A/N: Thanks to MRSSPICY and all my other earlier reviewers! This is the chapter you've all been waiting for! (I think). I'm glad everyone seems to like Mae and Andrew. I've grown rather attached to them :)


CHAPTER NINE

The Students' Dilemma


"Now," Dinah began as she addressed her class full of Seventh Years on Monday, "It's been a fairly easy first two weeks in class, but now it's time we started getting into some heavier material. After all, this is your seventh year here, and a number of you are going to be taking a N.E.W.T. in this class. Could I have a show of hands, please, on who thinks they will be electing to take that option?"

As expected, about half the class's hands went up. When Dinah had begun teaching here six years ago, the Muggle Studies course had been revamped to make it a required class for first, fourth, and seventh years. Unfortunately, that meant all the seventh years had to take a N.E.W.T. in the course the first year. But they had quickly adjusted that and made it optional. After all, a N.E.W.T. in Muggle Studies was only required for a select handful of jobs.

"All right," she agreed, "That's good, about half of you are interested. I have a parchment that I'm going to set on my desk, so if you would please sign your name on it before you leave if you plan to take the N.E.W.T., then I can adjust class assignments accordingly. You may have an extra assignment here or there so it might be a bit more work for you, but it will be worth it.

"Now, this year I'd like to really focus on your critical thinking skills. As I'm sure you all know from fourth year or other years with me, unlike in your other classes there are few 'right answers' in this course. I am more interested in your ideas and interpretations, even speculations. That's how we can start to better understand ourselves and each other, by looking at things from many different angles and coming up with new perspectives on familiar issues. That said, I would like to begin our next section by looking at – yes, Mr. Lee, what is it?"

Porter Lee lowered his hand, "What about those of us who want to go to Durmstrang this year for the Triwizard Tournament? Should we even bother with this class if we're just going to leave and we don't want to take a N.E.W.T.? I know for a fact that they don't teach Muggle Studies there so it's not as if there's any point in going through it these first few months if we're not going to get anything out of it."

Dinah frowned, "Mr. Lee, this is a required class as long as you are at Hogwarts. Whether you are going to Durmstrang or not or taking a Muggle Studies N.E.W.T. or not, until you leave here it is important for you to be exposed to these lessons. Especially, I think, if you are going to a school such as Durmstrang which doesn't admit Muggle-borns, although I continue to press Headmaster Petrov to change that and I do believe he is weakening on the issue."

"Yeah, but-"

"No buts. You are here in this class and you will participate. In fact, I planned for the section we cover after this one to be on schools of that sort. I'd like us to discuss the issue of Muggle-born education throughout the world and the positive and negative ways in which it is, and can be, approached. Actually," she said, as the thought occurred to her, "Why don't I get a show of hands of those of you who are thinking to apply to travel to Durmstrang this year? It will help me customize the assignments I give you, especially those of you who are N.E.W.T.-takers."

She was again not surprised to see nearly every hand in the room raised. But Andrew was one of the few students whose hand did not go up, and Lee noticed it at the same time she did. "Not planning to go to Durmstrang, Sneezy? I thought all Slytherins wanted to go there!" the Gryffindor boy taunted.

Andrew growled a little and stood up from his chair to turn around and face the other boy down, "It's Speasy, and no, I don't want to go. I have more important plans for this winter and I have to stay here. Not that it's any of your business, Lee."

Lee snickered, "Wait, I get it. I heard the Ravenclaw girls talking and Mae said she wasn't sure if she wanted to go yet or not. You want to stay because of your girlfriend, right? But word's out that there's something going on between you two. You're spending a lot less time together than normal. John says he thinks you did something to make her mad."

Andrew took a moment to sneeze a few times before saying, "I don't give a damn what Wortham thinks, Lee! Both Mae and I are staying here!"

"Oh?" Lee raised an eyebrow, "You're going to force her?"

He flushed, "No, I am not going to force her."

"What here is so important for you to stay?"

"None of your business!"

"Boys! Boys!" Dinah hurried down from the front of the room to get in-between them, needing to put a stop to this. Although half of her wanted to wait and see if Andrew said anything more revealing, she pushed that part aside and concentrated on restoring order to her class, "There is no need to argue. We are adults now and this is the middle of class. Please take your seats this instant."

"But he-" Andrew began, pointing.

"Andrew," Dinah said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder and shaking her head.

