First, let me say that I am so very, very sorry for the long wait. Chapter 11 is in the works, hopefully the wait won't be so long for that one.

I hope everyone likes this chapter and finds it worth the wait.

Mollisk and Natsuyori, thank you for the reviews on Chapter 9; yes Mollisk, I remember you as Double Trouble. Enjoy.

Severus stood inside his office down in the dungeons going over a mental checklist. He was about to leave for Grimmauld Place and didn't want to forget anything and be forced to make a return journey.

It was just after second year Potions on Monday morning; there wouldn't be another Potions class until after lunch. Severus had decided this was a good a time as any to deliver the Wolfsbane potion to Remus Lupin who would need to begin taking it as soon as possible; the full moon was Tuesday evening.

Finally convinced he had everything, Severus had one foot in the fireplace ready to floo back to his rooms when someone knocked on his office door.

"Enter," he snapped.

The door opened and Estelle DeGaulle entered looking, as usual, cool, collected, and disgustingly attractive.

"Professor Snape," she said in greeting. "Do you have a moment? There's something I need to ask you."

"Of course," said Severus curtly, thinking he really had no such thing as a moment to spare for this woman.

"I'm terribly sorry to ask this of you on such short notice, but could you possibly cover my classes tomorrow and Wednesday?" she paused. "I would not ask this of you but there is some urgent family business I must attend to and I know that you are quite capable of teaching the subject in my stead."

She stopped and waited for a reply. Severus cocked an eyebrow and considered her for a moment.

She was awfully confident in her position and in Dumbledore's need for someone to fill that job if she could take leave so soon after her employment. But he didn't have too many classes over the next two days and it would be interesting to take a look at her syllabus to see what sort of a teacher she was.

"Very well," he answered at last.

Estelle favored him with one of her gracious smiles that rarely reached her eyes; Severus thought briefly that he should feel honored.

"Thank you. I only have three classes tomorrow and three on Wednesday so it shouldn't be too strenuous," her smile vanished and she was suddenly all business; a fact Severus noted and appreciated more than the smile. "I'll send you a copy of my schedule and the lesson plans will be on my desk."

He nodded to show he understood and she turned to leave.

"Good day, Professor."

Severus didn't bother to reply, as soon as the door closed behind her he stepped into the fireplace and was whisked away to his rooms. From there he picked up the jar of Wolfsbane potion that had been magically sealed and charmed to be unbreakable. Then he stepped back into the emerald flames and was gone.

-

The kitchen of number twelve Grimmauld Place, headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix and home of the late Sirius Black, was empty when Severus arrived, laid his supplies on the table and dusted himself off. He could hear footsteps approaching as he took a goblet from a shelf and poured some of the glutinous potion into it then added the final activating ingredient from the small vial he had brought from his office that morning which caused the contents of the goblet to smoke.

"Ah, hello Severus."

The Potions Master looked up.

"Hello Lupin," he answered, returning to his work. "You should drink this at least an hour before or after you eat anything, though I expect you know that by now."

"Yes, of course," said Remus Lupin pleasantly.

Remus had the infuriating habit of ignoring the often rude and abrupt manner that Severus usually reserved for the werewolf. He had been friends with the two people Severus had hated the most, James Potter and Sirius Black. Although he had never been in on the feud between Potter, Black, and Snape, Remus had always stood by his friends. Severus now had trouble responding to Remus' polite and occasionally friendly manner and chose to avoid him as much as possible.

"Alone Lupin?"

"Oh no, Charlie's here," answered Remus, settling himself at the table.

As if on cue, the door opened once more and Charlie Weasley walked in. Rather stocky, the eldest Weasley son had his family's shock of red hair as well as several scars from the burns he sustained from his work with dragons.

"Hello Severus," he said easily. Severus winced; it was one thing for Remus to call him by his first name, they had been at school together, but to hear it from a former pupil was quite another. "What's happening at Hogwarts these days?"

He sat and, thinking it might not hurt to stop and talk awhile, Severus did the same.

"Nothing remarkable for the first week of term," he said. "Students are a bit jumpy about the war of course," he paused and added as an afterthought, "The new Defense professor has caused quite a stir."

