Your bottom lip's near dragging on the ground

Once she was out of the Great Hall, Clytemnestra lengthened her stride, hurrying down to the Potions Classroom. She didn't like to look like she was hurrying, but some things couldn't be helped.

She wasn't even sure why she wanted to help Apollo. Was Christian right? Was she trying to prove herself to him? Ugh, no. No, it was that Apollo was being stupid. And by extension Lily was being stupid. And helping them would make them indebted to her. Especially since this was all rather scandalous. Of course.

She let herself into the potions classroom and leaned on the door when she closed it behind her.

"Professor Potter?" she couldn't see the other girl anywhere. Merlin, she better still be here. "I need some help."

Lily wasn't sure one ever relaxed into the role of professor. The bulk of the Hogwarts staff was young, new, uncertain. Stories about Hogwarts from her mother had always been full of these historical giants with such backgrounds that Lily could hardly imagine any of them having any trepidations about their qualifications to teach. She wasn't sure if standards had dropped, or if peacetime just churned out less celebrities.

Regardless, she was feeling even more anxious as of late. Her journal entries reflected a new paranoia, an uncertainty at her act, and if she hadn't already been feeling her isolation, this new distrust in the people around her was making her feel more and more like a marked woman. So she tried to channel it into work. Which meant she was skipping breakfast more often to work on grading, or to review lesson plans.

Today, she was reorganizing the storeroom. She had noticed a particular vial was not where it should have been, but a voice was calling and she tried to remind herself that the logical solution was that it had been misplaced.

She slipped from the storeroom to see - how interesting. Had she not just written about the girl in her journal? A brief mention, but somehow enough to summon her.

"Miss Lux," she said, feeling hypocritical through every syllable. "Certainly. What do you need?"

Oh good. She was here. Clytemnestra dropped the innocent act.

"Clytemnestra," she corrected. "You can call me Clytemnestra."

Her eyes briefly closed while she sighed in defeat. People never wanted to use her full name.

"Or Cly. I suppose. And I hate it when people call me that, so you know, I really do come in peace."

"Can I call you Lily?" she cocked her head to the side as though it really was a question, but the next sentence followed too quickly for that to have been the case. "I'm gonna call you Lily."

"Now, you should really lock this door and do whatever you do to make it so nobody can overhear us. I need to talk to you about the way one of my peers has been behaving."

"Clytemnestra," Lily said, glad to oblige the girl in one small way. Little effort for her, hopefully some good. What was that - low risk, medium yield. Right. Maybe she would have at least one student that liked her.

Honestly, she didn't care if the students liked her. She just hoped the end of year scores were enough to keep her out of any hot water. As if she needed another reason for scrutiny.

Lily's lips pursed as the girl decisively informed her that she'd be referring to her by her first name. If it were class, Lily might have drawn a line, but outside of it, with a girl only a few years younger than herself, it hardly seemed like a battle worth pursuing.

Her eyes narrowed at the girl's reason for being there. But her wand flicked and there was the tell-tale click of the lock and she gestured toward one of the chairs in the front, leaning on her desk. "I'm not sure how I can be of help. Head of Houses are certainly better with student conflict."

Clytemnestra followed Lily to the front and sank happily into a chair. At least Lily was malleable enough. Maybe that's what Apollo liked about her.

She rolled her eyes to the ceiling, but then flicked them back to Lily's face. Actually, that hadn't been as stupid as she'd originally written it off. Lily couldn't really afford to assume anyone knew what she was up to.

"Ordinarily, I'd agree," she said frankly, "but I've been led to believe you might be more adept at persuading Apollo than the average teacher."

"And all the stunts he's been pulling lately seem to be about defending your honour or something. I don't think you want me telling Professor Aldon that."

She flicked a hand through her hair and began carelessly twirling a tendril round a finger.

"Seriously, you should just give the guy a detention and tell him to stop being so obvious. You need to acknowledge him more, anyway. Never talking makes you look just as weird as being inseparable would."

