Jo revealed in HBP that Fenrir Greyback had bitten Remus when he was a small boy, to retaliate against Lupin's father. I merely gave the rotter a niece, who was led to believe the attack was recent, and because of something she'd said. Those of you lovely readers who already knew all that, to quote the grandpa in the Princess Bride, "Yes, yes, you're very smart." :D

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Swiftly performing his morning ablutions, Severus grabbed his school bag and headed for the Great Hall. Ignoring the little blue-eyed second year looking up with a tentative smile, the teen slid onto the bench and stretched out a hand. A mug of coffee instantly appeared. Taking a long, fortifying swallow, he placed it down and reached for the plate of eggs and bacon materialising before him. The chamber was only a quarter full, and relatively quiet- just the way he liked it.

After breakfast, he stopped by the library for a tome of potion formulae. Quickly finding the book, the boy waited impatiently for the librarian to do her job. He tapped his fingers on the desk while she chatted with the caretaker, Argus Filch. Pince disregarded his glare. Placing a hand up to the drooping folds of her scrawny neck, she twittered, "I'm so thankful for your constant vigilance in patrolling the stacks, Argus."

The flirtatious tone made Severus' stomach roil. Firmly suppressing the distasteful mental image of the two getting up to anything in the stacks, he cleared his throat pointedly.

Filch, wearing gray that matched the Squib's hair and skin colour, ducked his head and replied unctuously, "Only doing my job, Irma." Narrowing his eyes at the student scowling at them, he rasped, "Wrong-doers are everywhere, madam, everywhere."

"Meowww!"

The man called, "I'm coming, Mrs. Norris, keep your collar on!" Smiling gruesomely at the librarian, he shuffled out after the cat whose angry yowling remained audible after the door had closed behind them.

"Cats are pernicious creatures," Pince uttered spitefully, before opening a large book and pointing. "Sign there, and be quick about it."

Raising a brow until she looked away in discomfort, Severus signed out the book. He remembered a feline that was much more agreeable than the ill-tempered Mrs. Norris. Briefly wondering whom the Siamese belonged to, the teen forgot the animal in his rush to get to his Advanced Potions class.

Professor Slughorn sat enthroned at his desk, regarding his class like a benevolent pasha. Folding his hands over his protruding stomach, the Potions Professor asked genially, "Did you find time for any potions making this summer, Miss Evans?"

Severus headed for the back table at the far corner of the room. He glanced at the blackboard. It was blank, indicating that they would be brewing today's potion out of the text. His gaze slid to linger on a redheaded girl's pretty face as she replied, "No sir."

Sighing heavily, the professor sympathised, "Muggle parents must be such a trial."

Before Lily could respond, a voice proclaimed, "I'd trade my folks for yours any day, Evans."

The resulting chuckles made Sirius Black grin with satisfaction at the reaction to his flippant tone. Next to the buffoon, Potter shook his head. "Shut it and get our stuff from the potions cupboard, will you?"

"Are you telling me to go fetch?" Black drew himself up indignantly and then snickered. "Yes, master."

Sneering at the Gryffindors, Snape waited until the swaggering churl had returned to the table toward the front before leaving his stool. Assembling the ingredients needed, he returned to his worktable and began organising and weighing each item meticulously.

Several minutes into the class period, he heard, "I hope you'll excuse my tardiness professor, but I had to run back to my dorm for something I'd got especially for you."

Eris Greyback stood in the doorway, an apologetic smile on her face. Gazing greedily at the boxes in her arms, Slughorn repeated hopefully, "Especially for me?"

The girl strolled toward the desk, smiling a little at her classmates' snickering. Professor Slughorn was notorious for allowing lavish gifts to procure leniency toward the giver. Greyback nodded. "Yes sir, you mentioned at the final meeting of the Slug Club last term that you were partial to dates and would use them in the first lesson if you had any." Placing two boxes on the desk, she handed the smaller but more ornately wrapped one to the man reaching for it with podgy hands. "I brought Khadrawy dates for class use, but of course only Medjool dates were suitable for you, professor."

