A/N Dont own anything HP, hope you like

Chapter eleven

Samantha was furious as she sat there in the straight-backed chair facing Dumbledore who was hidden behind the Daily Prophet. She had never been sent to the Headmaster's Office before and wondered what would happen now that the fight had taken them this far. She glanced over at Snape who was sitting ramrod stiff in his own chair a look of impatience and disinterest on his face. How had this happened? How could she have let herself get this far? How could she have let him make her do this?

A chuckled came from the other side of the table, slowly lowered the paper and Dumbledore looked at them for the first time in the ten minutes they had been there. "The most interesting parts of the Daily Prophet are the little cartoons in the back. Don't you agree?" he said cheerfully.

Samantha didn't know what to say, was that a rhetorical question? Was it rude not to answer? She looked over at Snape who was examining objects on the wall behind the Headmaster's head.

"They are quite humorous." She finally said. She felt Snape turn to look at her. And Dumbledore smiled at her, his strange blue eyes twinkling.

"So," he said slowly looking from one to the other, "Do you know why you both were sent to see me today?"

There was a pause and neither answered – not knowing what to say.

"I understand that there have been quite a few…events taken place between the two of you this past week." He said slowly. "Not only the attempted dueling incident in today's class but also outside of class."

There was no reprimand in his tone but still Samantha felt the guilt begin to surface.

"Care to explain the cause of these events?" he asked. They both watched as he reached out long fingers and stroked the Phoenix's head which was perched to the side of his desk.

The room was silent, the portraits on the walls dozing.

Samantha didn't know what to say, where to begin, she hadn't thought that it would go this far, she hadn't been thinking at all she had only acted. Snape sat silently next to her giving no indication that he was going to explain anything.

"I understand there have been gossip, tampered class work, hexes and verbal outbursts between the two of you all week. All of which I have heard from reliable sources." he supplied when they still didn't respond. The pictures, Samantha groaned as she realized that quite a few of the portraits hanging in the room had portraits outside of it. "Now at this school such behavior if frowned upon and we need to resolve this dispute you have between each other."

"It was my fault, Headmaster, I started it." She found herself saying.

They both stared at her. She slightly blushed and continued, "Um, last Saturday I told Peeves…well not really told him, but encouraged Peeves to target Sn…Severus."

Headmaster Dumbledore's pleasant expression didn't change as he asked, "What had Mr. Snape done to warrant such a reaction out of you, my dear?"

Samantha felt her blush deepen as she thought real hard about what to say. She couldn't say because he just annoyed her so much, that would be ridiculous. What would be even more ridiculous would be if she said that it was because he had refused to want to try to be her friend. As she realized that that was indeed the reason why all this had happened she realized what an idiot she had been.

"We had a disagreement." Severus supplied. The embarrassed and desperate expression on Cromwell's face was disgusting him.

"A disagreement on what?" Dumbledore asked with interest.

Severus paused, it had been a disagreement of the possibility of…spending time with each other that day. He groaned, of all the things they do disagree about why it would have been something to trivial and awkward to explain he didn't understand.

"We disagree about many things." Severus answered.

"I see," Headmaster Dumbledore said slowly, "But what particular disagreement had caused all this to happen?"

Another long pause.

Severus was about to ask if it mattered, when Samantha quickly said, "Why a Slytherin and Gryffindor couldn't be friends."

Dumbledore looked surprised. There was a stir on the walls as the portraits straightened and spied. Samantha looked around and at the curious and disbelieving faces now all focused on their conversation.

"Your disagreement had been on why a Slytherin and Gryffindor couldn't be friends?" Dumbledore asked slowly.

"I know it's strange but it is honestly the truth." She said quickly wondering if he thought she was lying.

"My dear, I don't think that you're lying." he paused, "Pardon me for being taken aback, but I have never come across such a situation. I still don't fully understand how this could have caused the two of you to become so petty towards each other."

"Headmaster…this is so embarrassing but I had…I mean…when I think about it…it is such a ridiculous reason for our outburst." she paused and figured that if she started from the beginning it would make more sense. "Headmaster, Snape and I are partners in potions; we have been since the beginning of the year and will have to be until the end of the school year. We have never really spoken to each other since the beginning of the year and our friends…well our houses don't get along but I thought that maybe if we tried to get to know each other or at least get along it would make our last year at Hogwarts a lot easier. But given our completely opposite personalities, morals and attitudes it was hopeless wishful thinking on my part."

She looked at Severus who was glaring at her as if she had just sold his soul.