"I'll bet she has," said Charlie, beginning to grin.

"Oh, that's right," said Severus, thinking back to the Welcome Feast. "You know her."

"We've met," Still grinning. "She's quite something."

"Yes she is," said Severus musingly, thinking about the many mysteries that seemed to surround the beautiful, if distant, Frenchwoman.

"Perhaps I should brush up on my French," said Remus teasingly.

Severus snorted. Lupin was joking but even so, the idea of Estelle DeGaulle (whose houselves probably dressed in better rags than the werewolf) falling for Remus Lupin was simply ridiculous.

"She came to Romania last summer to visit her brother Gaston," said Charlie. "Great guy, easy to work with, wonderful with dragons. Draws in the ladies too, which is nice. Estelle though, you have to wonder what goes on inside her queenly little head. Rather dangerous woman to cross, I'd say."

Severus smiled; that sounded like Estelle DeGaulle all right.

"The DeGaulles are quite affluent," said Remus. "Mrs. DeGaulle was a Bourbon before her marriage, a descendent of the French royal family. But they're not really a bad lot."

"You know them?" said Charlie in surprise.

"I've corresponded with Phillipe DeGaulle for my work on werewolf rights," Remus shrugged. "The DeGaulles have been supporters of werewolf rights for decades, they've given quite a large sum towards research and the use of Wolfsbane." He nodded towards the now empty goblet before him. "But I'm sorry to say I have not had the pleasure of meeting the infamous Miss DeGaulle."

"Speaking of the French," said Charlie. "I don't suppose you've heard the latest Weasley news?"

Severus shook his head.

"Bill and Fleur are engaged."

"Delacour? The Triwizard champion?"

"The very same," said Charlie, laughing. "They worked at Gringotts together. Bill brought her to the Burrow to meet the family. Mum's nearly gone out of her mind and Ginny can't stand her but everyone else seems to like her just fine."

"Well that could be because 'everyone else' is male," Remus pointed out.

They laughed; Severus permitted himself a small smile then stood up.

"Enjoyable as it has been to sit and chat with you both I have classes to teach."

"By then," said Charlie.

"Lupin, be sure to take the rest of the Wolfsbane tomorrow."

Remus nodded. "Yes, thank you Severus."

As Severus reached the fireplace he realized that he had just carried on a friendly conversation with two people he generally didn't like and had actually enjoyed himself.

Strange, he thought to himself, very strange.

-

Back in the dungeons, Severus set about making preparations for his N.E.W.T. Potions class. The night before as he was reviewing the O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. scores for the students in his class he noticed that Draco Malfoy had indeed received an 'O' on his Potions exam, he had just not signed up for the class. Nor had he signed up for Transfiguration. Defense Against the Dark Arts and a few of the lighter N.E.W.T. classes such as Charms were the only subjects he had signed up for. Severus had studied Draco's schedule closely. The whole thing bothered him; Potions would have been made easy for him, but from his class load it would appear as if he were trying to have as many free periods as possible. Something about this schedule bothered Severus, knowing Draco it probably meant more than just a desire to slack off during the sixth year.

On a lighter note, Blaise Zabini, another Slytherin who had received an 'Outstanding' O.W.L. for Potions had approached Severus and asked to join the class at the last minute. The Potions Master strongly suspected this was to please his mother who Severus could remember vaguely as being a few years ahead of him at Hogwarts and an acclaimed Potionsmistriss.

So now he had one of his own students in the class, which was better than none at all.

The potions he had prepared for the sixth years were extremely complex; most of them had been started last spring and had been maturing in an extra storage closet in his office ever since. He brought the smallest cauldron out of the closet and placed it on his desk where the students could see it. The others were kept back for future use.

Estelle's schedule appeared on his desk just before the sixth years were due to arrive. Severus reached into a drawer of his desk and pulled out his own to see if there were any conflicts. There were not; Estelle's classes were all scheduled during his planning periods and her planning periods fell on his classes for both Tuesday and Wednesday.

How fortunate, thought Severus.

On further inspection he saw that the pattern was consistent throughout the week.

"A bit more than fortunate then," he whispered softly.

