"Severus I think it's done." Charlotte looked down on the cauldron. "The color might be a little off though. What do you think?"
He walked over to her and stood across the table, placing his hands on the desk and leaning in. "Yes it seems slightly off, add a bit more mandrake root, it doesn't have enough."
Charlotte did as she was instructed and the pair both looked pleased at the result. He walked back to his desk as she bottled the substance up. When she had finished, she set them gently on his desk and stood still.
He looked up. "I believe we are done for the night…"
"How do you do it?" she blurted out.
He raised his eyebrow and she took a breath in, wringing her hands together. "I mean how do you know just by looking at the potion what's wrong with it?"
"It takes years of practice Charlotte, but there are some tricks to it."
"How? Can you show me?" She looked at him eagerly.
"Hm," he stood back up and walked over to where another potion was brewing.
"Come here."
She followed him over and stood still, waiting for his next instruction.
"Close your eyes…"
"Close my eyes? But…"
"You wanted me to show you Charlotte did you not?" He asked.
Had it been anyone else, she may had not done it. 'But I trust him.' She told herself.
She closed her eyes slowly before she sensed something close to her face.
"Use your senses to tell me what's wrong with this, but use your eyes last and clearly you won't be using your ears."
She breathed in through her nose. "It smells sour.."
His hand was on her wrist and he helped guide her finger. She felt her breath get caught in her throat at his touch. She stumbled over her words. "I don't think its thick enough. Very watery."
She felt the spoon against her lips and she parted them slightly. She spit it out quickly off to the side. "It tastes sour too." She opened her eyes and took a good look at the potion seeing it was a pale green color.
"So it needs to be thicken up with something that takes the sour taste away." She smiled brightly, still feeling warm from the contact with him. She knew that just looking at it wouldn't have told her everything she needed to know. She look at him, still smiling and noticed the weird look in his eyes.
The smile faded from her face. "Severus is..."
"There is a bit of the potion on your lip." He cupped her face, using his thumb to slowly wipe her lip.
Charlotte couldn't help but close her eyes to enjoy his touch. She shuddered slightly as the patch of his thumb ran down the side of her lip.
'Oh god,' she opened her eyes quickly realizing what she had done. 'I want him so bad.'
The small of her back was pressed against the table now and he was moving closer to her.
"Severus." She could only manage to whisper. She swore she heard him take a large gulp of air at her voice.
'Kiss me.' She wanted to tell him, feeling herself losing control. 'Touch me.' She silently begged.
A knock at the door stopped them, his face inches from hers. They stood frozen, staring into each other's eyes until the knock came again. He turned away from her and headed to the door. Another teacher with a quick question. When he came back, he sat back down at his desk.
He looked up at her and cleared his throat. "You may go Charlotte. Have a good night."
"But…I thought…" she felt her cheeks heat up.
"I have things that can't wait. See you in class."
"Oh," the disappointment she tried to hide but couldn't manage. "Ok well goodnight then."
As she left the dungeons she swore she heard a loud bang, as if two things collided with each other. At this point, she choose to ignore it.
Charlotte woke up with a groan, rubbing her eyes. The two nights she had slept at Hogwarts had been filled when memories of her and her old potions professor.
That night, they had almost kissed or at least she thought they had almost kissed. She had never been fully sure if that was his attention of not.
'But it felt so real, like it had just happened.' Every feeling she had felt then, she was feeling it now.
'How different things may have been if we had actually kissed that night.'
She stretched her arms above her head, letting her legs swing over the side of the bed and reaching the floor.
'These dreams are the last thing I need right now. There is so much to worry about.' Charlotte sighed, looking over her desk which, was covered in papers. It was her first day of teaching, something she was particularly calm about. On top of that, she was worried about Ellie. She always worried when she went off to school but for some reason it was worse when she was this close to where Charlotte was.
'She'll be alright.' Charlotte told herself as she got dressed. 'she was worried about Ellie. She always worried when she went off to school but for some reason it was worse when she was this close to where Charlotte was.
'She'll be alright.' Charlotte told herself as she got dressed. 'You will see her this morning.'
Walking to class seemed to put Charlotte on edge even more, so much that she forgot what she had planned on saying to the class.
"Well as some of you may know…" she cupped her hands together, trying to stop her body from shaking. She put on the best smile she could, knowing that it probably looked force. "I am Professor Matthews."
