If Severus had to pick his favourite common room, it would be the Slytherin common room. While he has never set foot in any of the other common rooms, judging by how the other houses described theirs, it was easy to pick a favourite. While others would say that it was too dark and spooky, he found beauty in the way the green light of the lanterns softly enlightened the room, giving it a mysterious aura, not to say that it was never too crowded, so he could always peacefully read in the far corner away from the chatter near the fireplace.

Even though it was one of his favourite places in the castle, now he would rather be anywhere else. Hell, he would even go as far as enduring Black trying to chat up Evelyn in the library than deal with his housemates.

The moment Mulciber walked up to him and placed his arm around his shoulders, he knew that there was no way he could walk away without telling them what they wanted to hear.

'Not like there is anything to tell,' he thought, 'we just studied. That's normal. Not something the others would find interest in…'

As Mulciber pulled him along to their little group sitting on the sofas near the fire, Severus could feel his stomach tighten. Maybe it was the way they kept looking at him, or maybe the fact that he didn't feel comfortable talking about himself and his relationships with others, especially with such a large group of people in the common room where anyone could overhear.

"Now, Severus, I believe that we have something to discuss," said Rosier, and for a moment Severus thought that he might be talking about something else, however, then he added, "we are friends, aren't we? And friends usually share important information among themselves, right?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Severus with furrowed eyebrows.

"Well, it seems that you have been hiding secrets, my friend. Like your relationship with Williams," said Rosier, and for some reason the green light of the dungeon only made him look scarier.

"It's nobody's business," said Severus shortly.

"Oh, no it's not, but as friends, we should know these things about each other. You know, if you don't share these kinds of information by yourself, you can't expect us to share ours with you," said Rosier, and Severus sighed.

"What do you want to know?"

Hearing that Rosier smirked, "Sit down, sit down. Why don't you start at the beginning? How did that happen? If I remember correctly you haven't even talked that much, though today in the library you seemed to get on very well."

As he said that Avery and Mulciber snickered, and Severus' eyes went wide.

"You spied on us?"

"Don't be so surprised. Of course, we were going to make sure that you behaved," said Lucinda, and Severus just raised an eyebrow.

"But you did very well," smiled Bonnie, who seemed to be the only friendly face in their group right now.

At that, almost everyone burst out laughing.

"Yes, it seems that you should be the one we should be looking out for in that relationship. You seemed ready to faint," laughed Lucinda, and Severus's face lost the little colour it had.

'They saw it!' he thought horrified.

"Relax, Severus, I was just playing with you." said Rosier smiling, "But really, how did that happen? I mean, Williams went all out trying to seduce you,"

Hearing that brought back the memories of Evelyn walking out from the loo looking like the women in Avery's magazines and Severus could feel his face heat up.

"Uh-" he said but it seemed that it was all that could come out of his mind from the embarrassment.

He looked at Regulus for help, but it seemed that for some reason he was just as uncomfortable as he was.

"Leave him alone, you can see that he is shy…" said Bonnie trying to save the situation, "And just so you know it was Evelyn who made the first move," she said, and Rosier, Avery, and Mulciber let out a low whistle.

"Woah! Now, that's a true Slytherin. She wants something, and she goes for it!" laughed Rosier.

"So, she just walked up to you and asked you to be her boyfriend?" asked Avery confused.

"Pretty much," said Severus, as he thought back to their first meeting about the agreement.

"And you agreed? Just like that?" asked Mulciber surprised and Severus nodded.

"That's absurd," said Avery.

"Yeah, Snape is not the type to go with something like this," agreed Mulciber, and for a moment Severus thought that they were exposed.

However, he was once again saved, and it confirmed the inkling he had that Evelyn's friends knew about their arrangement.

"Use that pretty head of yours, will you? Who would reject such an offer? I mean Evelyn is not only pretty and rich, but she is also smart and can be quite cute. I think they have a lot in common and will make a nice couple." said Lucinda surprising everyone, "Just don't tell her I said that…"

"Well, whatever is the case, as long as you are happy, we are happy too. Just remember that if you are in a need of assistance you can count on us," said Rosier looking at Severus pointedly, and he had the feeling that he wasn't talking about relationship problems.

Severus only nodded as he had no idea what to say.

"Well, let's take a walk before supper, shall we?" asked Rosier, as he stood up.

"Uh, why don't you boys go ahead, and we will join you shortly," said Emma.

"Yes, we have something to talk about with Severus, here," added Lucinda.

The boys looked at Severus, before deciding that it was not worth getting in a fight with the girls, so they left.

The girls and Severus watched them leave, and after they were out of the common room, the girls turned to Severus, and the air seemed to freeze.

