Complications // Severus Snape

• Ch 11 Pranks in Potions •

Things were going well, and it was Halloween day. The previous Halloweens at Hogwarts were quite fun- the Great Hall was decorated with floating jack-o-lanterns and real, live bats. The first two years we celebrated with everyone at the feast, but in our third year, Ava, Noah and I landed ourselves in detention, which we served in the Forbidden Forest. It ended up being quite fun, so we turned it into a tradition (minus the detention).

"Happy Halloween!" I said the moment I noticed that Ava had woken up. "Happy Halloween, Am." "I'm going to visit Professor Snape before lessons, meet you in Potions!" "Okay, have fun! But not too much fun." Ava winked. I stuck out my tongue to convey my revulsion. "That's disgusting." I said and left.

"Good morning, Severus." I greeted. "Good morning, Miss Kelly." he replied. It became a rare occasion for Severus to call me Amarina, but didn't object to me calling him Severus. "Happy Halloween! What potion are we making in class today?" "Something to celebrate the occasion." he said. "Which would be...?" "It makes the drinker's head turn into a pumpkin." "Who on Earth was sitting around one day and thought, 'Hm...I wonder how I can make my head into a pumpkin?' Who could have been that bored?" Severus's face went red. "Did you-?" He nodded. I tried to suppress my laughter. He invented potions in his spare time!

"Well what do you do in your spare time; feed poor Hufflepuffs so many fireballs that their tongue catches on fire?" "That was one time!" I defended. "And I had to extinguish the fire, ruining a third of the library." he said. I laughed at the memory. "Madam Pince was not happy. But my last detention for it is today." I checked my watch. "Oh, fifteen minutes until class starts. I'll see you soon," I said, leaving the classroom. I caught up with Noah and we walked to Potions together. "Do you still have detention?" he asked. "Yeah, but today's my last one!" Noah shook his head, smiling. "Well, they can't keep you during the feast. Happy Halloween, by the way." "Happy Halloween."

Once Potions started, Severus began writing the ingredients on the board. Once he had finished, I looked at the list. These were the ingredients to a Love Potion. He didn't invent this... I suddenly realized what he was doing, and laughed. "Is everything...alright, Miss Kelly?" Severus asked, giving me an odd look. "Yeah, I just saw you, so I had to laugh." A few of the students sniggered. He sighed. "See me after class, Miss Kelly."

It was nearing the end of class, and everyone had just finished their potions, when Severus said, "Who would care to demonstrate the effects of the potion?" Suddenly, I came up with a brilliant idea. "How about you demonstrate the effects of the potion, Professor?" I asked, smirking. "I'm afraid that your undeveloped brains may not have been capable of brewing this potion correctly and I would not care to be poisoned. Miss Kelly, since you must mock my appearance, how about you demonstrate the effects of the potion for us?" he said, wiping the smirk right off my face and plastering one on his own.

"But I already know what's going to happen." I protested. I was not going to be pranked by Severus. Especially since I knew what he was doing. "If you brewed it correctly." he said. My eyes shot daggers at him, and I detected amusement in his eyes. I drank my potion, and suddenly felt myself lose all control of what I was doing...

*   *   *

I woke up and rubbed my eyes. Where am I? I looked around. It looked quite nicer than my dormitory, with only one bed and a personal lavatory. I sat up, and my foot hit something. I looked down, and saw an empty vial. Oh yeah, I thought, the love potion. I was suddenly scared. What did I do? Who was my victim? Probably the owner of this dorm, I thought. Hm, who would have a dorm to himself and make sure I didn't hurt myself or others? Severus.

"Severus?" I called out. No reply. I guess he left... I looked at my watch. Huh, two in the morning. What a great time to be alive.

Suddenly, Severus barged in the door, and slammed it shut behind him. He slid down the door, wrapped his arms around his legs and started crying. I repeat: Severus Snape was crying. In front of me. What should I do? I was flattered that he had let his guard down in front of me, but I soon realized that perhaps he was simply too weak to keep it up, despite having me in the room.

"Severus?" I asked. His head snapped up. "A-Amarina...You're-you're awake-" he choked. "I am. What's wrong?" I asked, sitting down beside him. "Li-Lily," I nodded on for him to continue, "she's- she's dead."

A/N: I'm not even quite sure what this story is, honestly. I think I originally planned on it being like "oh, I've captured Snape's heart" but now it's kind of more like "haha Hogwarts is so much fun! Oh, and I've befriended Snape but we've a lot of bumps in our friendship! Wait, do I fancy him?". But I guess any relationship with Snape would have to build up very slowly. This is it, though: the dreaded Halloween on which Lily and James die!