Disclaimer: The Harry Potter Universe is not owned by me but by the lovely J.K Rowling. I wish I was as brilliant as her. In that regards, this fanfic is 100% original and something that I dreamt one night. I just added onto it as I went along.
AN: As you may have noticed, I have officially deleted my first version of this story off of Fanfiction. Net. Also, I have taken the (Revamped) off the title. So for any of you that follow and get alerts for this story, the (Revamped) will NO longer be in the title.
So, with that all taken care of, things are finally getting into it! Apprenticeship is happening soon, details are coming together. A few of you have messaged me your theories, but I won't tell! not yet! Again my wonderful partner BeautiflDisastar helped write this. I have changed a few details in this chapter, adding a bit more info, taking out bits and pieces here and there. Tried to have it make more sense in the Ghost/breakfast scene. New readers will know what I am talking about when you get there. Returning readers, I hope it makes more sense to you.
On another note! I wanted to show some recognition to our readers! We hit 34 subscribers and while that may not seem like a lot, for my first fanfic, that is more than I ever thought I would get! It was even more than my first version. And so, in recognition of that, I will be giving a shout out to a few of you that have subscribed already! And for those that haven't yet, I will add you once you do! So please! Subscribe to alerts, review, pm me with any questions, comments, or concerns. I would love, love, love! to hear from you guys more!
This chapter is dedicated to Amarenima Redwood and Scarlett Raye for being my first reviewers! Also Amarenima Redwood and Scarlett Raye, (again), Calindy, Charmed2100, Evilhyperpixie13, Kuisun, Mel2121, TheUnknownSouthJutlander, Zafrina, and marzipan4 for being my first 10 readers that followed this version! Thank you for your support everyone! Please read and review, any constructive criticism is welcome! 3
Chapter 7
For the third time that night, Severus walked up to the stone gargoyle, spit out a password and impatiently waited for it to move so he could stomp up the stairs to disturb the headmaster yet again. Hopefully, he wouldn't be so… disheveled this time around.
The office door was already open, so Severus strolled right inside. Dumbledore looked up from his work and silently motioned to a chair in front of him. Severus took one and sat. He waited a moment before asking, "Has the Bloody Baron told Peeves what to do to fix this Headmaster?"
Dumbledore nodded. "Indeed. He just left before you got here and told me about the extreme actions this potion had. It seems that Ms. Rook partook of the punch more often than the students, which is why she reacted to it much quicker. But it is much more potent the longer it is in the body as well, hence the strong reactions from the students compared to Ms. Rook's damsel in distress act even though they took less than she did."
Severus frowned deeply at that comment. He was trying to forget that moment and sincerely hoped that Natalia would as well. He shrugged and wanting to change the topic asked, "What is Peeves to do?"
Dumbledore just smiled. "I am sure he will take his responsibilities quite seriously. It is not every day that he gets free reign to bother the students. He is probably down there as we speak, dropping dungbombs or water balloons to surprise them. Then in the morning, he has his orders to be sure all students are no longer affected; not just the stragglers from tonight. Everything will be fine, Severus. Nothing to worry about."
Severus just frowned and nodded. "As you wish. I will just retire for the night then. I have papers to grade, then tomorrow is the first day of the apprenticeship."
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Ah yes. Ms. Rook will be spending a lot of time here. I hope she enjoys it. It will certainly be an interesting experience."
Severus just shrugged, standing and going to leave. "Try not to be too hard on her Severus. It wasn't her fault how she acted tonight. Don't hold it against her." Severus paused for a moment, his back to the headmaster. He nodded and left the room.
/
Natalia was laying in her bed, thinking and rethinking of all the actions of the dance. She was trying to remember if she saw anyone put anything in the punch, but she couldn't recollect. She sighed in frustration. All she remembered was glancing out of the corner of her eye to search for her old professor.
Well, not old per se. Her former professor. He was only a few years older than she was. She stopped to think about it. She graduated in 1989 at age 17. It was currently 1994 and she was 22. He couldn't be more than ten to 15 years older than her. Either way, his experience, and knowledge would soon be hers. Slowly but surely as she apprenticed with him, she would learn what he knew and she would use that to help in the Order of the Phoenix that the headmaster spoke about.
She nodded to herself, thinking of the Order now. It was a distracting enough notion that she thought of it until she fell asleep.
