eeee, I made this chapter in a spurt of motivation I think it is good. enjoy.

Severus leaned slightly against the greenhouse as he waited for Professor Sprout to open the doors for the lesson, the last lesson of the day for everyone before the students got to roam. An advanced herbology book opened in his hands as he scanned the pages lazily. He had read this volume already but the even more advanced ones were forbidden to him. He really needed to ask Professor Sprout for a signature to get them lest he died of boredom reading the required text.

He had vacated as close to the Hufflepuffs as humanly as possible, though they made sure he stayed at least five feet away from them. All huddling as they sent him suspicious looks, so he was practically in the middle of the two houses. Alone, yet again. Not that he really cared, that was how he liked it.

But, Yaxley's little group of goons were eyeing him with glares he didn't want to deal with right now.

Avery was the only one who wasn't, seemingly picking at his nails with a bored expression. Obviously, he wanted Severus to trust him more than he cared about staying in their good graces completely even though he hadn't just abandoned the prejudiced Slytherins just yet. Whether he would or not was up to the boy, Severus could care less whether he stayed friends with the arseholes or not. He didn't have the time or energy to deal with them, but he knew he was going to have to at some point with the warning that Avery had given him. Something that had never left his mind.

Now, if only he could figure out what the dunderheads were planning so he could put a quick stop to it to continue his search for the Horcruxes. If only he could apparate to the town he suspected one was at and deal with it properly, but that would be unwise of him considering he was still a minor and he didn't even have his apparition license yet.

That would sound the alarm bells for Dumbledore who would most likely be the one to interrogate him if that happened.

He just shook his head slightly, thinking back on the stunts that Potter and his obnoxious friends pulled in their fifth year. Obviously, they had been caught, if only because Potter had warned him himself.

'He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!'

Yes, he remembered that. Umbridge's ugly face turned pink with anger as she turned towards him to ask what that had meant. He had just pretended that it had fallen on deaf ears, a huge mistake on his part he would admit, and swept off to Dumbledore for a rescue mission of the presumably kidnapped Padfoot.

He had stayed out of the battle due to the Headmaster's orders but had very much come anyways and hidden from view to help if need be. Only in the direst of circumstances. The one thing he had done and gone against Albus' orders.

He admittedly thought this would have been Harry's demise, but it happened to be Sirius'. Seeing another from his year fall to the war efforts had been quite difficult, no matter how much he hated Black.

Another martyr of war. Another Order member was taken. Another life lost. The dwindling list of graduates from 1978 grew smaller yet again.

If he hadn't been shoved back in time with Lupin he believed that Xenophilius and Mary Davies would be the sole survivors of their year. An extremely saddening thought, but he wouldn't dwell on it when the future was such a flimsy thing.

Something both him and Remus were already changing.

A finger tapped his shoulder and he glanced up from his textbook, realising that he had been staring at the same line for who knew how long. He expected Yaxley, ready to throw insults at him, but was surprised and disappointed to see Lan-Jy staring at him with a grin.

He should have known she was in the same class, he had just never spoken to her before Halloween.

"I didn't know we had a class together!" she exclaimed softly, getting a bored look from Severus that just egged her on, "that is exciting, you can't deny it. I finally have someone to talk to!"

"Your Hufflepuff housemates would make much better companions," he deadpanned, turning back to his textbook to ignore her.

She leaned pleasantly next to him against the greenhouse, not saying anything but staying by his side despite his best attempt to shoo her away.

He had to deal with her when Professor Sprout came bouncing around the corner, waving her hand to open the greenhouse doors. "Welcome to class!" she greeted with a pleasant tone, ushering the students inside as she continued to speak, "today, I will be splitting you all up to pair up in groups of two. We are going to go and observe the growth of the Alihotsy tree that has unexpectedly sprouted on the Whomping Willow's roots. We will be relocating it to keep it from interfering with our precious willow."

Severus was dreading the prospect of pairs, considering how lit up Lan-Jy's face was and knew she was about to trap him. Though he rathered her more than Yaxley or Rosier.

The class murmured with some confusion about what sort of plant that could be when Sprout cleared her throat to get them to quiet down.

"Does anyone know what the Alihotsy tree does? More specifically, the leaves?"

