New Tutor

Next morning was impossible for Severus to not glance at Ophelia. She was enjoying breakfast with Potter screaming in her ear about how they should pair up in detention. Severus was sure the whole castle could hear him, not just his mates. A few seats down the table were Rabastan with his friends, looking like he never even fought with his brother last night. At the other corner of the table was Malfoy with his own friends, Rodolphus included. The tension between the blond and the eldest Lestrange could be seen in their friends, who would prefer to speak to them separately even if they were right next to each other.

Moving his eyes on his toast, Severus wondered if he looked the same as the two among his friends. Mulciber was talking about their DADA homework, getting Nott involved into it too.

"Spinnard doesn't know what a lesson is. In two years he didn't let us practice even once. Only theory and more theory," Nott commented, leaning his head against his hand.

"It doesn't matter anyway. We don't need his help." Avery mumbled from his seat next to Mulciber. "Rodolphus decided that fifth year and above will teach us exactly what we need."

"We should search for a room that's not in use, better not in the dungeons or it will catch Slughorn's eye." Nott added thoughtfully.

Almost all of them snorted at that affirmation, Mulciber placing his quill down so he could express his opinion without having to write about werewolves.

"As long as we are who we are, Slughorn will not glance twice at us." The pureblood mumbled, his eyes falling over Severus, "We've all decided the same, haven't we Severus?"

Snape's eyes widened, surprised that Mulciber was keeping an eye on him. The half blood nodded slowly, an expression of approval on his face.

"Of course,"

----------------------------------------------------

Immediately after breakfast, Severus ran out of the Great Hall and hid in the corridor towards the kitchen, waiting for the brunette witch to walk out. Mulciber was keeping an eye on him, he knew that from the way the pureblood was always asking for reassurances from him. It wouldn't have mattered if Rabastan didn't pass his tutoring onto him, but it happened and now Severus had to run from classes to dark arts training and to tutoring his friend. An awful lot of responsibilities, he considered.

"Awaiting your mudblood Gryffindor friend, Severus?"

Malfoy's cold voice almost gave him a heart attack, and it wasn't even the first time the blond startled the second year in the same place. 

"You don't have to explain. But I will tell you that your little friend is interested in learning dark arts. I might even invite her to one of our lessons, we do need to practice certain curses on someone." 

Severus' eyes widened but luckily for him, the girl she was waiting for just walked out of the Great Hall by herself, seemingly searching for someone with her eyes. the greasy haired Slytherin took the opportunity and left Malfoy smirking by himself, running to Ophelia, grabbing her arm and dragging her aside.

"Are you a nitwit?! Why would you even consider it a good idea?" The boy started once he was sure that no one was around to hear him, "How could you ask Malfoy out of everyone in this castle to teach you dark arts.  Why do you need to learn that anyway?"

Compared to Severus' offended expression and openness in showing his annoyance, Ophelia was calm, almost as if she was expecting such an outcome. It was really a matter of time until Malfoy would tell someone of her proposition.

"Why do you need to learn dark arts?" She asked back, "Because you are Slytherin and every Slytherin is supposed to become a dark wizard? Is there a rule that says a Gryffindor is not supposed to be interested in dark magic?" She had a certain tinkle in her eyes and certain tinge in her voice that was making Severus feel like she was scolding him and he should be affected by it. 

"No. But asking Malfoy is a big stretch from just being interested. Is it because of that man Cerberus? Is he the reason why you suddenly show this vigor for dark arts?"

"It's not sudden. In case you have forgotten, you showed me my first curse and I was amazed by it." She combated, not backing down from her choice. After all, she already decided, so be it by his side or not, she was going to learn what she wanted.

"They will tear you apart, make you their puppet and maybe even kill you. Mulciber hates you and so does Rodolphus." Severus tried to intimidate her by bluntly telling her the truth.

"At least I'll have you and Rabastan, won't I?"

"I'm not so sure. It seems there is some misunderstanding between the two brothers so from today on, I'll tutor you in Potions." Severus announced her, not looking like he was enjoying the new responsibility. 

----------------------------------------------------

It seemed that Severus wanted to get rid of Ophelia quickly that day and decided they should begin their lesson as soon as possible, which for Ophelia meant later. 

"I don't have all I need with me." She explained, walking towards the Gryffindor Tower. Unfortunately, Severus had other plans for later so he wanted to drag her down and end one chore for the day.

"You don't have to. We'll find everything in the classroom."

"I don't have my notes." She added, knowing Rabastan always made her copy her notes a few times in order to learn them.

"I already memorized what we've been working on."

Ophelia stopped and turned towards the boy with a frustrated look. How could someone be so persistent was above her understanding but it seemed like it was working well for Severus.

"Alright. Al-right," she gave up in the end, following a pleased Severus down into the dungeons.

One thing the Slytherin learned that day was that if he ever believed Ophelia Molley was a bad potion maker in class, she could get worse. Only an hour passed and they barely managed to make one potion before even that one exploded in their faces. With all the knowledge and patience Severus could muster, he still felt like he wanted to practice some curses on her.

"You're bullocks. I don't think it's possible to be worse than you already are!" Yes, patience was slipping out of his grasp.

But what really pissed Severus off was that she seemed to be enjoying seeing him so worked up. He swore he saw her chuckle when he went to take the ingredients. If she was messing up with him, well, he had to think of a way to punish her or calm her down because else he was going to Azkaban.

"You do realize I can get into your head and hear what you're thinking, don't you?" She muttered, busy cleaning the gooey stuff that was threatening to spill from the cauldron.

Severus frowned before he decided that if she already heard what he's been thinking, it won't make a difference if he thinks more about it.

"I'm not a mudblood, Severus. Malfoy's words are meaningless. Besides, I didn't beg him to help me; I merely gave him an option." She stated, her eyes glancing at the boy for a moment before she realized she should stir.

"Those are big words for someone who cannot make a simple potion."

"I liked my old tutor better." Ophelia mumbled, not caring if her friend was angry or not.

Times passed very slowly inside the Potions classroom but outside, it passed very quickly, at least for the second year Gryffindors. Potter was the first to lead the group towards the DADA classroom where they had to face their worst nightmare: detention with Spinnard. 

"There's a chance that if he doesn't murder someone in the first ten minutes then we'll all survive." Frank Longbottom came up with what was supposed to be a positive view. 

"I don't want to sound rude, Frank, but you should shut your mouth," Cissney grumbled, already worried. "I hope he will be in a good mood." She added, glancing at her dorm mates.

"Even in a good mood he's grumpy and cold. He reminds me of an old man who lives like a hermit." Alice added, imagining Spinnard with worn out clothes and white hair, "He kind of fits the image, doesn't he?"

"I wonder how he was during school years. D'you believe he was a Slytherin?" Lily asked her mates, curious what kind of student used to be Spinnard.

"If Spinnard was anything, that'd be Slytherin. He sure acts like one," Frank muttered, glancing around just to be safe, "I bet he was good friends with the Malfoys and Blacks, no offence Sirius," 

"None taken, mate. But somehow, Spinnard doesn't give me Slytherin vibes," Sirius commented, leaning against Remus, who was walking by his side. "I'm sure there are secrets that Spinnard doesn't want us to find out."

"That gives me an idea," Potter pitched in, his eyes glinting with mischievousness as his eyes narrowed evilly.