The next morning, Natalia woke up groggy and grumpy. That hangover potion was having no effect since she wasn't actually drunk. She was thankful for the pepperup potion that was still on her bedside table where Severus had left it. Because of her grogginess, she couldn't quite remember what happened last night. All she remembered was getting sick on a suit of armor right in front of-
"Oh, gods. He saw me… he's never going to want me as an apprentice now. How embarrassing!" she despaired. She turned over in her bed, face in a pillow, her dress rustling.
She screamed into her pillow, then immediately grimaced at the migraine that throbbed in the front of her head. She groaned turning back over and looked over to the potion that was left for her. She quickly unstoppered the vial and drank it down in one shot. She shivered as she felt the potion take effect and smiled. She hopped out of bed, disrobed and jumped into the shower.
After she was clean, she got dressed in some casual clothes. Not sure exactly how to dress as an apprentice of a well-known potions master, she decided to go safe and wear clothes that she wouldn't worry about getting dirty. A Spellbound band t-shirt and some tight fitting jeans seemed alright. The t-shirt had a bit of paint on it from when she tried to paint the headboard of her bed. When that didn't work out she sanded off the paint on the headboard making it look distressed, but the paint was never able to come out of the shirt no matter how many spells she pointed at it.
She tied her hair in a ponytail, her natural waves falling over her right shoulder. She started her daily beauty regimen putting on her homemade face crème and letting it set. She brushed her teeth before washing it off. Afterward, she was presentable and ready to go. However, she was still very early. She cast a 'tempus' charm and it told her that it was barely after 6 am. She sighed and decided to send an owl to her new master to see what time he wanted her.
She shivered at the thought then shook her head. 'Get your head out of the gutter Natalia. He is there to teach you. To teach you about potions and how to be a potions mistress. This is not something to mess up!'
She sighed and started writing.
Master Snape,
I don't wish to disturb you so please only respond when you are able. I was wondering when the best time to start the apprenticeship would be. You told me the Saturday after the Yule Ball, but not a time. Honestly, I am not sure you even want to still have me as your apprentice after my behavior last night. Please forgive me. I will never embarrass you like that again.
Your apprentice,
Natalia Rook
She summoned her owl that liked to stay in a nearby tree on the property of her cottage and gave him the letter. She offered him a treat if he would hurry back with a response.
"But don't bug Master Snape. He may not give you an answer at all." The owl affectionately nipped her finger and flew away.
/
Severus woke that morning to the pecking of his window. Even though his office was in the dungeons, part of a window was still exposed just for this purpose. He sighed, heaved the warm, green flannel blankets off of him and walked over the chilled cobble floor to the window. The frigid morning air rushed in as he opened it and an owl flew farther inside as if trying to get away from the cold itself. With a wave of his hand and a silent word, the fireplace in his chambers burst to life and the raw warmth of it made him shiver.
He went to the animal and it extended its foot, a letter wrapped in its talons. Severus extended his hand and when the animal didn't immediately give him the message, he just arched a brow. The owl chirped playfully and dropped the letter in his opened hand. Severus smirked at the cheeky animal as he unraveled the message and read. He sighed. The girl thought that he wouldn't want to even start the apprenticeship. Silly girl. She had no control over any of her actions from the early morning. He was sure that she didn't mean to pull him into her bed while she was under the influence of a potion.
Severus sighed again and went to write a reply. He looked at the time from the small clock in his office and noticed it was almost 7 am. He wrote his reply and gave it to the owl. He pet its silky feathers gently and gave it a small smile. "Be safe and fly straight, little one."
The owl pecked his fingers softly and flew near the window. Severus summoned his wand and with a slight flick of his wrist, the window opened and the owl flew away. He closed the window again and set off to get ready for his first apprentice lesson.
/
Natalia showed up fifteen minutes earlier than what his reply was.
9 am. My potions classroom.
-S.S
She didn't want to be late for her first lesson. She stood outside his classroom door and just waited. At about ten to the hour, the classroom door opened and Severus started in surprise.
"Ms. Rook. I didn't expect you to be this early." He cleared his throat. "Come in then. We can get started." She reminded him of a very talented student that was normally always early, not that he would ever acknowledge her, though. Insufferable know-it-all.
Natalia walked into the classroom. She was instantly hit with a wave of nostalgia. She remembered brewing a Forgetfulness potion here as a first-year student and barely getting the ingredients right. She remembered brewing a wit sharpening potion as a fourth-year student and Professor Snape telling her it was Acceptable but barely so. Her fondest memory was Professor Snape giving Hufflepuff house ten points because she was able to tell him all the effects of the Wiggenweld potion in her third year.
