The Name in Red **COMPLETE**

Hello again! Here is chapter 8. Once again, thank you so much for the reviews! I really can't tell you just how much I appreciate them. I hope my story continues to intrigue you. Enjoy chapter 8!


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The Name in Red.

Chapter 8: Warming Up.
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The following afternoon, knowing her friends had finished with their classes, Sarah had burst into the Gryffindor common room. Harry expected her to begin recounting how dreadful her lesson with Professor Snape had been. Instead, she began asking questions about this "Dark Lord" that Snape had told her of. Now she wanted to get the entire story. She wanted to know everything. Harry, figuring that now was as good a time as any to fill her in on the details about just who exactly she had befriended, suggested they take a walk. Sarah eagerly agreed, and together they left the common room.

They ended up walking together for several hours, first inside of the school, and then out. It did, after all, take a great deal of time for Harry to tell Sarah his life's story. In doing so, he told her how he had fought off Voldemort multiple times in many forms, and of the major events in the Wizarding world over the past eighteen years. All of these major events were somehow connected with him, and his story flowed well. Even though this was a fairly condensed version, it still took quite some time to tell. When he neared the end of his tale, he and Sarah were aimlessly wandering the school's grounds. It was chilly outside, and the cloudy sky was beginning to darken. This caused the temperature to slope even lower, and the winds picked up slightly.

Sarah was barely paying attention to where she was walking. For all she knew, Harry could have led her back into the Forbidden Forest into the midst of the Centaurs that had attacked her. She walked silently alongside him, eyes wide. His entire story, from the very beginning, was almost too terrible and too incredible to be true. Still unfamiliar with most of the magical world, she did not understand many of the details. Despite this, she was still able to understand his story, and was completely enthralled by it. Harry had just told her of the daring escape from Gringotts on the back of a dragon, in order to obtain one of the Horcruxes.

"So after that," Harry said, "I was able to see that he was headed here, and that's how I knew that the last Horcrux was here too. We Apparated into Hogsmeade, and we nearly got caught by Death Eaters. Luckily, we were able to make it into the school. Through the Room of Requirement, actually."

"You were?" Sarah asked.

Harry proceeded to explain to her how they were able to gain entrance to the school through the room's magic, and how the last Horcrux had ended up being in there too.

"There was a huge battle," Harry said gravely. "Voldemort basically laid siege to the school. He said he only wanted me, and that no one else needed to be harmed, but everyone wasn't about to hand me over. They wanted to fight. Most of them, anyway. A lot of people died fighting."

Harry took a deep breath.

"After that, we knew that the only Horcrux left was the snake. Using the connection I had with him, I was able to find out where he was. He was in the shrieking shack," Harry said, having already explained about the building when he had told her of meeting his godfather, "And there's a secret tunnel that leads there from the school. So Ron, Hermione and I all went."

"You went straight for him?" Sarah was aghast, unable to see the logic in such a move.

"Sort of," Harry continued, "We knew we had to get the snake, and that wasn't going to happen unless we got close to Voldemort. So we went. But when I got there, I saw that Professor Snape was there too."

Sarah turned to Harry. He had already explained to her about how Snape had once been amongst the ranks of the Death Eaters. She had been terrified to learn this. Harry told her how he had changed sides prior to Voldemort's downfall. He had not yet explained to her the real reason behind this. She had been shocked to learn that he had been the one who killed Dumbledore, whom Harry had told her all about. He did tell her, however, not to jump to conclusions until the end of the story. So far, it sounded to Sarah as if Snape had changed sides once again.

"He was there? With Voldemort?" she asked, her voice a whisper.

"Yeah, he was there," Harry said. "And Voldemort had found a reason for which he thought he had to kill him, too." Harry, for the time being, had left out the intricate explanation of the Elder Wand and its powers.

"Voldemort wanted to... kill Professor Snape...?"

"He thought he had to, in order to defeat me. I'll explain exactly why another time," said Harry.

Sarah nodded, urging him to continue.

"So he set Nagini on him. I saw the whole thing happen. Nagini bit him, and then Voldemort just walked away, bringing the snake with him," Harry explained.

Sarah gasped. Snape had told her that he had received the large scar on his neck from being bitten by a snake, but had not explained the circumstances behind it.

"For some reason, I approached him. I thought he was done for. He saw me, and he gave me his memories. Luckily Hermione was there to conjure a flask to put them into."

