The Bonds of Friendship

Help!

~2~

"Well, Lil, what do you think so far?" Aleanor lay on her back, staring at the dark canopy of her four-poster. Lily was doing the same thing on the bed beside her.

"I think this is going to be wonderful!"

Aleanor laughed. "Did you notice those two boys from the boat were both put in Slytherin?"

Lily sat up on her bed. "Yeah. You know, the blonde reminded me of Josh."

"Oh yeah, 'carrot top' boy. You'd think that after he turned red, he'd of learned to stop calling us that."

"But then we never would have been able to see his pants fall to his ankles in the middle of lunch last year!" Lily began laughing hysterically.

Sitting up, Aleanor asked, "Now that I know I'm not the only one...was that you?"

"I think so. I was staring at him, wishing the whole school could see his knickers, just to shut him up. Next thing you know, there they were, red hearts and all!"

"It was you then!" Aleanor exclaimed while another girl yelled at them to keep their voices down.

~~~*~~~

Lucius walked with Severus to Potions. Their other classes that morning had been pretty uneventful, though he was sure he was going to thoroughly despise McGonagall, the old Scottish bat.

"You did notice on your schedule that we're having Potions with the Gryffindors?" Severus asked casually.

Grumbling, Lucius pulled out his schedule. "Oh bloody hell."

Severus chuckled. "Which means those chatty cardinals will be there."

"Cardinals? What the hell are you talking about Sev?"

"The red heads from the boat, Luc. Honestly, a little work on your understanding of allegorical phrases would do you some good."

"Sev, don't piss me off before I have to suffer through a class full of Gryffindors. I'd rather not get a detention for hexing one of them, you know my temperament."

With a grin, Severus replied, "Indeed, I do."

****

It was a personal goal of Severus' to see how long it would take him to peak Lucius to the point of cursing someone. His temper was, of course, just as fiery as Lucius', but Severus had learned to lengthen his fuse, making him more tolerant than his blonde friend. Lucius always did his best to light Severus' fuse, but this time, he would be the one firing off.

As they took two seats in the front row, Severus heard the familiar sound of two girls, giggling and gossiping. He grinned, hoping they'd sit right behind them. Lucius would love that! As if a blessing was cast down on him, the two red haired girls did indeed sit behind the pair of Slytherins. Severus looked over at Lucius, and noticed he had his eyes shut, his mouth mumbling. Leaning over, he whispered to his friend.

"What's wrong Luc? Cardinals not to your liking?" He knew his sneer resonated with his words.

"They are more annoying than a fucking banshee!" Lucius responded through gritted teeth.

Severus looked over his shoulder and caught the eye of the one sitting behind Lucius. She seemed to smile at him as he noticed how incredibly dark blue her eyes were. I thought red heads usually had green eyes? He didn't notice how long they stared at each other until the door to the classroom opened and he quickly turned back around.

****

Sitting down behind the obnoxious blonde from last night, Aleanor answered Lily's last question. "Yeah, I liked McGonagall's class too, though I'm not sure I'll do any good in it."

"Well, I'm sure it'll be better than this! Look at this place, doesn't it give you the creeps?" Lily asked, pulling out her quill and ink.

"Not really. Then again, it's not night time." She imagined what this place would look like at night with only dim candles to light it. With a quick shiver, she added, "Remind me NEVER to get detention in here!" Lily nodded.

The dark haired boy in front of her leaned over and whispered something to his spoiled companion, and Aleanor found herself staring at him. Turn your head before he notices you looking at him. As if he heard her thoughts, he looked over his shoulder and stared at her.

On the boat he had never turned around. Reading the whole time, he only stopped twice, once to talk to his friend, and once to stop his friend from saying anything more to them. She already had a higher opinion of the dark haired boy, simply for the fact he was apparently more considerate than his foul-mouthed counterpart.

Why, she didn't know, but the next moment she felt her mouth turning up into a smile at the boy. His dark eyes widened a bit, and then the classroom door opened, causing him to quickly turn around.

Class was going fine. Though two boys behind them had cost Gryffindor five points each- the black haired boy with glasses and his near twin. Aleanor was doing her best to ignore the rude comments they were making about the Slytherins in front of her, and at last, the Professor had overheard one, resulting in the point loss.

Lily leaned over to her as they copied the Professor's directions off the board. "I have a feeling those two are going to be our class clowns." Aleanor giggled.

"Miss Delaney, what exactly, do you find so amusing?" Professor Congius stood beside her, his arms crossed over his chest.

Aleanor felt the blood drain from her face. "Nothing."

"Nothing, Professor. Ten points from Gryffindor, five for your untimely laughter, and five for your disrespectful response."

Her jaw fell as the blonde in front of her chuckled loudly. The Professor continued his lesson, without so much as saying a word to the chuckling Slytherin. As Aleanor sat there fuming, she noticed the dark haired boy look over his shoulder again, a sneer on his face. She glared back.

