The next morning found us in Herbology, paired with the Slytherins again, this time to study Mandrakes in their adolescent stage. Professor Sprout had just finished warning us yet again about their temperamental nature and the importance of protective gear when the insult came, sharp and oily like spilled potion.
"I'd keep my distance if I were you," Mulciber muttered under his breath, loud enough for our group to hear. "Wouldn't want the mudblood witch to get her hands dirty."
My gloved fingers froze mid-repotting. I heard a sharp inhale to my right Severus. He'd just finished answering a question about soil acidity, and his eyes snapped to Mulciber with a narrowed, dangerous gleam.
"What did you just say?" he asked quietly, voice like iced steel.
Mulciber just smirked, tilting his head mockingly. "I said she's a—"
But he didn't finish.
Severus didn't say a word. Just twitched two fingers subtly behind his pot, his wand concealed in the folds of his robes. No one noticed the spell cast silent, nonverbal, vicious. But the Mandrake in front of Mulciber did. It suddenly shrieked and writhed, soil exploding around it as its leaves lashed like angry tentacles.
Mulciber yelped and jumped back, nearly falling into the compost bin behind him.
Professor Sprout came rushing over, her apron flapping and her cheeks flushed. "What on earth did you do to it?"
Mulciber gawked, covered in dirt. "I -I didn't touch it!"
My eyes widened as I turned to Severus, who gave me the smallest, most smug smile. I barely held in a laugh.
"He deserved it," Severus murmured to me under his breath.
I nudged him with my elbow and said with a smile, "You shouldn't have done that. You could get a detention."
He shrugged, unconcerned. "It was worth it. No one gets to talk to you like that."
Something warm fluttered in my chest, but I rolled my eyes instead. "Just try not to get expelled, alright?"
He gave a rare, amused smile. "I make no promises."
Later that afternoon, as we left class and walked down the path shaded with flowering vines, Severus leaned close.
"My grandfather wrote back," he said, voice low with excitement. "He said we can use the old potion lab in their cellar during Yule break. The ingredients we need are already there, including purified moonstone and dried Arcadius leaves."
My eyes lit up. "That's brilliant!"
"He also said," Severus added, unable to hide his pride, "that if the prototype works, he'll help us register for an official patent under the Ministry's experimental brews initiative."
I clapped a hand over my mouth to hide my grin, then dropped it quickly. "That's incredible. I'll write to my parents tonight, just in case they've made plans for Yule. But if they haven't—I'm there. I wouldn't miss it for the world."
We turned a corner toward the courtyard just in time to see Pandora, Emmeline, Felix, and Andrew waving us down.
"Come on," Emmeline called. "Transfiguration waits for no one!"
The rest of the day passed in a blur of quills scratching, chalkboards squeaking, and aching backs from leaning over desks. By the time dinner came and went, our group migrated out of habit and shared exhaustion to the library.
At one long oak table, books were strewn around us, and the smell of parchment and ink hung like a soft fog in the air. Severus and I sat at the center, helping the others prep for our upcoming essay on magical flora defense mechanisms.
"No, no," I said, tapping Emmeline's scroll gently. "Creeping Bindweed doesn't paralyze the target—it constricts. You're thinking of Stasis Ivy."
"Bloody hell," Emmeline groaned. "How are you two so good at this?"
I laughed. "When Severus and I still lived near each other, we used to spend hours on the hill behind near our houses practicing magic. Mostly reading his mother's books and trying not to blow things up."
Felix looked up with a grin. "Right, I forgot—you two knew each other before Hogwarts. But Severus, your family's pureblood, right? How'd you end up near a Muggle neighborhood?"
Severus's expression shifted—not cold, just distant. "I didn't grow up with my grandparents. My father was a Muggle. When he passed, my motherand I moved in with my grandparents."
I placed a gentle hand on his arm. "We met when we were ten. He moved shortly after... and then we moved too. But we kept in touchsent letters using his owl, Leon."
Severus gave me a small, rare smile. "She was my first friend."
My heart squeezed a little, and I hugged him impulsively. "You were mine, too."
The group burst into playful groans and teasing whistles.
"Oh, that's adorable," Pandora said with an exaggerated sigh. "True love blooming over magical textbooks."
"I knew it," Felix declared. "You're secretly married, aren't you? Bound by a forbidden potion oath."
We all laughed, the sound echoing off the old stone walls. Eventually, as the library's candles burned low and Madam Pince began glaring our way, we packed up our notes.
Dinner was loud and full of chatter in the Great Hall, our group squished together and elbow-deep in treacle tart and shepherd's pie. And when the yawns came and the plates cleared, we parted ways, stomachs full and hearts lighter.
The stars blinked above the towers as I drifted off to bed.