"Severus, is this true?"

Severus cleared his throat; she was making him look like the bad guy for following tradition. "For the most part, it is true."

"Care to add anything?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"Actually yes, she might say that her only goal was to get to know me but she to has found it difficult to look past what we are and trying to change how things are." He said as he stared directly into her blue eyes.

"What do you mean by 'what we are' and 'how things are', my boy?"

He hesitated slightly, "A Gryffindor and a Slytherin. You can't blame me for not being interested in becoming friends with someone who by nature opposes to everything I believe in. If she had expected me to change parts of myself as a Slytherin just to better the situation then she could have at least tried to have done so herself."

Anger bubbled up in Samantha, "You think I didn't try? Of course I tried. I tried to ignore the fact that you hated me just because I was Gryffindor. It was hard trying to find some kind of common ground when you were either ignoring me or yelling at me. The only times you ever talked to me were when you were barking orders or reprimanding me or telling me to shut up. I can't work with someone when I'm not comfortable and sometimes I think that you actually try to make me feel uncomfortable."

"I don't try to make you feel uncomfortable. I don't like talking to people but you don't seem to understand that. I like silence and work better alone. You could have respected my wishes and perhaps I would have been able to tolerate you more."

"How could I have respected your wishes if all you wanted me to do was leave you alone? We had to work together, further more I'm not a silent person. I can't just sit around and ignore the world."

"I can."

"And don't we all know that. I can't believe anyone could be as cold and mean and detached from the world as you are."

"So you have told me time after time."

"I pity you Snape. I truly pity you."

"Don't bother."

There was a long pause where the two of them sat staring at anything but each other. Samantha was on the verge of tears and she didn't know why, she was just so angry her heavy breathing and rampaging thoughts making her want to get up and leave the room. How could she have been so stupid? He wasn't even worth it.

"Severus," Headmaster Dumbledore began, "What exactly is it about Miss Cromwell that you can't relate to?"

He didn't even hesitate to answer, "Everything."

Dumbledore looked thoughtful, "Alright, what exactly is it about her that you hate then?"

Severus was about to answer when his tongue stopped him…what did he hate about her? Why would the Headmaster ask something like that? Hate wasn't tolerated. He searched the Headmasters pale blue eyes and watched as he slowly gave him an encouraging nod. Then he realized that her body had stiffened next to him. What did he hate about her? He disliked that she was in Gryffindor but couldn't blandly say that in front of the Headmaster, disliked that she was annoying and talked to much, he disliked that he had to see her everyday, that she seemed to try so hard to get things out of him – through questions he didn't want to answer because they would lead to other questions, through talking to him when all he wanted her to do was shut up…but…

"I don't hate her." he finally said. "I don't hate her; I just don't know what to do with her. She is the complete opposite of who and what I am and that will never change." He couldn't believe this, he couldn't believe that he would ever have to try and explain his feelings about something like this. Not only was this humiliating but it was pointless and ridiculous. "She wants things from me I can't give her, Sir." It sounds like they were in a relationship, he groaned. "She works better with someone she can talk to; I work better alone. She wants to know everything about me; I have never asked her anything about herself because I honestly don't want to know. She might feel like being friends might fix this but I don't want nor need her as a friend. It sounds bad, but I don't want to waste everyone's time by lying. I can't see us continuing to work together without arguing about something."

Dumbledore looked thoughtful again, "Well I don't believe in impossible situations, I believe that everyone can overcome anything if they try. However, this honestly sounds complicated doesn't it?" he smiled sympathetically. He crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back in his seat. "I won't stand for prejudices in my school, but I do not think that is what is happening in this case." His eyes twinkled as they both looked at him curiously. "I have a feeling that that is exactly what the two of you think is causing these feelings but it is not."

"I don't understand." Samantha said quietly.

"Like you have both said, you are the complete opposites of each other. Both reasons behind those differences are not because of what house you are in." he said and began to stroke his Phoenix again who seemed to be staring at the two students with sad eyes.

Samantha was about to ask what he meant but he continued, "This potion you are working on, do you have to meet regularly to work on it?"

"The next ingredients needed we need to add to it on Wednesday of next week." Severus told him.

"Alright." He mused, "I would like that until then neither of you talk to the other, I think that a little time to calm down will help the situation and clear your minds. I understand that you have to sit next to each other in Potions because you are partners but I will speak to Professor Slughorn so that you will be separated. Now for the next few days I want you to think real hard about what it would mean to your potion grades if I am forced to separate the two of you for the sake of peace and harmony. On Wednesday, I would like you both to meet with me individually to put less pressure on your position to see if you still feel that it will be hazardous to work together. If you do choose not to work together I will arrange for you both to be given separate potions to brew, but be warned that you will not be able to get full marks in the end.

