Next morning
Severus Snape woke up early, having planned on going to the library to study some more for his written Potions O.W.L.s before attending a Transfiguration class later that morning.
He got up and put on his uniform, smiling as he fixed his robes and recalled the previous evening feast - the sight of Lucius Malfoy being snubbed by the Durmstrang girl was one he would never forget.
Severus fixed his hair, put on his shoes, and picked up his school bag, walking out of the boys' dormitories and through the Common Room towards the exit door to start his morning studies, his mind already on the list books he was going to read in the library; but his feet stopped moving the moment his eyes saw Her - the Durmstrang half-veela - walking just a couple of meters in front of him, going to the exit door as well.
What the fuck is she still doing here?
And what was she wearing? Was that- the Slytherin uniform?
Yes, it was! And - damn - she looked good in the black, silver and green uniform.
Severus felt immediately disconcerted by her presence; but the way she, for some reason, affected him made him see red - no matter how epically she had put Malfoy in his place the night before, Severus Snape strived to always be in control, to never lose focus of what he'd have to do to make sure his future turned out to be exactly like he wanted.
Therefore, the way that female stranger stunned him and made him want to throw caution out the window with a simple smile on her soft-looking lips was not consistent with his plans.
"So," he scathingly said, "Durmstrang has moved in now?"
The girl stopped by the door to the corridor and turned around to look at him, sizing him up, clearly confused by that unexpected burst of unfriendliness.
"No," she said, yeing him warily, "But I have moved in. Got a problem with that?" then she continued on her way out of the common room, not giving him any time to answer.
Severus watched her walk down the corridor, immediately regretting his attitude, he even felt like running after her and apologizing, for his mother had certainly taught him better than being rude to beautiful girls for no reason – but he quickly stifled that urge. He had to focus on his O.W.L.s, his future depended on him getting all 'Outstandings'.
Severus took a deep breath and left the Common Room, going to the library.
But as soon as he walked into the silence-filled room, his irritation returned with a vengeance: She was already there.
Florence noticed when the tall dark-haired teen (who had been rude to her twice before) walked into the library; she discreetly watched as he went towards the Potions bookshelves and spent a while looking at the books, apparently looking for a book that he couldn't find.
The librarian, who had introduced herself to Florence as Madam Pince, approached him.
"Need some help, Mr Snape?"
"Yes. I'm looking for Advanced Potions, the 120th edition. There's always one copy that must stay in the library."
"Yes, I'm aware of that, Mr Snape, being the librarian," Pince said in a sarcastic tone, "But I'm afraid Miss Delacour arrived here first and got it. Why don't you sit with her and you can study together. You could help her."
He growled something that Florence didn't understand, then he picked up some other books and sat at a table next to hers.
Severus tried to ignore her presence and focus on his studying, but after two minutes reading the same line in a book he couldn't even remember the title, he dropped his quill on the table and slammed the book shut, angry at his inability to ignore the half-veela.
He heard a soft chuckle coming from the nearby table and clenched his jaw, glaring at her.
Miss Delacour. he thought, remembering what Madam Pince had called her. Yesterday she was a Durmstrang student, what a hell is she doing in a Hogwarts uniform now? She'd better not stick around much longer, I can't afford to have any distractions.
He opened up the book again, for despite his anger he still had to study to do well in his O.W.L.s.
But his focus was null, and after just a few minutes into the book, he had already glanced at Her about five times. He closed the book again, huffing in frustration.
One thing Severus had never had trouble doing before was ignoring girls when he needed to study - but that was clearly not possible with Her.
What is wrong with me? He wondered angrily. Why is this Delacour girl affecting me so much?
"You know," he suddenly heard her whisper, "You should learn how to close your mind, Mr Snape," she continued, without raising her eyes from her notes, "Otherwise anyone can peek into your private thoughts."
Severus glared at her, his anger increasing by every second he spent in her presence - for she grew as gorgeous as she did annoying.
