Author's Note: Hey! ...I hope you are not all mad at me for not updating in... a while. ALRIGHT! Its been forever!... actually 2 months. I do have some excuses though. Loads of testing and projects and reports and other school related crap. Yeah, I know not that good of an excuse since I already had half the chapter done and did the rest in under 3 hours. -sniffle- I do apologize, though. I really like this chapter! Whee... sort of gives me the creeps! Whee! ...-cough- yeah. Hope you like and thank you to all my readers and reviewers! I LOVE YOU ALL! Now... here is your new chapter!

Unwanted Encounter

"I don't get this!" Remus yelled throwing his hands into the air. He threw his quills down at his open book, ink splattering on the pages. "How can it possibly be that potion when you mix those ingredients? If you put powdered acid root with unicorn hair it cancels out the effect completely." Frustrated, he rested his head in his hands and groaned.

"That's only if you don't add lizard scales first. The poison from the scales enhance the acid in the powdered root, therefore makes it more effective." Remus sat up with a helpless look that made Courtney laugh. "How do you come up with this stuff? Do you seriously memorize these things?" Courtney shook her head. "It's good to have family that know potions. Now," she slammed her book shut and placed it on a small table, "do you want me to help you?"

It started with a simple one-on-one teaching session. It quickly turned into a James, Sirius, Peter and Remus lecture about potion ingredients. After a good two to three hours of reviewing and editing essays they were all exhausted. James and Sirius, who had let Courtney "improve" their essays, were still thumb wrestling.

James cursed as Sirius slapped his arm roughly causing him to lose the match. "You can't do that! You cheated!" Sirius was letting the whole of Gryffindor Tower know that he had won by shouting and jumping around frantically. James, seeing nothing better to do, slammed into Sirius sending him flying into and over a chair. "Cheater!"

Courtney cleared her throat rather loudly. "I am done rewriting your essays now. I expect about twenty dollars for every five hundred words, or a total of two hundred dollars for the entire paper if you don't want to count." Sirius gave James a look that could only be defined as: Bull Crap!

"You never said we had to pay you for help. We've never had to do it before." James said with a frown.

"Well, labor doesn't come cheap. Now pay up or it goes into the fire." Courtney stood up holding both of the papers, walking slowly towards the fireplace. "Don't think I won't do it, 'cuz I will." With a glance at each other James and Sirius rushed her. She squeaked playfully and ran around the room waving the papers.

Remus grimaced when the two overly energetic boys tackled her to the ground. He sighed as he turned his attention to his other homework.

"Remus! Help!...Hey, don't bite! Idiot, get off! ...Help!" Remus chuckled and shook his head at her pleas for help.

Sirius and James continued to wrestle, unaware that Courtney was not in the middle of it any longer. Remus only looked and turned back to his work. Lately he had been acting strange. He was usually just as active as the rest of the group but he had been taking to sitting out and watching. Had something happened at home with his family that he was unable to talk about? She hoped that everything was alright.

Remus looked at the staring girl that sat only a few feet away from him. She blinked, shook her head and looked away, obviously unaware that she was staring. He smirked to himself mentally as his heart had skipped a beat at her glance. No, Remus she would not be interested in you, he thought with a painful sigh.

"Oh, I remembered! We have Defense homework too." Sirius pondered his exclamation before adding, "I don't have any idea how to do that either."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Is that my cue?" She asked as she stood up and brushed herself off. Sirius gave a sheepish grin as James nodded frantically. Courtney turned around to face Remus, who was still almost pulling his hair out because of his work. "Mooney?" He looked up, startled. "Uh, yeah, sure."

"Alright," she sighed. Sitting down at the table she searched through the pile of rubble that was their homework. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that Remus watched her every move, a small smile reached her lips. She turned to meet his gaze, which he quickly broke, "I must have left it in the library while I was researching. I will be back in a sec. Remus," he jumped slightly as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Keep these animals under control," she whispered with a smile. With a few graceful strides she was out of the portrait hole and heading down the hallway.

The library was not busy at all to her great relief. Only a few students were sitting at the large wooden tables. Fred and George were usually in here planning their next big 'treat' for Filch. She frowned at her thoughts. Shaking her head, she walked farther into the large room. She couldn't help but forget sometimes. She paused to look around.

Her book lay on the center table, near the middle. The furious scratching of a quill on paper grew as she moved closer. A black haired student sat hunched over a piece of parchment and an open book. They seemed very engrossed in the yellowing pages, underlining certain passages to take as notes for future purposes. His face almost grazing the paper before moving away slightly to glance at the aged book again.

"You need to take a break. It's not healthy to be that absorbed in your studies."

Severus gave the slightest jump. He glanced up with a sneer, "perhaps I wish to excel in my studies. You should be giving those oaf friends of yours the advice." Courtney had taken the seat opposite him and continued to smile wickedly.

"And perhaps even those who are so absorbed will never amount to anything," she replied.

Severus smirked at her nasty remark, he was rubbing off on her. "Your words hurt."

"Too bad they don't kill." She smiled evilly, her light blue eyes shining with fueled fire.

"Ouch, that really hurts. Now, did you just come here to cut me down or do you have a reasonable explanation for wandering aimlessly about the castle?"

She shrugged with a sigh. Severus studied her as she scanned the room. Her light brown hair hung over her shoulders and delicately framed her pretty face. She had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. If he wasn't careful he could get lost looking at them all day. He sighed, content.

