Ficlet: Experimental Reconciliation
Hi there... thought I'd share my first try at writing. It's a little Snape/Lily beginning friendship ficlet, set at the beginning of their sixth year (and obviously written before Deathly Hallows came out). I hope you enjoy it.
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Severus Snape was leaving the classroom pondering the newest Defence against the Dark Arts instructor, Professor Tawaret, who actually seemed to know the subject for a change. There were still rumours floating around that she had had a fight with Professor McGonagall because she insisted on letting everyone who had passed their OWLs - even if only with an Acceptable - join her classes, arguing with the ongoing war and finally getting her way. A lucky circumstance for Severus as his performance in his practical Defence OWL had been rather abysmal and ruined his usually shown - and in his written exam also achieved - outstanding results in this subject, and one he was determined to use to prove his skills.
The day’s lesson on non-verbal defensive spells and recognising wand movements had been great and Professor Tawaret had recommended a very interesting sounding book for further reading. Severus would be very sorry to watch her go at the end of the year which, in the light of what had happened to his previous five Defence against the Dark Arts teachers, he more or less expected.
~~~
Arriving in the dungeons for his very first NEWT Potions class he immediately spotted the dark red hair of Lily Evans and his thoughts inevitably drifted to the sunny afternoon at the end of the last term he was still trying to forget.
Of course, he had seen her in some lessons in the last days, but he hadn’t talked to her yet. This seemed to be a good opportunity to apologise though, as none of her friends seemed to be taking NEWT Potions. He approached her just when Professor opened the classroom door and, only looking at her briefly, muttered, ‘Um...I just wanted to say...I’m sorry for...you know. Guess it wasn’t my greatest moment.’
He entered the classroom before she could reply and unpacked his things on one of the back tables and said down.
Lily hesitated, then followed him and said quietly, ‘Well, I guess it wasn’t a great moment for any of us.’
Snape looked up at her in surprise, and when Slughorn called the class to order, she slid in the chair next to his with a faint smile on her face.
Slughorn opened the lesson as they had been told he opened every first NEWT lesson: by asking them to identify three Potions he had prepared in advance. Snape looked to the front of the classroom for the first time and recognised Polyjuice Potion, Veritaserum and Amortentia without difficulty. Next to him Lily held up her hand. Snape knew that she was not only good at Potions, but also Slughorn’s favourite student, and he wasn’t surprised when she named the Potions correctly and Slughorn praised her excitedly. What did surprise him was the slight embarrassment his enthusiasm seemed to cause her, although she was hiding it quite well.
‘And now,’ Slughorn finally continued with the lesson, ‘open your copies of Advanced Potion-Making on page ten. Today we will attempt to brew the Draught of Living Death. I don’t expect anyone of you to make a perfect potion on the first try, but let’s see how it goes.’
Snape opened his book rather unenthusiastically. Using Basic and Intermediate Potion-Making by Libatius Borage in the previous years had been bad enough, but this so-called Advanced edition was the most out-dated book he had ever come across. He had already started to improve some of the recipes on his own, mainly based on what he knew about plants and their effects, mutual influences and combined actions, and his instincts, usually finding shortcuts that saved time as well as ingredients, and sometimes even increasing a potion’s desired results.
The Draught of Living Death was one of the potions recipes he had been working on, but he felt it still needed some finishing touches. He skimmed through what Borage had said about the subject and his own additions, measured the given quantity of powdered root of asphodel into his cauldron and added the corresponding amount of infusion of wormwood. While the main ingredients simmered slowly, Snape cut up his valerian roots - to add when a bluish steam appeared above the potion - and thought about the problem. Maybe something about the stirring....
He added his valerian roots and the liquid in his cauldron turned smooth, the colour lightening almost unnoticeably to a blackcurrant tone. It had to simmer now until it was deep purple before the next ingredient could be added. He looked around. Next to him Lily had started to cut up her Sopophorous Bean, a difficult and, as Snape knew, not very effective method of preparing it he had already taken care of. Just when he crushed his bean with the flat side of his silver dagger, which released the Sopophorous juice much better, Lily abandoned patience with her own bean and did the same, letting out a suprised ‘Oh’ at the amount of juice the small shrivelled bean contained. Snape couldn’t suppress a giggle as he quickly added the juice to his potion, which turned into a light shade of lilac instantly.
