Severus watched from the far end of the table as Regulus Black left Isadora alone, swaggering to the entrance hall. He heard a faint thump as Isadora hit her head on the table, seemingly on purpose, before rising and exiting the hall as well.

Well, that was interesting, he thought as he collected his things and raced up to the Transfiguration classroom, steps behind Isadora. He closed the heavy wooden door behind him and took his seat at the back of the class as Professor McGonagall began her lecture on Vanishing Spells.

Usually, Isadora’s hair matched that of Professor McGonagall: a tight bun at the back of her head. Today, however, Severus noticed a marked difference. Instead of staring at the back of Starbuck’s neck, he was staring into long tendrils of jet black hair. He smirked – he had heard her and some other Slytherins partying in the common room into the wee hours of Sunday morning.

He couldn’t pay very much attention in class; his notes frequently stopped mid-sentence as he drifted off, his eyes wandering around the room, usually coming to a stop on the enormous windows looking out over the hill and the lake below. It was a beautiful day out, one of the last for a while, he was sure. November at Hogwarts never stayed pleasant for very long.

Before he realized it, class had ended, and instead of his usual four or five pages, Severus had only taken two pages of incoherent notes. He would have to borrow from someone else or copy directly from the book if he was to remember any of the lesson. He followed the rest of the class back out into the hallway and down the stairs through the castle. Most of the Slytherins were headed back to the common room in the dungeons, although a few of them disappeared out into the courtyard to enjoy their double break before lunch. Severus realized he had plenty of time to go to the library and then head outside to torment Isadora.

Since his third year, Severus had become extremely interested in learning the powers of Occlumency and Legilimency; to Muggles, the ability to read minds. It wasn’t considered a Dark Art, but he was having great difficulty finding any information on the subject in the regular sections of the school library. Towards the end of third year he had been forced to go to Professor Slughorn, head of Slytherin house, to request permission to access the Restricted Section. He had claimed it was so he could become better studied in the art of potion making, so much of which was hidden away in the ancient tomes hidden in the restricted area of the Hogwarts library. While he always exited the library carrying a potions book, he also left carrying several pages of notes on learning how to control one’s mind.

He slipped through the entrance to the library, quickly surveying the study area to make sure Potter, Black, or Lupin wasn't sulking around, waiting to ambush him. He saw a flash of red hair and immediately froze; when the girl turned around it was a first year Hufflepuff. Severus’ heartbeat slowed as he marched down the main aisle, back towards the gate to the Restricted Section, where Madam Pince, the old crone of a librarian, met him to check his pass.

“Do we really have to keep playing this whole ‘check the pass’ game, Madam Pince?” he asked lazily as he handed her the mangled scrap of parchment with Professor Slughorn’s authorization scrawled across it. “I’ve only had permission to access the Restricted Section for three years now.”

The librarian raised her thin eyebrows. “You will continue showing me that pass until you graduate, Mr. Snape,” she snapped. “Unless you are a professor of this school, you will always need permission to access these books.” She handed the parchment back to him and tapped the gate with her wand; it swung open and allowed him to enter the quietest section of the library. As soon as his book bag reached the other side of the gate, it swung shut again, locking with a magical click.

Severus waited in the Potions section until the crone had made her way back to the circulation desk towards the front of the library before sneaking back to where he knew most of the books on Occlumency to be kept. Unfortunately, most of these books he had already been through at least twice; he wasn’t going to get much new information from here. One book, a tattered grey spine with silver lettering, he had yet to look in; he pulled it out and wrote down as much information as he needed before slipping it back into place and rushing back to the Potions section. Without so much as a glance he took a book from the shelf and walked back to the gate, which allowed him to exit.

“That was rather fast,” Madam Pince noted as she stamped the book for him at the desk.

Severus rolled his eyes. “Yes, well, I knew what I was looking for,” he answered dryly. When she handed the book back to him he stuffed it into his back and quickly exited, making a beeline for the entrance hall.

Outside the sun was shining. There was a slight nip to the air; Severus pulled his scarf out of his bag and wrapped it tightly around his neck, clutching his robes around him as he headed down towards the lake. Dozens of students were out enjoying the day, lounging in the grass and gossiping with friends. He slowed and searched the slope near the lake until he spotted Scarlett and Isadora, lying on the lawn. Scarlett looked like she could have been asleep.

“Isadora,” he muttered as he came to stand next to her.

She looked up and squinted at him. “Oh, hullo, Severus,” she said quietly.

“May I sit?”

“Um…yeah, sure.” She moved her bag so he could take the spot of grass next to her. The ground beneath him felt cold and hard. “Looks like you’ve got a rather large book in your bag,” she said with a yawn, pointing to the stretching fabric of his book bag and the dark spine poking out from the top.

Severus nodded as he tried pushing the book further into his bag. “Trying to stay on top of Potions for the term,” he lied. “Got it out of the Restricted Section.”

Isadora’s violet eyes widened. “How’d you manage that?” she asked incredulously. It seemed like she had just woken up: her eyes were bloodshot and she kept rubbing them as she yawned again.

He laughed. “Slughorn wrote me a note, how else do you gain access?” he explained in a hushed voice, keeping an eye on Scarlett in case she woke up.

“Don’t worry, she’s completely knocked out,” Isadora said, noticing where his eyes kept wandering. “We were all up pretty late Saturday night…and last night…” her voice faded as a hint of regret came over her. “I swear we all take sleep for granted when we’re this young.”

