Opportunities

July 1976

"Wait, so you're losing some of your classes to do this?"

Severus looked up from his list of classes at his friend, "Professor Slughorn wrote that there was no point in continuing with some classes if I wanted to go this track instead. He said they would sort of be included in this."

"Wow," said Lily, "You must have done really well on your O.W.L.s if they're letting you start a concurrent apprenticeship." She was staring down at the letter that had informed Severus of his options for the new school year.

Their O.W.L. results had arrived a few days before with their Hogwarts letters, and they had both been trying to decide which classes they wanted to continue in. Because some classes required certain scores on the O.W.L. exams, they did not get to set up their schedules until later in the summer. Incoming Sixth Years had to have their preferred classes submitted by August 1st, and she and Severus were trying to make their choices early.

Severus's Hogwarts letter this year, however, had included a second note from his Head of House offering him the opportunity to enroll in a concurrent credit apprenticeship program. If he chose to take it, the apprenticeship would take the place of several classes.

"Well, which classes will you lose if you do this?" Lily asked, trying to read the class schedule over his shoulder.

Severus handed the sheet to her, "Herbology, Potions, and Charms. The apprenticeship will cover those topics already, but I would have to do some work with those professors. I won't have time for many other classes, either. I can only choose three if I do this."

Lily handed him the schedule back and asked, "What advantages does this give you for your career?"

"Supposedly, Madame Pomfrey has a one hundred percent acceptance rate into the Healer's program at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries," he replied, "And her students nearly always get to start as third year apprentices. If I did this, I'd probably get to start clinicals straight away and only have a year to go to be fully qualified. With another year working directly with one of the Master Healers, I could earn a Master Healer's license and start a private practice." Lily could see his mind racing through the possibilities that had presented themselves.

"Sev, this is great," she told him, "Are you going to do it?"

Severus nodded slowly, "I think so. This way, I would only have to pay for a year of the apprenticeship before I could start getting paid for the work I'd do. It'll be a lot of work, obviously, but it'll be a more focused topic, not so spread out like it would be with all of those classes."

"What classes will you take?"

He pulled the list of classes out again, "I'd like to keep Defense. Maybe Arithmancy and Transfiguration, too. None of the others are really that interesting."

"Where's mine?" Lily muttered as she searched through the papers on her bed for her own list of classes, "Here. I have some alternatives, too. Help me decide."

Severus leaned over to see better, "Specialized Study? What does that mean?"

"I can request to substitute individual study with a mentor in place of the class. It says I can choose up to two professors to study under."

"How many classes would you be taking, then?" asked Severus.

"Well," she said slowly, "Really, I can take as many as will fit in the schedule, but that's not realistic. I'd need time for my research. I would probably only do three, maybe four, depending on which classes I was substituting for. I also have to consider that I'll technically be the professor's assistant for at least one class."

"What classes would you choose Specialized Study for?"

"I really enjoy Potions," said Lily, "I'd like to learn more outside of class. And Charms. I really like Charms, too."

"And the classes you'd still take?" Severus watched as she ran her finger down the list again.

"Defense, obviously. With things the way they are, it would be stupid not to," she grimaced, "I don't want to give up Arithmancy, either. Herbology… If I do decide to do Healing, I'd have to take the N.E.W.T. exam. I could do Transfiguration, too, maybe. I've heard the N.E.W.T. class has a lot of work, though. I'm not sure if it would be too much."

"If you only did one Specialized Study class, you wouldn't have to worry about the workload as much," Severus pointed out.

Lily sighed, "That's true, but I'm not sure which one I would choose in that case."

"If you think you'll do Healing, then Potions would be more practical," he said helpfully.

A knock on the door frame interrupted them. Lily's mother walked over to them and glanced at the paperwork. "Figure things out, yet, dears?" she asked.

"I think so," Lily replied, "Mum, Severus is going to get to start an early apprenticeship this year. It'll mean he'll be nearly finished with the wizarding equivalent of university by the time we finish at Hogwarts."

