Trust Me, Sev...

Chapter 3

~Dinner Time cuz I just wanna get to the point~
Clair felt weird stares being thrown at her all day from Sirius Black and James Potter, hell even Peter was giving her looks. She had wondered what she'd done to deserve the odd looks and it was honestly making her very uncomfortable. So uncomfortable in fact that she'd decided to sit at the Slytherin table for dinner tonight. Only at the end though as she'd rather not have to socialize with her housemates. She tried to enjoy the food in front of her but she felt their eyes boring into her even harder than they had been all day. Soon enough, Clair decided to get up and rush back to the Slytherin common room. Since no one was in there, she popped on a vinyl of Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album and curled up on the couch with one of her herbology books. She'd been so wrapped up in her comfy little bubble that she had no clue Severus had come down from the boy's dormitories until he was right in front of her, clearing his throat and lifting a brow.
"Must you listen to this insufferable muggle music so loud? Why aren't you at dinner?", he'd said it with his normal attitude but after the day she'd had, it was just the last straw. She looked up at him, a glint of anger in her eyes but mostly sadness and shame.
"Not that you'd care but for one, even though this is considered 'muggle' music, Elton John is a very powerful wizard and he was a Hufflepuff and secondly, I've had a very uncomfortable day so please lay off!", she huffed and blinked a few times trying not to cry in front of the cold, raven haired boy. Severus looked down at her feeling a familiar clench in his heart, not that he'd ever show her that though. He knew what she felt like, it was a lonely, uncomfortable day for him everyday. He sighed and held his hand out in front of her.
"You said you'd give me sweets, so let's just start studying", he said in a low voice, almost mumbling it. Clair sniffled a bit and looked up, fanning herself so her mood and face cooled off. She leaned over and dug through her bag, bringing out a smaller bag.
"I heard you liked chocolate from uh.....someone...so I uh made you brownies and got you other stuff and I hope you enjoy it....", she quickly shoved the bag into his hands. He peeked in, careful not to show her the awe that he was in. He saw the brownies, a couple chocolate frogs, a chocolate wand and a package of fudge flies. He knew he'd asked for sweets in exchange for help in potions but she didn't have to do this much. No one had ever done this much for him. He felt as if he'd been peering in the bag too long and quickly cleared his throat, putting the bag aside and sitting next to her, pulling out his potions book. Clair looked over as he opened the book, her eyes quickly reading what was printed on the cover before he flipped to the correct page.
"Who's the half-blood prince?", she asked lifting an eyebrow at him. He ignored her question looking over the potion.
"So where is your confusion? What exactly do you need help with?", he wouldn't look her directly in the eyes. She'd decided to put her question in the back of her head and bother him about it at another time. She didn't wanna lose what was probably her only chance to get help let alone from THE Severus Snape.
"I....uh....the execution of the potions. I get confused about making them."
"Let's start with Draught of Peace then"
Little had Clair known that Severus was extremely shook by her question. How could he have been so stupid as to let the short girl even catch a GLANCE at his nickname, his secret. Why hadn't he just opened to the middle of the book like he usually would? Why was this girl so damn distracting to him? How was he going to keep dodging her questions? These thoughts ran through his head as he made her look over the instructions to the potion. He had to hold in a sigh, 'I suppose this is going to be an interesting year.' , he thought.