~Chapter Nineteen- A Tutor for Lindsey~

                "You went to… quidditch practice with him?" Lindsey asked in the commonroom the next afternoon as the girls were getting ready to head down to dinner, raising her eyebrows.  This was more serious than she thought.  She knew that Cari and Draco had been speaking fairly often as friends since school started (it was now the start of October) but Cari going to a quidditch practice?  She never even went to games- unless they were with Slytherin.

                "Yeah, so?" Cari asked lightly, flipping pages in her Charms book.  "It's really not a big deal."  Lindsey wasn't quite so sure.

                "If you say so," she said unconvincingly as they headed out the portrait hole.

*   *   *

                "Albus, I wish to express my concern for one of our new students, from America, if it wouldn't be too much trouble," Professor McGonagall said as the teachers were gathering casually around the table for dinner.

                "Certainly not, Minerva," Dumbledore said amiably, giving her his full attention.  "Go right ahead."

                "I've noticed Lindsey Wormtongue to be struggling a great deal in class this first month, no doubt from her, em, extenuating circumstances," McGonagall said carefully, "And I'm a bit worried about how well she'll be able to handle O.W.L.S. come spring."  She and Dumbledore were (so they thought) the only ones that knew that Lindsey had never been to wizarding school before.  Albus listened to all of this intently.

                "However," McGonagall continued, "the thought occurred to me that perhaps if she had a tutor, one of the teachers here, she may be able to catch up by the end of the year."

                "That's a splendid idea, Minerva!" Dumbledore agreed in earnest.  "But who would be willing to tutor her?"

                "I'd be perfectly willing to," Professor Balbossa chimed in eagerly.  Too eagerly…

                "Albus," Snape interrupted right away, "Don't you think that a more, ah, reliable teacher- that is to say, simply one who has been here longer, would be more suitable?"  He glared pointedly at Balbossa periodically through his speech, an undercurrent of venom in his voice.  "As… noble as I'm sure Jon's intentions are, I believe that would be taking on too much; he is new here himself, after all."

                "I do believe Severus has a point, Jon," Dumbledore said apologetically.  "Is there anyone else willing?  Would you mind terribly, Severus?  I think she really looks up to you," he asked suddenly, turning to Snape.

                Snape raised his eyebrows in surprise.  She looked up to him?  That was news to him…

                "If uh, no one else will," he finally answered slowly.

                No one did.

                "Good!  So it's settled then," Dumbledore said with finality.  "Lessons can be at your discretion, Severus, being sure to work it out with her, of course."

                As Snape turned his attention back to his supper he caught Balbossa's glare and they shared a brief look of mutual detest.

                Well, Snape thought, at least it's mutual.

                Stabbing at a piece of asparagus on his plate he wondered what exactly he had just gotten himself into.  He certainly had no desire to teach Lindsey Wormtongue every day, or however often he decided she needed it, though he could think of worse things.  Tutoring Potter, for instance.  But why did he even have to speak up in the first place?  He thought perhaps he knew why.  Maybe he wouldn't mind these lessons so much; she was, after all, company.

                The reason he loathed Balbossa was, of course, that he had become the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, but also a bit more than that.  He was suspicious of him.  There was just… something about him and the disgusting way that he flirted with all his female students that were all very… unprofessional.  Snape did not trust the fellow at all.

                What's more, for some odd reason during the past week of detention together, he thought he had actually begun to like Lindsey, or at least tolerate or even appreciate her presense, uncommon as it was for him to take to students outside his own House.  And he had grown protective enough of her to not want her excessively exposed to, what was in his opinion, a questionable professor.

                Of course he knew very well that Albus wouldn't allow a teacher in that he didn't trust, Severus couldn't help thinking of their four rather disastrous previous attempts.

*   *   *

                "Miss Wormtongue, a word please."

                The bell had just sounded to mark the end of Potions the following Monday and Snape caught Lindsey just before she walked out the door.  Lindsey turned to go back with a sense of foreboding.  This was her first night without detention; what did she do now?

                "Yes Professor?" she asked as she approached Snape's desk.

                "It seems," he said evenly, organizing papers on his desk and not bothering to look up, "that Professor Dumbledore feels you would profit from a tutor."

                Lindsey raised her eyebrows slightly, then waited for him to continue.  After a moment he did, albeit reluctantly.

                "Consequently, that tutor… is me."

                Here Lindsey's eyebrows shot up; that was pretty much the last thing she expected to hear.

                "I'm sure I'm about as happy with this arrangement as you are, however, the Headmaster insists upon it, hoping that you might be caught up in time for O.W.L.S," he went on.

                Unlikely, he thought cynically.  Four years of wizarding school to be taught by a tutor in one year?  It would be a miracle.

                "Your first lesson will be Wednesday, then every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after that.  We could start today," he explained, "however; I believe you would agree with me when I say that I think we should postpone this as long as possible."