"I know neither of you understand what is going through the other's mind but there is nothing wrong with either of your reactions to each other…Except for the childish outbursts."

With that he dismissed them.

"I don't understand." Annabel said.

"I knew that it was hard for you to work with him but why didn't you ever tell us that it had gotten this bad?" Alexis said.

"I don't know. It's so weird, he's so horrid but I always try to make things work and of course they never do. The more I try the harder he puts up his barriers and the harder I try to break them down. It's like a constant competition." As she declared this it made total sense to her. It was a competition. "Sometimes I wish I could just work quietly with him and avoid arguments but you know how I am."

They laughed, "You want to talk about anything, and you don't care about what. You can't keep quiet for a minute or you'd start talking to yourself."

"Exactly," Samantha smiled weakly, "Maybe it is selfish of me though to try to force him to be what he's not. He was right when he said that I hadn't really tried to change anything about myself to better the situation. All I did was try to change him to better my situation."

"That's crazy, Sam." Alexis said, "If there's anything wrong with either of you it's with him, if either of you had to change for the better, it's him."

"But that's not the point." Samantha said in frustration.

"Just tell Dumbledore you don't want to be her partner anymore." Rodolphus said simply.

Severus groaned, he wished that they hadn't known what was going on, they didn't understand. "I need to pass Potions, Rodolphus. That potion is what will determine most of my grade."

"You will be serving our Lord, what would you possibly want with an O in your Potion N.E.W.T.S.?" Bellatrix asked suspiciously.

They wouldn't understand. He couldn't tell them the truth, as fanatical as they were about Lord Voldemort. He couldn't tell them that he had plans and ambitions past Lord Voldemort. That would be dangerous and stupid. His life's goal was not to worship someone but to make something of himself. He would join Lord Voldemort but until then he was going to excel and graduate at the top just to show that he can and will and that he hadn't needed anyone to do so. They wouldn't understand that and he didn't expect them to.

"I'm going to bed." He declared and headed up the cold stone steps leaving his friends behind. Crazy buffoons the lot of them.

The next few days passed slowly. Samantha had listened to Alexis and Annabel late into the night about their thoughts and queries on the subject for about two days before they finally forgot about it. This pleased Samantha. She knew that all they were trying to do was help but all she wanted to do was sleep and think alone about it.

In Potions classes she sat up front with Remus and Sirius.

On Wednesday morning she had received an owl from Headmaster Dumbledore asking her to see him before her first class began. Severus had also gotten an owl and was to see the Headmaster during his first period.

As she sat before him looking into those twinkling steel-blue eyes she wondered again at what he meant the night before. He had said that it wasn't just their house differences that were playing with the tension between them.

"So, have you decided to continue working with Mr. Snape or decided it wouldn't be prudent?" he asked her as she sat before his desk.

"I have decided to leave this decision to him, Sir." She said.

"I don't understand, my dear." He said a twinkle again in his eye.

"I have decided that he is right, I did only try to change him to better the situation. I didn't respect his needs and only bombarded him, therefore out of apology which ever way he chooses to go about this I will agree to. However if he chooses that he doesn't want to work with me anymore I would like for him to continue with the Potion instead of failing us both…if that would be okay." When Dumbledore didn't say anything right away she added, "He's the best student in Potions and I'm sure he will complete the potion with his usual excellence. I don't think I need the Potion grade as much as he would, I could start a different brew and take whatever I get."

"I see," Dumbledore said slowly, "This is very noble of you Samantha. Are you sure that you really mean this."

"Yes sir." She answered.

He looked like he was about to say something else but paused, stroked his Phoenix and thought better of it.

Severus sat before Headmaster Dumbledore and wondered what Samantha had decided to do. If she had said that she did not want to continue working with him, it would be intolerable to have him say he wished to continue to work with her when he was already doomed.

He looked at Dumbledore's face and tried to read her decision from his expression, but he got nothing. Dumbledore was looking at him with a bland expression.

Finally he asked, "Sir, what had, Crom…Samantha…Cromwell decided?"

Dumbledore sighed and Severus couldn't help but sink down an inch in his seat. All he had worked for wouldn't even pay off. He had busted his ass from day one in this place to become something and all he had available for him in the distant future was a mask and a hooded robe. He couldn't believe it.