"The fruit of kings…" Slughorn practically drooled. The glutton went down yet another notch in Severus' estimation. The man was too vain to see that the girl was playing him. He frowned. Greyback was not stupid, but she certainly did not belong in an elite club that had not invited him to join. When the professor grandly forgave her and invited the girl to pick any seat she liked, the boy shook his head dismissively and went back to brewing his potion.

It was an unpleasant shock when Eris began unpacking her cauldron on the table beside him. He looked around and said in a low voice, "Sutton deliberately kept a seat open for you at the front."

"I don't want to sit by him," she returned just as quietly. Exhaling sharply, the girl looked over and said, "Even if I did, my brother didn't pack my textbook, and I can't get away with sharing at the front of the class."

His eyebrows rose. "What makes you think I would allow you to share?"

Her cheeks grew pink at his icy tone. Swallowing, she whispered, "I thought…since we shared a compartment on the train…and got along…you wouldn't mind." Blue eyes, that somehow reminded him of both a second-year girl and a cat, entreated.

Snape coolly stirred his solution anti-clockwise three times before stipulating, "Say please." He knew his tone was nasty, that of a yob wanting to hear an aristocrat beg him for a favour.

Eris gave him a half-smile. "Please."

Her acquiescence did not bring the satisfaction he had expected. Sullenly, he gestured to the text. She picked it up and read over the list of ingredients before heading to the student cupboard.

After watching her blow dust off the stopper of a jar, he frowned. "If you use that, it will take your potion twenty per cent longer to reach efficacy." Handing over his surplus fresh ginger roots, Severus turned down the flame under his cauldron and watched the potion simmer. With nothing further to do except wait, he stealthily kept an eye on his precious text.

Greyback was not the silent type. She continually made quiet observations. He learnt unwillingly that she wrote in her book too, and thought he had 'small, controlled handwriting.' Catching his eye while chopping the ginger, Eris admitted, "Most of my notes are what not to do. You've written down improvements on technique and formula." Smiling ruefully, she added, "Must be why you get O's and I can barely scrape up an E in this class."

Hearing Eris admit his superiority caused the boy to feel generous enough to impart, "If the process is executed with precise concentration, the magic absorbs faster, making it possible to reduce brewing time up to forty per cent."

Her face lit up. "Oh my gods, I think you just saved my arse. Thanks!" She smiled at him gratefully and bent to her task with determination. Severus kept his eyes on his cauldron, refusing to think about what he had shortly stared at on the train or wonder if she always wore knickers like those.

"Miss Evans, would you kindly distribute the dates?" Professor Slughorn's request brought Snape's attention to the girl at the front of the class. He waited for Potter to make some stupid ploy, but the Gryffindor did not even look up when Evans came by. She hesitated a moment, most likely in shock at her good fortune, then tossed a couple of dates onto the table and moved on.

"Pssttt…Snape…does this look right to you?"

His tablemate's query caused Severus to examine the cauldron that held a solution identical in colour and clarity to his. "Yes."

"Here you go." Lily Evan's sweet, light voice brought his gaze up to study green eyes focused on the girl beside him. "Are you feeling better? Potter told me you didn't return with him after patrol because you weren't feeling well."

"Yes, I'm fine, not enough sleep over holiday, I expect," Eris replied in her smooth, lower tone." Reaching out, she took a handful of dates. "Good thing there are plenty of leftovers. I'm starved." Lily smiled slightly and shook her head in amusement, returning to the front of the classroom.

"Try one."

He examined the reddish brown fruit Eris offered and decided to accept it only to evaluate the properties of the date prior to immersion in the solution. It had a caramel like texture and a sweet flavour. Placing a date into the potion with a ladle, Severus lifted it out when the professor called,

"Now, class, it's time for you to test the effectiveness of your solution. When someone eats a comestible correctly imbued, the 'Aura of Truth' that gives your potion its name will reveal veracity. Please turn to your partner and exchange dates and questions for testing and remember…Hogwarts operates on the Honour System…"

Disregarding Black's loud cough that sounded like 'gobshite', Snape handed Greyback his date with a sarcastic, "Ladies first."

