Amortentia Dolorosa

She was walking on the top floor of the of the Leaky Cauldron,making her way down while she read a book.

Notre Dame de Paris was one of her favourites, and having a book that remind her of home, something French and comforting was just what she needed. Being so wrapped up in her book she unfortunately didn't notice the boy coming up the stairs, and thus walked with into him, dropping her book and losing her balance in the process.

"Excuse you, Miss." Severus checked the girl across the chest, with the side of his forearm, as she flailed toward him.

"And people wonder what's wrong with Wizarding England, today..." he muttered. "Bloody witches who can't watch where they're going."

She caught herself on the railing, closing missing falling down the stairs and rolled her eyes.

"Maybe, it ezz because there are boys like you who don't know chivalry!" she said in a huff,her French accent quite pronounced for a moment, fixing herself and grabbing her book on the top of the stairs. "Or is it a habit of yours to be an ass to people that are going about their business."

She stood silent for a moment, grinding her teeth and taking a deep breath, "I just tripped on the landing alright. I-apologize for out burst, it was unneeded."

"Maybe, it's because boys like me aren't expecting to be barrelled into, by girls who read books on the stairs," Sev commented, quite sensibly, stepping aside, to let her pass. Nightrain was right. He wasn't going to get girls, at this rate. Not that he was looking to get girls. Why had he even let that American put such ideas in his head?

"A-- are you certain you're all right?" He figured that was the appropriate thing to say, but he felt like a fool asking, when he was sure he should just snort and finish walking to his room. She was of no consequence, but still... she looked rather distressed about the whole affair, and he couldn't help but think of his mother...

She laughed very awkwardly and blushed slightly. "I am sorry. You are right, I should not be reading on the stairs. But I normally have a good ear for people going up and down, so it -- normally it's not an issue."

"Yes, yes, I'm fine thank you," she said, half smiling, feeling like a fool.

"Let me make it up to you!" she offered suddenly, having felt quite awkward about the entire thing. "Let me get you a drink...or something..."

Again with people buying him drinks. This never used to happen, and somehow, he was sure this was all Roddy's fault, somehow. He tried to think of what Lucius would say at a time like this.

"Well, I was headed back to my room for the night," he started, looking thoughtful, "but, I suppose if you want to buy me a drink, I can't really object."

Smooth. That was almost good enough to be Lucky, so why did he feel like an absolute idiot, having said it?

He held out his hand to the girl. "Should I help you down the rest of the stairs, just in case?" he joked, with a slight smile.

"I would like that..." she said, an embarrassed smile crossing her lips. She wasn't used to people her own age, so she felt terribly awkward. "It's the least I could do, considering I almost pushed you down the stairs."

"But, I think I can manage, as long as I keep my nose out of my book." She paused, getting ready to go down the stairs. "Also,if you would prefer, We don't have to get a drink, I mean you did say you were going back to your room didn't you? "

"I was, yes. I have to catch the train, tomorrow morning," he explained, offhand, assuming that anyone in the Leaky Cauldron would know exactly what he was talking about. "But, my room, especially in such a place as this, is hardly an appropriate place for company."

His mother had taught him a few things, before she went mad, and among them, he'd learned that you never allow a lady into your private rooms, unless she's a very good friend or your wife.

"If, however, you mean that you prefer to be spared my company, you probably shouldn't have offered in the first place." He eyed her, cautiously, trying to gauge her response.

“The train?” she asked curious, not having any idea what he was talking about.

She stood silent, not knowing how to respond for a moment and laughed, “No, no, not at all, I just mean if you have other things...the drink could be at another time. Also, it's not like it would be alcohol....unless you want wine which would be in my room since I brought it from home.”

“Because I can't buy you a real manly sort of drink anyway since I'm underage.”

"The train. The Hogwarts Express. I have to go back to school." He pondered what she'd said for a moment. "Don't you have to go, too? If you're too young to buy whiskey...?"

"Probably none of my business," he answered himself, tucking his greasy hair behind his ear.

"But, I could -- I mean..." He sucked at this whole girls thing. Sucked eggs. "I don't really need that much sleep. If you want to get a drink..." He raised ah eyebrow, amusedly. "... a less than 'manly' drink, that is, I could be convinced."