Harry now had to pause his story for several minutes to explain the concept of the Pensieve to Sarah.

"So like I said," he continued, "He gave me these memories of his. And then I thought he had died. That's when I left."

"How did he survive?" Sarah asked, her voice still a faint whisper.

"That's something that I still don't quite know. I've never asked him, and he's never cared to tell me. Later, when I came back to recover his body, he was sitting right there in an armchair, alive as can be. That's something you'll have to ask him yourself," Harry said.

Harry then entered the explanation of what he had seen in Snape's memories. Everything within them exonerated him. Harry had later been able to use them as proof in clearing the wizard's name, making public only the parts that were absolutely necessary. After learning the whole truth, Harry respected the wizard's privacy enough to not simply reveal everything. Harry told her of Snape and his mother, and how his love for her had been the driving force behind everything he did. At this, Sarah had to wipe tears away from her face with the sleeves of her robe.

"Keep it quiet," he quickly explained, watching Sarah as she dried her eyes. "I don't exactly think he would appreciate me telling you all this."

Sarah nodded silently.

Harry then explained how, most importantly, the memories revealed to him that he was an unintentional Horcrux.

"You?" Sarah gasped, astonished.

"Yeah," Harry continued, "That was the reason for the weird connection between us for all those years."

Sarah listened as Harry explained how he believed that he had to die, and walked out to meet his death. As he did, he gently tugged on her arm and changed their direction slightly. He was now leading her to a place that would help to illustrate the gravity of his tale.

When he had completely finished his story, they were drawing nearer to the lake. Not far ahead, Sarah could see a white marble tomb and dozens of stone monuments, neatly arranged, surrounding it. Harry brought her up to them.

"Like I said before," he said, "Lots of people died here at the school that night. They were all given the honor of being buried here alongside Dumbledore, on the school grounds, in view of the castle that they had given their lives to defend."

Sarah looked down at the monuments, her expression somber. There had to be over fifty of them. Harry began to slowly walk through them, reading off some of the names.

"Fred Weasley," he said, sighing sadly. "One of Ron's older brothers."

Sarah looked up, eyes filled with tears.

"Lupin and Tonks. They'd just had a baby. He made me godfather, too."

Sarah could no longer take any more of this heartbreaking sadness. Falling to her knees, she slumped forward onto the grass and began to cry. Harry had been about to read off another name, but stopped when he had seen Sarah collapse. He turned toward her. She was sobbing hard. He rushed over to her, kneeling down beside her and craning his head to get a look at her face. He rubbed her back consolingly.

"I had no idea," she sobbed. "About you. About any of this. I...," her next several words were lost to heavy sobbing.

"It's alright," he said softly, "How could you have?"

Sarah felt extremely guilty that she had been completely clueless to the terrible hardships her new friends had faced throughout their young lives. She continued crying for several minutes. She had never personally seen death, or even cried for her own parents. She couldn't even remember them. She had only been an infant. Now, however, having listened to Harry's sad tale, she felt as if she were letting out a lifetime's worth of tears.

Harry continued kneeling beside her and rubbing her back. He had, as he realized, just given her an awful lot of information to digest; the majority of it, terribly depressing.

"It's all over now," he said, trying to calm her down. "All these brave people saw to that."

After a few more minutes, Sarah quieted.

"I guess you can see why I was a little confused when you hadn't recognized me, right?" Harry asked, giving her a small smile.

Sarah sniffed, rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah, I can," she said, a slight note of humor in her voice. She sat back on the grass, looking to Harry. She took a deep, shaky breath, still wiping some tears from her eyes. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

"You don't need to be sorry, Sarah," he said, patting her on the back. "You started asking questions about Voldemort, so I thought you deserved to know all of this. Like they say, 'lest we forget'. Every witch and wizard knows about most of this. I thought you should know too."

Sarah nodded a few times, her eyes on the rows of monuments in front of her.

"I wasn't here for it," she said, "But I'll never forget."

"Besides, who better to tell you that whole story than Harry Potter himself?" Harry smiled at her. "Tons of people would pay loads of galleons for The Boy Who Lived to walk them around and give them a full account of his life's story in his own words!" He said this sarcastically, even though he knew it to be very true.

She laughed a little.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she said, smiling.

"I honestly didn't mean for it to upset you like this," Harry said. "I guess I should have been smarter and expected it."

