Unlikely Beginnings

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Chapter Six

Severus Snape made almost no noise as he swooped down the stairs to his
dungeon. He did like thinking of the entire basement as \'his\'. No other
teachers taught down there, thinking it too gloomy to teach in, or too
dirty, or damp, or cold. Dumbledore had called all the teachers together for
a chat on how their classes were going, as he periodically did all
throughout the year. And every single time, the old wizard had to ask if
Severus was still happy with his classroom. The students weren\'t, of course,
but Snape loved to watch them squirm and dare to ask him if they could go to
the lavatory before they were done with their work.

The Slytherins weren\'t that bothered by it, seeing as how their own
dormitory was in the dungeonsoughough it was much, much more comfortable
than the Potions lab. That brought up another debate: whether or not Snape
treated students fairly, not just the ones from his own house, but from the
remaining three. He didn\'t; he chose his favorites, just like any other
teacher, yet he decided to show his house loyalty in a more outright manner.
He would have dared Dumbledore to say anything specifically about Harry
Potter, but he did value his job.

Snape sat down behind his desk and let out an acrimonious sigh as he opened
a drawer to take out his favorite quill. It was made of the finest, softest
eagle feather, and would last a long time, what with all the P\'s, D\'s, and
thankfully not many T\'s that he had to write in sharp red ink on his
students\' papers. He wasn\'t a vain person, and knew he wasn\'t rolling in the
galleons, but when it came to a proper quill, he couldn\'t be cheap. Snape
pulled the pile of parchments haphazardly rolled up by messy students, and
unrolled the first.

He frowned as he read it, but his expression wasn\'t due to the poorly
explained properties of various dragon parts. Something wasn\'t right, and he
was forced to look up and scan thom, om, glaring into the furthest, dustiest
corners of the topmost shelves. What was wrong with this picture? It wasn\'t
something overly large, but something minute. He turned his focus back onto
his desk, and he saw nothing out of place. He was about to mark the paper in
front of him when - wait - he saw a vial had been toppled over.

Full of parts of green and red blobs, mixing at some points to make a
puke-like color, but still able to distinguish the separate colors. It
should definitely not have been lying on its side, and there was no way that
he had left it like that. Picking it up, Snape looked at it as if it would
tell him an answer he\'d long since wanted to know. Afteromenoment, he set it
down gently, upright, and looked back to his work.

Something still yet nagged at his senses, preying on his paranoia, and he
plowed through the horridly written assignments. For once in his life, he
was glad to find Miss Granger\'s paper, if only for a break in the
monotonously blatant copying straight from the textbooks, and not even
copying it down correctly. Ah, and when he was finished with them all, he
didn\'t even bother getting up, but took out his wand and levitated them to a
side table, ready for their distribution to their writers tomorr

Now, on to more important things, Snape thought as he stood from his chair
and walked around his desk. The red and green vial had caught his attention
yet again, and he noted that it was in plain sight from this angle towards
the desk. As opposed to someone sitting in his chair, it was easy to knock
over this particular bottle from this side. Snape ruled out someone rifling
through his drawers, which he would have known if that was the case, anyway,
as there were numerous charms on them to glue the trespasser\'s hands to the
desk if they so chose to rummage through his things without permission.

He would have to think about this, but he didn\'t want any more work to be
carried over to the next day, therefore piling up. It\'d been a long time
since he\'d had an evening to himself, free from the toils of grading papers
or filling in forms, ortingting potions gone horribly wrong. Snape looked
down at the small stack of forms on his desk, next to the ominous vial, and
made to pick them up. He was surprised to find a slight resistance, and
stopped pulling before he ripped the paper. Sliding his hand underneath, he
felt a round spot where the papers were stuck to the surface of his desk,
and he gently pried it off.

