May 11, 2011
Thank you all for your reviews after last chapter. I enjoyed your responses, even the one about being confused. Especially, thanks to Christina Wynnwood, my trusty Beta reader and encourager. This story would often make no sense without her generous input, so please do thank her for the time she spends deciphering my plots. Hint: go to the review page to link to her profile.
I was so pleased when she told me that my first draft made sense and was nearly ready to go! But now I've gone and mucked it up again. But no matter, I now present to you you this eleventh chapter with a general seal of approval from The-One-Who-Betas-This-Fiction …Wynndemorte has a nice ring to it, don't you think?
The History Professor
Chapter 11
The memory of Hermione's lamenting wail haunted Severus. It was late at night. Hours had passed since her disheartened expression had vanished before his eyes. He'd been in a rather peculiar situation, attempting to comfort the older woman. It made him wonder if witches were born merely to confound wizards.
As he ruminated over the afternoon's events, he hastened along the dark and empty fifth floor corridor of Hogwarts castle. The tail of his over-robe streamed behind him, a riptide chasing breakers back into the menacing depths. He stopped short in front of a very old elm wood door and rapped on it with his knuckles.
"For the love of the Parthenon and the treasury of the Delian League, Peeves!" an irritated voice croaked. "Either come through the door straightaway or leave an old ghost be."
"I am not Peeves," Severus barked as he lit the tip of his wand.
A shriveled white grape of a man materialized from the solid door. The Professor of the History of Magic was dressed in archaic robes with a frilled collar puffed around his neck. He lifted tortoiseshell nose spectacles to his eyes and surveyed his visitor. "May I help you, Lad?"
Severus glanced around the deserted hallway. "I'd prefer a private word in your office, if you would be so kind."
The ghost was half-way through the door, muttering, "Dear me, it's been centuries since I've had an office call." His face poked out of the door as he looked back and said, "Come in, come in."
Severus twisted the wrought iron knob but the door was bolted shut. He had to call loudly, "I can't enter if you don't unlock your office. "
"Oh! Where's that key … this doesn't look anything like a key … no, not that either ..." The muffled voice behind the thick wood was tinged with distress. "Been quite some time since I've needed that pesky relic." A few moments later a very chagrinned-looking Professor Binns floated back into the hallway, his eyes averted from his visitor. "I'm afraid I've lost the key."
Severus held up his wand. "May I use a spell?"
"Certainly." Professor Binns beamed a smile. "I've had endless amusement watching budding wizards such as yourself attempt to remove that ward." He rubbed his hands together and said with a giddy tone, " I ought to invite the Friar!"
Severus felt his eyes narrowing in annoyance and he growled, "Do not test me, Binns." He thrust his wand at the ghost with a menacing flair. "Now kindly lift the ward."
"Oh, dear," Professor Binns gulped. He drifted to the ceiling and fidgeted with his cuffs. "The thing is, I can't seem to recall what I ward I set. It was hundreds of years ago, mind you."
Severus scoffed at the professor and turned his attention to the door. He skimmed his wand along the frame and glowing runes appeared. He lingered a few moments, deciphering the ancient ward, and then tapped his wand twice on the door. "Flummery," he proclaimed.
Professor Binns whirled to face Severus. "I take offense at that, Knave!"
"It was the ward, Cuthbert." His voice dripped with disparagement. "Stop acting like a tottering old fool." He waved his wand once again and invoked, "Alohomora." The door opened automatically. Severus slipped into the office and turned to face the apparition, who was muttering to the ceiling about the dearth of strong magic these days.
Severus glared at the spirit. "You may enter your office now. Or have you forgotten how to use doors?"
Professor Binns rushed in with such fury that he sailed straight through Severus, causing him to shiver unconsciously. The ghost was halfway through the stone wall before he stopped and complained with a muffled voice, "Mo wespet 't all." He drifted back into his office and straightened his collar. "I ought to teach you respect for your elders, Lad. You're not worthy of Hogwarts. Not a cavorting student such as yourself."