"You shouldn't enter other people's mind uninvited, Miss Delacour," he growled, keeping his voice low.
"Well... answering your question: I'm here to study, same as you and many others." She finally lifted her eyes from the book to look at him. "If you wish, you can come here and we can share this book; I'm great in Potions, I can help you, if you're struggling-"
"I don't need any help!" he replied a little too loud, receiving an icy glare from the librarian.
"Suit yourself." Florence whispered, resuming paying attention to the Potions book, making some notes, and ignoring him completely.
Severus took a deep breath to calm himself down then got up from his seat and walked towards her – he really needed to check a few ingredients in the book she was holding hostage.
"Mind if I join you?" He politely asked as he stood by her table.
"Not at all," she replied, smiling.
Severus froze half-way into pulling a chair for himself; his hand rested on the back of the chair, unmoving; after a few seconds went by, he recovered from being stunned by her smile, looking upset that it had happened. He sat down and pulled the potions book towards himself, refusing to acknowledge out loud the effect she had on him.
"What's your first name?" she asked, overlooking the way he had just frozen for a moment – she was used to that, being half-veela she affected men whether she wanted to or not.
"Severus." he grumbled, his eyes on the Potions book, focusing hard on finding what he wanted – the quicker he found the information he needed on Bloodroot, the sooner he'd be out of that table and away from her bewitching powers.
"I'm Florence," she offered without him asking, "What are you looking up? I honestly found that book very basic... I can't believe you only learn how to make a Strengthening Solution in your fifth year! That's not a hard concoction; it's actually a third-year midterms Potions exams in Durmstrang," she tilted her head to the side slightly, finding it odd how she felt unusually chatty around him.
"Yes. The only hard thing about that Solution is the patience needed to wait as it simmers and matures in the last two stages," agreed Severus, not really wanting to talk to her, but finding it hard to pass on the chance of having an intelligent conversation, "What would you have for your O.W.L.s Potions exam in Durmstrang?" he asked, curious.
"Polyjuice. That's what we were studying last week."
Severus raised his eyebrows, looking impressed.
"That's an advanced potion here in Hogwarts," he explained, "And we're not allowed to brew it, we can just write about it and discuss its ingredients."
"That sucks. Potions are fun when we can brew and use them. Just talking about them is like discussing spells instead of actually casting them."
Severus only nodded; not wanting to like her, but feeling less annoyed by her presence as the minutes went by.
She seems to be more than just the spoiled rich girl she appears to be.
He looked at her face, finding himself hipnotised by the way she softly bit her bottom lip as she wrote something on her notebook.
But Florence had no idea what she was copying down, she had chosen a random sentence just to distract herself from the disconcerting urge to keep talking to him, wanting his dark eyes focused on her.
She was more than just a little confused by her need to keep his attention on her – the veela magic she carried in her blood affected men, but no man had ever affected her like that before.
And yet Severus, for some reason, made her nervous; she wanted to have him looking at her, but he was doing his best to ignore her – causing her ugly veela side to want to come out and make him pay for resisting her charms.
Severus noticed she was staring at him with an annoyed expression.
"Are you ok?" he asked.
"Yes." She breathed, blinking and smiling, evading his question. "Tell me, what do you think we will be asked in the History exam?" she asked, intent on making conversation.
And Severus quickly noticed it wasn't going to be easy to keep ignoring her, so he answered: "The Goblin Rebellion, for sure. And some laws... The Wand Code and The Statute of Secrecy."
At the end of an hour, they were studying together and Severus no longer tried to ignore her.
That first feeling of annoyance was completely forgotten when they discovered they shared a passion for potions and charms, and were, surprisingly, equally knowledgeable in those areas – which was not an easy feat, for they were both very intelligent.
"What time is our Transfiguration class today, Severus?" Florence asked, as she closed the Advanced Herbology book they had been discussing.
"At 10," He replied, finishing writing a sentence in his notebook.
