-A/N- Thank you all so much for reading this! This chapter is pretty long and chapter 4 is just as long so hold in there please! thanks! R&R is welcome and loved!-

-Chapter 3-

The sun was setting and it cast a warm red glow over the Great Hall. Students were coming in and out from classes they had that evening, toting books, quills, and parchment. Megan Chambers sat by June Summerby at the Hufflepuff's house table, talking amongst themselves and other students. Just as a few of the professors and Headmaster Dumbledore were taking their seats, Megan noticed Sylvia and Rose coming in from the large wooden door, laughing and bringing with them books and the distinct scent of Professor Trelawney's class.

Megan saw them first, and nudged June in the side.

"Look who's decided to pull their heads out of their books and join us!" Megan moved some books that were on the bench next to her, making room for her friends. Sylvia and Rose slid in next to them and dropped their bags underneath the table.

"And it looks like you ditched Divination again." Sylvia reached down into her bag and pulled out a small piece of parchment. "Here are the notes anyway; you were lucky Trelawney was having a down day." She laughed as she passed Megan the parchment.

"Thanks Syl, I don't know what I'd do without you." Megan winked just as Dumbledore stood up to address the Great Hall.

"Good evening, professors and students. I hope the day went well for all of you. You will all be happy to know that the first Quiddich mach of the year will be Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff." The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables exploded in cheers. "The match will take place a week from today at three in the afternoon. All classes will be postponed for that afternoon. Make sure that the heads of the teams schedule practice time with Madame Hooch as soon as possible. Now if that's all, let's enjoy our food." Dumbledore clapped his hands together and in an instant food filled the tables and students and teachers alike began to serve themselves.

"Hufflepuff and Gryffindor… well, now what side of the pitch am I supposed to sit on?" June Summerby, who happened to also be a Gryffindor, spooned a slice of chicken pie onto her plate, accompanying a generous heap of mashed potatoes.

"Hufflepuff, of course, why is that even in question." Megan said after a drink of pumpkin juice.

"Well I am a Gryffindor, Megan, but even if I do sit on Gryffindor's side, I'll proudly don the yellow and black of Hufflepuff." The girls laughed and continued talking about the match as they continued eating their meal. Sylvia looked around the Great Hall; she loved being at Hogwarts. There was not one thing here that made her sad or upset, even the Slytherins were tolerable. Suddenly, Sylvia felt something small hit her on the back of her head. She turned around to see which one of her friends would be giggling madly, but they all seemed to be interested in their own conversations. Just as she was going to ask Rose if she had thrown anything, she was hit again on the side of her head. She looked down to the stone floor, and there laid a small green bean. Sylvia looked in the direction it came from and made eye contact with a very handsome Gryffindor boy. He smiled and waved in her direction, she looked around to make sure that she was the one he was aiming for, and then smiled back. She blushed slightly and turned to her friend.

"Rose," she whispered while she poked her friend in the ribs. "Rose, look. Who is that?"

"What, Sylvie? Who is who?" Rose looked around to where Sylvia was gesturing. "Oh, you mean that cute boy over there. The one with the red hair at the Gryffindor table? Hmm, I can't quite remember his name. June, hey, June!"

"Shhhh, no, Rose, please. It's okay, I'll find out myself."

"Are you sure, Sylvia? I think he's only a year older then June; she's sure to know who he is." Rose gave her friend a curious look. "Why do you want to know anyway, Syl?"

"Oh, nothing," She smiled. "He threw this at me, that's all." Sylvia blushed as she picked up the orphaned green bean off the floor. She and her friend giggled as they looked in his direction. He was talking to a boy sitting next to him and they both looked up at the girls and waved. Sylvia and Rose waved back, giggling outright. The girls whispered between themselves about what had happened and finished their dinner.

At seven o'clock, Dumbledore stood up, cleared the tables and made the regular evening announcements reminding everyone that the castle grounds were now off limits until classes began the next morning and that everyone should be in there house dormitories after eight o'clock tonight. Megan tapped Sylvia's shoulder just as Dumbledore was finishing.

"Hey Sylvie, you still want to go down to the library? I really need the help. I was looking over the ingredients for the Draught of Peace. Damn, this stuff is too advanced. Like were ever going to use the stupid potion anyway. Well, you still up for going?"

"Yeah sure, um, let me take care of something first and I'll meet you there. I'll bring some of the ingredients; I have just to familiarize you with them. Meet me in the Potions section, okay?" She said this just when Dumbledore excused the students and they all stood up and bolted for the large doors.

Megan stood up, grabbed her bag, and headed for the mass of students that had now crowded around the door. "Alright, thanks!"

