57) Will it be enough? 2

"You look a little worried," came the calm and soft voice of Laena Greengrass as she looked at her potions partner.

"Am I?" Severus asked a little slowly looking at her as they worked on their respective batches of wit sharpening potion.

"You are," Laena affirmatively spoke up with a nod.

"It is very slight but to someone who can read you nicely. It is pretty much discernable," Laena commented as she stirred for the seventeenth time as per the instructions.

Severus nodded and schooled his features a little more nicely. The slight tenseness in his posture completely replaced.

"And now?" He asked looking at her with curiosity in his black eyes.

"Completely blank," she replied with a small appreciating tone.

Laena was pretty much impressed by his skills in hiding his emotions well. Even his eyes don't betray a speck of emotion. But then again he was pretty much a good occlumens. The rumours regarding Jacob Grey had given away that Severus was an occlumens.

Laena pitied the Gryffindor boy. He was shunned around by the general populace now as everyone frowned around him or were extremely wary of him. Noone wanted a student who could penentrate their minds and read everything what they wanted to keep as secrets.

Plus the rumours regarding the boy which were spread by her housemates that he was similar to the Dark Lord. Apparently the Dark Lord was a natural legilimens too and when students heard it, they were pretty much more wary of it. Noone sticked around the boy except his two friends, Duncan Ashe and Olivia Green.

Severus with simple words had made the boy's life miserable. Laena didn't knew that Severus had expected the same thing to occur.

"Hmm," Severus said simply as he looked at the potion which was on near completion.

"How do you feel now?" Severus asked looking at Laena with his same usual straight and calm face.

"Fine," Laena replied with a small smirk on her face. "Though it will be better to show a little concern on your face next time if you want to ask this type of questions," Laena continued on with a mischevious curl of her lips.

"Hmm," Severus replied boredly.

Her advice was nice but he wasn't going to care about it.

_____________________________________

Hermione Granger looked at her two friends as she casted a muffliato around them. They were in the library and were planning about their next actions.

"With the Triwizard Tournament coming. There would be too much disturbance around the castle. We know about the ring, the locket and the diary," Hermione spoke up to the two grave wizards infront of her.

"The only problem we have is their locations," Hermione said with a frustated sigh.

"Dumbledore said that too remember. Told us that it was doubtful that they will be there in the same places," Ron spoke up looking at both of his friends.

"Yeah, Malfoy is not a Death Eater yet according to Dumbledore. We could have get to the locket with the help of Regulus but, I don't think that we could hope for him to get the locket again," Harry said remembering the information Dumbledore gave him.

Dumbledore had easily deduced that the 'RAB' person who had the real locket was none other than Regulus Arcturus Black, the younger brother of Sirius Black. Harry still was amazed to know that Sirius' younger brother died defying Voldemort. If only Sirius knew of his brothers actions.

"I still can't believe that the RAB was none other than Regulus. He doesn't seem to be a hero type," Ron commented with a small bemused expression.

"Stop generalising people Ronald," Hermione scolded Ron who shut up at her words.

"Well it still leaves us nowhere," Hermione said with a frustated sigh. They had no leads for Voldemort's hocruxes and it made things difficult for them. As much as they wanted to fight in war, they were still in school.

"Well we can bug the Slytherins you know," Ron commented simply.

At Hermione's and Harry's curious and inquisitive gazes, he decided to elaborate his plans.

"I mean we can spy on some Slytherins and their talks. They would surely brag if their families are in You Know Who's favour. We could get the information and give it to Headmaster who can investigate more about them. If Malfoy was the favoured Death Eater to be given the diary, then won't it make sense that there may be some other hocruxes given to his favourite ones? I bet that perhaps even Snape had one of You Know Who's hocruxes," Ron explained his plan.

"It's a nice plan Ron," Harry said eagerly looking at his best mate as he looked to Hermione who was having a perplexed expression on her face.

"It is a nice plan actually," Hermione commented as she looked at both of them with a small frown on

her face which was soon replaced by determination.

