Harry Potter sat at the Gryffindor table on the first day of his sixth year
at Hogwarts. His best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger sat on
either side of him. Though Harry knew he should be excited about his first
day of school, he still felt rather completely apprehensive. Ron and
Hermione didn't seem to be excited either. They were lethargic, bordering
on indifference.
"I wonder who our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will be this year," asked Hermione, nonchalantly.
"That woman up there," said Ron, gesturing haphazardly towards the high table. There was a dark haired witch in midnight blue robes talking to Professor Snape. She looked to be in her late thirties.
"Wonder what she's like," Harry said.
Ron snorted. "She can't be worse than that Umbridge cow."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Hermione said, apprehensively. "She seems to be getting on pretty well with Snape."
Both Ron and Hermione were wrong, however. The dark haired witch with the blue robes was not the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and she was not getting on well with Snape.
"Potions is fine; I'll teach potions," she was saying in a low, raspy voice while eyeing Snape harshly. "Because from what I gather, you have wanted the Dark Arts position for quite a while now."
"So I have," Snape replied. He did not look at the woman who fixed him with such a piercing stare.
"And I'm the only one who stepped back and gave it to you. I'm interested, Severus, why is that? Why didn't Dumbledore just hire a new potions master? Why didn't he automatically give you the Dark Arts position when the last one left? Why - "
"I don't know Margaretta." Snape was irritated. "Why all of these questions? I am good at potions, and Dumbledore wanted me there. And you. What do you know about potions?"
"I know enough to teach a bunch of kids."
"I was afraid of that. Maybe I'll just take that position back."
"Ah, but you wouldn't do that." The woman was smug. "You want the Dark Arts too badly, and that's fine, that's fine." She smiled when she saw Snape's face fall. She could read him like a book.
"You're right." These words left a bad taste in Snape's mouth. He would not let this new girl win, though. "From what I gather, you have little experience in the field of potions. If you ever need any help, don't hesitate to ask."
"And if you ever need any -"
"Oh don't even start, woman. I know more about the Dark Arts than you could ever hope to know." It was Snape's turn to fix his interlocutrix with a bitter stare. She, however, was unfazed.
"Oh, you don't even know me, Severus."
Professor Dumbledore turned from his conversation with Professor McGonagall. "Professor Laurence?" he asked quietly. "Could you and Professor Snape put your quarrel on hold for a moment? I need to make the announcements to the school."
Professors Snape and Lawrence stopped talking and looked out over the vast crowd. Everyone had gone quiet, suddenly, and all eyes were pointed at Dumbledore.
"Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our feast, I would like to introduce you to your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who is more familiar to you than you may think." He gestured towards Professor Snape who stood up. "Professor Snape will be teaching you the Defense Against the Dark Arts this year -" He allowed a moment for applause, "so I will need to introduce you to your new potions professor."
He gestured towards the woman at whom everyone was staring. She stood up. "This," Dumbledore said, "Is Professor Margaretta Laurence. She is foreign in this country as well as in this school." Whispers spread throughout the Great Hall. Professor Lawrence smiled at this reaction. "I trust that you will all make her feel welcome at Hogwarts." The applause started, and she sat down, shooting Snape a look that clearly said, "I got more applause than you did."
The next morning at breakfast, the students got their course schedules and were looking them over intently. "Defense against the Dark Arts first thing," said Harry.
"Argh, and potions is next!" moaned Ron.
"You've forgotten we don't have Snape for potions anymore," Hermione reminded him.
"Oh yeah," said Ron. "Do you think potions is actually a fun course, and we just never knew it 'cos we always had a dreadful git for a professor?"
"I don't know," replied Harry. "I'm nervous about having Snape for Dark Arts. I'm taking more of those to prepare for Auror training."
"Oh, you're right," said Ron. "I'm glad I'm not you."
"That new lady looks nice, though," said Hermione. "In Muggle school I had a lady science teacher and I really liked her. I hope Professor Laurence will be a lot like Mrs. Gibson."
Ron rolled his eyes. "You'll find out exactly how much she is like Mrs. Gibson after Dark Arts," Harry said.
"Well, we had better go to Snape's."
"Potter, Weasley, Granger, you're late," Snape said coldly as Harry, Ron, and Hermione shuffled into the room and sat in the three remaining seats. When they were settled, Snape addressed the class. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, this year will be the first year you will be introduced to some proper Defense Against the Dark Arts."
