Lady Lion [Sirius Black] [DISCONTINUED]

XII

"Hey Severus!" Callie greeted the boy as she walked into the library. After seeing his head perk up fro the other end of the room, Callie walked over to the table where he sat and pulled her potions book out of her bag. "Sorry I was late, I got held up in the common room."

"Hello Calista. It's okay, I don't mind." He said back.

"Severus, look at what I just found!" A girl's voice rung out from behind a bookshelf. Callie was surprised at first- she had thought that just herself and Severus were in the library. However, that wasn't the case as a bright redhead appeared in Callie's view and walked towards the table. "Oh, hello there!"

"Hi!" Callie greeted her, smiling. Her immediate first impression of the girl was that she was really cute, and the fact that she was immediately friendly with Callie made Callie feel comfortable around her, even if they had only just met. Callie held out her hand, which the redhead then shook. "I'm Calista, but you can call be Callie if you want."

The girl smiled warmly at Callie. "Wow, Calista is a really pretty name. I'm Lily. I think I've seen you before, maybe around the common room and such? I'm a Gryffindor."

"Yeah, you probably have seen me around in Gryffindor." Callie told her. Callie too had seen Lily around the common room and in classes, but they never had talked before. Seeing each other in passing was the most interaction they had up until this point. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"So how do you know Severus?" Lily asked Callie.

"You guys are talking about me when I am right here." Severus commented, but both girls ignored his interjection.

"He tutors me in potions- he's really good in that subject, whereas I'm not." Callie said, attempting to put one of her curls behind her ear. The curl went back to being in front of her face a moment later.

"Oh yeah," Lily began. "Severus told me he was tutoring somebody in potions. I came down here to study too, and I kept him company while he waited for you."

"Wow, I didn't think anybody besides me would voluntarily study on a Saturday morning." Callie said with a chuckled. "So, how do you know him?"

"Oh, Severus and I have been close friends since before Hogwarts!" Lily said, a smile lighting up her face. She had one of the best smiles that Callie had ever seen. "We met when we were nine- we lived near each other. Sev was actually the person who pointed out to me that I was a witch. I'm a muggle-born, so nobody in my family would have known really."

"Aw, that's nice." Callie said. Callie couldn't relate to their friendship; living in a upper-class town, kids we're not commonly seen outside playing.

"Yeah, times were simpler before Hogwarts and having to deal with the Gryffindor nitwits." Severus mumbled under his breath, but both girls heard.

"Sirius and James?" Callie asked, receiving a nod from both Lily and Severus. "Yeah, they didn't exactly enjoy it either from what I've heard. They aren't too fond of the fact that I am tutored by you either, but it's whatever. At least you aren't in the same house as them, you don't have to see them as much."

"Sure, I don't have to share a dorm with them or sit at their table in the Great Hall, but I still see them. Our interactions aren't exactly pleasant." Severus told Callie, his emphasis on the word "pleasant" made Callie feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Are they still bugging you?" Lily asked him, her voice growing concerned.

"Not daily, but enough. Whenever they see me usually." Severus said.

Lily shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Severus, you have to tell them to stop it!" She told him. Lily was sounding like a mother to him.

"Lily, telling them to stop wont make them stop. It will just make them want to bother me more- they'll feed off of my vulnerability. I just have to deal with it." Severus growled at her.

"Wait, what? What do they do to you?" Callie asked curiously. "I didn't know they even saw you after that first day. They haven't said anything about being with you."

Severus shook his head and closed his eyes. "It doesn't matter, let's just study."

Lily also didn't answer Callie's question either, so Callie knew immediately she had to drop it. She sat down in the chair across from Severus and opened her potions textbook to where her and Severus left off before Winter Break.

"Lily, why don't you join us? You said you had to study anyways, so come study with us." Callie offered to Lily as the redhead made her way to the next table over.

Lily turned around and brushed a piece of her hair out of her face before making her way over to Callie and Severus' table. "Sure, that would be good." She told them. "Besides, I like to pride myself on being good at potions- maybe I can help you too."

Over the next hour, Callie and Lily bonded through studying together, and found they had a lot of personality traits and beliefs in common. Callie even saw bits of a different side of Severus, one that only Lily brought out. It would have been a pleasant tutoring session for everybody, but Callie's curiosity got the best of her; her need to figure out problems and fix them sometimes proved to be more of a curse than a blessing. She was going to find out exactly what was going on between the Devastation Twins and Severus.