Lily had been smart to reach for a file on her desk before the girl had been given a chance to speak, thumbing through. Because when she heard Apollo's name, she was able to keep looking through the file, her eyes lowered as her mind quickly began to turn, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do.

Her instincts had been right then. There had been some strange vibes coming off the Lux girl. What had happened to suddenly shift the focus back to her and Apollo. No one had seemed to notice the semester before.

Merlin, the ball had been a stupid idea.

She finally lifted her eyes as Clytemnestra expanded upon the thought, lowering the file so she could watch the girl's face. What stake did the Slytherin have in the situation? She certainly seemed flippant enough. Was she just trying to get a rise out of her?

"I don't believe I've treated him any differently than anyone else," Lily said. "I'm not keen on calling on people who don't volunteer - he doesn't volunteer. I have no idea what stunts you're talking about. You can tell Professor Aldon if you're concerned. You may have heard some rumors but I assure you - there's no weight to them anymore."

Because what point was there in denying she had been involved with him before. They had blown that cover.

Merlin, Apollo would not like being called in to talk with Professor Aldon.

Clytemnestra blinked at Lily and thought about what her mother had told her about the houses.  Gryffindors were the rule breakers and Slytherins were the rule makers.  There was another part about Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, but that wasn't relevant right now.

"Well, what you believe doesn't really matter," she said. "You should be worried what everyone else believes."

She flicked her hair back behind her shoulder.

"The other day during the history lecture, Julian Kapur suggested some things.  You know how he is.  And ever since, Apollo's been trying to get back at him.  That doesn't make it look like nothing's going on," she said.

"I mean, I tried to help.  Told Kapur you wouldn't be seen dead near the likes of Apollo.  Or, I might have said it the other way around.  It doesn't matter.  The point is, I backed him up, and instead of thanking me he went straight back to making himself look like a fool," Clytemnestra glared at Lily.  This was all her fault, after all.

"I don't know where he learned that from," she added sarcastically, "but that's not how it works.  He owes me. There are a bunch of freaky Slytherins in our house right now who think they're Tom Riddle reincarnated, and your boyfriend might not be the brightest spark but he's better than nothing."

This wasn't working. Clytemnestra was shrewd and unabashed, and Lily was trying too hard to walk the fine line between a lie and a half-truth. She knew Apollo well enough to know that it wouldn't take much for his hyper-critical brain to take any rumors of her disdain more seriously than he should, as they both had a part to play, and she had hoped to avoid really committing to the role.

That was no longer an option.

"You ever think Apollo was just trying to defend his own reputation?" Lily respond, eyebrow arching as though that were an obvious first thought. "Listen - we used to be involved, but we're not anymore. The last words he had for me were pretty harsh so I doubt he's going around acting like a fool for any nobler reason than his own pride. I don't think sending him to detention over something I haven't witnessed is going to help any."

She desperately wanted to know exactly what he was doing that had caused one of his own classmates to snitch on him, but doubling down on their break up scheme was the priority here.

"If you'd like, I can pass on to his Head of House or the Deputy Headmaster that something is going on."

"Uh, no?" Clytemnestra replied.

She honestly hadn't considered that Apollo might be trying to defend his own reputation.  Clytemnestra didn't consider that Apollo had a reputation worth defending.  So far as she was concerned, he was known for playing quidditch and being the kind of boy who probably only got into Slytherin for being pureblood.

She shrugged. Like it mattered whether they were really involved any more, when half the school was convinced of it.  Clytemnestra was just about to tell Lily as much, when she was stopped short.

Gryffindors.  Honestly.

"What?" she scoffed.  "You're not supposed to give him detention for that.  You're his teacher.  Make something up.  Or, I don't know, mark one of his essays down and make him stay behind after class."

"Just make sure he knows to stop being an embarrassing twerp. He's making Slytherin look bad, and Slytherin doesn't need his help to look bad."

She ignored what Lily said about telling Aldon or Thorfinn.  She wouldn't have dropped the information if she wasn't expecting Lily passing it on, after all.