AN: - I agree that the last chapter seemed completely rushed and I can see why you thought I put emphasis on the Halloween dance. I'm trying to make it run smoothly but…but….I can't wait until until I get futher along!! Sorry to those a bit disappointed about the rushed chapter though :(

I hope people are still reading and liking it.

Chapter 9

"Look at your eye Snape." Bellatrix pointed out with disgust.

"Look at Black's face." Severus shot back at her. His friends had been pleased when they found out about the damage he had caused between the Marauders. There was a certain tension between the group now and Lupin refused to talk to Black. Sirius had come out of the brawl with a broken nose, a black eye and a loss of respect from his friends, whereas Severus just had a black eye – but that was enough to set Bellatrix off.

They lot of them had gotten off with only a minimum of house points taken away for the scene they had caused, obviously more from Gryffindor then Slytherin. Professor McGonagall and Professor Slughorn had reprimanded them on not behaving in the manner that students in their last year of school should behave. Black, though still slightly traumatized had shot him suspicious and angry glances, as had Potter.

"You should not have allowed him a hit." She hissed.

"What did you expect me to do?" he hissed back, "If I had used what I know then I would have been expelled Bella and they would have caught onto what we are doing."

"Where's your pride? You should have - " she started.

"Bella." Rodolphus said in warning, "In this, Severus is correct. It would have displeased the Dark Lord if Severus had everyone know what he is capable of. We practice in secret, don't allow anyone to know."

"I hate all this hiding." She ripped at her hair, "I can't stand the waiting."

"Think of how happy the Dark Lord will be when we succeed in whatever plans He has for us at Hogwarts." Rodolphus cooed.

That seemed to calm her down. The hatred and rage left her eyes and she looked normal again. "I can't wait until He finally has something for us to prove to him."

Snape was starting to think that his friends were a bit crazier then he had originally thought. But couldn't dwell on the thought as Belatrix asked, "Why did you react to Sirius hurting that girl anyway, Severus?" her voice was filled with suspicion and disgust. "If anything, I find it rather amusing."

Severus answered quickly, "We don't all share the same humor, Bellatrix."

"If I didn't know you, I'd say that you actually cared what happened to Gryffindor bitch." She said looking down her aristocrat nose at him.

He could feel Rodolphus look up from whatever he was reading to star expectantly at him. "Don't be ridiculous, Bellatrix." Severus said in a cold tone as he narrowed his eyes at her. He left it at that, not wanting to get into a complicated argument.

In Transfiguration the next day the class was working on perfecting their skill in more advanced Switching Spells, where the objects they were working with were held in different rooms of the castle. Samantha's partner was Lily and Remus's was Sirius though he didn't look too pleased to be. That morning had been filled with quiet tension and awkwardness. Samantha had found herself wanting to say something to Sirius to make him feel less guilty but had always ended up doing nothing. It also seemed that he was holding back things that he wanted to tell her and the conclusion of all this was that neither was talking to the other and the conclusion of that was none of their friends were talking to either of them. No one knew what to say, so no one said anything.

Samantha and Remus had stayed behind in the Transfiguration classroom as Professor McGonagall took their partners into another wing of the castle. She looked over at Remus but he wasn't looking at her. A few moments later the Professor had popped back in and told them to begin with their spells of switching larger objects for smaller objects they knew their partners had.

Samantha was doing fine, swiftly thinking of one of the items she knew Lily to have and summoning it on her desk as some objects she possessed started disappearing from her desk. That was until all of her objects and her desk disappeared from in front of her. She looked down, confused – Had Lilly meant to take the whole table? – but then she heard laugher coming from the back of the room. She turned to see Bellatrix with her table next to her own table. Snape was Bellatrix's partner and was in the other wing of the castle.

"Give it back, Bellatrix." She warned.

Bellatrix laughed her crazed laugh and threw one of Samantha's objects back at her with enough force to bring pain in Samantha's palm as she caught it. "But Gryffindor, Severus wouldn't avenge me for you." she laughed. "I heard that you let a puny Gryffindor boy lay his hand on you." Bellatrix said shaking her head sadly. "I always said the real men were in Slytherin, they know to never mess with women but then again the girls in Gryffindor can't handle their boys, now can they?."