She heard a few snickers coming from the Slytherin side of the room. She spotted Ellie who was waking someone in the head. She gave her a look before continuing.
"Now…I'm not sure what…well Professor Slughorn had taught you…or um…how he has taught you…"
She was losing interest already and by the end of the class, only Ellie was still paying attention. Watching them walk out of class when it was done was the worst part. She tried her best to ignore the mumbles about how it was going to be a long year and laughs on how it would be interesting to mess with her.
"That was great Charlotte!" Ellie waited till everyone had left.
"Don't you have class?" Charlotte rubbed her temples, trying to erase the memory.
"Yeah about that…" Ellie gave a smirk. "I wasn't exactly paying much attention on our tour. Can you show me how to get to my defence class?"
"You could have just got your classmates to show you."
Ellie pouted. "Yeah well, I wanted to talk to you. Please Charlotte?"
Charlotte wanted to say no, she knew who would be teaching the class and after this morning, would rather avoid seeing him. But she didn't want Ellie in more trouble than she would likely get into.
"Alright, come on, I will show you."
His mind was plagued with her, he couldn't help himself.
She hadn't been always on his mind since he last seen her but now that Charlotte was close again he couldn't help but wonder about how she was. He wondered what had changed, what had stayed the same, what life had brought her.
He had watched her leave dinner the other night, slowly walking out of the Great Hall, taking everything in. Her beauty had grown along with her age and he couldn't take his eyes off her. But there was something hidden beneath the happiness she tried to put out. He wasn't sure if it was anger, sadness or a mix of both.
He fought the urge to look into her mind, to see what she could be thinking.
'You've hurt her enough.' Severus told himself. 'Just leave her be.'
He knew, without having to ask that he was part of that hidden emotion. 'Not that her idiot friend did.'
He hadn't thought about Aubrey in years, he didn't want to think about her ever again.
"Look at this crusty place! Well thanks for bringing me…err Professor." A voice snapped him from his thoughts. He looked up and saw a girl he didn't recognized bearing the Slytherin crest.
The new student, he had been told about her. She was sorted into his house and by the tone of Minerva's voice when telling him, was likely to be a trouble maker. He didn't remember anything else about her, he had been more distracted then he was now.
That's when he noticed she was with the girl. Her hair pulled back in a loose bun, dressed in another set of plain robes. Severus watched her say something to the girl and let out a small sigh before her eyes flicked his way briefly. Her cheeks flushed and she pushed the girl further into the classroom before scurrying out.
The fact that she was with the girl made him wonder what their relationship was. Was this her daughter? Had she moved on that quickly from him?
'She would have had to get pregnant right after she left Hogwarts.' He calculated it quickly in his head.
The girl did look familiar, not like Charlotte, perhaps someone from Hogwarts she went to school with. The girl, she must look like her father.
He began class soon after, giving a brief lesson and instructing students what textbook page they should use for the essay that would be due next class.
"Seriously? We have like a whole bunch of other classes and you want this done next week?" The girl piped up. He watched as the other students held their breath as he narrowed his eyes at her.
"This is how I run my class, now unless you would like to stand up here and teach I suggest you pull out your textbook and keep quiet."
Her eyes narrowed back to his. "I bet I would be a better teacher than you."
The girl beside her kicked her under the table.
He walked up to her desk. "Detention for your lack of respect! Just because your new here doesn't mean the rules don't apply to you girl."
"It's Ellie but you can call me Miss Andrews." She folded up her books and stood up. "Lovely see you in detention tonight. I am not staying here for this."
He could have said more but he found his voice was caught in his throat; in this moment he was happy that he had years to practice covering his true emotions up. He pushed it from his mind till class was over, moving to his office and falling back into his chair.
'Andrews,' he thought to himself. 'Of course she looked familiar. She looks like her idiot mother.'
But there was something else with that. The timing of it all, her dark hair, it all seemed too much of a coincidence for his liking. He counted back in his head, the months and realized he had no way of telling unless he knew her birthday.
'Then what will you do?' his mind asked.
Truthfully, he didn't know. Everything was happening so quickly, too quickly for his liking. She had detention with him tonight, he could pry a little then or he could just leave it be. The girl probably already had a father in her life and perhaps he wasn't even her father. Prying would only cause more issues.