Dumbledore gave him a curious look that confused Severus but he had no time to dwell on it as Dumbledore said, "Before I tell you her final decision, I would like to ask you a few questions."

Severus suppressed a groan, just the way he had said it confirmed his future even more. "Yes, sir?"

"Now don't become offended and think before you answer." He paused and stroked the Phoenix, "Why can't you and Samantha Cromwell, besides the fact of being in separate houses, be friends?"

Severus sighed, why couldn't the old man leave this alone? It wasn't any of his business. He didn't need friends. He sort of had friends - he didn't want any friends. She was annoying…

"She's annoying." He said foolishly.

Dumbledore gave him a stern look, "I find it hard to believe that that is your definite reason to not give her a chance. Be honest with me, boy. It cannot hurt to be honest."

Severus felt anger rise in him, fine, Dumbledore wanted his honest opinion, he wanted him to come clean and spill out his guts. He could do that.

"It can't hurt to be honest, sir? So many people say that." He spat. "First of all I don't make a good friend. I don't tend to care about people, if you want me to be painfully honest. Secondly, if I ever start to humor Crom…Samantha with her girlish little theory that being friends will make our lives better she will start asking questions."

"Questions about my past," and about my future, questions that I can't answer and don't wish to share. He paused for a moment not looking at Dumbledore, he wouldn't say that, then the old man will also wonder about his future, perhaps question him. He looked back up again and couldn't hide the hatred in his eyes, "Sir, you know about my…parents. You've met them. You know where I come from, what kind of background I have. I can't change that about myself."

But I can control who I am and what I will become.

He paused again then said coldly, "And I'm not ashamed, if that's what you're thinking now. I don't care anymore I have come to terms with everything." Again he paused, "And lastly, I don't need anymore friends." He was finished. It was more then he had said about himself in years, more than he had wished to share and to much that he wished he hadn't had said but maybe now Dumbledore would just drop it, maybe he would pity him and just leave it be. And as he had said it he knew that it was true. She would ask questions and he hated answering them. Hated being reminded hated people knowing.

Dumbledore was silent for a minute he seemed to be thinking somewhere else. Then he smiled and Severus narrowed his eyes.

"Severus, firstly I think you don't give yourself much credit. I'm sure if you allowed yourself to be, that you would be a great friend. I do know where you are coming from and am glad that you aren't ashamed. I can understand why you don't want to share that with anyone but haven't you ever thought that someone could understand you better if they knew more about you?" he asked genuinely interested.

"Sir, I don't need anyone to understand me better." Someone had known about it and still discarded him. "People don't tend to understand anyway, they just tend to pity and I don't want it."

"Alright, alright." Dumbledore said slowly, "You had said that you didn't need anymore friends. Now I don't like to judge anyone but are Bellatrix Black and Rodolphus Lestrange the best friends you could ever have?"

"I don't trust them as far as I can throw them, sir." Severus said truthfully. There were only loyal to one thing lately he had realized.

"And you think that Samantha Cromwell isn't to be trusted either?" Dumbledore asked.

"No disrespect to anyone, sir, but I don't think that anyone can be fully trusted." Severus answered.

Dumbledore looked at him over his half-moon shaped spectacles, "It saddens me to hear you say that."

But it's true, Severus thought.

"I know that you think it is true, Severus." The way he had said this made Severus wonder if he actually could sense what he felt.

"I do wish you could think otherwise but it is your life my boy. And you have your reasons." Dumbledore said and shook his head.

Severus got up from his seat, ready to leave.

Dumbledore looked at him curiously, "You haven't given me your decision, son." He pointed out.

He sat back down and sighed again, "I had decided to continue working with her. But she had decided alternatively hadn't she?"

"Actually yes she had."

So it was true, he wasn't going to pass Potions at the top of his class this time, perhaps he was destined to master the Dark Arts.

"She had decided to leave the decision in your hands." Dumbledore said.

Severus stared at him for a moment, "She what?"

"She told me that what ever you had decided she would accept," He paused and his steel-blue eyes bore down on Severus, as if trying to read him and he continued, "but if you had chosen not to continue to work with her she had asked me to allow you to finish the potion you both had started to allow you to get full marks. She said something about you deserving the grades more then she did." Dumbledore explained.

Severus gaped at Dumbledore disbelievingly, "She said that?"

Dumbledore nodded, "Now the choice is with you. Do you take full marks with her or do you want them without her?"