**~~~~~**

The following year, Aleanor sat in the library, working on her Potions essay. Four hours had already been spent staring at the parchment which now read: "The risks encountered while producing the Swelling Solution are..." which was all she had. I'm doomed! Beside her, Lily began stuffing her things in her bag.

"Lil, where are you going?"

"I promised Renae Wallis, the Ravenclaw who stands next to us in Herbology, that I'd study with her for tomorrow's exam."

As Lily was about to get up, four boys strolled into the library, looking very much like they owned the place. "Make a run for it Lily, here comes Potter." With an unconvincing roll of her eyes, Lily picked her bag up and slipped out. Despite the hard time she always gave Potter, Aleanor knew Lily was interested in him.

Potter and Lupin sat down across from her while the other two disappeared between the shelves. "So, Alie, what's new?" Potter asked, his usual first question.

"Nothing..." He nodded. "...and before you ask, no, I don't know where Lily is."

His face dropped a bit. "Oh."

The two boys pulled their homework out of their bags. After a few unfruitful minutes working, Aleanor's concentration was broken. "Aleanor, are you still working on that Potions essay? It's due tomorrow," Lupin asked with a sympathetic voice.

"Yes," she grumbled, turning the parchment around for them to read, "four hours, and this is all I have."

Potter laughed. "Want some help?"

An hour later, Aleanor had managed to write her essay, with a lot of help from Potter, and was finishing the last line.

Wham!

She jumped and her quill scratched all over her finished essay. Slamming her quill down so that it snapped in half, she looked to her left and glared at Black as he sat down behind the stack of books he had slammed onto the wood table. She felt her blood pressure rise as she continued to stab the boy with her glare. Opening one of the books, he began to read.

Reaching over, she slammed the book shut on his finger. "Thank you so much for making me ruin my essay!"

Rubbing his sore finger he asked, "What are you talking about?"

Potter and Lupin were scooting down the bench, putting a safe distance between them and the Irish temper about to be unleashed on Black.

"THIS!" she shouted, holding the ruined parchment up to his face.

Black's face flushed. "Ah, sorry Alie, I didn't mean..."

"Do you have ANY idea how long I've been working on this?" She didn't give him the opportunity to answer. "I have been in here for FIVE hours, and was just writing the LAST LINE, when you came traipsing over, slamming your books on the table!"

She looked over at Potter and Lupin, who quickly buried their faces in their books, looking to avoid any involvement. Feeling as if steam was pouring out her ears, she hastily stuffed her things in her bag and looked around for an empty seat. In the past hour, the library had filled almost to capacity, and she found only few seats left open, all of which were by the dark haired Slytherin from the boat ride their first year; Snape.

Sitting on the end of a table, he seemed completely engrossed in his reading. Is that the only thing he does? Deciding he couldn't be any worse than her current company, she made her way across the room, and sat across from him.

As she pulled her essay and a new piece of parchment out to make a new copy, Snape lifted his eyes from his book. "What do you think you are doing?" he asked coolly.

"Sitting, what's it look like?" Pulling out a new quill and ink, she began to copy her essay. She heard him close his book. Looking up, their eyes met.

"I prefer to sit alone." He had a look of contempt on his face.

Aleanor didn't really care at the time. "Yeah, well I prefer company with a brain, but we can't always get what we want, can we?" she retorted sarcastically.

The edge of his mouth curled for only a moment, before returning to the sneer she normally associated with the boy. "Do you mean to tell me, you find no joy in their company?" He nodded towards Potter, Black, and Lupin.

"Just because I'm a Gryffindor doesn't mean I worship them like they're God. To be honest they tend to get on my nerves."

"Really?" Snape's grin widened.

She rested her arms on the blank parchment. "Yes, really," she answered; dragging the last word out more than was necessary.

Crossing his arms in front of him, he asked, "So what did they do to send you my way?"

She noticed Black looking over at her like she had gone out of her mind. Snape followed her cold glare and turned back to her, grinning. She picked up the ruined essay and showed it to him. "This! I worked on it for five hours and Black decides to slam his books on the table just as I finish it!"

Snape took a hold of the essay and began reading over it while Aleanor continued her staring contest with Black from across the room.

"No great loss," he finally said.

"What?"

Breaking her connection with Black, she watched as Snape slid the essay back across the table. "It's complete rubbish. I wouldn't wipe my arse with it."

Furious, she swept the parchment of the table and went to put her things back in her bag.

"Potter helped you, didn't he?"

She refused to answer the insufferable git.

"If you want, I could help you write a proper essay."

Her bag dropped onto her lap. Looking up, she saw his face was no less foreboding than before. "Are you serious?"

"I don't joke, if that's what you mean." Snape responded blandly.

Snape was the best Potions student in their class, and she knew she'd be a fool to pass up his help. Besides, he's nicer than Malfoy, which still isn't saying much. She was already looking at rewriting her essay, what could it hurt to have him help her write a new one? "Okay," she said, pulling her quill and ink back out of her bag, "where do we start?"