"It's alright, Harry," Sarah replied. "It's my fault too, I didn't know what I was asking you to tell me."

The sky continued slowly darkening, and it had grown very cold. Harry thought it might be just about suppertime. He watched as Sarah bundled her arms around herself, wiping her eyes a few more times on her sleeve. With a stroke of genius, he shot to his feet, realizing just what might cheer her up.

"Come on," he said, holding his hand out to her, "There's someone I’d like you to meet before we head back inside the castle."

Taking Harry's hand, Sarah was helped to her feet.

Together, they proceeded on a lengthy walk around the other side of the castle. There, they began making their way down a long, winding pathway that lead away from the school. Sarah's mind was not on where she was headed or who she was about to meet, however. She was trying to absorb everything Harry had just told her. She had asked him about Voldemort, and he had certainly told her quite a story. She was utterly humbled by it.

She could scarcely believe that the seemingly normal young man whom she had befriended had done all of those amazing things and been through so much. She could also hardly believe that this same amazing young man had now gone out of his way to be a friend to her. Ron and Hermione as well, she knew, had been through quite a lot. Despite all of this, they were all so very normal and unassuming, and ready to be her friends.

She was also dwelling on what she had heard about Snape. For some reason, his role in the story had been of particular interest to her. It fascinated her. It was like discovering a weak spot in an impenetrable suit of armor, or like a single ray of sunlight breaking through a darkened sky. He couldn't be that terrible of a person, she thought. Just look at what he had done. He was, in every sense of the word, a hero. Like Harry, however, this seemed to be of little or no factor in his behavior or lifestyle. When she had asked how he received his scar, he had simply told her he was bitten by a snake. He decided to omit the bits about this being the snake of the greatest Dark wizard who had ever lived, and that the snake happened to contain a piece of said wizard's soul. Just a minor detail, Sarah thought to herself, smirking inwardly.

She was also wondering how he had managed to survive. This was a mystery, even to Harry. As much as she wanted to know, she doubted that she had the courage to ask him. Even if she did, she though that he probably wouldn’t even tell her anyway.

She would certainly be regarding him in a different light from now on. Knowing what was good for her, however, she wouldn't dare tell him what she had heard. She knew, from what Harry had told her, that it was an extremely personal and painful secret. She would do her utmost to respect that.

Even though she had asked Harry about Voldemort and learned more than she possibly could have expected, Sarah's curiosity was still wanting. Harry hadn't touched on the detail that Sarah had originally been interested in from the start. His eyes.

Sarah could not see the harm in just asking him outright. They had been silent since leaving the monuments. Harry knew that she was probably still absorbing everything he had told her, and decided to remain quiet.

"Harry," Sarah began quietly, looking over at him. He looked back to her as well, giving her a small smile. Eager to cheer her up after having inadvertently upset her, Harry would encourage any questions she would ask of him. "Professor Snape told me a little bit about Voldemort. He told me... he told me that his eyes were red. Is that true?"

"Sure is," said Harry. "Glowed sometimes, too. By the end, he didn't have normal human eyes. They had slits for pupils, like a snake's would."

"Why was that?" asked Sarah, hoping to find an answer. Sadly, she would not.

"I'm not really sure," Harry replied. "Professor Dumbledore showed me memories of him when he was younger, even at our age. He looked normal enough at first. Handsome, even. But then his appearance started changing. I saw his eyes flash red a few times, even when he was still normal."

"How did he change?"

"Well," Harry began, "Like I said, at first, he was handsome. Then, over the years, his features sort of... distorted, I guess. As he made his Horcruxes, I think. The Voldemort I knew was snakelike. He didn't look human at all anymore. He had those glowing red snake's eyes, and he had slits for nostrils too. He didn't have hair anymore, and his skin was extremely pale. Not normal at all."

Sarah looked shocked as she stared at Harry. She was currently imagining herself undergoing a similar transformation. Seeing the look on her face, Harry laughed.

"Don't worry," he said, "Witches and wizards don't suddenly wake up one morning with red eyes and other strange features. That won't happen to you. The terrible things he did to other people, and himself, made him that way I think."

Sarah nodded, but remained silent. Part of his statement, at least in her case, was untrue.

"I even had a bit of him inside of me, remember?" he continued, "And the worst I got was this scar."

"Yeah," Sarah said, trying to sound as normal as possible. "I was just being silly, I guess. Nothing like that would happen to me."

"Of course not," Harry assured her.

