𝘼 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙

It's okay

When I woke up drenched in sweat because of another one of my nightmares the sun hadn't even started rising but I figured once I was up anyway might as well getting started on my 'pleasing Snape' mission and thanks to Dumbledore's list I knew exactly what I had to do. I tried to get ready as fast as I could trying to avoid waking up everyone in the dormitory. Once the mission seemed accomplished I closed the door behind me and sneaked out to the common room to write all the letters that needed to be sent for the orders to be correctly placed. I paid extra attention to quantities, prices and times of arrival because I wasn't really looking forward to meet 'irate Snape' because of my mistakes.
In a two hours time I was done and the letters had already been entrusted to the owls and it was almost time for breakfast so I left the birdhouse and made my way to the Great Hall.
When I finally arrived I spotted Harry, Ronald and Hermione and I went to join them, fast enough before I could regret it.
"Good morning" I said flashing my best smile.
"'Morning" Harry lightly smiled back while the other two barely waved as they we're probably still half asleep "how are you all smiling so early in the morning?"
"Yes how do you do that? I don't trust people who wake up in a good mood" Ronald growled.
"I woke up very early for my first task as Snape assistant and I think everything went smoothly so I am very happy about it" I said starting to eat too as I was starving.
"Oh was he pleased? Did you manage?" Hermione resurrected from her blank stare.
"He doesn't know yet" I said playing with the food in plate with a fork while the three exchanged looks "Dumbledore told me what to do to start on the right foot so I just hope Snape won't regret his decision about me when I tell him" I explained.
"If Dumbledore helped you I think you're in good hands, don't worry everything is going to be fine with Snape" Harry assured, he trusted Dumbledore so much it was sweet.
I glanced at the Professors only to notice Snape wasn't there but it wasn't too early, actually breakfast was about to end so I started a fight with myself on whether I should've brought him something or not even though, soon enough, I concluded not to, I had already pulled a stunt by ordering all his supplies on his behalf and I still didn't know what his reaction could've been so I decided better to mind my own breakfast business for now. Then a terrible thought occurred to me, what if he skipped breakfast to place the orders oblivious of the fact I had already done that?! All the colors drained from my face and I shoot up "guys, it's been a pleasure but I have to go, see you tonight for the selection of the three champions" I said and ran out of the Great hall.
"Oh, here you are" Snape said "in a hurry, are we?" He noticed my heavy breathing for all the running "but you're on time"
"I- sorry, you weren't at breakfast" I said hoping he would tell me what he was doing.
"Yes?"he asked crossing his arms.
"I mean, why..." I asked "is there something you needed to do? I can help" I said
"Actually yes" he said. That was easy, wow.
"Oh really, whatever it is, I'm on it" I said with enthusiasm.
"You could go to Dumbledore's office and collect the list of supplies I had given him for approval and start placing the orders, it's a pretty long list so maybe it will manage to keep you out of my hair for a while" he said not even thinking that his way of treating me could be upsetting.
"About that, sir... it's already taken care of, your supplies will be arriving any minute now" I said staring at the floor the whole time and only looking at him when I felt his dark eyes on me again.
"How?" He asked
"Dumbledore gave me the list yesterday. I woke up two hours earlier today to write all the letters and place the orders" I explained "I thought you'd appreciate this"
He stayed silent studying me once again, his deep dark hues glued to my lighter ones when he was interrupted by someone knocking. Thank goodness.
When Dumbledore entered the room I had never been as happy to see him as I was in that very moment.
"Ah Severus, I see you already spoke to our Sue here" he said patting me on the shoulder, I swear to God, I've never felt more uncomfortable "exceptionally hard working, isn't she?" He continued.
"She sure is" he said giving me a side look I didn't fully understand "anyway headmaster I'd like to give my assistant work to do myself, I don't need anymore intrusion".
So he is really rude to everyone.
"Of course Severus! It was never my intention to upset you" Dumbledore gave him a large smile and winked at me "I'm going to let you two work, you surely have many things to do" he said going out and closing the door behind his back.
Here we are again, Severus. Think I'm going to call you Sev, in my head.
"So as we wait for the new supplies to arrive you need to make room to store it, toss away what went bad and keep what can still be used" he said signaling at the great amount of shelves that sustained hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of jars and bottles with every sort of things in them.
