Hi guys!
I know I promised more frequent updates, but then somehow that awful Covid broke into my house and I was busy fighting the virus and taking care of my family. Don't worry thanks to my vicious cleaning and healthy cooking, we managed to win the fight and we are all healthy now. The only downside is that now I don't want to see garlic soup for a long time.

Anyway here is the next chapter, I hope that you guys will like it.

Take care,

Victoria


CHAPTER 16

Dunderheads and idiots

To say that Severus Snape was surprised by the sight that welcomed him when he arrived in the Great Hall was an understatement. Judging by how Evelyn left them yesterday he didn't expect to see her at breakfast, especially not chatting and laughing with her friends. It was very strange, considering that it wasn't even 24 hours that she almost "fell to her death".

Severus just shook his head. Yesterday was a strange day. He could understand that she wanted to forget about it…. Even though for him it was one of the greatest deeds that he had ever done in his life.

'Not that it matters anyway…' he thought as he embraced the fact that he just had to give himself a pat on the back and move on. He was an idiot to think that anything would change.

Still, no matter how hard he tried to pretend that it didn't bother him, there was a part of him that wanted people to praise him. If not everyone, then at least a certain someone.

"Woah, Sev, I didn't know you had it in you. Maybe I was wrong about you," said the red-haired witch, as she looked at him in awe.

It was just a daydream, but it was enough for his eyes to seek out the Gryffindor sitting by her friends. She was looking at the Slytherin table while talking to her friends. Then, when she felt his gaze on her, she turned to look at him, but rather than giving him a small smile and a wave, like usual, she looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

'What is this about?' though Severus confused, but a moment later Lily uncharacteristically forced a smile on her face and Severus just nodded back.

'Whatever, she will probably tell me later…' he thought as he followed his roommates, to sit by the girls.

"You seem to be in a better mood today," he said quietly as he sat down next to Evelyn.

"A good night's sleep does wonders," smiled Evelyn.

The rest of the breakfast passed uneventfully. The others made small talk while they ate, but Severus could feel Lily looking at them more than usual. When their eyes met, he just raised an eyebrow in question, but she just looked away.

"What are your plans for today? We have a lot of free time after Charms," said Bonnie.

"I am going to the library," stated Evelyn and suddenly the others turned to look expectantly at Severus.

"Same," he said curtly, and Evelyn turned to give him a surprised look, so with a sigh, he added, "I still have to finish the essay for McGonnagal,"

"Oh, right, we haven't managed to finish the essay…" mumbled Evelyn, and the other fourth years just groaned.

"Now that you mention it, we should probably start working on that essay, too," said Rosier, looking at Avery and Mulciber.

"Yes, we haven't even started yet…" groaned Emma.

Lucinda just sighed, "Well, I planned to meet with a couple of friends, but if everyone is going then guess I will go too…"

Bonnie just excitedly clapped her hands, "Great, we can have a study session together! If we put our minds together, we will finish in no time!"

It seemed that Bonnie Traver's positivity was contagious as suddenly the thought of going to the library didn't seem to be as tedious as before.

However, while Bonnie continued to cheer up the others, Severus saw Evelyn's smile turn into a frown. Before he knew it, the smile was back, but he was sure that while the idea of working in the library became more and more appealing to the others, Evelyn just lost all her interest in it.


After charms, the little group went to the library, where for everyone's surprise Evelyn quickly took charge and assigned a task to almost everyone.

"Alright, in three short hours I have Runes, and I would like to finish my assignment as well as have lunch, so here is how we are going to do this," she said and proceeded with putting them into groups and send them in search of the books and magazines they needed.

Severus just watched amazed as everyone left without a word to complete their tasks. The thing with Slytherins was that most of them were natural leaders. However, when people with a strong will to lead have to work together, more often then not, it leads to chaos and disorder. For this reason, Severus expected at least Lucinda Talkalot to comment on who made Evelyn the leader, or question why they should do what she said, yet there was no comment from her or the others for that matter. Not a comment, an eye roll, a frown. Nothing.

"How unusual…" he mumbled.

"Hm?" turned to him Evelyn as she took out her things from her bag.

