9
The Great Study
" I can't fathom where it could have gone" Remus said several days later. Doe was sitting on his bed, while he frantically searched his trunk for a book on Transfiguration.
" Do you want me to help you look?" Doe asked him.
He shook his head, " No, I'll find it don't worry" he said pulling stacks of books out of his trunk and piling them on the floor.
Doe found it strange sitting in the boy's dormitory. It was very similar to the girls only set up opposite. And it was a fair bit more disorganized. None of their beds were made and all of their belongings were strewn across the room.
" Ah Ha!" Remus said pulling out a large leatherbound book, " I found it".
He sat beside her on the edge of the bed, " It has all of the most known Transfiguration spells, I figured you might want to use it to study" he said earnestly.
Doe stroked the open pages. It was full of common transfiguration spells.
" Definitely, thank you so much" she said happily.
" Honestly it was no problem," he said, his hand brushed over hers.
It had gotten to the point where she had become so comfortable around Remus, she didn't remember what it was like to not be close to him.
She leaned forward and kissed him. He moved closer to her, and held her face to his.
His hands moved slightly to her waist, holding her to him, while they moved ourselves closer to one another.
It was so strange to her that she was able to be this comfortable with him. A few months ago she dropped her trunk if he even spoke to her.
They were still kissing when the door to the dormitory opened and James, Sirius and Peter walked in.
They broke apart quickly, both of them a bright shade of pink. Doe had moved her hand over mouth. She avoided the eyes of the boys in front of her.
" Oops, sorry Moony" James said smiling widely.
" Didn't mean to interrupt" Sirius said with a wink.
" I was just loaning Doe a book" Remus said quickly, his voice quivering with embarrassment.
" Uh huh, that's exactly what that looked like" James added.
Doe grabbed the book off of the side of the bed, " I'm going to go. Thank you for the book".
" Doe, you don't have to go" Remus said quickly.
" Yeah, don't leave on our account" Sirius said slyly.
" I have to go work on the potions project with Severus anyway, I'll see you later Remus" she said casting one last glance at Remus who wore a look of nervousness and longing.
She waved goodbye and practically ran down the stairs of the boys dormitory, almost bumping into a group of 7th year boys who eyed her curiously as she passed. She was exhilarated.
She decided to head down to the empty classroom on the fourth floor where she told Severus she'd meet him to work on the Potions project. She would be a few minutes early, but she figured it would be a good thing. She needed a few minutes to clear her head.
She really liked Remus, and it still seemed so odd to her that they were together. Almost as if it were too good to last.
She opened the door to the classroom. Severus hadn't arrived yet, so she took out all of the supplies. Severus was bringing the potion we had begun preparing. They had finished all of their potions except for one, Veritaserum. They were weeks ahead of everyone else in the class, even Lily who flourished in potions had only finished two and ½. Severus and Doe had turned out to be a good match. They worked well together.
The project had forced them to spend time together, and she was kind of glad it had. Despite the uneasiness and surliness that Severus often projected, underneath he was a very smart, considerate person, but it took a lot to bring it out.
Over the past few months she had seen a side of Severus that she hadn't previously.
They had even become friends. Sort of.
She was setting up the cauldron when the door opened and Severus walked in carrying three vials of clear liquid. These three vials were the three vials of the Veritaserum they had prepared. Three, in case they had made a mistake.
" Hello Severus"
" Doe"
" Are you ready to try these?" Doe asked, some excitement in her voice.
Severus raised an eyebrow, " Don't sound too excited, even if this works you may be spilling your darkest secrets"
" Only if you ask the right questions" Doe told him, setting up the three tests in front of them.
She took a deep breath, " Which one should we try first?"
Severus eyed them all carefully and pointed to the first one. It looked exactly like the other three.
" Who should go first?" Doe asked.
Severus didn't answer. He simply took the first vile and took a sip of it. After a minute, he seemed fine.
" Do you feel anything?" Doe asked.
" Not particularly" He said.
" Okay, let me ask a question. What is my name?" Doe asked him.
" Marlene Mckinnon" he lied effortlessly.
Doe felt a small sense of sadness as she realized the first vial didn't work.
" Damn it, it didn't work" she said, " I guess I'll try the next one"
She sniffed the second vile, it smelled a lot like vinegar but some potions did have an acidic smell.
She brought the vile to her lips and took a sip.
It felt like her mouth was burning, all of the skin on the inside of her mouth felt like it was being stripped away. She began coughing, every motion feeling rough on her mouth. She could feel herself foaming at the mouth. Something was very wrong.
She tried speaking, but between the choking and the foaming at the mouth, she couldn't get anything coherent out.
" Doe, put this in your mouth now" Severus said handing her a small stone.
She kept coughing, the burning sensation and the foaming not disappearing. If anything, it was getting worse.
Frustrated and nervous, Severus grabbed her jaw and tried to open it, forcing the small stone into her mouth.
" Doe you need to swallow it" Severus said earnestly.
Through the burning and the coughing, she managed to swallow the stone. Slowly she felt the pain ease and the foaming from her mouth stop.
She coughed again.
" What the hell was in that?" she demanded.
" It was supposed to be Veritaserum, " Snape said incredulously, " I don't know what could have happened.
She wiped her chin. Her lungs and throat still hurt from the coughing and burning.
" Thank you for the stone, what was that?" Doe asked him.
" Bezoar" Severus said, " It stops poisons".
They both looked at the third vial with trepidation. After the last batch, they worried they had done something wrong.
" I'll do it, since I prepared it" Severus said.
He hesitated for a moment and then brought the liquid to his mouth and took a small sip.
He didn't move for a minute and then turned to her, " I think it's okay"
" Who do you hate most in this world?" Doe asked testing the serum.
" James Potter" Severus said quickly without pausing or hesitation.
" And who do you think is the smartest in out year?" Doe asked.
He tried to keep his mouth closed but the words spilled out anyway, " You and Remus Lupin are equally as impressive"
Doe grinned widely and cried out " I knew it!" as Severus scowled.
She knew he would never willingly admit that, so the Veritaserum must have worked.
" We did it!" she exclaimed happily.
Severus bottled the Veritaserum and labeled it so they could present it to Slughorn.
" I'll see you in potions" he said quickly and fled the classroom, leaving Doe very confused.