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Freddie was still cleaning the kitchen, listening to the Beatles, when she heard the pop of someone Apparating in the sitting room. She turned down the volume and peeked into the sitting room. Snape was sitting in his armchair, reading her note.
"Hi," she said brightly.
"You explored the town?" he asked.
"Yeah, sorta. Not much to see, is there? Do you even have neighbors?"
"I do not know."
"Well I got some groceries. Chips and candy in the cupboard. Sodas in the fridge – which is really neat by the way. All this electricity stuff. I like the lights – brighter than candles and torches."
"Mm. So you are settling in well?"
"Yep. Did some cleaning – I cleaned the kitchen, too, I hope you don't mind?"
"No, Miss Gray," he said, getting up from his chair. "I do not mind."
He followed her into the kitchen and looked around. He opened the fridge and took one of the sodas.
"Grape Fanta," he said, popping the top.
"Yeah – careful, it might make you burp," she warned, grinning.
"I am familiar with soda," he said, taking a sip. He looked through the cabinets, at the things she'd bought.
"You do not know much about grocery shopping, do you?" he said, smirking faintly.
"Hey, all you had was spoiled milk and moldy cheese!"
"I have not had time to shop. Ive been taking my meals at Hogwarts."
"I figured as much. What's wrong with my groceries?"
"You cannot live off crisps and candy," he said, smirking again.
"I'm pretty sure I can. Besides, I don't know how to cook," she said with a shrug.
"You know know how to cook but you are skilled at Potions?" he snorted. "Oh right...you had a house elf. You are spoiled, you have never had a reason to learn to cook."
"I'm not spoiled!" she said, feeling her face turn red.
"You are," he sneered. "Couldn't call your house elf to cook a dinner for you, princess?"
He's trying to piss me off, she realized. Is this his way of dealing with what happened between us, his attraction to me? She decided the best thing she could do was to not let it get to her.
"Anubis is not my house elf, he belongs to my uncle...and I cannot risk trying to contact him again. He wasn't even able to send me all of my things," she said, shaking her head. "He sent my Hogwarts trunk, that's all. I'm worried he got caught."
"He will be fine, I'm sure. Are you missing any necessities?"
"No. I have most of my books, all of my school things...enough clothes to get by. But none of my potions things. I've been working on the antidote and I just dropped a good deal of money on boomslang skin this morning," she said wistfully. "Not to mention demiguise hair and you know how hard that is to find."
"That is an unfortunate loss," he agreed.
"That reminds me...my vault, at Gringotts. My parents left me some money – well I guess technically they didn't leave it to me, some legal Ministry people decided it was...anyway, it's not much but my uncle never gave me the key like he was supposed to when I turned 17. I can't get my money."
"...I believe Dumbledore can take care of that," he said slowly.
"What did he say about...about what I heard?"
"He said for you not to worry about it."
"Very helpful," she said sarcastically.
Snape said nothing, but finished his soda. He threw the empty can into the trash, then pulled out his wand. He pointed it at the island in the center of the kitchen and it slid aside, revealing a descending stone staircase.
"I am surprised you did not find this on your own," he said, smirking again.
"I was a bit preoccupied cleaning," she said, peering down into the darkness. "What's down there?"
He motioned for her to go down. Curious and excited she started down the stairs, her imagination running wild. A secret basement? Some sort of sex dungeon?
Torches along the walls lit automatically as she descended. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, torches lit around the room casting light on a dirt-floor room with pewter cauldrons, a workstation, and a cabinet that she assumed held potion ingredients. It smelled of herbs and smoke, the only room in the house that showed signs of being used.
"Why am I not surprised?" she said, grinning at Snape who had followed her down.
"You may continue working on the antidote while you are here," he said. "I have been working on it in my lab at Hogwarts, for convenience sake."
"I take it you haven't had any luck either?" she asked.
"I am close, I think. I will share my notes with you, after we eat dinner."
"You can cook?"
"Of course I can cook, but even I cannot make a meal from crisps and chocolate," he said. "I will return shortly."
He Disapparated before she could ask where he was going.
Freddie hurried upstairs to her room and got several books she thought could be useful in her brewing. On her way back through the kitchen she grabbed Hemlock off the counter before heading back into the cellar. She placed Hemlock on the table along with her books. Then she began to look around the room.
She opened the cabinet which, as she suspected, contained numerous potion ingredients. Alot of them were illegal to possess and Freddie wondered how he could be so confident he would not get in trouble.
Maybe that's the reason for all the secret doors, she mused. He only lets people see what he wants them to see.
That thought gave her an idea. She began walking along the walls, looking for any sign of other secret doors. She scrutinized the walls and was about to give up when she noticed a slight discoloration of one of the bricks. Curious, she tapped it with her wand. The bricks began to move, shifting and rearranging to reveal a floor-to-ceiling sized cabinet. Shelves upon shelves laden with vials and bottles of potions, all in alphabetical order.
Alot of poisons, she realized, inspecting the labels, which were written in Snape's handwriting.
"Curiosity killed the cat, Miss Gray," said Snape's voice as he appeared behind her. She whirled around to see him placing a box on the workstation. She hadn't expected him back so quickly.
"Is that pizza?" she asked, surprised.
He grunted in response and pulled out his wand. With a flick he closed the cabinet behind her. He gave it another flick and two glasses floated downstairs, followed by a bottle of wine. She hadn't seen any wine in the cabinets. There was probably a hidden cabinet she hadn't noticed.
Freddie wandered over to the table and lifted the lid of the box. She took a slice of pepperoni pizza and sat on a wooden stool while Snape poured the wine.
"My notes," he said, producing a black journal and putting it down in front of her. "For the Invisibility Potion. Once you've read them you can get started."
He took a slice of pizza, one of the wine glasses, and headed for the stairs.
"You're not going to help?" she asked.
"I have something else to do," he replied smoothly. "I will be upstairs."
"O-kay," she said, watching him go and feeling confused.