Disclaimer: I don't own HP or the canon characters . . . snore . . .

A chibi-dirgewolf climbs up and pokes Krenya Alenak.

Lamei: Hey. Hey. Krenya!

Krenya: Hm, what?

Lamei: You're supposed to be doing the disclaimer.

Krenya: Oh, right. yawn Where was I?

Lamei: You don't own Harry Potter or the canon characters.

Krenya: Oh, oh, yeah. Um…

Lamei: shakes head You don't own the canon, just your characters, plot points, plants, etc, etc, etc.

Krenya: If you know this, why am I saying it, again?

Lamei: Because I'm one of your creations, and because you've given me complete access to your brain.

Krenya: I did?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Chapter 9

Breakup?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

—just before Christmas break—

The next Potions test came a week later, two weeks before Christmas break. On the last Thursday before the holidays, the test was returned. Severus looked over his test as Professor Brand explained their homework for the holidays. After scanning the last page, he glanced over to Taylor. As occasionally happened, she had actually come in with the rest of her class, and she was sitting next to her friend, that chestnut-haired, loud-voiced girl.

Professor Brand was now asking for questions, and Taylor started looking over her test. Her eyebrows knitted, hooding her normally bright eyes. Her lips moved as one finger ran down page after page, sometimes pausing. Finally she shuffled the pages together and tapped them into a perfect pile. Of course. She always was dressed neatly and kept her papers together. The only untidiness around her was in her potions, which had decreased over the last month, and with her plants, which was gone as soon as she finished working.

But how had she done on the test?

Taylor turned away to talk to the other girls, and Severus frowned. If he was going to take time out of his life to tutor a student, especially some girl from another house, it was going to be worth it. If his efforts wouldn't save potions from mutilation at her hands, well, then, he'd stop.

Taylor finally stopped chatting to her girlfriends and turned her attention back to Professor Brand. Students started asking their questions, and with many of them, Taylor followed along, listening intently to Professor Brand's explanation. As one student asked how copper affected a solution of a paralysis potion, and Taylor turned to the correct page, Severus remembered that he hadn't explained metals to her yet, having left it for the next term. He sighed. Someone poked his shoulder.

"Hey, Snape. Hello?"

Severus turned. "What?"

Robert frowned. "I've been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes. What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You've been watching that Ravenclaw."

"What?"

"That black-haired girl, the one you sometimes talk to. What's up with you and her?"

"Nothing. She's in our classes, all right?"

"I would thank you gentlemen to not talk during my class." Profesor Brand looked at them sternly down her long nose.

Robert scowled and muttered mutinously. Severus bowed his head and looked down at his test. But how had she done?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Selcah glanced over at Snape as she gathered together her things. He was listening to another Slytherin talking. Selcah shrugged, took her things, and left with Kali.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Severus watched Taylor leave. Robert was still talking, quietly but sternly. "Whatever's going on, you better watch it, mate. The guys are talking. You say you haven't gone soft, but we don't believe it."

"Is it really any of your concern?" Severus looked directly at Robert, who blinked. "If you must know, Professor Brand gave me the assignment of tutoring that girl, and if her scores don't improve, I get in trouble. Does that answer your questions?"

Robert nodded after a moment.

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me." Severus left the room and stormed back to the Slytherin rooms.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Selcah tapped her notebook. Where was Snape? She knew they had agreed to study this last Friday, before the break. She'd written it down.

Fifteen minutes after the hour, Snape still wasn't there. Selcah sighed.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing down here on such a cold day?"

Selcah smiled and turned. "Hey, guys."

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter walked in, tracking snow over the floor—except for Remus, who cleaned his shoes on the mat first. "What's up, Selcah? You look depressed," Sirius said.

She shook her head. Remus sat next to her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, really," Selcah said. James snatched her open assignment book. "Hey!"

"Friday. Tutoring…" James's voice trailed off. He looked at Selcah. Sirius snatched the book from him.

"The mindless—"

"What is it?" Remus asked.

Sirius threw down the assignment book. Remus read Selcah's note. "You're tutoring him?"

"It was the least I could do, considering he's helping me in Potions."

"If he's going to stand you up, even I could help you in Potions," Sirius said.

Selcah glanced at him. "Something may have come up. I don't see him on Fridays until tutoring, so who knows? Maybe he's sick."

"He was in Charms," James said.

Selcah blinked. "Well, it is just before Christmas break. Maybe he had to pack. Maybe he forgot. It's not a big deal," she said.

Sirius started to speak, but Remus held up a hand. "It is very inconsiderate of him."

Selcah gathered her books and stood. "Well, it's…It's not that big of a deal. He probably forgot." She turned away.

Remus grabbed her arm. "Whoa. What is it?"

Selcah blinked. "Nothing."

Sirius stepped up beside her. "What happened?"

Selcah wiped her eyes. "It's nothing, really. Nothing's happened, he hasn't done anything….He just didn't show up for tutoring. These things happen."

The guys exchanged glances. "You're sure?" James asked.

Selcah laughed weakly. "Yes, I'm sure. Calm down, there's nothing to worry about."

Sirius placed an arm around Selcah's shoulders. "Well, if you do need us to beat him up for you sometime—"

"Sirius!"

He grinned at Remus. "It was a joke."

Remus shook his head. "Come on, Selcah, let's get you inside the castle."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Come on, Selcah, let's get you inside the castle."

Severus slipped around the corner of the building. He listened as Potter's gang and Taylor left the greenhouse. He stepped out, watching them walk away. He'd finally come, only to hear those gits inside, talking with Taylor about what a jerk he was.

Severus breathed deeply and shrugged. 'Well, if that's the end of tutoring, so much the easier for me.'