Lily was going to be so mad. Lily was already so mad. It would be an act of Merlin, himself, if she even spoke to him to hear about this. Besides, this girl -- he didn't even know her name -- was randomly being nice to him. Even Lily said he had a face only his mother could love, even if her eyes did sparkle when she said it. Maybe this girl didn't see very well. That was probably it.

“Oh, I was home schooled.” she said, nodding her head slightly, and taking in this information. “I assume that my education is complete, but I was told I still had to go to Hogwarts in the fall."

“Well, wine isn't manly you see, but it is delicious. I made it with my mother...not long before I left. Or there is butter beer...”

She stood, waiting for his answer playing with her book.

"Well, if the wine is delicious..." He looked interested, for a moment, then shook his head. "I wouldn't want to deprive you of something special. If you made it with your mother, that's probably something important."

"I've heard rumour of a Jamaican sparkling drink that my friend says is like 'drinking a kick in the mouth, but in a good way'." Severus made awkward finger quotes, recalling Sullivan's comments on the subject of the orange-ginger combination. "I suspect it's available here, this being the transit hub for Wizarding England."

"I don't mind really, I have several bottles to many. At least take one, as a gift to say sorry. I...I don't often talk to people..." she chuckled a bit awkwardly once more and scratched the back of her neck. "So really, It is more of a thank you...I guess."

"I am terribly awkward, sorry."


"So drinking a kick in the mouth?"

"I think there's a lounge at the end of the hall. We could drink some wine there, if you like." Severus really had no idea what to say. He'd never been in a situation even slightly like this. "That's probably a much better idea than Sullivan's ginger and oranges. At least one of us knows what the wine tastes like."

A nervous laugh slipped out -- a sharp, short sound, in the quiet hall. "I'm also not sure I want to drink something that tastes like a kick in the mouth. I've been kicked in the mouth. It didn't taste very good, no matter what Sullivan says."

By this point, he was staring intently at the steps and rubbing the back of his head with one hand. You're not awkward, he thought, I am.

"Alright." she said, a bit more sure of herself now that she had some idea of what was going to happen, and that they were no longer going to stand at the top of the stairs.

"Ahh yes...I've been kicked in the teeth before too.." she said quietly, "The entire thing was quite an unsettling even, and so I agree with you in the fact that drinking something even remotely related to that situation has to be unpleasant. "

"Shall I go get the bottle?"

He nodded. "The lounge," Severus said, determinedly, "I shall meet you in it."

With that, he bowed, and headed down the hall, determined to find a comfortable seat before the girl -- Merlin's balls, he'd forgotten to introduce himself, again -- before the girl, to whom he needed to introduce himself, arrived.

Couches and chairs surrounded a variety of low tables. He rejected the couches immediately, not wanting to seem too forward, especially since he had no intention of being forward with her. Not that if he did want to, he'd have the faintest idea where to start. No, that wasn't quite true. He could act like Roddy, but that wasn't likely to be at all effective.

Irrelevant. Chairs. He needed chairs, and found two large ones with a round table, near one of the two fireplaces. Finally something like relaxed, or at least less entirely unnerved, he settled into one of the chairs, crossing one leg under his other knee, and pulling his hair back down to shade his face.

She arrived a few minutes later holding two bottles, two glasses and an opener. “I wasn't to sure of what you would prefer...” she said a bit embarrassed.

“This one,” she said holding up a green bottle, “Is a Peach Chardonnay. It's fairly sweet, but has a high alcohol content.” She sat in the opposing chair and placed everything on the table. “The other,” she said gesturing the clear glass to a crimson liquid “is a Syrah, it has a spicy flavor and is rounded out with things like black cherries and blackberries. "

She shifted to cross her legs beneath her, sitting Indian style on the chair and waited for his answer.

She was asking him to pick a wine... This was not part of the plan, and Severus did his best not to look entirely clueless. Roddy liked fruity things, he reminded himself. What would Roddy do? And how would he not sound like an absolute queer, making Roddy's choice?

