Disclaimer: All JKR's except for my OC.

Severus didn't know what to do in the face of a great passion directed toward himself. It was something he had never known but about which he wanted to learn, so he watched Barbara at every opportunity. Whenever her schedule allowed for it, he invited her to sit together in the library while grading papers. He was always in the Great Hall when she was eating. She finally had to throw him out of sitting in on her potions classes. "Really, Severus. Poor Miss Abbott over there will never learn enough to pass her NEWTs if you don't leave!"

He couldn't stay away and was therefore standing outside her classroom one day when the students filed out and he heard her say, "What may I do for you, Mr. Goyle?"

"We know what you're up to."

"Indeed?"

"You've got Snape under an imperius curse. We want you to take it off."

Severus was on the point of stepping into the classroom when he heard her chuckle quietly, so he waited.

"Mr. Goyle, you are showing the bravery of a Griffindor," she said quietly.

"er..."

"Assuming I am a powerful enough witch to cast that sort of spell on Professor Snape –and thank you for the compliment, by the way -- you should have been terrified to approach me like this. Have you discussed your...theory...with the Professor, himself?"

"er..."

"Never mind, Mr. Goyle. Meanwhile, I've been pleased with your work this year. I think you'll do well on your NEWTs."

Stepping aside to allow the student to rush past, Severus heard a jinx cross the classroom and smash a potion jar. He put his head in the door.

"What was in it?"

"Oh, it was empty. I'm not that mad, just frustrated." She repaired the vial and put it back on the shelf. "You heard? Who could be spreading that rumor?"

"Unfortunately, I can think of one or two. I don't think you're practically invisible, any more."

"Well we cannot expect all the Slytherins to just accept things as they are, now. It must be so hard..." She shook it off and smiled up at him. "Was there something I can do for you?"

"Accompany me to lunch?"

"Is this part of a Slytherin plot to get my guard down?" She laughed.

"No," he shook his head, "It's a just project I'm working on."


A Quidditch match was always a good time to watch Barbara surreptitiously. She got so involved in the game, even when her own team was not playing. The next match was Ravenclaw-Slytherin, which promised to be a good game this year.

As they walked toward the field, Severus suggested a small wager. "It will enhance our enjoyment of the game."

"Well, all right, what should it be?" Her eyes sparkled in the autumn air.

"How about loser helps winner grade winter exams?"

"You're on!"

They shook hands and separated at the stands. After Halloween, the Headmistress had asked the faculty to mingle with the students during games to avoid unnecessary unpleasantness, so today they sat with their individual houses.

Barbara found herself to be quite busy with her wand, sending finite incantatem at spectators who were trying out various hexes on the players or each other, and confiscating various stinkbombs and other items better kept off of a Quidditch field. However, every time she turned her head toward the Slytherins, she found Severus' eyes on her. She smiled and he turned away just in time to prevent some mischief in his own section.

Walking back to the castle after the game, Severus went over it in his mind, admiring the witch beside him. She was very calm handling the troublemakers of her house, and she exuded a charming delight with the game. Best of all, she was a graceful loser.

"That seeker you Slytherins have is superb!"

"So I expect to see you after dinner in my office with your best red quill?" It wasn't really a question.

"Of course." She smiled up at him and he admired the flush on her cheeks brought on by the weather.


Grading papers with Professor Merrill became another enjoyable pasttime. She curled right up in a chair by his fire and read the exams intently, often stopping to write comments in the margins. Once in a while she asked a question to be sure of his wishes on the student's answers. Every so often a particularly good or bad answer resulted in a corresponding look on her face. Severus found himself watching the firelight and the student's answers playing across her face.

"What is it?" She looked up and caught him staring.

"You seem so content."

"I have a lot for which to be grateful right now. A beautiful home, a challenging and rewarding job, good friends..."

"So you could be happy with things as they are for the rest of your life?"

"Well, I have certain hopes and aspirations, but if they don't come to pass, then this is lovely."

