When Severus returned to the table, Evelyn was ready to begin. She was flipping through 'Everything You Need to Know About Switching', however, as Severus sat down Evelyn lowered the book to look at him. Seeing the slight blush decorating his face, she could feel a smirk forming on her face.

"I see you are entertained by my discomfort," said Severus, not looking at Evelyn, as he was in the middle of organizing the books he brought.

Evelyn just giggled as she replied without thinking, "Actually, yes. I had no idea that you could be this cute,"

After she realized what she said, and seeing the bewildered look on Severus's face, she could feel a blush forming on her face too.

Severus cleared his throat, before he said, "Uh, I think it's time we started on the assignment."

"Yes! Yes, absolutely!" said Evelyn quickly, turning back to the book she was holding, "So how should we start? Maybe with a quick pop quiz, so we can revise and make sure that we are on the same page?"

"I don't see why not," shrugged Severus as he turned to Evelyn, who with a swish of her wand closed the books lying on the table.

"No cheating. So… tell me, Severus," she said as she flipped through the book, looking for a good question to ask, "what is switching?"

Severus just shot her a look of disbelief, "Are you serious?"

"Well, the essay is about switching. Pray to tell, how you plan to write a 3-foot essay about switching if you don't even know what it is,"

Severus just rolled his eyes but recited the definition flawlessly.

"Very good," smiled Evelyn, handing him the book

The two kept asking each other questions but little did they both know that it was just the beginning of a long quiz session. Soon it was not so much about revising as it was about proving their knowledge. As the questions got more difficult their competitive side started to show.


"It looks like they are arguing…" noted Mary.

"I wonder what they are talking about," said Dorcas.

It was then that Lily stood up abruptly, "We are missing a book! Marlene, come with me," she said, grabbing her friend's arm and pulling her from her chair.

Marlene just shot her a surprised look, but as they walked to the bookshelf near the Slytherins' table, it was clear what they really needed.

It didn't take long for them to realize that the argument was about the topic of their essay. Marlene just shot a confused look at Lily. It was not what she expected, though Lily seemed to be relieved.


"… And that's the real purpose of cross-species switches," finished Severus in his cynical tone, looking at Evelyn, challenging her to disagree with his statement.

However, Evelyn just sat there listening to what he was saying, smiling widely, enjoying the discussion. It was the first time she had an intelligent conversation about a school topic with one of her housemates, and she was enjoying every minute of it.

It was one of the moments when she was glad that she decided to make that ridiculous agreement. Otherwise, maybe she would have never discovered the values of Severus Snape. Of course, she knew that he was intelligent, but having an actual discussion with him was quite fun. Not only did his knowledge rivalled her own, but there was also something in his way of talking; the way he sometimes criticized certain approaches with a sarcastic tone, as if he knew better; that Evelyn found fascinating.

"So, what you are saying is that the purpose of cross-species switching is simply entertainment. I agree with you wholeheartedly, however, you need to realize that there are plenty of people in the magical community who keep magically enchanted animals on their property to keep intruders at bay. Some of these creatures are transfigured by using cross-species switches in order to make them appear fiercer or otherwise more threatening." she explained, and Severus just raised an eyebrow.

"Why would anyone transfigure animals, when there are spells and enchantments for security?" he asked, and Evelyn just shrugged.

"Just because there are spells, doesn't mean that everyone uses them," she said.

There was a moment of silence, before she sighed, "I feel that we have strayed from the original purpose of this meeting… though I have to say that it was a refreshing change… So, now that we know what it is all about, should we start with the writing?" she asked with a smile and soon the two of them were busily scribing on their parchments.


When Remus Lupin entered the reference section, he couldn't help but groan. He hoped that since it was Sunday, and probably the last sunny day of the year, it would be empty. He had no such luck because the moment they entered, Sirius's eyes landed on the two Slytherins sitting by the window, and Remus could feel a headache forming.

"They even study together? What the hell? Can't he just leave her alone for two minutes?! And she is letting him be here?! She never let me study with her because you will just distract me," said Sirius, doing a quite bad imitation of Evelyn.

'So much for his help…' thought Remus as he walked up to a table.

"She doesn't look like she wants him to leave," said Peter.

"She probably doesn't want to hurt poor Snivelly's feelings," mumbled Sirius.

"But, I mean, it looks like she is flirting with him," pointed out Peter.

"Alright, that's enough! Can we just focus on the task at the hand?" interrupted them the annoyed Remus.

"Yes, sorry mate, you are right," sighed Sirius as he walked up to Remus.

