Ch. 12 Concerns

Severus made his way up the Slytherin stands and stepped onto the landing next to Tabatha, looking right at her and smiling, he reached out and grasped her hand, and quietly leaned over and whispered.

"I want you to know your my best friend too Tabs". For a moment his cold eyes melted into to the soft eyes she remembers from her time spent with his younger self.

"I'm very glad, but we should head up or we're going to miss the start". Tabatha felt a flutter in her stomach and her face coming to blush. Quickly turning around, she climbing up the stairs and found a place that her and Severus could sit. As she tried to make her way over she almost tripped over Professor Quirrell.

"Oh Professor, I'm so sorry" Tabatha apologized profusely

Quirrell smiled and nodded nervously "Iiiit's fine, ddon't trouble yourssself over mmme".

Tabatha nodded back and gave him a smile then moved towards the bench to sit down next to Severus.

Before long all that could be heard in the stands was the blended noise of hundreds of cheering fans, Tabatha was enthralled. The game, though hard to follow at times, was interesting and completely exciting. Having split loyalties between the houses made Tabatha have to cheer almost constantly but even though she was sure her voice would be wrecked in the morning for it, she was happy to do it.

The game went on for some time, and Tabatha noticed more and more how good Harry was at being the seeker. She smiled broadly, she liked the boy, he had a warm smile and his green eyes were deep and kind. She was still very interested in that scare on his head. She was aware it had something to do with an event that was very important in the magical world, Harry was practically a celebrity. However Tabatha never spent much time talking to the students, and it seemed that whenever the teachers were discussing the boy they would go silent when she got in the room.

Tabatha looked over at Severus; he too was staring at Harry. Severus and that boy had an odd relationship, not at all pleasant either. Tabatha had noticed that Severus was always much harder on Harry then the other children, his seers were always more directed, more personal, almost hateful at times. However Tabatha also noticed that Severus kept a keen eye on the boy too, though from a far. Tabatha mind was working this though when all of sudden she noticed that Harry's broom was no long acting right, jumping out of her seat she gasped and pointed up.

"Something's wrong with Harry!" Tabatha brought her hands to her mouth.

Harry was certainly in trouble, it looked as though a giant hand had grasped the end of his broom stick and was trying to flick him right off. The problem was that Harry was hundreds of feet in the air and if he fell, well Tabatha didn't want to think about what if he fell. Tabatha felt like time stood still as she watched feeling helpless like the rest of the bystanders when suddenly her attention was diverted by the sound of a yelp. Spinning around she saw Severus jump up, he was on fire!

"Oh my God!" Tabatha exclaimed as she jumped over the bench to assist Severus, practically throwing Professor Quirrell out of his seat at the same time.

"Sorry!" she called back to Quirrell as she helped stomp out the flames that were rising on the end of Severus robes. For a moment Tabatha could swear she saw a mop of messy hair running out from under the stand.

"What happened Sev?" Tabatha spat, her face looked awash with concern

Severus didn't have time to answer at that very moment the field erupted from every corner but the Slytherin stands. Evidently Harry had regained control of his broom in time to win the game.

As they walked back to the castle together Tabatha was unusually quite, she was trying to figure out what happened to Harry and why someone, especially Hermione, would try to set Severus on fire. Her thoughts were broken by the sound of velvet.

"I told you I was fine" Severus glanced over to Tabatha.

"Yes I know, and I'm very happy for that" Tabatha gave a weak smile.

Severus paused "Well then why are you being so quiet" a small lump was in his throat.

Tabatha turned around to him her brow furrowed with thought "Why would someone light on you fire?"

Severus looked away, in truth he figured there were probably several thousand reasons why someone would want to set him on fire, but he did not care to go into them right now, especially with her. Someone who's option of him had so much value to him, maybe even all its value. Severus looked back at her.

"It's probably just a prank one of these dreadful little prats pulled on me." He coolly spat. "I'm sure that no matter what your option of me, you're more than bright enough to notice that you are the minority in that regard."

"Ah back to cool, in control, potion master speak, are we friend" Tabatha thought to herself. Tabatha washed off any expression of concern and gave Severus a half smile and ran her fingers though her hair as she walked over to him.

"Hmm that is true you can be a… well… we'll just say a difficult person when you want to be. Tabatha's smirk grew as she walked closer to Severus.

Severus lips tighten and twitched ever so slightly, damn he did find her so amusing. He stepped bring himself so close to Tabatha that he was only inches away from her and looked her dead in the eye.

"Oh you have no idea" he purred his eyes piecing hers. The sarcastic playfulness left both their eyes and for a moment they were locked in intimate connection.