A snapping sound brought him out of his thoughts. He blinked rapidly as he sat up straight. "Stop it. You're staring at my ugliness. Just try to bare with me here, ok? I'll leave you in a few, so you can check out that chick over there." She indicated a fourth year Ravenclaw who, unknown to him, had been staring passionately at him for the past hour. She waved a chubby hand at him, seeing that he had finally glanced her way. He gaped at Courtney with a look that could only be described as: My gawd, help me!

Courtney's smile remained as he took on his fish-ish appearance. "Aww, I think you two would look absolutely adorable together. I'll go ask her on a date for you." She rose from her seat only to be roughly grabbed by the wrist and held back. "You do," he growled in her ear, "and I swear to every god I know of, that you will not live to see another sunrise." Courtney forced her giggles down as he forced her to sit.

Severus glared daggers at her as he slowly took his seat. Courtney innocently glanced around the large library, ignoring his gaze. "I can't believe you would even think of such-"

"Do you play quidditch?" Courtney asked interrupting his scolding.

He looked taken aback by the question, though he quickly collected himself. "I play as a chaser. Why?"

She shrugged, "I was just curious. James and Sirius have suggested that I try out for the Gryffindor team. I really stink at quidditch though."

Severus smiled at her. It was not a mocking smile though, it was an encouraging smile. "I think you should go for it." She was surprised by his statement, she eyed him. "Seriously, there's no harm in trying. I think you would like it once you got the hang of it. Though tryouts are coming soon." He picked up his quill and began to write again. A sort of pain filled his stomach, it seemed to be in knots. "Icouldhelpyoupractice," he mumbled to the paper in front of him.

Courtney leaned forward, "what? I didn't hear what you said. You were sort of talking to-"

"I could help you practice." A huge wave of relief spread over him like cold water. He had finally got the nerve to say it. But what would her reaction be? His stomach started to ache again.

To his surprise she smiled at him, "that would be awesome! I would love to have help, and from someone who can actually focus on the problem. I love James and Sirius, they're great, don't get me wrong but... they have the attention span of a goldfish when it comes to being on brooms and trying to teach someone."

Severus smiled. Half relieved that she had not turned him down and walked away and half because what she said was true. "Alright, great. So, when do you want to start practicing? I am usually available on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays-"

"How about tomorrow?" She interjected excitedly.

Severus blinked, shocked at her outburst. Then he nodded, "alright, tomorrow. Meet me in the Entrance Hall at one. Do you have a broom?"

"I will borrow James' broom for starting."

"You will have to get your own broom though." She looked at him confused, he smirked. "You know, with such an excellent teacher you will be on the team in no time. Thanks to my champion-like skills," he stretched his arms over his head with a lazy yawn. "There's really no telling how far you will be able to go with my teaching. Hell, maybe by next summer you could go to the World Cup." He chuckled as she dared to throw her book at him.

"Alright, Mr. I'm-top-notch-quidditch-all-star, I will see you tomorrow in the Entrance Hall at one. You know not to be late. Even with that oh so important schedule of yours." She gave him a final warm smile before disappearing through the doors.

Severus smiled slightly to himself. He felt so warm and light. His glance left the library doors and floated to the other occupants. All fuzziness left as he spotted the Ravenclaw gazing at him again. He quickly shoved all his things into his pack before sprinting to the Slytherin Common Room.

Courtney hummed a song to herself as she walked up to Gryffindor Tower.

"No, the meeting continues as planned. I will have no more screwing around. Make sure this goes right or you will have trouble." A man's voice growled ahead of her around the corner. Her breath caught, she really wasn't supposed to be hearing this. Gathering her courage, she peeked around the corner.

Several people stood in a huddled group. She recognized a few of them immediately. Lucius Malfoy, and Regulus Balck stood with three other students. One was a black-haired girl, about Courtney's height. She looked oddly familiar, though she couldn't quite place it. Her eyes sparkled lively even though they were a very deep color. The other two were males, one with blonde hair and one with brown hair. Both about the same height and built.

Courtney stopped her spying and prayed to any and all gods that she was not going to be killed. She pressed her head against the cool stone wall and closed her eyes. This was not going to be good.

"Well...Hello," a silky voice said close to her ear. Her eyes snapped open, her heart racing. Regulus was standing in front of her, staring. Though he was younger then her, he was almost a head taller. She felt herself cringe. She glanced around and saw that the meeting had been ended and that the other members were leaving in their own directions. Lucius, who had just noticed Regulus' stall and why, started to approach the two.

"Is she a problem?" he asked eyeing her dangerously.

Regulus shook his head slowly, not allowing his eyes to leave her. "No, not at all," he replied as her ran a hand through her long bangs and over her cheek. Courtney could feel her whole body shaking, her heart beat rapidly.

"If she heard anything...take care of her." Clicking resounded through the hallway as Lucius walked away.

"Such a pretty little thing," he smiled down at her as he inspected her face. "With the right people, you could go far. I could help you." His offer revolted her, though she dared not show it. He paused in his talk to rub his thumb over her lower lip. She closed her eyes as the tears started to well up in her eyes. "Just think about it," he purred in her ear before placing a light kiss on her trembling lips.

She waited until she could no longer hear his footsteps. She slowly opened her eyes and let the tears come. She slid down the wall to sit on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. She gasped as hurried footsteps rang through the hall. Relief washed over her as Remus came into view.

"Where have you-" he was cut short as he absorbed her state. He quickly rushed to her side. Courtney clung to him as he helped her up to Gryffindor Tower, trying to soothe her with words.

so did you like? I did... well that's because I wrote it. I hope you did anyway. Please review with any comments and suggestions! (need those too!) LOVE YOU ALL!