Rose stood up right after that, and looked at Sylvia, "Hey, I'll see you back in the common room later, okay? You better tell me everything! Bye."

"Bye, Rosie." Sylvia waited behind until the crowd died down a little before she stood up with her bags, and headed toward the back of the Great Hall. There were still a few students hanging around outside the doors as she walked past and towards the common room.

"Hey!" Sylvia heard someone shouting behind her and turned around just in time to see the handsome, red-haired, green-bean-throwing boy, stumble into her, making them both hit the floor, Sylvia's books scattered around them.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I didn't think you were going to stop so fast." He stood up quickly and began picking up the few books that had fallen onto the floor. "Are you okay?"

Sylvia was shocked. She didn't know whether to laugh or run away. She stood up and decided that laughing would be the best choice out of the two.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Thanks."

"Damn these stone floors. Well, my name's Peter: Peter Fowler. Sorry about the vegetable tossing, but you seemed so deep in thought. I wanted to ask you if you would like to have lunch with me tomorrow, by the lake." Sylvia's head was spinning. Was someone asking her out? It couldn't be, but yet, here it was happening to her. It was something she had wanted to happen, and here it was right in front of her.

"Um, lunch? Tomorrow? Sure, I mean, I would have to reschedule some of my study time, but lunch, yes, I would love lunch." Her cheeks were bright red and she held her books close to her chest, trying to keep her rapidly thumping heart a secret.

"Ah, I'm actually quite embarrassed but, I don't know your name yet." He handed her a short blue feathered quill that had also fallen while he asked her name.

"Sylvia Fawcett." She reached out her hand to grab the quill, and also to shake his hand. "Very nice to meet you, Peter."

"Nice to meet you too, Sylvia." He returned her shake, turned around, and walked back down towards a small group of friends talking by Great Hall's wooden doors.

Sylvia stood in the middle of the stone hallway, practically beaming. She was filled with so many emotions, and all of them wonderful. She was half-skipping, half-running on her way to meet Megan at the library. When she got to the library door, she had to pause and take a deep breath, trying to slow her heartbeat down so it didn't seem so audible. Taking the cool September air into her lungs, she reached her arm forward, pulling open the heavy oak door and stepping inside the quiet library.

--

Sylvia woke the next morning to the sound of scratching. She sat up in bed and looked toward the window by her bedside. There, outside on the ledge, was a grey owl, clutching a tiny piece of parchment in its beak. Sylvia looked around and saw that all of the other girls were sleeping, so she decided to open the window herself and give the letter to whomever it belonged to when they woke up. She grabbed a black bath robe, with the house shield embroidered in yellow on the right side and put it on. It was getting colder and colder every day; she was even able to see her breath in the air now. She flipped open the latch to the window and pushed it forward a bit. The bird came swooping in and landed in the middle of her bed.

"Here, let me see that. Please don't wake any of the other girls. I'll give one of them the letter when they wake up, I promise." Sylvia walked over toward the owl and it dropped the letter into her hand without any struggle at all and flew away, back out the window. She thought this was very odd, until she looked at the name on the paper and realized it was for her.

She was now even more confused. Who could be writing her notes so urgent that it couldn't wait for breakfast? She unfolded the parchment as quickly as she could without tearing it, and she smiled as she read the six words scribbled onto the parchment in front of her.

Looking forward to our lunch.

-Peter

Sylvia hugged the parchment close as she lay back onto her bed, and tried to fall back asleep.

--

"Oh god, Sylvia, did you leave this window open?" Sylvia sat up, still clutching Peter's note to her chest, and looked up to the window, which Rose was now latching shut. "What were you doing with the window open anyway?" Rose looked at her friend curiously and sat down on the bed next to her after closing the window.

"Here, look." Sylvia handed Rose the note, smiling.

"Peter? Oh! Yeah, that's that boy. Wait, you talked to him? When? Why didn't you tell me?"

"You were already asleep by the time I got back from helping Megan at the library with her potions work and I didn't want to wake you. He came up to me after you all had left and I was walking to the library. He asked me to have lunch with him by the lake today." Sylvia's cheeks flushed red with happiness.

"Well, you should have woken me up, Sylvie. This Peter, he sure seemed like a nice enough guy. Oh I am so happy for you Sylvie!" Rose squeezed Sylvia with a tight hug.

"Hey, what's with all the chattering? Oh it's too early." Rachel Burke, a pretty girl who was also in Sylvia's class, moaned as she pulled her feet onto the brown stony floor. Sylvia looked around and saw that most of the girls in their dorm had already gotten out of bed and were making their way towards the showers.