Severus raised his hand, finding this the easiest question in the world, and when she looked at him expectantly he said, "it is a plant used in making the Laughing Potion. If you ingest a leaf you have uncontrollable laughter and induced hysteria."

A few students looked at him with distasteful looks on their faces, and he knew they were all calling him a Know-It-All in their heads without even prying into them.

"Correct, Mr. Snape. Ten points to Slytherin," she smiled proudly, going into her lecturing mode, "green and red in colour, this plant is also known as the Hyena tree. It is native to Northern Europe, so the plant can be often seen here in Magical forests. There are only a few that reside in the Forbidden Forest due to a fire a few years ago. So the bloom of this sapling is extremely exciting news.

"Go ahead and get into pairs. We will be looking for any other saplings on the ground nearby."

Excited murmurs broke out as everyone began to pair up in class. Severus glanced around to look for someone else to pair up with before Lan-Jy waved her hand in his face.

"Pair up with me," she suggested, Snape only giving in when he saw Travers give him a malicious look. Eyes gleaming, foreboding nothing but trouble from him.

He sighed with resignation, giving a curt nod which caused her to jump a bit excitedly. The camera that was seemingly always hidden in her scarf bounced into view.

God, he hated that camera with a newfound passion.

Professor Sprout had them get their material before they headed out towards the Whomping Willow. It swayed gently in the wind, the only thing to show it was alive was a twitch from its branch when a bird landed on it. Surprisingly, it didn't flick it off. Most likely it was sensing the overwhelming amount of Hogwarts students approaching it.

Sprout stopped them out of reach of the tree, giving them all warning glances. "You will all stay here as I fetch the sapling, then I will show it and we will search the ground around the Willow so as to not upset it."

A few cries of disappointment rang out but they stopped when Sprout snapped her fingers, heading off with a spade and pot. Hands adorned with dragonhide gloves. The class began to watch her as she dug up the sapling. The Willow's branches twitched with irritation, but because of how often Sprout must have taken care of it it didn't move.

When she was done she potted the sapling and headed back over to them, showing the small plant off to them. It swayed slightly, as several students leaned closer to it. Though it didn't move as they expected.

Severus could only snort at their expectations, it was obvious that it wasn't a sentient plant, unlike the Whomping Willow. Which was shaking with some annoyance at all the students there. He wandered a few steps away from them as he glanced at that unmistakable hole that led to the Shrieking Shack then to the spot he knew would stun the tree if someone needed to, considering the tree attacked several people a day if it could.

He stared at it a little too long for comfort, stopping when he could sense someone's presence near him. He turned to see Lan-Jy trying to figure out what he was staring at, giving him a quizzical look.

"We're supposed to be looking for any more saplings," she said, which meant that he had missed that piece of instructions and noticed that everyone had dispersed out amongst their pairs.

"Humph," he answered, holding his pot and shovel closer to him as he set off to look around. Not really finding any in the general area, Lan-Jy followed a bit behind due to inspecting places more than he was. He didn't honestly care about finding more Alihotsy for Professor Sprout as much as he thought about losing a leaf in Black's goblet and watching him go wild. They were sure to have some Glumbumble insects, they tended to like to swarm Alihotsy trees. A fortunate thing because their treacle cured those effects, so Sirius would be fine if it happened.

Not that he would act upon that, just a childish thought that gave him a bit of pleasure to think about. Considering he had detention with the blasted idiot because of the fight they had had in the transfiguration classroom that had only been postponed because McGonagall didn't want to deal with them on Halloween.

He stopped when he spotted the edge of the Forbidden Forest, signalling he had gone way too far. Lan-Jy sensed this when she stopped inspecting a fern on the ground, which was far too yellow to even remotely be an Alihotsy sapling, and she looked around.

"Snape, I think-"

He interrupted her with a gruff, "I know."

He was about to turn around when he saw Hagrid enter the forest, seeming distressed about something as he moved. Almost expecting Fang to come trotting alongside him as he moved but he remembered that the dog hadn't even been born yet. It was the seventies, of course, the dog wasn't alive.

"What do you think made Hagrid upset?" she asked from Severus' side as she nudged him lightly, making him remember the annoying Hufflepuff that he had decided to pair up with just to avoid his housemates.