"I have never seen them this compliant before,"

"Oh, that's only because they want us to help them with their essay. They expect us to provide all the information they need so that they will only have to write the essay. Or at least Lucy, Mulciber, and Avery do. But don't worry, I intend to make them work for their grade," smirked Evelyn.

Severus wanted to ask more but soon the others returned and Evelyn looked through the books that they have brought.

"So, where do we start?" looked Lucinda expectantly at Evelyn.

"Well, first you should look at the instructions. What you need to write, how long, key points, and such. After that, I think we could start with some revision from the lectures so that we can make sure that we are all on the same page,"

"Are we ever going to be on the same page?" asked Lucinda laughing, before she added, "I have the feeling that you, Snape, and Rosier are always going to be miles ahead of us, dunderheads,"

"Oh, cheer up Lucy, we are all here so that we can help out each other," smiled Bonnie.

Choosing to ignore her, Evelyn started to ask questions from their housemates, making sure to explain what they might have missed.

Listening to the others, trying and failing to answer basic questions that were covered during the lessons, it soon became evident why the two of them worked so good together. Since they paid attention during the lessons, they already had a basic understanding of what switching is about, so now they only learned additional information that helped to deepen their understanding of the topic. Sadly, their classmates were idiots.

With a sight, he listened to Evelyn trying to explain to Mulciber and Bonnie how exactly cross-species switching worked, for what seemed to be the millionth time.

"I cannot explain it in even simpler terms. Severus help me out, please," sighed Evelyn.

"Me?" asked the surprised boy.

"Of course, you have a good grasp of the topic,"

'I might give it a try…' thought Snape, even though he doubted that he would be the one who miraculously taught Mulciber the secret of switching.

Snape tried to explain it as simple as possible, and after a while, Evelyn and even Rosier jumped in to clarify and simplify things for Mulciber.

"Oh, now I think I understand," said Mulciber.

"Really?" asked the exhausted, but doubtful Slytherins.

"I am telling you that I understand, can we just move on?"

With that Evelyn took the reigns once again, but rather than asking their peers to choose three of the usages from the books she asked them what they would use the spell for.

While the others discussed the usage and the moral viewpoint of the switching spells, Severus went quiet once again.

He was exhausted. He knew that Mulciber was not the brightest student, but this session really took a tool. Not to say that Travers was very against the idea of cross-species switches and kept asking questions that made his head spin.

As he looked at Evelyn, he wondered, how she could listen attentively to the others and give them suggestions.

Then again, she was probably used to being surrounded by people, but personally, Severus felt that he had socialized enough with the Slytherins for the day.

Thankfully, after a while, Evelyn looked at her watch and determined that it was time to start working on the essays.

"At any other time, I would have you study the books, but today we have no time for that, so listen carefully," she said as she told the others which book contained which possibly useful information.

To say that the Slytherins were surprised was an understatement.

"Woah, I didn't think that you would just flat out tell us," said Emma.

"Frankly, I have neither the time nor the energy to make it more difficult for you. Maybe next time. Now, get to work, because I don't want to miss lunch," said Evelyn sternly and at that moment the Slytherins started working diligently on their essays.

Severus caught Evelyn's eyes and the girl just sighed and shook her head at their housemates' making it clear that she was probably as tired of them as Severus. For some reason it almost made him smile.


If Severus thought that the writing part was going to go easily, he was mistaken. It was just after he and Evelyn finished their essays when Bonnie asked Evelyn for help in her essay. While Evelyn asked Severus to take a last look at her essay, she turned to Bonnie.

"I know what I want to say I just don't know how I should explain it," she said, and the girls started to work.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, Avery was constantly asking Rosier for help with spelling and punctuation.

On top of that Talkalot and Mulciber started to use both Evelyn and Severus as some kind of translators asking, "How do you say this in academic language?".

Snape just sighed as he closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. He could feel someone looking at him, so he opened his eyes to see Evelyn quietly giggling with Bonnie.

He raised an eyebrow in question, but Evelyn just shook her head.


"We should do this more," said Lucinda as she hopped down the stairs cheerfully, leading the small group to the Great Hall for lunch.

"Yes, I have a good feeling about this essay," smiled Bonnie as she walked behind her friend.