He had never, ever, in his eighteen years working at Hogwarts, spilled
anything on his desk. Someone had been in here, and what on earth was this
flaky substance on his fingers? He glared at the paper, and then turned his
gaze on the desk. Stooping down, Severus ran a hand over the slightly bumpy
desktop, and as he did so, lifting up more flakes from the small cracks and
dips of his well used desk. He grimaced at it, and swore to take fifty
points from the house of the student who defiled his desk with... whatever
this was. Sweeping it onto the floor with a quickly conjured cloth, he made
his way back to his chair and sat down with the order for

He began reading about the information requested from the person ordering,
as he always did, even though he could almost tell a second party what it
said by heart. When he came to the first blank in which he would fill in the
first item in his stock that needed replenishing, he stopped. There was a
small puddle, what Snape would have to call it, of shinghing whiittiitting
on the blank. He would almost have missed it, as it blended into the paper
well enough, and he cruelly grinned as he set the paper down, opened another
drawer with clean, empty test tubes inside.

Pulling one out, he scraped the substance inside of it, and put a stopper in
the open hole to enclose it. Severus opened a third drawer, and set the tube
gently inside for later. The contents of the cylindrical container intrigued
him and disgusted him all at once. The substance was almost unmistakable,
and he would definitely be running a test on it, anothnother potion would be
in order for the bigger catch of the culprit. Yes, he\'d look at it later, he
promised himself, as he cleaned up what was left of the substance off of the
order form. He began to fill it out, putting in the usual things he ran out
of, and one or two rarely used items that were for himself and his new
project.

@>*~

\"Now, remember we\'ve only got ten minutes to eat,\" Hermione said as she
walked, several paces ahead of Ron and Harry on their way to the Great Hall
for breakfast. \"We\'ve got a lot of studying to do still, and the NEWTs are
only seven months away!\"

Ron sighed and looked over to his best mate. \"I swear,\" he said,
interrupting himself with a yawn, \"the closer it gets to our exams, the
worse she gets. You\'d think she\'d slow down, but she just speeds up.\"

\"Perpetual motion personified,\" Harry mumbled, nodding in agreement with
Ron. He was still half asleep, and almost fell behind Ron\'s tired steps as
well as Hermione\'s hurried ones. He\'d had a restless night, and it must have
been near to four in the morning before he fell asleep. Too many things had
been floating through his mind, mostly centering around Draco, and what had
happened the day before. If it wasn\'t so ridiculous to even ponder, Harry
might almost think Draco had some sort of feelings for him.

Then again, just because someone was shagging you left and right, didn\'t
mean they liked you. As they neared the Hall, Harry tried to slink out of
Draco\'s view as he came around the corner followed by several other
Slytherins. Pansy Parkinson was a perfect example of this; she was reputed
to be rather slutty around the Slytherin House, and he knew for a fact that
even the Slytherins, mostly, disliked her. Harry sighed and moved to Ron\'s
other side, still following Hermione, and going through the huge double
doors into the Great Hall.

He was too tired to listen to what people were chattering about eating at
momemoment, but his nose took the lead over to a big bowl of one of his
favorite foods, porridge. Hermione had taken her seat across from her two
best friends, who actually hadn\'t sat down yet, and began dishing things
onto her plate like they were going to disappear. Harry sat down and stared
at her unnaturally shoveling food into her mouth. Absent was the usual tome
she had her face hidden behind, and usually someone had to prod her to take
a break from reading to actually eat, but no one had to take on that small
task this morning, as she was eating like she thought someone would snatch
her food right out from under her face.

The Gryffindors surrounding her gave curious glances her way, wondering why
the change this morning, but decided wisely not to ask, as she was bound to
start talking before long. Ron sat next to Harry, taking their predetermined
seats across the table from Hermione, and Ron began to eat just as quickly.
He usually ate fast anyway, but instead of helping himself to thirds or
fourths, he kept it down to seconds. Harry was just starting into his hot
porridge, picking up a spoonful after he set his toast down, and blew on it
a bit before putting the spoon in his mouth.

After only a few more spoonfuls, Harry started to stare blankly at his food,
and yawned a few times. He was only startled out of a horrifying face dive
into his bowl when someone would clink their fork or spoon a little too
forcefully against their dishes. Not even a minute later, Hermione stood up,
straightened her robes and hefted her bag over her shoulder. He had barely
eaten half of his breakfast when Hermione crossed her arms and looked
pointedly at her friends.