Lily turned around to him, getting a glimpse at his book.
‘You’re changing the recipes?’ she asked curiously.
‘Just trying something out here and there,’ he answered hesitantly. ‘You should add that juice before it’s all over the table,’ he reminded her, when she kept looking at him expectantly.
‘Oh. Right.’
While Lily put the Sopophorous juice in her cauldron, which was still enough to turn her potion light lilac, she noticed that the other students’ potions still seemed to be much darker, even though they were already stirring. She consulted her book, which told her to stir counter-clockwise until the potion would turn as clear as water. She looked at Snape again. He was looking at his book and seemed to be pondering his next move.
‘You see more room for improvement?’ she asked lightly.
Snape looked at her and smiled. ‘Yes, maybe.’
He turned back to his potion, stirred three times counter-clockwise, then hesitated a moment and added a clockwise stir. The potion turned as clear as water immediately, but it also seemed to collapse in itself, becoming runny much too fast.
‘I don’t think that was it,’ Snape commented.
‘But it seemed to go in the right direction,’ she replied.
‘Hm, yeah. Why don’t you try a clockwise stir after the seventh counter-clockwise one?’ he suggested.
Lily gave him a sceptical look, then turned to her potion and gave it seven counter-clockwise stirs, which didn’t have any effect on the colour whatsoever. She hesitated, took a deep breath and stirred one time clockwise. The potion turned into the palest pink.
‘Wow,’ Lily whispered impressed, smiling up at him.
Snape watched her as she returned to her potion, which became paler and paler with every clockwise stir she now gave it after every seventh counter-clockwise one. Finally, he took his quill and added the new discovery to the directions in his book.
‘Excellent, Miss Evans!’ Professor Slughorn exclaimed suddenly out of nowhere, startling them both. Apparently none of the other students’ potions had turned much lighter than purple, and his excitement over Lily’s achievement send him into an unstoppable awarding of praise.
‘But...Professor Slughorn....’ Lily tried to interrupt, but the teacher didn’t seem to notice and wouldn’t let her get a word in.
She looked helplessly at Snape, but he just shrugged, giving her an ironic grin as if to ask What did you expect? and turned to clear his desk.
~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Severus Snape was leaving the classroom pondering the newest Defence against the Dark Arts instructor, Professor Tawaret, who actually seemed to know the subject for a change. There were still rumours floating around that she had had a fight with Professor McGonagall because she insisted on letting everyone who had passed their OWLs - even if only with an Acceptable - join her classes, arguing with the ongoing war and finally getting her way. A lucky circumstance for Severus as his performance in his practical Defence OWL had been rather abysmal and ruined his usually shown - and in his written exam also achieved - outstanding results in this subject, and one he was determined to use to prove his skills.
The day’s lesson on non-verbal defensive spells and recognising wand movements had been great and Professor Tawaret had recommended a very interesting sounding book for further reading. Severus would be very sorry to watch her go at the end of the year which, in the light of what had happened to his previous five Defence against the Dark Arts teachers, he more or less expected.
~~~
Arriving in the dungeons for his very first NEWT Potions class he immediately spotted the dark red hair of Lily Evans and his thoughts inevitably drifted to the sunny afternoon at the end of the last term he was still trying to forget.
Of course, he had seen her in some lessons in the last days, but he hadn’t talked to her yet. This seemed to be a good opportunity to apologise though, as none of her friends seemed to be taking NEWT Potions. He approached her just when Professor opened the classroom door and, only looking at her briefly, muttered, ‘Um...I just wanted to say...I’m sorry for...you know. Guess it wasn’t my greatest moment.’
He entered the classroom before she could reply and unpacked his things on one of the back tables and said down.
Lily hesitated, then followed him and said quietly, ‘Well, I guess it wasn’t a great moment for any of us.’
Snape looked up at her in surprise, and when Slughorn called the class to order, she slid in the chair next to his with a faint smile on her face.