She ate the fruit, grimacing. "Icky aftertaste. Can't we add sugar or honey or something?"

"It would most likely ruin the potion," he said before asking, "Why didn't you get enough sleep over holiday?"

Eris froze and then relaxed. "I was busy."

A pink haze or 'aura' surrounded her. He grudgingly admired the Slytherin way of telling the truth, but not the whole truth. He chewed Eris' date. The solution indeed needed adjusting. Severus tensed, waiting to hear her question.

"What's your favourite colour?"

"Blue." He blinked, unable to believe what he had just uttered. "I meant to say green."

Reaching for a quill to mark down their results on a piece of parchment, Eris said, "Your aura went from pink to black, so your solution was a success, and your favourite colour is definitely blue." Looking up, she asked, "What's wrong with blue? Too common?"

He began clearing his equipment and supplies from the table without answering cheeky questions that were none of her business. When class ended, he was the first to leave.

-

-

Eris rushed across the grounds behind the castle, making it to Greenhouse 3 just before class started. She breathed a sigh of relief. Her classmates, mostly Hufflepuffs, did not echo the sentiment.

"Merlin, how'd she wiggle her way into this class?"

"I hope she doesn't sit by me."

Professor Sprout, entering from the back with a bucketful of dragon dung compost, called out in her hearty voice, "Miss Greyback, class, is irrefutable proof that one does not have to have a green thumb to excel in Herbology. There is a seat available down here, please take it," the woman smilingly directed.

Diana Wynn smiled at Eris, but still asked the three other Slytherins to move down in order to put more space between herself and her roommate. "No offence, Eris, I just want my plants to live this term."

"None taken," she replied with forced cheer. It was a shame that her plants never thrived. She loved plants. It was just an unrequited affection. Across the centre table, a Hufflepuff girl wondered, "How will you ever use your knowledge, Greyback, when you've got a black thumb?"

Diana answered, looking down her nose at the other student, "Hello…gardeners…"

Throwing her friend a grateful look, Eris listened along with the class as Professor Sprout directed their attention to the dwarf trees in front of each student. "By seventh year, you should all be aware that herb magic is based on the most fundamental power of all- the power of life itself. This power germinates seeds and maintains our universe. Since you are willing to get your hands dirty, you will be able to channel the energy contained in plants for their welfare, and ours."

The professor touched a tree. "The crabapple is your first challenge in opening yourself to hearing the distinct voice of a plant and responding to its needs." Gesturing to the bucket of dung, the professor's dark brown eyes twinkled. "Concentrate, hear the voice, and meet the exact needs of your plant." With a wave of her arm that nearly dislodged her patched hat, she said grandly, "Begin!"

Eris closed her eyes and concentrated. Up and down the workbench, she could hear a faint whispering, as classmates responded to the telepathy of the trees. Her crabapple was not communicating. She cracked open an eye and peered at the plant. It looked healthy, and heavy with fruit. Gingerly, she touched a leaf and tried to open herself to hearing the plant's voice. The leaf broke off. After looking down at the yellowish brown leaf, she flicked it away and peered down the table. Students were already fetching water and compost to meet their tree's needs.

"Come on, talk to me," she coaxed. Long, frustrating minutes passed. "Talk, you crabby tree," she whispered fiercely. Stretching out her fingers, Eris narrowly avoided the tiny pinching claws when she reached for a fruit.

Don't touch me.

She blinked in surprise, and then leaned forward, saying facetiously, "Snape, is that you?"

Don't talk to me.

On the red surface of the snappish fruit, the girl could just make out the ghostly impression of an ugly little face. She offered irritably, "Tell me what you want, and I'll give it to you and then leave you alone, okay?"

The tree refused to communicate further. Eris noticed the other students giving her looks that varied from pitying to annoyingly smug. She loathed 'I told you so' attitudes. Considering the tree again, she snatched off a crabapple and threatened, "I'll pick every piece of fruit if you don't start talking."

Beside her, Dianna snorted, "You show that tree who's the boss, mate."