Was it because each of them was qualified to teach both subjects? Very likely. But even so, why was it necessary that their schedules be so entirely compatible?

Severus traced the outline of his mouth with a long forefinger, his eyes narrowed in thought. Still frowning in concentration, Severus opened the door to his classroom a few minutes later and surveyed the students before him before stepping back to allow them entry.

There were twelve students: three Hufflepuffs, six Ravenclaws, two Gryffindors, and Blaise Zabini, the lone Slytherin.

The room was silent save for the shuffle of bags and chairs as the students took their seats; his presence tended to discourage chatter.

"Congratulations," he said softly when they were all seated. "You have all managed to achieve an 'Outstanding' O.W.L. I must say that in some instances I am quite surprised.' He glanced over at Harry Potter who glared back at him. 'N.E.W.T. level Potions is a class for dedicated students; I will not accept substandard work and I will fail you should your behavior and performance in this class prove unsatisfactory. You have been warned.'

He shot one more look around the room before turning towards the cauldron he had brought out earlier. This one had only taken a month to prepare and had been boiling steadily ever since the essence of althaea frutex, the key ingredient, had been added a week ago.

'Can someone tell me what this is? Yes, Miss Granger?"

"Veritaserum, a colorless, odorless potion that forces the drinker to tell the truth," said Hermione Granger promptly.

Severus glared at her. She was so annoying. The worst part was, there had never been any hope that she wouldn't make it into this class.

"Yes, indeed," he said, hoping she would not be the only student in this class willing to answer questions. "In a few months time you will be required to brew a batch of Veritaserum in order to pass the first semester of this class. I suggest you brush up on your potionmaking skills in the meantime; Veritaserum, or truth potion, is a very tricky substance that requires precision and patience to create. Today however, I would like you to brew the Draught of Living Death. You have until the end of class. Begin."

He roamed among the students, peering into their cauldrons. He avoided the table where the two Gryffindors were sitting; he knew that Granger's perfect potion would simply annoy him, as would Potter.

At the bell, the students bottled samples of their potions and brought them to his desk to be graded.

That evening as he sat examining the sixth years' potions, a sealed roll of parchment appeared on his desk with a tiny pop. Severus would have recognized the handwriting even without the signature.

Severus,

You will be pleased to note that I have deemed it no longer necessary for you to instruct Harry in Occulmency. I had hoped that the summer holidays might have softened the both of you to the idea of extra lessons, but I see that was not the case. No matter, Harry will be having lessons with me of quite a different sort from now on.

Yours sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

This was such good news that Severus chose to ignore his bias while grading and gave Harry an 'E' on his potion which Severus grudgingly admitted, he probably deserved.

-

Severus rose early on Tuesday morning knowing he'd have a long, full day. He spent an hour before breakfast in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom going over lessons. Mostly he sat at Estelle's neatly organized desk and read the syllabuses for each of her classes; he was very impressed. First and second years were studying dark creatures, third years the evolution of the Dark Arts beginning with the birth of Christianity and the factions that rose up to oppose it. Fourth and fifth years were learning practical defense, sixth years had nonverbal spells the and seventh year students had a complex mix of it all.

She certainly knows what she's doing, thought Severus.

He would have like to have read her class notes, which were extensive, considering she'd only had three full days of classes. The notes, however, were in French and Severus' limited ability with the language was nowhere near good enough to decipher half of what was written.

The classes that day were fairly straightforward: simple potions for his second years, slides and commentary on water demons for two of Estelle's second year classes and a lecture for her third year Ravenclaws. The students behaved themselves for the most part, although Estelle's students were all rather disappointed that they had received Professor Snape as a substitute for their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class of the year.

Wednesday proved a bit more challenging; the second year Hufflepuffs (who he seemed to intimidate more than the students from any other House) were jittery during Potions and almost half of them managed to melt their cauldrons while making a simple cleaning solution. His seventh year N.E.W.T. students were no better. He repeated the same lesson on water demons he'd already done twice for two more second year Defense classes and recited the same lecture to the third year Slytherins.

By the time he stormed down to the dungeons to teach the third year Gryffindors he was bored and irritable. Having the last class of the day full of Gryffindors didn't improve his mood.