~~~*~~~

Lucius sat in front of the fire in the common room, waiting for Severus. He wanted a second opinion on his Potions essay, and wouldn't dare ask anyone else, he did after all, have an image to uphold. Why it was taking his friend longer than usual to return from his nightly jaunt in the library, he could only imagine.

"Lucius, would you like to join us in the library?"

He turned around to find Bellatrix and her sister standing behind him. A smile spread across his face. The images running through his mind were quite 'uplifting'; sisters would be a fun prospect. "Alright ladies," he stood and walked around the couch, offering an arm to each, "shall we?"

Oh, to be a Malfoy! He thought to himself as the three of them made their way to the library. He had been told, on several occasions by his father, that Malfoys naturally attract women, and that he should take every opportunity to 'enjoy' himself. Though he doubted any such opportunity would present itself tonight, he should at least lay down a foundation for any future opportunities.

The library was relatively full when they arrived. Looking around, the only one of the four notorious Gryffindors he could find was Pettigrew, and he was no challenge. A simple cold glare and the boy scampered away. What he didn't expect to see was Severus sitting next to one of the Cardinals, helping her on her work.

****

Severus felt eyes upon him. Looking up, he saw Lucius staring at him with his brows furrowed as the Black sisters clung to either of his arms. Knowing exactly what his friend would be thinking, he cast Lucius a glare announcing that he did not, under any circumstances, see this girl as anything more than the filthy Gryffindor she was. He ignored the voice in his head asking, Then why did you offer to help her? You wouldn't have helped any other Gryffindor.

Lucius apparently didn't believe him and sent back a rather nasty look telling him he'd be called upon to explain himself the moment he stepped foot in the dormitory.

"Did I phrase this right?"

Thankful for the opportunity to break his eye contact with Lucius, he looked at where she was pointing and answered, "Yes."

~~~*~~~

Aleanor was beaming as she walked out of Potions, her essay marked with an 'A' in her hand. "Maybe I could pass Potions this years with a grade higher than my last initial, if I can get Snape to help me more often."

"It's worth a try. Worse thing that'll happen is he'll say no. And if he doesn't say that nicely, I'm sure Potter and Black would have a field day with him!" Lily giggled.

Laughing, she told Lily she'd see her at lunch, and she waited at the top of the staircase leading up from the dungeons. It didn't take long for Malfoy to appear, with Snape right behind. She stepped behind him, and reached out to tap his shoulder.

"Snape," he spun around so fast his robes whipped across her, "Could we talk?"

A look of stunned shock crossed the dark haired boy's face as complete loathing shot out of Malfoy's eyes. It was Malfoy who responded.

"I believe Severus has more important things to do than converse with you." He began to walk away, but stopped when he realized Snape didn't follow. "Severus?"

Without taking his eyes off her, Snape replied, "Go on Lucius, I'll be there in a moment."

"But Severus..."

"GO Lucius!"

If Malfoy's glare had been poisonous, Aleanor would have been a lifeless corpse on the stone floor already. Spinning on his heel, his robes rippling behind him, Malfoy walked into the Great Hall.

What's with the dramatic robe swishing? Aleanor thought.

Crossing his arms, Severus asked, "What do you want?"

Despite feeling increasingly uncomfortable, she answered, "Well, I wanted to thank you for helping me with my essay, it's the best grade I've ever gotten in Potions." For a moment, she thought she saw a glimmer in his eye as the edge of his mouth twitched like he was holding it back from curling into somewhat of a smile. "And I was hoping you would be able to help me more in Potions. I'm afraid I'm awful...you remember what I did last year during final exams."

He chuckled. "Yes, it took two days to clean the classroom. Filch didn't seem to work very quick."

"That wasn't Filch, that was me. Professor Congius watched me like a hawk the whole time." He had begun chuckling even harder. "That wasn't exactly fun. Having your potion explode all over the room is embarrassing, though I'm sure Malfoy enjoyed it!" She was beginning to think this was a bad idea, as Snape wiped away a single tear that had escaped while he laughed.

Pulling her books to her chest, she crossed her arms over them protectively. "Never mind, this was a bad idea." Then she went to walk past him.

Feeling Snape grab her arm, she quickly stopped and looked over at him. His grip was firm, but not as tight as she would have anticipated. She again found herself staring into his dark eyes, as she felt his gaze penetrating hers. Why she began to feel so nervous, she couldn't really explain. For whatever reason, Aleanor found herself secretly hoping that that wouldn't be the last time he touched her.

As if in slow motion, his lips parted to speak...