Decided to upload a second one, seeing as I made you guys wait so long for the last one! This is the second chapter I'm posting today so if you haven't read the last one yet thinking this is the only update, go back and read that first!

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"Why have you been hanging out with the Marauders?" Sev hissed at me as we prepared our potion.

"I'm not hanging out with them. I sat with them like once. I barely even speak to Sirius and James." I mumbled back.

He didn't say anything, only motioned for me to slice the flobberworms. Though it would kill him to admit it out loud, we both knew I had a steadier hand for these sorts of things.

"I just- I don't get it. They're so immature and pathetic. Why would you even grace them with your presence, let alone sit with them at lunch?" He sighed, stirring the potion.

I shrugged. I felt kind of bad. Sev had been my sort of friend first. And, I suppose, me sitting with the Marauders was a sort of betrayal to him.

"Look, forget it, ok. I can talk to whomever I want. Can we just focus on this potion?" I finished slicing the flobberworms and slowly dropped them in.

The potion crackled and spat and changed to a shocking scarlet colour. I smiled. Perfect.

"You know what we could do to make it better?" Sev asked slyly.

I shook my head. He gestured for me to look in his backpack. My mouth dropped open in surprise.

"Chimaera blood? Where on earth did you get it! It's one of the most difficult to find potion ingredients in the wizarding world!" I fingered the vial, keeping it hidden in Sev's bag.

"I know a guy. He can get any ingredient. Even unicorn's blood." Sev said smugly. He snatched it away from me and secretly snuck one drop into the potion.

My chest constricted weirdly at his words. Something didn't feel right about this.

"What guy?" I tried to sound nonchalant and twirled a piece of hair around my finger.

Sev didn't say anything. He watched our potion turn a shade of even more brilliant scarlet and gain a slightly reflective, glassy, look. I'd never seen a potion so beautiful. I'd never even come close to making something this perfect. But it still felt wrong. I couldn't put my finger on it.

"What guy, Snape? How do you come to know someone who can access pure chimaera blood? And unicorn blood too, at that!" I probed again.

"Just some friend of one of the 7th years in my house. There's no need to get your knickers in a twist, Paxton." He slipped the vial back into his bag.

"And he just… gave you this? For free?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Yeah…? Well, not really. But it was nothing. Just leave it." Sev huffed.

"Not really? What does that even mean? What did you give him?" I asked, racking my brain.

"I just had to make a potion, that's all. It was easy." He mumbled, stirring the potion.

"What. Potion. Snape." I hissed.

He was silent.

"What. Potion?" I grabbed his arm and pulled him to face me.

"Dlrom" He mumbled incoherently.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Dolorosum." He spat and pulled his arm away from me.

I opened my mouth to scream blue bloody murder at him, but perhaps luckily Slughorn chose that moment to sweep up to us with excitement.

"Merlin! Miss Paxton, Mr. Snape! I don't think I've ever seen such a marvellous blood replenishing potion in all my days as an educator! Why I hardly think I could produce such good results! Marvellous! Simply marvellous!" He clapped excitedly.

Sev nodded humbly. I bit my lip, hating the feel of the entire class' eyes on me.

"20 points to your respective houses! And class dismissed" He exclaimed.

"And bonus marks to my two favourite students." He then whispered loudly with a wink.

Sev had already packed up and fled the room before I could even turn back to face him.

I angrily shoved my books into my shoulder bag. How could he be so stupid! Dolorosum? Seriously? If that potion got into the wrong hands… I shuddered to think of what the consequences would be. What was wrong with him? All for some stupid potion enhancement?

I stormed out of the dungeon, deciding to skip lunch and go for a walk around the lake to let off some steam. And decide what to say to Sev. I had to say something. I couldn't let him think it was ok to continue brewing dangerous potions for some guy he hadn't even met. Sirius had tried to make eye-contact with me as I left, but I refused to look at him. I was fuming and would probably snap at him or say something I didn't mean.

It was a bit chilly. The end of October wind whipping my hair across my face. I pulled my cloak tighter. I'd heard people saying that it would snow early this year. I highly doubted it. The lake hadn't even frozen over yet.

I passed the whomping willow, which whacked its branches against the ground at the sight of me, orange and gold leaves flying off into the breeze. I'd always wondered why they'd planted such a dangerous tree at a school. It had only been around since my first year. It seemed like such an illogical decision to make. But I guess that was Dumbledore. Illogical.

