Chapter 4

"Good morning, students. My name is Horace Slughorn, though a great amount of you know me as Head of Slytherin House. And you'll also be knowing me as your great Potions professor. You all will learn a great deal of useful knowledge and I'm sure I'll make great Potioneers out of all of you! Now, I hope you all aren't too attached to your tablemates, because if I learned anything from the current Seventh years, it's that focus is impossible if paired with friends. So, I chose the only fair way which was randomly put names together and picking partners for all of you." A man said jollily. As I heard a collective groan coming from class, I looked at Lily who sat beside me with a slightly worried look on her face.

"Hey, who knows. Maybe he's messing with us and actually did it alphabetically, I mean Lepus and Evans aren't that far from each other." Lily said hopefully.

"Hmph. I honestly thought I'd be done meeting new people with their complicated emotions and relationships. This is going to be bleeding awful…" I complained, letting my head drop onto my arms in defeat.

"Alright, first on the list… Potter, and Black! Where are the two of you, oh! There you are, already sitting next to one another! Perfect! Next we have, MacDonald and McKinnon! Together already as well? Oh well, the next one should be what I'm expecting. Snape and Evans!"

Lily gave me an apologetic look as she moved to sit beside Snape a couple of rows ahead of me. At this point, I knew I was going to be sitting with a complete stranger, but I just was happy there was no chance of me being stuck with Black or Potter.

"Avery and Mulciber! Okay next, Lepus and Lupin! Oh little alliteration with those names!" Slughorn announced.

I was about to ask who in the hell was Lupin, but I was stopped as a tall boy with light brown hair and friendly eyes stood from the table closest to Potter and Black walking in my direction. He quietly sat down his book, and took the seat next to me.

I quickly opened up my book and tried to get further in my reading.

"So, um, I'm Remus Lupin. What would you like to be called?" he asked.

'Damn. I couldn't avoid it.'

"Clover." I muttered, hoping he'd sense my introversion.

"Well, that's a nice name." he awkwardly replied.

"I hope so, I did get for my birthday." I stated sardonically. His lightly scarred face cracked a smile as he began to lightly laugh at my sarcastic comment.

Oddly enough, an actual friendship came from that class. Though Lily and Snape ended up being my partners in crime (if that crime includes keeping books from the library a day past due), Remus ended up being a good friend to me as well. Through the next couple weeks, it seemed like I had my relationships sorted out.

Lily and Severus were probably the closest I felt I'd ever have to best friends. Though I was still working on opening up to them, they still made me feel included in their already close friendship.

Remus was nice enough, I'd study with him sometimes in the library, since I really needed the help in Herbology which he was thankfully decent at.

Dahlia and Lucius were two that I'd avoid like the plague. Because Dahlia was too…much. And Lucius would go on about "Blood traitor" this, and "Mud blood" that. I was quickly beginning to learn to drown the two out while talking to them. They would have been better separately, but Lucius stuck with Dahlia during their duties (I often wondered where the other Prefect and Head Boy went off to) so I typically couldn't get time alone with my sister. Not that I would have wanted to anyway.

Potter, Peter, and Sirius were all equally the absolute worst. I disliked each one of them. Potter was the leader of the Potpourri of Pathetic, being the loudmouth arrogant one who was always up to some mischief. Sirius was the one who often brought up who would be victim to their tomfoolery. And Peter did nothing but tag along. Even Remus was in on all of this, planning most of their stupid pranks, and thankfully sometimes got caught doing so.

A month into the year, it seemed that everything was going quite smoothly. I spent a lot of my time in the library with Lily and Severus, studying, and sometimes just talking. It took a lot of getting used to since I was comfortable with spending my time alone, but it was getting easier as I got to know them better. Spending time with them was therapeutic even if half the time we were quizzing each other, which helped more than harmed.

"Clover, what is the Werewolf Code of Conduct, and what year was it developed?" Lily said looking at her notes. 'Of course I get a History of Magic question. Why can't they ever give me a Charms or a Transfiguration question?' I thought bitterly. I began looking through the files of my brain trying to figure out the answer to this question.

"It was some useless group of rules that basically dictated what werewolves were supposed to do on Full Moons. A bunch of rubbish really, since no one really came to sign it, I mean who in their right mind would go and admit their a werewolf. It's utter stupidity. And um, the year was 1673," I said.

"You know, you can't really say on the exams, 'This rule was a bunch of rubbish and it's utter stupidity.' Professor Binns would be bound to keep you after class and drone on about how important it is, and I don't think you want that." Severus stated seriously, failing to hide the humor in his eyes.

"Oh bugger off, Severus."

"By the way, it was 1637, not 1673.," He finished.

"Oh it's almost time! I'm supposed to be meeting Mary and Marlene at the beginning of lunch, so I'll see you at dinner!" Lily said gathering her books and rushing out of the library.

"I don't see why she hangs out with those two. From what I've seen, they're both a couple of gossiping idiots. Lily can do much better." Severus bitterly said.

"She says they're better when you get to know them. But people say snakes are sweet animals if you get to know them, but I'm sure as hell not going to mess with snakes…Wait is that offensive at all?"

"I don't think so. I know I've overheard Bellatrix Black say that she wasn't too fond of snakes. I believe she said they're dreadful creatures, though she of course wouldn't want anyone outside of her circle to know that." Severus said.

"Let's not even talk about her, please. She's awful. I swear, you're the only tolerable Slytherin I know." I grumbled, setting my head on the table.

"Isn't Dahlia your-"

"You're the only tolerable Slytherin I know." I repeated, overly emphasizing each word.