Hermione's hand went up instantly. Snape continued to talk. "You are very behind, so I will have to teach you a lot of material in a short space of time. Therefore, I should not like to be interrupted while I am updating you for your benefit." Hermione put her hand down and stared at her book. Snape's acquisition of his favored teaching position had not changed him a bit. If he was happy about finally receiving the Dark Arts job, it certainly did not show through in his mood.
Snape paused for a time just long enough to let the class know that he could spend all the time he wanted teaching the lesson, and that he just did not want to hear anything that Hermione had to say. When he spoke again, he snapped at the class, "Now get out your wands; we're learning about curse deflection today. You will come up to the front of the room one by one and attempt to deflect a minor jinx, sent your way by me. Who's first? Longbottom?"
Everyone's eyes turned to Neville. He had a determined look in his eyes, yet he was clearly shaking. This mix of bravery and terror that Neville exhibited was not a good one, and struck some who did not know Neville very well as funny. Snape was ignorant to the scattered laughter, and Neville was blocking it out. Only Harry, Ron, and Hermione noticed it enough to feel concern. "Come on, mate," whispered Ron. Neville didn't answer; instead, he steadily made his way to the front of the room.
The students emerged from Defense Against the Dark Arts tired, scratched, and bruised, but none as badly as poor Neville. "I tried," he said. "I really did."
"Don't worry, Neville," said Hermione reassuringly. "He did it harder on you; I saw."
"It's not fair," said Ron. "Why do we have to have Snape for the Dark Arts now?"
"Look on the bright side," Harry said, to the shock and awe of his peers, for Harry had not seen the bright side of anything for quite some time now. "The Slytherins aren't in that lesson with us, so at least we don't have to deal with them both."
"Hey, you're right, Harry," Neville said, cheering up slightly. "But we still have to worry about them in potions."
Hermione frowned. "Oh yes, I'd forgotten about that. I was hoping potions would be fun now that we have a lady teacher, but those Slytherins.ooooh."
"Oh yes, Mrs. Gibson, right?" said Harry, smiling.
Ron was moaning. "Oh, we have her next, don't we? I wish Hogwarts was just a place to live and have feasts and we didn't have lessons."
"Ron! I am ashamed of you!"
"Only joking, Hermione. Come on, let's go meet this Professor Gibson."
"It's Laurence."
Ten minutes later, Professor Laurence was nervously pacing her classroom, awaiting the arrival of her first potions class ever. Her first class ever. Margaretta Laurence was not a teacher. She was United States ambassador in the United Kingdom. A week prior to the first day of school, both the US and UK wizard governments suggested that she apply for the Dark Arts position at Hogwarts to find out as much as she could about the situation with Lord Voldemort. Her primary task before this was to conduct negotiations with the Minister of Magic and other foreign ministers, so she was anxious to begin life at Hogwarts. Judging by the way she paced the dungeon in which she was located, she was very anxious.
Right as she got to the front of the room again, the students started entering through the door. "Take a seat, students," she said, and then went to check her schedule. Gryffindors and Slytherins this morning. The students fell silent as the professor took her place behind her desk. She was wearing dark purple robes and a purple witch's hat was perched atop her head of thick, brown hair. She parted her burgundy colored lips into a friendly smile and addressed the class in her low, raspy voice.
"Welcome to potions. I'm Professor Laurence. You don't need to set up your cauldrons today because we won't be brewing anything. For the first two weeks we will be examining practical uses of potions and reviewing all of the potions you have learned here at Hogwarts for a diagnostic exam."
For the rest of the lesson, Professor Laurence droned on and on about potions and potion-making. Had any other teacher carried on like this, the class would have fallen asleep long before the end of the lesson. Instead, the students sat and listened to their professor's voice. She did not have what one would call an excellent speaking voice, but between the gravelly quality of her voice and the soft Boston accent of someone who lived there for a long time but was born somewhere else, a balance was achieved. She could talk for days and the class would listen.
Unfortunately, that looked like all she could do. She had lied to Professor Snape at the feast - she knew nothing about potions. And if none of the other students noticed, Hermione certainly did.
"So much for her being like Mrs. Gibson," she said gloomily, as she, Harry, and Ron sat down to lunch. "Mrs. Gibson was such a clever lady - she knew so much about chemistry." She frowned. "I had really hoped Professor Laurence would be the same."