She looked at the clock on the library wall and gasped: "We'd better run then. We're already late!"
"Shit!" he exclaimed.
And they ran out of the library towards the Transfiguration classroom.
"Who teaches Transfiguration?" Florence asked on the way there.
"McGonagall."
She grimaced, "Oh, no. I have a feeling she doesn't like me very much as it is, imagine now that I'll be late to my first class with her."
Severus gave her a one-shoulder shrug, "She's not known for liking many students apart from the Gryffindors, so I wouldn't worry much."
They ran into the Transfiguration classroom and McGonagall looked at them reproachfully.
"May I know the reason for your tardiness?" she asked.
"We were studying in the library, Professor," Florence answered, "I needed help, and Severus was kind enough to study with me."
McGonagall glanced at Severus and he nodded, but the professor didn't seem to be buying that explanation.
"Go to your desk, Mr Snape."
"And where may I seat, Prof. McGonagall?" Florence asked, trying to get out of that situation quickly.
But before the professor could reply, they heard:
"You can sit with me, Florence."
Florence turned to find the blue eyes of a dark-haired boy with the Gryffindor uniform staring at her - and she recognized him immediately.
"No, thanks, Black," she replied dismissively.
"Well, since you've become friends with Mr Snape," said McGonagall, "You can sit with him."
Florence thanked her and walked towards her new friend.
James Potter, who sat beside Sirius Black, whispered: "So you do know her?"
"Yes," nodded Sirius, "It took me a while to remember why she looked familiar, it's been two years since I last saw her, but she used to spend some weeks at my family's place."
"So her family has connections to You-know-who?" asked James, glancing at where she was talking to Snape.
"No doubt about that. Aunt Druella adores her. Florence is best friends with my cousin Narcissa too."
"I think we need to show her how we welcome You-know-who's sympathizers here in Hogwarts." James smiled mischievously, receiving enthusiastic nods from Sirius in reply.
Great Hall
Lunchtime
"Wow," whispered Florence, "Hogwarts's food is one the best things I've ever eaten in my life."
"True," Severus agreed, not looking in her direction to avoid being stunned by her again.
"After lunch let's go back to the library?" She asked, "I need to check some spells that might be asked in the O.W.L.s."
Severus just nodded, looking around the Great Hall and noticing many eyes were on them; the other students were clearly trying to understand the nature of that newly formed friendship, how the closed-off Severus Snape had became friends with the beautiful newcomer in such a short time.
"Finally found someone that can stand you, Snivellus?" They heard someone ask.
Florence and Severus turned around and she recognized one of the two boys standing behind them.
Severus stood up quickly, wand in hand and she stood up beside him, but didn't get her wand out.
"What did you do, Snivellus? Gave Delacour some Love Potion? Or is it an Imperious? mocked Sirius. "For I don't see any other reason someone like her would want to spend time with you."
"Still an idiot, Black, I see," Florence said, glancing at Severus, noticing he was suddenly furious, "And you are?" she asked the other Gryffindor boy, eyeing him disdainfully.
"James Potter," He said a little too loud.
"Proud of that name, eh?" she snickered, "Is that anything to be proud of though?" she asked, looking around the Slytherin table where the other students started to laugh.
"You're dead, Delacour," growled Potter, getting close to her, trying to be intimidating.
"Tell me the time and place, Potter," she replied, not a little bit intimidated.
"By the lake, thirty minutes from now," Potter said.
Florence looked at Severus and he nodded.
"Ok. See you in thirty."
Twenty minutes later, the group of four Gryffindor students known as The Marauders was by the lake, looking at the large group of students – most of them Slytherins – that was walking towards them; the news about Snape and Delacour's fight against Black and Potter had spread faster than fyendfire.
"You're not really doing it, are you?" asked Remus Lupin, looking up from the book on his lap to try to talk some sense into his friends.
"Shut up, Moony! Delacour has no idea who she's messed with," said Sirius, "I know her well enough to-"
"She's from Durmstrang!" interrupted Remus, "And if you two don't know, Durmstrang is a school well-known for its Dark Magic studies."