"I don't know," he admitted to get her to shut up, making a split-second decision to head off towards the forest after Hagrid. A gut feeling telling him that he needed or would miss something important. He put his pot and shovel down at the edge of a tree and took off. Lan-Jy jogged to keep up with him as he slid into the forest nonchalantly between two trees.

"What're you doing?!" she asked in a whispered cry, he stuck his finger out for her to shut up as he quickly followed after Hagrid. No time to deal with her despite her following, as long as she kept silent he didn't care she was there, nor did he want to deal with her getting lost in the forest and pointing the blame at him.

At some point, as they hurried along, Lan-Jy took hold of Snape's arm just to keep up with him, huffing and puffing as silently as she could. He was about to shake her off when they caught sight of Hagrid, who was talking to a rather large centaur, another centaur behind them lying on the ground. He gripped her tightly as they flew silently behind a tree, Severus making sure they didn't dare step on a leaf or stick.

He scanned the centaur on the ground, using a spell to close Lan-Jy's mouth when she made a barely audible gasp. Glaring at her and put his finger to his mouth, as if she had a choice after the spell he used.

"Am sorry, Firenze, yer friend…"

"Rubeus, I didn't come for apologies for something you didn't do," Firenze answered, several other centaurs trotting in and around the body with some grief, several of them injured. The body was rather rigid as rigor mortis was obviously setting in. It seemed as if they had dragged the body a long way from where it laid now. Something had happened, but Severus couldn't discern what.

Severus had never seen a dead centaur before, and it chilled him to the bone to see it. Something was happening.

"I kno'," Hagrid sniffled softly, emotional as he rubbed his small eyes, "I just think it a real shame, yer know?"

The centaur nodded with agreement, glancing back at his fallen brother. "I think it best we keep our distance from the school, he is targeting us. I do not wish to have us cause him to close in here so close to our home, no matter how afraid he is of Albus Dumbledore."

Severus bit the inside of his cheek, practically holding his breath as he took in that information. When had Voldemort ever tried to attack the centaurs? Had he tried to get them to join him and they refused? It seemed like the only plausible explanation.

"No! Ye will be safe here, Albus wouldn' want ye to come to harm,'' Hagrid argued, "ye just need to lay low fer a while, he is canny and won' venture here with the Headmaster so close."

"We are not giving up our fight, we are simply here to send a farewell to a good friend before we leave for a while," Firenze hummed at Hagrid, some fondness in his eyes as he stared at him, "and to pay our respect to the fallen with your help."

"O' course!" He said with a slight wail, touched by the centaur's sentiment, "I'll help ye dig a grave."

Severus had heard enough, about to turn and tug Lan-Jy up when he spotted her with her camera. About to take a picture before he slapped it out of her hands, where it just bounced lightly because it was secured around her neck. She gave him an offended look but all he did was tug her upwards, waiting until Hagrid and the centaurs were in deep discussion before he quickly snuck them forward.

Hiding behind every tree that would accommodate the both of them as they went until he knew for sure that they were out of their sight.

When they neared the edge of the forest he turned and took the spell off her mouth. She opened her mouth with an offended cry.

"What spell was that?"

"None of your concern," he replied immediately, hiding behind a tree as he glanced out onto the grounds and saw their herbology class was still in session. He could see Professor Sprout talking to a few students. He took that chance to come out, collecting his things before he pretended to be interested in a fern.

Lan-Jy followed after him, fuming. "It is my concern! You glued my mouth shut! You slapped my camera! What if you broke it?!"

"I apologize in advance," Severus said simply, "you would have given us away, I say a cracked camera lens is much more fixable than being stampeded by centaurs!"

"I-er," she mumbled, knowing she had been about to give them away just like that for a simple picture of a centaur and gave him a glare for a moment.

He got up and began to casually inspect random plants to make him seem like they had been looking for the Alihotsy sapling instead of them both running through a forest following after Hagrid. How they hadn't been caught by the centaurs was a miracle considering he had had the most reckless and loudest Hufflepuff he ever knew next to him. Though she was quite silent right now in her anger.

He glanced at her as he bent down, taking his shovel as he began to wedge out a sapling he found. Finding it humorous that they had passed it earlier and he had watched her inspect it.