This was his chance. He could be rid of her and still get his perfect grade…or he could work with her and probably still argue every step of the way. Part of him just wanted to say without her, but then another side said with her, which was absurd. He looked at Dumbledore, who was waiting patiently. Could he see that he was actually thinking hard about this? Why had she been so generous? Was she honestly that guilty about everything she had done? She would actually give him the choice of her receiving a great grade or failing completely, which she was likely to do on her own without him. She honestly is hopeless in Potions.

Then a thought occurred to him. She was only doing this to make him look like the bad guy if he said no to continue working with her. But then again even if he had come in with the intention of saying no to working with her in the first place, which she probably had assumed, she would still have been stuck with a separate potion and a bad grade.

She meant it, he finally decided and that made him extremely uncomfortable. He could be wrong but his gut and what he knew about her told him that she genuinely meant it. He looked at Dumbledore again and said something that he knew he will regret in a second, "I still wish to work with her."

Severus sat in the Room of Requirement waiting for her to arrive. Dumbledore had said that he was going to tell Samantha that he had decided that they would still continue to work together. He didn't know what he was going to say to her when she finally walked through that door. He wasn't going to apologize for anything he had done in the past few weeks and they needed to set some ground rules. But he had decided to try Dumbledore's last advice he had been given before he left the Headmaster's Office. "And Severus, do try to be nicer and more understanding towards her. If not for any other reason, because she is a lady after all."

He had said the last part as if it explained exactly why he could try to do those things. She was a lady it was true, if by lady Dumbledore had meant irritating girl.

Suddenly the door slowly creaked opened. He didn't get up as she walked into the room. Surly he wasn't meant to be respectful just yet?

"Hi." Samantha said as she closed the door behind her. This was so awkward it was as if meeting someone for the first time. Dumbledore had told her that he had told Snape her full decision and that knowing that he could have gotten full marks and been able to work alone, he had still decided to work with her. She didn't know what to think about that, but knew from experience with him that it didn't mean that he was softening to her.

He didn't greet her but stayed seated on the couch. Finally, as she sat down across from him he said, "I just want firstly to know what made you give me such an option."

She hesitated for a moment, "Look, maybe you were right. I guess I was pushing you to meet me half way but not myself. I know you don't want us to be friends and maybe I was naive to think that I could change that somehow and I still don't think it's completely impossible but I am sorry."

"Alright." He said and got up.

She followed him over to where their potion waited and asked, "That's all?"

"Well, no," He sighed, "I can't believe I am saying this but perhaps I can try to meet you half way. The one thing you can't live without that irritates me the most and almost always starts our disagreements and results in our arguing is your need to constantly talk. If we set ground rules on what we will talk about then…then I might comply."

Samantha gaped at him. "Are you telling me that you will talk to me, but only on pre-decided topics?" He was mad.

"That is all I can offer, either you take it or leave it. This is already very generous of me." he snapped and shoved some roots towards her form their preassembled stash to cut up.

"Alright, as crazy as that is. But then I also want to add my own ground rules." She said as she pulled a knife off of the shelf behind her. It was her turn again to do more work, he never realized it but Snape had always taken over when they had worked with the potion, but the fairly proportioned activity charm wouldn't let him continue until she caught up to her portion of the brewing steps.

"You begin." He said and pulled out a piece of parchment and a chair to sit at the table as she worked.

"You have to stop snapping at me all the time." She said and continued at his raised brows, "It's de-motivating and really annoying."

"Alright." He finally agreed and wrote it on the piece of parchment.

"Are we making a list of does and don'ts?" she asked incredulously.

"Lest we forget." He said simply. "Let's make it a work contract."

"Alright, your rule."

"No questions about family, friends and future." He said.

She stopped chopping, "What?"

He looked up at her from his seat, "Is there a problem?"

"That rules out so much." She pointed out.

He frowned, "Fine, no questions about family and friends."

"But what if I wanted to say something about my family and friends?" she asked, waving the knife around.

Severus groaned, "Merlin, no questions about my family and friends, then."

Samantha was a bout to argue again but at the daring look on his face only nodded her head. He wrote it down. Why didn't he want to talk about his family or friends? She wondered. Great now it will nag at her forever.

"Your turn." He said as she dumped the chopping into the cauldron. "Put the fire on double the heat for ten minutes and stir it ten times clockwise, then twenty times counterclockwise."

She did and said, "When you don't want to talk about something, just say so and I will drop it…this time I will."

He wrote it down, "That was exactly my next request."

A/N- I hope I am not getting rusty, it's been a while since I've last uploaded...sorry :(, hope You are still reading and leaving reviews :)