"The Syrah," he said, with a solemn nod, suddenly realising that Roddy would have picked the Chardonnay, for the peaches. "I like blackberries."

Zero points for Severus Snape. Way to sound like a witless gobshite, Sev. 'I like blackberries'? What in Auntie's name was that? He managed not to shake his head at himself, and stayed very still, in the hopes he'd look solemn, rather than petrified.

"You're from France?" he asked, like a moron. Of course she was from France. The accent said it all.

“Syrah it is.” she said, grabbing the bottle and opening it effortlessly, pouring him a glass she handed it over and repeated the motion for her own. Putting the bottle down the grabbed her glass, swirling the wine with in it around gently looking at the color and consistency before taking a deep breath of it, then a small sip. Once she found it to her taste, she took a larger sip.

“It doesn't necessarily have an over powering taste of blackberries.”she said, after her drink, “It just has blackberries in it. As a flavoring.”

“Yes,I'm from Roubaix, it's near the boarder of Belgium. I also know that my English is not that good, so you would of had to assume that I was from France.” she said lightly.

“What about you, where are you from?” she took another sip, before suddenly bursting into laughter, “Even better, what is your name?”

Way to stick your foot in that one, Severus. He blushed, slightly, high on his cheeks, and tried to hid it by taking a drink.

"I -- um," he stuttered, completely forgetting his composure. "Severus Snape. I'm from Sunderland."

But, if she was from France, that was meaningless. "It's a town --" Way to state the obvious. "A shipbuilding town -- spans the River Wear."

"And you?" he asked, pushing the panic back down, and coasting back into some version of smoothness. "You are from Roubaix, but what is your name?"

“I'm sorry.” she said seriously, to embarrass the boy, no Severus, was not her intention. “I didn't mean to be an ass....”

“My name is Violette LaReine.” she said, taking a large gulp from her glass, and moving her hair behind her ear.

"Miss LaReine, I assure you, if you were being an ass, I would inform you of that fact, in no uncertain terms." Severus leaned back and sipped at his glass of wine, his hollow eyes becoming obvious, in the firelight, as his hair slid back from his face.

He gazed into the glass for a long moment. "This wine is quite good. Thank you."

"Good, I don't want you to be all tactful because of my gender." she said with a chuckle.

She played with her glass a bit before taking a sip and nodding, "It is isn't it. To bad it isn;t the season, because there is a cranberry one that is also quite good....Also," she added, "You're welcome. I ...well, don't talk to people my age so I am not sure of the protocol...."

"I am more than content to break with protocol, since the whole of it generally ends with me getting thrown into a lake, or something equally appalling. It is, perhaps, your unfamiliarity with good English manners that has saved me the trouble, thus far." The words dripped from his mouth, syrupy and caustic, and for long moment, Severus simply gazed bitterly through his glass, into the fire.

His eyes lit up with curiosity as his attention returned to the girl across the table. "So, was it pleasant being educated without the distractions of the shrieking masses? I've often wondered if I might not have been better off, left to my own devices with a library and a laboratory."

She rose an eyebrow at his comment about being tossed into a lake and shrugged. "Being home schooled was....necessary . I was terribly shy..." she paused for a minute, trying to find a way not to mention her dark little secret, and took another drink.

"I just don't play very well with others." she finally said, with a small laugh, "And my mother was a Pantheist, not a Pure Blood which, thus I was sometimes made fun of." she shrugged, "It was just easier. Now as for what it was like....Interesting." she smiled, thinking back on a few things. "My mother made sure that I got the same education as someone who would of gone to school would get. And living in the middle of no where made it easy to read all the time. So interesting, and satisfying, is my answer I believe..."

"My mother is the last of a noble pureblood house, and I am her heir." Severus spoke with pride, his chin lifting just a fraction. Her heir, he was. But she was not their heir, and the Prince family's goods would fall to the Ministry, if they hadn't already. It didn't matter. He didn't need them. He was better than them.

"It was," he added with a bitter smile, "the one favour fortune granted me."

"So, in the schools, most of us take a speciality. Some one or two things that we're really brilliant with. Do you have one?" He sipped the wine, and then swirled the glass, peering through it. "I study potions."