"Oh my goodness! What time is it?" Sylvia looked at a watch that her muggle cousin had given her two years ago. "It's already seven? Rose, why didn't you wake me up earlier? The line at the bathroom is going to be a mile long; oh I'll never get into the shower at this rate." Sylvia tightened the robe around her waist, and scurried off to the girl's bathroom.

"You should have showered last night, like me, instead of flirting with cute boys!" Rose shouted out the door after Sylvia.

Sylvia leaned against the brown granite tiles in one of the many identical showers that were in the girl's Hufflepuff bathrooms. She stared up at the low ceiling, letting the hot water pour over her shoulder and spiral down the drain. She couldn't tear her mind away from every thing that had just happened, and everything she hoped would happen. She couldn't imagine anything particular about him. Everything in her mind seemed to blur together, one giant blur of everything good in her life. She never wanted to leave this moment in time.

"Hey!" Someone was banging on the door to her shower, "You've had your twenty minuets already. There are others who need to get to class!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm getting out right now." Sylvia turned the knob for the faucet as fast as she could, grabbed her robe and hurried down the hall back into the dormitories to get dressed.

Sylvia hurried down towards the great hall to grab something small to eat before her first class. She hoped she wouldn't run into anyone she knew, there were only a few minuets left until her Herbology lesson started, and she wouldn't want to make Professor Sprout take points away from her own house. Sylvia saw a tray of muffins on the Hufflepuff table and darted toward it.

"Excuse me, please. I just need to squeeze in for a moment." Sylvia leaned over a couple of second years sitting closely together and grabbed two muffins. "Thanks." She mumbled before trotting off towards the open doors and out into the beautiful September morning, leaving a faint trail of crumbs behind her.

The first part of the day went by painstakingly slow. For the first time since she had been at Hogwarts she couldn't hold her attention long enough to take notes. Oh well, she thought, I guess Megan and June are just going to have to get their notes from someone else. She would check the clock on the wall every few minuets, making sure that their Professors didn't keep them over.

Her last class before lunch was Arithmancy. Professor Vector was trailing on about the magical properties of this number and that number and assigning massive amounts of homework for this evening. I should have thought twice about rescheduling my study time, Sylvia thought to her self. She tried to pay attention, she really did, but the only thing she could think about was the lake. How beautiful it was going to look, where they would sit together. Sylvia sat up shocked, her quill and ink well dropping onto the floor.

"Miss Fawcett, are you alright?" Professor Vector removed her wand from her robe and cleaned up the mess, then handed the blue feathered quill back to Sylvia. Where would they meet? She hadn't seen Peter all day, and they hadn't talked the night before about where they should meet up. Sylvia began to fidget.

"Yes, Professor, I'm fine. Thank you."

"Very well then, so as I was saying, if you divide the seventh decimal place…" Sylvia zoned back out after then. How could she have been so stupid? She needed to find Peter before lunch began, but as she looked at her watch for what seemed the thousandth time today; she heard the lunch bells ringing.

"Oh, well looks like were out of time for today. I want you all to read pages four hundred and seven to four sixteen before I see you again! Don't forget!" Professor Vector dismissed the students to lunch. As Sylvia darted out the door she ran into Rose, who had been waiting for her.

"Guess who hunted me down about an hour ago and told me to give you this?" Rose smirked and handed Sylvia a small slip of paper identical to the one the owl delivered that morning. Sylvia snatched it up and read it.

Please meet me by the Herbology greenhouses. I'll be waiting under the smallest tree.

Looking forward to seeing you-

Peter

Sylvia squealed with delight, hugged her friend and skipped down towards the great hall.

"Thank you Rosie!" She shouted back, blowing her friend kisses before she spun around and bounced down the stairs.

--

Severus dismissed his students and gathered the mess of reports he had received from the first year class right before lunch. Taking a second glance at the piles of parchment in his arms, he pulled open a drawer to his desk and shoved them all to the back. I'll get to it later this evening, he thought, and grabbed some vials of potions that had the labels scribbled on so bad that he could barely read them. First years, he grumbled to himself as he shook his head and locked the door to his classroom.

He walked towards the stairs that lead him up to the great hall. He held the vials in his pocket with the un-bandaged hand, walking quickly and staring at the floor. He wasn't paying attention to the students milling around him, to the odd couple making out by a suit of armor, nor did he pay attention to the bright red head of hair that was speeding in his direction. Before he knew what, or who, had hit him, he was lying toppled on the ground with a thin, red haired student. In his pocket were now only shards of glass, potion and blood.