The small group seemed to be in a much better mood, save for the couple walking with their head down, at the back of the group.

"We need to find smarter friends," said Evelyn quietly.

"Agreed. They are complete dunderheads," said Snape.

They walked in silence for a while, but then Evelyn let out a small laugh as she said, "You looked so done with them. I was just waiting for the moment when you would jump up and tell them that you can't take this anymore, and dramatically leave the scene,"

"I have thought about that…" mumbled Severus and Evelyn just giggled.

However, before she could have replied someone called her name. They turned around to see a group of students walking towards them.

Evelyn told the others to go ahead.

"Play along," she said to Severus, while she took hold of his hand.

At first, he was surprised, but seeing Evelyn forcing a smile on her face, while looking at the group, he started to understand what was happening, so he laced his fingers together with hers, just like he saw the older students do it.

Even though it was Evelyn's idea, her face was now red with embarrassment, and while Severus could feel his heart rate quicken, he couldn't help but smirk.

The way she blushed and looked the other way while cleaning her throat was almost cute.

"Evelyn! We didn't see you all day! We just wanted to ask how you are doing," said an older girl.

At that moment Severus wondered whether Avery was right when he called him antisocial. For some reason, he couldn't recognize anyone in that group.

"Thank you for your concern, Bertha," said Evelyn smiling, "but thankfully nothing bad happened, thanks to Severus, here," she said, motioning to Severus with her other hand.

And just like that Severus became the centre of attention as the girls inspected him.

"Hm? He doesn't look very strong," frowned Bertha, and Snape almost rolled his eyes, but Evelyn just laughed.

"He might not look like it, but he is strong enough. Why just ask Emma, she will tell you how disappointed she is that he didn't try out for the Quidditch team,"

"Oh, is that so?" asked another girl, while two others at the back started to whisper to each other.

Evelyn just nodded before she added, "And even if he wasn't strong enough, he is rather clever, so I am sure that he would have come up with another way to help me,"

"Woah, it looks like you think very highly of him," snickered another girl in the back, but Evelyn just smiled.

"I do. There are many great things about Severus," she said, and Severus could feel his face heat up.

The girls were all smirking, obviously waiting for Evelyn to list the things she liked, but Evelyn just smirked as she said, "too bad, you see I'm rather possessive, I wouldn't like you, girls, to take a liking to him, so we will have to leave at it today,"

The girls gave out a sound of disappointment, but Evelyn just laughed as motioned to Severus to go.

They turned around and continued their way downstairs to the Great Hall.

When there was enough distance between the girls and them Evelyn let go of his hand.

"Sorry about that," she said, while her face was red once again, "it's just that Bertha Jorkins and her group is very… um… chatty. So, I thought that we could use them to spread some rumours…"

Severus just nodded, before he gathered his nerve and said quietly, "It was the smart thing to do, however, I don't think that many people will believe them if they only see us holding hands around her. Not to say that with that blush you give it away, easily…"

Hearing that Evelyn's whole face went scarlet, and Severus almost laughed at the embarrassed look on her face.

"Hey! Um… yes… well…" she tried to find her words, but it seemed that her brain was too embarrassed to function properly.

"It's not like there is a reason to blush like this, it's just holding hands," he said, trying to sound nonchalant, while his heart was still beating faster.

"Well, sorry about that, it's not like I can just stop being bashful from one moment to another!" huffed Evelyn.

"Well, maybe you should practise," retorted Severus.

"What?" looked at him Evelyn confused, and it was his turn to blush.

"Forget it," he said quickly and turned to leave.

He couldn't believe what he had suggested to her. Did spending time with idiots turn him into one?

Evelyn quickly caught up with him.

"Slow down. Actually, now that I think about it that's a pretty good suggestion. So, what do you say?" she asked as she jumped ahead of him and held out her hand, "Can I hold your hand?"


Severus Snape was not fond of 'cute' things. While Lily would melt over puppies, or cute accessories or other things, he just couldn't see the appeal. Not to say that if he had to describe Evelyn Williams with one word, he wouldn't even think of using the word 'cute'.

Yet, at that moment, when she stood in front of him, blushing and smiling softly, the only thing that came to his mind was the word 'cute' and he felt his face redden.

