potioneering. - Sev!

[tanith]

Tanith had been supposed to hold up to her end of the Gobstones bet with Severus' Snape two weeks ago now. It wasn't that she was being cowardly, or that she was sore over losing the game or the bet, after all she had suggested they place a bet on the game in the first place. Besides, even though she knew it was dangerous to try out potions made by a classmate, not yet deemed safe by the Ministry, she was looksing forward to their 'experiment', the agreement that they had made. She had fully intended to comply to their ageements and meet Severus, as arranged, in the dungeons the evening after their late night Gobstones game. But one thing after another had come up to spoil the plans. First of all Tanith had got a detention (unfairly, she still thought) cleaning trophies with Sirius Black. Then there had been the bloody Valentines Ball, which had been a bit of a disaster. She'd had to cancel the Potions Experiment for a second time to accompany Caradoc Dearborn 'as friends', and Car had subsequently left half way through the night with a drunken redhead to enjoy a bit more of a friendly night.

Tonight, as Tanith stood impatiently in the dungeons waiting for Severus to arrive, it seemed an age from their sleep deprived friendly bet in the Common Room. She was early tonight, perhaps to try to overcompensate for the delays, and anxious for him to arrive. She scanned the dungeons for what seemed like the hundredth time, fidgeting slightly. It wasn't because she was particuarly nervous about trying the potion, but she was anxious not to be seen as some sort of coward who was too nervous or stubborn to hold up on her own side of the bet. At the end of their Gobstones game, Tanith had hoped that perhaps it could be a regular thing. She had never spoken to Severus before really, not properly, not alone, and found to her surprise that he was quite good company. She was in no position to pass up potential friends, or good company at all for that matter. But she worried that her procrastination would make her seem flightly or spineless. Who would want to hang around with someone like that?

Finally, Tan scolded herself for worrying so much about it. Slumping down into an alcove in the dungeon wall, she pulled herself up cross-legged and rested a head on her hand, resolving not to look up and down the dungeons again, like a desperate wide-eyed rabbit in headlights. Her last two weeks had been bad enough for worrying, and she wanted to have one night of fun. And she supposed that whether or not it was to be the beginning of a 'beautiful friendship' as they say, it would be fun anyway. It was something she rarely did, breaking the rules like this. Admittedly it wasn't an act of total reckless abandon, it had been Severus' idea to test the potion anyway, but it was almost almost like a night out drinking with friends, at a stretch, because most nights out drinking with friends didn't come about from losing a bet. But, almost. And that seemed fun to her. If he would only hurry up.

[severus snape]

"I'm surprised you didn't try to back out again." The accusation was barely there though as the deepening voice of one Severus Snape echoed along the stone corridor. He'd purposefully waited in the storecupboard so that he could try and surprise her a bit. He wasn't entirely sure why.

He couldn't really comment either since he'd had other things to do first as well and this was really only the second out of their previous 'appointments' that he realisticallt could have made. She didn't need to know that though.

He'd set everything up, the last two stages just needed completeing and then he'd sit back and watch what happened. He might ask her to give him his wand first though...just in case she percieved him through the potion induced haze as some kind of morphed threat and tried to curse him.

He walked out and opened the door to the lab, leaning against the frame with a smirk. "coming, then? Or are you going to back out after all?" He didn't need to goad her, but he thought it an effective way to get her to enter the lab. otherwise she might be too reluctant. And her father was a potions specialist so he needed to make her eager to overcome his probable set of rules over what she should and should not do.

[tanith]

The sudden baritone voice came from nowhere, echoing around the damp walls of the dungeon, and Tanith had to admit, it startled her. She jumped slightly, spinning and instinctiely reaching to her backpocket for her wand before recognising the dark approaching figure. Honestly. Not that Tanith had often met up with people for potion 'testing' in dark dungeons, but she expected that the normal convention would be to say 'hello'. Perhas this was why Severus was not exactly the most popular boy in their year. Or the school, for that matter. She covered her jump and startled spin with an awkward laugh; "Spying, Severus? Or is that always how you approach people?" Although she had been embarrassed and quite tempted to tell him off for startling her, Tan's tone was still playful. She didn't want to scare him off before the actua 'potioneering', creepy approach or not.

At Severus' own playful jibe about her procrastination on meeting up, Tanith shrugged jerkily. She had thought her explanations were alright, actually, and besides that, She was fairly certain that she had spied Severus at the Masquerade Ball as-well, so technically that was at least one thing that they both had to cancel for. "Sorry, I've been busy", she shrugged vaguely, hoping that it sounded more cool and aloof rather than standoffish. For all Severus knew, she could have been 'busy' partying with freiends or navigating a tangled love-life. Which at a considerable stretch could be conceivable, but which of course was not true. Not that he needed to know that. She settled for rolling her eyes behind Sev's back as he made his way to the lab door, a lip twitch betraying an urge to smirk at how he was leaning against the door, smirking confidently.

"'Course not"

The answer to the goading question was out of Tanith's mouth before she even had time to really considerate it. She didn't want to look foolish or cowardly, so pausing or sounding uncertain wasn't an option. Although technically, Tanith supposed she should have been more wary of their 'experiment'. What with her father's prestigious position in the Department for the Regulation of Potions and Poisons, she knew that there were certain rules on experimenting with new concoctions, even for adults, and she and Severus weren't even at NEWT level yet. If his mix was lethal, all her studying for OWL's woud be for nothing. She'd be dead, or worse, expelled. But, a bet was a bet after all. Besides that, Severus was one of the best, if not the best in their year at Potions. She assumed he knew what he was doing, or at least she hoped so. And so, smiling confidently to dispel any doubts she was feeling, Tanith sauntered into the open lab and hopped up onto one of the dusty benches.