"Damnit! Don't you watch where you are going!" yelled Severus, many of the students gathered around, shocked at what they were hearing the Professor say. Severus took his bloody hand out of his pocket and wiped it onto his pant leg, he hoped that whoever the vial belonged too, that they paid attention in class enough not to screw up the potion. He looked at his hand; nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. He stood up and looked at exactly who ran into him. There, scrounging on the floor for miscellaneous papers and books was a thin, red haired girl that Severus did not know by name. As she reached for a care of magical creature's book, Severus placed a shiny dark boot on top of it. The girl looked up at him, first with a look of anger, and then one of embarrassment and shock.

"Oh I'm sorry Professor; I didn't realize that it was you." She reached down for her book again, but he did not move.

"I see. Name?" He looked down on her while blood still trickled out of his hand, making small puddles on the stone floor.

"W-what?"

"Name, what is your name?" He pronounced the words clearly and slowly.

"Rose Cadawallar."

"And Miss Cadawallar, what house are you in?" You could hear the irritation in his voice as he addressed her, some of the students that had circled around them wandered off, either from boredom, or fear of Professor Snape.

"Hufflepuff, sir." Rose was now looking at the ground, terribly embarrassed by what was happening to her.

"Well, Professor Sprout is going to be disappointed about her house losing points again, isn't she?" Severus began as he heard the sounds of disgruntled Hufflepuffs around him. He looked down at Rose and he could see that she was livid, "And you will join me for detention during lunch today." He turned around and walked in the direction he had just come from. Rose picked up her last book and followed the Potions Master towards the dungeon. Every few seconds Professor Snape would look back at her to make sure she was still following him.

Severus was deep in thought about what had just happened. He didn't understand how these students could ever disrespect a professor the way she did. The tone of her voice ringed in his ears, some days he wondered why he was teaching in the first place.

--

Sylvia stood under the shade on the small tree that she and her friends usually occupied. A strong breeze blew across the lake and right through her body, making her robes flap wildly. She didn't know where he would be coming from, or how she should act. Her legs were all tingly and like gelatin. She had never felt this nervous about anything in her life. Well maybe that pop quiz Professor Sinatra gave last year. Sylvia's mind began to wander and struggle back to reality. Only when she saw a bright orange head bobbing out of the corner of her eye did she bring her attention back to the present.

She turned towards the castle, where Peter was running across the grass toward her, a brown paper bag in his hand. As he made it closer to the tree she slowed his run to a slight jog and then a walk. Slightly panting he joined Sylvia under the tree and smiled."Were you waiting long?" Sylvia shook her head and returned his smile, "Sorry, There was something going on in the hallway right outside the dungeons. A girl got detention, and they had to clean up some blood that was on the floor. I don't know exactly, just what I heard on my way over here." He seemed nervous as he scratched his head and opened the brown bag. "I, uh, hope you like turkey. It's not much, but here, let's sit down." He motioned toward the base of the tree and they both sat down, their legs crossed and knees barely touching.

Peter brought out of his bag, two turkey sandwiches and a cup of pudding.

"Tapioca?" asked Sylvia, "How on earth did you get some of this out here?"

"Do you like it?" Peter smiled and took a bite of his sandwich as Sylvia opened the top on the cup and dipped her finger inside.

Sylvia tasted the tapioca pudding on the tip of her finger, "Oh my, Do I like it? It is simply my favorite thing, ever" She and Peter laughed as she dipped another finger into the cup.

"Here, I think I brought a spoon with me." Peter dug into the paper bag again and pulled out a small metal spoon.

"Thanks Peter. I haven't had Tapioca pudding in so long. My mother makes wonderful pudding."

"I would love to try it sometime." Peter surprised her with this, and just as sudden as the comment came, was she filled with un-surpassing glee.

"I would like that." She held the cup of pudding close to her chest as she swallowed a small spoonful and smiled.

His smile mirrored hers, and there was a small awkward pause where neither of them knew what to say or do. "Here, you have a sandwich too." He laughed and handed her a generous turkey sandwich on a flakey wheat roll.

They ate and talked together for almost an hour before Sylvia noticed that there were students making their way back to the castle. Peter was talking about the Gryffindor Quiddich team, and their new seeker.

"And his grandmother just bought him the new comet that just came out for his birthday. I really think we have a chance this year."

"That's really great, Peter. Hey what time is it?" Peter was lying on his back, both hands supporting his head. He looked at his watch.

"Wow, it's already one thirty! Thanks so much for having lunch with me, Syl. Can I see you again, soon?" Peter picked up the now crumpled brown paper bag and the other trash from their lunch.