"C-Clover. The oh what did you call them Potpourri of Pathetic, yes that's what it was, they're coming in the library and are heading this way." Severus said beginning to take all of his valuables off the table.

I sighed, quickly stuffing all my notes into one of my class books and putting them in the empty chair next to me. You see, Severus and I did not care too much for the four boys that had entered (well, three in my case since Remus was at least bearable), and they had a habit of being up to no good when walking in our direction. So to save ourselves grief, we keep our valuables out of sight when they're in our eyesight.

As they walked towards Severus and I, Lupin sat down at a table facing away from us. Their eyes twinkled with mischief as they walked to the end of our table.

"What do you want, Stooges?" I asked looking up at the three boys. I glanced at Snape who's head was down, not looking at any of the boys.

"Actually we go by the Marauders!" the chubby boy chimed.

"Quiet, Peter." Sirius whispered, elbowing the boy in the ribs.

"Nothing, we just wanted to come and steal our friend Snivellus from you. We've got something super important to tell him." James replied as if the other two weren't even talking.

"Bollocks. Just say whatever you're going to say and go bother someone else." I retorted.

"You're no fun, House Traitor. That's why no one likes you." Sirius declared.

"House Traitor? Is that what I'm being called now? Cute. Now why don't you three go on, I'm sure you can tell when you're not wanted." I said coldly.

"Sirius…" James whispered.

Sirius proceeded to throw a box on the table that immediately exploded at impact. They backed away a couple steps and suddenly, I was covered in something living. The smoke cleared up to reveal we were covered in beetles, centipedes, and millipedes. As they began to laugh, Snape stood up and immediately started brushing them off of himself. I stood frozen for a minute before audibly sighing.

"Really? A bug bomb? Are you really this uncreative?" I spoke, stoically looking at them.

"We weren't exactly going for creative! We were more going for what'd be funny!" Potter said between laughter.

"It's the simple things in life that are better, haven't you heard that?" Black chimed in. I proceeded to get up, Severus quickly copying my actions.

I pointed at James.

"You need to get a life."

Next, I gestured at Peter.

"You need to grow a backbone."

I then looked Sirius right in the eye and said, "And you need to get a hobby, you boring ratty haired git." I picked up my stuff and left the library with Severus right as the librarian came running up to the boys yelling profusely.

Once we walked down the hall a little bit, I dropped my books and began brushing off the bugs.

"How did you stand there and just be normal with those all over you?" Severus asked, picking a couple beetles out of my hair.

I was quiet for a second.

"I'd rather die than let those three think that their practical joke impacted me at all." I icily replied.

"Oh… I wish I could do that, the whole b-brave at the face of people thing, I just- I don't know. It seems like every little thing they do just gets to me! And I can't do a damn thing about it! It's always three or four of them, then just one of me. And when they catch me alone, it's so hard to deal with. I don't know how long I can deal with this. How are you able to do that?" He dejectedly said, quickly wiping his eyes, and sitting with his back against the wall.

'What am I supposed to say at moments like these? He's hurting and I don't know how to help,' I thought, because I didn't. I was still getting used to having these friendships and these emotional (irrational) conversations. I still didn't understand my own emotions, and constantly wondered if I can actually feel real emotion. So I did what I thought Dahlia would do to the best of my limited ability.

"Well, it's not like I'm a brave super human or anything. I was screaming internally, because I honestly think bugs are pretty creepy. If it were spiders, I probably would have been counting on you to handle all that with them. All I really did was take the surprise and fear, and put it in a box. I then proceeded to lock the box and swallowed it, never to be seen again." I said, trying to crack a good nature smile, which ended up looking more like a constipated push face.

"I get what you're saying, I think, but I can't do that… I often feel like I can't do anything… I can't defend myself. They're stronger than me physically and magically without even trying to be. I wish I could just do something to get back at them. Get back at them so hard that they'll never recover. And never mess with me again!" Severus mumbling by the end of his statement.

"Severus, I understand what you're saying, but think rationally. Last time you attempted revenge, well long story short, you probably still have bruises. And Lily was mad about it for days. Don't reduce yourself to their low level to regain pride. Since they seem to not try at anything, put in more effort than they'd ever dream of putting in. Do well in Charms. Actually, I'm sure if you explain the situation to Professor Flitwick, he'd be more than happy to show you the Disarming Spell. It's a second year spell, but the man would be glad to help you out. I'm sure you're good in class and whatnot." I reassured him.

He went silent, thirty seconds turned into a minute. He then got up and dusted himself off.

"You're right. I'm going to talk to him before dinner." Severus awkwardly said.

"So do you want to go on to lunch?" he asked, politely helping me to my feet.

"Sure, but I'll be honest I don't know how much of an appetite I'll have after the Stooge's latest joke." I commented.

"You'll find your appetite, you always do." He teased.

"Oh quit being cheeky, Severus. It doesn't suit you." I mockingly scolded.

'It's weird helping others with emotions while being so out of touch with my own. But seeing him back to his normal awkward self after that irrational spell of his, it's nice. It's also nice to know I was able to help, I guess there's more to this friendship thing after all.' I thought to myself, not realizing at the time that a small smile formed on my face.

Hello! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Please leave a Review if you liked, or didn't like! I am very open to criticism and it'd be great to hear what I need to improve on.

Next chapter will be a Dahlia chapter because she will end up being an important character in this story so I think it's going to be really fun to explore her some more. We will also have some more Lily & Snape friendship, Marauder friendship development, and some more of the evasive Lepus family coming soon!