For a moment he just stared at her, but then he sighed and nodded, sitting back down, "He's not worth my time anyway," he muttered.

"I was just asking," Lee muttered, settling into his own seat.

Dinah sighed and shook her head again, making her way back to the front of the room. No matter how many years passed, those boys just could not get along, although they had improved significantly since first year, she supposed. Of more concern, still, was what was up with Mae and Andrew. Despite the new information she had just gotten, she felt she was no closer to figuring it out.


"Again!" Severus demanded, his frustration building.

"Expecto Patronum!" Mae shouted, stretching out her wand. But, again, absolutely nothing happened. "I'm sorry!" she exclaimed before he could come up with any words of admonishment. "I really am trying, you have to believe me!"

"I believe that you think you are trying," he snarled, "But that is all I am certain about at this point. I offered you these late lessons in the hopes that some one-on-one training would at least bring about some improvement. But the fact that absolutely no light is being produced from your wand to form even an inkling of the Patronus charm is slowly diminishing my confidence in your abilities in your current state. I am now convinced that you cannot fix the charm without fixing the underlying problem. So tell me what that is," he ordered, folding his arms across his chest and fixing her with a glare, "You know what it is. It is simply a matter of facing it down. Now explain."

Mae just stared at him for a moment, looking shocked and a little terrified at the direction the conversation had taken, "I- I can't!"

"Then you will never produce a Patronus and you will fail your N.E.W.T.s," he was not patient enough to be sympathetic, "Explain."

"It's- it's nothing," she swallowed, "We're just having a little disagreement about something. Why should that be enough to ruin my ability to produce a Patronus? Like I said, it doesn't destroy the good moments we spent together."

"Clearly there are underlying factors exacerbating this problem," he repeated, "That much is obvious. It is the only thing that would turn you into this. A witch or wizard's powers don't just decrease for no reason. It is connected to your mental state."

"Even if I tell you or anybody else about the problem, it's not going to change it. So why does it matter?"

"Being aware of the situation, there may be ways to combat it or at least get around it. But I have to know what we are dealing with here to know if that's possible."

"It's private."

"It has something to do with Andrew's family." There. So much for being subtle as Dinah had wanted. Well, he was too frustrated to bother with things like subtlety. It was either deal with continued incompetence from someone who should not be incompetent, or not be subtle. He chose to not be subtle.

"They hate me, all right?" Mae exclaimed, blinking back tears. Severus was too shocked by her outburst to discipline her for yelling again, and so he just frowned and listened to her explanation. "At least they almost do. It's fine. I'm used to it, but all this year Andrew's been going on about how he wants us to spend the Christmas holidays with them, maybe spend some weeks during the summer with them. He doesn't want me to go to Durmstrang for just that reason. I know he's just trying to get them more used to me or something, but he acts like there isn't a problem! Like it's going to be just fine and whenever I express my worries on the issue he just brushes them aside. Why is he pushing me on this so fast? I'm not ready!"

Severus took a moment to process this information. It would be a lie if he thought he could make sense of it for her, or even offer much in the way of advice. But he could try, at any rate. "I see."

"Well, you wanted to know," she muttered, staring down at where she fiddled with her wand in her hands, though it appeared she was staring through it to the floor. Or even staring through the floor. "I can't spend a week with those people. I know they're Andrew's family and they aren't Death Eaters or anything, but the mindset is close to the same. They accept that he loves me, but… they still barely tolerate me. I've been there for the day before but never for any length of time. I know Andrew wants them to accept me but shoving me into their presence for days is not going to help do that."

"And Andrew… believes that this is not a problem."

"Isn't that what I just said?" she demanded, turning a glare up to him, "I tell him I'm worried and he tells me 'don't'. He grins at me and says it'll be a fun trip, they'll get used to me, etcetera. Well, I don't think it's going to happen like that. He wants it to happen through… osmosis or something. He never tries to explain to them why their opinions are wrong or why I'm worth liking. He just keeps expecting them to do it on their own. Why does he think that?"

"I cannot interpret the whims of a family I do not know."

"But you know Andrew. And you… you know that… 'type' of family, don't you?" she flushed, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't ask you that."

"No," he snarled, "You should not. But I will let it slide for the time being. If you are thinking about how Dinah and myself have embraced both worlds and how even the Malfoys, for example, have come to accept our union, you must understand that things like that take time."

