Death Eater Spawn

Snape and I

After 3 weeks of potion lessons, I still couldn't understand why Snape looked at me funny in every lesson. I couldn't exactly confront him, as he was a teacher, and I was just a first year.
So I decided that I wanted him to like me, I would study hard and be the best in my class at potions. To stop him from hating me.
Even though my potions were always perfect, Snape would never say anything about them, or give me any house points. My potion skills were so good, that I was beginning to find the ones we did in class, far too easy.
So after a particulaly easy lesson, I decided to ask him if he would give me harder potions to brew in the future.

After everyone had left the room and gone to lunch, I approached him slowly.
"Sir... I was wondering if the potions we are making at the moment, are going to get harder as we go through the year?" I asked politely.
Snape looked up at me from his desk, and a chill ran through my spine.
"Why? Are the potions in this class too easy for you Miss Rosier? Are they not up to your standard?" He questioned.
"No. I mean yes. I mean, they aren't particulaly hard to brew Professor. I was just wondering if there were harder ones I could brew instead, that would challenge my ability?" I replied.
Snape got up from his desk and I took a step back in fear. He ignored me and strode over to a cabinet containing old potion textbooks, and picked one out. Snape gestured for me to come over, and he handed me the book.

It said Advanced potion making on the front.
"But Professor, this is NEWT level potions" I exclaimed.
"It is. I thought you wanted to be stretched. But if you don't think you can handle it..."
"No, I will give it a try"
"There is no try, there is only do. You'll either fail or you won't".
Snape took the book back and opened it to the first page. He then placed it on the table next to me.
"Go on then" he instructed.
I looked down at the potion. It was the most complicated potion I had ever seen in my life.
"Professor, this potion takes a whole week to brew" I said.
"Well you had better come back tomorrow then, to continue with it" he replied.
I picked up the book and took it over to the cupboard containing potion ingredients. I took what I needed and went back to my table.

After an hour of solid brewing I had created a potion, that seemed to look like what it was supposed to. I had followed the instructions in the book, but some had been crossed out with ink, and new instructions written beside it.
I assumed that Snape knew about the new instructions, and wanted to see whether or not I would follow them or the original ones.
I stepped back from my potion and looked over at Snape, who has been watching from the sidelines.
"I've got as far as I can today Professor" I told him.
Snape looked at my potion, it looked like he was going to smile, but he stopped himself.
"I will leave it in my office, and you can continue it tomorrow evening".

He picked up my cauldron and headed over to his office.
"Professor. Once I've finished making this potion. Can I make another for you?" I asked, crossing my fingers behind my back.
Snape turned to face me.
"Yes. We will continue to brew OWL and NEWT level potions, for the rest of the year. But you may not tell anyone about our one to one lessons. You will come here every evening at 7pm and you will leave at 9pm. Do you understand?".
I nodded, and Snape began to turn back around, but I stopped him.
"Professor. Did you know my parents?"
"You had better leave now miss Rosier. Or you will be late to your next lesson" he replied.
I looked to the floor and turned to get my bag. Snape stopped me as I reached the door.
"Yes. I did know them. They were old friends of mine, we were at school together. I was saddened by their deaths" he said.
I turned to face him, but he had already gone.

Over the next few years, I saw Professor Snape every evening and we brewed a wide variety of potions. Some that weren't in any school textbook. And some potions in the book that had re-written instructions in them, by someone called the half-blood prince.
Snape refused to tell me who the book belonged to, which made me suspicious. But I couldn't find a reference to the half-blood prince in any book. Which dissappointed me.
In class Snape ignored me, refusing to give me any special treatement and refuusing to give any of my potions, the house points that they deserved. My classmates became angry that Snape never rewarded my great potion ability, claiming that he favours his own house, which is unfair.
I knew that to be true. But I couldn't tell them the real reason that he ignores me, as I had agreed to keep my potion lessons a secret from everyone.

I didn't make friends with anyone in particular, but I got on with everyone in my house. Luna and I always paired up if we needed a partner in class, and I liked her a lot. But we never hung out the way normal girls our age did. Apparently this is common for people in Ravenclaw, as we are typically quite solitary people.
I also remained friendly with Ginny, the girl who I met on the train, who got placed into Gryffindor with the rest of her brothers.
I saw Harry a few times around school, I could tell it was him, as he didn't look much different than when we used to hang out. But I made no attempt to talk to him.
He had moved on and made new friends, so I accepted that. He looked happy, which made me feel like I was doing the right thing.

In my first year everyone thought that Harry was the heir of Slytherin, and going around petrifying muggleborns. I knew that Harry would never do anything like that, and I managed to convince most of my house, that Harry wasn't a threat.
It wasn't until my third year, when the Triwizard tournament came to Hogwarts, that I decided to talk to Harry once more.
I had seen him around school looking sad, as he had fallen out with his best friend. And most of the school thought he had placed his name in the Goblet of Fire. So they were angry with him, thinking that he was a show off.
I knew him though, and I knew that he would never put his life in danger like that, just for fame and glory. So I decided to tell him that I believed him, and that he didn't have to feel so alone. Because I had his back.