"Yes, I mean, of course" I said approaching the library "whatever you need" I smiled at him and he just averted his eyes focusing on a piece of parchment that was probably some student's essay.
I started working in silence as I knew he preferred and going over all that stuff I noticed some of those things seemed to have been sitting on those shelves for a longer time than Snape had been a teacher at Hogwarts. Some of the stuff, whatever it was, smelled really bad and smell after smell trying to understand if they had gone bad or not I was starting to feel nauseous at some point. I decided to get down the ladder before my head began spinning some more.
"Are you done?" He said not even bothering to look at me "I just received an owl and everything is being delivered any moment now".
"I'm sorry I-" I said trying not to let my voice shake and finally he looked at me and came over "I'm sorry it's nothing I just need to sit for a moment" I said and he gently moved a chair for me and I thought that was biggest act of kindness I had ever seen him display.
"What do you feel, miss Avery?"
"I just got a little light headed" I said "because of... the smell, these smell really badly" I said handing him the jar containing what I thought was a bezoar but couldn't be sure.
"This is just a bezoar, it can't be so bad" he said.
"Try it yourself if you don't believe me" I challenged so he opened the jar and the expression of his face confirmed I was right.
"I guess this has been there more than it should've"
"It's not just this one, it looks like it hasn't been cleaned since... sir Nicholas was still alive!" I said.
"Ironic, are we?" he said with a hint of irritation.
"I understand this must be very amusing for you" I said looking at him dead in the eyes "and I don't know if this is some kind of punishment for stepping up, my only goal was to help you and not anything else"
"Are you done whining now?" He said with an eye roll.
"Is this really what you heard?" I chugged "of course... yes, I am done whining Professor Snape." I said swallowing the urge to reply in a less polite manner and putting the chair back in its place.
"As I managed to finish to clean up before starting whining is there anything else I could do?" I asked.
"Well I guess they won't get themselves on the shelves... the new supplies" he suggested and without another word I turned around and went out. Erm, excuse me? They could, are you a wizard or not?
We never shared a word for the rest of the morning until, unexpectedly, he spoke first "It is almost lunch break" he said "you should go"
Nah, where's the trap, huh, Sev?
"Well, I'm not finished" I said.
"Then I guess four hands are better than two" he said starting to pull out stuff to pass me. For real?! No, I don't understand you Sev.
"It's arranged in alphabetical order and the things that are more likely to rotten soon are placed on the front rows" I said from the upper step of the ladder and when he looked at me I thought I could read some guilt, but one could never be sure with this man.
Half an hour later we were finally done and I couldn't be more relieved.
"Now get out of here" he growled.
"It's lunch break for you too, isn't it?" I smiled lightly.
"I... I'll come, later" he vaguely said and I decided better not to argue "you can come back after your lessons and you'll help me to prepare some blood replenishing potion, burn healing paste, and some calming draught" he said.
Finally, Sev.
"You've done a good job today, Miss Avery" he admitted and almost in a whisper added "and I'm sorry about my behavior"
I decided to act like I didn't hear that, I knew he'd be grateful, but I made sure he knew i had heard it by giving him a smile and greeted him "I'll see you later Professor" I said closing the door behind my back leaving him alone in his office.
I had lunch on my own, completely absorbed in my mind, thinking back at that strange morning and I was also so tired, the early morning and the troubled sleep were hitting hard on me, not to mention the stress of dealing with such a moody person such as Severus Snape. One moment he pulls out a chair asking me how I'm doing almost genuinely worried, the next he is just the same dungeon bat as always.
I glanced at the teachers table. And now he is not here again, I wonder if he's a vampire feeding on someone's blood in his chambers.
"Hey!" a very pleased Harry said.
"Hi, where are the others?" I asked as it was weird seeing him alone.
"Hermione kidnapped Ron and she's making him stay at the library, I managed to escape because my academics are a little bit better than his" he chuckled.
"Oh I see" I smiled.
"And I also wanted to know about the Snape's assistant's first day" he said.
"It could have been better but also a lot worse so overall I'm not complaining" I said.
"Oh no no no, you need to elaborate that" he gave me a daring smirk.
"He made me clean and reorganize all his stocks" I said rolling my eyes.
"Oh my... did you find any hidden corpses behind all that stuff?" He looked genuinely amused and I couldn't blame him I would be too.
