Author's Notes: First of all, thanks so much for the reviews! I'm very pleased that you like Cat, although I've become very pressured not to disappoint you all (I'm always paranoid that I might cross the Mary Sue line). That doesn't mean not to comment, though! By all means, please do! I welcome all constructive criticism, if you have any. :)

Second, I realize that I updated very quickly. The thing is, I'd written about 20 pages worth of this fic when I posted the first chapter, and now I'm re-working everything due to a somewhat large mistake I made. Oh well. Writing is re-writing!

Anyways, enough of my yammering. Enjoy chapter two!

EDIT: My mistake has been fixed (but I changed Bella to a relative of Pansy Parkinson so that it has a bit of a canon feel to it; I hope that works). Thank you, whitehound. :)

Return

Some time had passed since the first night at Hogwarts. Severus had managed to mostly avoid Potter and Black, although word had spread through the Slytherins that he'd been caught kissing a Ravenclaw.

"She jumped me," Severus muttered moodily at breakfast one morning. "And we didn't even kiss."

"But a Ravenclaw?"

"I didn't know she was a Ravenclaw," he lied.

Despite his attempts to salvage what was left of his reputation, the Slytherins ignored him and tried to pick out which girl it was, insulting the majority of them. Only one Slytherin, a slender, strong 6th year bloke with curly platinum hair sitting near Severus, didn't partake in the activity. He ate his food quietly, glancing over at the girls they were pointing out. Severus noticed that he seemed to shake his head about a fraction as the Slytherins chose wrong girl after wrong girl. After a while, though, he decided it was his imagination, and returned to eating.

Then, the blonde stood suddenly and walked away from the table. He watched him stride over to the Ravenclaw table and, horrified, as he tapped Cat on the shoulder. Cat looked at him, surprised and waited as he spoke. Then she said something quickly, shot a look over at the Slytherin table, and returned to talking with a brunette girl.

The Slytherin returned to their table and gathered up his bag. Everyone else was staring at him, but he ignored them. Finally, Odelia Parkinson sniffed.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"What'd she say?"

The blonde looked at Odelia indignantly. "What business is that of yours?"

"Weren't you asking her if she was the one who kissed Snape?"

He rolled his eyes. "I don't give a bloody damn who Snape snogs, be it a Ravenclaw or not."

With that, he stormed out of the Great Hall with an air of great annoyance around him. Severus sighed silently with relief. The last thing he needed was his classmates critiquing Cat and insulting them both. Truth was, he'd actually kind of liked her… Until he found out she was a pawn in Potter and Black's game, he reminded himself as he dropped his fork onto his plate. He grabbed his school things, shot an infuriated look over at the Gryffindor table, and left for Charms in a huff. He just wanted to get as far away from the people tormenting him as possible.

Professor Flitwick began the class by discussing how important the O.W.L.s would be and so on and so forth. After about ten minutes of this, he began the day's lesson with a Silencing Charm. They were given crows to practice on, obnoxious ones that cawed incessantly. Everyone seemed to have trouble at first, including Severus, whose mind was elsewhere, on the train. It wasn't until, in his eyes, the crow became Potter cackling, that he was able to perform the charm correctly.

"SILENCIO!" he shouted, jabbing his wand at the Potter-bird.

The crow flapped its wings and moved its beak, but no sound came out. He smirked at it triumphantly, imagining Potter flailing his arms about, trying to yell.

"Oh, very good, Mr. Snape!" Flitwick said happily. "Ten points to Slytherin!"

An hour and a half later, Severus walked quietly into the dungeons for double Potions and, to his great displeasure, saw that they'd be working with the Ravenclaws this year. Now he had two houses to avoid. He kept his head ducked as he moved to the seat farthest away from everyone else. He quietly set up his cauldron, allowing his hair to fall in front of his face like a protective curtain.

After a few minutes, he started at the sound of someone just next to him. When he looked, he saw Cat casually setting up her cauldron next to him. On the other side of her was the girl she'd been talking to at breakfast that morning. He gaped at them, eyes wide.

"Hello," Cat said softly.

"What are you doing?" he asked, scowling.

"You left your book on the train," she said, pulling his copy of Advanced Potion Making out of her bag and setting it on the table next to him. "I thought you might like it back."

He took it slowly, looking it over to make sure she hadn't done anything to it. Deciding it was safe, he slipped it safely back inside his bag.

"You can go now."

"There are no other seats, genius," the brunette next to Cat said, refusing to look at him.

"Jory," Cat said sternly.

Severus threw a glare at Jory, before turning away from them to focus on Slughorn's speech about O.W.L.s. They didn't talk to each other during the lesson, while they worked on the tricky Draught of Peace. Severus found relaxation in the familiarity of potion making and continued to improve the instructions, jotting changes down in his textbook.

He finished before anyone else like usual, ladling the potion into a flask and corking it. Jory made a little noise of frustration as he strolled up to Slughorn's desk for marking.

Cat was staring in amazement as she continued to stir her potion. "Wow. How'd you get it done so fast? I mean…wow."

Severus shrugged, stuffing his things into his bag and leaving. He wasn't exactly keen on sharing his skills with the girl that made a fool of him. The only way he'd been able to work next to her was the fact that she kept absolutely silent until the end of the class. He just hoped she continued to follow that trend, and didn't become another James Potter. Although, she had returned his book, when he'd been certain that he'd have to write a letter to Flourish and Blotts. She wasn't required to do that…

His name being called broke through his thoughts, faint at first, until a hand on his shoulder brought him crashing back into reality. Startled, memories of violent hands descending upon him rushing through his head, he whipped around at the same time he pulled his wand out. A frightened Cat stumbled back, releasing him and throwing her hands up in surrender. Jory, however, who was half a step behind her, brandished her own wand. She and Severus glared at one another, his wand pointed at Cat, and hers pointed at him.

"Jory, don't…" said Cat in a calm tone, lowering her hands to her sides. "He won't do anything."

"What makes you so sure?!" Jory snapped.

"This is no place for your paranoia, Jory. Put the wand away!"

Jory hesitated, glancing over at Cat, before sighing and pocketing the wand. Severus, however, didn't budge. Cat cleared her throat, eyeing the wand despite her previous statements. Her gaze hastily returned to meet his when she spoke.

"I just wanted to talk to you," she started.

"Well, I don't want to talk to you," Severus said irately. "And don't. Ever. Touch. Me. Again." He grit his teeth and glared, before turning on his heel and storming away, robes billowing behind him.