"I..I need to see the headmaster for a bit this afternoon" Severus finally spoke, hardly above a whisper.

Tabatha shook her head "ok then" her voice had the faintest sound of a quiver. "I'll see you later ".

Severus nodded, but still took a second before he turned around and started to walk towards the castle again, leaving Tabatha standing looking after him. His palms were sweaty and mouth was dry, this was starting to become a trend with him when it came to her.

Tabatha also felt the physical manifestation of the encounter. Severus could have strange effects on her at time, and though she was confused she knew that those effects were not something she wanted to end. As Tabatha was pondering the deeper meaning of why the basically loathed potion master made her legs weak sometimes, she caught a mop of messy hair out of the corner of her eye.

Quickly Tabatha looked over and saw Hermione long with Harry and Ron hurrying back to the castle from Hagrid's hut. She walked over to them, quickly cutting them off near a small grove of trees.

"So, which one of you would like to tell me why Hermione is taking up arson?" Tabatha eye squinted and she glared at each child. Who all looked at the ground like they just got caught taking candy from a store.

After a few moment of silence Tabatha cleared her throat "Well, I know you did it. What I want to know is why you did it".

Harry was the first to look up at Tabatha. "I'm sorry Ms. Rewolf, Hermione was just trying to protect me"

Tabatha knelt down on the ground and looked deep in Harry's eyes "Protect you from what luv?"

"Snape was trying to kill Harry!" Hermione blurted out "He was Jinxing the broom."

Tabatha stood up fast. "What do you mean trying to kill Harry, Sev… Professor Snape would never try to do that".

"No it's true" Ron chimed in "When Harry was on the broom me and Hermione saw him in our binoculars, he was mumbling under his breath the whole time, he had to be jinxing him!"

Tabatha brought her hand to her head and started to rub her fingers cross her forehead, if she was twelve and saw what these children saw she knew that she too would come to that same conclusion. The fact was that the evidence was pretty stacked against her friend.

Tabatha took a deep breath "did you talk to Hagrid about it?"

Harry looked up at her "Yes he thinks pretty much the same way you do, that Snape couldn't have done it".

It made Tabatha feel a world better that another person, someone as good as Hagrid, felt the same way she did.

"Well maybe you were mistaken, sometimes things look different then they really are" Tabatha said kindly.

"Maybe" Harry continued "but I also know that he messed his leg up pretty bad trying to get in the third floor corridor. It's a corridor that Dumbledore had put as off limits since the beginning of the year. There's something special up there and we think Professor Snape is trying to steal it."

Tabatha thought back to the night she mended Severus leg, would he really risk life and limb to steal an object?

"She's not going to believe us" Ron huffed "Your friend with Snape, why would you."

Tabatha looked down the trio; again she knelt down and smiled a soft but warm smile

"No your wrong I believe that you all saw exactly what you said you did, I have no doubt on that". The three children looked at each other in amazement for a moment, but Tabatha then continued.

"But, I know that there is always more than one side to any story, perception often gets in the way of truth." She looked each child in the eye.

"You might be right Ms. Rewolf." Hermione piped up "But we can't help feeling the way we do."

Tabatha shook her head, "that's understandable; just promise me you're not going to try to set fire to anyone anymore. How would you feel if you actually hurt someone?"

The three children looked at each other and Tabatha knew they had gotten the point.

"Well you better get inside now ok, I hope to see you again soon." Tabatha stood up again as the children gave their fair wells and ran inside the castle.

Tabatha decided she needed to clear her head and made her way over to the shore of lake. Looking out over the setting sun a million thoughts ran though Tabatha's head. Could Severus have actually tried to hurt the boy? No, it didn't make sense to her. She was well aware of what Severus projected to the rest of the world, but she saw inside him, in his head. That boy still in there didn't seem capable of doing such things. However Tabatha knew that people were very complex and under the right conditions most people would probably be capable of almost anything. At least she thought she knew that, sometimes her wisdom startled her. Tabatha decided right then that she would get to the heart of the matter. If Severus was a teacher here that meant one person had to trust him enough to let him come in close contact with children regardless of his outward projections. Tabatha had to talk to Dumbledore.

A/N:
I wanted to thank everyone again for the lovely notes and I want to apologize if any of these chapters are not always 100% proof read and there are some typo's here and there. I do read them over, but lots of times I post late at night and I guess I miss something's at times; I will try to do better . Also I hope everyone is enjoying the story, hearing what your favorite parts are makes this whole thing even more worth it! Once again I want to thank you all for taking time out of your day to read my work!