fox - r.lupin

- c h a p t e r - n i n e -

edited.

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"Do you know what's wrong with your friend Lupin?"

Violet dropped the dropper into the bubbling cauldron at the abrupt question, catching her off guard.

She quickly scooped it out and gave a sideways glance at Severus–who was staring at her with empty eyes.

They had all been back at school for a few months, and apparently, Severus had started to notice Remus's monthly disappearances and infirmary visits–which was not good.

The day he asked that question, the second-year Gryffindor and Slytherin had double potions with Professor Slughorn.

And unfortunately, the old wizard thought it would be oh-so-smart for Violet to be paired with Severus–who she literally hadn't talked to since her birthday.

"What are you talking about?" Violet questioned coldly, keeping her eyes on their potion.

"He's been acting strange..."

"Severus, you think all of my friends are strange–especially the boys."

Severus rolled his eyes out of the corner of her eye, "I mean stranger than usual."

Violet turned to him, pushing aside a piece of hair that had fallen out of the messy bun on the top of her head, "Why would I know?"

Severus gave her an unamused face, "Because they seem to be your best friends–even more so than Lily now."

She flinched a bit at the accusation before she scowled at him and shot back, "Lily's my best friend before any of them." Then with great reluctance, she continued to say, "You're my best friend too, Sev–" and at the last second, she added,"–even if we don't hang out all the time anymore."

The slight jab worked as Severus broke eye contact, dropping his gaze to his potions textbook.

There was a long moment of silence before he repeated his question, "Is there something going on with Lupin?"

Rolling her eyes slightly, Violet sighed, "No. He's fine. Nothing is wrong with him."

Although he didn't look entirely convinced, Severus nodded and dropped the subject as he stared at the directions thoughtfully.

Violet returned to their cauldron, looking over the instructions, when the Slytherin boy next to her murmured, "What if we..."

She looked at him as he cracked the shell of one of the ingredients, grinding it up and then sprinkling it over their potion instead of dropping the whole thing into the cauldron.

Violet was a little appalled that he had just veered off the directions, but the results of what he did were immediate and precisely what Professor Slughorn was looking for.

It glowed purple for a brief second before turning into a midnight blue sludge–just as the professor said it should do.

For a moment, neither Violet nor Severus moved.

The former lifted her brown eyes to her tablemate and said quietly, "We should do that again...but you know, differently..."

And for the first time in a long time, Severus smiled at her and nodded.

Professor Slughorn did not notice the two children gathering more supplies and tweaking the ingredients and how they were added to the potion.

Each time they switched things out, the quicker the results appeared–just as blue and sludgy as before.