"Ugh, Chemistry was my worst subject," Harry reminisced. "Dear old Mrs. Mastrian - I turned her wig blue."
"What color was it to begin with?" asked Ron.
Harry shrugged and said, "Blonde." He thought a moment and said, "At least Professor Laurence is not like Snape."
"But she's friends with him," said Hermione. "You saw them talking at the feast. She'll probably be just like him once she figures out how to teach. She's probably gone right now to ask Snape for instructions. What I wonder is why Dumbledore would hire someone so ill-prepared as a professor."
Hermione still seemed to believe that Professor Laurence and Professor Snape were old mates or something, but she was right about one thing: Professor Laurence needed help. She was a stubborn woman, and did not want to give up and come crawling to Snape on her knees when it was too late, so she thought she'd pay him a visit while she was still ahead. To see if he needed help teaching his subject.
She knocked on Snape's office door late that night after the Prefects had gone to bed. Snape answered the door promptly, and did not look the least bit surprised to see Professor Laurence standing at the door, like a sad but aesthetically pleasing puppy that would not go away. This puppy did not want a bone, however. She made very clear what she wanted before she even entered the room.
"Severus Snape, I don't know how to teach potions."
"Hah," Snape said. He turned around and faced the little American woman with an expression of utmost loathing upon his face. "What is the little princess going to do now?"
"Princess? I don't know anything about any princess, but the professor is going to ask the other professor for help in exchange for giving him her job!"
Snape sighed. "Why don't you talk like a normal person?"
"Because I'm not a normal person. Are you going to help me, or am I going to have to resort to teaching the only class I know how to teach?!"
"All right, all right, come in!"
"How kind of you to invite me. I shan't stay long. I'll just sit here." She wandered over to Snape's desk and took interest in a portfolio labeled "Occlumency: Harry Potter." She started to lift the flap, but Snape saw her. "Or maybe I'll sit by the fire."
"Good," said Snape, approvingly. "Sit there on that bench and I shall take full advantage of my own desk." Snape allowed himself a good minute in a half to settle into the large, comfortable chair and pull a file out of a drawer in his desk. "Now what, exactly, did you need help with, Professor Laurence?"
"I told you you could call me Margaretta. Professor Laurence makes me think of."
"Who?" asked Snape intently. "Who does 'Professor Laurence' make you think of?"
".Nobody. Go on, I need to know everything. And you haven't forgotten that I'll help you with your subject, too."
"I wonder who our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will be this year," asked Hermione, nonchalantly.
"That woman up there," said Ron, gesturing haphazardly towards the high table. There was a dark haired witch in midnight blue robes talking to Professor Snape. She looked to be in her late thirties.
"Wonder what she's like," Harry said.
Ron snorted. "She can't be worse than that Umbridge cow."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Hermione said, apprehensively. "She seems to be getting on pretty well with Snape."
Both Ron and Hermione were wrong, however. The dark haired witch with the blue robes was not the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and she was not getting on well with Snape.
"Potions is fine; I'll teach potions," she was saying in a low, raspy voice while eyeing Snape harshly. "Because from what I gather, you have wanted the Dark Arts position for quite a while now."
"So I have," Snape replied. He did not look at the woman who fixed him with such a piercing stare.
"And I'm the only one who stepped back and gave it to you. I'm interested, Severus, why is that? Why didn't Dumbledore just hire a new potions master? Why didn't he automatically give you the Dark Arts position when the last one left? Why - "
"I don't know Margaretta." Snape was irritated. "Why all of these questions? I am good at potions, and Dumbledore wanted me there. And you. What do you know about potions?"
"I know enough to teach a bunch of kids."
"I was afraid of that. Maybe I'll just take that position back."
"Ah, but you wouldn't do that." The woman was smug. "You want the Dark Arts too badly, and that's fine, that's fine." She smiled when she saw Snape's face fall. She could read him like a book.
"You're right." These words left a bad taste in Snape's mouth. He would not let this new girl win, though. "From what I gather, you have little experience in the field of potions. If you ever need any help, don't hesitate to ask."
"And if you ever need any -"
"Oh don't even start, woman. I know more about the Dark Arts than you could ever hope to know." It was Snape's turn to fix his interlocutrix with a bitter stare. She, however, was unfazed.
"Oh, you don't even know me, Severus."
Professor Dumbledore turned from his conversation with Professor McGonagall. "Professor Laurence?" he asked quietly. "Could you and Professor Snape put your quarrel on hold for a moment? I need to make the announcements to the school."
