This is the chapter you've probably been waiting for. Finally, a bit of romantic action between the leading characters. It was about time. I almost gave up on those two. Oh, and don't be fooled by the storm at hand there will be romantic actions in this chapter. Though I warn you, it's not much.

R & R J

Chapter 11

After that weekend Lierin had taken up teaching again and it was at the end of her first years class when Lierin wondered if Longbottom had offered the Pearlypod pearls to Snape yet. She hadn't heard about it since the Care of Magical Creatures class and she decided she would ask. Lierin assigned the first years a considerable amount of homework, much to the students discontent, but Lierin would hear none of it.

"When you find your bedroom gone, or no food on you plate then you may complain. Until that moment, you still have to write me an essay on the ways to use spellbreakers and spellbouncers, and the difference between them. I want one parchment on the subject next time we have class again. Class dismissed."

The students left her class and the only thing that relieved some of their disappointment was the fact that Ancient Magical Artefacts was a very interesting subject and at this moment not very hard, so writing that essay should be a piece of cake. The third-year Gryffindors and Slytherins were her second class but for them she had decided on a practical lesson rather than a theoretical one and she was pretty excited about it. The Gryffindors and Slytherins soon entered her class and took out their books, parchment and quills the moment they sat down. The quiet solemness about the Gryffindors contradicted the malignantly excited Slytherins and Lierin felt something was wrong. A particularly foul look was stuck on Weasley's face and Potter stared at a blank point in space with a grim look on his face. Granger was sitting with her arms folded and her lips pursed and Lierin wondered what could have caused their current state of mind. Behind Granger she noticed Longbottom staring at the floor with his eyes filled with tears. Judging from the fact that his eyes were all red and puffy he probably had cried before this lesson.

Lierin felt a sharp pang in her heart seeing the sad look on Longbottom's face. He had been so proud with his twenty Pearlypod pearls and now he looked so ...defeated. She knew she'd do better to stay out of it, but Lierin had to know what happened to Longbottom.

"Weasley, could you come over here please?" said Lierin with a stern voice. Weasley's head snapped up and even his ears got red when he got up and approached Lierin.

"Professor Heartilly?" he asked hesitatingly, wondering if he had already gotten himself in some kind of trouble.

"There's no need to look so worried, I just want to have a word with you."

Weasley nodded his head and followed Lierin outside of class.

"Today's will be a practical lesson for you," Lierin started, "And because a practical lesson would be too hard for the first years, they had a theoretical lesson. That left me with little time to prepare for you third years. Anyway, I was wondering if you could give me a hand with something I need in class."

"Of course. What do you want me to do?" said Weasley, obviously very proud Lierin had chosen him over the others to help her.

"Just follow me. Uhm, what's wrong with Longbottom anyway?" Lierin hoped she wasn't too obvious about it when she guided Weasley to her storeroom just around the corner of the class where she taught Ancient Magical Artefacts. Weasley, a little reluctant to spill his guts, watched as Lierin pulled out a small statue with some kind of blue rod in it.

"Don't worry, you won't get into any trouble if you tell me," said Lierin in what she hoped was a reassuring manner and before Weasley could stop himself, he poured out his heart still, seething about the injustice that had been inflicted upon Longbottom. He told her how Snape had sneered at Longbottom, offering him his well earned twenty pearls and how Snape had thrown the precious pearls to the ground squishing them with his feet. If that hadn't been enough, Snape had really humiliated Longbottom in front of the rest of the class by calling him a useless ...something...(Weasley was too angry to repeat it). It took him quite a while before he was finished and Lierin listened to him patiently, desperately trying to hide her own mounting fury. When he was finally done talking she had clenched her teeth together and her clenched fists had gone white around the knuckles and were trembling with emotions. Weasley looked at her, not certain what his teacher would say or do or what he should say or do.

"Very well, thank you for explaining the ...situation." Weasley's eyes grew wide when he noticed the awkward strain in her voice.

"If you would be so kind... to bring this... this statue to class. I'd be...very... grateful. Just be careful...not... to touch...the blue rod." Lierin drew a sharp breath, keeping her emotions under control as if this were very hard and she didn't know how much longer she could keep it up.

"Now, if you'll...excuse me. I have some things...something...to do right...now, this moment."

Lierin wheeled around and marched out of the storeroom. She didn't know what she was going to do but her legs carried her swiftly to the dungeons, her bright robes billowing behind her. Her anger increased with every step she took and her blue sapphire eyes, from which it was always easy to tell in what kind of mood she was, resembled a stormy sky, lightening with her peaking fury. Peeves the poltergeist, who was floating upside-down in mid-air, probably up to some mischief but at the moment unsuspecting of Lierin's foul mood, had to pay for merely getting in her way.

