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Beloved on this Earth

                                                                                                                   ~ 0 ~

Harry guided Lois down the dark dungeon steps to Snape's classroom.  As Dumbledore and Snape were currently the only professors in the castle, her crash course in witchcraft would begin with Potions.   She had spent the morning with Harry running through his first year Potions book, Magical Drafts and Potions, in the hopes of not looking like a total idiot in front of Snape.  She doubted that that was a feat she would be able to pull off.

Lois had been at Hogwarts for five days now and had spent most of it acclimatising to her surroundings; in a surprising short amount of time she was already beginning to feel as if she belonged there.  She had been allocated larger chambers up on the same floor as the hospital wing and was now comfortably settled into her new accommodation.  She only wished she was as comfortable with her fellow companions, or rather with one companion in particular; Snape was almost as unfriendly now as he had been at their first meeting.  They generally only saw each other at mealtimes and Lois had tried her hardest during those occasions not to antagonise him further; she suspected her chattering annoyed him because she would often look up from her food or a conversation with Harry, to find his dark glance on her, his brows lowered in a deep scowl. 

She had done her best to be pleasant towards him, but her efforts had been met with a polite aloofness that she could not break through.  The most puzzling aspect however, was not Snape's coolness, but that she persisted in trying to befriend him.  She was no fool and generally would have cut her losses long before now and accepted that he wanted nothing to do with her.  For some perverse reason though, she seemed to have become slightly obsessed with winning him over.

Given his very private nature, nothing gave her greater pleasure than when he forgot to be distant and actually participated in the normally one-sided chats she initiated during meals.  She had the most success at breakfast; Harry was not an early riser and Dumbledore was frequently absent from the castle, consequently she would very often find herself alone with Snape for most of the meal.  During those times he seemed more relaxed and if not exactly encouraging, he did allow her to chatter on with an almost indulgent expression on his face.  As soon as Harry or Dumbledore arrived however, he reverted to his usual laconic manner and generally excused himself soon after.  As she had not had the opportunity to observe him around many other people, she wasn't sure if it were her in particular he objected to, or if he was just naturally reserved.  

If in fact Snape did dislike her though, it was nothing compared to how much the caretaker, Argus Filch, despised her.  After having her circumstances explained to him, he seemed to take it as a personal affront that she had let perfectly good magic lie idle for the past twenty-five years and had been surly and rude from their first meeting.  Harry had explained that Filch actually was the Squib she had suspected herself of being and was highly self-conscious because of it.  His hatred for the students within the school was legendary, but Harry admitted he was generally fawningly pleasant to the Professors.  Lois supposed as she knew less about magic than a first year and didn't even hold the title of Professor, he considered her fair game. 

To make matters worse, Harry had taken Lois on a sightseeing tour of Hogwarts grounds the day after she arrived.  Unfortunately, there had obviously been heavy rainfall the previous night and after a very waterlogged jaunt around the Quidditch pitch and lake, they had been forced to beat a hasty retreat back to the castle to avoid a sudden downpour.  In their haste to dry off, neither of them had noticed the mud they were tracking practically from the entrance hall to the Infirmary floor and Gryffindor common room.  Although he hadn't actually witnessed them committing the crime, in a virtually empty castle there were very few likely culprits.  His accusing glare when he spotted Lois later that afternoon while he mopped the staircase had made her rush to apologise guiltily.  She had actually offered to clean the mess herself but he had refused all assistance, muttering angrily about "annoying little upstarts" and "preferential treatment", which Lois had pretended not to hear. 

However, the straw that truly broke the camel's back, as far as the old caretaker was concerned, was that his cat, Mrs Norris, had apparently taken somewhat of a liking to Lois.  Filch had happened across the two of them on her third day in the castle.  Lois, thinking it a stray, had been feeding the scrawny animal scraps of bacon from the breakfast table, when she heard a bellowing shout from across the Great Hall. 

'What do you think you're doing to my precious?'  Filch yelled, advancing threateningly on Lois. 