"Oh, I understand that," she insisted, "That's just the point. Andrew doesn't want to give them time! I don't understand this. He's never… suggested all of these types of things before. He's let me go at my own pace until now and suddenly he's acting as though we have to rush things. Why? Why does he keep telling me it will be fine and ignoring all of my deepest concerns? He knows how uncomfortable I am around his family, so why?"

"Perhaps their opinions have changed since you last saw them?"

"No," she shook her head bitterly, "They haven't changed. I know they haven't. It will take years for them to change. The fact is that I'm a Mudblood and they don't want me with their son."

"Ten points from Ravenclaw for referring to yourself as such," Severus growled. He had absolutely no tolerance for that word. "And if this is what is preventing you from performing the Patronus charm then I suggest you take care of the situation sooner rather than later. No one is forcing you to do what Andrew wants. Simply tell him 'no'. Explain that it will take more time to get through to his family."

Severus was surprised when Mae offered him a smirk such as one he might give her, "You seriously don't think I've done that already?"

"Ah… yes… well…" he broke off with a growl, cursing himself inwardly for allowing himself to become flustered in front of a student, even for a moment and even if she was a friend. "The point, Mae, is that you either fix this issue or you don't produce a Patronus."

"So there's no way around it," she confirmed, biting her lip and looking like all hope was lost.

He sighed seating himself at his classroom desk, "I don't know. Perhaps... Perhaps there is a way we can come up with a happy memory that bypasses those issues in some way, but I need more time to research that particular angle. I suggest you do the same," he waved her off, "Your lesson is over for the day."

"So you're not giving up on me?"

Sighing again, he looked up at his young friend, "I am not giving up on you. But you must do your part. Research ways around this emotional barrier to perform the charm, and try to solve this problem with Andrew. Can you do that?"

"Yes," she said with a shaky nod, "I'll do that."

"Good. Then we will discuss this further at your next session. Get back to your common room. And," he added as she began to leave the room, causing her to turn back around. He smirked at what he was about to say but realized after so many years with Dinah that it probably needed to be said, "I am… certain that everything will work out eventually." Merlin, it still sounded strange to say such things to his students. But it wasn't entirely disagreeable, especially when she smiled in response.

"Thank you, Professor Snape," she said, before turning and leaving the classroom.


"Oh, poor Mae," Dinah murmured, sitting next to Severus on the couch that evening and going through some essays she had to grade. He had just told her everything he had discovered about Mae and Andrew's problem at his private lesson this evening. The situation was no longer a mystery, at least most of it. They still didn't know what Andrew was thinking and why he was brushing aside all of Mae's worries, and Dinah suspected they probably needed to before they could come up with a solution to this problem.

"Is Auntie Mae all right?" Maylene asked, shoving her way onto Dinah's lap and forcing her to put down her parchments lest they get crumpled.

"Yes, sweetheart," Dinah assured, smoothing her hair, "She's just going through a little problem, that's all. But she can handle it, so don't you worry."

"Uncle Andrew will help," Maylene decided, reaching for a quill, "Can I help grade?"

It was sad, in a way, Dinah thought. That her daughter's automatic assumption that Andrew would certainly help could be so erroneous on this point. She didn't even realize that Andrew was the problem in this particular situation. But children had such confidence in the relationships that made sense to them. Maybe it was a sign. That Mae and Andrew would eventually work things out again. "Hmm, why don't you practice your own writing instead, okay?" she asked, handing her a blank parchment, "Or draw a picture of your brother with the kitty," she said, pointing to where Tommy was playing with Gel on the floor. Godric was a little old for that now and so he was curled up on Severus's lap, but summarily dumped onto the floor when her husband stood to go examine the potion he had bubbling on the table, prepared to do some analyses on the latest suspicious letter.

For the next hour or so Severus fiddled with his potions and Dinah attempted to get some grading done while Maylene chose to do both drawing and writing on her own parchment and Tommy played with the animals. Then Dinah's husband made a declaration.

"Rose water."

"Rose water?" she asked, turning to look at where he held a tiny piece of the letter paper up to his nose with a pair of forceps, frowning as he sniffed at it.

"Yes, there are traces of rose water on both the letter and the envelope," he said, setting the forceps down, "That's all I noticed."

"And does that tell us anything?" she asked, starting to feel like she was in a Muggle crime show.