"Sure. Thank you so much for everything today, Peter. I'll talk to you later okay? Bye." Sylvia stood up and picked up the few books that she had by the tree.

"Bye, Syl." Peter said. He waved to her as she turned and walked toward the castle. As he watched her turn around half way and wave in his direction, happiness rushed through his body from the ground up.

Sylvia turned around one last time to wave at Peter before she went into the castle. She was so happy about the whole day, even though she had missed taking notes in almost every class that morning. Making her way further into the castle, she poked her head into the great hall and looked toward where her, Rose, June, and Megan usually sat at the Hufflepuff table. She could see June and Megan talking over some teen witch magazine, but she couldn't see Rose anywhere. She carefully squeezed between clusters of chattering first years and walked over towards where her friends were sitting.

"Hey Megan, hey June," Sylvia said, still looking around for any sight of Rose, "How's it going?"

"Eh, it's going okay, how about you?" Megan responded, not lifting her eyes from the magazine, where two celebrity witches were now fighting over a very handsome wizard.

"Really good actually, do any of you know where Rose is? I want to tell her about my lunch today." Sylvia asked, Megan's eyes narrowed and a sly smile crept up Megan's dark red lips. She snapped the magazine shut and turned towards Sylvia.

"A lunch? With whom were you having lunch with, my dear?" Sylvia smiled brightly. She had completely forgotten to tell June and Megan about everything that had happened with Peter over the last few hours.

"Oh dear, Um, Peter Fowler, a Gryffindor. Sorry, I meant to tell you guys. I was just caught up in everything." At the name Peter Fowler, June also snapped her magazine shut and turned toward Sylvia.

"You're dating Peter Fowler? No way!" June asked, in a volume a little too loud for Sylvia.

"Shhhh! No, were not dating. He just asked me to have lunch with him today that's all." As Sylvia was saying this June stood up and moved to sit on the other side of Sylvia.

"Well are you going to see him again?" asked Megan, sounding more precocious then she was in reality.

"Well yes, but--" But Megan cut her off before she had a chance to finish what she was going to say.

"Well, then you are dating him? Oh Sylvia, this is good! How about I come up to your dorm and show you some of the tips from this week's Cosmo Witch? I also picked up a fabulous lip gloss that actually has a very low dose of a weak love potion in it. It may be illegal because I had it imported, but it is simply to die for!" Sylvia interrupted her before she could get any further.

"Sure Megan, maybe. Do you know where Rose is though; I would really like to talk to her." Sylvia felt weird talking about this with June and Megan. She cared about them, and they were good friends after all, but she would have really liked to talk about this with Rose first.

"You mean you didn't hear?" Sylvia shook her head and looked at June curiously, "She knocked Professor Snape down in the hallway right after lunch started... I guess he was pretty pissed off about it, because she ended up getting detention."

Sylvia's eyes widened as she heard what had happened to Rose. She quickly grabbed her book bag, which she had scooted underneath the table when she sat down, and headed toward the doors.

"Wait, Sylvia!" Megan threw the magazine towards a pretty black haired girl sitting across the table, "Thanks May. Sylvia, wait! Come on June." June had already begun standing up and folding the magazine underneath her arm. The two girls slipped between the groups of students who gathered around the doorway of the great hall. Megan spotted Sylvia only a few yards away, headed towards the dungeons. She sprinted to catch up with her mousy haired friend and grabbed her arm.

"Let go Megan, I don't really want to talk to you about lip gloss right now if you don't mind." Sylvia sounded perturbed as she pulled her arm out of her friends grasp. Megan looked offended; she wasn't used to being talked to like that, especially by someone she considered to be a friend. She reached out again and was just able to grab her arm again, this time she held it tighter.

"Excuse me? I just wanted to tell you that we would go with you to professor Snape's class. We have it with Gryffindor next, remember?" The rage that was in Sylvia's eyes faded, and embarrassment swam over her face, "And you're not the only one who cares about Rose." Megan kept a tight grip on Sylvia's arm for a few more seconds, making strong eye contact with her before she finally let go.

"Let's go then." Sylvia said coldly, with just a hint of humiliation. She turned around and kept a few steps ahead of June and Megan. Sometimes she couldn't stand them and wondered why she remained friends with such shallow people. She looked over her shoulder to catch them whispering between themselves. They're talking about me aren't they? She thought to herself. Little flames of anger still burned in her chest, although she knew that they had no reason to be there.