Mrs. Evans smiled sweetly and patted him on the shoulder, "Why, that's wonderful, Severus! You must have done very well on your exams. Your mother must be very proud of you; you've certainly grown up to be a very intelligent young man."

Lily grinned and nodded as Severus blushed, "And I get to do some independent study. It'll be very helpful when I decide which apprenticeship to apply for."

"Oh, look at the two of you," said Mrs. Evans, now petting Lily's hair back, "Growing up and making decisions. It sounds as though both of you are going to be well-prepared for whichever careers you choose to pursue. Just don't get in too much of a hurry; I'm not ready just yet."

Severus was still pink as he nodded, "Yes, ma'am. I'm not sure we're quite ready to be finished yet, either."

She gave him another smile. "Oh, I forgot what I came up here for," she said suddenly, "Lily, your father wants you to help him with dinner tonight. He's decided that I apparently need a night off from cooking and volunteered. Severus, you're welcome to stay. I'm not certain what he is planning on cooking, but he usually does well."

He nodded, "That'd be nice, Mrs. Evans. Mum's not going to be home till late, so I was planning on take-away."

"Nonsense," she replied, "You just stay here and have a real dinner. Speaking of your mother… How is Eileen?"

Severus's father had finally drunk himself to death the year before, and his mother had been attempting to find a steady job to support them ever since. It was difficult due to the fact that she had not really ever had a job. She had married Tobias Snape right after Hogwarts, and he had not allowed her to establish a career. She had held odd jobs over the years, but never for very long and only Muggle ones. Since his death, however, she had slowly begun to reconnect with the magical world and had been searching for employment in magical establishments.

She had worked in a wizarding pub called The Surly Unicorn for two months, but Severus had begged her to find something different. The pub was in a questionable part of London, and he had been worried about her. So, she had looked for another job and been hired to clean cauldrons at a small potion shop in Westminster, but the potioneer had been condescending and rude to her. That job had only lasted for three weeks.

Eileen had not had a job to go to when she quit cleaning cauldrons, so she spent the next month and a half submitting applications. Severus had mentioned being worried about her to Lily one afternoon, and Lily had suggested asking Headmaster Dumbledore if he could help Eileen find a job. One meeting with the headmaster and a few letters later, Eileen had been asked to interview with the magical chemist in Diagon Alley.

The old potions master who owned the shop had been in need of an assistant as he was getting older and was having a hard time keeping up with orders. Though her N.E.W.T. scores were nearly sixteen years old, a quick test of her ability to brew a few simple potions had been enough to convince the old man to hire her. For the past four months, she had been relatively happy but worked long hours and often left Severus to fend for himself in the evenings.

Severus didn't mind this. He was happy that she was happy. His father's death was the best thing that had ever happened to them, in his opinion. They no longer had to worry about the man coming in drunk and violent, magic was no longer taboo, and Eileen was allowed to leave the house when she wished. As for Severus, he had looked forward to the summer for the first time in his life. He hadn't been hit once since returning home, and he had even gotten a summer job at the used bookstore in town. As far as he was concerned, life was good.

Mrs. Evans was still looking at him expectantly, so he answered quickly. "She's doing much better," he said, "Master Kransten has been working with her a lot. He says he wants her to be able to handle most of the orders soon. It's almost like she's doing a modified apprenticeship with him."

"Good for her," said Mrs. Evans, "I was concerned for a while, but it sounds as though she's doing very well now. You be sure to tell her to let me know if she needs anything; she works such long hours, I imagine she doesn't have much extra time.

"Now, let's go downstairs. Henry will be wondering where we are," she turned to Lily, "Hurry along and see what he wants you to do, Love."

Severus followed Lily and her mother downstairs. Mrs. Evans went into the sitting room, and Lily went over to her father at the stove. Severus took a seat at the table; he had brought their schedule papers down with him, and he went back to thinking about his classes.

