Author: Leta McGotor
Chapter 1: About Disagreement, Chocolate and Plants
„Can you tell my why I always have to be the victim? Why not someone else, like Sprout or Flitwick?"
"You are most capable of such things."
"And Sprout not? You are going to tell me that she knows nothing about herbs, aren't you?"
"That were not my words, Severus."
"No, but your meaning." Severus was striding up and down in Minerva's office. Hardly ten minutes ago he had received a letter from her, telling him, that Poppy Pomfrey wouldn't be in the castle over the weekend and that he, Severus, had to take over her job for the four days of her absence. Although it were Christmas Holidays and most of the students were at home, the prospect to be in charge for the rest of them didn't suit him, naturally.
"Severs, just these four days. Where is your problem? There are hardly any students around, no one is in the Hospital Wing yet and there are no hints that someone will come in this span of time. I don't understand why you have such a problem with it." Minerva answered impatiently. Why couldn't he just accept it? He was not able to change the situation, no matter how long he tried.
"I see that you have none, so why don't you take care of that?" He spat furiously.
"Because you are the best for that job. You are the only one, who knows exactly what to do and how the herbs and all interact with each other…"
"You are not serious. You only look for reasons why you can have a lazy weekend and I not. But I remind you, that, of course you are not a master with herbs and potions, you are more than capable of handling medicinal things as well."
"Well…"
"That is exactly the case, isn't it, Minerva? So why did you choose me?"
"I told you…"
"Oh, you told me…" He imitated her.
"Severus, if there is an emergency I will of course help you…"
"I'm deeply grateful for that." He bowed a little in front of her. Minerva sighed. "Why don't you do the job on your own then? Why do you need me?"
"Albus isn't around, either. I have some things, which I have to prepare for the Ministry before he comes back, important things, Severus. I can't ignore them."
"And Sprout?"
"She told me this morning that she has some plants called…well… called something I can't remember yet and she has to keep an eye on that before it comes to a catastrophe in her greenhouse. I don't know what exactly she means with a catastrophe but it sounded not very pleasant. And, before you ask, there is no other who is able to help in case something happens." Severus grumpled before he left the office without saying another word. In his eyes the whole world was unfair to him. He wanted to use this weekend simply to relax a bit and to reread some of his old potions books, but now he had to stay in the Hospital Wing in case something would happen.
Minerva stared at her closed door. She had known that he would not simply accept the fact of being in charge for four days, but there was no other choice. She sighed. She would have liked to do the job instead of writing something for the Ministry. It was always such a boring job and often she believed that nobody in the whole Ministry read her letters. Sometimes she even believed that no one there could even read, but she never complained – not in public anyway.
While she started to look for her parchment and a new quill, an owl arrived at her window and looked through the glas at her. First Minerva didn't see it, only when the bird made some noise that it didn't wish to stay there all day, Minerva noticed the presence. She opened the window and the now a bit angry bird flew onto her desk and waited impatiently for her to take the parcel from its leg. After Minerva had done so, the bird vanished as fast as it could with a furious sound and left Minerva with a little package in her hands.
She sat down behind her desk and wondered from whom this might come. There was no letter to it and no note visible. So she simply opened it to find herself confronted with some chocolates. She knew the sort. She had loved to eat it in her childhood. There had only been one man who was able to produce these sweets and all the children had adored him. But then he had died and Minerva had looked everywhere to find such good chocolates, but in vain. She would have never expected that someone knew of her passion for these, because she had never mentioned it to anybody. Even Albus didn't know about them.
But Minerva was unsure what to do and set them down on her desk to inspect them. She didn't know who might have send them to her and how that was possible at all. But then the clock behind her struck and reminded her on the pile of letters and reports she had to write. Minerva sighed and started her work, she would hadle with the chocolates later.
Severus sat in the Hospital Wing with a very bad mood. He had brought all his books but now when he wanted to read them, he found that there was an uncomfortable atmosphere. He had always hated the Hospital Wing. Even as a student he had disliked it so much that he had preferred to die instead of coming here voluntary.
No matter which position he chose, he felt always uncomfortable and later he gave up hope to read his books. So he went to the cupboards full of potions and herbs, all of them sorted by Poppy herself. She would never allow anybody to bring disorder in her beloved system and Severus was not at all tempted to have an argument with the medi witch later on. So he decided to look out of the window. Although it was still afternoon, it had become dark outside. Severus saw the light in Hagrid's hut and the one in the greenhouse. He wondered what plant it would be that prevented Professor Sprout from doing this stupid job.
Feeling completely bored, Severus decided to take a stroll down to the greenhouse to look what was happening there. Later – he planned in his head – he would ask Minerva, if she played a game of chess with him. He always liked their weekly games. It was not an easy task to win and often she was the winner. But sometimes he had the luck with him and bet her. He had been more than happy when Minerva had told him, that he was a better player than Albus – not that he had mentioned to her, how much this comment meant to him. Minerva had always been a special point in Severus' life. He couldn't tell exactly why, but he liked her. He liked their chess matches, their arguments, their bets for Quidditch, the way how she drove him up the wall sometimes. Severus knew, that he would feel lonely if she was no longer around him. That was a strange thought that had haunted him many nights, but he said nothing about it to anyone.
Now Severus made his way down to the greenhouse to look what was going on there. He knew plants and all what had to do with them were not Minerva's world and so he hadn't asked her any more questions about the subject, but he was curious. There had been a package of new seeds for Professor Sprout two weeks ago and it seemed that know was the time to look, what had developed. Maybe he could use whatever it was for some of his potions. So Severus left the Hospital Wing hoping that there would be no emergency in the time of his absence.
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