They approached the Potions classroom, and they saw that the door was propped open by an old dented cauldron. There were a few Hufflepuffs that Sylvia recognized, trading and comparing notes outside of the classroom. Sylvia walked into the class and saw Rose, sitting on a stool by an old ceramic sink, hand washing glass tubes. As soon as June and Megan saw that Rose was okay, they headed towards their seats and began taking out the ingredients and notes that they had brought along with them. Sylvia walked over to her friend.

Sylvia tried to dampen the anger in her heart, and as Rose turned and smiled brightly at her friend.

"Sylvie! Oh you won't believe what happened." Rose looked around her, almost as if to make sure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation, "That bastard gave me detention because I accidentally bumped into him. He's the one who got blood all over my books and skirt." Rose tried to look angry, but the happiness of seeing her friend surfaced quickly. "I'm really glad you're here now, though. Help me untie this damn thing." Rose stood up and reached behind her to untie the dark grey smock that she was wearing over her robes. "Thanks Syl." Rose and Sylvia headed back towards their working station. Suddenly Rose stopped and turned towards Sylvia.

"Oh listen to me, I feel so dumb, I didn't even ask you about your lunch. How was it?" Sylvia smiled as she continues to pull different ingredients out of her bag.

"You don't know how happy it makes me that you asked that." Sylvia brought out a small bag of moon stones and a jar of cloudy white liquid. "I've already made the hellebore syrup so all we need to prepare is the powdered moonstone." Sylvia smiled and looked up at her friend slyly.

"Oh don't play coy with me. Tell me Sylvie." Rose said, whining just enough for Sylvia to cave in.

"Okay, okay. It was so amazing!" The two girls fluttered with happiness as they talked about what had happened, no less then an hour previously. They were so wrapped up in their own conversation that they didn't notice that Professor Snape had entered the class and was standing behind his desk writing things on the black board. He spoke shortly after setting the yellowed chalk on the small wooden lip at the bottom of the board.

"These are your ingredients and the page number on which you will find the potion. You have an hour to do so, and if you and your partner's potion is not on my desk at the end of the hour, you get a failing grade. Begin." A few students scooted out of their chairs and towards the many bottles of syrup and a bowl full of pearly white moonstones. Sylvia always had her potions ingredients well in advance. She didn't like possibility of risking her grade.

After the Professor had settled behind his desk and busied himself with rolls of parchment, Sylvia and Rose continued whispering back and forth about everything that had happened during lunch. It didn't take them long to finish the potion. It was a fifth year requirement after all, so it was very easy for Sylvia. Rose was able to bring the potion up to the professor's desk as Sylvia cleaned up their work space almost twenty minutes early. Most of the students finished up right after them, and as soon as the last person put their potion bottle on the desk, professor Snape stood up and addressed the class.

"Since we have some time left over, I am not going to let you take advantage of it. Would someone stand and tell the rest of us how to properly prepare a drought of peace?" The class was silent. Professor Snape waited only a few seconds before speaking again,
"I thought not." Severus picked up a sheet of parchment which held the names of the students in this class, "Miss Fawcett."

Sylvia had been busily chatting with Rose under her breath when her name was called. Her eyes, which were now wide as if she were stunned, met Rose's and they both held in giggles.

The professor didn't bother to see which name he had called, he expected the girl to fail and went back to work scanning through essays and marking them lazily.

Sylvia began talking; she wasn't very well known and had surprisingly had the same friends for the past seven years. She was shy at times and didn't bother trying to make someone be her friend. Outside of her family, Sylvia really only felt comfortable with Rose, and she didn't mind not having any other close friends. The professor calling her to speak to the class was unexpected and Sylvia looked around the class at all the beady eyes now staring at her. Usually a professor would tell her in advance if she was going to be used as an example. She was nervous and didn't know quite where to begin. She picked up a few parchment pieces to read her notes, but she had smudged them with moon stone powder and the sticky white syrup of hellebore. She brought the parchment closer to her face. It's because I'm not wearing my glasses, thought Sylvia. She had been prescribed glasses as a child, but she usually wouldn't wear them unless she thought it was completely necessary, she could tell that her eyesight was getting worse now that she was older. She could feel her face getting redder as the seconds passed, but she took a deep breath and silenced her fluttering mind. You can do this Sylvia; you know this potion better then anyone else in this class. Now just breathe.

Her mouth opened and although the words coming out weren't making any sense in her head, they were perfect. She sounded smart and sophisticated as she explained how using a dark stone will help crush the moonstones better versus just an ordinary pestle. She noticed that a few of the students even took out their parchment and quills and were taking notes. Rose was very proud of her best friend today, it wasn't like her to be this outgoing and friendly to people outside of her circle of friends. Even with Megan and June she tried to seem polite and sweet. She loved seeing this new side of Sylvia, and she knew it was because of Peter she was acting this way. Rose smiled as her thought about the future drowned out her best friend talking about the position of syrup in a cauldron.