Professors Snape and Lawrence stopped talking and looked out over the vast crowd. Everyone had gone quiet, suddenly, and all eyes were pointed at Dumbledore.
"Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our feast, I would like to introduce you to your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who is more familiar to you than you may think." He gestured towards Professor Snape who stood up. "Professor Snape will be teaching you the Defense Against the Dark Arts this year -" He allowed a moment for applause, "so I will need to introduce you to your new potions professor."
He gestured towards the woman at whom everyone was staring. She stood up. "This," Dumbledore said, "Is Professor Margaretta Laurence. She is foreign in this country as well as in this school." Whispers spread throughout the Great Hall. Professor Lawrence smiled at this reaction. "I trust that you will all make her feel welcome at Hogwarts." The applause started, and she sat down, shooting Snape a look that clearly said, "I got more applause than you did."
The next morning at breakfast, the students got their course schedules and were looking them over intently. "Defense against the Dark Arts first thing," said Harry.
"Argh, and potions is next!" moaned Ron.
"You've forgotten we don't have Snape for potions anymore," Hermione reminded him.
"Oh yeah," said Ron. "Do you think potions is actually a fun course, and we just never knew it 'cos we always had a dreadful git for a professor?"
"I don't know," replied Harry. "I'm nervous about having Snape for Dark Arts. I'm taking more of those to prepare for Auror training."
"Oh, you're right," said Ron. "I'm glad I'm not you."
"That new lady looks nice, though," said Hermione. "In Muggle school I had a lady science teacher and I really liked her. I hope Professor Laurence will be a lot like Mrs. Gibson."
Ron rolled his eyes. "You'll find out exactly how much she is like Mrs. Gibson after Dark Arts," Harry said.
"Well, we had better go to Snape's."
"Potter, Weasley, Granger, you're late," Snape said coldly as Harry, Ron, and Hermione shuffled into the room and sat in the three remaining seats. When they were settled, Snape addressed the class. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, this year will be the first year you will be introduced to some proper Defense Against the Dark Arts."
Hermione's hand went up instantly. Snape continued to talk. "You are very behind, so I will have to teach you a lot of material in a short space of time. Therefore, I should not like to be interrupted while I am updating you for your benefit." Hermione put her hand down and stared at her book. Snape's acquisition of his favored teaching position had not changed him a bit. If he was happy about finally receiving the Dark Arts job, it certainly did not show through in his mood.
Snape paused for a time just long enough to let the class know that he could spend all the time he wanted teaching the lesson, and that he just did not want to hear anything that Hermione had to say. When he spoke again, he snapped at the class, "Now get out your wands; we're learning about curse deflection today. You will come up to the front of the room one by one and attempt to deflect a minor jinx, sent your way by me. Who's first? Longbottom?"
Everyone's eyes turned to Neville. He had a determined look in his eyes, yet he was clearly shaking. This mix of bravery and terror that Neville exhibited was not a good one, and struck some who did not know Neville very well as funny. Snape was ignorant to the scattered laughter, and Neville was blocking it out. Only Harry, Ron, and Hermione noticed it enough to feel concern. "Come on, mate," whispered Ron. Neville didn't answer; instead, he steadily made his way to the front of the room.
The students emerged from Defense Against the Dark Arts tired, scratched, and bruised, but none as badly as poor Neville. "I tried," he said. "I really did."
"Don't worry, Neville," said Hermione reassuringly. "He did it harder on you; I saw."
"It's not fair," said Ron. "Why do we have to have Snape for the Dark Arts now?"
"Look on the bright side," Harry said, to the shock and awe of his peers, for Harry had not seen the bright side of anything for quite some time now. "The Slytherins aren't in that lesson with us, so at least we don't have to deal with them both."
"Hey, you're right, Harry," Neville said, cheering up slightly. "But we still have to worry about them in potions."
Hermione frowned. "Oh yes, I'd forgotten about that. I was hoping potions would be fun now that we have a lady teacher, but those Slytherins.ooooh."
"Oh yes, Mrs. Gibson, right?" said Harry, smiling.
Ron was moaning. "Oh, we have her next, don't we? I wish Hogwarts was just a place to live and have feasts and we didn't have lessons."
"Ron! I am ashamed of you!"
"Only joking, Hermione. Come on, let's go meet this Professor Gibson."
"It's Laurence."