"No but certainly there were things that smelled painfully similar" I joked.
"I'm sorry about that but I mean I trust that you already knew he was like that" he said.
"Yes, of course, I don't mind it, I am a very patient person" I said.
"I know" he smiled "so who do you think the champions will be?"
"Oh I have no idea, I don't even know who tried"
"Cedric did, Viktor Krum" he said.
"Well about Cedric I'm surprised, I don't know him but he didn't seem quite like the type" I said "I mean very calm, sweet... didn't look like someone who wants to fight and possibly die for something like this stupid tournament"
"Who would you have seen better in his place?" He asked.
"For Hogwarts, I mean none would expect anyone other than you, Harry" I said "and not because I think you're stupid enough to risk your life, but because of the rest... you know"
"The boy who lived thing, yes... well tell you what, I lived once I'm not going to risk it a second time if I don't have to and even more so I'm not seventeen" he said.
"Of course I think this whole thing is ridiculous and shouldn't be happening" I said, "who cares who wins, is it not enough if we all make it out of here alive for once?" I scoffed.
"You're telling me!" he laughed and I laughed too.
"Thank you for the company but I have a class now and then I'll be at Snape's office again, he said we were making potions for the tournament, so cool..." I rambled "okay I'll see you tonight then" I said and left the Great Hall.
Now every class would've looked boring if you were looking forward to an evening of your favorite subject... but fortunately I managed to make the time pass quite easily and before I could realize I was walking back to Snape's classroom.
"Ah, miss Avery, here you are" he said watching me entering the room.
"Sure I couldn't wait, sir" I said enthusiastically.
"This is far more enthusiasm than I'm used to from gryffindors" he mumbled under his breath.
"We're not all the same, you know?"
"No of course not" he said sarcastically.
"Well then I'm not like them..."
"What..." he seemed perplexed.
"They don't like me, they call me 'slytherin spy', it was funny but then it just became annoying" I said looking down.
"Why would they call you that?" He asked.
"Because of my pureblood name, a family of slytherin for generations and then the disappointment, me" I said signaling at my gryffindor uniform.
He seemed stupefied by what I was telling him even though I didn't know why, I mean it's not so rare that a person gets sorted to an unexpected house.
"Why would you be a gryffindor?" He asked even though looking like she was talking to himself.
"What do you mean?" I asked but then his head shoot up facing me for the first time since I had gotten there.
"Oh yes, now I remember your sorting ceremony, that was quite long and odd, you really put that old hat in a difficult situation..." he said examining my face again.
"Well yes I don't really want to remember that" I said and strangely he dropped the conversation even though it seemed to have gained his interest.
"Well we better get to work otherwise it will be a long night" he said conjuring all the ingredients on the desk and one cauldron.
"Okay... so where do we start?" I asked, excitement clearly displayed on my face and voice.
"draught of peace, it's self explanatory but just for common ground tell me what it does" he said
"The draught of peace is a potion to calm anxiety and soothe agitation."
"Well... ingredients?"
"Powdered moonstone, syrup of hellebore, powdered unicorn horn, powdered porcupine quills, valerian root" I answered quickly.
"Been doing your homework, I see" he said "so start" he challenged.
"But I've never..."
"I'll be here to help you with any mistake" he said and he managed to reassure me so i started, he observed silently but yet very attentively, he was kind of intimidating but since he hadn't said anything yet I assumed I was doing okay.
I was almost done and I couldn't believe I hadn't messed it up already when he abruptly said "Stop".
I freezed immediately I didn't even notice making any mistakes, the color looked fine and it wasn't doing anything strange.
"I'm sorry what did I do wrong..." I gasped.
"Nothing it's perfect I stopped you to keep you from messing it up with the hellebore syrup, it's a very delicate passage" he said handing me the flask.
"Okay so what do I do?"
"Add it, very carefully..." he said guiding my hand with his "tilt the cauldron..." he continued and with a gentle flick of his wand the cauldron tilted a little to the right and then he took my hand again to guide me with the movement "and stir, gently..." he said, his hair almost touching my face until I realized I wasn't paying attention to the potion anymore because I was busy looking at his face but it was too late because he had noticed and wasn't eager to spare me the embarrassment when he said "eyes... on the potion, miss Avery".