"Daydreaming, Ms. Rook?" Severus asked looking amused, snapping Natalia out of her reverie.
"No sir, just the memories that being in this classroom brings back." Natalia cheerfully replied.
"Well, instead of dwelling on the memories of the past, perhaps you would like to start making new ones as my apprentice and not a student?" Severus chided reminding her that she was there to start an apprenticeship and not to daydream.
"Yes, Sir. Sorry, Master." Natalia replied having the grace to look embarrassed.
Severus wanted to see how much more advanced her potion-making skills were. That way he would know exactly how much work he had ahead of him before she could become a potion mistress. He decided to start out with something simple; a calming draught. This was a draught required to pass the O.W.L.s. so, being a Hogwarts graduate, she should be able to brew it easily. If her draught passed his expectations he would proceed to have her making a batch of polyjuice potion because he wanted to see what her skill level with that advanced potion was. Especially since she was brewing it regularly.
"Go to the ingredient cabinet and get what is needed to make a Calming Draught," he told her. He had purposely not given her an ingredient list. He watched with approval as she gathered all the correct ingredients; Scurvy Grass, Peppermint, cut Ginger Root, powdered Moonstone and Belladonna.
After she had brought all the ingredients back to the table in front of him he gave her a time limit. "You have exactly two and a half hours to make a batch of Calming Draught. That should be more than enough time," he explained.
He watched her with a look of hidden fascination for the next two and a half hours. She first measured out her ingredients before anything else, as any good potions apprentice would. Five cups of water, a dash of scurvy grass, a sprig of peppermint, ¼ pound of cut ginger root and a cup of powdered moonstone. She couldn't exactly measure out her Belladonna yet as she only needed three drops.
Once she had her ingredients measured, she got out her brass cauldron. She put the fire on high, poured her five cups of water in and brought it to a boil. She then added her powdered moonstone and stirred it until it was dissolved. She then added her ginger, scurvy grass, and peppermint. She then turned the fire onto low as she was supposed to. Over the next 30 minutes, she allowed her potion to simmer, stirring it once every ten minutes as required.
After the thirty minutes was up she added the three drops of Belladonna and her potion turned an amber color, just like it was supposed to. She allowed her potion to settle for 15 minutes after removing her cauldron from the flames instead of jumping the gun and saying her potion was complete. Her potion settled and it was still the amber color required. She then summoned five, one cup vials and carefully poured her potion into them.
She picked up one of the vials, brought it to his desk and presented it to him. Severus took the vial from her and looked it over. It was the correct amber color. He unstoppered it and smelled it. The Calming Draught smelled amazing just as it should. He poured the potion into his mouth and swallowed. He immediately felt the effects of the potion taking place as he felt calmer than he had over the last few weeks.
He looked at Natalia and smiled. "If I were grading this, Ms. Rook, I would give this an Outstanding. It is a perfect version of the calming draught. Great job."
Natalia couldn't help it. She blushed head to toe at the compliment Master Snape had given her. "Thank you, Master, that means quite a lot," she gushed. Severus looked amused.
"I think that will be enough for today, Ms. Rook. Why don't you take the rest of the day and write me a ten paragraph essay on the proper brewing technique, ingredients, and effects of Polyjuice Potion."
Natalia nodded. "Yes, Master."
"You can use my floo as it is connected with yours, to get home if you wish," Severus told her.
"No, thank you, Master. I told Madame Pomfrey that I would come up after my first day. I'm sure she is chomping at the bit to hear how everything went," she told him. With his nod of dismissal, she left his classroom, heading towards the hospital wing.
Once she walked through the hospital wing doors Poppy immediately stopped magically making the hospital beds. "Natalia, my dear girl!" she exclaimed. "I didn't expect you for another few hours."
Natalia smiled tiredly. "Well, Poppy, Master Snape let me go after finishing my potion. However, he did leave me with an essay to write. It's just like being back at school," she said as she sighed.
"Come now, Natalia. Let's go and have a cuppa tea and some scones," Poppy suggested before busying herself with requesting the refreshments from an elf. Natalia sat down and sighed again. She really needed to get her head straight about her potions master.
She had barely been able to concentrate on brewing her calming draught. Every time she had allowed herself to look up, Master Snape was watching her with those piercing obsidian eyes and then he would smirk. It was almost as if he could read her mind.
'Oh, gods! I really hope that he actually can't,' she thought to herself. During the brewing process, she had been admiring her Master's exquisite features again. She really needed to get her head on straight as she fully intended on being the best apprentice alive. She really did want to learn all that he could teach her.