'Nothing,' she gasped in surprise, startled by the loathing on his face.

'Mr Filch,' Snape said quietly, a hard edge to his voice as he appeared silently in the room unnoticed by either of them.  'Is there a problem?'

Filch flinched at the coldness of the question, but turned swiftly to face Snape, the angry look he had been wearing, quickly replaced by one of innocent appeal as he said in an obsequious voice, 'Of course not, Professor Snape, I was just about to explain to the – girl, that Mrs Norris isn't allowed any food that's not provided by me.  If she gets used to eating from strangers, who knows what poisons those little brats would be slipping into tasty treats for her.'

'I'm sorry,' Lois said.  'I didn't know she belonged to anyone, she looked so thin and scraggly I assumed she was a stray…' she trailed off hastily seeing the furious expression on Filch's face at this insult to his beloved cat.

'As you can see, Filch,' Snape interrupted before the caretaker could begin the tirade that had obviously been brewing, 'Miss Scott had no intention of harming your creature.'

'Yes, well,' he muttered. 'It'd be in her best interests to learn not to mess with things that don't concern her.  A castle like this, who knows what she could be getting into,' he said with an unpleasant rasping laugh.

'Quite,' Snape snapped, and Filch silenced abruptly, turning on his heal with a small bow and a muttered, 'Professor,' to Snape, before heading out of the room, Mrs Norris trotting along behind him shooting furtive glances at the full bacon plate as she left.

'He doesn't seem to like me,' Lois said, letting out a relieved sigh at his departure, immensely grateful for Snape's intervention. 

'You seem surprised,' Snape said, his eyebrows raised mockingly.  'Does everyone you meet usually like you?'

'Of course not,' Lois said impatiently.  One minute he was protecting her and the next he was attacking her, she really never knew where she was with him.  'But generally I've done something to deserve it.'

'Poor Miss Scott,' Snape said scathingly  'Only three days into your new career and you've already made an enemy.'

'Just one?'  Lois asked sarcastically, still bristling at his constant use of Miss Scott.

Snape straightened looking down at her coldly.  'And what does that mean?'

'I can't help but notice that you don't seem very keen on my being here.'

'Then you would be mistaken,' he said curtly.  'I have no strong opinion either way as to your arrival at Hogwarts.'

'Oh,' Lois murmured strangely hurt by his indifference.  'I must have been mistaken then.'

Snape sighed heavily at her wounded expression and had just opened his mouth to speak when Harry arrived in the Hall. 

'Morning, Lois,' he chirped.  'Good morning, Professor Snape,' he continued in a significantly less friendly tone.

'Potter,' Snape acknowledge the greeting coldly.  Harry sat quickly down next to Lois not meeting Snape's eyes. 'If you will excuse me,' Snape said with a nod to Lois.

'Aren't you going to have any breakfast?'  Lois asked surprised. 

'I have already eaten.  Unlike some people I have much work to be getting on with and cannot spend the better part of the morning lazing in bed,' he said with a pointed glare at Harry.

'That's the best part of school holidays!'  Lois yelped, scandalised.  'Staying up late and not having to worry about what time you have to get up the next morning.'  She grinned at Harry.  With Dumbledore's permission, the two of them had spent most of the previous night in the Atronomy Tower while Harry showed her how to use the telescopes.  In fact, Lois would have enjoyed another hour in bed herself that morning, but she had been woken early by Peeves clattering noisily outside her chamber door followed by Filch's angry bellow seconds later.  She wondered idly if either of them ever slept.

Snape made an impatient huffing noise at her defence of Harry and departed the room without another word.

***

Harry stopped at the bottom of a long staircase and Lois snapped back to the present to look at him.  'Is this it?' she asked in a nervous voice.

'Yeah,' Harry said sympathetically.  'That big door on the left's his classroom.'

Lois hesitated and Harry gave her an encouraging nudge.  'Go on, he doesn't like it if you're late.'