As they passed the Gryffindor girls sitting at the next table Remus smiled at them, while Sirius ignored everyone and just sat down on a chair, his eyes glued to the Slytherin girl sitting next to Severus.

"If you continue looking at her like that, she will jinx you out of here… rather come and help me look for some useful books," said Remus.

"I'm good… I will mind the table while Peter helps you with the books," said Sirius, not looking at Remus, who just sighed.

"No offence, mate, but you are being creepy…"

"No, I'm not! I just appreciate beauty… It's not my fault she chose to change her style!" said Sirius in defence.

"Come, before we get kicked out by the librarian…" said Remus, as he took his arm and dragged him to the Magical Creatures section.

While Peter and Remus were busy looking for the books, Sirius just leaned to the opposite bookshelf, his eyes trailing back to Evelyn.

"Mate, seriously, you need to stop…" said Remus, and Sirius just sighed as he turned to the bookshelf.

"I will never understand what she sees in Snivellus…" he mumbled.

"That's none of our business," said Remus, giving Sirius the 'don't argue with me' look.

Sirius just rolled his eyes as he started to browse the bookshelf, though the silence didn't last long.

"Have you seen her? She even put on some makeup! And that cleavage? She never shows so much skin! And to think that she probably did it only for Snivelly…" mumbled Sirius to Remus, who just rolled his eyes.

"Sirius-"

"It's too weird… She was never interested in anyone romantically before… she never talked about anyone… I know! He must have slipped something into her drink! Why else would she act out like this?!"

"You are getting carried away… AGAIN! Maybe she genuinely has feelings for him…" said Remus, looking at the studying Slytherins.

"For Snivelly? What is there to like about that greasy git?" asked Sirius surprised, and Remus just shrugged.

It was then that Peter spoke up, "Well, he is quite smart… and I overheard Marlene and Mary talking about how attractive they find tall, dark, and mysteriousboys," he said quietly.

The two other boys just shot him a surprised look.

"God, please tell me that you weren't spying on Mary again…" groaned Remus, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"No! No! I – I was just passing by…" stuttered Peter, and Remus just sighed.

"What's wrong with you all?" he wondered quietly, before he added, "Snape is friends with Lily Evans, try asking her what's happening with those two,"

"Hm… Snivelly is probably in for the money. The question is not what he sees in her, but what she sees in him…" said Sirius, and Remus just shrugged.

"Girls… who knows what goes on in their mind…" mumbled Remus, and Sirius just sighed.

"Are these books enough? Should we start with the research?" asked Peter, changing the subject.

The boys returned to their table and started with the research, though Sirius was more focused on the scene by the window.

It seemed that Evelyn had some problems with her essay, as she gently touched Severus' arm, asking him something, showing him her parchment. He leaned closer to take a look at it, and Sirius felt his stomach turn into knots.

They were just too close! And she! She looked so beautiful in the sunlight! It wasn't even the makeup that made her prettier, it was the look on her face. The look she had when she was lost in her work; her eyes were full of concentration, while she was softly biting her lower lips as she scribed uncertainly. Not to say that cute little headshake she did when she re-read what she wrote and wasn't satisfied with it.

And now! Now, she is looking at Snivellus like he was the God, asking him for advice, even though she didn't trust anyone enough to show them her work. What he would give to be in his place!

Snivellus looked over the parchment and pointed out a few things. Evelyn gave him a confused look and said something, to which he replied and for a while, the two of them kept looking at each other confused. Then came the moment of enlightenment and the two of them said something at the same time, making Evelyn smile as she returned to her paper. He also saw a small smile forming on Snape's face. He didn't like this. Not one bit…

It seems that luck was on his side because a moment later, Marlene McKinnon walked up to their table.

"Hi, guys! Sorry to interrupt, but do you by any chance have this book about switching called 'Everything you need to know about switching'? We can't seem to find it," she said.

"No, sorry. Try asking Snape and Williams," said Remus, motioning to the Slytherins.

Sirius pretty much ignored what they were saying, however, it only took one mention of them and before anyone could react, he was already standing up.

"I will get it!" he said quickly as he marched up to the Slytherin's table.


"Also, could you take a look at this sentence? Does it make sense?" asked Evelyn, pointing to the last sentence with her quill.

Severus leaned in, reading the sentence, before he said, "Looks right to me,"

Hearing that made Evelyn smile, what for some reason made Severus's heartbeat quicken.

'It's just basic biology,' he reminded himself.