As the professor used red ink to fail yet another student in his third year class, he stopped to listen to this girl. There was a slight wavering in her voice, as if she were afraid of something, but other then that she sounded very intelligent. She talked about the directions in which to stir the potion and other things students her age shouldn't be concerned about. He caught himself pausing and listening to her three or four times before he looked up at her.

He could be honest, she wasn't beautiful. But her insecurity was captivating. She had shoulder length brown hair that was pulled back in a loose pony tail, tied with a yellow ribbon. Her face was round and almost childish; it had a cute button nose above small pink lips. Her lips parted and formed words, although he didn't comprehend any of them. He could only think of how they would feel. Her large blue-green eyes flickered back and forth from her hands to a random student and back. He could feel the wind knocked out of his chest. His black feather quill fell from his hand and landed silently on the floor. His mouth dried and his hands became clammy and nervous. In his mind, thoughts of this girl, flashes of her, passed in front of his eyes. He could see her, open and timid, waiting for him. He could imagine what it would be like to hold her trembling body, running his mouth along the outline of her body. He could feel his penis growing harder underneath his robes. He spread his hands open across his desk, pressing down hard; as if he was trying to press the urges he was feeling into the desk, where he could lock them away from curious eyes. Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore.

"Class is dismissed." He said, interrupting the girl in the middle of explaining what types of ladles are best for drawing the potion from the cauldron. Every student turned and stared at the professor, then slowly began putting away their quills and books.

"Now! Get out!" Severus shouted and it echoed off the walls of the dungeon. Some of the students looked at each other curiously, as if silently asking each other what they had done wrong, but most just hurriedly threw their things into their bags and walked out the door. The girl who had been talking looked quickly down at her hands, as if she had been scolded, but slowly, she raised her eyes and met his, for only a second. But in that one second, he knew exactly what it was about her that made him feel this way. She held a minute secret inside of her. She wasn't like anyone he had been with before; even Patricia had a vulgar presence about her, but this girl, this child, was in a shimmering iridescent bubble. A bubble he wanted to be a part of.

Sylvia stopped talking abruptly. She was staring at her hands when the professor spoke out to the class. Slowly, almost as if she was underwater, she brought her eyes up and she suddenly felt as if she couldn't breath. She made sudden eye contact with the professor; his eyes looked black and cold between the folds of dark greasy hair. The contact was only for a few seconds, but she felt like she was drowning. She took a large gulp of air and sat down, finally pulling her gaze away from his. This feeling frightened her, but she looked up at Rose, who was now staring at her in confusion, and reassured her that she was fine with a smile. Then she quickly threw her things into her bag, and got up to walk towards the door, Rose following closely behind.

The girls were silent until they were a couple yards away from the door to the potions classroom. Sylvia stopped and stared at the ground, her good friend walked only a few more steps before she had realized that Sylvia had stopped.

"Syl? Hey, are you okay?" Rose reached out and took Sylvia by the hand, "Hey if it's about Snape, forget him. He's an ass. He wasn't purposely trying to hurt your feelings. That's just the way he is. You were doing wonderful, honest." Rose squeezed her friends hand and looked at her, sincerely hoping to make her feel better. It didn't look like it was helping much. Sylvia wasn't sad, her eyes had a washed over look, like a part of her had been ripped away suddenly. She realized that her friend was trying to cheer her up, so she smiled and squeezed Rose's hand securely.

"Yeah, and besides, we have almost ten minuets until Muggle Studies. Want to run over some flash cards I made about kitchen appliances?" Rose rolled her eyes.

"Sylvia, I think Muggle Studies is one class I know I wont need to use your flashcards." Both girls laughed in the stone corridor, which amplified the sound times ten.

"Okay, well…" Sylvia looked back toward the Potions classroom door, which was now closed, "I actually wanted to mention something to professor Snape. Do you think I should…?"

"No Sylvie, are you crazy? Didn't you see him? God, what a bastard." Rose mentioned the last part under her breath. Sylvia looked over her shoulder again and then made childlike begging eyes at her friend.

"Oh no! There is no way I am going to risk more points from out house today, were already behind Ravenclaw by sixty points." Sylvia continued the puppy-eyed stare at Rose and followed it with a pouting bottom lip. "Agh, Sylvia, no way!" But then her friend pulled out all the stops and topped it all off with a whimpering little word.

