Drops of Juniper (Discontinued, Rewrite On My Profile)

Chapter 8: Ball Dates

I walked into the common room expecting it to be empty but was greeted by the girls sitting around the fire.

"Guys! What are you doing here? And who let you in?" I asked dumbfounded

"Cedric let us in," Serenity said, giggling, "he said, yes, by the way," and she smiled big.

"That's great! I'm so happy for you!" I gave her a quick hug and sat next to them in front of the fire, we had our last three days of classes coming up, and Snape was making us brew Amortentia in our last class before break. I was nervous; I wasn't good at potions in the slightest, Kara was my partner, and she usually did most of it.

"So how'd it go with Snapey boy?" Sapphire asked me, breaking me away from my thoughts

"Well, it started well, he was teaching me Occlumency, but I let something slip I shouldn't have", I muttered

"Oh, Juniper, you didn't!" Serenity squealed, jumping a bit out of her seat; I only nodded; I looked over at Kara, who was smirking

"Maybe I should've said something sooner, but he's a Legilimens, meaning he probably already knew about your little crush, especially with how distracted you get in class" she let out a laugh, and I felt myself turn red.

"Not funny! Anyway, that's all it is, a helpless crush; I probably just have feelings for him because he kept me from dying, you know how I am" I rolled my eyes and shrugged

"I don't know, Juni, that was some gift you got him, and I can already tell you'll probably get him something for Christmas," Sapphire said, putting her two cents in.

"Anyway, it's not like you can ask a professor to the Ball, so who are you gonna ask?" Kara pressed; I only shrugged. Besides Snape, I didn't really fancy anyone else,

"C'mon, Juniper! Sapphire has already asked Harry and Draco asked me," I gasped at Kara, not at Sapphire asking Harry; everyone knew by now Harry had a thing for Ravenclaws, but that Draco had the nerve to ask Kara.

"You didn't say yes, did you?" I asked her hesitantly

"I said I'd think about it; besides, he seems to get off his high horse when he's around me now; I think he figured out egotistic and rich are not qualities I look for in a guy."

I hummed a response, "I just think that going to a ball with a bunch of boys younger than us is odd" I was picking at my fingers again. It had become a habit whenever I was nervous.

"It's only a friend thing, and even then, they don't know our age, and we look 16", Serenity said, adding to our conversation.

"Right, that kinda makes it worse," was all I responded with. "Well, we should probably get to bed only three more days of class" I smiled at the girls. It was late, I was tired, and I needed to think.

"Goodnight!!" they said in unison, heading out the portrait door; Kara stopped before heading out.

"Oh, by the way, we're gonna go into Hogsmeade this weekend for dresses, and I just thought you should know that Severus is his first name" she winked at me before disappearing into the darkness of the castle.

Severus, I thought it sent shivers through me, it was perfect for him, and I liked the feeling of the letters rolling off my tongue. I certainly couldn't fall further for this man, could I?

*TIMESKIP TO LAST DAY OF CLASSES*

The last two days had passed without incident, the teachers went easy on us with the workload, but that didn't stop them from assigning a bunch of homework either. We weren't necessarily students, but we had to keep up appearances, or Albus would get into a shit ton of trouble with the Ministry; I mean, we were practically adults.

The last day seemed to go slower than the rest until I was finally seated in my last potions class before Christmas break. When Snape finished explaining, he allowed us to choose partners, and Kara stayed by my side.

"Don't worry, I won't leave you with a potion like this" she smiled warmly at me, and I smiled back. I was excited but nervous they say the smell of the potion changes depending on who you like or something. This would give me my answer, at least I hoped so.

Kara finished grabbing the ingredients while I got the supplies; we met back at our table and started the potion together.

Eventually, the potion turned a sheer pearl colour, indicating we had done it correctly; I breathed a breath of relief. Thank Merlin.

"Sir, we've finished our potion," Said Kara raising her hand as he slowly walked over to our table.

"Well? what do you two smell?" He asked in his velvet-soft voice; I nudged Kara; there was no way I was going first anyway; I couldn't even really catch a good breath.

She leaned over the cauldron and inhaled deeply. "I smell apples and like really bad cologne" Snape nodded, and she sat back down; they both stared at me.

"Today, Miss Bane," Snape said impatiently.

"Oh, right" I got up and inhaled. "I smell parchment, rain, and a bit of citrus" it didn't take a genius to figure out who I had smelled; I sat back down, getting even more flustered. He nodded and walked away from us. As soon as he sat down, Harry raised his hand up

"Uh, professor? Neville's got some of the potion on his hands," Harry said; Snape rolled his eyes and got up again, rolling his eyes and mumbling under his breath. He sent Neville to Madam Pomfrey's and used his wand to clean up the mess; then, he dismissed us.

"Bane stay", He called before I reached the door; I turned around and walked towards his desk, and Kara gave me a 'what could he want?' look before heading to the Great Hall for the last dinner of the term.

"Yes?" I asked him, looking at him, taking in every detail of his face; my breathing got weird whenever I looked at him and worse when I'd speak to him.

"Your Amortentia", he began ", are you sure that's what you smelled?" I didn't verbally answer; I just nodded at him "speak, you have words; use them", he demanded

"Yes, I'm sure, professor," I said. I felt my hands getting clammy.

He nodded "you may go now" I left his classroom feeling odd. That was the weirdest interaction we've had, maybe the second weirdest considering what he'd seen when he entered my mind. I headed to the Great Hall with a million questions running through my mind, a million questions with no answers.