He was in the company of a beautiful girl, and his body was reacting. The fact that she chose to go out of her way for their study date did not help. Neither did the sweet, floral scent of her perfume, which he could smell whenever she leaned closer to show him something. And just when he felt that he could focus on his essay, she would gently touch his arm, or his hand on the table, asking for his attention.

He knew that if it was anyone else, he would have been annoyed, however, when Evelyn asked for help it was about a reasonable concern.

"I apologize, I cannot write essays… My ideas are all over the place. I have too many things I want to say, but it's only a 3-foot essay and can't write about everything," she said the first time she asked him to take a look at the introduction.

And boy she was right. Reading the introduction gave Severus the idea that she wanted to cover too many things regarding the topic, which gave the impression that she hardly knew what she was writing about.

"If I wouldn't know better, I would think that you are just bullshiting. Rather than writing about all these aspects, try to choose the three most common ways of the spell's usage."

"But everyone will probably write about them. I want my essay to show how much I know," said Evelyn, and Severus just sighed.

"You know too much, and it shows. McGonagall is not stupid, she knows how smart you are, but if you don't know what to focus on, your whole essay will be full of these half-ideas and unfinished sentences. Not to say that you will find it impossible to come to a logical conclusion."

It took a while before Evelyn laughed, "You sound like a teacher!"

"Then make sure to remember this,"

"Oh, I see, you would be one of those stern teachers like McGonagall," she said smiling.

"Not that I would ever become a teacher, but if by some unfortunate event, I found myself working in that miserable position I would rather be someone like her than Slughorn," commented Severus, and Evelyn laughed.

"True. Although it makes me wonder, what are your plans after graduation?" asked Evelyn, setting down her quill and putting her chin on her hand.

"No idea," said Severus shortly.

"Well, you still have time to think about it. You know, next year we will receive a lot of pamphlets and have Slughorn give us career advice, so yeah, no worries…" she said, but Severus had the feeling that even though she said that she was quite anxious about it.

"What about you? What are your plans?" he asked.

At that question, Evelyn took a breath, as she turned her attention to her quill, turning it in her hand.

"Oh, um, I would like to be a researcher… or an unspeakable," she said quietly.

Severus took a moment to think it through. Yes, now he knew why she was constantly in the library. Though he couldn't understand why she would feel insecure about sharing her future aspirations.

"Makes sense. It seems to me that you are on the right track. Keep up the good work and you will soon find yourself working in the department of mysteries," he said with a small smile.

Evelyn returned the smile, but before she could have said anything, they were interrupted by Sirius Black walking up to them and clearing his throat.

As Evelyn turned to look at Sirius, Severus shot him a hateful look. Honestly, he was just like a puppy following her around, constantly asking for her attention, and for some reason it made Severus's skin crawl.

"I see you two are diligently working on your essays!" said Sirius, as he took a chair and sat down in front of Evelyn.

"As you can see," said Evelyn motioning to the opened books on the table.

"Speaking of which, do you happen to have this book about switching?"

"We have a lot of books, you have to be more specific,"

"It's called Everything about switching, or something like that," said Sirius.

Evelyn then turned to look at Severus, "I know what I want to write, so I don't need it now. Do you?"

"If it makes him leave sooner, he can have it," spat Severus and Evelyn reached for the book.

"Here," she said as she handled Sirius the book.

"Thank you," smiled Sirius as he took the book, "Although now that I am here, I don't feel like leaving."

Evelyn just shot him a look saying: Don't start anything! which only made him laugh.

"Just kidding!" he said as he raised his hands in defence, "But seriously, there is a part in my essay, from which I just cannot move forward. If you just let me take a look at yours so that I would get the main idea of how it would look –"

"Why do you even bother? You know that I won't," interrupted him Evelyn.

"Why not? You let Sni- Snape here,"

"Yes, because I know that he is smart enough to produce his own work and would not try to copy mine,"

"What? I'm as smart as him, hell, even better!" said Sirius, and Evelyn just raised a brow.

"Should we test it?" she asked smirking.

"There is no need for that," said Sirius quickly.

"Well, too bad. However, I can take a look at the essay and give some tips if you want," suggested Evelyn.

"Uh, yes, I – I see that you are busy, Remus can do that. Thanks for the book," said Sirius as he stood up.

Evelyn just shook her head.

Sirius started to walk away, before he turned around, "By the way, I like the change of style," he smirked as he winked at her, and walked back to his table with the book in his hand.

It was loud enough for everyone to hear and suddenly all eyes were on her. Evelyn's eyes went wide, and her face turned red with embarrassment. While she was busy covering her red face with her hand and looking down at her paper, Severus was glaring at the Gryffindors.