"Listen here, Snape! We helped you out because we want to help Evelyn," said Lucinda.

"if she believes that having you as her boyfriend will help her so be it," added Emma.

"But you know, if you try to pull something, anything, we will be forced to take steps against you. And it's the last thing you want," finished Bonnie with a cold voice.

"As long as you know your boundaries and make our friend happy there will be no problems," said Lucinda, before she stood up.

"Don't take it wrong, we have nothing against you, but that doesn't mean that we are going to let you play with our friend," said Bonnie, before the girls left, leaving Severus to his thoughts.


While Severus was having this conversation in the common room, Evelyn was busy in the loo washing away the makeup and buttoning up her shirt. Looking in the mirror she felt quite cheerful.

"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, and even if he didn't believe it, it was one of the best compliments Evelyn ever received.

Being who she was, she had to look a certain way to show off her status and not bring shame on her family. She learned to walk in heels, paint her face, style her clothes sooner than other girls her age. Her mother often said, "Fine feathers make fine birds." and Evelyn learned very quickly that that was the way the wizarding world worked. As long as a family appeared to be wealthy, well-mannered, and successful in public, nobody cared what went on in the background.

Ever since she could remember, she was surrounded by people telling her how to behave. "You need to be more social.", "You need to smile more.", "You need to wear more make up.", "You should style your hair this way.", "You should wear dresses more.", "You should wear more jewellery." and so on. For Evelyn, it seemed that there was a never-ending list of things she had to do in order to appear in a good light in other people's eyes.

While Evelyn was lost in her thoughts, a group of girls entered the bathroom, making Evelyn realize where she was and what she was doing. Just as she took one last look in the mirror, she heard a voice from behind her.

"Well, isn't it a bit cliché? The vain pureblood girl taking her time before club activities to look at herself in the mirror!" laughed Marlene McKinnon.

Evelyn just sighed, looking at Marlene in the mirror, "The fact that your group decided to corner me in the bathroom is more cliché than anything I would ever do. What are you going to do? Grab my hair and push my head down in the toilet?" she asked sneering.

"Huh, it doesn't seem to be a bad idea," said Marlene, as she took a step closer to Evelyn, who turned around pointing her wand at her.

"Try it,"

"No, no! We – we didn't come here to fight. Please, put your wand down," said Lily Evans, stepping between the girls.

"What do you want from me?" asked Evelyn, looking at the Gryffindor girls, her wand still pointed at Marlene.

"We – we just want to talk," said Lily.

"Talk?" asked Evelyn laughing.

"Yes, talk. Could you lower your wand, please?" said Lily.

Evelyn sighed but lowered her wand.

"And what would you want to talk to me about?" she asked.

"Uh, we have seen you with Severus in the library,"

"Congratulations, your observation skills are flawless," said Evelyn, and Marlene took a step, but she was held back by Lily.

"I think, it would be better if you girls waited for me outside," she said.

The girls shot her a look of surprise, so she added, "Nothing will happen, we will just talk,"

After they left the bathroom, Lily took a breath ready to speak her mind, however, she was interrupted by Evelyn, who was leaning against the sink with her arms crossed.

"I know what you want to say. You want me to stay away from Severus,"

"I – no. I mean…" Lily started, a bit surprised that Evelyn referred to him by his first name,

"I get that you two are friends, however, it's none of your business who he spends time with – in a friendly manner or otherwise. Like it or not, Severus is an interesting person and sooner or later there will be girls hanging around trying to get on with him and you can't do anything about it."

"I know that," said Lily, "but what I don't understand is why would someone like you be interested in Severus. He has nothing you would be interested in."

"If you don't mind, I will be the judge of that," said Evelyn, as she turned to leave.

"I do mind!" said Lily, "If you are going to get close to him only to use him and later leave him broken-hearted it's my problem, and I cannot let you do that, so, I will have to ask you to let him be. He… he has enough on his plate without you lot giving him false hope and wrong ideas,"

Hearing that Evelyn turned around.

"Severus is intelligent enough to make his own choices," she said, turning around and leaving the bathroom.


After the club activities ended and Evelyn was walking to the Great Hall, she couldn't help but think about what Lily Evans said. Of course, she expected her to approach her, but when she said that Severus had enough to worry about, it made Evelyn curious.

Severus was an interesting person. Quiet, smart, sarcastic, but there was something about him that intrigued Evelyn. Was Bonnie right when she said that girls are attracted to mysterious boys?

Wait a minute! Was she even attracted to him?

Just like Emma has pointed out before, he was not particularly attractive with his long greasy hair in his face, and his large hooked nose. Not to say that his body language said that he wanted to be left alone. No, he was far from attractive, yet the way he talked and thought made him all the more interesting.