"So, er, what does this do exactly, again?" She swung her legs over the side of the bench, posing the question as casually as possible. Sure, she was gnawing tellingly on a nail, but not nervous, course not. The potion wouldn't be lethal, they were sort of friends after all. You don't kill sort of friends.

[ironic post ftw because sev does kill his friends if you count lily, paha. also, couldn't resist stealing a hermione 'killed or worse, expelled' line]

[severus snape]

He was glad that she hadn't been too annoyed by the sneaking but a little disappointed that all he got for his stealthy efforts was a sort of possibly humour-possibly-good-natured laugh. He balked slightly at her greeting and quickly ground out a mildly displeased, "Those rumours Elsie Parkinson's been spreading are completely and demonstrably untrue, you know." H accompanied the statement with a superios and unconcerend sniff.

At her excusing her excuses, he nodded. "OWL's are taking up a lot of my time too." Her imeediate denial was slightly tellling though and he allowed the smirk to persist a little longer before using a pipette to add 3 drams exactly of yuan zhi essence.

Stepping back for a moment to eye the lazily winding ribbon of smoke and critically guage th colour, he glanced up at her through the faintly yellow haze. 2It's a mild Halucinogenic. Should be a bit like dreaming while awake, "
Or going uterly mad, but it was at least only a temporary effect.
LAdling a finger's width into a boiling tube he'd previously fire-cleaned and sterilised to be sure he wouldn't poison her unwittingly, he offered the other slytherin his handiwork, onle long arm outstretched.

He then withdrew the hand before she could take it. "no going back once you've drunk it...." There was a lsightly singsong element to his voice and he shook the tube slightly, "I wouldn't think any the less of you if you did decide not to afater all...." This was mostly posturing because he had drunk the even more risky first draft, and partially to cover himself in the unlikely even that she decided to brain herself on the dungeons walls or something equally untoward. Because... HE had now warned her. Sort of.

"oh yes..I should probably hold onto your wand. For now. In case you take issue with me once under the effefcts...." He held an open palmout next to the offered vial,.

[tanith]

Tanith barely registered Severus' comments about the rumours spread by Elsie Parkinson. She was far to concerned in staring at the intriguing potion brewing in front of them both, coupled with trying not to look intrigued or impressed or concerned over said potion. Aside from that, as it happened she hadn't heard any of these rumours, despite the fact that the Common Room was always heaving with them. It was hard to keep up with gossip in any house but, in Tan's opinion at least, especially in Slytherin. She tried to keep away from indulging in the rumour mills lest she hear something less-than-pleasant about herself. She nodded vaguely at his mention of being busy with OWL's, still watching the smoke rise from Severus' cauldron. "I've started revising already, I'm swamped." She couldn't resist adding in a slightly snide murmur. Being that she lost the bet, and was subsequently going to have to neck a questionable potion, it was understandable she wanted to claw back a bit of power, even it was in snide comments about being more prepared for exams.

"...Mild hallucinogenic" Tanith repeated thoughtfully, unable to decide whether this sounded ominous of promising. She didn't drink, after all, and 'dreaming whilst awake' sounded suspiciously like being drunk. Then again, her aversion to alcohol was not technically to do with an aversion to altered states as such. It was more to do with the taste and smell of the stuff, and of having to put up with nonsense slurrings of other people drinking with you. Drinking alcohol suggested something definitely ominous to her, something about loss of control and vomiting and headaches. But, perhaps naively, 'dreaming while awake' suggested something much nicer, a temporary break from reality with no negative consequences. But she wasn't stupid. This was the concoction of a fifth-year student she didn't know as well as she'd like, and the consequences of knocking it back optimistically might not be as pretty as she hoped. She was slightly tempted to take his warning and back out.

But that would be embarrassing. Instead, Tan pushed any misgivings she had to the back of her mind and shrugged, scoffing. His warning didn't sound very serious anyway, more like he was mocking her in a sing-song voice. "I'm sure you wouldn't. But a bet's a bet" Shrugging again, much more airily than she felt, Tanith took the small vial of brilliant yellow potion from his outstretched hands. Despite her show of confidence she didn't drink it just yet. Instead, she twiddled it between skinny fingers, frowning thoughtfully. "What is in it exactly?" She hoped that, given her own knowledge of potions (which was much less than Severus, although she'd rather not admit that), recognising at least some of the ingredients would show how lethal it'd be. "Is it based of something else, another draught?" The yellow colour reminded her of the Euphoria potion, although Severus' draught was a more acidtoned hue, and slightly offputting. She uncorked it and sniffed thoughtfully, stopping and quirking a brow at his next comment.

"My wand?" Her right hand moved unconciously to her pocket at the thought of handing it over. Evidently, Severus thought her to be much stupider than she'd already indicated by allowing the bet and failing miserably at Gobstones. Handing over your wand whilst drinking an inebriating and possibly lethal potion was suicide, a complete other league of stupidity. She shook her head resolutely. "No, that wasn't part of the bet.." Then trying to sound more amicable, she shrugged and suggested as a compromise - "I'll drink it, but I want to keep my wand. Besides, it's not as if you aren't armed to defend yourself if necessary." 'Or levitate me to the hospital wing', she wanted to add, although bit her tongue, swirling the potion before knocking it back like an unpleasant medicine.

"...Eurgh" She grimaced, spitting into a nearby sink. Despite the acid-lemon colour, the potion tasted very peculiar. Like lime, and quite pleasant at first, but with a rotten aftertaste of a metallic lavender that stung her nose. She set the empty vial down on the desk and blinked at him expectantly. There, no going back now. If she lived through this, she made a note to take gobstones lessons. Either that or stop making ill-advised bets.