Lois nodded screwing her courage together.  She had a lot riding on this; she was hoping a stellar performance in Potions would soften Snape's attitude towards her.  Please let it go well, she prayed silently to whoever was listening in.  She straightened her shoulders in determination and taking a deep breath, headed towards the classroom door.

'Good luck,' Harry called and Lois shot him a weak grin of thanks.

She tapped on the large door and pushed it open, carrying the borrowed potion equipment Harry had lent her. 

'Hello, Professor Snape.'  

'Miss Scott.'  Snape inclined his head.  'Very nearly late.'

'But not actually late,' Lois said determined not to let him bully her.  She might be as ignorant as a schoolgirl as far as magic was concerned, but she was a grown woman and she wouldn't allow him to treat her otherwise.  Which brought her to another point.  'I've been thinking,' she said cautiously and winced as he raised his eyes skyward in anticipation.

'Please continue,' he said as she ground to a halt.  'I wouldn't want to be deprived of whatever pearl of wisdom you are about to honour me with.'

Lois ignored his sarcasm, her mind fully occupied with getting her memorised speech out without making a mistake.  'Yes, well I've been thinking that this Professor business seems a bit silly and I was wondering if I might just call you Severus instead,' she finished in a rush.  Good grief, she thought exasperatedly as she felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment, anyone would think she had asked him to father her child, not to simply use his first name!

His face stiffened and for a moment Lois thought he was about to order her from the classroom for her impertinence, but just as she was hurriedly considering an apology, he released her from his glittering gaze and said distantly, 'As you wish.'

Lois sighed in relief, glad that hurdle was over – he was such a prickly devil, she really never knew how he would react.

Snape began the lesson with what she assumed was an oft repeated first year speech, which, quite frankly had been slightly alarming – there seemed to be an awful lot of accidents that could befall the incautious wizard in Potions class and most of them had a very unpleasant ending.  Thankfully after the warnings came the good stuff.  She was actually looking forward to making a number of the potions he mentioned and was particularly intrigued by Bottled Beauty Untold, but it seemed frivolous to ask to start with that one, so she had settled instead on trying to look intelligent and making copious notes. 

Bearing in mind her upcoming training he would mainly concentrate, he said, on the medical side of potion making.  Although it was possible to buy any potion you might need, a mediwizard with sufficient skill to brew their own supplies had a distinct advantage.  That seemed reasonable enough to Lois and her nervousness started to fade as she was filled with enthusiasm for her task.

The lesson, unfortunately, went downhill from there.  Although Lois could have sworn she'd carried out his instructions to the letter, her very first potion – a basic Fever Reliever Draught – was most definitely not the shimmering sky blue it was supposed to be.  Snape had left the room minutes earlier to collect ingredients from his private stores for something he was working on himself, and had left Lois to carefully time the addition of the final ingredient, Dumosus leaf oil, which was then to be immediately stirred twice, counter clockwise.  She was starting to worry now that she may have stirred the mixture clockwise instead. 

She had actually been doing fine with the potion and had just been about to carry out the final task correctly, when a movement out of the corner of her eye had distracted her, but when she had turned to look, there had been no one there. 

What was there however, was some sort of pickled animal in a large jar.  It looked like nothing she had ever seen before and while she wasn't particularly squeamish about such things, even she couldn't help but be surprised when the creature had blinked at her.  She had given a frightened yell and backed hurriedly away, realising with worry as she did so that the cauldron was making a strange gurgling sound.  With his recent dark warnings of death and deformity ringing in her ears, Lois hastily decided that whatever the potion was doing was probably more dangerous than whatever the contents of the specimen jar was doing.  That single thought uppermost in her mind, she hurried back to the cauldron quickly stirring the mixture the required number of times and backing away again towards the door, keeping a wary eye on the glass jar on the shelf the entire time.

Luckily, not long after that, Snape had returned and Lois didn't think she'd ever been so glad to see anyone before in her life.  'Severus,' she breathed gratefully, pointing nervously to the shelf above them. 'I think there's something alive in that jar.'