I squinted, spotting someone else by the banks of the lake. Who else would be crazy enough to be out here in the freezing cold when they were serving roast in the Great Hall? They looked like they were crying. Without realizing what I was doing, I walked over towards them, crunching the leaves underfoot as I went.

When I got closer I recognized her. It was Evans. Her fiery red hair was loose and the wind had tangled it around her face. But I could clearly see she was sobbing her eyes out.

She heard me approach and whipped her head up, wide-eyed.

"Oh, Loren. It's you." She sniffed.

"Um. What are you doing out here?" I asked.

"I just got some bad news, that all." She wiped her eyes and sighed, looking across the lake.

I awkwardly sat down next to her.

"Well, what's wrong? Maybe I can help?" It came out sounding more of a question.

"My sister's getting married." She started crying again.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Sh-she's not in-inviting me." Evans whimpered, her eyes filled with tears.

"Oh." Was all I could say. I shuffled over closer to her and put an awkward arm around her.

"She hates me because I'm a witch and she isn't." She finally whispered sadly.

"That's stupid. You're one of the loveliest people ever." I mumbled, more to myself than to Evans.

She broke into a watery smile and flung her arms around me. My ice blue eyes widened, startled. But I eventually settled into the hug and even managed to hug her back.

"Thanks, Loren. I'm not, but that means a lot." She hiccoughed.

"Um.. that's ok… Lily." I tested her name out on my tongue.

"What about you? What are you doing out here in the cold?" She asked after a while.

I blinked. Should I tell her? I barely knew her. But somehow, I felt in my core that Lily was someone I could trust.

"I'm worried about Sev… Snape." I corrected myself.

"How is he?" Lily said almost inaudibly. She looked at the ground like she didn't like that I knew she wanted to know. It occurred to me then that despite the awful fight, the screaming, the horrible things she said and refusing to speak to him… Lily still cared deeply.

"He's… he's ok. I mean… generally." I stammered.

"Generally? What about specifically?" She jumped on my choice of words.

"Specifically? Well, specifically he's brewing dangerous potions like Dolorosum to buy potion enhancements off some guy he hasn't even met." The words tumbled out without me even meaning to say them. It was such a weight off my chest, though, telling someone else. Someone else who cared, too. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone else on campus that cared about the wellbeing of Severus Snape.

"Dolorosum? I haven't heard of that?" Lily cocked her head.

"You wouldn't have. It's not found in many books. It's mostly a pureblood horror story from the past. It basically eats your brain. Like slowly it shuts off synapse transmissions and eats away at the different parts of the brain. And it hurts. Like, unendurable agony. But you can't move. Or scream. Or anything. And eventually you wont know anything except pain. Like you wont be able to remember who you are or how to speak or how to move or anything. All you'll be able to do is feel the pain. Until it works it's way out of your system. But you'll either have died from the pain or be brain dead at that point. And the worst part is, you don't even need to drink the potion. All you have to do is breathe the vapours and it'll start."

Lily's eyes widened more and more as I spoke. She looked like she was going to vomit, by the end of my description.

"Wh-Why would someone want that? Why would Sev brew that?" Her voice cracked in panic.

"I don't know. They're sick in the head. That's why. And Sev is just so goddamn STUPID." I clenched my jaw.

"You have to talk to him. Find out who this guy is. Stop him from doing it again." She grabbed my hand desperately.

"Me? What about you? You guys were best friends!"

"I can't." She shook her head. "He and I are through. I can't talk to him again. You have to do it, Loren. You have to."

She was practically begging me. I knew she was right. Someone had to do it. And if it wasn't going to be her… well I guess that left me.

I nodded mutely. What on Earth was I going to say to him to make him realise? And what was I going to say to Sirius? I knew he had seen my mild confrontation with Sev at the end of Potions. And he wasn't the kind of person to let something like that go.

Lily and I sat in companionable silence, mulling over what we'd discussed for a while, before the cold got the better of us. We mutually decided to head back to the castle and try to catch the end of lunch. It was strange, feeling relaxed like I did with Lily. Like I did with the boys. I'd never ever really been relaxed around my old friends. I'd always felt like I was on show and had to prove that I was funny and smart and worthy to hang out with. And I certainly hadn't felt relaxed all of last year. But things were so different this year. I was a different girl. I wasn't sure who exactly I was yet. But I was liking her more and more, whoever she was.

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I'm not going to say the 'r' word, but you know what to do :)