Sarah hadn't even noticed, but they were approaching a large, rustic-looking cottage. There was smoke drifting upwards from the chimney, and a warm light glowing in the window.

"Remember Hagrid?" Harry asked. "From the story?"

"Yeah?" Sarah replied, recalling what Harry had told him about his half-giant friend.

"Well, you're about to meet him for yourself," said Harry. He smiled at Sarah. She looked a little frightened, unsure of what to expect from meeting someone who was half giant.

Reaching the cottage, Harry climbed the small steps in front of the door. He knocked several times, and then motioned for Sarah to join him on the doorstep. As soon as Harry had knocked, there came a loud, booming bark from inside. Sarah looked apprehensive. She wondered if that dog was going to be giant as well.

The door swung open powerfully. Standing in the doorway, Sarah saw, was a simply enormous man with a mane of shaggy hair and an equally shaggy beard. He was easily much more than twice her height, and several times as wide. Upon seeing Harry, he gave a roar of delight.

"Harry!" Hagrid boomed, bending down and scooping Harry into a bone-crushing hug. Harry winced. Every time he would visit Hagrid, he was treated to one of these hugs. The reason for this, Harry thought, was so Hagrid could be sure that Harry was really and truly alive. Harry would never forget the way in which Hagrid had cried tears of anguish onto his body when everyone believed him to be dead. "So nice o' yeh ter visit!"

"Hagrid, I can't breathe!" Harry wheezed out. Hagrid put Harry down and patted him hard on the shoulder. Harry almost fell over.

"Who's yer friend?" asked Hagrid, eyeing the small, long-haired witch standing quite petrified before his doorstep.

"Hagrid," Harry said, motioning to Sarah, "This is Sarah Garrend. She's from America, come to Hogwarts to study abroad."

Hagrid smiled brightly and watched as the girl moved up his doorstep to meet him.

"Well, lovely ter meet yeh, Miss Garrend!" Hagrid gave her a small bow, still smiling.

"Please, call me Sarah," she said, smiling back at him. She could already tell that this was an extremely warm and friendly person, no matter his daunting size. With the warm, welcoming light flooding out of Hagrid's doorway, and the prospect of making a new friend, all melancholy was temporarily forgotten.

"Well, jus' as lovely ter meet yeh, Sarah." Hagrid said. "Why don' you two join me fer some tea?" he asked, motioning inside. "Was jus' abou' ter have some meself."

"That would be great, Hagrid," Harry said. This was just what he had been hoping for to cheer Sarah up.

Hagrid welcomed them inside, shutting the door behind them. Sarah was promptly assaulted by Fang the boarhound, who could easily place his paws on her shoulders and still be taller than her. He jumped up at her, licking at her face. Sarah laughed and patted him while attempting to not get slobbered on. Taking a seat at the table, Harry was glad that he had brought someone new to Hagrid's hut in order to avoid this enthusiastic, albeit wet, greeting.

"Sorry abou' that," Hagrid called over his shoulder as he fussed with the huge teakettle. "He's always excited ter have comp'ny."

"It's alright," Sarah laughed, still trying to fend off Fang's licking, "I like dogs."

"Well he sure seems ter like you too," Hagrid set out three enormous mugs on the table. "Down, Fang," he scolded the dog. "She won' be comin' back ter see yeh again if yeh slobber all over her on her firs' visit." Obeying his master, Fang settled down, lying on his rug near the fire.

Sarah took a place next to Harry at the table, curiously examining her oversized mug. Bringing over the teakettle, Hagrid poured all three of them generous amounts of steaming hot tea. He then brought milk and sugar over to the table, and took a seat across from Sarah. All three of them sipped their tea. Sarah was calmed by the welcoming warmth of Hagrid's cottage as well as the tea he had poured for her. She hadn't really realized until now just how chilly it had gotten outside as she knelt crying before the monuments.

"So Sarah," Hagrid began, "Should I be expectin' yeh in me class? Will yeh be takin' Care o' Magical Creatures?" he asked interestedly.

Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but Harry spoke for her.

"She's not really taking normal classes, Hagrid," he explained. "But I'm sure she'd love to come down and have a lesson or two with you," Harry looked hopefully at Sarah.

"Oh, yeah," Sarah stammered, "I’d love to," she said, quite honestly. She was eager to learn as much as she could, about whatever she could. "I don't really know much about magical creatures. I never really learned anything about them back in the States." Boy is that the truth, she thought to herself.