"Because Slytherin boys are to busy scared of you Slytherin girls with your cold hearts and cruel intentions." Samantha shot back.

Something snapped in Bellatrix's eyes as her smile immediately vanished from across her skeleton pale face but she asked, "Can I see your wound?"

Before Samantha had even thought about raising her wand Bellatrix had hers out and Samantha's robe was sliding up her arm to reveal the bruise. "Oh, so pretty." Bellatrix said her smile widening.

She had done that extremely fast, Samantha thought and just stared at Bellatrix in anger and awe.

"Stop this right now, Bellatrix." Remus warned.

She probably wouldn't have stopped for him but just then Professor McGonagall swept back into the room to conclude the class and Samantha's table and objects reappeared in front of her.

In Potions that Wednesday Samantha sat next to Snape and waited for the room to be busy working before turning and looking at him. He was busy scribbling on his parchment not paying attention to her. She frowned as she saw the slightly purplish bruise around his eye. Sirius had gone to Madam Pomfrey to magically heal his broken nose, scratches and bruises more quickly.

She tried to look at him - really look at him, to see or learn anything new but he was the same boy who was rude and spiteful to everyone. So why would someone like him ever want to protect someone like her? She supposed that what Remus had said was true, that any man, doesn't matter what house he was in, thought the same thing about hitting women. She tried to think of Rodolphus coming to her rescue if she were ever attacked by a man again. She highly doubted that. She reached out and touched the corner of his eye lightly before realizing what she was doing.

His hand stilled over his parchment and he shifted his face away from her, looking at her sideways with an annoyed expression.

She whispered, "I don't know why you did what you did, but thank you I guess."

Was she thanking me for beating up one of her friends? He was actually surprised but coolly replied, "It was a good excuse to hurt Black and don't start thinking that I did it for you."

She was quiet for a moment. Of course he would say something like that but either way she was still grateful. If he hadn't have done anything she wondered if she would have actually told her friends or that Sirius would have known what he had actually done.

"Thank you anyway." She whispered.

Severus stared at his parchment but didn't continue writing. He hadn't done it for her; he had done it for himself. But as he pictured how the scene between Cromwell and Black might have transpired he found himself unsure if he had done it purely for himself. Shaking his head he banished the thought, it was probably Bellatrix's suspicion playing into his own. He didn't care, she was just a girl that got hurt by a guy and that isn't tolerable.

Thursday night Severus was on his back sprawled upon the cold stone dungeon ground. "Stupify!" he yelled as he pointed his wand at Bellatrix's chest. She froze in mid-cast, her mouth open and her wand aiming and fell to the floor.

"She's getting really good." Rodolphus stated as he moved forward and knelt beside her still body. He took a flask out oh his robe pocket and proceeded to waving it under her nostrils, allowing the gas inside to bring her back around.

"Indeed, she is." Severus agreed as he got up from the ground and shook out his robes. He pulled back the sleeve of his robes and studied to deep slash in his flesh. He to, took a flask out of his robe pocket but his contained a liquid not a gas. "Poor Mulciber over there is not improving however." He said with pure disgust in his tone. They both looked over at the boy laying on his stomach groaning and heaving, blood seeping along the groves in the stone ground around him.

"No," Rodolphus agreed, his steel eyes narrowing, "he isn't. Pass him the salve, his pain today has been enough for now."

Snape levitated the flask over to Mulciber's quivering side so that he could heal himself. Since they were practicing spells that they could be expelled for casting in school grounds – some even worthy of time in Azkaban – they had to treat their own injuries. Severus, the Potions Master, was in charge of creating healing drafts.

They had begun meeting like this, in a classroom in the dungeons that hadn't been used in decades, obvious from the date written on the chalkboard, to practice dueling and the tasks that Lucius had given to them at the start of summer holidays. This night they had begun with Bellatrix and Mulciber dueling. In the beginning it had been a fair fight as they had both fought at the same amateur level. Of course they had seen the Dark Art spells performed by parents or had at least heard of them from their parents but neither had ever performed them. Rodolphus' family and the people he surrounded himself with had made sure that he was at least taught the basics, knowing that he would one day join them. And Severus…Severus had had no one to teach him of how to cast a Dark Spell or the thoughts and complicated wand movements that go along with it. All he had had was the occasional quiet night or lone days in the woods near his parent's house when he would submerge himself in illegal books. The three of them kept saying that he was a natural but wasn't, he worked his ass off to get as good as he was now. When he and Rodolphus dueled it was an intense exchange, a month ago they had stopped dueling each other because one day one might actually have to fall and the fall would be death.