With a voice that chilled the room nearly as much as Professor Binns' presence, Severus sneered, "I am the Hogwarts Potions Master, not a dimwitted student. Whether I am worthy of the title is a concern for Headmaster Dumbledore."
"Er … right, you go by the name of Strategos, don't you? Yes, of course. Why didn't you say so?" Professor Binns cajoled. "Just dust off a seat there while I light up my pipe. I never hold a meeting without a civil smoke." The aroma of burning tobacco leaves momentarily wafted through the office, but it was soon displaced by the stale smell of the dust.
Severus glanced wearily at spider webs and several millimeters of soot all over the ornate chairs and the carved desk. "I'm quite comfortable standing."
"Suit yourself." Professor Binns puffed. "I'd offer you tea, but the elves ignore me anymore. I can't even get them to bring me a meal, the blackguards!"
"I prefer to divest myself of such niceties. Perchance we could discuss the reason for my visit?"
The ghost smiled. "You haven't changed a bit since you were my student, Snappit."
Severus ignored the comment. "What can you tell me about Amalgams?"
Professor Binns chortled and adjusted his spectacles in order to look closely at Severus. "Sevenless, my boy, aren't you rather young to be wondering about love?" He tapped his pipe stem against his chin in thought. "In my day a man settled down before looking for a wife. These days young boys go running around with their lips drooling after fetching maidens. A tragedy, I tell you. Acting like prized bulls whose only worth is found in the number of cows they plow."
Severus groaned. "Have you any books on Amalgams and wand interactions?"
Professor Binns scratched his head, and accidently tickled his brain, resulting in a barely audible, "Teehee." After he sorted his brain back into place, he stated, "Young man, you've gotten your mythology all in shambles. Amalgams aren't real, Son. Have you ever wondered why the only Amalgams purported to exist had extremely short lives?"
Severus waited for the professor to continue, rather than fooling with an irrelevant answer to a rhetorical question. Professor Binns floated closer to Severus and nearly whispered, "You see, sometimes when a wizard has lived so long with his witch, he can't tell where he begins and she ends. If she should pass into the nether world before him, he just can't bear to let go. So he stops being himself, and tries to become what he lost. Quite rare, actually. Now if I can confide to you as a gentleman, it is most difficult to find a decent witch. Most wizards would be happier alone."
At this, Professor Binns let out a deep sigh which ruffled the hair that fell to the sides of Severus' face. "But my Doreen, she died quite young. During childbirth. Lost her and my only son all in a day. Gastly affair, breeding is."
"My condolences," Severus responded with meaningful solemnity.
"Yes, but time goes on after death, Lad." He blinked away the excessive glimmer of tears in his eyes, and lectured, "Best not to think about Amalgams. It's a curse, my boy."
Severus considered this for a moment. "Are you familiar with wand interactions between a witch and a wizard? Such as wands exposing deeply held desires, which would otherwise remain concealed?"
Professor Binns puffed smoke again. "You're the fellow with the supposed Succubus. Got a Dark Witch after you, haven't you, Master Snape?"
"Perhaps."
"Pity you. Many a wizard's lost his mind trying to understand bewitchment by our female compeers. My advice, Lad, is to forget her. A witch with a complex mind has far greater skills than any wizard. Consider this: have you ever attempted Legilmens on a female student?"
"Of course not!" Severus said, drawing himself to a taller stance.
"You've been taught the traditional way, then. Wizards of old gave up on it, see, to cover their humiliation. They created a great code of conduct, how a wizard shall and shall not be permitted to engage a young witch. No need to admit a witchmaid has a more complex mind than a great wizard, they thought.
"But there's no harm in it, unless you are a proud man. Young witches unintentionally Legilmens all the time, without even realizing it. They are naturally sophisticated in this art, even though they have been taught by wizards that it is difficult to master. If you ever use Legilmens or even Veratiserum on a pubescent female, she is quite capable of displaying reactions that appear satisfactory to the mind of a wizard. But you won't ever know the whole of it."