"Pweease?" Sylvia batted her eyelashes and stuck her lip out even farther. Rose threw her hands up in the air and huffed, showing her inevitable defeat.

"Fine! But I'm not going inside." Sylvia made a sound of triumph and spun around to walk back towards the class, holding her friends hand.

"Why do you want to go back anyway? You just started feeling better." Rose held her friends hand tightly; she liked the warmth Sylvia gave off. It was like you could feel it in her skin. There was no one else like Sylvia, and it was these moment when Rose knew this was true.

"I actually wanted to ask if there was any other work I could do for potions, you know like extra credit? I am thinking about working for the Ministry of Magic, in a Potions field. I've been reading up about it, it seems really neat, and if I want to get better, I'm going to have to work harder, everything we have done this year in potions has been so easy. Maybe he'll like the idea, I may give him a run for his money" Sylvia looked at rose, and they laughed again.

"Yeah, the only running he'll be doing is running Hufflepuff into the ground. Seriously, I don't think he likes us very much."

"I don't think he likes anyone very much." They giggled again as they approached the door. "Okay, you can wait here; I'll only be a few minuets. Wish me luck" Sylvia opened the door, and crossed her fingers. Sticking her head in first and speaking loudly, "Excuse me? Professor?" Sylvia, not seeing or hearing anything, became slightly curious. She stepped into the dark class and looked around.

"Professor Snape? Hello? I just wanted to ask you a few questions. Professor?" She couldn't guess where he could be. There was only one door out of the potions classroom, and she knew that one couldn't apparate onto the Hogwarts school grounds. She lingered only a few moments longer, before realizing that if he was in this room, he had somehow turned himself invisible and did not want to be disturbed. Sylvia sighed; this meant that she would have to take time out later to talk to the professor. She didn't want to keep Rose waiting, so she headed back out the door to her friend and they both walked together to their Muggle Studies class, making fun of the professor most of the way there.

--

As soon as the last student left the classroom, Severus stood up and walked over to a small potions closet that was just left of his desk. This closet was hidden by an old tapestry depicting different poisonous plants. He pulled back the tapestry, turned the doorknob and slid inside.

It was completely dark, but Severus knew how much room he had to walk around, it was barely enough for him to pace back and forth, touching the shelves on one side before returning to the other. He wrung his hands, and wiped his sweaty brow, and fought off the sexual urges his body was creating, but he could not stop his mind. The images of her flashed before his eyes in the dark. It was so real. She was there in that closet with him, he could feel it. He stopped pacing and leaned his back against the right side of the closet, knocking over unknown substances, their glass and stone containers making clinking sounds at they hit each other. Giving into temptation, he unbuttoned a few of the shiny black buttons on the front of his teaching robes. Reaching in, he could feel how the girl had affected him, how he had let her in, like a snake, a small beautiful snake, coiling herself around his chest. He pulled his erect penis from his pants. Leaning his head back against the shelf, he closed his eyes, rubbing up and down tightly on his penis, He could see her, smiling, wrapped in the florescent shimmering bubble. Then, like lightning, he could see her again. She was lying in the grass by the lake, surrounded by her friends. It was then that he realized that these two girls were the same. With autumn sunlight pouring down on them, she's pulling grass up and throwing it into the breeze. In his mind, she's standing up, and he can hear her voice Professor. She's whispering, and walking towards him--

He stopped, filled suddenly with panic, and fear. He could hear his mind crack open like an over ripe melon, spilling out truth.

"A student, Severus". It spoke to him in his mother's voice. His eyes opened, sprinkling the front of his robes with a few salty tears. He thought of his mother, he thought of this girl standing next to her, both of them wrapped in a pink-blue sparkling bubble.

"A student." He whispered into the dark.

Now sitting on the floor of the closet, he heard movement in the classroom, and suddenly, like waking up from a dream where you are falling, and you find yourself on the bedroom floor, he heard a voice, and he knew at once it belonged to her. He pressed one hand against the wooden door, and listened. He could here her calling for him, no not for him, for her teacher. She wasn't some prostitute, she wasn't even a woman. She was still a child. He knew at once that he had to have more composure then this; he could hear her leaving and only stayed in the closet a few moments more, before opening the door and sliding out. He sat at the high backed chair behind his desk and looked at the parchment scribbled with red ink cluttering the desktop. In one swooping moment, with his wand in his right hand, the parchment pieces rolled themselves up and made a tidy little pile on the corner of it. His head was now pounding, and his massive erection was now non-existent, he wrapped his large boney hands around the back of his head, laid his temple against the cold wood desk, and closed his eyes.

-Let me know what you think!-