Thread: Monkshood (Juno and Pretorius) (HP Snape/OC)

Of course. One could never dream of interrupting such a delicate procedure. He was practically performing some sort of muggle method of open-heart surgery, wasn't he? Lexie resisted the urge to roll her bright blue eyes and reminded herself that her esteemed potions professor had an obvious hard-on for such things. She could almost remember his little speech during her first year. It was hard to forget. What was it? Bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death? Right. At that age, she had been far more fascinated with the uncanny billowing of his robes than putting a stopper in anything. Though, she couldn't think too poorly of him now. He had really shown his true colours throughout this entire nasty ordeal with Voldemort. Lexie tilted her head to the side, almost as if this allowed her a better view of Snape at work. She wasn't as guilty as others. Oh no! She had definitely been among those rare few who deemed Severus Snape a good guy , as it were. Dumbledore was the reasoning behind this. She had always put her full faith in the old wizard, partly because her parents had done the complete opposite. Aside from all that, Lexie had always deemed his malevolent appearance too obvious. Perhaps she spent too much time watching those muggle horror films but if that were the case then Snape would definitely not be the bad guy. Nay, in some strange twist he would be the one to save them all! In a sense, he had. The man had done a lot and Lexie did not easily forget. Gaze softening considerably, Lexie broke away from her thoughts only to be met with the usual reprimanding tone that only Snape could dish out so well. Her eyes immediately found the clock and she couldn't help but frown just the slightest. Late? It had not even occurred to her that she ought to check the time. The momentary panic that washed over her was quickly masked by a look of utter neutrality. Choosing not to honour him with a reply unless absolutely necessary, Lexie strode over to the directed chair across from the potions master, crossing one impossibly long leg over the other as she sat. Her posture felt stiff to her but she refused to allow her aching spine some release. Impressing Snape was no easy task and she was the farthest thing from Slytherin without being Godric Gryffindor himself. As a student, she had always felt terribly uneasy under that stare. She always had the nagging suspicion that he was invading her mind and discovering all kinds of nasty things to use to his advantage. Naturally when she had discovered his being a Legilimens she hadn't been the least bit surprised. Still, it was unsettling all the same. Resisting the urge to chew her lip raw as she always did when nervous, Lexie attempted the impossible task of occluding her mind to any and all probing he may have deemed necessary. One could never tell with Severus Snape. The sarcasm in his tone was not missed and Lexie made it a point to not react. Why play right into his hands and give him what he desired? She would not lose her temper and she would not lose this job. All at once, the fierce Gryffindor determination seemed to return, those blue eyes practically blazing with ambition. Her gaze dropped down to his fingers and for a moment, all thoughts of Occulumency escaped her as she studied the slender fingers. This was perhaps one of the few things, if not the only thing that she had always admired about Snape. He had the most beautiful hands she had ever seen. The fingers were long and pale and capable of performing all kinds of near-impossible tasks. They appeared to her, the hands of an artist and while Lexie had no real love for potions, she could grudgingly admit that it could be seen as an art-form. For what seemed like the umpteenth time, those smooth, velvety tones cut through her reverie and Lexie had enough sense to catch the bold question. She could already feel the anger flaring up in the pit of her stomach. What kind of a ridiculous question was that? She was here to teach, not to be bullied into submission by some git who could not even afford to mend his robes when they clearly needed it! Quite forgetting herself, Lexie narrowed her eyes and directed her cool gaze at his elbow. You might want to take care of that, professor . Never mind that she had no business saying anything about his attire but then, she would silently justify her actions by reminding herself that he had no business treating her like some sort of incompetent child. While life is a continuing learning process and believe me, sir, I do intend to learn from the best, here her eyes would flicker back to his face and linger there for as long as it took for the message to be made clear, I think it would be counter-productive of you to treat me as a pupil if I intend to break past those boundaries and become a full-fledged teacher. There. She had said her piece and now she could only await his scathing rebuttal with bated breath.