Chapter 5: Boys Will Be Boys
Disclaimer: I do not claim any rights to Harry Potter or any of the characters from it. They belong to J.K. Rowling. The only character that belongs to me, is my OC, Tabitha Tate.
AN: In case you didn't see, I wrote a side-story in honor of Valentine's Day that may be used in place of a chapter for No Matter What later. I hope you guys continue to enjoy this story as much as I enjoy writing it. :)
Severus walked to the Slytherin common room, thinking about ways he could get revenge on Black for getting Tabitha hurt earlier. After he had given the portrait the password and walked into the common room, he sat down on a chair in a secluded corner. He thought about possible paths to go with his revenge for a little while before he formed a plan. He'd have to make sure that Tabitha didn't find out, since she probably wouldn't be happy if she found out what he was up to.
Tabitha walked with James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter to the Great Hall for dinner, laughing with them at something silly that James had said. She noticed Severus walking to the Great Hall as well from the direction of the dungeons. She smiled at him, letting him know that she saw him. He motioned for her to come over to him. She left her group of friends and walked over to the Slytherin, curious about what he could want.
"Hi, Severus." The small blonde greeted, looking up at him with a friendly smile.
"Good evening." The gangly Slytherin replied, the corners of his lips curling upwards slightly. He glanced over at the direction Tabitha had come from and saw, to his satisfaction that Black was still there, watching them. He looked back at the witch and placed a hand on her back, steering her a bit farther away so that it looked like they were going to discuss something private. She tilted her head slightly, wondering what Severus needed.
"Do you have anything to do after dinner?" He asked her, looking at her questioningly.
"Well, I have to work on that essay Slughorn assigned to us yesterday." Tabitha answered, grimacing a little.
"Would you like some help with it then?" Snape asked her, clearly able to see that she wasn't looking forward to writing the essay. She smiled lightly and nodded.
"It wouldn't be a bother for you?" She asked, not wanting to burden him.
"Of course not. I don't have anything else to do tonight." He assured.
"Brilliant. Shall we meet in the library after dinner then?" The blonde asked, looking up at her friend happily.
"Yes, that sounds like the best place to go to meet up at." The Slytherin replied, walking to the Great Hall with her.
"All right. I'll see you after dinner then." She said before going over to the Gryffindor table. He nodded and went to his house's table. He was quite pleased with the way things were going so far for his plan. He glanced over at the Gryffindor table as he ate his meal quietly, smirking at how agitated Black looked.
Soon enough, Severus finished eating his dinner and left the Great Hall. He walked to the library and sat down at his favorite table, in a secluded corner that barely anyone ever went anywhere near. Tabitha walked in after a short while and scanned the library for him. She walked over and sat down after she had found him. She looked through her bags, pulling out some parchment, a quill, an inkwell, and her potions book.
"I really appreciate you helping me with this essay. I've been been absolutely dreading it. Normally I don't have much problems, but I've had a hell of a time finding any information on the potion this essay is about." Tabitha told him, smiling gratefully.
"It's no problem, I assure you." Snape replied. He'd already finished his essay and knew where to find the information for it.
"Still, it means a lot to me that you're going to help me with it." She told him sincerely. She knew that he didn't just offer to help people like this usually. He gave a small nod, feeling just a little guilty about not having pure intentions in helping her with her homework. He was simply using this as a reason to have her near him and away from Black, knowing that it would drive the other boy mad. After he collected the books they would need, they set to work on the essay.
They worked on the essay for about half an hour before Severus noticed Black and Lupin enter the library. The two Gryffindor boys sat at a table that enabled Black to watch him and Tabitha. Snape was glad to see Tabitha hadn't noticed her two Gryffindor friends enter the library. He put an arm around her and moved so that he was partially behind her, pretending like it was in order to get a better look at the book she trying to get information from for the essay. She blushed a bit at how much closer he was to her now, but didn't do anything to show that she wanted him to move.
Tabitha leaned back lightly against Severus without thinking about it after a little while, still reading from the book. She quickly realized what she had done, having felt Snape tense up momentarily in response. She thought that he would probably move away from her, but was pleasantly surprised that he didn't move away at all. Tabitha smiled lightly and continued working on her essay with him. They kept on working on the essay until they finished it a couple of hours later.
"Thanks, for helping me out with my homework, Sev." The blonde witch said, surprising them both with the use of the nickname that Lily commonly used.