The tree played hardball, abruptly dropping every apple onto the tabletop. The clattering made heads turn and giggles sound. Growing red-faced, Eris said in a low voice, "You are the ugliest, most useless tree on the planet. In fact, they should rename you. I vote for Nonenti-tree, because you're so unimportant and your fruit hardly worth the effort of picking."

Gasps rang out when the fallen fruit glared, the 'faces' disappearing as they turned bright red. Picking one up, Eris took a bite and said to her horrified classmates, "Delicious."

Professor Sprout's laughter boomed. "Leave it to you, Greyback, to discover that when steamed, the crabapples' sour nature is transformed to a tart sweetness. Gather the fruit and run it along to the kitchen, please. Your new…er…assignment is to assist the elves in preparing crabapple jelly." Smacking her lips, the woman sighed. "It's my favourite, although some complain it affects my mood the rest of the day."

Inside the medieval splendour of the Hogwarts kitchen, the Slytherin house elf, Slinky, looked thrilled to see her. "Miss Greyback, how is Slinky to be serving you?" His dark green eyes glowed with a zeal that she found faintly disturbing. Maybe it was the way he stared at her without blinking- or how his fixed smile revealed incredibly large teeth.

She made an effort to smile and say casually, "I'm charged with making crabapple jelly for Professor Sprout." Lifting a basket of the fruit, she held them out.

The elf bowed. "I is happy to serve." Turning, he barked at a kitchen elf to peel and core the apples, at once, proceeding to give orders that the other elves obeyed instantly. The girl figured that being the elf in charge of a house carried power. Within a half hour, a dozen jelly jars were cooling on a table.

Eris was almost finished with her snack of cauldron cake and milk when the concealed door to the kitchen opened and four boys poured inside. Their boisterous chatter halted when they saw that the elves already had a visitor. She drank a gulp of milk to force crumbs down her throat. Wiping her mouth on the serviette, she asked Slinky if the jelly was ready.

"Yes, Miss, is you wishing to take it?"

She smiled and nodded without answering. There was a huge lump in her throat. Taking the basket, she walked toward the Gryffindors that were regarding her curiously. Potter nodded civilly, Black looked her over in an automatic, almost impersonal way, while Pettigrew leered and Lupin watched her with an unreadable expression. She couldn't tell if he knew about her uncle, hated her whole family, or just had his mind on other things. Tearing her eyes away from his enigmatic gaze, she hurried out of the chamber.

-

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In the library, Severus became aware that three boys were standing expectantly by his table. He finished a History of Magic essay in his precise handwriting. A throat cleared. He ignored it. Knuckles cracked in an ominous manner. He refused to look up.

"Snape."

Although outwardly expressionless, inwardly Severus felt the triumph of his will over another's. He said coolly, "Yes?"

Erik Greyback, flanked by his cronies Jugson and Keane, ordered, "Come with us."

"I am busy."

The sixth year indignantly spluttered, "What? What do you mean you're busy? You'd better get un-busy Snape."

"Is un-busy a real word?" Lane Jugson, a lanky youth, interjected.

Laurence Keane, brawny and mean to go with it, cuffed the back of the other boy's head. "You just heard Greyback use it, didn't you?"

Shrugging apologetically, Jugson said, "Yeah, it's just…nothin'…"

Secretly amused, Severus waited patiently. Unlike his sister, Erik did not flush becomingly. He did not know how to ask nicely either. "Get up, let's go, now."

"Why should I?"

Sneering, the other boy repeated in a vicious undertone, "Why should you? I don't know. I don't know why anyone would think you worthy of the Knights of Walpurgis, but I do what I'm told. If you become one of us, you'd better learn quickly to do the same, Snape."

Packing his bag, Severus rose and said with a calm that revealed none of the excitement he felt, "Lead the way."

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A/N: I based my description of the crabapple tree and used the name Nonenti-tree from the land of Xanth, by Piers Anthony. (Ogre, Ogre is my all time fave book of the series, but they're all good, and the first, A Spell for Chameleon, is being filmed, huzzah!) Reading his sly wit and puns makes me smile, as did putting his creations into mine!