“Indeed,” Severus answered bluntly, fully aware of why she was awake all night. Sleep doesn’t come too easy when you’re up most of the night in the bathroom, does it? he thought to himself.

“That can’t be the only reason you were in the Restricted Section, though,” she pushed, a smirk crossing her lips.

He chuckled and brushed a strand of hair out of his face. “I suppose I can trust you,” he said. “I’ve been teaching myself Occlumency.”

“No way,” Isadora gasped. “Is that even allowed?”

“I haven’t been told otherwise,” Severus replied with a shrug. “Besides, it’s not a Dark Art. Learning to protect one’s mind from the intrusions of others is something every witch and wizard should be taught.”

“Well, that might be true, but,” Isadora paused as Scarlett rolled over. Her friend’s eyes were still shut, her breathing still heavy: definitely still asleep. “Merlin’s beard, that girl could sleep through a dragon attacking the castle.” She shook her head and turned back to Severus. “How long have you been doing this, anyway?”

“Since third year. I think I’ve got the hang of it, although Legilimency is a bit easier to work than Occlumency,” he explained. It was odd; he had only known Isadora a few months, but he felt very easy around her, like he wasn’t going to be judged or ridiculed like he was with other Slytherin students. The only person he ever truly felt relaxed around was Lily, and this was nothing like being around her. When he was with Lily, his heart sang; he felt like he could take on the entire world single-handed, as long as she was by his side with her smiles and encouragement. He certainly didn’t feel the same way around Isadora…but it was nice to feel like he finally had a friend again. It helped that she wasn’t offended whenever he mentioned the Dark Arts.

Isadora studied him for a minute, her eyes seeming to trace over his whole face. “Can you tell me what I’m thinking right now?” she asked with a laugh.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” he answered. “But…if I were to use Legilimency on you right now...” He paused and stared into her eyes, coal meeting violet, as a grin came over his face. “I would see you being horrifically embarrassed by something Regulus Black said to you earlier this morning.”

He watched, triumphant, as her face flushed deep red, her mouth hanging open and her eyes reduced to mere slits as she glared daggers him. “You saw that?” she hissed, punching him gently on the shoulder.

“I felt compelled to bring it up,” he said with a chuckle as she buried her face in her hands. “What exactly happened? You looked pretty –”

“Mortified?” she finished with a sigh. She double checked to see that Scarlett wasn’t eavesdropping before continuing. “You are not to repeat this to anyone, or I will stuff you in a cauldron on Friday and you will never see your Hogwarts diploma,” she threatened.

Severus placed a hand over his heart, as if to say he swore he would never say a word.

“In fourth year I told my mother I had a crush on Regulus Black,” she started. He held back a snort as she glared at him. “I never mentioned it again, because it’s Black, and even from his first year he was a huge flirt. But my lovely mother has taken it upon herself to play matchmaker for me, and is pushing me to date Regulus…I’m assuming so I can eventually marry him.”

Severus didn’t think it was possible for her face to get any redder, but it did. “Why does your mother care who you marry?” he asked, although he felt he already knew the answer.

“You know my family, Sev. We’re purebloods. Why do you think they want me to marry Black?” she said venomously. “Honestly, I don’t care who I marry. Or if I ever marry. It’s not something I’m interested in at the moment, and yet it’s all my parents can think about. At least my father doesn’t jam it down my throat every chance he gets.”

He remembered with a pang the day he told Lily it didn’t matter what her blood was, where she came from. “Well, I’m sorry to hear that,” he said quietly.

“Thanks,” Isadora muttered through another yawn.

Scarlett slowly sat up next to Isadora, staring bleary-eyed across the lake. “Hello, Severus,” she said warily.

He smirked. He and Isadora had been spending every Friday night together since the start of term (except for Quidditch nights, when she was down on the pitch and he was holed up in the dormitory, entirely uninterested), and had been exchanging pleasantries in the corridors and common room when not in tutoring sessions. While they had started out constantly snapping at each other, their combined bite had lessened considerably since September. He even found himself laughing and smiling on occasion when he was with her. Yet her other friends still couldn’t accept him.

“I had better be going,” he said quietly, brushing himself off as he stood up.

“Oh, well, if you insist,” Isadora answered. He didn’t have to use Legilimency to see that she had been enjoying their conversation and was slightly sad to see it end. “I’ll be going to the library tonight to study, if you’ll be around and want to join.”

He nodded and pulled his cloak around him in the wind. “I’ll consider it. See you in class, at the very least,” he said quietly.

“Later.”

He turned and walked back up the hill, into the biting wind that had suddenly picked up. What did he care if Scarlett Holmes and Callum Bradford didn’t like the fact that Isadora was hanging around with him? Neither of them were particularly bright for their class, nor did they act like Slytherins very often. At least Isadora had some spunk in her; every once in a while he saw her talking down to first and second years, especially to Gryffindors. One morning he had overheard a Muggle-born Ravenclaw first-year ask her about her last name (apparently it was the name of a character in a rather famous Muggle novel about a white whale) and saw Isadora almost leap down his throat for mentioning it. He wasn’t ashamed to admit he was proud of his friend for standing up for her wizarding blood, even if she normally acted like she didn’t care.

As he made his way up the stone steps of the castle, the wind became even stronger; he turned to look out across the school grounds and watched as several other students began to gather their things and make their way back to the school. The sky was beginning to darken.

Storm’s coming, he thought as he went inside.