"Out of my way!!" shouted Lierin while she swooped out her wand, hitting Peeves with some kind of curse, and whatever it was he didn't like it because he whirled right way up and zoomed away, cursing. When she reached the dungeons, she smacked the door wide open, giving the unsuspecting students a frightening start. Quickly, Lierin glared around, searching for her victim, but to her surprise and great disappointment he was not in the class. The only thing odd was that two boys, most likely the Weasley twins, were standing near Snape's cauldron with very guilty looks on their faces.

"To your seats!" Lierin scowled at them and she probably looked very frightening because their legs couldn't carry them faster to their seats as they did that instant.

"What's that you're holding in your hand?" Lierin demanded to know.

"N-n-nothing P-P-Professor," stuttered one of the twins who desperately tried to muffle away whatever it was he was holding.

"Give it to me...NOW!" Lierin was on the verge of exploding and Fred Weasley thought it wiser to hand her over the ingredients, which he surreptitiously had wanted to through in Snape's cauldron, for at the moment the professor looked fifty times more terrifying than a very angry Snape and that counted for something. Lierin took the ingredients. Fastitocalon feathers and Dual horns. She didn't know what would happen if those ingredients were added to Snape's concoction, but she hoped that it was something nasty. She spun around on her heels and violently threw the ingredients in Snape's concoction.

"If Snape gets poisoned...good riddance. I'll take full mantle of responsibility. If not.... too bad. At least I hope he'll suffer from something very nasty... heaven knows he deserves it. So, if he lives and wants to know who did this to him, you can send him my way. Let me just get my hands on him!"

With those words Lierin stalked out of the classroom and left the students terror-stricken, but they soon recovered themselves. Fred and George smirked at each other and agreed on one thing.

"Professor Heartilly is very cool!"

Still very angry Lierin strode back to her own class when suddenly a horrible image came floating to the surface of her mind...a very, very, very angry Snape with eyes burning like black coals and a nasty sneer playing around his cruel mouth. She shuddered as she remembered what had happened to her last time when she had angered Snape in such a rash way. The pain she usually felt in her left leg made perfectly sure she'd never forget what happens if you cross Professor Snape. Involuntarily, her thoughts drifted away to that one fateful day.

They were making a new potion that day, Mana spirit. It could be extremely dangerous and it should be prepared with the uttermost care. If concocted in the right way, the potion gave you a burst of magical energy. A few cauldrons away from the one Lierin and Charlie were working on, a girl from Ravenclaw was in trouble. Patty Solestrum regularly went to pieces in Potions and the poor girl was mortally afraid of Professor Snape, which made things a hundred times worse.

Her potion was boiling over and leaking into the flames under the cauldron, resulting in small explosions releasing a gas that soon filled the entire dungeon. Snape was beside himself with fury.

"You STUPID TWIT! Does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours at all? Or maybe there simply isn't anything present in your skull, because I certainly can't imagine you having A BRAIN in there!"

Patty broke down in tears and her shoulders started to shake violently.

"What on earth do you think you are doing in my class? Get out! Get out, I say, before..."

"SHUT UP!" Lierin had jumped to her feet and a fit of burning rage was thundering through her veins. Her face had gone deathly white and her eyes wide open with fury were flashing dangerously. Charlie desperately tried to pull her back to her seat but she briskly swept his arm away.

"What did you say to me, Heartilly?"

"You heard me, you bastard! I told you to shut up! Can't you see what you are doing to this poor girl? She's afraid enough as she is, do you really want to send her to an early grave?"

"SHUT UP, I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO IN SUCH AN INSOLENT MATTER!!"

"I WILL SPEAK TO YOU IN ANY WAY I LIKE, YOU DISGUSTING, HEATHEN DOG FROM HADES. YOU DARE TO CALL YOURSELF A TEACHER?"

"TWO HUNDRED POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR. NOW SIT DOWN BEFORE I DEDUCT ANOTHER HUNDRED POINTS!!"