Snape twisted his head briefly in the direction she was pointing, before turning back to face her with a long-suffering sigh.  'Simply a Pavonicus Pod.  It is not alive, Miss Scott, and in fact strictly speaking never was – the movements you witnessed are the seeds reactions to sound and heat evolved to dissuade hungry animals from eating it.'

'Oh,' she muttered feeling foolish.  After everything she had seen since she arrived at Hogwarts why had she gone to pieces over a couple of staring eyes?  Razor sharp teeth she scolded herself – that's when you panicked.  'There's a problem with my potion too,' she added quickly as he went to return to his desk.

'A problem?'

'I may have, inadvertently, stirred the mixture the wrong way when the pod blinked,' she admitted dejectedly, noticing out the corner of her eye her potion was now a sickly green colour.

He moved over to the cauldron stirring the gloopy mixture with distaste for a second, before turning away and placing the pewter spoon on the desk.  'It is beyond saving,' he said with a twist of his lips.  'You may as well leave it at that for today, you can try again tomorrow.  Maybe you will have better luck then.'  The tone of his voice made it obvious he found the likelihood highly doubtful.

Lois turned miserably away, aware she had well and truly messed up her big plan to impress him, although why she was even bothering at this point was beyond her. As she packed up her equipment, her despondent mood gradually changed to one of annoyance.  This was her first lesson and naturally she was nervous.  Would it have killed him to try and reassure her about what had happened, or better still, not abandon her halfway through the class without warning her about evil prying pod eyes?  Ever since they had met, he had done nothing but mock and make snide comments and she was well and truly sick of it.  Well that was it, she had done her best to be friendly and cheerful company to be around and if he wouldn't make the slightest effort she wasn't going to either; he could go ahead and rot in his lousy dungeon for all she cared.  Belongings gathered, she stalked silently to the door, still in a state of high dudgeon when his voice called her back.

'Miss Scott?' he said in his mocking drawl.  'Please make sure you are not late tomorrow, you may have time enough to waste but I do not.'

Lois's temper finally snapped at this and she rounded on him, her eyes glinting furiously.  'My name, Severus, is Lois and since we will be working together from now on, I would prefer that you use it.  If, however, you can't manage something so pleasant as addressing me by my first name, you may call me Mrs Scott,' she finished, her voice dripping with ice.

His face tightened at her words, but he quickly wiped all emotion from his face to sneer, 'Very well, please forgive my formality.' He waited a beat until she turned away before adding softly, 'Achelois.'

She swung furiously back to face him, a hot retort on her lips at his use of that despised name, only for the angry words to remain unsaid as she saw the expectant gleam in his dark eyes, like a naughty toddler misbehaving and gleefully awaiting the attention such an act would bring.

Her anger drained almost immediately away to be replaced with a feeling alarmingly of fondness.  He really was the most dreadful, foul natured, argumentative creature she had ever come across.  Nevertheless, looking at him now she was suddenly struck by the thought that a large part of his unpleasant demeanour was a safety device, very effectively used to prevent anyone from getting too close.  Whether it was intentional on his part or not was another matter entirely; she guessed even he wasn't fully aware of quite how unapproachable he made himself. 

If she had viewed his behaviour and actions in a child, she would have considered them the result of being denied a healthy, loving relationship.  With someone of his age, who knew what might have happened in his past to make him act the way he did.  He genuinely didn't seem capable of dealing with people with anything other than baiting, mockery or coldness.  She supposed that that could be all there was to him; perhaps his prickly shell hid nothing underneath other than a selfish, cruel man, but somehow she rather thought that was not the case.  Anyway, at this stage did it really matter?  All the hypothesising in the world would accomplish nothing.  The important point was that if she genuinely wanted to dig a little deeper and befriend him, she could see now it was going to be hard work and most, if not all of the effort, would be hers; Snape had obviously spent far too many years building his defences and they were practically impenetrable by now.

