Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Labyrinth or Harry Potter, as all characters involved belong to Jim Henson and J.K. Rowling, respectively.

Forget About the Baby

Chapter 7: Neither Dwarf Nor Giant

Pressing her nose against the icy window, Sarah watched the snowflakes flutter to the school grounds, coating the grass and building with a pure white blanket. Her cheeks turned red, her chapped lips delighting in the prospect of the cold.

It was her tenth Christmas without what she considered her real family, and she was hesitant to admit that this was the time she would, inevitably, miss them the most. She wondered what they were doing, how they were celebrating. If they were celebrating the way that they all used to- the same traditions, the same guests.

When she was younger she didn't enjoy the fancy Christmas parties that her mother would throw, feeling alienated and out of place among the tuxedos and beautiful women in ballgowns. The pomp and splendor of a Williams family Christmas was replaced with the arrival of Karen, who came from an Iowa family who were comfortable and filled with warmth.

Although Sarah never admitted it to her stepmother, those family Christmases were eagerly anticipated on her part, excited about the large dinner and songs around the piano from years past. After the arrival of Toby into their lives, the holiday was made even more meaningful, due to the love and closeness a small child can bring.

But now she was so far away from that life and while Hogwarts was her new home, it just didn't feel like her home, sometimes. The stone hallways were too cold in winter, and while she could find the occasional common room fireplace, it just wasn't the same as the house she had spent fifteen years growing accustomed to.

She was startled out of her musings by the Potions master striding down the hallway, his robes billowing behind him. The usual stern frown on his face had been replaced by a more amicable grimace. He was cheered by the absence of students, as always, and Sarah had always wondered why he had become a teacher in the first place, due to his obvious dislike of his pupils.

"Miss Williams, did you collect the doxy venom I had asked for?"

Sarah groaned, placing a hand over her face and wincing. She had meant to travel to Hogsmeade the day before to pick up the ingredient, as the Professor had been working on a serious project and didn't have time to. She was initially surprised by his request as she had never been to Hogsmeade before, but she attributed it to his growing trust for her, which she was secretly delighted by.

However, she meant to ask Fred and George Weasley for the easiest passage out of the school (as it was rumored that they knew a few passageways and she did not desire to venture out into the snow if at all possible) and couldn't manage to find them in the large castle.

Apologizing profusely and stammering, she was startled when Severus, whom she expected to be irate, instead gave her a wave and what looked like a hint of a smile.

"You can go tomorrow. In the meantime, I have a more serious problem that I require your assistance with."


"Are you sure that 'size' and 'insides' are a good rhyme?" Sarah asked, tracing her finger over the piece of parchment on the laboratory table in front of her. She absentmindedly stirred a cauldron with a green, bubbling potion to her left every five minutes, switching between clockwise and counterclockwise stirs. The professor stood two spaces to her right, hunched over a small cauldron with a basket filled with wormwood and asphodel sitting next to it.

"I am not sure what else to make a rhyme with, and it works with the rhythm and meter of the poem. Also, I cannot think of another way to write that clue," he admitted sheepishly, adding another sprig of wormwood to the lavender concoction in front of him.

Curious, Sarah leaned over and peered in his cauldron after giving hers a clockwise turn. "That doesn't look much like Draught of Living Death," she commented absentmindedly, pursing her lips in thought. "The ingredients look the same, but that's not the color it's supposed to turn at the fourth stage."

"Inspired observation, Miss Williams," Severus replied sarcastically, yet lacking the normal biting tones she had become accustomed to. "That is because it's not. It is, instead, the very potion you have in front of you, in an earlier stage. Yours needs to simmer for another hour or so, but is practically complete."

Sarah looked down at her cauldron again, noticing the steam wafting up from the cauldron and the specific coloring of the potion. "I don't think I've seen this potion before," she replied matter of factly.

"Also correct. I am positive you haven't, as this is a potion of my own design- a variation on the very potion you marked as familiar."

"If I'm not being too nosy," she continued hesitantly, "what exactly is it?"

He grinned triumphantly as the potion turned a darker shade of purple under his supervision. "I have been calling it 'Draught of Death,' due to the base potion. I made it for a... former employer in my youth, and I have been perfecting the brew ever since." Severus glanced downward, focusing his full attention on the potion, refusing to meet her eyes.

Laughing, Sarah asked in mock-seriousness "What kind of employer would require you to brew such a potion?"

"The worst kind, Miss Williams, and that is as far as I am willing to elaborate."

They continued to work in silence, both uncomfortable due to his response and her pressing question that gleaned the answer. As her potion simmered, she worked up the courage to ask a second question.

"Can you at least tell me what we're working on this project for?"

"While I cannot provide you with specifics," he noted objectively, "I can assure you of the project's intentions and eventual goal. There is a very valuable object being guarded in this school, and each professor has been assigned a task by the headmaster in order to protect it."

"Well, whoever you're guarding this object from probably isn't very smart, as this logic puzzle is terribly easy," she joked, stirring her potion again. An uncertain grin made it's way across her face.

"Do I need to remind you, Miss Williams, that most of the population does not possess the astute logic skills that you have been endowed with?" he smiled back at her and she knew she had been forgiven for her earlier misstep.

After another few stirs of her cauldron, Sarah let her eyes wander, delighting in the smells and the murmurs of the quiet Potions workroom. A quick look over at her companion confirmed that he shared the same belief as his eyes were slightly closed,

He asked her a question a few moments later and she had to ask him to repeat himself, as she was startled by the break in silence.