With a roar of rage, Lierin picked up her cauldron, not caring about the fact that the heat was blistering her hands, and she threw it's content over her Potions Master. The entire class fell silent and none of the students dared to draw a single breath. They watched their Potions Master, soaking wet in his black robes and the potion dripping from all over him, forming a puddle around his feet. His eyes were shooting daggers at her and before anyone noticed what he was doing, before anyone could stop him, Snape had pulled out his wand from his robes, pointed it at Lierin with a grand swooping motion and ordered her to sit down immediately. He had merely pulled out his wand to put more force behind his words, but while he ordered her to sit down, a stream of red sparks shot out of the end of his wand, hitting Lierin square in her upper leg, the force of the hit sending her reeling backwards and smashing her against one of the walls.

The pain surging though her leg brought Lierin back to the present and she knew she had to get back to her own class. When she finally entered her class, the students were talking but they fell silent the moment they spotted her. Lierin could feel them staring at her pale face and she could almost hear them wondering about what was going on.

"Good afternoon," she said. "You can put your books away for now. You won't be needing them this time."

Lierin glanced at the door. Any moment now a furious Snape could barge in and she didn't feel like being cursed by him a second time. Maybe, if she'd just use a magical barrier, he would lose the element of surprise, enabling her to prepare herself, plus he'd suffer a great deal of pain. Of course that would only enrage him further, so she decided to leave a warning at the door, not to enter her class by himself but to wait until she'd open the door for him. Not that he would heed that warning, but at least afterwards he couldn't blame her for not warning him. She put the warning in front of her door, opened up her leather case and pulled out an old and strange star-shaped device. She twisted a few knobs around and punched in a few weird shaped buttons before placing it in front of the threshold. After a few seconds the strange device opened up and a bright light emerged from it, creating some sort a magical screen which only remained visible for a few moments. When Lierin walked away from the device, it looked like a very harmless piece of junk, waiting for someone to pick it up and throw it away. There! At least Snape couldn't barge in anymore and, if he didn't want to pay attention to her warning and tried to barge in anyway, he was in for a very unpleasant surprise.

"So," Lierin said with a smile as she noticed the Egyptian obelisk standing in the middle of the classroom with the blue rod sheathed in its slot.

"Ah, I can see you managed to give Scharear's Fate a good place. Thank you Mr Weasley. Scharear's Fate, I trust none of you are familiar with it?" Lierin asked but to her surprise the Granger girl raised her hand.

"Miss Granger?"

"Scharear lived a long time ago, he was a traveler searching for 'The eye of Osiris.' No one ever saw him again but a few years ago someone - you - discovered a statue, which is believed to have once been Scharear."

"Very well Miss Granger. So you read one of my books. I'm impressed, it's not the sort of stuff a young girl of your age would be interested in."

Granger beamed proudly and Lierin continued.

"This obelisk is what Scharear found in his search for the eye of Osiris. Now, I want you think about what you would do if you found this obelisk. Mr Malfoy, what would you do?"

"Leave that piece of junk alone?" Malfoy said with his usual sneer.

"Even if you knew that the blue rod sheathed in it's slot is Achilles' Spear and holds tremendous powers?"

"Ehr- it would certainly make it more interesting, yes." Malfoy said, his eyes glittering with new interest as he glanced at the blue rod.

"All right, I'll make you a deal. If you can pull Achilles' Spear out of it's slot, you may keep it." Lierin's eyes were sparkling with mischief as she noted the greed entering Malfoy's pale blue eyes. Slowly, Malfoy got up from his seat and stretched his hands forward as if he couldn't wait to lay his hands on the infernal rod.

"Hmm, you might want to carry this," said Lierin and she put Hagrid's spellbreaker around Malfoy's neck, he didn't even seem to notice. The rest of the class watched in silence as they saw Malfoy reaching out for the rod, wondering if Professor Heartilly had gone mad by practically placing the dangerous object in Malfoy's hands. A questioning look appeared in Ron Weasley's eyes. Why had Professor Heartilly warned him about not touching the blue rod if it wasn't dangerous?

"I don't understand," Ron whispered to Harry and Hermione, "She warned me not to touch the rod."

"Sssh!" Hermione whispered angrily. Ron sent her an angry glare but at least he paid attention to Malfoy again. With an evil glare in his eyes Malfoy reached out for the rod and pulled... nothing happened. Malfoy looked annoyed when the rod wouldn't give in so he pulled harder. This time something definately happened. Suddenly the blue rod lit up, spreading a bright blue light from deep within it's core, followed by an explosion of light and an extreme force of energy which sent the students falling to the ground. Lierin only had her eyes covered against the bright light, otherwise she seemed quite indifferent about the entire incident. Curious for their reaction, she watched her students intently. A little dazed from the explosion, they all took their seats again until one student shook them all up from their temporary dazed states of mind.