"How was I, Rodolphus?" Bellatrix asked as she came to and pushed herself off of the floor.

"Good, but you have a long way to go." He informed her.

She narrowed her eyes but didn't retort, for she knew that it was true. "If only we were in a real duel with people our Lord deemed unnecessary to live." She mused.

Severus snorted.

She shot her black eyes at him daring him to say anything.

"Soon, my love." Rodolphus cooed as he pulled her to her feet. Severus watched as Bellatrix grabbed onto Rodolphus' shirt and tie and Rodolphus crushed his lips to hers. It looked rather revolting, their teeth gripping at each other, their arms wrestling.

Severus got his backpack and was ready to leave when Rodolphus called him back. "Aren't you going to practice tonight?"

Severus gave him an uninterested look, "I'm tired of just seeing your fantasies and memories of you and Bellatrix… in a love embrace."

Rodolphus grinned.

"What are you saying?" Bellatrix asked, her eyes narrowing.

Rodolphus cut in, "Well you have certainly broken through all of our barriers." He looked thoughtful for a moment and continued, "However, perhaps you should start practicing using it on some other students. I have already started tampering with Hufflepuffs."

Severus narrowed his eyes at Rodolphus, "Your performing memory charms on Hufflepuffs?"

"Yes." Rodolphus said simply, "Only simple altering, of course." He and Bellatrix picked up their bags. The first day back at school they had all sat in the Slytherin Common room and exchanged what their different tasks where. Bellatrix and Mulciber had to become expert duelers and Rodolphus had to perfect memory charms, by altering, deleting or planting new ones.

"I suppose I might as well." Severus said as he and the couple left the forgotten classroom, leaving behind Mulciber still groaning on the ground.

Lucius had delegated information to them from Lord Voldemort through owls. Severus remembered when he had first gotten his at the beginning of the past summer. The lethal looking black owl had had a letter from Lucius and a package containing illegal books wrapped in black material tied to its foot. The letter had said that his task was to master Legilimency. At first it was a daunting task because it was something that you either could do or couldn't do but Lucius had written that the Dark Lord had faith in his ability. Not wanting to fail and always up for new challenges he dedicated the summer to reading and studying everything in the books. In side the last book of the stack he had found parchments with notes on the books and how to better the Legilimency technique, signed Tom Riddle, alias Lord Voldemort. Severus hadn't shown his friends these.

Severus hadn't been able to practice performing the spell however until returning to school. For one thing he would never want to see what lay in his parents minds and he didn't really see or talk to anyone when he was at home…no at Spinners End.

"You sure you don't want to come?" Alexis asked again.

"No, you go ahead; I think that I will finish that Herbology essay I had been putting off." Samantha told Alexis and Annabel. It was yet again another Hogsmeade trip and though the tension between her, her friends and the boys had eased, Sirius was still keeping his distance. She wasn't in the mood for their friends to try to force them to talk to each other and therefore wasn't going to join them today.

It was a cold day, the snow about three feet deep on the grounds. Samantha loved to look at the grounds as it snowed but felt completely different about being in it. As she headed towards the library her mind was buzzing with thoughts of the Herbology essay that was due on Monday.

She entered the Library threshold and headed straight for the aisle that she thought the book she needed would be and about five minutes later sat down at a table four aisles away from Snape. Had he been there the whole time? She wondered as she recalled talking to herself as she searched for the book. She hadn't noticed that anyone had been in the room when she had entered.

She quickly started reading when she realized that she was staring at him.

She had started writing the essay on the importance of a root, she couldn't pronounce or spell without looking it up, in medicine but the silence was annoying her. She looked up to see that he hadn't moved and as usual became annoyed with him. He didn't do anything, he never talked to her, he never made noise, he never does anything. And it wasn't just with her. Outside of those three buffoons in his house he doesn't do anything with anyone.

