Author's note:
Their friendship is official! I hope you enjoy!
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Word count: 1.5k
Warning: Blood and swear words

It's a new day. Severus strolls towards the Potions classroom and enters without acknowledging the students. He sighs to himself before facing the fifth-year Slytherins and Gryffindors.

"Today you will be brewing Strengthening Solution. You will turn to page four hundred and twelve for instructions. Begin" he orders.

Groaning, the students quickly gather the needed ingredients. As they do so, the Potions Master notices three particular Gryffindors missing.

"Where are-" he starts to ask just as the door opens. Ah, they decided to show up.

"How polite of you to show up, Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley. Fifteen points will be taken from Gryffindor. Turn to page four hundred and twelve. You will be brewing Strengthening Solution" he states, irritated that he has to repeat himself.

The boys gulp while the girl looks embarrassed that they were late. Severus wonders what they were up to that was apparently more important than Potions class.

The three of them hurry up to gather the ingredients and begin brewing like their fellow classmates.

As Severus walks around to inspect the students, he notices Y/L/N having trouble as Draco helps her.

He raises an eyebrow at that. If anything, it's usually Draco who needs help from her. She could do this potion in her sleep.

When he walks closer, he notices that her right hand is bandaged. He wonders what happened to her.

Once the lesson is finally over and he has given a satisfied amount of points to Slytherin and taken enough from Gryffindor, he dismisses the class.

"Hopefully, your attempts will be better in the next lesson. Class dismissed" he states, looking annoyed by their poor attempts. If you can even call them attempts.

All the students immediately leave. Before Y/L/N can leave as well, Severus stops her.

"Ms. Y/L/N, a word?" he asks, though in a more demanding tone.

The girl sighs. "Of course, professor. I will meet you in the common room, Draco" she tells her friend. Nodding, the boy leaves the classroom.

Severus clears his throat after he has levitated a chair in front of his desk.

"Have a seat" he orders.

She hesitates a bit before finally doing so. He sits down as well.

"So, tell me, what has happened to your hand?" he questions, looking at her bandage.

She touches her injured hand with her other. "Oh, um, nothing" she mutters, clearly lying.

He sighs at that. "Don't be foolish, Y/L/N. It's bandaged, something is clearly wrong. It made you unable to brew the potion" he says, giving her a serious look.

Her cheeks turn red from embarrassment. "You noticed?" she quietly asks.

He nods. "Of course I did. Now, what happened? I won't ask again" he says, sounding a bit harsher this time.

As she doesn't look at him nor gives him a reply, he rises from his seat and steps in front of her.

"Let me see your hand" he demands.

Sighing, she reaches out her hand. He gently grabs it as he starts undoing the bandage. She winces as he does so.

"Sorry" he mutters.

Once he removes it, he notices the wound must be bleeding as there is fresh blood on the bandage.

When he looks at her hand, he widens his eyes. The words "I must follow the lessons" are engraved into her hand, blood-red. It looks extremely painful.

"Who did this?" he demands, looking at her hand in disbelief.

Y/L/N sniffles. "Professor Umbridge. I refused to follow her lesson. She just makes us read and not do actual magic! We won't learn about Defence Against the Dark Arts solely on reading. She gave me detention - it was my first detention ever. She made me write this sentence on a piece of parchment. I was only allowed to use a specific quill. It seemed odd, but I shrugged it off. When I wrote it, it was cut into my hand. It hurt so bad, and it still does" she whispers the last part, lips trembling as a few tears leave her eyes.

Severus immediately wipes away her tears with his thumb.

He however can't help but get furious and balls his hands into fists. His blood is boiling.

"That toad. That fucking toad! She is going to wish she had never been born! I swear, Y/N, if she hurts you again-" he says in anger, gritting his teeth.

He however stops when he finally realises what he just called her. Y/N. He just called her by her first name.

The girl looks just as shocked as Severus.

He clears his throat. "I apologise, that wasn't appropriate..." he says, sure that she will storm out of the classroom in disgust.

She doesn't, however. Instead, she shyly smiles at him.

"Y/N? Does that mean we are... friends?" she hesitantly asks, nervously biting her lip.

Severus blinks a few times. She isn't mad at him?

"No, I call all my students by their first name... Of course we are friends. That is, if you agree?" he questions, looking at her curiously.

Would she really like to be friends with her Head of House?

"I would love that... May I call you Severus, then?" she quietly asks.

He almost smiles. His name sounds beautiful when it comes out of her mouth.

Chuckling, he nods. "Of course you may, Y/N. Only when we are alone, of course. I don't call Draco by his first name in front of the others after all" he says, looking serious.

Y/L/N- Y/N nods. "Of course, don't worry" she says, smiling.

He gently grabs her hand again.

"You haven't been able to heal it, huh?" he asks as he inspects her hand.

The girl sighs before nodding. "I have tried everything. Nothing seems to work. Maybe I shouldn't become a healer, I can't even heal myself" she mutters, sounding insecure.

"Look at me" he gently demands. She immediately does so.

"You will become a fantastic healer. You can't know everything immediately. Are you aware of the possibility for fifth-year students and above to volunteer and try out their dream jobs during the week before Christmas?" he asks.

Y/N nods. "I do. Do you think I should try?" she questions, looking unsure.

He immediately nods. "Of course you should. I know they will say you are exactly what they are looking for at St. Mungo's Hospital" he tells her.

She smiles at him. "Thank you, sir- Severus" she says, giggling.

Severus smirks at her correcting herself. He then leaves to grab something in his storage room. He returns with a small vial.

"Let's try and see if this will work" he says before grabbing her hand again.

He tilts the vial as the liquid touches the wound. It disappears after a few seconds.

Y/N widens her eyes. "How?" she merely asks, stunned for words.

"This contains tears of a phoenix. It has healing properties and can heal a wound almost in an instant" he explains.

He got them from Albus' phoenix once. The Headmaster didn't seem to mind.

The girl smiles at him. "Thank you, Severus" she says, giving a grateful look.

"Anytime. Now, you will come to me if Umbridge ever does something like this again, understood?" he tells her.

He might 'accidentally' spill his hot coffee over the pink-dressed toad one morning...

She nods at him. Realising he's still holding her hand, he immediately lets go of it as he's afraid she feels uncomfortable.

The girl blushes.

He clears his throat. "So... Has anybody else received detention?" he questions, wondering who else has endured the pain.

"Yes. Harry Potter was the first one. It was our first lesson, actually. He said that we need to be able to defend ourselves because You-Know-Who is back" she says.

Ah, right. The Ministry keeps denying the rumours that the Dark Lord has returned. If only they knew.

"I see. Do you believe that he is back?" he asks, looking curious to know her thoughts.

She thinks for a while. "I'm not sure, but something clearly happened in that labyrinth before the summer. Somebody killed Cedric Diggory" she states, looking sure.

He gets the urge to tell her the truth, to tell her everything. He almost can't bear keeping everything to himself anymore.

He has no choice, however. He can't tell anyone anything. He sighs to himself. Being a spy isn't easy...

"I think you are right" he merely says, not telling her anything he knows.

Y/N then rises from her seat. "Thank you for healing my hand, Severus. I have to go to the common room now" she says, giving him a shy smile.

"You are welcome. I'll see you in the next lesson, Y/N" he says. Nodding, she gives a small wave before leaving.

Once she's gone, Severus sits down on his chair. Y/N... He will need to get used to saying that.

He then sighs, burying his face in his hands. He wishes he could tell her everything.