Just when he thought that the so-called study date was going to be a success, of course, Sirius Black had to come and ruin everything. He could have tolerated him if he had only come to ask for the book, but of course, he only used it as an excuse to talk to Evelyn.

It was disgusting how he used the excuse of the essay to make her pay attention to him. He saw the way Black kept looking at Evelyn, ever since they entered the library and he didn't like it at all.

Closing his Advanced Transfiguration book, he put his essay into his bag.

"Let's leave," he said, and Evelyn looked at him surprised.

"But we haven't finished the essay,"

"I'm not in the mood for writing anymore," he said shooting one last look at the smug-looking Sirius Black.

Evelyn just nodded as they quickly gathered their things and left the library.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Evelyn, making Severus stop in his haste to get as far as possible from the Gryffindors.

"Uh…"

"Well, I still have some time before the Runes club so, uh, if you want to, we can kill some time. I don't know, it's still nice outside, maybe we can take a stroll on the grounds, or sit by the lake, or whatever," said Evelyn uncertainly.

"The lake sounds good,"

They walked in silence for a couple of minutes.

As they walked Severus was trying to figure out what was that about Sirius Black's act in the library that made him so irritated. With their history, he couldn't stand the sight of him, but he could somehow tolerate having him in the room. It was only when he sat down and started to talk to Evelyn that he started to lose his cool. His last comment has been just oil on the fire, and after seeing Evelyn blush like that he just couldn't stay in the room.

After a couple of minutes, Evelyn spoke up, "I feel that I should apologize for him. You know Sirius, he always has to be at the centre of attention,"

"It was inevitable," said Severus shortly.

"I know," sighed Evelyn, "still, I wish he could behave normally at least once. You know, without all of that flirting, as if I was one of his mates,"

Hearing that Severus just raised a brow as he looked at Evelyn, "Well if that's what you aim for, this new style is not going to work in your favour,"

Hearing him say that a small blush formed on Evelyn's face and she opened her mouth to reply, though she couldn't form the words.

"W-well, I will let you know that I am not planning to change my style. This – this was just an experiment," she said, turning her reddening face away.

"An experiment?" asked Severus intrigued.

'She only dressed like that for you,' came the thought in his mind, but he quickly let go of it.

'Tch, that's absurd,' he thought.

"Exactly! See, I just wanted to know if you found me attractive in some way so that it would make things easier, in the long run, you know, to make our relationship look more real," she said, still refusing to look at him.

"I see…" said Severus, before he took a deep breath and said, "Well, not like it was an unwelcome change, although I prefer you acting the way you usually do. You have quite a number of attractive traits, so there is no need for this," he said motioning to her from head to toe.

Evelyn just stood there shocked. She looked at Severus, with her mouth open in surprise.

"You – you think so?" she asked quietly.

"Usually I don't say things I don't mean," he said, looking her in the eyes.

Hearing that Evelyn smiled a large smile, "You probably won't believe it, but this is the best compliment I have ever received," she said as she started to walk again.

"Then you must have received only awful compliments through your life," said Severus, making Evelyn laugh.

"You know, for someone so quiet you can be quite charming when you want to be. I have to be on my guard, otherwise, I might actually fall in love with you," laughed Evelyn and it was Severus's turn to blush.

"Don't be ridiculous," he mumbled embarrassed.

With that, the study date turned into a lakeside hangout, where the two Slytherins talked for a while before Evelyn had to leave for her club activities.

"Well, I guess I will see you around," she said with a smile at the Entrance Hall.

"We are having supper together, I suspect," said Severus, and Evelyn nodded happily before she remembered.

"Oh Merlin, we are having supper together," she groaned, and Severus shot her a surprised look.

"You will see… They are going to be so annoying…" she mumbled.

"Too bad, it's none of their business," said Severus sternly.

"Well, either way, I really enjoyed myself. We are a good team, I hope it won't be the last time that we study together,"

"It was a nice afternoon, I have no objections to having more dates like this,"

Hearing that Evelyn smiled widely before she excused herself and walked up the Grand Staircase, while Severus walked down to the dungeons.

Entering the common room, he found his roommates sitting by the fire with Evelyn's friends and a couple of other Slytherins. Upon seeing him, they all smirked and had a knowing look on their face making him quite uncomfortable.

"Welcome back, Severus!" shouted Mulciber, as he stood up, walked up to him, and put an arm around his shoulder.

He knew then that Evelyn had nothing to fear during supper because they were not going to let him leave the room until he told them what they wanted to hear.