Severus's First Attempt
Severus was awakened in the morning by the other boys in his dormitory. He dressed quickly and went into the bathroom where the boys were laughing and joking. Many of them were shaving with a charm they had just learned and Lucius was slicking back his hair. Severus went to one of the sinks and washed his face, then Eyed his reflection critically. Although his hair was clean, it still hung limply around his shoulders. 'Maybe if I cut it it'll be better', thought Severus. He waited until everyone had left attempted to cut his hair with the same charm the other boys had been using to shave.
His hair was a wreck. The edges were jagged and there were large chunks missing. He looked around frantically for something that could solve his dilemma. Suddenly his eyes landed on Lucius's hair gel. He could see in his mind the way Combed his hair back so it was smooth and shiny. Severus decided to try it. He squirted some hair gel into his hand and began to rub it into his hair. He picked up the comb and ran it through his hair from front to back until it lay down perfectly just like Lucius's. He stepped back and admired his appearance. He looked pretty good. Not quite as good as Lucius, but pretty darn good. After one final look he hurried down to the great hall.
Few people noticed the difference in his appearance, and those who did gave him funny looks. He began to feel very self-conscious. He managed to gulp down a few bites of oatmeal, but was too nervous to eat anything else. 'Today could be the day' he thought to himself 'today could be the day that Lily Evans finally notices me. Lily Evans, the most beautiful girl in school'. It made him feel Giddy just to think about it. He looked over at the Gryffindor table and spotted her immediately, her hair like a waterfall of amber honey cascading down her back. She was talking and laughing and putting her arm around the person sitting next to her. Suddenly he realized it was Remus his heart sank, and he felt as though a rock had settled itself in his stomach. He continued to watch the scene unfold, only because he could not tear his eyes away. Suddenly he saw something that gave him hope, a point of light in his sea of darkness. Remus had pushed her arm away and moved farther down the bench. Maybe I still have a chance with her' he thought, and feeling considerably better he skipped off to his first class.
A few minutes later he arrived in potions class. It took him only seconds to spot Lily in the crowd of students her hair was like fire illuminating the dimly lit classroom and igniting a fire of passion in his heart. He then spotted James trying to force his way into the seat next to her. Just as Lily pushed James out of the chair for the second time Professor Slughorn came out of his office. "Everyone find a seat please" he said "class is about to begin". James said something to Lily causing her to scowl then he laughed and went to the seat that Sirius had been saving for him.
Severus saw his chance and walked quickly over to the now vacant seat. "May I sit here" he asked nervously. "Sure" she said and smiled at him. It was A pitying smile, but he didn't care. He sat down and moved his chair a bit closer to hers. "Here is your potion for today" announced professor Slughorn. With a casual flick of his wand the instructions appeared on the board. Severus quickly read the directions. It was the most difficult potion he had ever seen. "Great" he thought "the one day I'm trying to impress someone we get an impossible potion. But I can't lose my head. If I can pull off this potion she'll be even more impressed. I just have to stay calm." He looked at the directions again, this time with more confidence. "I'll get the ingredients" he said and quickly got up and went to the cabinet.
About 30 minutes later they sat stirring a fowl smelling violet potion. "Perfect" said Slughorn as he walked by them. After stirring it clockwise 7times and counterclockwise 4 times they left the potion to simmer for 5 minutes during which time they sliced the lizard's tail. They spoke little during this time, but exchanged a few glances. When 5 minutes had passed, they dumped the lizard's tail in. With a deafening bang the potion exploded splattering the now green concoction all over the ceiling and the people sitting closest. Severus managed to cover his face in time, but Lily got a face full of it. Lily screamed ac the room filled with commotion. "Silence" bellowed Professor Slughorn as he surveyed the scene. "Severus, take Lily up to the hospital wing and see what they can do for her." Severus got up and led Lily out of the room.
They walked down the hall to the hospital wing. Severus could hear Lily's choked sobs as the green potion wreaked havoc on her beautiful face. He glanced over at her. Streams of tears cut through the potion that covered her face exposing the irritated flesh beneath. "What have I done". He wanted to crawl inside the suit of armor the had passed and never come back out.
They finally reached the hospital wing. Severus opened the door. He saw the nurse leaning over one of the beds "you've got to help her" cried Severus. The nurse took one look at Lily's potion covered face before grabbing Lily and slamming the door on Severus.
He spent the rest of the class period walking through the halls sulking. He had to think of a way to make this right, but none came to mind. When the morning classes let out for lunch Severus avoided the great hall and went to his dormitory. Sadly, on the way there he bumped into Lucius and his friends. "Hey Severus" drawled Lucius as he blocked the hallway. "Heard you messed up that mudblood girl. Nice one, didn't think you had it in you". With that Lucius patted him on the shoulder and walked off. On any other day Severus would have been happy for something other than malevolence from Lucius, but today, he only wanted to be alone.
He stayed in his dorm until the bell rang for afternoon classes. He walked slowly and was completely unaware of the people around him. By the time he reached care of magical creatures the grounds were deserted and he was almost sure he was late. He rounded the corner of greenhouse 5 and was immediately stopped by the professor. "You're late" barked the professor "10 points from Slytherin". All the Slytherins groaned as Severus went to stand with everyone else. "Could this day get any worse?"
An hour later he left care of magical creatures hot and sore in addition to his other problems. Not wanting to be late again he hurried off to transfiguration. As he took his seat Professor Dumbledore gave him a knowing look, but said nothing. Severus was almost certain that Dumbledore knew what was going on. He tried to ignore it. The rest of the class passed uneventfully. On his fifth try he managed to turn the cactus into an owl which sat staring at him and hooting mournfully. When the class was over he brought the owl up to Professor Dumbledore who vanished it with an effortless wave of his wand. Then Severus went down to dinner.
He had been harboring the hope all day that Lily would be healed and he would see her at dinner, but one quick look at the Gryffindor table proved that she was not. He spotted several of her friends looking solemn, and when one of them spotted him looking she gave him a nasty look and made a rude hand gesture at him. With that he looked away and focused all of hi attention on the plate of roast beef in front of him.