"Well great!" Hagrid said, smiling. "I’d love ter teach yeh a thing or two, then. When can yeh come down?"

"Any time, really," said Sarah. "When's best for you?"

"Righ' before lunch, I havn' got any classes. Why don' yeh come down then? I'll introduce yeh ter Buckbeak, he'd love ter meet yeh," Hagrid said excitedly.

"Sounds great to me," Sarah smiled at him.

Harry smiled inwardly. He was quite sure that Sarah had no idea what she had just gotten herself into. Spending time with Hagrid, he knew, should be quite the learning experience for her.

They spent the next little while conversing with Hagrid over tea. When it got a little later, Hagrid set out a hearty stew for them to eat for supper. Sarah thought it was possibly the best thing she had ever tasted. Continuing their conversation, Hagrid told them of the goings-on in the forest. He mentioned that the Centaurs seemed riled about something. When Sarah looked to Harry, Harry quickly shook his head, communicating to her not to mention the Centaur attack. Centaurs could be extremely dangerous, and Harry knew that Hagrid would go to see about what they had done to the girl if he found out that they had attacked her. Sarah nodded once in reply, communicating that she understood him.

A short while later, Sarah noticed that it had grown much darker outside. She gasped suddenly.

"What time is it?" She asked, glancing around the cottage in an attempt to find a clock. She had been enjoying herself so much that she had lost track of time. Harry glanced to his starry watch.

"About ten to seven," Harry replied. Just before he could ask why, he looked up and saw Sarah's nervous expression and wide eyes. He realized why she wanted to know what time it was. He swore.

"Sorry, Hagrid, but we've got to get going," Harry said, springing out of his chair. Sarah did the same. "Sarah's supposed to be somewhere at seven, and we've lost track of the time."

"Alrigh', you two," Hagrid said, watching them as they hurried to the door. "Pleasure meetin' yeh, Sarah," he smiled down at her, rising from his chair.

"You too, Hagrid!" Sarah replied. Harry had flung open the door and was already pulling her out of it. "Thanks for everything! I'll stop by tomorrow before lunch!" she shouted back at him as Harry dragged her away.

"Tell Ron an' Hermione I said hello and ter come visit me, would yeh Harry?" Hagrid shouted after them.

Wondering where they were off to in such a hurry, Hagrid closed the door behind him. He then began tidying up the table.

"Sweet girl," he said to himself. He glanced to Fang who was dozing by the fire. Had he been awake, Hagrid was sure the boarhound would have agreed.


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Harry and Sarah had almost completely sprinted the entire way back up to the castle. Once they were inside, Sarah leaned up against a wall, panting. Harry was equally out of breath. They spent a few seconds recovering before Harry glanced down at his watch again.

"We've got... about... five minutes...," he said, in between pants. "Come on."

Harry guided her down into the dungeons, still at a running pace. In their haste, Sarah had almost fallen down the stairs two or three times. When they arrived at the door to Snape's office, she was about ready to collapse.

"About a minute to spare," said Harry, glancing at his watch and trying to catch his breath.

"Harry," said Sarah, also attempting to catch her breath, "I really can't thank you enough for everything you've been doing for me. Without you, I’d probably still be living up in the hospital wing, and not meeting anybody. You've done so much for me. I had no idea about anything, I'm sure you don't need another burden-,"

Harry cut her off.

"No burden at all, really," he insisted. "Just because I've been through all that stuff doesn't mean I can't be a nice, decent person to somebody in need. Now you better get inside, don't want to be late for him. I'll head up to your room and leave you some directions on getting to Hagrid's for tomorrow, we've got class then, so I won't be able to take you. You should be alright."

Sarah smiled at him. He was constantly finding ways to help her. She thought that she had never met a nicer person.

"Thanks a ton, Harry. Really. I can't thank you enough."

"I've told you, it's no problem. Now go on in," he said. "And remember what I said about keeping what I told you quiet."

"I won't tell a soul, I promise," Sarah said sincerely.

"Good luck, then. Come tell me how Hagrid's was tomorrow afternoon," Harry said, patting her on the shoulder before turning to leave.

Once Harry was gone, Sarah straightened her robes. She had mostly caught her breath now, but was still breathing a little heavily. Her heartbeat, however, did not slow down. If anything, it had sped up the closer she had drawn to Snape's office. Standing before the door and preparing to knock, it was beating quite fast. Taking a deep breath, she gathered up her courage and knocked twice.