Ron had started to get up when he heard Hermione clear her throat, annoyed
she was almost being ignored, when she had clearly told them that they had
ten minutes before they were off to the library. Ron looked put upon as he
picked up two more slices of toast and chewed on them quietly as Hermione
seemingly appraised him for Merlin knows what. Being good enough to study
with her, or something.

Harry, drawn out of his daze at the sudden odd silence around him, looked up
and found Ron and Hermione watching him. Ron looked a bit toned down, and
even his hair seemed to be flattened into submission, but dealing with an
aggressive Hermione would do that to most anyone. Hermione stared at him,
almost looking incredulous at his blank expression.

\"What?\" Harry asked as he set his spoon down before he dropped it, or
something. He shifted his heavy lidded eyes between the two, and tried not
to make himself dizzy, and have his brain decide to take that dive into his
porridge after all.

Other students around them began to watch as soon as the tension spilled
over to them. She began tapping her foot, strangely audible in thed
d
room, but Hermione\'s face softened a bit as she took in the tired and worn
out appearance of the other boy. \"Are you almost finished, Harry?\"

Harry looked down, his eyes a bit blurry, even through his glasses. He
wasn\'t sure if his bowl was almost empty, but he would bet it wasn\'t, and
that certainly looked like the shape of his teeth, that bite taken out of
the toast sitting on his plate. \"No,\" he said sleepily. \"You go on, and I\'ll
finish this I\' I\'ll meet you in the library.\"

\"Okay,\" Ron answered quickly, \"we\'ll be in the library.\" He looked up to
Hermione and his expression clearly said, \'Don\'t ask,\' so she didn\'t. Harry
absently nodded his thanks and actually started eating, feeling a bit hungry
now that he had woken up a bit more. Ron grabbed his bag from under his seat
on theg beg bench, and made his way to the doors, and out of the Great Hall.

Hermione was outside of the Hall before Ron was, and when he caught up with
her, they started down the corridors towards the library. The only sound
while they walked down the hall was their footsteps and the sound of
students growing more faint with every step. Once they turned the corner,
Hermione asked a question. \"Do you think he\'s alright?\"

Ron shrugged his shoulders, turning to look at Hermione as he did so.
\"Dunno, really,\" he said. She frowned at him and she didn\'t speak again
until they reached their usual table in the library. Madam Pince, the
Hogwarts librarian, was already back from breakfast, sitting at her desk,
and glowering over her glasses at them as they passed her.

They sat down at the table and Hermione lifted her bag onto its surface,
starting to drag books out of it. Ron watched with trepidation, they were
never-ending, four thousand page books. He hoped they were only going to be
used for looking up reference points; he didn\'t read any of these from front
to back in class, and he really didn\'t want to do it now, either. \"I\'m just
going to read the chapter on foreign affairs and then I\'ll ask you
questions.\"

He nodded and took out a much smaller book from his bag, flopped it open and
started reading, trying to memorize anything at all. The library was quiet,
only disturbed when they flipped pages, or Madam Pince\'s shoes tapping
sharply on the wood floor as she stalked up and down aisles for whatever she
was looking for. Suddenly, though, Hermione sat back in her chair and
sighed.

Ron, glad to have a little break, looked up at her questioningly. She looked
at her watch and pulled her sleeve back over it when she was done. \"What\'s
taking Harry so long?\"

\"Maybe he\'s still eating. Some people like to enjoy their breakfast,\" Ron
answered, a bit longingly. Hermione rolled her eyes at him, knowing quite
well he\'d rather be sitting downstairs at Gryffindor Table, eating more
toasted bacon sandwiches, melded together with porridge. She held back a
shudder at Ron\'s improvised breakfast; she put weird things together, too,
sometimes so she couldn\'t talk. She\'d been content with her soft boiled eggs
and toast, but she did feel a bit bloated now, due to the speed in which she
inhaled it all.

