Trust Me, Sev...

Chapter 2

~Potion's Class~
After an awkward breakfast of trying not to stare at Severus from across the Slytherin table, Clair dragged her feet to her first class of the day. Potions. She dreaded the class. On paper you'd think she'd be the best at the subject with all of her essays being spot on and full of research but when it came to actually making them, she was helpless. When she finally entered Slughorn's class, she went over to the Slytherin side of the room, rolling her eyes at James dragging Lily over to the Gryffindor side to work with him. She scanned the room seeing only three free seats. One next to Avery, which she quickly decided against knowing full heartedly that it was Mulciber's spot. Another next to a girl she didn't really know or frankly, like because of a disagreement they'd had in Charms. And finally one next to the very person on her mind, Severus Snape. Obviously she'd shuffled to the seat next to the raven haired boy. Before she even sat down, he turned his head to glare at whoever dared sit next to him. It seemed that once he saw it was her that his eyes softened just a bit before going back to that cold demeanor. If she had blinked she would've missed the shift in his facade. Clair sat down quietly, their professor coming in soon after.
"Okay class, today you and your partners will be making Drought of Living Death. Get your supplies please, I'll be checking your progress at the end of the class",
After Slughorn had given his instructions, Clair glanced to the boy next to her, he was looking down at his textbook. She cleared her throat. He looked up with annoyance laced on his face.
"What", he snapped quietly at her, she furrowed her eyebrows at the boy
"Well we're supposed to be working as partners, Sev, and also Iuhmneedyourhelp", it was almost like she'd mumbled the last part, ashamed that she'd even have to ask him for anything, ashamed that she was a Slytherin who was bad at potion making. He lifted an eyebrow in confusion as he set his book down, saving the page for their class work.
"Don't call me that. And I didn't quite hear the last part of what you said", he continued to stare. She crossed her arms and huffed like a child, it was almost cute. Almost.
"I said I need your help, SNAPE.", she emphasized his proper name, obviously agitated that he hadn't liked the nickname she bestowed upon him.
"Just get the ingredients, I'll take care of making it.", He rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed as she got up.
'ok ingredients, ingredients. Powdered Root of Asphodel, Infusion of Wormwood, Valerian Sprigs, Sloth Brain, Juice of a Sopophorous Bean', she thought as she grabbed each of the little jars off the shelf and made her way back to Severus, as he'd already had their cauldron ready. She carefully placed each jar on the table, making sure the glass didn't break then sat down observing how he took care of each ingredient. He handled them strangely, not following the instructions in the book.
"Snape, you're not following the instructions", she turned her head to him in confusion.
"My methods are better than the books", he barely glanced over at her while speaking, his voice low.
For the rest of the period, she just sat and watched as he made their potion with his strange ways, hoping to god he hadn't mucked it up as much as she would've. At the end, Slughorn slowly made his way over to their cauldron, looking it over, dropping a leaf in per protocol.
"Perfect as usual, Snape. You two make fantastic partners! You're dismissed.", his smile beaming as he walked away from their table. Severus quickly packed up his bag and left before Clair could even pick up her book. She sighed and packed up her things, making her way out of the room. She quickly dashed down the hallway as fast as her short legs would carry her to catch up with the boy.
"Snape! Snape! Wait up!", he surprisingly had stopped in the middle of the hallway to wait. If she hadn't seen it, she would've slammed into his back. Luckily, she slowed to a stop in front of him and caught her breath.
"I just.....wanted to say thank you for helping me get an A on that assignment.....potions isn't really my strong suit as you can tell", she looked down at the floor tapping her toes a bit before continuing, "maybe you could tutor me a bit....? I could help you with herbology if you'd like or uhm....I'll buy you some sweets? I noticed you really like them while at dinner...." her sentence quieted at the end not wanting to seem like some stalker. She'd only noticed the boy liked his sweets after all but something told her he'd take it the wrong way.
"Fine.", that was all he said before he walked off around the corridor. She immediately perked up at hearing this but by the time she lifted her eyes, he was already almost around the hall.
"SNAPE! FINE TO WHICH PART, THE HERBOLOGY LESSON OR THE SWEETS? SNAPE!", but he was already gone before she'd gotten her answer. Little did she know her friend Sirius Black had heard the whole conversation they'd had as he was exiting class, boy were the Marauder's going to raise hell about this. Maybe it would turn out to be an interesting year after all.