"So?" asked Potter.
"Haven't you two idiots stopped for a minute to think that Dumbledore has allowed her to take the O.W.L.s with us without her studying a single week here?" asked Remus, "And, Sirius, you said her family is a You-know-who supporter; she probably knows more dangerous spells than the four of us together!"
Black and Potter looked at each other, suddenly worried.
"It's too late now," said the fourth Gryffindor Marauder, Peter Pettigrew, "There they come."
They all looked up and Delacour and Snape were walking out of the castle towards them, a large group of students following behind.
"Let's attack first, James," urged Sirius.
Florence and Severus were about a hundred feet from the Gryffindors when she realized Black's intention.
"Get ready, Severus! They won't play fair or wait till we get near. Can you hit them from this distance?"
"Maybe."
"So try, now!" and she attacked: "Expulso!" hitting Potter and sending him into the air, throwing him nearly into the lake.
The spectators cheered, and some even groaned in sympathy.
"Expelliarmus!" Black and Snape both shouted at the same time, and both missed.
"Mobiliarbus!" cast Florence and a tree hit Sirius, who fell onto the ground and didn't get up.
And the crowd watching the fight went crazy, shouting and clapping at the sight of a tree hitting a classmate.
But Potter was up again and coming towards them, moving his wand, conjuring something. And suddenly arrows were flying towards Severus and Florence.
"Protego!" shouted Severus, casting a shield over his and Florence's heads.
"Fianto duri," She cast, strengthening his shield.
And then arrows rained on the shield.
'Ohs' and 'Ahs' were heard from the crowd that had gathered to watch them, all very impressed by their fellows students' abilities.
James shouted: "Orbis!" and a hole opened in the ground, trying to trap Severus inside.
But before he could get trapped, Severus quickly cast: "Locomotor wibbly."
And James fell onto the ground, his legs stopping to respond to him, as if they had turned into jelly.
Florence used Finite incantatem to stop Potter's Orbis spell, and the ground let go of Severus' legs.
"Furunculus!" He quickly cast.
And James screamed, dropping his wand to the ground and covering his face with his hands as tentacles sprout out of his cheeks and forehead.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE?" shouted McGonagall running through the crowd of students to reach them, "Finite incantatem", she cast and James' face was suddenly smooth again and his legs were back to normal.
"DETENTION!" She added loudly, "To all of you! Snape and Delacour, I'll let Prof. Slughorn decide what to do with you. As for you, Potter, fighting two Slytherins all by yourself is beyond any and all foolish things you've ever done in this school!"
"I'm not alone, Prof. McGonagall!" James was panting, "She," he pointed at Florence, "threw a tree against Sirius!"
"Wh-what?!" the professor was horrified, "Where is he?"
And James showed her the fallen tree which Sirius was lying under, unconscious.
The professor conjured a gurney and James helped her put Sirius on it. McGonagall looked at Severus and Florence once more.
"Miss Delacour, it hasn't been one full day since you arrived here, and you're already on detention! I'll have to inform the Headmaster about your misbehaviour!"
"I'm sorry, Professor, but they started it," Florence said, pointing at the Gryffindors.
"I don't care who started it! You shouldn't be duelling at all, that's against the rules!" McGonagall pointed a finger at them, "You two must go to Slughorn's office and tell him exactly what happened here!"
The two Slytherins lowered their heads and walked to the castle.
Severus guided Florence to the office of the Head of the Slytherin House, for she had no idea where it was.
"I'm sorry to have got you in detention," Said Severus as they walked.
She frowned, "What are you talking about? I was the one that Black wanted to annoy."
"Not really," Severus shook his head, "They hate me."
"Look," Florence added, "I've known Black since we were kids, he's an idiot. If he hates you, that's one more reason for me to like you." she blushed as she realized she had just said she liked him.