"It tells me nothing, but perhaps someone else can make a connection. And it is something else to tell the Malfoys on Wednesday evening." They had quickly received a response owl from their friends indicating that that was a satisfactory time to Apparate over for a short meeting. "Rose water is not an especially common potions ingredient."

"I think Rose water is used in some French desserts," Dinah said, "and other cultures, but I can't quite remember…" she stood abruptly and made her way towards the bedroom, "I'll run an internet search on it."

"You most certainly will not," Severus snarled behind her, but she ignored him as she was already in the bedroom pulling her laptop down off of a shelf, "We are at Hogwarts, I refuse to surround myself with activated Muggle technology until we return to-"

"Too late," she grinned, appearing in the doorway with what her husband considered a highly offensive object in her hands, "It will be faster than looking through books, as cultural things are pretty synonymous in both the magical and non-magical worlds. Besides, it's only a matter of time before I get Mae to cheer up enough to do karaoke with me."

He heaved a sigh, "Why is the one spell you've ever invented also the bane of my existence?"

"Hey, if I hadn't invented that spell we might never have hit it off on that first debate day," she teased, kissing him on the cheek as she passed before settling back into the couch with her computer.

"That may be true," he grumbled, "And you did it again, you know?"

"Did what again?" she asked, booting it up as both of her children clustered around her to watch, turning into 'Muggle brats' just to please their father, no doubt.

"Wasted time and energy walking into that bedroom and physically carrying your computer back here when you could have simply levitated it. Your lack of magical instincts never fails to astound me."

"It shouldn't astound you, darling," she told him as she always did, "I was sixteen when my powers were discovered. Psychologically it only makes sense. Now hush." She laughed as a thought occurred to her, "I wonder if Mae Yates would still think we were so harmonious if she listened to this conversation."

"We are perfectly harmonious," he growled, walking over to stand behind the couch and look with them as if to make his point, "Now, what does this infernal machine have to tell us?"

She smiled as she pulled up the internet, "We are about to find out."


"I heard you got into it with Lee in Muggle Studies today," Joseph Cantrell said, grinning wickedly from the bed across the way in the small dorm room.

Andrew scowled at the other seventh-year Slytherin. Why did he always have to share such close quarters with this boy? "This school is too small for my tastes. How does everyone know everything so quickly?"

"What was the fight about?"

"None of your business!" he snapped, before feeling a wave of sneezes come on. He was used to the allergies. They were an affliction he had dealt with his entire life along with the odd looks and the mocking that occasionally came with it. Still, he had made a home for himself at Hogwarts and was just as accepted as he'd ever want to be, mostly thanks to her. Unfortunately, he still had to deal with people like Cantrell.

"Touchy," the blond boy scoffed, and then the wicked grin was back, "Hey, you remember in first year when we turned his and Wortham's robes pink and levitated them around the room so everyone could see their pants?"

"No," Andrew snapped, turning back to his book and willing his unwanted companion to shut up.

"Oh yeah, it was just around that time you decided to abandon us," Cantrell muttered, and then shrugged, "Well, no matter. We were just kids then, I guess. Still don't know what you see in that Ravenclaw Mud – Muggle-born though," he quickly adjusted his term when Andrew reached for his wand.

"You've never understood what I see in her and you never will," he retorted, "She makes me happy. That's all that matters. Now good night and shut up," he ordered, setting his book aside and extinguishing the lights in the room.

"Hey, I was still doing my homework!"

"Use your wand then. I can't sleep with all this light. And keep your voice down or you'll wake the others," Andrew ordered, shoving his head under his pillow so he couldn't hear any of Cantrell's retorts.

Andrew closed his eyes in his muffled environment and tried to sleep. But his head was spinning. He couldn't stop thinking about the words he had spoken to Cantrell. That the other boy would 'never' understand what he saw in Mae.

The same could not possibly be true of his parents, could it?

No. He wouldn't believe it. He had always had a good relationship with his family and his parents loved him. They could learn to love Mae too. They would have to. He would make them. And Mae wouldn't have to worry about anything. There wouldn't be a problem. He just needed to increase their exposure to her; that was all. And then everything would be okay. So why couldn't she see that and just relax about the whole thing?

It was eating at him. Their relationship was strained because of his constant requests on the issue and he knew that, but he couldn't stop now. He needed to increase the contact between Mae and his family.

After all, he thought as he finally let sleep overtake him, feeling confident again in his ultimate conclusion… his parents would have to accept Mae when he asked her to marry him.