                Well that was blunt, Lindsey wanted to say, but resigned herself to a curt nod.  Wow, it's like detention three days a week for the rest of the year! she thought acerbically.  Upon looking at Snape's face it was apparent that he mirrored her feelings.

                "That's all," he said pointedly.  "You may go."

                "See you Wednesday, Professor," she called back as she left.  So long as they would be together so much she thought she might as well make the best of it.

                Snape, however, she was not so sure of.

*   *   *

                It was getting to be the middle of October, and already the second week of Lindsey's lessons with Snape.  Thus far it hadn't been going so badly.  Most of the two hours they had was spent on Charms and Transfiguration, the subjects Lindsey needed help with most.  History of Magic also needed work but Snape loathed that almost as much as Lindsey.  Divination Lindsey said not to even bother with; it was all useless rubbish to her.

                It was almost uncanny the similar tastes they had in classes, Snape realized.  While Lindsey was always quite willing to work on potions, her favorite was Defense Against the Dark Arts, or the one she asked to work on most often, at any rate.  Of course Snape had noticed a rather more than curricular interest in the Dark Arts in her- he wasn't blind after all.  As of now he put it away as simply a sort of morbid curiosity.

                That's how you started out, a small, evil voice spoke in his head.  Snape waved it away as one would swat a fly and Lindsey glanced up from her History of Magic homework to cast him a strange look.

                The real reason that Lindsey always wanted to work on Defense Against the Dark Arts (besides the fact that it fascinated her, at least when Snape taught it), was to bring the constant humiliation to a stop and completely show up Professor Balbossa.

                Yes, for some unknown reason he was still intent on making her life as unendurable as possible.  Every day the Ravenclaws had Defense Against the Dark Arts he went out of his way to embarrass her somehow.

                And up until now she had had absolutely no hope of ever gaining at least some degree of vengeance; however now… now she had Snape.  And he always had such impressive knowledge of the subject; Lindsey was now confident she would one day soon redeem (and avenge!) herself to Professor Balbossa.

                That Monday, the start of the second week of her lessons, Lindsey came to stand in the doorway awkwardly.  Snape waited for her to come in and sit down as she always did, and when she didn't, looked up.

                "Well?"

                "Professor?" she asked unsurely.  "Um…"  She walked in slowly, biting her lip, and not seeming at all like she knew what to say.

                "Well, what?  Spit it out, girl!" Snape impelled impatiently.

                "Do you think you could sign my permission slip for Hogsmeade?" she blurted, holding out a piece of parchment to him.

                "Wha-?  No!" he said, not taking the paper.  "That has to be signed by your legal guardian, Lindsey, it says so right here."  (The two were finally, taking into account all the time they had together, at least comfortable enough with each other that Snape used her first name outside of classes.)  Lindsey still seemed highly uncomfortable.

                "Well, yes, I know that, but…"

                "But what?"  Sometimes it was like pulling teeth to get this girl to speak her mind.

                "Well, I… I don't… have a legal guardian," she said softly, not meeting his eyes.

                Snape just looked at her in silence, so she said, "I'm an orphan."  (As if he hadn't already figured that one out.)

                "I've been living on the streets since I was twelve."

                Well.  That would explain how she's never been to wizarding school, Snape thought.  He waited awhile to speak, Lindsey fidgeting uncomfortably.

                "That does pose a problem," he said finally.  "What is it exactly that you want me to do about it?"

                "Well I, um… I thought that maybe you could, you know…  I thought maybe you could sign it for me?" she asked uncertainly.  When she finally looked up at him she said quickly, "No, no, sorry, never mind; it was stupid of me to ask-"

                "I haven't said anything yet."

                She stopped chattering and looked at him with a strained expression.

                "First however," Snape said, "May I ask who is it then that sends you to this school?"

                "Oh, well, see, that's a long story," Lindsey started.  "But, well…  Mr. Green, Cari's father.  He sent us both here."

                "Why can't he just sign your paper?"

                "But he's not my legal guardian."

                "Well neither am I."

                "Yes, but- well…"  Snape seemed to have her there.

                "It's difficult to explain, really," she continued.  "Yes, Cari's father is the one who sent me here, but I don't really think that he knows it; I've never even met him, you see.  It was Cari's mother that stayed with us in New York all summer, Cari's father was off somewhere because of work or… something.  I don't honestly know for sure."

                "Well then what about Mrs. Green?"

                "She's all the way back in Massachusetts," Lindsey replied.  "I don't know of any owl that could fly over the Atlantic Ocean, and I really don't want to be sending this through the muggle post; besides, that would take ages!"

                Snape was finally seeing the difficulty.  And true, though he was not her legal guardian, neither were they, and he was a professor here after all.  He'd have to speak to Dumbledore about it, he figured, and told her so.

                "Oh, thank you Professor!" Lindsey cried, seeming relieved for the first time that evening.  "Oh!  It's already quarter after and I've got some Herbology to finish for tomorrow."

                And so they began the tutoring session like normal, and it continued as normal from then on.

(A/N: dragonwing you rock my world!!! ^.^)