"You're welcome." The Slytherin answered, deciding that he didn't mind her calling him that. She smiled, glad that he didn't seem bothered by it.
"So, are you going to work on any potions tonight?" She asked him, hoping to spend a bit more time with him. He thought about it for a moment before nodding, thinking that it would give him another reason to keep her to himself and away from Black for a bit longer.
"Would it be all right if I watch then?" She asked, grinning.
"I guess that would be fine, as long as you don't talk too much." He told her, already starting to walk down to the dungeons. She jogged to catch up to him. They walked down to the dungeons together, Tabitha humming softly to herself. Snape smirked a little, listening to her hum a tune slightly off-key. He opened the door to the potions classroom and held it open for her. He entered the room after her and shut the door behind him.
Tabitha sat down at one of the tables in the classroom and snuggled up in her school cloak, watching Severus as he flipped through a potions book to pick out a potion to brew. She folded her arms on the desk and rested her head on them, feeling quite content like this. She watched as the tall boy gathered up ingredients and other supplies, having decided on a potion. It didn't bother her that he didn't want her to do anything to help at all. She was happy that he allowed her to even keep him company while he brewed like this.
Severus worked on his potion for nearly an hour before glancing over at Tabitha. The small blonde appeared to have fallen asleep. He continued brewing his potion, figuring that he would let her sleep until he was finished brewing and had finished putting away his supplies. It was nearly another hour before he had finished brewing the potion and had put away his supplies. He walked over to his sleeping friend, intending to wake her up. He reached out and gently shook her shoulder.
"Tabitha, you need to wake up." He said, continuing to lightly shake her. She grumbled something unintelligibly and wrapped her small hands around his own much larger one. He tried to remove his hand from hers carefully.
"No, want to stay.. Stay with me for a little longer." The tiny witch murmured, still asleep. Snape sighed, but sat down next to her non-the-less, complying to the sleeping girl's demand.
"Fine. We can only stay thirty more minutes though." He said, not caring whether or not she heard. He looked through his potions book while he sat with Tabitha, letting her sleep. He spent the next half hour reading his potions book for the umpteenth time, filling in some more of the margins with his spidery handwriting. In what seemed like no time at all, that half hour passed, and so Severus carefully shook Tabitha again to wake her.
"Sev? What's going on?" Tabitha mumbled, opening her eyes and yawning.
"It's time to head back to our houses. It's getting late." Snape told her. She stretched and nodded, understanding. They both stood up and left the potions classroom. Severus walked with Tabitha up to the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Goodnight, Sev." She softly said, offering a small smile.
"Goodnight, Tabitha." Severus replied, letting his lips curl up in the slightest of smiles. He turned and went back down the stairs to go to the dungeons, to get to his own house.
"Tabby, why'd you spend all day with Snivillus instead of us after dinner?" James asked asked as Tabitha entered the Gryffindor common room.
"Severus is my friend too. I'm allowed to spend time with my friends outside of our group, you know." Tabitha told him, walking over to the couch and lying down on it.
"Yeah, but why would you want to? Nobody's as much fun as we are." Sirius said, sitting down in front of the couch. Tabitha glared at him before turning so that she was facing away from him. She was still very mad at Sirius and didn't want to be around him right now. He frowned, quite unhappy about her being mad at him and seeming to be getting so chummy with Snape.
"The two of you should probably leave her alone about her friendship with Snape. It seems to only make her upset with you." Remus advised, looking at the three from over the book he had been reading.
"Yeah.. I guess you have a point, Moony. Where's Peter?" James sighed, sitting down next to Sirius on the floor.
"I think he said something about the hospital wing earlier or something like that. He said he wasn't feeling good." Sirius answered, yawning. The only response the others gave was a simultaneous yawn. This caused Tabitha to glance at the clock and realize that they should probably all head to bed soon.
"G'night, you guys. I'm going to bed." She announced, getting up and walking to the stairwell to the girls' dormitories.
"Goodnight." The boys called back to her, filing towards the stairwell to the boys' dormitories.
Tabitha walked up the girls' dormitories and then over to her bed. She dug her pajamas and some clean underclothes out of her trunk before walking over to the bathroom. She took a quick shower and changed into her bedclothes before leaving the bathroom. She quietly climbed into bed and swiftly fell asleep. She dreamt of werewolves, ocelots, dogs, rats, stags, and dark haired boys.