She shifted, moving to sit on her legs and thought for a moment, "I would have to say Herbology and Defense are probably the things I am the best at, academically. "

"But what is the point of picking a specialty at this age?"

"I don't know that I can be said to have chosen a speciality. It is more accurate to say that I simply have one, and I let it be recognised as such. I would assume it is the same for most students. Those things we do well, we are permitted to do at a higher level -- we learn more about them, and many of us go on to use those skills professionally.

"I, myself, will be taking the place of a certain master of charms, who currently brews potions, because his ... company lacks a potions master. He's quite good, but he is not and will never be what I will become, in another year or two. Nor will any of my useful, but ill-constructed, hexes ever come close to those of which he is capable, in that field."

He shrugged. "Why do we take specialities? Because they permit us to build paths for our lives, and prevent us from suddenly running out of road."

Not that he hadn't lost everything he thought he wanted in life... Lily was still furious, his mother was still insane, and his family was still poor and living in a Muggle slum. But, he had a chance to do good work that he enjoyed, and he'd be paid well to do it. He'd had the rug yanked out from under him, only to be replaced by an utterly practical parquet floor.

"Interesting." she mumbled after a moments reflection. She took another sip of wine and looked around, noticing the the room had emptied itself.

"Why..." she started, after a few moments of silence, "did you chose potions? Or did it chose you?"

"It chose me, not that I would have chosen anything else. It is a rare talent, I have heard." Severus sounded ever-so-slightly smug. "It makes sense -- proper sense -- in a way that so few other things do, in this world."

She chuckled slightly, "I know about how nothing makes sense, the world that is....nothing is fair etc...But at this point I have realized that you just have to roll with it, and hope that things work out."

she finished her glass and poured herself another before tipping the bottle in Snape's direction,

"Or you can fight it." Severus held out his glass, so she could fill it. "Just dig in your heels, grit your teeth, and demand your due. If everyone rolls over, who's to make sure we're not getting rolled, as a society?"

He took another drink of wine. "Not that I have any fondness for the current social state, but they are the first shield between the greater evils of the world and me, personally. If they tuck and roll, where does that leave me? If I push them to stand, I, too, can stand, and not be crushed by the weight."

As he brought the glass to his lips again, he could feel the prickling rush of tipsy adrenaline dancing through his fingertips. "One good use for Slytherin cunning -- telling a man to go to hell for you, and making him think it was all his own brilliant idea."

"Yes well, the system here is a lot less accepting of differences the one back home, thus I would rather 'tuck and roll' as you put it then call attention to myself."

She chastised herself mentally for making such a comment, and brought her glass down from her lips before drinking, deciding that at the moment she'd had enough to drink.

"Slytherin, that's a house at Hogwarts right? I have to go in a few days to get sorted actually....but any literature I can find on the subject is vague on house information..."

"A few days? That's tomorrow! It's why I'm here, actually, I have to catch the train, in the morning." Severus sighed and finished the fresh glass in one swallow. "I don't need the sleep, really, but I won't be responsible for you being disoriented with exhaustion, when the sorting hat has its run at you."

He set the glass on the table. "You should sleep, Miss LaReine. No doubt I shall see you on the train, in the morning. Would you..." He paused, feeling foolish. "Would you like me to walk you to the station?"

"Tomorrow?" she said eyes wide, "Shite!" she exclaimed loudly, then placing her hand over her mouth before letting out a laugh.

"Well, it's a good thing I bought my things yesterday...I erm, apologize for the outburst, I thought I would have more time...."

Sighing, she finished her glass and placed it on the table, leaning back she nodded, "If you wouldn't mind I would appreciate the directions at least....as for lack of sleep. it is something I am quite used to."

Severus stood and bowed to her. "Be in the lobby at six. You'll get where you're going with plenty of time. I'll make sure of it."

He turned to leave the room, tucking his hair behind his ear, but paused at the door. "Whatever you may hear, Slytherin is the most cunning of houses, but Hufflepuff is likely the safest. I will see you in the morning."

With that, he swept out of the room, trailing a lingering air of melodrama.

She watched the boy walked up the stairs and shook her head. Picking up her things, she walked back to her room and went to bed.


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