"Don't be stupid," he mumbled as he took hold of her hand, and led them down the stairs while looking the other way.

Evelyn just laughed and intertwined her fingers with his.


They walked in silence for a while, both of them trying to get over their embarrassment.

"Say, Severus, do you play a musical instrument?" asked Evelyn, looking at their hands.

"Hm, no. Why?"

"Just wondering. You have nice slender hands and 'piano player' fingers," she said, and Snape rolled his eyes.

Oh, yes. His girly hands. Of course, she would comment on them.

His father often commented on his girly hands. Then again, his father worked all his life, so his hands were not only bigger but also very rough.

His mother would say that there is nothing wrong with his hands. He inherited her genes. He was just skinny like his mother.

Lily would laugh and say that his hands reminded her of something out of a horror movie with how long and bonny his fingers were.

"I just think that they suit you. I am sure that if you played the piano or when you brew potions it looks elegant,"

Snape just shot her a confused look.

Elegant was not the word people associated with him.

Then again, Evelyn was not what people would call cute either.

Maybe they were both being stupid.

There was another moment of silence, while he thought about how to respond, but Evelyn beat him.

"You know, now that I think about it, if you were to dress in a more academic fashion, I bet that the girls would be all over you," said Evelyn, lost in thoughts.

Severus just rolled his eyes.

'Yeah, sure… as if…' he thought.

"Is that what you like?" he asked, but she just shrugged.

"I don't care about fashion. To me as long as someone is clean, and doesn't wear something hideous, I am good. Then again, fashion is very useful when determining what kind of person, I am talking to. It helps me to understand how they want to present themselves to the world. Other than that, I think caring too much about fashion is very superficial. There are more important things to care about than the way someone dresses."

Severus just nodded while he thought about what he heard.

"That's unusual coming from someone whose parent works in the fashion industry," he said, and Evelyn just laughed.

"I say that exactly because of my mother. I learned very early that looks can be changed in a second. My mother likes to change her appearance quite a lot. Last time I saw her she was a witch with long reddish blonde hair but knowing her she now has an absolutely different style than a month ago. She changes her hairstyle, hair colour, dressing style and accessories every month… So, yes, for me looks mean very little,"

Snape watched Evelyn for a while, and to his surprise, she seemed to be genuine.

Was this why she chose him?

Did she think that she could fix his looks if needed?

Snape was not blind. He saw that his skin was too pale. His nose was too big. His hair was always in his face. Not to say that it got greasy so quick.

He knew that he was very far from being attractive.

But if she was indeed telling the truth did that mean that she didn't saw him as ugly as he was?

He couldn't help but remember the time when she patched him up after his fight with Sirius.

"There you go! Handsome like before," she said, and Snape didn't pay it much attention at the time.

Did that mean that she didn't find him unattractive? Did she think that he was average?

Or maybe she even found him somewhat okay-looking?

And if she did… did that change anything?

Well… that explained why she wasn't repulsed by being close to him. Or why she wasn't fawning over Black just like the rest of the school.

While Snape's thoughts went wild, the couple neared the Great Hall. However, at the entrance, they run into a group of girls.

"Ah, Sev, I have been looking for you," said a voice that instantly pulled him from his thoughts.

"Lily," he breathed as he quickly let go of Evelyn's hand.

"I will go ahead," said Evelyn as she went to sit by her friends.

Lily's friends said that they will wait for her in the common room, leaving the childhood friends alone.

"Uh, I thought that we could go over that essay for Transfiguration," said Lily, and Snape groaned.

"No. I can't go back to the library today. We can go to the lake, sit in the courtyard, an empty classroom, anything, but don't make me go back to the library," he said.

Lily's eyes went wide in surprise.

"What? What happened? You like the library,"

"I spent 3 hours there surrounded by idiots. I think I might have PTSD," said Severus seriously.

Lily just rolled her eyes, but laughed, "You are being too dramatic. Fine, then after you are done here, come get me and we will figure out something,"

Snape nodded and went to sit with the other Slytherins.

He was quickly pulled into a conversation with Rosier and Regulus. Shame, if he paid more attention, he would have seen Lily standing in the doorway, watching the Slytherins worriedly.