"That's not-" she cut herself off when she bent down to inspect it as he carefully pulled it from the ground. She looked angrier than before, "alright, smarty pants. Now tell me what we just witnessed in the forest as you one-up me in Herbology."

"Centaurs," he answered with an eye roll knowing exactly what she meant. He began to pack some dirt in his pot, gently replanting the Alihotsy sapling. Making sure it was secure before he stood up and went to walk away.

"I know that! But!-" she spluttered with irritation, grabbing his arm, "they were speaking of him, like,, like he has been nearby."

"I wouldn't doubt it," he hissed, yanking her hand off his arm with a rough tug. He glared daggers at her before he began to head back towards their peers. She followed after him, not done with the conversation but not pushing it. He was tempted to obliviate her but it would be difficult to do that now and neither did she pose a threat to anything he had planned. He simply didn't have the energy to deal with her so he would leave her to ponder what the centaurs meant, it wasn't as if the war was secret at this point.

It was looming closer and closer to them every day, and Severus couldn't do anything to stop it no matter how hard he tried to locate the Horcruxes as fast as he could. He couldn't go and retrieve any because he couldn't leave the blasted school.

"Professor Sprout," he addressed as he held up the sapling he had found. Delight sprouted in his professor's eyes.

"Well done!" she exclaimed, taking it and examining the plant, "a fine sapling you found, Mr Snape. You are performing extraordinarily today! Well done!"

He just turned away from the pointless praise with a slight scowl, yet his ears still burned a soft red with his embarrassment.

He had managed to get away from Lan-Jy when class was dismissed, he could only handle so many of her questions today. Especially when he had to deal with Black later on, who was infuriating beyond relief.

So when the time came to go to detention straight after dinner he resigned himself to some menial work in silence, showing up at McGonagall's office early. Standing outside the door until Sirius showed up, sending him daggers with his eyes.

McGonagall made no waste of time when the two entered the room, clasping her hands in front of her. "Today, you two will be serving your detention with Filch."

Sirius opened his mouth to protest when she held a hand up to stop him.

"Do not fight me, Mr Black," she said sternly, Severus smirking slightly only for it to be wiped off his face with a look from her, "you and Mr Snape caused a ruckus in my class and it seemed as if you were about to duel. That was absolutely unacceptable. You will be serving your detention with Filch, no discussions."

She got up from her seat, personally escorting the two to the hall that Filch resided in, where he was leaning against the wall with a smirk that told the two he was about to give them the cruellest job he could think of.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't you two. I would have expected you both to get detention much earlier than this," he commented, getting a glare from Sirius. Severus simply stared on in boredom, knowing Filch enough that he did not find the man intimidating in the least.

"Be nice, Argus," Minerva admonished, pushing the two forward before she headed back to her office. Most likely off to grave some essays that she had assigned earlier in the week before they had received their detentions.

"Come," Filch ordered, the two not fighting as they followed him down the hall. He led them to the trophy room, and Severus knew exactly what they were about to do. Almost groaning at the benign punishment. He thought Filch was better than this, polishing trophies was tedious and not punishing at all.

"You will be punishing these trophies by hand," Filch said with a smirk when Sirius groaned outwardly with a complaint. He shoved rags and a metal polisher into their hands, setting the two students free to do their menial task.

Severus set to it just to get it done and over with so he could go back to the Slytherin common room and debate if he should sleep or not or if Yaxley's group was going to be cowardly and jump him in his sleep. He stayed completely silent as he worked, slyly watching Filch watch them for a while before seeing him get bored and leave them to work.

Sirius on the other hand didn't seem to notice Filch's departure as he violently scrubbed a trophy. That caused Severus to snort slightly, getting shot with an immediate glare.

"It looks as if it's done something to offend you," he shot out slightly at the Gryffindor, seeing him bristle with anger.

"Shut up, I should have gotten a hex in for this kind of punishment."

"You have no brains if you think this is harsh."

"It isn't! It's boring!" Sirius argued with a growl, turning back to polishing his trophy in his hand. Severus could only roll his eyes as he set on polishing the next trophy in his pile.

