Chapter 24

A/N WE HIT 100 REVIEWS! Thank you SO much to everyone who has reviewed this story at one point in time because you have all helped Bailey and I to reach a goal we never thought would happen. Unfortunately though, exam week is here for both of us so we're both going to curl up and sob for approximately a week. (That's why this chapter is kind of short...we were both cramming all day and we had to try and find time to write which didn't work out as well as we had planned.)

Bienvenue a Bikini Bottom: I think the war thing going on has forced all of them to change in a way they didn't expect.

Amar 2: Lily went off to hide and in no way are James and Severus friends, James just doesn't absolutely loath him now.

Christine Dalenn: Gracias girly. And also, good luck on your exams this week! I'll cry with you when we both fail :P.

delenda est c: Don't thank us, we didn't do anything. Thank you for actually reading and reviewing. That's amazing.

jaimeseahz: Thanks for the follow!

Ivy Tearen: Thanks for the follow/favorite!

Severus was halfway through his seventh year class when there was a knock on his classroom door. His students were working furiously, trying to work fast but also produce a perfect potion that he had assigned, them so they didn't seem to notice the small noise. Sighing, he got up and opened the door. A small girl, a first year from one of his classes, looked up at him with large, fearful eyes and was nearly shaking at the sight of him looking down at her.
"I-I'm supposed to give this to you, Professor," she squicked and held out a small scroll of parchment in her shaking hand. He grabbed it from her and she quickly scurried away. He sighed again as he watched her practically run in her hurry to escape his presence. You would have thought he was breathing fire or fired off the Avada Kedavra everytime he was approached. Sure, his intent at the beginning of the year was to create some fear of him from his students, if only to avoid annoying questions about his past and loyalties from older students and stupid questions from the younger ones, but this was ridiculous. He shook his head to himself on his way back to his desk. Once there, he sat and curiously unrolled the note in his hands wondering who it was from.

Severus,

I have been told to notify you that your presence will be expected at the Potter house this evening. James is bringing some of the head Order members together to try to come up with better fighting strategies. He said something about needing you to aid the Order in 'digging into the mind of the enemy'. Meet me at 9pm, my office.

Albus

Before he could stop himself, Severus scowled at the paper. Of course James couldn't just admit that he needed him because he knew what he was doing. They may no longer absolutely loathe each other, but they were no where close to bring friends or anything if the sort. The note also made Severus suspect that James still considered him partially affiliated with the enemy. It was just as well though, Severus still associated most of the Order with the idea of enemy.

He really didn't want to go to the meeting either. Not because he didn't want to help protect the Order and defeat the Dark Lord, but because he knew he was still not accepted as an equal there and was often looked down upon, only there for convenience. Granted his cold-shoulder attitude couldn't be helping, but what did they expect? Most of them had more or less hated Severus since they were 11 years old.

He also didn't want to go because of the amount of papers that were sitting in his office waiting to be corrected. All of these meetings with Dumbledore and the Order, as well as the battles with the Death Eaters and such, had put him rather behind in his grading. It seemed funny to Severus, when he thought about it, how two completely different things had affected each other.

When he finally looked up from the note, he noticed several of his students eyeing him questionly. He scowled at them and they quickly turned back to their potions.

"Time!" He called out into the classroom, now in a slightly bad mood from the staring and his own internal thoughts, "Stop brewing at once and I will see if any of you are not complete dunces." And with that, he began to make his way to the three separate groups in front of him to see if any of them had come even close to creating Amortentia. He didn't have high hopes.

The first group had hopelessly failed and Severus waved his wand to get rid of the failed attempt, but the stench of the incorrect potion still lingered in the air. It was nothing close to what the potion was even supposed to smell like.

The second was not much better but was starting to show the signs of the well known love potion, such as the color and overall appearance, though Severus wasn't getting the distinct smell he knew he was looking for. He simply shook his head, waved his wand, and moved on. He didn't expect anyone to have done any better.

Even before he had reached the third and final group though, he knew they had succeeded. The unmistakable smell of old parchment, cauldrons, and lilies made it's way into Severus' nose; it all smelled so wonderful and familiar. He had to fight to keep a normal expression as he said, "Very well. It seems as though not all of you are hopeless failures, however, I will need the essay on Amortentia tomorrow so the rest of you can redeem yourselves. Class dismissed."