She sighed deeply, not at all sure this was a good idea and retraced her steps towards him, dumping her supplies on the desk and turning to face him, the anger completely gone from her face.  When her eyes lifted to meet his, she found him watching her carefully, obviously wary of her abrupt mood change.

'Severus,' she said firmly. 'I think perhaps you and I got off on the wrong foot right from the start.'

'The circumstances of our initial meeting were somewhat unusual,' he agreed guardedly. 'But I fail to see how it has any relevance on our current relationship.'

'That's precisely the problem - we don't have a relationship, it's basically a series of little digs and smart remarks followed by a strategic retreat to regroup before starting all over again.'

'You make it sound as though we're at war,' he scorned.

'We're not far off, pal, trust me,' Lois said pugnaciously, before taking a deep calming breath – letting him rile her would accomplish nothing.  'All right,' she said in a more reasonable tone, 'I don't want to be at constant loggerheads with you – I don't work well in that sort of atmosphere and frankly, even if it didn't affect me, why would we want to be endlessly bickering anyway?' she asked with a bewildered lift of her shoulders; while she had no problem standing up for herself when necessary, she certainly wasn't the type of person who thrived on conflict.

'What do you propose?' he asked simply, not disputing her words.

'Well it seems to me that in a job like this, it's important to be on good terms with your colleagues.  After all, living here nearly all year round, it's not like we can all head home after work to escape from each other.'

'Do you have a point?' he asked his patience obviously wearing thin.

'My point, Severus,' she said, beginning to grow angry again. 'Is that I had hoped that we could be friends, but you're making that really difficult at the moment.'

He seemed startled by her words for a second, but when he spoke he was as distant as ever.  'While I agree for the smooth running of the school it is essential that the staff, at the very least, observe a semblance of mutual respect for each other, I have never seen the need, nor the possibility for such a diverse group of people to become friends.  However, I see no reason why we cannot maintain a professional relationship that will not cause you undue distress.  If you feel I am making that impossible then I apologise,' he finished stiffly.

'Why can't we be friends?' Lois asked, having fully expected this response, but surprisingly still slightly hurt nonetheless. 'I'm not that annoying am I?'

'In truth?  No more so that the majority of people, it is simply that within Hogwarts I do not generally have a reputation for being particularly sociable with my fellow professors,' his voice lacked any emotion; the very absence of it cutting Lois deeper than self-pitying floods of tears would have in another person.  

'I agree you can't possibly hit it off with everyone you work with,' she said, carefully making no comment on his statement, 'but since I arrived here, out of the four people I've met, one has disappeared without trace, another one I've barely seen and Filch seems to find me as pleasant as scrubbing toilets.  That just leaves you Severus and you're not exactly bowled over by me.  I'm starting to get a complex,' she said with a half smile, not meaning it.  'Look, all I'm saying is that it would be nice to have at least one colleague who can stand to be around me in case the next batch of introductions goes as badly.'  Somewhere in the back of her mind Lois was aware that it was madness to be so obsessed with trying to make a man she barely knew like her, after all, she hadn't worried overly about Filch's animosity.

Snape smiled very slightly at her remark before seeming to stiffen and draw away from her, although in actuality he didn't move an inch.  'Nevertheless, I am not friend material and if you persist in trying to make me one, you will do your reputation within the school no good.  As I am sure Mr Potter has already informed you, the majority of the students despise me and the other half fear me.  Not only that, the first impression you will make on the other professors will be as a cohort of mine and while they do not hold me is such low esteem as the children, you will quickly realise that any relationship with me will reflect on you.  Given all that would you perhaps now like to reconsider?' he asked, a mocking slant to his lips.

Lois sucked in a breath in annoyance.  'I am not so shallow that I allow the opinions of others make my decisions for me, Severus.'

'It was not my intention to suggest that you did, I was simply forewarning you of the possible repercussions to your actions, both with the students and the other professors.'

'Consider me warned,' she said unconcerned.  'Well, I'm still game – what about you?'

