Romeo and Juliet (Book 1) - SS x OC

Chapter 4 - Triwizard Heat

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YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2013

"And where two raging fires meet together, they do consume the thing that feeds their fury."

― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

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CHAPTER 4 - Triwizard Heat

~ R ~

A week passed since Renee first came to the school, and she was beginning to feel more and more at ease everyday. In terms of social life, her only friends there were Fred, George, Luna and at her dorm, Jamila, who she did not see around at the castle much except when they were in class together. Most thankfully, Fred was exceptionally nice to her; he kept his promise and toured her around the castle last Saturday. The rest of the student body however, still seem to loathe her, but nevertheless, she was grateful that she had not run into any of the Beauxbatons people yet.

"Bye Fred, I've got to go to Alchemy. See you tomorrow." Renee said to her redhead friend.

"Yeah alright, you wouldn't want to keep the greasy git waiting. See you, Renee, I'll miss you." Fred replied.

"Don't be ridiculous, we go to the same bloody school. And don't call him that." Renee said, emphasising the 'don't'. She unintentionally left him alone in befuddlement and proceeded down to the dungeons. She sort of lied to him, it was Sunday and she didn't have Alchemy. She just agreed (and insisted) to Snape that she could assist him for the weekend.

Renee learned to adapt to Snape's behaviour in a manner of days, and instead of driving herself away from him like any sane person would, she found herself eager to see him. She couldn't see why people disliked him so much; sure, most of the words that tend to come out of his mouth contain either diabolical jests or unscrupulous insults, but it was not like half of them weren't true, and even if he did get out of hand, it wasn't enough of a reason for her to avoid his presence.

Their first meeting was nothing short of cringeworthy; Renee barely said a word to the Potions Master. She never thought that a person could feel intimidation and wonderment at the same time until that night. She thought that she officially blew it, but then she remembered that there were more than two hundred school days left for her to make it up to him. The following sessions they had were less disconcerting; she managed to answer Snape's questions in a much less unsavoury manner, though in her opinion, her attempted comebacks to his rather intuitive euphemisms were lackluster. To her relief, the professor didn't seem to mind, as he had carried on with their lessons and tasks with an unrelenting professionalism.

And why shouldn't he?

Entering the Potions classroom with the familiar feeling of anxious excitement, Renee was about to flash one of her grotesquely bashful grins and greet her mentor a warm good morning when she saw that there was no one inside. Frowning slightly, it dawned on her that Snape might have forgotten about their supposed Sunday meeting, which she had been the one to initiate. She went inside anyway, checking to see if the professor, in the littlest of odds, may have just been hiding in a cupboard, trying to wait and see if his annoying student would go away and leave him to enjoy his weekend, but sure enough there was no black-haired wizard in the room. Just when she was about to leave, a piece of parchment, which was the only thing laying atop Snape's desk, caught her vigilant eye.

Ms. Capulet,

Meet me in my office. We shall proceed with our tasks there. From here, pass along the Slytherin dungeon corridor and knock on the third door from the left.