She got up from her seat.

Snape groaned inside as he felt her stalking towards the table he sat at. He had felt her staring at him the whole time, heard her restless shuffling and prayed that she would just leave him alone. He had considered leaving the Library when she had first entered but forced himself to think that she would leave as soon as she found what she was looking for. He had always thought that she was crazy but when he had heard the soft mumbling, it confirmed his thoughts - she even answered her rhetorical questions.

The legs of chair in front of him scraped against the ground as she moved it to sit.

Moments passed and her annoying inquisitive voice hadn't come. Without moving his head he lifted his eyes to see that she was busy reading an ancient book and scribbling on a piece of parchment. Her brows were furrowed, yet she had a sort of dreamy look on her face that made her look rather confused.

"Shouldn't you be in Hogsmeade with your friends?" he asked.

Samantha looked up, but he wasn't looking at her. His nose was still just a few inches above the book he was reading. "Well, I don't want my friends to force Sirius to talk to me so I decided to stay at the castle." she said and looked back down at the book.

"Still friends with him after he hurt you?" the question had no emotion in it, it was bland but he was slightly disgusted for no other reason then knowing it was true that she still would be.

"Of course, we have been friends since Second year. He didn't mean it. He isn't a woman abuser, he was in a bad place and I happened to have been there." She was looking at him as if she didn't understand why it was something he couldn't comprehend.

"What if he had meant it?" Severus asked.

"Well if he intentionally hurt me, he would have looked like he did after you got through with him, but from my hands." she said and he could tell that she wasn't jesting. With a haughty sniff she continued to write.

Snape finished the last page of the chapter. When he was finished he turned to the next chapter but looked up at her again. Her foot long parchment was half covered and he noticed that it was the Herbology essay they had been assigned yesterday in Friday's class. He had finished his own last night, not wanting to waste time forgetting about it.

He was half way through reading his second chapter when he heard Samantha give a satisfied sigh and looked up to watch her lean back in her chair with her arms folded behind her head and her eyes closed. Elegant, he thought.

"Finally." She muttered and rolled her neck round to shake out the kinks.

He turned back to his book.

Samantha squinted her eyes and turned her head in odd angles to try and read what was on the pages of the book in front of Snape. What were on the aged parchment were odd combinations of potions and spells, she didn't nor did she want to know of what he was reading.

When he was on the last page of the chapter she asked, "Are you going to read the next chapter?"

Startled Severus looked up at her.

Had he forgotten she was there? she wondered at the look on his face as he looked upon her.

Severus looked back down at the sheet and shook his head, "Gryffindor, you waste my time with you inquisitiveness."

"And you waste mine with not answering my questions." She told him.

He gave a frustrated sigh, "If you must know, no, this is the last chapter I will be reading for the day." With that he finished the chapter.

"What are you going to do now?" Samantha asked as he closed the book. It really was an old one she decided as dust shot out from between the pages when it fell together. She peered at the spine and cover of the book but there was no Title or Author name to be seen.

"Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Well, I was thinking," she began but then paused and looked away from him, not knowing what to continue with because she hadn't been thinking anything. But her mind continued - You're a Gryffindor be brave. "Um…well I was just thinking that maybe…" Her mind was fighting with her mouth and she realized that he could see that it was from the sort of painful, annoyed, suspicious expression on is face. Oh Merlin, don't blush at a time like this! You don't blush. Especially not because of being embarrassed in front of him. "Never mind." She concluded hastily.

He was about to say something about her being ridiculous when she said something ridiculous.

Realizing what she had wanted to ask she said, "Maybe we could do something together?" That hadn't been difficult and she quietly ridiculed herself for being embarrassed about asking such a thing of him in the first place. If he said no, that was fine, she wasn't desperate or sinister enough to care if he spat on the ground she walked on. She smiled when she thought of what her mother had told her about doing just that was a sign of wishing someone good luck or blessing them in Greek. And if he did agree to it then, great, she would probably have a horrid time anyway.

He stared at her, had her cheeks been that faint pink when she had entered or was she blushing? But for what reason he had no idea. He frowned; she had looked uncomfortable as she had rambled. And now as the color vanished from her determined yet cool face he thought about what she had proposed and his frown deepened.