Severus didn't comment on that, finding there was no point dwelling on things he didn't want to think about – he certainly couldn't afford having a girlfriend like her anyway.
They walked down the dungeons in silence and stopped in front of a door, where Severus knocked and they waited.
Prof. Slughorn soon answered, looking happy to see them.
"Ah, Severus and… Miss Delacour, am I correct? What brings you two here?"
"We were sent here by Prof. McGonagall. We are on detention, sir," Florence replied.
Slughorn laughed, "How can you possibly be on detention, Miss Delacour? You just got here last night!"
"Black and Potter attacked us by the lake, professor," explained Severus, "And we fought back."
Slughorn took a deep breath and nodded slowly, looking from one to the other.
"I see you two have become friends. In less than 24 hours you took Severus' enemies as your own, Miss Delacour," both students looked suddenly embarrassed, "Well, I have some cauldrons that need cleaning. Be at the Potions classroom tonight at eight."
7 p.m.
Severus and Florence were once more studying in the library, and she found herself glancing at him as he furiously wrote on a notebook. Ever since the duel by the Lake, he had avoided looking at her - and that bothered her more than it should.
"We'd better go to dinner," Severus whispered, not failing to notice her eyes had been on him for the past half-hour, "We have a long night cleaning cauldrons ahead of us," he didn't hide his annoyance.
Florence smiled at his sour demeanour, finding it somehow adorable.
Severus was rendered stunned by her smile and that, added to the detention they'd have to attend later, made his irritation level skyrocket.
When the effect of her smile wore off, he growled: "Can you stop doing that?"
She winced, looking apologetic, "I don't really know how to stop it, Severus. I'm sorry."
He huffed and slammed his notebook shut, getting up, "Let's go to the Great Hall," he said, going to the exit without waiting for her.
8 p.m.
A grumpy Severus and a smiling Florence knocked on the Potions classroom door and waited.
"Why are you smiling?" he grumbled.
"Ready for the fastest detention of your life?" She whispered with a mischievous smile on her face.
"What do you mean?" he frowned.
"You'll see."
Prof. Slughorn let them into the potions classroom and showed them where the dirty cauldrons were.
"Leave your wands with me," Said the professor, "You'll find gloves, brushes, rags and cleaning products near the cauldrons."
They did as the professor asked, putting gloves on and starting to scrub.
Less than a minute later, Severus still worked on his first cauldron while Florence had already finished cleaning her second one.
"How are you doing that?" he asked, astonished.
Florence got near him, her perfume suddenly surrounding him and making him tense up.
She took off her right-hand glove and put her bare hand inside the dirty cauldron. Closing her eyes, focusing her inner magic, Florence had it as clean as new in the blink of an eye.
Severus was impressed; he had no idea how she could do that, for he knew wandless magic was hard to master - that was something only powerful and well-trained wizards could do.
"Let's keep on cleaning, shall we?" Florence whispered with a smirk, and he couldn't stop the smile that showed on his face.
They had all the cauldrons clean in ten minutes, but pretended to scrub for a little longer; however, after thirty minutes of pretending, they just wanted out of there.
They removed their gloves and walked towards Slughorn's table, where the professor was focused on grading some essays.
"We've finished, Professor," Said Florence, as they stopped in front od the desk.
Slughorn raised his head and blinked in surprise, "Wh-what? You're done already? That's not possible, my dear," he got up from his chair and went to check if the cauldrons were really clean.
Slughorn frowned, patting his coat pocket to check if their wands were still with him, "But... your wands were in my possession all the time and yet..." he looked at each shiny cauldron, confused.
After walking around and checking each cauldron, Slughorn found no explanation or reason to keep the two of them in his classroom any longer, so he gave them their wands back.
"You're dismissed. Go to your common room, curfew starts at ten."
They bid the professor good night and left the classroom.
As they walked through the silent corridors of the castle, Severus took that moment to look at her; Florence was truly a mystery.