"Enter," called the voice from inside.

Obeying, Sarah opened the door and stepped inside, closing it as quietly as she could behind her. Snape looked up at the girl as she entered.

He took note of her appearance. The attractive young witch standing in his doorway, looking flushed and slightly windswept, breathing a little heavily, set a twinge of something stirring deep within him. Pushing it aside as quickly as it had surfaced, he cleared his throat and stood. As Sarah approached his desk, she noticed him eyeing her. She blushed a little, but it was barely noticeable. She had no idea how flushed she already looked.

"Had to run to get here," she explained, "Almost lost track of time. Didn't want to be late."

"So I see," he said, his dark eyes still resting on her. "You look as if you have just run a marathon."

At this, Sarah began self-consciously trying to straighten her hair a little with her hands. Snape raised an eyebrow.

They quickly set to work. Sarah realized that for some reason, Snape really wanted her to learn how to have precision control over her wand. She continued working with the levitation charm he had taught her yesterday, but this time he made it more difficult. He set out multiple books for her, all with varying thickness and size. He then would give her an order in which to stack them with only the use of her wand.

Sarah had thought it sounded like an easy enough task at first. Half an hour later, however, she quickly learned that precision with her wand was not quite so easy. She sat cross-legged on the floor, trying to arrange the books in the order Snape had instructed her to. Snape sat at his desk, once again grading parchments. She could manage to get some of the books on top of one another, but never in a neat enough stack to allow further books to be added without the entire thing collapsing.

Sarah grew frustrated. A few times, when she had thought Snape wasn't looking, she would quickly sneak her hand into the task and straighten the books a little. Snape, however, always seemed to notice. This little stunt would earn her a harsh glare from him, as well as a flick of his wand which would cause all of her progress to collapse to the floor. Perhaps Snape was watching her more closely than she thought. Self-consciously, she would continue her efforts.

Later into the evening, Sarah had finally gotten the hang of it. As a final test of her abilities with this task, Snape had instructed her to stack a small handful of bronze knuts which he had produced from a pocket inside his robes. She quickly achieved this, looking quite proud of herself as she did. Assuring her that they would begin more complicated wandwork during their next lesson, he set her to work brewing another simple potion. Once again, he had given her detailed instructions and clearly labeled all of the ingredients. Aware of the effect he had produced last time he drew close to the girl while she was unaware, he decided to remain seated at his desk, asking her periodically to describe the stage her potion was at.

While her cauldron simmered, Sarah continued sneaking surreptitious glances at Snape. She propped her right elbow up on her table, leaning against it and resting her head in her hand. She couldn't get anything Harry had told her about Snape out of her head. It seemed impossible to her that this same harsh, severe person could be the same man from the story Harry had told her. He definitely looked more the part of the Death Eater than the hero acting out of love.

Still, she suspected that she had seen a brief glimpse or two of this other, different Snape. He had been almost tender with her when she was bleeding in his arms the night he had retrieved her from the castle steps. Despite his annoyance at being required to take her to Diagon Alley, he had been a gentleman to her, or at least as much of one as she imagined he could be. He hadn't been thrilled to be forced to give her these lessons, yet here he was, patiently teaching her. Almost, she added as an afterthought, smirking to herself.

He had even grudgingly escorted her back to the Room of Requirement the previous night, after having already changed out of his clothes. When her thoughts returned to her memories of seeing Snape in his bathrobe, her eyes became quite unfocused and her mind continued to drift. She had uninentionally seen a bit of his chest exposed. Without even realizing it, or knowing why, she soon began wondering about what else could be underneath that robe.

Snape looked up at the girl. He had just been about to ask her if her potion had reached its next ideal stage, but he stopped when he took note of the girl's expression and posture. She was leaning against her table quite casually, elbow propped up, and her head resting in her hand. He might not have become perplexed at all about her behavior, or wondered what she could possibly be thinking... were she not staring right at him. He quickly raised an eyebrow; her eyes seemed to have glazed over, and she apparently had taken no notice at all to the fact that he was now looking straight back at her.

He cleared his throat loudly.

Sarah's eyes widened as they came back into focus. She then realized that she had been staring at him, and daydreaming, without having noticed what she was doing. Her face quickly colored, and she shot up straight in her chair, turning back toward her cauldron and staring at it resolutely. She bit her bottom lip hard in embarrassment.