\"I suppose I\'ve been a bit harsh with our study schedule,\" Hermione
admitted, ignoring Ron\'s comment, involving the word \'understatement\'.
\"Maybe he just wants some peace and quiet, with no one else around so he can
study, uninterrupted.\"

\"Why would he want that?\" Ron asked, bewildered. \"Why he\'d want to do it
himself when we have you to ride us hard, telling us what to study and when
is beyond me.\" That was usually the closest Ron ever came to honestly
thanking Hermione for always helping him with his studying. Without her, he
would have failed a few classes, no doubt.

Hermione smiled, and Ron ducked his head a little. \"Well,\" she said, still
smiling, but she let it fade. \"He does keep disappearing at odd times.\" Ron
obviously saw this as something new, as he\'d not noticed that before. \"Oh,
it\'s mostly when he thinks no one else is looking. Except me, of course, but
I\'m smart like that.\"

Ron grinned and threatened to chuckle, and Hermione cleared her throat. They
all knew she liked being a know-it-all, but she had to admit it sometimes
when she needed a little boost with her study efforts. \"Maybe he\'s got a
girlfriend?\" Ron asked, and then thought about that for a moment. He
wouldn\'t be jealous, but he\'d wonder who.

\"Harry?\" Hermione asked. \"But wouldn\'t he tell us?\" She hoped he would, but
at the same time, hoped he might not. She had other sights in mind, but she
had to admit that Harry was good looking, despite his ever tousled hair.

\"He would have told me, I\'d think,\" Ron said. \"I dunno. Do you think he\'s a
virgin?\" As soon as Hermione blushed, Ron realized what he\'d actually said.
\"Sorry,\" he mumbled.

\"It\'s okay,\" she said, more quietly than she usually spoke. \"I don\'t know.
I\'d think so, but sometimes you never know about people.\" She began to
shuffle her books, and opened a new one, starting to feign reading as a
distraction. Ron wondered what she meant by that, and thought, maybe she\'s
had sex with someone? He felt like something heavy had dropped down into the
pit of his half empty stomach, and oddly felt left out.

\"He would have told us, right?\" Ron asked, feeling bold and awkward at the
same time. It had just hit him that they were all growing up, and wondered
where the time had gone.

\"Yeah,\" Hermione said quickly. \"He still could be off studying, right?\"

\"Oh, yeah. That\'s probably what he\'s doi" Th" They both were silent for a
moment, both thinking the same things, though neither of them knew it.
Hermione wanderndering how Ron would think about her if he knew how far
she\'d gone with a boy. Ron was thinking about their fourth year, when he\'d
barely recognized Hermione at the dance. They both were thinking about each
other, in a more personal way than they had before.

Then, there was Harry. Could he really be having sex with someone? Who would
it be? Hermione hadn\'t noticed anyone else gone when Harry was, but it could
very well be someone from another house. She wasn\'t jealous, but she truly
would think Harry would tell her something like this. It was important, and
she hoped Ron would, too, despite the fact it would be an uncomfortable
situation.

He thought he would know Harry well enough by their seventh year to know if
he was a virgin or not. It was a hard thing to tell, though. He would have
told me, Ron thought, surely he would have told me. Unless it was someone
ugly, but they didn\'t even personally know anyone that was ugly. Maybe
Hermione was right, and Harry was just studying by himself. Harry would have
certainly told them that, though, wouldn\'t he?

Hermione might have been a bit upset, but if he\'d have told Ron, they could
have broken it to her softly. Hermione had stopped flipping pages, and
looked across the table to see Ron looking back at her. They both had rather
blank expressions, though there were obviously many little gears turning,
and a few new ones had undoubtedly started up as well. Their eyes met, and
they shared a worried concern about Harry, but decided to let it go.

It was hard to look away, so they kept looking at each other, and started
attempting to avoid each others eyes at the same time, before Ron cleared
his throat unnecessarily loudly. \"Right,\" he started, sounding determined.
If H nee needed some time to himself, they wouldn\'t interfere, unless he
started to look worse, or missed any classes. Ron leaned across the table to
grab one of Hermione\'s Muggle Studies texts, he flipped a few pages. \"What
is the Muggle Prime Minister\'s knowledge of the Ministry of Magic, and how
and why would the Minister liaise with his Muggle counterpart?\"

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