'Can I be attracted to someone's intelligence?' asked herself, the teenage girl, as she walked down the stairs.

As she neared the Great Hall, still in deep thoughts, she ran into her group of Slytherins, who just entered the castle.

"Already finished with the club activities?" asked Bonnie, and Evelyn just nodded.

"How was it?" asked Emma.

"Same old. I mean, it's the Rune club what would you expect?!" laughed Evelyn.

"Yeah, you people are weird. Why would you waste two hours of your life, every week, with translating runes?" said Lucinda.

"The majority of books about the Magic of the Old Ones are written in runes and have yet to be translated. It is said that the magic we use today is just a small portion of what our predecessors were able to do," commented Regulus, and everyone turned to him surprised.

He just shrugged, as he said, "I like History,"

"Merlin, we are surrounded by nerds," sighed Lucinda, as they entered the Great Hall.

During the supper both Evelyn and Severus often looked at the other, thinking about later saying something about the talk they had with their friends but decided otherwise.


As they were leaving the Great Hall, Evelyn was stopped by none other than Remus Lupin. After she sent her fellow Slytherins to the common room, she turned to the Gryffindor boy.

"So, you finally gathered the courage to talk to me alone?"

"Uh, yes, sorry about that," he said awkwardly, referring to the scene at the greenhouses.

"Don't worry about it, but since you are talking to me now, I take that you have picked a time when we could meet," said Evelyn.

"Yes, I – I don't want to cause you inconvenience, so I can meet you whenever you have time for me!" he said quickly, "The sooner the better!"

"O-okay… Hmm… How about tomorrow? After your divination? I have two hours to spare. Does that work for you?"

"Yes!" he said happily.

"Alright, so, let's meet in dungeon six. It should be empty at that time," said Evelyn, and Remus nodded.

"Okay, goodnight Lupin," said Evelyn, as she left to the common room, wondering how tomorrow's meeting with Lupin will go.


The next morning was uneventful. The Slytherins had breakfast together, then went to Potions. Afterwards, some of them left for divination. The others were left to do whatever they pleased, which meant that Evelyn was reading in the library, as usual.

After the bell that signalled the end of the class rang, she made her way to meet Remus Lupin in the dungeons.

"At this point, I am not even surprised anymore," she said, as she entered the dungeon, only to come face to face with a group of Gryffindors.

"Sorry," said Remus, before he was interrupted by James Potter, who was sitting on a stool.

"Well, you can't expect us to let him meet you alone, with your reputation and all," he said shooting a scorning look at Evelyn, who just sighed, closed the door and cast a silencing spell.

"We wouldn't want anyone to overhear us, now, would we?" she said, seeing the confused look on Lupin's, and the panicked look on Pettigrew's face.

As Evelyn sat down on a stool, the Gryffindors expected her to take out her materials, however, they were surprised as she just looked at them expectantly.

"So, what do you want to know?" she asked.

"Uh, well, Sirius mentioned that you are researching werewolves," said Remus.

"Lycanthropy, but yes," corrected him Evelyn.

"Lycanthropy, and we are interested in what you have found so far,"

"Nothing you cannot read for yourself," said Evelyn simply.

"Evie, this is serious," said Sirius, and Evelyn just sighed, before she looked at the Gryffindors.

"Very well, I'm not going to tell you everything, but if you have to know I am researching Lycanthropy as an illness, which is a biological reaction and therefore theoretically should have a cure,"

"You are looking for a cure?" asked Sirius surprised.

"… You are just wasting your time. There is no cure..." said Remus darkly.

"Just because we haven't found it yet, it doesn't mean that there isn't one," said Evelyn simply.

"But – but, Evie, surely if there was one, they would have found it by now," tried to reason Sirius.

"Oh, yes, because there are so many in-depth studies about werewolves," rolled her eyes Evelyn, "the ones we use in school are pretty much useless. They teach you how to defend yourself and some basic information, however, we have no idea what actually happens with the transformed wizard. Do they get some wolfish tendencies, grow stronger, develop a liking to rare meat?" she asked before she said dreamily, "I would love to study a turned wizard. I wonder what differences I would find in their blood if I were to compare it with ours… But, of course, it's still in the future!" said Evelyn waking up from her daydream.

"You – you believe that you could find a cure, simply by studying them?" asked James Potter puzzled.

"Of course not, but it could help greatly. There are also some Old Myths worth exploring," said Evelyn and Sirius just rolled his eyes, but before he could have opened his mouth Evelyn spoke up "I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT THE STUPID SILVER BULLETS!"

"Then?" asked Remus Lupin interested.