"You do know that your face will be stuck like that permanently one day." Samantha pointed out, smiling.

"Indeed." He said slowly, and in response to her first query, "Cromwell, you disgust me, when will you realize that you and I can't tolerate each other?" he asked her, a disapproving look to his face.

"Well, lately I don't find you that bad to be honest." She said.

"What a delighted declaration of toleration." He said sarcastically. This was probably some sort of female gratitude ritual he had not patience endure.

"Oh, come on. You have to admit that comparing our current….um…attitudes towards each other with how we responded to each other two months ago, we have come far." She said, and groaned at the disorientated look on his face.

"Gryffindor, you are starting to act like a Hufflepuff and it's not very becoming, just to warn you." he got up from his seat.

She got up as well. "I'm not suggesting that we become friends, Snape. I just thought that…" she didn't know what she had thought if it wasn't about friendship. "Well, okay I haven't got a clue." She had to jog to keep up with him as he strode out of the Library and down the hall. "It's just that….why not?"

He stopped then and turned to look down at her. He hadn't realized till then that he had never really thought about how tall she was. Of course he didn't care if she was nearly his height, just about four inches shorter than him but at this moment it seemed like an important feature. "Cromwell, when you say 'Why not?' you aren't asking for a reason why we can't be friends are you?"

Samantha looked down at the floor. She wanted to stop; her pride and frustration – the Gryffindor inside of her confronting the Slytherin in front of her – wanted to stop. But she kept talking. "Well, what if that is exactly what I meant?"

Severus laughed, this was ridiculous. A Gryffindor and a Slytherin becoming friends? Never had he heard of such a thing in all his time at Hogwarts. And why would he even consider amusing her thoughts? She really was sounding like a Hufflepuff, wanting to be friends with everyone, wanting to trust and be trusted by everyone, to get along and live in peace. It was outrageous.

"Remember that note we passed to each other that first week in Potions class?" he didn't wait to see if she did, "That is exactly why. I am exactly all of those qualities you had mentioned and you all those I had mentioned. Such a union is not compatible and that is just the obvious. Why would I want to waste my time with someone like you?"

Of course anger rose up in her but she pushed it back, "What do you mean by someone like me?"

"You're a prissy little Gryffindor princess, Cromwell, incase you haven't noticed. Your-"

"I am not." She cut in, her hands flying to her waist.

"You show more arrogance than I could ever muster for myself, you're annoying, lets face it your not very bright and you think what people think of you is the most important thing. You truly do hold all of the characteristics of a Gryffindor-"

"I'm assuming you don't mean that as a compliment."

"Not in the least." He confirmed. He looked at the fists she held hard against her waist and wondered if she would hit him again.

"Well, let me tell you something, Snape." She said raising a hand to point at his chest. He stared at the hand. "You're delusional."

Snape waited for her to continue but when she didn't he laughed, "Is that all?"

Taken aback by the humor on his face she stuttered, "Ugh…well um no. All that you just referred to me as is completely ridiculous. I am not arrogant, I might be confident but arrogant I am not. I'm not hardly as annoying as you can be sometimes," he snorted, "and I do not care about everything that people think about me, actually I don't think I care what people think at all. As for me not being bright, I get better grades then you do in Transfiguration!" she left out a breath and said, "And I am not prissy!"

"I guess we shall have to agree to disagree." He said and turned back around.

"Everything you said back there was what you think of Gryffindors, not what you think about me." she said as she followed him down the stairs.

"You are a Gryffindor, Cromwell and don't think that you can tell me what I think about you." he said in warning.

"You know that what you just described us Gryffindors as is exactly what most of us think about you Slytherins? In addition to other thoughts."

They were on the first floor now and he turned on her. She had been walking right behind him and since they were walking so fast, when he had suddenly stopped, she hit into his chest and stumbled back.

"Are you going to follow me around the whole school, Cromwell?" he demanded, his eyes wide.

Samantha didn't answer right away. She had never thought that his body would be that hard, it was like hitting a wall as she had walked into him. He wasn't as skinny as she had imagined but he hadn't been soft either.

At the impatient look on his face as he watched her she quickly answered, "I guess. I thought that we had agreed to do something together."

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