"We could use the cloak to our use," Harry commented with a thoughtful expression in his face. He could borrow the cloak from James and use it for spying on Slytherins. This way they would be getting useful information from Slytherins for their own use.

_____________________________________

Severus gently casted the usual sound nullifying ward as well as the notice me not ward like usual around him and the area.

He saw Alice and Pandora perking up as they felt the magic in the air as the ward's area extended to them too.

He gently got up from his seat and sat next to Alice like their usual routine.

Neither of them talked to each other for a whole minute before Severus broke the silence.

"You look worried at breakfast," he spoke gently looking at her with a side eyed look.

"Not here," Alice said slowly as her face went downcast.

"Okay," Severus commented a littlw worried seeing her like that.

"Let's bunk the class," Severus said as he looked at her calmly.

"Why?" Alice asked a little confused at him. Granted she didn't liked History of Magic much but she didn't wanted to bunk the classes.

"You are worried and I don't want to spend my class with a brooding you. Only I have the permission to brood in our relationship," Severus commented with a soft teasing tone as he looked at her. He wanted to cheer up Alice.

Alice gave a small smile of amusement as he saw some tears in her sapphire blue eyes.

Pandora choked a laugh at hearing the words of Severus. She wanted to laugh loudly at his words but she composed herself at the last moment.

"We will not bunk the class. We have two hours free after this. We will talk about it then," Alice commented with a small smile as she wiped her tears away.

Severus nodded and sat back in the bench lazily.

"Are you okay?" he asked slowly looking at her with curiosity a small worried tone in his voice.

"I am, just a little unwell," Alice said reassuringly with a small smile which she tried her best to make.

Severus gently took her hand and interwined their fingers together below the desk. He gently squeezed her hands as Alice smiled at the gesture.

50 Minutes later....

"The class is going to end," Severus said gently to Alice whose head was on his shoulders as she leant towards him.

"Hmm," Alice hummed in approval as she felt his hand which squeezed hers again. She wanted to be with him a little more. She wanted to always feel content like she did within his company.

"How many days more will we have to hide our relationship?" Alice asked slowly while leaning to him with a small wistful tone.

"I know it's frustating but just a little longer. Till the Yule Ball," he said knowing how it will be received.

"Hmm," Alice nodded. She had heard the answer before too but it didn't meant that she liked it. She was frustated of keeping their relationship a secret. But she also understood his side too. Right now he wanted to make some things clear and acheive some of his goals. After which it would be easy for him to go public with their relation.

She herself knew her situation very well. She was going to be bothered by her classmates and housemates heavily. She had not failed to notice the glares and looks the other boys gave her after she had put on muscles on certain places in her body.

Her mind was also not at a good state for now. It was filled with sadness, anguish, pain and anger which were making her more unstable as of now. She wanted to let out the emotions which she had bottled for now.

"Meet me on the fifth classroom on the second corridor of the third floor," Severus whispered near her ear letting a shiver pass through Alice's body at the words. It contained a tone of command that her entire body couldn't help but shiver.

Severus got up as he gently untangled their hands and walked away from the class with the help of back door not before giving Alice a soft smile. He was pretty much eager to know why she was so tensed. Even during their personal talks in this class, she seemed to be little bothered by something as if she was hesitating about something.

Twenty minutes later Severus was calmly sitting with a silent Alice and Pandora in a big classroom. He didn't knew why Pandora was here but then again the girls tagged along with Alice always.

"Ugh, I will go to the back of the classroom and draw something," Pandora spoke up as she excused herself from the two lovers who looked like as if they wanted to have a serious talk with each other.

"They killed her Severus. They killed her," Alice said with a small sob as the next moment she burst into tears.

Severus for the first time in his life didn't knew what to do. He had never thought about facing a situation like this.

He could brew dangerous potions or duel someone to death, but there was no way he knew anything about consoling a crying girl.

Alice for her part was crying hysterically. Severus was half scared and half amused at the scenario. Thankfully he didn't let out a single amused expression and tried what he thought was best.

He remembered the movies and novels he had read. It was time to use that divine knowledge.

He awkardly pulled her in a sort of hug as she continued to cry on his shoulders.