"Wolfsbane," said Evelyn simply, but seeing the confused look on the Gryffindors' faces she sighed.

"Wolfsbane is also known as Aconite, and its flowers and root are used in potions, however, the leaves are highly toxic. In medieval Europe, muggles used it for hunting, mainly wolves, so that's how it got its name. They also used it to poison water in times of war and so on. However, it also has some strong magical properties and was used in pain-relieving potions, as well as ointments. The root and the leaves can also be burned as incense for protection, or during funerals as an offering to death so that the dead ones can rest peacefully. You can find that it has some kind of connection to werewolves in both the muggle and magical literature, although the majority of studies are centuries old and not translated. I believe that if there is a cure, it's in one of the old texts, but who knows if it actually works," explained Evelyn.

"So that's what you do? Translate books?" asked Sirius.

"Uh, I… I also started to work on a potion that could hypothetically repress the wolf during the full moon, but for it to work it would have to be consumed daily because as I said before it's extremely poisonous so only a small dose can be used in the potion…"

"So, that's your cure? Poison them?!" shouted James Potter.

"Of course not! Other ingredients would ease the poison's effects on wizards. But as I said it's still a work in progress. Do you have any idea how difficult is to work on something without a test subject? Almost impossible! So, don't give me that look, James Potter, when you are just sitting there thinking that you are the King of Hogwarts, while you are just wasting your time with silly pranks." said Evelyn as she stood up.

"Evie-" started Sirius, however, he was interrupted by Remus Lupin.

"And what if you had a test subject? Do you seriously believe that you could find a cure?" he asked.

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have wasted almost a year with this project," replied Evelyn.

"Remus-" looked at his friend James with caution.

"What if I could get you one?" asked Lupin, looking Evelyn straight in the eye.

"Well…" said the surprised girl, "it would help things, but still, where would you get a bitten wizard? Not to say that I cannot actually study him now."

"Why?"

"First of all, I lack the tools, and second, I still lack sufficient knowledge. I know things that I have learned from the books and I set some hypotheses, but I am still a student! I lack experience and knowledge." explained Evelyn.

"So, that's it? You are not going to help us?" asked James.

"Help? I never said anything about helping you. I came because I was interested in what you wanted. And now I know," she said looking at Lupin.

"Evie-" started Sirius, but he was interrupted by Evelyn.

"All I can say is that if things go right, and after graduation, I get my dream job, I will contact you regarding this research, but I cannot do anything until then."

"But that's years from now!" said Remus, and Evelyn just shrugged, "You – you don't understand! You could be right! It could work! Just – just continue working on the potion and I will help you any way you want me to!" he said desperately.

"No, it's you who doesn't understand. Aconite is highly poisonous, and I will not take responsibility for killing someone with a faulty potion!" said Evelyn sternly, "If you want to do it so badly, study up, try to come up with a cure yourself, but then again who would brew it? You? Sirius? Or maybe Potter? No offence, but you don't know anything about potions. Although it's none of my business. Do you wish to die? Go ahead, but leave me out of it." she said, as she opened the door.

"We – we will tell Dumbledore!" shouted Peter Pettigrew, making Evelyn pause, and slowly turn around.

"Oh, will you now?" she asked, as she took out her wand, to which James Potter was quick to point his at her.

"No, no, stop." said Remus, "We didn't come here to fight."

"No, we didn't." said Sirius slowly, before looking Evelyn right in the eyes, "But we will if it comes to it. Evelyn, you either help Remus or we will go to Dumbledore telling him everything about your project, so he can take it and give it to an actual potioneer. It might be the only way for Remus…" he said desperately hoping for her to understand.

However, Evelyn just let out a sarcastic laugh.

"Hah, you are such a goddamn hypocrite. Attacking me for standing up to my housemates, when you are pointing your wand at me now!" she said darkly.

"Please, try to understand," said Sirius.

"Oh, I do. Well, go on, attack me!" she said lowering her wand, taunting Sirius, "For I have no intention to brew a faulty and potentially lethal potion, nor am I giving up my research."

As she said that Sirius lowered his wand. "Evie-"

"I said what I said!" she shouted, before she looked at Remus, "Contrary to the popular belief I am not heartless. I will not say a word to anyone. It's not my secret to share. I cannot promise you that I will find a cure, for there might not be one, however, IF I get into the position to work on it, I can give you my word that I will contact you. That's all I can do now." she said turning around.

"Oh, and before I forget," she said turning back at the last minute, "if you decide to go to the Headmaster and I will lose my research, I will make sure that even if they find the cure, you will never get your hands on it."

With that, she left the dungeon leaving the disappointed Gryffindor boys behind.