Oh Merlin, what a complete idiot. What was that even about?
"Yes, sir, sorry" I said.
"Do you particularly like the word 'sorry'? I couldn't help but notice you say it a lot" he said, that hint of sarcasm always present in his tone.
"I-" I refrained from saying 'sorry' "no, professor"
"Well, we are done with this one even though this is not enough and we will probably need to do some more" he said "now blood-replenishing potion is very advanced, not nearly your level yet" he continued.
Yet, huh? I like the sound of that.
"But you can watch while I do it, take notes because next time will be your turn" he said.
"Yes, sir" I nodded getting a piece of parchment, ink and a pen.
When he started I watched attentively while his deep voice guided me through the procedure, it was a very pleasing sound and it could have lulled me to sleep if only I hadn't been hypnotized by the precise movements of his hands from adding the ingredients, to tilting, to stirring everything with such meticulous care only passion could conceive.
"Well it's done" he sighed like it was no big deal while I was totally amazed "it needs to rest for around an hour though so we'll have the time go to dinner before we come to finish" he finally looked me in the eyes for maybe the second time in a whole day.
"So we're supposed to meet after dinner too?" I asked.
"Already bored?" He asked defensively.
"Oh no, I was actually looking forward to it" I said with a smile. And I won't let you get rid of me so easily, Sev.
He gave me his penetrating side-eyed look but I was growing accustomed to it, I didn't mind it.
"So will you come at least to dinner?" I asked a little worried.
"You don't need to act like you care about me, it won't make me like you more" he said.
"Hum... 'more'... does it mean you like me to begin with?" I said "because I can work with that" I chuckled.
"No, of course not" he replied probably wishing he could take back what he said.
"But am I such a pain like you originally thought? haven't I exceeded your expectations even if was just a tiny bit?" I challenged him with his words.
"You're a little more bearable than your fellow gryffindors" he said "however I suppose I just have to thank the slytherin blood in your veins" he continued.
"Oh nothing good ever came from my family I wouldn't thank them" I advised him.
"You're a strange young lady, Miss Avery..." he said scrutinizing me once again "now you better go or you'll be late to dinner" he said, eyebrows furrowed in a concerned look.
"See you later, professor Snape" I said closing the door behind me as always.
I arrived at the Great Hall that dinner had almost started and I tried to squeeze myself on the other side of the table across where Harry, Ronald and Hermione were sitting.
"Hi guys" I said quickly and they greeted me back even though dinner was served pretty soon and we began chatting about who we thought the champions would be. Hermione had her whole scheme, obviously, while Ronald was just talking about Krum and what a great quidditch player he was and why would he want to take part to such thing when he was already famous. Can't say I don't see the point, Ron.
Once we had all finished eating Dumbledore called for everyone's attention because he was going to announce the three champions.
When the first piece of parchment shoot out of the goblet of fire he collected it very quickly and read the first name. Krum. I saw Hermione smiling probably because so far she was right.
The second piece. Delacour. So it was only missing Hogwarts champion.
Third one out. Diggory. I liked that boy but I had a very bad feeling, I didn't see him as the champion and not because he was a hufflepuff, not at all, hufflepuffs are great and I ask myself everyday why I didn't chose it back then.
Now the three champions were announced everyone was cheering and talking and laughing and wishing them good luck until silence fell in the room because of some weird noises from the Goblet, like it was about to shoot out another name. Can't be, we already have three, stop with this nonsense.
Everyone watched attentively when something did actually come out of that thing. Dumbledore mumbled something incomprehensible but the second after everyone had started murmuring again so he called "Harry Potter!".
I saw Harry freeze in his place, all color drained from his face, he wasn't even able to move, let alone get up and join the rest of the champions. I signaled to Hermione that he was in shock and she tried to make him come back to the living world with a light push.
He stood up and went over to join the other three guys while everyone was shouting that he was a cheater because he wasn't even seventeen. I knew very well the feeling of hate some students were capable of and I immediately felt sorry for him. It's okay Harry I'll help you, we'll figure it out.

A/N: Hey there! This is so long I-😂 I'm so sorry, if you read all of this you are definitely my hero and thank you for giving me your precious time, I appreciate and value that a lot. As usual I appreciate you voting and commenting if you want.
Love you all x