He pulled a calligraphy pen out of his jacket pocket—he always carried one to use on Hogwarts paperwork when he was in a place that a quill would seem odd—and checked the box next to "Concurrent Apprenticeship – Healer". Since he was still underage, his mother would have to sign the form to give permission for him to participate, but she had already told him to leave it on the table tonight for her to look at. He quickly read through the description and requirements before signing his name at the bottom of the form. Switching to the class list, he checked the boxes next to "Defense Against the Dark Arts", "Arithmancy", and "Transfiguration". He slipped the two forms into the Hogwarts-provided return envelope and set it aside.

"Lily, do you want me to go ahead and mark your classes?" he asked as he picked up her forms.

She looked over from the counter where she was slicing vegetables. "Sure," she said, "I want to take Defense, Arithmancy, Herbology, and Transfiguration. I'm going to do Specialized Study for Potions and Charms; I know it'll be a lot of work, but I don't want to lose any of those classes." She watched Severus check the boxes next to the four classes before switching forms to write "Potions" and "Charms" on the lines provided. He folded the forms and put them in Lily's return envelope.

"All set," he told her, "Just sign the form and send it off."

Lily smiled at him and went back to the vegetables. He watched her for a moment before walking over and picking up a bell pepper and starting to dice it.

A few hours later, Lily walked him out of the house.

"Heard from Remus?" he asked.

"Got a letter from him yesterday," she replied, "He said he'd been traveling with his parents; they spent a couple weeks in France. His O.W.L. results were delivered there, but he said he hadn't opened them yet. He was worried about Transfiguration, you know?"

"I remember," said Severus, "He drove me mad while he was studying for that one. I almost wanted to ask Potter and Black if he recited Denmouth's Five Laws of Molecular Transfiguration in his sleep. Merlin knows he did it enough at breakfast and lunch for two weeks straight."

"That would have required you to speak to Potter and Black, though," she teased.

Severus and the two Gryffindors, James Potter and Sirius Black, had had a complicated relationship since their first year. Potter and Black had bonded instantly on the train; their mischievous personalities had given them a strong base to build their friendship on. They had enjoyed pranking students, especially Slytherins, and most especially Severus. The first two years at Hogwarts had been rather rough for Severus. Between his worn Muggle clothes, his anti-sociability, and the two Gryffindor pranksters, his friendship with Lily and, surprisingly, Remus Lupin, had been the only thing keeping him from feeling completely dejected.

At the beginning of their third year, something had changed. Potter, Black, and a bumbling boy named Pettigrew had figured out that Remus was a werewolf. They had been friendly toward him before, but they then understood why he kept to himself so much and had endeavored to include him in their activities. Somehow, Remus managed to get them to leave Severus alone most of the time after that. Severus still wasn't sure what Remus had told them to get that result.

The rest of Third Year and Fourth Year had continued with the Marauders, as they began to call themselves, mostly ignoring Severus. Remus still spent time with Severus and Lily, but he liked to call them his smart friends and the Marauders his weird friends.

Fifth Year, Potter, Black, and Pettigrew had wanted to secretly become Animagi to help Remus with his transformations. They hit a roadblock at one point in the process and ended up asking Lily for help, since she was also Remus's friend and knew about his condition, and she managed to talk Severus into helping. In the end, all of them had ended up transforming. Potter had become a stag, Black was a dog, Pettigrew was a rat (something Severus would come to regard as fitting), and Lily had become a dove. Severus had been uncomfortable with his form at first, but he'd finally accepted it. He just hoped Professor McGonagall never found out that he could change into a little black cat.

That had been the point where they had all called a truce of sorts. Lily and Severus never ran with Remus when he was transformed; their animals were more likely to become a snack for the werewolf than the others were, but the process had brought them all to a peaceful point. Severus might never be friends with the other three Gryffindors, but they did not irritate him as much as they once had.

"Tell him to let us know which classes he's taking this term when you write him back," Severus told her, "I want to make a master schedule with all of us on it; I'll add in our extra studies when we get back to school."

"All right," Lily said as they stopped at the front gate, "We're supposed to get another letter from Hogwarts after they set up our schedules telling us what supplies and books to get for the year. Once those arrive, we can all try to go to Diagon Alley together."