Ten minutes later, Professor Laurence was nervously pacing her classroom, awaiting the arrival of her first potions class ever. Her first class ever. Margaretta Laurence was not a teacher. She was United States ambassador in the United Kingdom. A week prior to the first day of school, both the US and UK wizard governments suggested that she apply for the Dark Arts position at Hogwarts to find out as much as she could about the situation with Lord Voldemort. Her primary task before this was to conduct negotiations with the Minister of Magic and other foreign ministers, so she was anxious to begin life at Hogwarts. Judging by the way she paced the dungeon in which she was located, she was very anxious.
Right as she got to the front of the room again, the students started entering through the door. "Take a seat, students," she said, and then went to check her schedule. Gryffindors and Slytherins this morning. The students fell silent as the professor took her place behind her desk. She was wearing dark purple robes and a purple witch's hat was perched atop her head of thick, brown hair. She parted her burgundy colored lips into a friendly smile and addressed the class in her low, raspy voice.
"Welcome to potions. I'm Professor Laurence. You don't need to set up your cauldrons today because we won't be brewing anything. For the first two weeks we will be examining practical uses of potions and reviewing all of the potions you have learned here at Hogwarts for a diagnostic exam."
For the rest of the lesson, Professor Laurence droned on and on about potions and potion-making. Had any other teacher carried on like this, the class would have fallen asleep long before the end of the lesson. Instead, the students sat and listened to their professor's voice. She did not have what one would call an excellent speaking voice, but between the gravelly quality of her voice and the soft Boston accent of someone who lived there for a long time but was born somewhere else, a balance was achieved. She could talk for days and the class would listen.
Unfortunately, that looked like all she could do. She had lied to Professor Snape at the feast - she knew nothing about potions. And if none of the other students noticed, Hermione certainly did.
"So much for her being like Mrs. Gibson," she said gloomily, as she, Harry, and Ron sat down to lunch. "Mrs. Gibson was such a clever lady - she knew so much about chemistry." She frowned. "I had really hoped Professor Laurence would be the same."
"Ugh, Chemistry was my worst subject," Harry reminisced. "Dear old Mrs. Mastrian - I turned her wig blue."
"What color was it to begin with?" asked Ron.
Harry shrugged and said, "Blonde." He thought a moment and said, "At least Professor Laurence is not like Snape."
"But she's friends with him," said Hermione. "You saw them talking at the feast. She'll probably be just like him once she figures out how to teach. She's probably gone right now to ask Snape for instructions. What I wonder is why Dumbledore would hire someone so ill-prepared as a professor."
Hermione still seemed to believe that Professor Laurence and Professor Snape were old mates or something, but she was right about one thing: Professor Laurence needed help. She was a stubborn woman, and did not want to give up and come crawling to Snape on her knees when it was too late, so she thought she'd pay him a visit while she was still ahead. To see if he needed help teaching his subject.
She knocked on Snape's office door late that night after the Prefects had gone to bed. Snape answered the door promptly, and did not look the least bit surprised to see Professor Laurence standing at the door, like a sad but aesthetically pleasing puppy that would not go away. This puppy did not want a bone, however. She made very clear what she wanted before she even entered the room.
"Severus Snape, I don't know how to teach potions."
"Hah," Snape said. He turned around and faced the little American woman with an expression of utmost loathing upon his face. "What is the little princess going to do now?"
"Princess? I don't know anything about any princess, but the professor is going to ask the other professor for help in exchange for giving him her job!"
Snape sighed. "Why don't you talk like a normal person?"
"Because I'm not a normal person. Are you going to help me, or am I going to have to resort to teaching the only class I know how to teach?!"
"All right, all right, come in!"
"How kind of you to invite me. I shan't stay long. I'll just sit here." She wandered over to Snape's desk and took interest in a portfolio labeled "Occlumency: Harry Potter." She started to lift the flap, but Snape saw her. "Or maybe I'll sit by the fire."
"Good," said Snape, approvingly. "Sit there on that bench and I shall take full advantage of my own desk." Snape allowed himself a good minute in a half to settle into the large, comfortable chair and pull a file out of a drawer in his desk. "Now what, exactly, did you need help with, Professor Laurence?"
"I told you you could call me Margaretta. Professor Laurence makes me think of."
"Who?" asked Snape intently. "Who does 'Professor Laurence' make you think of?"
".Nobody. Go on, I need to know everything. And you haven't forgotten that I'll help you with your subject, too."