He snapped out instructions and swept around the room, deducting House points for incorrectly prepared ingredients. When the bell finally rang he was in a much better mood, having vented his frustration out on the students.

-

Shortly before dinner Severus walked up to the Defense professor's office and knocked on the door. Estelle answered, smiling politely.

"Hello, Professor. Please come in."

Once inside, Severus was surprised at Estelle's appearance. Her robes were as pristine as ever, but the pale gray color made her extremely pale skin all the more obvious. There were circles under her eyes and she seemed to move without her usual grace. It looked as if she had been ill, or without sleep.

"Are you all right?" He asked as she sat down with an audible sigh.

"I'm fine, thank you."

"If you like I could fix you a restora-"

"I am quite capable of preparing my own potions!" She snapped, her crystal blue eyes flashing. She took a deep breath and composed herself. "Forgive me. I appreciate your concern, but I'm fine. How were the students?"

Severus studied her a moment, a thought had occurred to him briefly as he was watching her, but her outburst had driven it away, he couldn't remember it now…

"These are the notes from yesterday and today," he said handing her several sheaves of parchment and trying to shake off the feeling that what he had forgotten was rather important.

"Thank you," she said vaguely, glancing over his notes before looking up at him again. "I really do appreciate this, Professor. My family often has need of my presence but I did not think I would have to rush off so early in the semester."

"I saw the notice for the Defense lessons in the Slytherin common room," said Severus, "This Friday at seven thirty?"

"Yes, in the Great Hall. Do you think you could possibly come a few minutes early to help me set up?"

"Certainly. Are you going down to dinner?"

Estelle shook her head; a few tendrils of hair fell into her face, but she ignored them.

"I'm having something sent up to my rooms."

"Good evening then."

-

"Severus, could you possibly explain why the Gryffindor hourglass is short forty rubies?"

Severus looked up from his dinner and into his aunt's irritated emerald glare.

"Thirty-six," he said calmly, reaching across her for a roll.

"Excuse me?"

"I only docked thirty-six points," he told her. "If there are indeed forty points missing, which wouldn't surprise me, I cannot take credit for the last four."

"I doubt that whatever my students may have done would have warranted the loss of thirty-six points."

"Probably not," he said with a shrug. "But who knows what they might have done that we never know about and so let go unpunished."

Minerva, now looking daggers at him, opened her mouth to respond, but the Headmaster chose that moment to tap her on the shoulder and claim her attention.

Severus returned to his food. He might have many quarrels with Dumbledore, but he had to admit the man's timing was impeccable.

-

Friday evening at seven fifteen, Severus entered the Great Hall to find Estelle already there. Together they sent the House tables and benches soaring to the sides of the Hall, leaving a wide space in the center of the room.

They had just finished when the first students began to arrive. Soon the Hall was crowded with what seemed to be every student in the fourth year and above.

"Er, Professor DeGaulle?" said Severus looking out over the gathering of students. "Did you happen to mention that I would be assisting you?"

"No, I don't believe I did."

"That would explain the attendance," muttered Severus.

Estelle looked at him strangely for a moment then turned to address the students. Severus was sure many of them had come out of curiosity as to what this Defense professor would dare teach them about dueling, some might have come out of fear; daily, new reports on Death Eater activities caused panic in the Wizarding community as well as in the school.

The students were lined up into rows to watch as Severus and Estelle performed the most basic Shield and Disarming spells. The students then tried them on each other, aided by the two teachers and the former members of Dumbledore's Army who roamed among the students, correcting their mistakes and putting out fires.

Draco Malfoy was there, on the side of the room where Estelle was working. He seemed bored by what was being taught, but Severus had noticed him watching the demonstrations closely. Severus knew that something was up, something he probably wasn't going to like.

An hour and a half later as Estelle declared the class dismissed, Severus watched Draco leave the Hall alone. He was going to need to talk to Draco soon. If the boy was anything like his father, or heavens forbid like his aunt, then whatever he was hiding was very, very dangerous.

Althaea frutex is some type of flower, a book called The Language of Flowers says it means persuasion which I thought was appropriate for Veritaserum.