"Hurry, Tabby! You won't have time to get ready, if you don't wake up!" Lily loudly said, shaking the poor blonde senseless.
"I'm up, Lily! I'm up!" Tabitha whined, trying to unlatch the other girl's fingers from her shoulders. She wondered why Lily always seemed to think that they'd be late if everyone didn't move at their top speeds in the morning. She ran her fingers through her wild, blonde curls as Lily released her and yawned. She got out of bed and grabbed some clean clothes from her trunk. She then walked to the bathroom and got ready for the day.
"Tabby, you really must find a spell to manage that hair of yours." Lily said as she and Mary walked down the stairs with Tabitha.
"What's wrong with my hair? I think it's fine the way it is." Tabitha huffed, trying to flatten down her hair in vain.
"It's obviously out of control. It always is." Mary informed her, giggling at the display.
"That's why I keep it so short. I don't have to bother with it and it can do whatever it wants while still looking good." Tabitha said, hurrying down the stairs to take refuge in her male friends.
"James, Sirius, my hair looks fine the way it is, right?" She asked, looking up at the two.
"Of course, Tabby Cat. Your hair is adorable as always." Sirius answered, winking and ruffling the blonde's hair.
"Umm.. I agree with whatever Lily says." James said uselessly. Tabitha stuck her tongue out at him and swatted at Sirius's hand.
"So, Tabby Cat.. Does this mean you've forgiven me then?" Sirius asked as they walked to join Remus and Peter, who were leaving the common room.
"Obviously. I'll be really mad, if I see or hear you do anything bad towards Severus though." Tabitha sighed, rolling her eyes. Sirius merely grinned at James, quite pleased about her no longer being upset with him. Tabitha and Remus talked about assignments in various classes as the other three horsed around with each other; all of them walking to the Great Hall together. Tabitha glanced at the Slytherin table as they walked into the Great Hall and frowned, not seeing Snape there. She wondered where he could be.
After breakfast, Tabitha left the Great Hall, wanting to see if Snape was in the library. Even though he was a very anti-social person, it was still quite strange for him to not show up for breakfast at all. She planned to check all the places he could be, wanting to make sure that he was all right. She walked into the library and looked around. She easily recognized the lanky figure of her Slytherin friend at his usual table, writing hurriedly on a piece of parchment.
"It isn't good to skip breakfast, Sev." She whispered, sitting down next to him. He glanced up at her momentarily.
"I wasn't feeling very well." He told her, continuing to write. She frowned, able to tell that something was bothering him.
"Do you want to talk about it?" The small witch quietly asked, biting her bottom lip concernedly.
"No.. Would you just.. Just stay here with me for a while?" He softly asked in reply, sighing quietly.
"Of course, Sev." She answered, wanting to help any way she could, even if she didn't know what was bothering her friend. They stayed in the library silently with each other for the next couple of hours, not caring that they had skipped their first two classes of the day.
"Lily.. She's upset with me about how much time I spend around my housemates." Severus quietly told her as they walked out of the library together.
"That's kind of dumb.. They're your housemates, so you of course you have to spend some time with them. You live together." Tabitha said, blowing a stray curl away from her face in irritation. Lily Evans really got on her nerves sometimes with the way she seemed to get on Severus's case about such stupid things. Snape grunted in response, unwilling to say anything that went against the redheaded witch. Tabitha rolled her eyes and tightly wrapped her arms around her gangly friend.
"If it's any consolation, I'd never get mad at you over something like that. My friends give me shit about spending time with you, so I know how frustrating it is to have friends that judge you for hanging out with people they don't approve of." She told him, hugging him still. He was glad that he had her as a friend as well as Lily. It was very comforting to be have a friend to talk to when the other one was mad at him. He hesitantly hugged her back, showing his appreciation for her unconditional affection for him. This caused her to smile lightly, momentarily forgetting her agitation that had been caused by Lily.
"Do you think we're going to get detention for cutting class?" Tabitha asked him when they let go of each other.
"That seems highly likely." Snape answered, frowning a little.
"Oh well. I guess we should head to our next classes then." Tabitha sighed, grabbing his hand. Snape walked her to her next class before walking to his own.
AN: I feel like this chapter is sort of short, but I had a harder time with it. I kept thinking about the next chapter and my pain killers from getting my wisdom teeth made it really hard for me to focus and think of anything worth writing. I hope it was still all right. The next chapter should be much better though.