She carried herself with class and elegance, but was capable of casting spells like a rogue witch and defied the rules without a second thought.
They entered the Slytherin Common Room, and, once they were inside the empty room, Severus held Florence's arm, making her stop and turn towards him, then he asked in a low voice:
"Wandless magic. How can you do it?"
"I just… I trained a lot til I learned to do it," she replied, her face showing that wasn't something she was comfortable talking about, "Don't tell anyone, please. It's not usual and… everybody would treat me as a freak."
"Don't worry," He could feel there was more she wasn't telling him, "For the record, I don't think you're a freak. Thank you for using your powers to get us out of there fast."
"It was no biggie," She shrugged, controlling her urge to smile and charm him, "It was worth it though, being in detention. Black and Potter deserved what they got."
"Yeah, they did," Severus smiled softly.
Florence gathered courage and quickly took a step closer to him, laying a kiss on his left cheek.
"Good night, Severus," she whispered.
But the simple touch of her lips on his skin had him paralyzed for almost a minute.
Florence waited for him to come back to normal, looking at him with a soft smile, hoping he didn't get angry again with her.
"'Night, Florence," he finally said.
Then she turned around and went to the girls' dormitory.
Florence lay in her bed at the shared dorm room and smiled, her dreams sure to be filled by a tall, dark-haired, dark-eyed, elegant and intelligent young man.
Severus lay awake on his bed for a long time, staring at the ceiling, pondering if he should ask Florence to be his date at the End of the Term Ball that was going to take place after the exams.
For some reason he wasn't naming, he couldn't find it in himself to accept her going with anyone but him.
Two days before the O.W.L.s
Three days for the End of the Term Ball
When Severus left the boys' dorm the next morning, he found Florence already awake, sitting on the sofa in front of the empty fireplace in the common room; she didn't see him approach for she was focused on something that looked like a very large muggle phone book.
"Good morning," he greeted her, "What are you doing?" he leaned over her shoulder to look at the book.
"I'm looking for someone," she answered without looking up at him.
He frowned, "You must think I'm an idiot; it's obvious you're looking for someone, that's a directory," he said a little bit rudely.
"Sorry, Severus," Florence sighed, "I didn't mean to insult you. I'm looking for my godmother. She was a big friend of my mother's but we lost contact years ago."
"Do you know her full name?"
"Yes, but only her maiden one. I don't know if she married, I don't even know if she's still alive!" she sounded sad, "My father didn't let my mother continue their friendship for some reason, so I don't know much about my godmother."
"What's her maiden name?"
"Eileen Prince."
Severus stared at her for a while, with a frown that slowly turned into a smirk.
"Your mother was Sophie Delacour?" he asked with a soft smile.
"Yes," Florence looked at him, trying not to smile so that he wouldn't be stunned, "How do you know?"
"Well..." He crossed his arms, looking smug, "I know you won't find any Eileen Prince in that book. You should look for Eileen Snape."
Florence gaped and couldn't stop herself from giving him a big smile.
"She's your mother?"
He blinked slowly, her smile affecting him but not as much as the previous day, "Yes," he managed to say.
But Florence's smile diminished, alarm bells ringing in her mind and a small fear making her hesitate, "What do you know about my parents?"
Severus shook his head, recovering fully from her bewitching smile, "Nothing, really. All I know is that my mum had a French friend who got pregnant and my mother was the baby's godmother. Your mum stopped talking to mine because your father hated muggles and he found out my mother was married to one. When your mother died, your father forbade you to contact mine."
"Yes," she exhaled, relieved that he didn't know anything else about them, "Although I didn't know about the hating-muggles bit – but it doesn't surprise me," Florence looked at him, the sparkle in her eyes showing how happy she was that she finally had found a way to talk to her godmother.
"Do you want to write to her?" Severus offered, "I'm sure she'll love to hear from you."
"Of course I want to write to her!" Florence closed the directory and got up from the couch, "Let's go to the Owlery right now!"
And so they went.