Slughorn opened the lesson as they had been told he opened every first NEWT lesson: by asking them to identify three Potions he had prepared in advance. Snape looked to the front of the classroom for the first time and recognised Polyjuice Potion, Veritaserum and Amortentia without difficulty. Next to him Lily held up her hand. Snape knew that she was not only good at Potions, but also Slughorn’s favourite student, and he wasn’t surprised when she named the Potions correctly and Slughorn praised her excitedly. What did surprise him was the slight embarrassment his enthusiasm seemed to cause her, although she was hiding it quite well.
‘And now,’ Slughorn finally continued with the lesson, ‘open your copies of Advanced Potion-Making on page ten. Today we will attempt to brew the Draught of Living Death. I don’t expect anyone of you to make a perfect potion on the first try, but let’s see how it goes.’
Snape opened his book rather unenthusiastically. Using Basic and Intermediate Potion-Making by Libatius Borage in the previous years had been bad enough, but this so-called Advanced edition was the most out-dated book he had ever come across. He had already started to improve some of the recipes on his own, mainly based on what he knew about plants and their effects, mutual influences and combined actions, and his instincts, usually finding shortcuts that saved time as well as ingredients, and sometimes even increasing a potion’s desired results.
The Draught of Living Death was one of the potions recipes he had been working on, but he felt it still needed some finishing touches. He skimmed through what Borage had said about the subject and his own additions, measured the given quantity of powdered root of asphodel into his cauldron and added the corresponding amount of infusion of wormwood. While the main ingredients simmered slowly, Snape cut up his valerian roots - to add when a bluish steam appeared above the potion - and thought about the problem. Maybe something about the stirring....
He added his valerian roots and the liquid in his cauldron turned smooth, the colour lightening almost unnoticeably to a blackcurrant tone. It had to simmer now until it was deep purple before the next ingredient could be added. He looked around. Next to him Lily had started to cut up her Sopophorous Bean, a difficult and, as Snape knew, not very effective method of preparing it he had already taken care of. Just when he crushed his bean with the flat side of his silver dagger, which released the Sopophorous juice much better, Lily abandoned patience with her own bean and did the same, letting out a suprised ‘Oh’ at the amount of juice the small shrivelled bean contained. Snape couldn’t suppress a giggle as he quickly added the juice to his potion, which turned into a light shade of lilac instantly.
Lily turned around to him, getting a glimpse at his book.
‘You’re changing the recipes?’ she asked curiously.
‘Just trying something out here and there,’ he answered hesitantly. ‘You should add that juice before it’s all over the table,’ he reminded her, when she kept looking at him expectantly.
‘Oh. Right.’
While Lily put the Sopophorous juice in her cauldron, which was still enough to turn her potion light lilac, she noticed that the other students’ potions still seemed to be much darker, even though they were already stirring. She consulted her book, which told her to stir counter-clockwise until the potion would turn as clear as water. She looked at Snape again. He was looking at his book and seemed to be pondering his next move.
‘You see more room for improvement?’ she asked lightly.
Snape looked at her and smiled. ‘Yes, maybe.’
He turned back to his potion, stirred three times counter-clockwise, then hesitated a moment and added a clockwise stir. The potion turned as clear as water immediately, but it also seemed to collapse in itself, becoming runny much too fast.
‘I don’t think that was it,’ Snape commented.
‘But it seemed to go in the right direction,’ she replied.
‘Hm, yeah. Why don’t you try a clockwise stir after the seventh counter-clockwise one?’ he suggested.
Lily gave him a sceptical look, then turned to her potion and gave it seven counter-clockwise stirs, which didn’t have any effect on the colour whatsoever. She hesitated, took a deep breath and stirred one time clockwise. The potion turned into the palest pink.
‘Wow,’ Lily whispered impressed, smiling up at him.
Snape watched her as she returned to her potion, which became paler and paler with every clockwise stir she now gave it after every seventh counter-clockwise one. Finally, he took his quill and added the new discovery to the directions in his book.
‘Excellent, Miss Evans!’ Professor Slughorn exclaimed suddenly out of nowhere, startling them both. Apparently none of the other students’ potions had turned much lighter than purple, and his excitement over Lily’s achievement send him into an unstoppable awarding of praise.
‘But...Professor Slughorn....’ Lily tried to interrupt, but the teacher didn’t seem to notice and wouldn’t let her get a word in.
She looked helplessly at Snape, but he just shrugged, giving her an ironic grin as if to ask What did you expect? and turned to clear his desk.
~~~~~~