A Light in the Dark (Severus Snape x OC)

Chapter 2: A Bond of Potions

Severus woke the next morning still annoyed. He didn't want to deal with Laura today. Despite not wanting to deal with her, he couldn't help but think about her. Dumbledore's words rang in his head as Severus went through the motions of the day. He was curious as to what Laura had gone through. He had never heard of Laura before she arrived at Hogwarts, so he had no idea as to Laura's background or how she grew up, but he was becoming more and more curious.

The day passed a little too quickly for Severus as dinner approached. He sat at the table, staring at his food. He didn't feel like talking to anyone that evening. He did look over and see Laura eating slowly, pushing food around her plate. He noticed she barely spoke to anyone at dinner, either. He wondered if she was dreading the coming evening as much as he was.

He headed to the potions classroom and got a few books out, unsure of what Laura knew and what she didn't. He sat and graded papers while waiting. Laura arrived a few moments later, slowly walking into the room. Severus looked up at her.

"You're here finally," Severus said dryly. "Dumbledore told you about working some with me?" He asked, standing. He was still nervous around Laura, but he was trying to ignore his nerves.

Laura nodded. He looked her up and down. She was wearing simple clothes, black boots, black pants, and a dark long sleeve shirt, with her purple and silver pendant resting against her chest, but even in those simple clothes, Severus was still rattled by how beautiful she looked.

He tried to keep his distance from her by sitting at his desk. Laura sat at one of the desks in the front row, waiting for Severus to say something. "Dumbledore said you didn't have a formal magical education." Laura noticed he looked annoyed.

"No, I don't have a formal magical education. I'm sorry you have to waste your time doing...whatever this is," she said quietly.

"It's...not a waste. I thought you could look through these and come back tomorrow night and we could go over some things. Try to get through the first few chapters of this book. It explains some information on magical herbs that go into potions." Severus stood and put a few books in front of Laura. As he got close to her, he realized she smelled like blueberries. He backed away, feeling more rattled than before.

"So... that's it?" Laura looked at him.

"Yes... for now. Those books are time consuming and I'll expect you to know the information in them. Once you learn those, you can help me with more. You can go if you'd like." Severus didn't look at her as he sat back down, working on his papers. He didn't expect her to retain much overnight but was curious if she would retain anything.

"Okay... thanks." Laura got up, taking the books with her. Severus stopped grading papers, heart pounding. She rattled him and he barely knew her. He didn't understand why she had that power over him, but he tried to ignore it. He finished grading his papers and walked around the castle, looking for students out of bed. As he wandered the castle, his mind also wandered onto Laura. He passed her chambers, wondering if she was reading the books he had given her. He wondered if Laura would understand what was in those books. Potions were not easy to master and if she had no formal education, he was curious if she would be able to get better, but he didn't know how good she was.

He went to his chambers that night, Laura heavy on his mind. He worked for a while on materials for class before heading to bed for the evening.

The next morning, he arrived at his classroom to find the books he had given Laura. He smirked, wondering if she had given up, before finding a note attached:

"Severus,

Thanks for letting me borrow these. I ended up reading them all last night. They were very enlightening. I will see you this evening.