The two lapsed into a tense silence, Sirius fuming while Snape was bored. Severus let his mind wander as he absentmindedly polished the trophy, thinking back on Remus in the hospital wing crying out his sorrows of a life he didn't have anymore and how his friends weren't exactly how he remembered. Which was obvious if you thought about it, yet, Severus could understand that sentiment of Remus' in a way.

Though he had had no one in the end except Potter's infuriating green eyes peering into his. He missed his friendships amongst the teachers of Hogwarts, sometimes he almost caught himself off-guard when he answered them in class. Having to remind himself that he was their student, not their colleague like he had been.

He turned slightly to side glance at Black, who was rubbing a spot on the trophy aggressively, paying the Slytherin no mind. "Rub side to side," he told him lightly, the other glancing over at him. An internal debate clouded in his eyes before he did as he had suggested. Finding the spot slowly disappeared with the movement.

Instead of thanking him lightly, a normal person would, he just gave a huff and continued to buff the trophy back to its former glory.

Snape just turned back to his own work, thoughts wandering again but this time to Hagrid and the centaurs. It meant that Voldermort was trying to expand his army, and the centaurs had rejected him. No one rejected the man without consequences, and it seemed they had suffered theirs with the blood of one of their own.

He shuddered lightly, hoping they did not suffer too many losses from the anger of the Dark Lord.

"Cold?" a pompous voice asked him, a smirk on Sirius' face as he said, "I thought you would be used to it by now because you live in a dungeon daily, like the cold-blooded Slytherin you are."

"Is that supposed to offend me?" he asked turning to look at him.

He got a glare in response, his mouth opening to insult him when Severus just held a hand up.

"This is getting childish, Black," he deadpanned, "namecalling is for first years, find something else that will please your childish urges."

"Why, you-"

"Don't," he hissed softly, "I do not wish to fight no matter how much you desire to. I have more worrying matters to lose hair over than the Marauders."

Sirius gave him a glare, his face red with anger at Severus' words though he seemed utterly lost for words. It made Severus exasperated.

"Has no one ever spoken to you without wanting to indulge in a fistfight?" he asked with a growl, shoving the trophy he had in his hands on the table and wiping his hands on his pants. He adjusted his cloak before he walked to the entrance of the trophy room and glanced side to side.

"What're you doing?" Sirius asked accusingly, finding his voice.

"Leaving," he stated simply, once he found it clear he began to walk down the hallway to the right. He heard a small scuffle and clang before Sirius managed to catch up to him, eyeing him warily.

"You don't look like the type to ditch detention," he pointed out as he kept up with the Slytherin who was walking at a rather fast pace.

Severus just scoffed lightly at him, quickly turning a corner and practically throwing Sirius behind a tapestry when Professor Flitwick walked by.

The second he disappeared Sirius pushed Severus lightly with anger. "Posh git," he said, rubbing his shoulder where it had collided with the stone wall.

"You didn't get caught," he pointed out with a glare, not even tumbling when he had been pushed by the defensive Gryffindor. He just wanted to go back to his dorm room and fall into a restless sleep. It was better than having to deal with Sirius Black of all people.

"True," Sirius conceded, still glaring at Severus but following after him when he set off at a brisk pace.

Severus had to smoosh Sirius into several tapestries when Flitwick seemed to make his appearance several times, though his eyes were unfocused and he yawned every time they saw him throughout his patrol. He had never been the most aware teacher on his patrols as long as Snape had known him so he hadn't expected anything to be different now.

By the time they made it to the hall with the stairs to the dungeons, Sirius seemed to be less agitated and more amused than anything by the situation as a whole.

Severus just shooed Sirius away with a soft snarl. "Go away," he urged as if the Gryffindor was a giant flea he needed to flick off his shoulder.

Sirius just gave a surprising chuckle as if he had had fun being thrown around by Severus before he gave a glare back, "whatever you say, Snape."

"Do not try niceties with me."

"I would never dare to try, don't worry."

With that Sirius swept away towards the Gryffindor tower, leaving Severus to glare at his retreating form. Right before he turned to retreat down the stairs he hoped that Filch would catch the Gryffindor and make him scrub the bathroom floors. The thought comforted him before he made his retreat down into the dungeons to let him think the day over.

hope you like it! Tell me what you think kindly.