Snape lowered his eyebrow and continued on with his paperwork, but he soon became distracted again and narrowed his eyes thoughtfully in the Sarah's direction. Even though she had turned away quite quickly when he caught her staring, her blush had not escaped his notice.

Perceptive as ever, a pattern had just become clear to him. For some odd reason, he realized, he seemed to affect the girl in some way. Tilting his head slightly, he began to ponder it.

He recalled their trip to Diagon Alley. After having taken hold of her arm to drag her along, there had been some color in her face despite how very cold and pale she had been.

The previous night, in their first lesson, he had noticed her glancing in his direction several times as she worked on her potion. The girl had given a start and lost focus on her charm when he had drawn close to her without her notice. This had been the cause of the fiasco which led her to discovering the truth about her eyes.

Then, when he had tilted her head up toward him to reapply the glamour to her eyes, she had colored. On top of that, seeing him in his bathrobe had caused her to color yet again, and she seemed determined not to look at him again from that point onward as he escorted her back to her room.

Now, only in their second lesson, he had caught her quite plainly staring at him. From the looks of things, she hadn't even noticed that she was doing it in the first place. She didn't even notice him staring straight back at her, either. Her eyes had held a glazed, unfocused look. When he cleared his throat, they sharpened again, and she had quickly blushed and turned away. Just as she had last night, she now seemed determined not to look at him again. Snape raised an eyebrow once again as he regarded her.

Even though he did not have much experience with it himself, he had spent far too many years teaching hormonal teenagers to not recognize some kind of attraction when he saw it. He nearly snorted to himself. The idea of the girl being attracted to him was ludicrous. There had to be some other explanation. Even as he thought this, another part of his mind was telling him quite clearly that there wasn't. Regardless, the idea should be utterly preposterous to him. Should be, he thought to himself.

On the contrary, it intrigued him.

It took several more minutes of silent dialogue for him to be able to admit this to himself on some small level. It did intrigue him. What was it about him that was causing the girl to be affected this way? She was young, and (some small part of his mind spat the word attractive at him, but he ignored it), he couldn't see how he could possibly be of any interest to her. It was probably nothing.

He, of course, could never be attracted to the girl in that manner, he convinced himself. That would be laughable. Ridiculous. Preposterous.

Still intrigued, however, he convinced himself that there was no harm in proceeding to test the girl's reactions to him.

He rose from his desk, taking great care to make sure that his chair scraped the floor loudly. This way, he knew, she would expect him. He didn't want any repeats of last night. The potion he had her working on tonight, a simple warming draught, could potentially harm her eyes if she managed to splash any onto herself. He saw as her head jerked slightly in his direction, as if she wanted to look at him, but she immediately looked back to the potion in front of her. Smirking to himself, he casually strode around his desk to stand behind her. Placing his hands on the back of her chair, he leaned forward to look over her, taking notice as she seemed to stiffen.

"Good," he said, looking into her cauldron, "It seems to be coming along nicely. Once you add the fireflower blossom it should be complete after simmering for another few minutes."

He strode back around to his desk, still watching her. She turned slightly to glance in his direction, but quickly turned back when she saw him looking at her. She seemed very nervous after having been caught staring. Snape was surprised she had managed to continue successfully brewing her potion; she must have wanted to be very focused on something other than him.

A few minutes later, her potion was complete.

"As I said last night," Snape said, searching the shelves for an empty flask, "I would allow you to keep your work if you managed to brew it correctly. As you have not destroyed this potion, you may keep a sample of it."

Finding a suitable flask, he moved over to her cauldron. Sarah had already risen from the table and was now standing before his desk, eyes cast to the floor. She did chance a few glances at him to see how he bottled the potion. Striding up to her, he held the flask up to the light, examining it.

"Satisfactory work, Miss Garrend," he said, turning the flask over and inspecting it from another angle. "I would expect the same product from a student in my class. Were this a real class, I assure you this would have attained a high mark."

She was too pleased with herself not to smile a little. When he caught this, she quickly looked away again. He smirked smugly to himself. This was too easy. Lowering the flask, he held it out to her. She took it from him, careful to avoid any contact with his hand. He noticed this too.

"Thank you," she said, already moving away from his desk, "I'll just be going...,"

Snape turned to her.

