Nim Lewis slowly poured a little essence of dittany into her potion. Professor Snape was eying the two identical boys in the corner of the room. Nim discretely followed his gaze and saw that the two were whispering conspiratorially whilst putting things in their cauldron. Nim's potions partner Katie Bell saw this and whispered to Nim, "They'd better not do anything stupid. Snape's in a funny mood and if those two blow something up again, he'll probably give us all detention for the rest of eternity."
Nim glanced up at Katie as she ground a root with a stone, "Probably not detention for eternity." She said, frowning; she had never understood the Gryffindors' hatred of the Potions Master. Well, maybe she understood it from their perspective, but from hers Snape was a hero; a misunderstood hero, granted, but a hero nonetheless.
Nim jumped in surprise when Fred and George's cauldron exploded at the end of class. She didn't know really why she was surprised; she knew that that was what they were going to do. Everyone rushed out of the dungeons, not wanting to get detention. She was half way toward the door with her books when she took a moment to look back at the Potion Master cleaning the potion and bits of cauldron off the floor. It didn't look easy to clean up either; whatever the twins had done to the potion was making it nearly as hard as cement.
She walked back over to where the teacher was cleaning the mess up off the floor alone. Snape was startled when she bent down and started cleaning up the potion with him. For the first time she really noticed how old Snape was for his age. He wasn't even in his mid-thirties and it was as if he was ancient. Too many troublemaking Weasleys, she thought to herself with the smallest of smiles.
Professor Snape hadn't said a word to her while they were cleaning up the mess and she didn't expect him to say anything. So it startled her when he said, "You'll be late for class."
She turned around to look at him, "It's all right. Professor McGonagall won't count me late."
"But she counts the Weasley twins late all the time, why just last week-"
"Not all of us are troublemakers, Professor," She cut him off with a smile, "Have a nice day." And with her knee length hair floating behind her, Nim Lewis swept out the door to the dungeons with a smile on her face, and leaving the old Potions Master with a more pleasant expression on his face than he'd had in a long time.
Nim walked into Transfiguration nearly ten minutes late. Professor McGonagall looked surprised as Nim tended to be on time. "Ms. Lewis-" The woman began.
"Sorry Professor, someone blew up a cauldron in Professor Snape's class," she paused to glare at the twins Fred slunk down in his seat a bit while George looked proud of himself. She continued, "And I stayed behind to help clean up."
"Ah. Well then, Ms. Lewis I suppose I won't count you late for now, but I will be speaking with Professor Snape to check out your story."
"Of course, Professor," Nim said as she slid into her seat next to Angelina. That night in the Great Hall, there was no detention announced for the Gryffindor first years, and it did not appear that an excessive number of points had been taken.
"What did you do, hex him?" Angelina asked.
"Yeah," Katie said, "Snape hasn't taken any points or given detentions."
Nim sighed at her friends' refusal to accept that the Potions Master wasn't so bad, "No, I didn't hex him. I was nice; you'd be surprised how people react when you're nice to them." Just then, Professor Snape entered the Great Hall without his usual scowl. Even Dumbledore seemed a bit surprised by this, but he didn't say a word about it. Nim smiled to herself, glad of at least one good thing coming out of her month-long stay in the past.