Having seen into her mind, he thought he understood some of her hopes. He looked at the test he was grading and went back to work. For a long while nothing was heard except the rattling of parchment and the occasional scratch of quills.

"I still don't understand why you won't accept this answer on the third year test."

"Because it's not the right answer."

"But you and I both know this hex would work fine and in the heat of the moment--"

"In the heat of the moment they need to be able to rely on instinct, which is developed by discipline and practice. I would suspect that you don't always rely on your rebounding jinx."

"Of course not. There are established counter-hexes... Oh, I think I get it."

"The thought that one of my students might be harmed or killed because I didn't teach them the discipline to know the right response every time..." He cleared his throat and started over. "There's plenty of time in the advanced courses to teach them different things to try, but I don't want them to be in a situation where they don't immediately have the right answer because they have too many options to think through."

"You're a good teacher, Severus." She got up and stretched. "Well, I've done all your third years, here, and I'm personally done in, so I'll bid you good night and see you tomorrow." She patted his arm as she walked toward the door. "Have a good night."

"And to you, Barbara." He should have walked her to the dungeon, but there was too much running through his mind.


For her part, Barbara couldn't remember a time in her life when any one person was so interested in her. It seemed that she could feel his eyes on her whenever he was in the room and sometimes even when he wasn't. From anyone else it would have been creepy, but from Severus it was...what? The only problem was that now she couldn't watch him as she was used to doing without having him know.

"What do you want for Christmas?" he was looking intently at her over the Daily Prophet one chilly morning during breakfast.

"I could ask the same thing, you know," she responded, suddenly finding her cereal unbelievably interesting. She thought for a moment. "How about if we each select a book that's been important to us out of our own libraries and give it to each other?"

"I like it."


On Christmas morning, Severus Snape woke to a much larger pile of presents than he was used to getting. He sorted through the types of things one receives from co-workers and students and found a box from Barbara. Inside was A Practical look at Defense Against the Dark Arts through the Ages, a book that was extremely hard to find since it went out of print during the recent war . He opened the cover and read:

Dear Severus,

I know you could probably write this book yourself, but it was important to me because I received it during training from Alistor Moody. He always said that some of the techniques in here, while so easy, were the most effective, and he liked the way vigilance was stressed on every page. I offer this book as my gift to you, in the hopes that it will help you educate our students but that you will never need to use it. Please take care of yourself.

Merry Christmas, Severus.

Cordially,

Barbara

It came from her heart. It was a title he had given up looking for since it had gone out of print. He got up and dressed. He wanted to find out how Barbara liked his gift.

She opened an autographed, first edition Principles of Potions by Horace Slughorn.

My Dear Barbara,

You already know the things this book teaches, I'm sure, since Horace taught you, too. The professor was always good to me and encouraged my love for potions. What was important to me about this book is the way in which it lays out potion making on a sort of road map. You have offered me a similar map of the world in which we now find ourselves, a world in which I otherwise would have been lost.

Merry Christmas, dear lady.

As ever,

Severus

She was hugging it to herself, opened to the page where he had written the note, when he arrived at her apartment. She greeted him at her door. "Merry Christmas! I love it!"

"As I love the book you gave to me. And especially the note within it. May I escort you to breakfast?"

"Oh, sure! Just a moment." She was still in her dressing gown and went back to her bedroom.

"Wear something warm," he called after her, "I'd like to go outside for a while."

For the first time in his life, Professor Severus Snape spent a day playing in the snow, sledding, making snowmen, and throwing snow at his companion. After lunch they gathered up all of the students who had stayed at school for the holidays and split into teams for a snowball fight that took the entire afternoon. The students weren't sure of the point, however, with Merrill constantly rebounding the boys' snowballs and Snape constantly exploding the girls' ones overhead.

Later they spent the evening reading together and quarreling over what their latest research results meant and how to proceed with their study. As he walked her to the dungeon that night she suddenly reached up and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you, Severus. I'd been dreading today a little bit because of my parents, but it's really been wonderful. Merry Christmas."

Severus couldn't remember a better day in his life.

A/N: Again, thank you to my kind reviewers.