"You won't be going anywhere, Miss Garrend," he said sternly. "Not without me, at least. I do not wish to be hearing more knocks on my door come ten minutes from now. As such, I will be escorting you back to your room once more, to insure that you do not become lost. Luckily, this time, I am more appropriately dressed for it," he drawled.

Sarah cleared her throat softly, but said nothing.

Snape began moving toward the door. This drove Sarah toward the door as well, away from him. She opened the door and stepped outside, Snape trailing her closely.

"On the way," he said, shutting the door behind him, "I would like you to make a point of memorizing the route so that this does not become routine."

Sarah nodded quietly.

She remained silent the entire way up to the Room of Requirement. Snape was steadily watching her out of the corner of his eye. She was conspicuously avoiding looking at him, just as she had been last night. He wondered if she knew just how dreadfully obvious she was being in her attempts to appear otherwise.

When they reached the seventh floor corridor, Snape watched as Sarah paced back and forth several times in front of the blank stretch of wall. The ornately-carved wooden door he had seen the previous night appeared once again. Almost as if she had guessed what he might try to do, she immediately stepped forward and opened the door, not allowing him to do it for her. Light flooded out into the darkened hallway, her fireplace and sconces having lit themselves.

"Just a moment, Miss Garrend," said Snape. Sarah was already halfway inside the door. Without an alternative this time, she slowly turned to face him.

"Before you scurry back inside your room, I would like to examine your eyes to insure that the glamour is still holding strong and does not need to be reapplied just yet," he explained.

"Alright," she said softly. She remained standing in the same spot as Snape approached her.

He slowly walked up to her, standing before her closely. He placed himself closer to her than he had last night. Closer, he knew, than was entirely necessary.

Petrified, she took a shaky breath. After her errant daydreaming, having him this close to her was making her just about as warm as she would have been had she tested her own warming draught. Her mind was racing, mentally scolding herself for having those thoughts.

All thought was immediately silenced when she felt his hand on the underside of her chin, tilting her head up to meet him. She now had nowhere else to look than directly into his deep, black eyes, and this is exactly what he wanted. The glamour was fine, he knew; he just wanted to observe her strange reactions to him. He took note of how she had trembled slightly and taken in a shaky breath when she felt him touch her chin. Now staring intently into her eyes, he could see that her pupils were dilated. She was trying her hardest not to blush, but to no avail.

Highly intrigued, Snape leaned closer to her experimentally, still under the guise that he was inspecting the glamour. She did not move away. He also tilted her head up a tiny bit higher. As he did so, he noticed as her gaze broke with his. Her eyes would momentarily flit downward to his lips, and then back up to his eyes. She did this several times. He gave a tiny smirk, and then allowed her to catch his eyes making the same movement. She drew in another extremely shaky breath.

Satisfied with his observations for now, he let his hand drop from her chin and he stepped back away from her. Her eyes were extremely wide, still on him. He gave a small clearing of his throat. This seemed to once again jolt her back into reality, and she quickly turned away, looking inside her room.

"Your eyes appear fine," he said, watching as she looked away. "I should not need to reapply the charm for another few days, granted you manage to keep any additional magical substances out of them."

"Alright," she said meekly.

"Good night, Miss Garrend," he said. He then gave her a small bow, which he knew she saw out of the corner of her eye. He then set off down the corridor.

Sarah scurried into her room, shutting the door hard behind her and leaning up against it. She looked extremely shocked.

Had it been her imagination, she thought, or had Snape almost just... kissed her?

That idea was absurd. She immediately tried to reason off her reactions to him in some other way.

After a few moments, she shook her head to herself. After tonight, she could no longer deny to herself that she was indeed, for some reason, drawn to this mysterious man. She slid down the door, sitting up against it and staring blankly ahead, just as she had done last night. The past several days, far and away, had been the strangest days of her life. This was just adding another thing to a rapidly lengthening list.

Some distance away, in another part of the castle, Snape was on his way back down to his dungeons. Testing the girl's reactions had been quite amusing. Continuing to reflect on them, he was staunchly trying to ignore the reactions of his own.


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A/N: There you have chapter 8! I hope you enjoyed it. I'm pretty sure most of you greatly enjoyed the interactions that went on toward the end of the chapter! ;D It took me a while to fully think out exactly what I wanted to happen in this chapter. I'm very pleased with how it flowed and came out. More to come soon! Please leave a review if you would be so kind. Thank you so much for reading :)