"I asked, what are you planning to do once you leave Hogwarts?"

Sarah sat for a minute, pondering the question and the implications behind it.

She hadn't given much thought at all to leaving Hogwarts. Ever. In fact, she had barely left the school grounds in nine years and she was perfectly content staying on them for as long as humanly possible. Was Severus Snape implying that he was going to retire? Could he find no use for her, anymore?

"Haven't really thought of it," she replied nonchalantly, stirring her potion again in mock confidence, betraying the nervous tremors she felt creeping up her legs and the butterflies in her stomach. She bit her lip to try and still the pressure. The room was starting to feel a little warm.

"Well, you should consider your options. Being a young woman in your position, you cannot possibly entertain thoughts of wasting your life here, being a teacher's assistant or even a qualified teacher yourself," he said, almost considering the various options in his mind while speaking. "You could work under a qualified master to get your masters in Potions and conduct research, you could become a mediwitch..." he trailed off.

Though his words were not meant to come off as abrasive or rude, she could not control the anger (coupled with anxiety) that bubbled up in her very being. "I don't consider spending my time at Hogwarts to be 'wasting my life,' and I certainly feel that I've gained a lot in my employ here. You've been here for fifteen years, at least," she spat out, choosing her words carefully.

"You are an obstinate girl, and completely misinterpreting the meaning of my statement. Do you honestly think that I enjoy spending all of my time here?" Severus asked, his tone raising in anger in response to her own. "If I was not bound to this school in such a way as I am, I would have never set foot in this horrid place ever again!"

"Precisely- you won't even tell me why you're still teaching, since you claim to hate it so much! And what's so wrong with my being here in the first place? Are you that desperate to be rid of me?" Her eyes glimmered with tears she was holding back, the sadness threatening to overwhelm her argumentative state.

As if on a precise timer, the potion in front of the Professor turned a perfect emerald green, hissing softly.

"Obviously, you are in no state to continue this discussion. Please manage to contain your emotions and concentrate on stirring this potion," he motioned towards his own cauldron, "as I have urgent business to attend to."

He strode quickly and elegantly out of the room, his robes trailing behind him in a sinister fashion, and it took all of Sarah's composure to focus on the task at hand and keep from bursting into tears.

She realized that she hadn't given any thought to her future- to a life that she could rebuild. She had been so overwhelmed with the opportunities presented, so elated with the chance she had been given, that she hadn't bothered to contemplate where she would go from here.

But that her mentor and the brilliant man she respected above anyone else could not trust her, that was almost too devastating to consider.

She could not win a place in his life as a friend. Just an apprentice.


After a particularly cold and sullen December, the students returned to the school and the surly Potions master regained his trademark sneer. Sarah was a bit startled at the amount of points that had been taken from the various houses since break had ended. She was secretly a tiny bit pleased that their argument had thrown him into such distress, but her pleasure was overwhelmed by the concern she felt for her friend.

His worst moods tended to manifest themselves after teaching First Year Potions classes with the Gryffindors and Slytherins. Curious as to what was bothering him, Sarah crept into the classroom one afternoon after finishing sorting some manuals for Madame Pince. She busied herself with one of the storeroom closets, sneaking a glance and trying to interpret what was irking him so profoundly.

After a few minutes, she was completely astonished and slightly shocked.

His demeanor had completely transformed, changing him from a moderately angry, sullen old greasy git to an incredibly irate, sinister bat of the dungeons. He had taken off about sixty points from Gryffindor in the span of two minutes, swooshing around the cauldrons and hovering over any student who dared to question his recommendations or instructions.

"Mr. Longbottom, if I have to tell you again how to properly crush your alihotsy leaves, I will force them down your throat," he snapped, rubbing his temples and gritting his teeth.

She had never seen him so angry before.

The boy in question, Neville Longbottom, shivered even more and managed to adequately crush the said leaves, though Sarah thought he wasn't doing that awful of a job. His bushy-haired partner, Hermione Granger, shot the Professor a frustrated glance before assisting Neville in crushing the leaves.

However, the worst of the rage seemed to be directed at one person- Harry Potter. Every action that Harry made seemed to be the wrong one, and every choice seemed inaccurate to his teacher. After reprimanding Harry for adding the wrong amount of Essence of Belladonna (which truthfully wouldn't affect the potion in question all that much), he then lectured Mr. Potter for five minutes about the proper way to stir, claiming that the boy was not properly taught how to use the wrist to stir instead of the fingers.

If Sarah didn't know any better, she'd swear that he was inventing reasons to harass Harry. However, that would be slightly irrational, but, she realized, not entirely unreasonable.

She filed away the information as a mental note, promising herself that she would contemplate it more later. All of the yelling was making her head hurt and she grabbed a vial of Erumpent Fluid for a potion she'd been working on earlier in the day.

Other than Snape's moody First Year classes, nothing else seemed to be quite remarkable at the beginning of the year.

Though she tried her best to restrain herself and keep him from noticing, Sarah realized that Tobias King knew she had been keeping an eye on him, for whatever reason. Although she knew he did not find her presence particularly threatening (yet), she tried to keep a lower profile and almost worked up the nerve to speak to him one afternoon, as she saw him out on the grounds, conversing with the Giant Squid.

She was not brave enough, at this point, to try to confront ten years of unhappiness and repressed memories.

But she resolved that she would try, and soon, as she would not lose this chance to, hopefully, fix one or two of her past mistakes.