"Look at Malfoy!" cried Seamus Finnigan and all students turned their heads to see what Finnigan was making such a fuss about.

"Draco!" cried Pansy Parkinson as she noticed that Malfoy had changed into a crystal statue. The students gasped in shock and Lierin smiled cheerfully.

"Congratulations, you just found out what happened to Scharear. That's what might happen to each and every one of you if you're not careful with ancient artefacts, if you let greed consume you and allow it to blur your mind. Now, I wasn't completely fair with Mr.Malfoy, I never gave him the chance to study the artefact. Then again, he should have had the mind to study it on his own initiative. Remember, if you find an artefact and you don't know what it is, Leave... It... Alone... At all times. First you do research and when you feel confident enough about it, do more research, then you just might have a chance to achieve your goal."

As Lierin was holding her speech about research, research, research, an idea formed in her head. She knew it was close to impossible to keep up the act of being a teacher and at the same time trying to do research about the goblets. Remus had offered to help of course, but there were only so many books two people could read. Maybe she could give her class an assignment about the goblets and maybe someone would come up with something useful. Involuntarily, her gaze shifted to Miss Granger, who was paying the uttermost attention to her speech. Lierin made up her mind, she would do it. That way, the children would be helping her with her quest and she didn't have to explain to them anything. She was about to give the class their next assignment when the door flung open with a violent 'bang' and Snape came in like a raging bull. From the looks of it, he was seething with fury and Lierin was grateful she had been in the right state of mind to take precautions. The students gulped at seeing an enraged Snape barging through the door but something suddenly stopped him, something that froze him from head to toe. The magical barrier became visible again and turned into a deep shade of blue, a color that somehow rubbed off on Snape, for he too turned into that same eerie color. The magical screen started to vibrate dangerously and soon erupted in a forceful blast, smashing Snape against the ground.

"Class dismissed!" Lierin cried out as she pulled out her wand. They all got up at once and left the classroom as quickly as their legs could carry them. Nobody wanted to witness what was about to happen. It seemed to take Snape eternity before he recovered himself and advanced on Lierin in a slow and ominous fashion. Lierin gasped as she noticed the dark unholy glare in Snape's black onyx eyes. It was said that the eyes are the windows to the soul, but looking into his, Lierin was convinced that he did not have one, for they showed nothing but death. Lierin was still standing there with her wand in her hand, but one swift 'expelliarmo' spell left her defenseless. Lierin couldn't move. She found herself only able to stare in his doom predicting eyes, waiting for the first blow or the first curse, like a deer waiting to get run over by a truck.

Snape hadn't said a word since disarming her and he kept on approaching her, still saying nothing. It seemed as if she had been flung back in time for she felt like a schoolgirl again with Snape as her teacher. Lierin didn't know she had been moving backwards until her back slumped against a wall and within a few seconds Snape had closed the gap between them. So this was it, there was no means of escaping him or his wrath, she thought as Snape put his hand around her throat and firmly pinched her against the wall. Her feet were dangling in the air as Snape brought his face just an inch from hers, so that she could feel his hot breath against her skin and inhale his scent, the scent of his potions mixed with acres of woods. The heat was radiating from his body and her heart started to beat faster until she felt she would choke. Snape looked down in her big bright eyes, now filled with fear and for the first time he noticed their incredible blue color and the thick eyelashes decorating them. His gaze shifted from her eyes to her fine nose and from there to her full and sensual lips which softly trembled, which made them even more desirable. He knew he was very angry with her for some reason but the anger faded away as another emotion took control of him. It wasn't difficult to notice that she was beautiful, simply lovely and it surprised him that he hadn't noticed this sooner. Her skin was pale like his, but hers resembled the delicate petals of white roses.

Slowly, he decreased the pressure on her throat and he gently put her feet back on the ground. As he did so, her body slid down his front, the two of them all too aware of the contact their bodies made against each other. She didn't move a muscle, she just kept on staring at him with those enchanting eyes of hers. Very carefully he reached out a hand and gently touched the skin on her neck with his long and lean fingers, and from there he moved them lower to the hollow at the base of her throat. She licked her lips nervously and swallowed as she watched him as his fingers moved lightly over her skin in a gentle feather light caress.