Severus continued holding her as he petted her head while stroking her hair gently. It seemed to do work, like it normally did in movies and books as Alice continued to cry while clutching him.

Ten minutes later she was still crying and his shoulder parts of robe was completely wet with her tears.

"Alice what happened?" he asked softly as he looked at her with concern clearly etched on his face.

"They killed..", Alice said trying to say between hiccups while crying.

"My godmother...." Alice said in between tears and hysterical hiccups. For Severus it was the strangest scenario in which he had been till now.

"They killed my godmother. Aunt Merula....They killed her," she said softly as the tears in her eyes started to fall once again.

Suddenly it started to make sense. He remembered the names of the casualties of the raid. Merula Berg, an auror dying in the raids.

It all clicked now. Merula Berg was Alice's godmother whom Alice saw as a inspiration. She was a senior auror and the friend of Alyssa Fortescue.

Alice had also told him that she wanted to be an auror due to her. Her godmother was one of the strongest ladies she had met and was a skilled witch. She adored her godmother like a heroine and always wanted to be an auror like her. Saving good guys from the bad ones and dishing out justice.

In simple words, Merula was the reason Alice wanted to be an auror.

"Why did she had to die? She was so good and so nice to everyone. What wrongs she had commited?" Alice asked hatefully. She couldn't admit the fact that her godmother was dead. The same godmother who had taught her the first spell in her life. Gave her the first wrist watch this previous year, signifying that she considered her goddaughter as an adult now.

"The truth is. The more precious someone is to us. The harder it is for us to accept that they might die. Sometimes you actually convince yourself that there's noway that they might die. This naivete can't be helped. Especially with a generation like ours, a generation which is currently facing a war. You might try to find meaning in war but all there is, is loss and unbearable pain. All that senseless death caused by war. It brings nothing but only hatred and more violence," Severus said gently as he quoted one of his favourite villains, Nagato.

Alice listened silently to his words as she nodded at the cold and blunt truth. Severus didn't sugarcoat it even in the slightest way.

"You are right. If she were here she would swatt me in the butt and tell to simply smile like always," Alice said with a hollow laugh.

"How do you deal with the pain?" Alice asked looking at him with a tired and pleading gaze.

"Time heals. It always does," Severus replied as he stroked her blonde hair gently.

"She was a great witch," Alice commented after some moments of silence. Her head was perched on his shoulder while she leant to him. Severus had wrapped an arm around her, keeping her firmly near him.

Severus didn't replied. He simply sat in silence. Sure Alice idiolized her godmother but for Severus greatness was different.

"You and I have different definitions of greatness," Alice commented knowing Severus and his ideals.

"You are a practical person. A person for whom greatness means success in everything. Getting fame and fortune for yourself. Don't you Severus," Alice asked leaning to him with a sad expression on her face.

Severus didn't answered. He opted to remain silent at her words and it was all the confirmation needed for Alice.

"For me, it has a different meaning. For me greatness means change. I had always wondered how some people were called great while others aren't." Alice said remembering a doubt she had long ago. A doubt which her godmother had cleared.

"A person automatically becomes great if he manages to change the life of others with his actions. The greatest of people change our lives, leaving an impression so deep, that we can't help but change ourselves. Those are the greatest, those who bothered enough to change someone's life" Alice continued on as she remembered the words of her godmother.

Severus nodded solemnly at her words. Her words held a wisdom in itself that he can't help but admire inwardly. Strangely the words felt nice and good to him, something which he couldn't help but feel odd.

"I will fight in this war. Not to avenge her but to honour her ideals and beliefs. To be great in my own way like she was. And even if I die, I will be glad that I died protecting someone and something that I held dear," Alice said with grim determination in her voice.

Severus felt a bone deep chill within him as he looked at her determined face with a side gaze.

Nonetheless he remembered those words as both found solace in each others company forgetting the tensions and worries of outside.

Times were hard and the war had just started.

_____________________________________

Send some powerstones :)

This is the second chapter and I hope that you will like this too.

Love you all.

Also send powerstones and comment on the chapter if you like it.