When she showed up for detention that night, he told himself not to ask anything about her life, he was quite content with his and was better off not knowing. However, it seemed that fate tempted him too well, like they wanted him to know.
"Professor…" Ellie stood in front of his desk looking like a scolded child. She gritted her teeth together. "I am sorry for my actions in your class today. It was rude and inappropriate."
He wanted to laugh at the girl who had clearly been told to apologize.
"Well Miss Andrews, we can't expect much from you can we?"
She crossed her arms. "Is this a reference to my mother? I feel like it is and let me tell you I am nothing like her even though everyone says that!"
"Perhaps you get your attitude from your father then?" It slipped out before he could stop it.
She snorted. "Yeah maybe, let me know when you find him. Then you can find out for sure."
Ellie waited for his response and when she didn't get one, she continued. "I don't know who my father is, I don't think my mother is the type to keep a stable relationship. For all I know, my father could be someone I have passed on the street or even someone here at Hogwarts."
"When is your birthday?" he knew he was acting weird now, not that she knew any better.
She gave him a funny look before answering slowly. "February 12th. What gunna make me a cake or something?"
There it was, the dates matched up perfectly. Of course there was a good chance that Aubrey had slept with someone else but there was also a chance that she didn't.
He cleared his throat. "Given this is your first day here and you do get out that pitiful apology, I will give you a free pass. But Miss Andrews, next time you won't be so lucky."
She was hesitant to leave, probably thinking that it was too good to be true. But when she did, Severus was relieved that he could finally let down his mask. He closed his eyes, trying to get some kind of grasp on what was happening.
'You could have a daughter, one who happens to be at Hogwarts in your house.'
He needed to know for sure and there was only one person who would know for sure.
'Perhaps not, what about Charlotte?' he questioned to himself. 'Charlotte knew everything about her dimwitted best friend.'
He let out a groan before getting up and heading to his private rooms. He wasn't sure how to even bring it up. There was no doubt that Charlotte had come to the same conclusion when she first heard about the pregnancy but why no one had ever come to him was truly puzzling.
He would have thought that Aubrey, of all people, would want him to support the child maybe even blackmail him because he was her teacher when they slept together.
'So maybe she isn't yours.'
There was no way to be 100% sure unless he tested the girl and himself. But there were many problems with that; he would have to get something from the girl (hair, blood) and then create the potion to test it. In order to get the supplies he needed, he would have to go through the new Potions Mistress.
That would be the biggest issue, he just knew it.
Charlotte slowly made her way down the halls, checking to see if there were any students left after curfew.
"Oh hey Charlotte." Ellie's voice made her stop and turn sharply, making sure she heard correctly.
"Why are you not in detention?"
"Geez chill," Ellie stretched her arms over her head and gave a small yawn. "He let me out early."
"He what?" Charlotte felt her eyes go wide.
"Let me out early." Ellie said slowly. "Guess that apology worked. What a weird guy though. I can't believe you liked him."
Charlotte tried to ignore her flushed cheeks. "I did not…"
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Anyways as I was saying, he is a strange one. Asking about my birthday and father, I don't know if he is just an awkwardly dedicated head of house or just normally weird like that."
"Get to bed now." Charlotte put her hand on Ellie's back, pushing her gently forward. "Before I have to give you trouble."
"But Charlotte…"
"Now."
Ellie pouted even as she turned the corner away from Charlotte and towards the Slytherin dorms.
'Damnit.' Charlotte leaned against the wall.
'You had to know he would figure it out eventually.' she told herself. 'Just maybe not that quickly.'
"So what now?" she mumbled, pushing her body from the wall and heading back to her own rooms.
'Talk to him or let it be?'
Charlotte pictured herself heading to his office, demanding to know why he questioned Ellie and then pictured another scenario where she just came clean about the whole thing.
Fear ran through her and her body felt numb at the thought of having a conversation with him again. She knew that she should go talk to him, for Ellie's sake, but she also knew that she couldn't deal with talking to him again, not yet.
'You're selfish.' Her mind yelled. 'There is no real reason you should tell them both!'
She kept walking towards her room, her mind telling her to turn around and find him.
'It's not Ellie's fault this happened! Why punish her? Let him deal with it. Be supportive but make him own up to what he did! This isn't your fault it happened either.'
This really didn't have anything to do with Charlotte and that was the worst part of it all.