He was one of the best potion Masters alive and she wasn't about to throw this wonderful opportunity that she'd been gifted away by acting like a teenaged schoolgirl mooning over her first crush. No, Natalia Rook was better than that. She would take this opportunity and use it to the fullest. She would learn everything he had to offer and then some. She would beat this crush feeling into the ground and make Poppy proud.
She shook her head coming out of her thoughts with a determined look on her face. She realized that she'd been so dazed into her thoughts that Poppy had finished making the tea and scones. She was currently sitting across from her looking amused.
"A sickle for your thoughts, my dear," Poppy said chuckling.
"I was just thinking about this amazing opportunity you've gifted me and how I'm going to make you proud by learning everything I can from Master Snape. Thank you so much for making this apprenticeship possible," Natalia said, her voice dripped with gratefulness.
"It's not a problem, my dear," Poppy said. From that, they talked about Harry Potter, the Triwizard Tournament, different illnesses that the students have gotten or how they've managed to magically hurt themselves.
Poppy told Natalia of a particularly interesting piece of gossip. While Natalia had been spending the day apprenticing with Severus and gossiping with Poppy, the Bloody Baron and Peeves had been working on and putting in effect a plan to scare the students back to normal. They had decided to enlist the help of the other Hogwarts ghosts from the Fat Friar of Hufflepuff to The Grey Lady of Ravenclaw.
As ghosts, they could do just about anything. This was going to be a day for the ghosts to remember. Peeves was absolutely beside himself as he had the express permission of Headmaster Dumbledore and The Bloody Baron to create all this chaos. This had never, in his death of being a poltergeist, occurred.
At first, they had thought of enlisting a few boggarts but the Fat Friar had pointed out that the students would recognize what it was and simply use the countercurse 'Riddiculus' and their fun would be short lived. The Hogwarts ghosts definitely wanted their fun to be remembered for years to come.
The ghosts went through many scenarios from having their heads pop up from inside the toilets to having the Headless Hunt put on one of their spectacularly scary shows. They went round and round about what they should do until they finally devised the absolutely perfect plan. They devised the plan to take place starting from when the dance was finishing all the way through during breakfast time that way all the students affected would all be affected. At least they hoped…
According to Poppy, what had actually happened was this. As the students that were most affected were separated and escorted to their common rooms, the ghosts would pop out of the walls scaring them on their path. Then during breakfast the next morning, a fine mist started swirling near the floor. It got thicker the farther into the room it got. The temperature lowered dramatically and the students immediately fell silent. Suddenly the Great Hall doors blew open and an onslaught of the Hogwarts ghosts came flying in. Some even popped up from the floors. They were wailing and crying, their chains banging the nearest object they hit. Nearly-Headless Nick was flying around the room, moaning as his head was wobbling unbalanced on his shoulders.
The Bloody Baron just pointed and laughed as Peeves came flying through chucking mud balls he took from the greenhouses. They hit many students, not just the ones that were perhaps still afflicted by the contaminated punch the previous night. The group of ghosts known as the Headless Hunt started to juggle each other's heads in sync. Many of the first year students started looking green just from witnessing all this, threatening to return all the rich foods they just ate.
The Grey Lady from Ravenclaw was just wailing and flying through many of the students that were affected by the drink, double checking that they were better. Harry was first and he shivered and blanched as she flew straight through him. He gagged a bit and groaned. This happened to many of the other students, one by one. Ginny, Draco, Marcus, Hermione. They each were run through by ghosts, disgusted as the mud was slung into their faces from Peeves, and terrified when one of the Headless Hunt member's head fell on their plate.
After a while of this chaos, Dumbledore snapped his fingers. The Bloody Baron immediately called for Peeves who looked crestfallen that his fun had come to an end. One by one the ghosts disappeared into the walls or portraits that lined the back wall. All the students were in too much shock to do anything. They looked to Dumbledore who had stood up and went to his podium. With twinkling eyes and a great smile, he said, "Well then! I think that you all should clean up before your first class! Skip, skip!"
They must have talked for hours because the next thing Natalia knew, it was turning into the late evening. "Oh," Natalia exclaimed. "I have to get going. I have an essay to write still and I'd like to get to bed early so I'm not irritable in the morning."
"Of course, sweetheart," Poppy said understandingly. "Come back by anytime. We'll have tea and scones again." Natalia nodded and left the hospital wing. Once outside of the castle and into the area she could apparate, she went home.
