Hearts are Blind (Severus Snape X OC)

Close Calls

A/N: In this chapter I mention N.E.W.T.s (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests). When I first started this fanfic the last few Harry Potter books weren't out yet and I didn't have a firm grasp on what students experienced in their final year of schooling (or that they didn't even need to attend the final year, depending on what profession they intended on pursuing). Well, as I have come back to this story and started writing it again, I've realized that it is unlikely that some of the people in Lucinda's Potions class would actually be in there, due to the advanced curriculum Snape would be teaching to his students in their last year, preparing them for the N.E.W.T. I might even have some of this wrong. JK Rowling doesn't really talk about the tests too much in the books and it's also been a while since I've read the last few of them. I tried to do some research, but for the story's sake, let's just say this: It's true that Aurora and Gabriel dislike Potions and aren't that good in it. They do require Lucinda's help a lot of the time, and lord knows how they passed their O.W.L.s (ordinary wizarding levels) with high enough marks to get into the advanced class, but they seem to have gotten into it, regardless, along with a few others who seem slow on the uptake of potion making. I can only assume that the careers they have in mind for themselves require a N.E.W.T. in Potions and they somehow just squeaked by into the advanced class. Happy reading and I do hope you enjoy this enough to leave me a teeny tiny review.

Close Calls

October moved along very quickly. It was
already the 29th. There were times that Lucinda feared her only year at Hogwarts would end before it had a chance to really blossom. You hear about muggles and how the students in that society hate school, skip school, slack off in school (although wizarding communities had their own share of slackers), but honestly how could you ever want to skip a class at Hogwarts? Lucinda had barely begun to scratch the surface on what it truly meant to be a witch and what her potential was and she couldn't imagine missing even one class session, let alone the entire day (besides, of course, the 24 hours that she was in the hospital wing). I guess that's why it astounded her so much that Aurora, Clover and Gabe would deliberately miss all of their classes.

Snape kept looking at her, like it was she who had skipped class. It wasn't her fault they decided to pick the one day he had a quiz. Oh yes, they all owled in sick and were going to be "in bed all day", surprisingly all three of them, but no one was fooled. It was just that none of the staff could really do anything about it. So, professor Snape was looking at Lucinda like he wanted to shake the truth out of her and give her detention for the lot of them. She could have joined them. They asked her to. She politely declined (which earned a scoff from Aurora) and left that morning for Potions class. He should be grateful she didn't skip; glad to see her, even. Or at least, it would just be nice to have him glad to see her at all.

Ever since the day inside the apothecary, Snape's demeanor around her had changed. It wasn't that he had started being mean to her again or anything; he just didn't really talk to her, at all, not unless it was relating to a potion. Lucinda knew it was best that way, but she still missed his usual acknowledgement toward her across the Great Hall at breakfast or in the hallway. She used to stay after class to help him clean up and to chat for a few minutes, but he'd stopped encouraging that, as well. As much as she had grown to like Tristin a lot in the last couple of weeks, he wasn't really interested in potions (and neither were any of her other friends). They had plenty of other things to talk about, but it would be nice to discuss the ingredient makeup of a paralysis potion sometime. Snape was the only one to do that with...

"Lucy, I can't do this without you," said a nervous whisper from the girl's right.

It was Beatrice Aberdeen. Without Aurora or Gabe in class, she had sat next to Lucinda at the start of the lesson. They'd become somewhat friends, as well, but Beatrice was one to disappear a lot. Mostly because, Lucinda found out, the poor girl was so terrified of everyone most of the time. She was extremely paranoid and often left in the middle of class due to a "bad feeling". This was also why she sometimes slept on the couch in the common room (like the night Lucinda found her there and placed her jacket over her shoulders). She said she would wake from a nightmare about someone climbing through her window or something sleeping under her bed. Honestly, her stories were creepy and made Lucinda uneasy. It was no wonder Beatrice was paranoid, having nightmares like that. It didn't help that she was clumsy, nervous and constantly exhausted.