytherin needed company, craved it, would have given anything to have someone engage him in conversation without wanting something in return, but that had never happened, not in all of his years. Not that he was particularly old. In fact, he was only twenty-five. Some of the students had siblings who were older than he was!

So lost in his thoughts, the Potions master didn't hear the door open with a rusting, protesting creak as a slim, tall figure slipped into the room.

"Professor Snape?" The soft, questioning words snapped Severus from his reverie, and he turned his intense dark eyes upon the intruder, his head snapping up and away from his arms. To be found, by a student (by a /Gryffindor/ no less!), curled up like a toddler! His pale cheeks flushed pink with embarrassment as he struggled to hide his mortification.

"What is it, Weasley?" he demanded at last, attempting to sound gruff.

The slender figure smiled slightly, ignoring the curt tone. "I didn't understand some of the notes this afternoon, Professor, and I was wondering if you would help me."

Severus raised an eyebrow, his flush fading slightly as he focused on the conversation at hand. "You didn't understand the notes, Weasley?" Skepticism tinged his words, for the scarlet-haired youth was one of his best students. "Which part?"

William Weasley smiled charmingly and settled himself in a chair so that he was face-to-face with his teacher, only separated by the table. "Well, truthfully, I was distracted, so I didn't understand any of it," he declared, his smile roguish.

"Distracted, Weasley?" Severus gazed at the seventeen-year-old, who stared back without flinching.

"Yes, Professor, I happen to have fallen head over heels with someone in your class, and I simply cannot concentrate on my work!" The handsome Weasley waved a hand in a gesture of despair, and with a start, the Potions master realized that the Head Boy /had/ been slipping a little in his class for the past few weeks.

"Well, Weasley, I'm afraid love potions are illegal and that whoever you're in love with cannot be switched from the course." His firm declarations seemed to amuse the Weasley, whose eyes twinkled merrily.

"You're quite right. Neither of those options would work anyway. My love would be able to discern a love potion at first sight, and it is highly impossible for my object of affection to not be in the Potions class."

The raven-haired Slytherin silently racked his brains for a girl who would fit that description. Most likely a Gryffindor; Hogwarts was still old- fashioned enough that the students normally dated within their Houses. Perhaps it was that Welsh blonde who was fairly sharp at figuring out potions. What was her name? Vivian? Laurel? Laura? The Potions master couldn't recall, but managed to dreg up her last name: Trenary. Yes, Severus could see the boy liking Miss Trenary. The redhead looked like someone who would admire a pretty blonde.

"Well, you can borrow my notes, Weasley, but I'm afraid I can't help you with your love problem," declared Severus at last, slightly pleased with being able to figure out the Gryffindor's love interest. Slender fingers searched and then offered the parchment to the teenager, having discovered the notes easily on his organized desk. "You'll have to find a way to woo the girl somehow and get her off your mind."

"What makes you assume I'm in love with a girl?" The simple question made the Slytherin freeze in place and blink owlishly at the abruptly serious Gryffindor as William Weasley took the papers from the professor's nerveless fingers.

"Well-well I naturally thought-" Severus found himself stammering as he tried to figure out whether or not the redhead was teasing him. He was blushing once more, a dark rose hue on his porcelain cheeks.

Scarlet tendrils were brushed away from a freckled face as William continued to look somber and leaned closer to the desk. "With all due respect, Professor, you're not a /Mudblood/, so you shouldn't have a problem with this." Despite the beginning of the sentence, the tone was dark and sarcastic, startling the Slytherin with its intensity.

"I never said I had a problem with it!" Severus found himself snapping defensively. "You took me by surprise, that's all!"

William leaned even closer, until his slim frame was pressed against the school desk. It was only then that Severus actually gazed into his eyes and realized what a unique color they were. The irises were a deep reddish- brown, an unusual ocher that he had never seen as an eye color and instead only as a hair color.

Ocher fused with obsidian as the duo gazed at each other for a long, hard moment.

"Well, you have your notes, Weasley. I-I wish you luck with whoever you like. If you don't want anyone else to know you like a boy, I won't tell any-"

"Who said I liked a boy?" There was a teasing note to William's words now, but Severus was far from amused.

"You said that you didn't like a girl, Weasley! That means you like a boy, unless you've found an unusual teenager in this school that I'm unaware of!" the Potions professor snapped, his black eyes flashing in annoyance.

William Weasley leaned forward and then looked down so that they were face- to-face, smiling as he did so. Seeming to ignore the fact that if he leaned any further forward their noses would brush against each other, the Weasley chuckled. "Well, I haven't heard of that teenager, sir." He paused, and then added, softer, "Do you have to call me Weasley? It's terribly-cold, really."

"What would you prefer me to call you?" Severus stated cynically, unnerved a little by the teenager's closeness but not moving away.

"Bill." The simple statement was just as soft as his earlier question, and William Weasley looked steadily into the professor's eyes.

"Very well, /Bill/, you said you didn't like a girl, and now you say you don't like a boy. Do you really have an infatuation or are you simply tormenting me as a Gryffindor prank?" Severus' voice was almost bitter at the last part as he immediately assumed that was the reason Bill Weasley was teasing him this way. After all, he was simply the Potions professor. The only reason to talk to him is to learn from him or make fun of him.

"Oh no, I have an 'infatuation,' as you put it." There was an almost rueful smile twisting the Weasley's lips at the statement. "Only, I don't love a boy or a girl. I happen to love a man."

"Well, Weasley-Bill, there aren't-" The Slytherin faltered in his words as the implications of what the Gryffindor had been saying finally hit home. His obsidian-colored eyes were wide with astonishment as he stammered, "You couldn't-it has to be someone else-"

Any other protests were cut off as Bill Weasley leaned even farther forward and captured Severus' lips in a sweet, chaste kiss that tasted of a smooth juice drink he had drunk beforehand.

Against his will, the Potions master bent into the kiss, his eyelids fluttering shut as the teenager's warm, soft lips caressed his mouth. After a long moment of sweetness, Bill pulled away; leaving Severus flushed with not embarrassment or anger but instead desire and excitement.

Bright ocher met amazed obsidian once more, but this time it wasn't a test of wills and instead a look of wondering comprehension as the older of the two lifted a trembling finger to his swollen lips.

"Bill Weasley, where in the world did you learn to kiss like that?" he murmured at last, earning a mischievous smile from the redhead.

"Would you believe me if I said that it was my first kiss?" the Gryffindor inquired innocently.

"No, no I wouldn't."

"Fine then, I've practiced with Laurel Trenary."

The simple statement made Severus' lips twitch before the Potions teacher began to chuckle. The chuckling strengthened into laughter, and finally Severus was about to howl with amusement as Bill sat and watched him.

"L-Laurel Trenary?"

"Well, yes. We experimented back in fifth year." Bill sounded embarrassed even as he cocked an eyebrow at his professor while the dark- eyed man dissolved into laughter once more.

It would be a few months before Severus could get through teaching Potions without glancing over at Laurel and snickering under his breath. It was even longer before he could tell Bill why he had laughed without dissolving into further laughter.

Still, it was the start of a lovely relationship, and Severus Snape found that he was much more social now that he had Bill Weasley by his side.

TBC

(Author's Notes: The sixth chapter of the Nest of the Phoenix will be finished in a couple days, hopefully. I'm being bogged down with homework, so no promises. Please remember to read and review! ~Cinaed)