"Sounds good. I'll see you in a day or two, then," said Severus as he stepped out onto the main sidewalk, "I work until six tomorrow, but I might stop by on my walk home. Depends on if Mum is working late again or not. She said she might be home by seven tomorrow if the shop isn't too busy; she was staying late today to try to get ahead on some brewing."

Lily turned to go back inside the house, "Okay. See you soon, Sev. I'm going to go sign the Specialized Study form and send it off."

"See you," Severus called as Lily opened the door to the house, and he started off down the sidewalk.

When Severus got home, Eileen was already there.

"There you are," she said tiredly, "Were you at Lily's?"

Severus went to make her a cup of tea while she put her robes away. "Yeah," he replied, "They asked me to stay for dinner. I didn't think you'd be back for another hour. Everything alright?" He could see that she was exhausted.

Eileen nodded slowly, "Just tired. Master Kransten told me to go home; the two potions that were still simmering just required observation for the hour, and he had made the mistake of a long nap this afternoon." She took the mug Severus handed her and sipped.

"Are you going to bed soon?" he asked her.

She nodded, "After this and a quick shower. I walked in probably just three minutes before you did."

Severus sat down to remove his boots, "Lily and I filled out our schedule forms this afternoon. She's going to do some independent study stuff in Charms and Potions instead of the classes. She's still taking four other classes, though; her schedule is going to be full."

"So is yours, Sev," Eileen told him, "Healing is no easy career. You've got your plate full, too, with the three classes and your apprenticeship duties. These next two years are going to phase you into your career slowly. Do you want me to sign that form now? I'm about to go upstairs."

He pulled the envelope out of his pocket and handed it to her. She pulled out the forms and looked them over. "N.E.W.T. Arithmancy? That means you'll be taking Magical Theory, too."

"I didn't see anything about that," Severus said, surprised.

"You know how some classes have extra sections? Like potions has a practical section and a lecture section? Advanced Arithmancy teaches you about spell development. You'll continue to learn the formulas and other things like you always have, but there'll be a section called Magical Theory. You'll learn how to construct and deconstruct spells and the fundamental elements of magic."

"Wicked," Severus moved to put his boots by the front door, "Lily's taking that, too."

"Professor McGonagall may talk with her about her schedule, in that case," Eileen said as she stood to put her cup in the sink, "Four class, at least one with an extra section, and two independent study courses. Lily will have very little free time if she does all of that. Depending on the times of the classes, it may not even be possible."

She started up the stairs with Severus right behind her. She headed into the bathroom for a shower, while Severus went to his room to get ready for bed.

He traded his button-down for an old Slytherin Quidditch t-shirt and his slacks for a pair of black pajama pants before glancing at himself in the mirror. His hair was quite long now; he had to tie it back when he was at the bookshop. Running a hand through it, he thought about the apprenticeship. Long hair might be the usual wizarding style, but Healers always wore their hair short. Long hair could be distracting, and distractions could be dangerous.

Grimacing, Severus realized he'd have to get his hair cut before school started. The last thing he needed was for Madame Pomfrey to shear off his hair because it was too long. He made a mental note to visit a Muggle barber; he didn't want to have to explain anything if anyone saw him getting a haircut at a magical barber. Suddenly, he grinned. Lily was going to flip when he did it. She'd been trying to get him to have his hair cut for years, but the most he'd done was take a few inches off in the summers.

With that in mind, he fell into bed and switched off his bedside lamp. A few minutes later, he was almost asleep when he heard the bathroom door open, and Eileen knocked softly before entering the room

Wrapped in a bathrobe and her hair still wet from the shower, Eileen walked in and came over to lean down and kiss his forehead. "Goodnight," she said quietly, petting his hair back. She straightened his blankets before she moved back towards the door.

"Night, Mum," he mumbled sleepily as she shut the door behind him. A moment later, he was asleep and dreaming of Madame Pomfrey chasing him around Hogwarts with an electric razor and Lily trying to tackle him for her.