"Perfect. Absolutely perfect," he murmured, his voice sounding like rich velvet. His body was almost touching hers and her heart started to hammer in her throat as she realised he was going to kiss her. And by Merlin, she wanted him to, she thought as she looked into his black onyx eyes which were no longer empty, nor menacing or threatening, but in which she now noticed a soft burning fire. Her cheeks were stained a pretty pink and emboldened by her flushed cheeks, he lowered his head and brushed his lips gently against hers in a quick kiss. She didn't react; she didn't kiss him back nor did she slap him in the face. He lowered his head again and softly he began to kiss her. His mouth was amazingly soft and tender when it touched hers, yet it stirred a riot of emotions in her. She felt her heart hammering in her chest as his mouth introduced hers to kissing, for she never had the chance to get romantically involved because of her choice of career His kisses were gentle at first and then became more impassioned. His tongue probed the corners of her mouth, ran over the inside of her lower lip trying to coax her lips apart.

"Oh Lierin!" he whispered in a groan as his tongue finally gained entrance to the sweet cavern of her mouth. He felt her arms move around his neck, her fingers gripping his shoulders as the kiss intensified. He pressed his mouth harder against hers unable to get enough of her sweetness, bruising her lips, but he didn't care. When he finally stopped kissing her, her lips were all red and swollen and she had a dazed look in her eyes. When it dawned on her what he had just done, Lierin could feel her anger flare up and she pushed him away after slapping him in the face. The slap brought Snape back to his senses as well and as she went to slap him again, but Snape pulled her arms apart to prevent her from doing so. The forward motion made her fall against his chest and she found herself looking straight back up into his dark eyes again which were now filled with anger, the soft burning fire completely gone.

"Still as rash as always aren't you Heartilly? What have I done to you this time that you find it necessary to disturb my class and mess up my potion?"

"Was it nasty?" Lierin asked, curious about the side effects and unable to keep the hopeful tone out of her voice. Snape just glared at her.

"I asked you a question! Answer me. Now!" he growled.

"Fine! Because you are such a stuck up prick and a...."

"Disgusting heathen dog from Hades?" he asked with an arched eyebrow.

"I can't believe you still remember that one, but if you insist...yes. For Merlin's sake Severus!"

Lierin didn't notice he shivered when he heard her use his first name even though it wasn't the first time she did so.

"Longbottom didn't deserve to be treated that way! And the boy was so proud..."

"Didn't deserve to be treated that way? The kid was trying to pull a prank on me! Shoving some disgusting stuff under my nose in the hope I would use it in my potions!"

"Pulling a prank on you?! For crying out loud Severus, what did you think Longbottom was trying to give you? Bathing pearls or something?" Lierin had meant those words sarcastically but when she noticed the look on Snape's face...

"Oh no, don't tell me you actually did think those were bathing pearls!"

"Don't look at me that way! It has happened before!" said Snape thinking about the Weasley twins, "If they weren't bathing pearls, what were they anyway?"

"Pearlypod pearls. Longbottom was the only one in class who succeeded in collecting a pearl from every Pearlypod we had. Twenty in total. You should have seen the boy's face. He was so proud and wanted nothing more than to give you those pearls. Probably to show you that even though he's not so very good in Potions, he has his abilities in other classes. He just wants your approval Severus, just like Patty Solestrum wanted, but either you don't know or you just don't care."

"Are you trying to tell me how I should teach my classes?" Snape said in his most dangerous voice.

"No, I'm just telling you to give Longbottom a break. At least try to ignore him if he screws up again, yelling at him and humiliating him in front of his fellow students doesn't help, it just makes him more nervous."

Snape didn't reply, he was looking at Malfoy with incredulity in his eyes.

"Don't tell me that is young Mr Malfoy!" Snape said with gritted teeth.

"Ya, actually it is. I can't tell you how peaceful it was in class. I think I like him better this way, he's so calm, so serene, so at peace with himself, don't you think?" Lierin asked him with a sweet voice. Snape turned around to face her but he noticed her eyes twinkling with mischief. He approached her, grabbed her by her waist and pulled her close to him.

"I think I prefer you backed up against the wall like a few moments ago," Snape said while lowering his head. Lierin just smiled and escaped his embrace.

"Unfortunately we can't always have what we want." With those words she took the spellbreaker from Malfoy's neck and soon the boy fell to the ground. He looked around in a dazed fashion and seemed unaware of what had happened to him.

"Is class over already?" he asked, surprised to see Snape standing in the room as well.

"Yes, why don't you go to the Great Hall? See if there are any remains?" said Lierin with a chuckle, winking at Snape.

"Come on, let's see if there's anything left for us." In a jolly mood Lierin grabbed Snape's arm and pulled it through hers and too stunned to reject it, Snape just let her guide him to the Great Hall.