'What will this entail exactly?' he asked in a cautious tone of voice, and bit back a sigh as Lois beamed up at him, correctly interpreting his words as the agreement they were. 'I've never been friends with a woman,' he continued arrogantly.  What he didn't add was that he wasn't accustomed to friendship full stop.  Not the type he imagined someone like she would have in mind. 

As a schoolboy at Hogwarts he had obviously had friends of a sort, but it was as true then as it was today that within Slytherin, the majority of alliances were formed merely as a method of gaining something; either a comrade who could assist you in the bullying of others, or the cachet of socialising with someone of equal or purer blood than your own.  The Snapes were a very old wizarding family and he had consequently never been short of schoolmates willing to associate with him, although he knew as well as they did that what they shared was of a very shallow nature.  After leaving Hogwarts the type of people he had encountered were not the sort you turned your back on, let alone sought out as a friend.  And after that of course, he had been back here, the whispers following behind him which had quietened over the years, but were still audible, especially when you were as inherently unlikeable as he was, he thought sourly. 

He looked at the woman standing in front of him, her expressively mobile face showing obvious surprise at his question.  He wondered why he was putting up these stumbling blocks to her overture of friendship, when he certainly wasn't averse to her suggestion at all.  It was probably because he doubted the sincerity of her words he realised, cynically certain there had to be something more behind this surprising request.  His most pressing concern however, was that he didn't make a fool of himself.  Of course as long as she had no idea as to his true feelings, agreeing to her proposition couldn't hurt.  He would let her make all the moves and keep his mouth firmly shut he decided, then when the real reason for her actions came out, he wouldn't be left with egg on his face.  His musings were brought to a halt when she began speaking again, obviously taking his query at face value.

'Good grief, Severus, we're grown adults!  It's exactly the same as being friends with a man; I'm not going to expect you to sit around giggling about boys while we braid each other's hair.  Although,' she said, reaching out exploring fingers, 'yours is nearly long enough.' 

The small hand that was stretching towards his shoulder length hair froze bare millimetres from touching it, as he stiffened slightly and drew almost imperceptibly away.  The move had been instinctive, unaccustomed as he was to casual touches and he cursed himself furiously as she dropped her arm back to her side and said in a reassuring voice. 

'No touching, I get it, not a problem,' she promised backing obligingly a few inches away from him.

Wonderful, he thought angrily; with one tiny unthinking move he'd just denied himself a friendship with a beautiful woman that involved touching, even he knew those were the very best kind. 

'Honestly, It'll be fine, Severus,' Lois carried on, apparently feeling he needed further convincing. 'We'll meet up in the staff room and have coffee and you can grumble about all the horrible Gryffindor students you've had to teach,' she teased slyly.  'And I'll ask you if you watched that film on the telly last night… Oh, I forgot – no electricity.  I'm really going to miss TV,' she said mournfully, sidetracked momentarily, but quickly bounced back, seemingly not wanting to give him chance to change his mind.  'Doesn't matter, I'm sure we'll think of something.' She smiled up at him and not giving it any thought, reached out and squeezed his forearm in an encouraging gesture, before freezing and dropping it as though it has scalded her.  'I'm sorry,' she rushed into speech stepping guiltily away from him, aware she had broken her promise less than two minutes after she had made it.  'Okay, truthfully there may be… some touching – bare minimum I swear!' she said quickly, looking up at him apologetically.

Snape's sceptical expression changed not one iota, but inside he gave a silent cheer – it seemed the touching was back on!

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A/N Firstly thanks, as ever, for your very kind reviews guys – they're always appreciated. Now secondly, a favour! Term begins soon, probably next chapter, which means of course the teachers start arriving back. Now, am I right in thinking we were never told Flitwick and Sprout's first names in the books? If anyone who's reading knows otherwise (that's presuming anyone's reading of course) I'd be very grateful if you'd tell me - either stick it in a review or e-mail, whatever's easier: Chary@fsmail.net. Thanks a bunch.