Severus regarded Professor Binns with careful consideration.
"Yes. I highly recommend you attempt to Legilmens a female student. Be sure to do so without her knowing it. But do take firewhiskey afterwards. And mind, now, you'll be hard-pressed to achieve any substantial work after your attempt."
Severus murmured, "I'll consider your advice. Can you shed any light on wand interaction?"
Professor Binns sputtered a laughing cough, causing smoke to furl out of his ears. "You do know what a wand symbolizes, don't you?"
With a disgusted glare, Severus edged, "A phallus."
"Yes, and who rules a phallus?"
"The wizard who possesses it, of course."
"Balderdash!" Professor Binns shouted with such ferocity that Severus jumped. "It is the one who loves it who rules it! But few are cunning enough to attempt ruling another's wand."
Severus pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "Yet I am lucky enough to meet such a one."
Professor Binns shook his head. "The vast majority of those who try this get it all muddled in their heads. They usually covet the affections of the wand holder, and fail to love the wand itself. To truly succeed requires Dark Arts and dispassion about all else save the wand in question. It is painstaking and must be layered with several kinds of magic to be truly effective."
Severus closed his eyes tightly, wishing he was sailing on the coast, far from his troubles.
Professor Binns had sensed the change in his guest's mood. He began to clatter about in his office, blowing waves of soot into the air while singing "Scotland the Brave" quietly to himself.
"High in the misty mountains,Out by the purple highlands, Brave are the hearts that beat beneath Scottish skies. Wild are the winds to meet you, Staunch are the friends that greet youKind as the love that shines from fair maidens' eyes." [1]
Severus quietly shut the door to Professor Binns' office. Then he bolted the door and recast the original ward. Rather than taking a series of short cuts to his private quarters, he simply walked through the lonely halls and contemplated his conversation.
When he at last reached his quarters, he began his nightly routine. After removing his clothes, he paused, noticing a brown paper package on his night stand. Above the single lit candle on the stand, a Sylph twisted in the smoke. The magical being whispered to Severus in Sylphish, "Headmistress Hermione sends thee her warmest love." At this the air elemental giggled rather jealously. "She asks that thou safely secure the bottle of balm." She pointed to the package. "Thou must not open it until the day of need. My mistress knows thy devotion to potion …" she broke into more titters before continuing … "And herewith declares it has been concocted with the finest Echidna Thistle Honey of Bounce-Back Bees, Indigo Rattle Root, and Devour Wood Bark, all sourced from the Forbidden Forest." The messenger rushed to Severus and brushed a swift kiss on his cheek as she snickered, her airy body warming pleasantly. Then she flitted through the crack over the door of his quarters and was gone.
Severus unwrapped the paper package and discovered a brown glass bottle magicked to prevent oxygen or light from destroying the crafted balm. He chose not to puzzle out the ingredients that night and instead rolled onto the cot.
He soothed his aching "little wizard" with gentle rubbing until he fell asleep. In short order he found himself waltzing with the succubus, her fingernails burning brightly. They danced their way into a courtyard where she froze into a statue, her eyes giving him undivided love. He sketched her sculpted figure and dreamt that the woman in the drawing came to life. That evening she cooked him a delicious dinner after a long day teaching dunderheads the fine art of potions.
Footnote: Quoted from "Scotland the Brave" on {http:/ www. contemplator. com/ scotland/ scotland. Html} (midi file plays tune on web page).
A/N
Thanks to SiriuslyPeeved for a note on mechanics a few chapters back.
I have a question to pose to readers about the timeframe of an event from the memory of Severus in canon. When do you think Dumbledore and Severus had the conversation in which Severus shed a tear due to the memory of Lily? This was the occassion when he said, "Always" regarding his love for her, and when Dumbledore gained his agreement to protect Harry's life as a horcrux. Do you think it was before Harry started at Hogwarts, when Professor Quirrell was recognized as a threat, or perhaps after Harry killed the basilisk in Chamber of Secrets?
