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Over the next week and a half Freddie continued working on the Invisibility Antidote. When she wasn't in the cellar she was in the kitchen, trying to learn to cook. She'd gotten a few cookbooks from Diagon Alley and had spent most of her remaining money on groceries. She found soups and stews easy enough to make, and not unlike potions.
Snape spent most of his time in his room or at Hogwarts. She was never sure when he was home or not, except sometimes late at night she could smell him brewing something in his room. She was sure he was avoiding her. He never ate meals with her but she did notice he ate the leftovers from the fridge.
One evening he came into the kitchen, a frustrated look on his face. Freddie stood at the stove, stirring a pot of beef and vegetable stew.
"What are you doing, Miss Gray?" he asked, a note of irritation in his voice.
"Uh, cooking," she said. "Clearly."
"Clearly," he repeated, sitting down at the table.
"You okay? Your super secret potion not going well?"
He grunted, a non-committal response.
"How about your antidote?" he asked, standing up again. He walked over to the cabinet and got a wine glass.
"It's, uh, stewing," she said, watching as he got a bottle of wine from the fridge. "I should have something ready to test in about an hour, after dinner. You hungry?"
"I could eat," he said, sitting down again.
She watched him pour a glass of wine and take a drink.
"Since when do you drink wine?" she asked curiously. "I thought you were a scotch man?"
He didn't answer right away. Freddie got two mismatched bowls from the cabinet and turned the stove off.
"Clouds my mind," she heard him mutter.
"Hm," she said as she spooned the stew into the bowls.
Does that mean he stopped drinking scotch because of me? Because he kissed me?
She got spoons from the drawer and carried the food over to the table. She put the bowls down then went and retrieved another wine glass from the cabinet. She sat down next to him and poured herself a glass of wine.
"Is it good?" she asked Snape as he took a bite of stew.
"Mm. You should learn to make something other than soup," he commented.
"Hey, I'm working on it," she said. "I'm not a house-elf, ya know?"
"You have certainly been cleaning like one."
"Well excuse me for not wanting to live like a dust bunny," she drawled, then took a bite of her stew. "Don't you ever clean? I thought that's why you came home before bringing me here?"
"No, I came to...remove things I would prefer you not see."
"Man of mystery," she said, sipping her wine. "What are you hiding, hm?"
"You will never know, Miss Gray."
"Can't we drop the formalities, Severus? I never thought I'd actually miss being called 'Winifred'."
"Hmm," he said, but didn't say anything else as he continued eating.
"So, why don't you clean? Dust? It's not like you have to do it by hand," she said practically. "Just a few quick spells, you'd probably be better at it than I am."
"I am better at everything than you are, M-...Winifred," he said, giving her a quick smile. "As for cleaning, I have had no reason to. I do not spend much time here, usually, and when I do I am in my room or brewing in the cellar."
"The cellar was the cleanest room in the house," she agreed.
"Until you got here."
"Yeah. I've been thinking of cleaning up the sitting room, is that okay? I thought it might be nice to sit by the fireplace and read sometimes."
"I do not care what you do, as long as you stay out of my room," he said nonchalantly.
"Yeah? No books on the shelves you don't want me to see?"
"If there were, they would not be there, Winifred."
"Naturally."
They finished their meal in silence and Freddie checked her watch.
"30 minutes til my potion is ready to test," she said, standing up from the table. She took Snape's empty bowl and her own to the sink. She washed them with a quick spell, dried them, and returned them to the cabinet.
Snape refilled his wine glass and sipped it as he watched her move around the kitchen. She put the leftover stew into the fridge and closed the door. Snape stood up from the table.
"I'm going to inspect your progress," he said, waving his wand to reveal the entrance to the cellar. He carried his wine with him down the stairs.
Freddie walked back over to the table. She uncorked the wine bottle and refilled her own glass before heading down into the cellar.
She found Snape sitting at the workstation, reading through her notes she'd been keeping in the journal.
"You have been keeping good notes," he remarked. "Very detailed."
"Well I am a fastidious student," she said, walking over to her cauldron to inspect her simmering brew.
"That you are, Miss Gray...Winifred."
"Thank you, Severus," she said, smiling at him.
He finished browsing her notes and closed the journal. He took a sip of his wine before placing the glass on the desk.
"I will retrieve our test subject," he said, standing up. Freddie nodded to him as he left the cellar. She walked over to the workstation where Daniel's record player sat. She flipped through the vinyls she had downstairs before finally settling on Queen.
She was listening to We Are the Champions when Snape came back down the steps with the rat.
"Hello Andrew," she said as Snape placed the cage down in front of her. It was the name she'd bestowed on their test subject.
"Actually 'Andrew' met with an...unfortunate end," Snape said slowly. "This is a new rat."
"Not from my potion?" she asked, looking up at him, alarmed.
"No, I would have informed you if your brew were responsible," he said. "The fault is mine."
"Ah. Well, hazards of the occupation," she said, poking her finger in the cage to stroke the rat's head. "I believe I'll call you...Bruce."
"Stop naming the rats, Winifred," Snape said. "You will get too attached."
"I don't get attached," she scoffed. "If Bruce dies – or when you kill him rather – then we'll have a Carlyle. Then a...Dylan. Maybe a Eustace."
"Alphabetical?"
"Yes, it's efficient."
"Any particular reason they're all male?"
"Well I guess Bruce could be a Beatrice. Care to check?" she joked.
"No, thank you," he said, opening the cage. "Get the Invisibility Potion."
"Yes sir," she said obediently.
Snape held Bruce while Freddie administered the potion. When the rat turned invisible, he coated it with a fine powder, something they'd learned to do during the last week, after he'd been bittern. Freddie drew up a few drops of the potion from her cauldron and walked back over.
"Here goes nothing," she said and put the dropped into the rat's mouth.
Come on, Bruce, she pleaded silently, holding her breath.
Slowly, beneath the white powder, the rat's gray fur became visible. Freddie gasped, then let out a whoop that startled Snape so much he dropped the rat and it scurried across the floor.
"We did it!" she declared enthusiastically. "We actually did it!"
She threw her arms around Snape and he stiffened.
"You did it, Winifred," he said, pushing her away. "This is your victory."
"I couldn't have done it without you," she said, shaking her head as she flushed with price. "We started this together. Screwed it up a bunch together – and independently – before I got it right."
"We did but I have been...distracted as of late. The win is yours. Write it up and I will send it off to Apothecary Now for publication."
"Yes sir."
"Wait," he said. "We are forgetting an important step. We need to test your antidote on something other than 'Bruce' – we have to be sure it is safe for human ingestion."
"Good point," she said and picked up the vial of Invisibility Potion.
"Not you," he said, taking the vial from her. "I have less to live for."
Freddie frowned slightly at his words as Snape uncorked the vial and downed the potion. He turned invisible and Freddie felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up when she realized she no longer knew where he was. She thought she felt something brush the base of her neck, then she saw the ladle being lifted from the cauldron.
"You know you don't have to test it on yourself," she said uneasily, walking over. She was suddenly not so confident in her brewing abilities.
"Testing potions on students is frowned upon," he said, then lifted the ladle to his invisible mouth.
Freddie held her breath, then let it out slowly as he became visible once more.
"But I was willing," she said softly, looking up at him.
"Noted," he said, touching her cheek briefly. He dropped his hand quickly and took a step back. "Write it up, Miss Gray."
"Yes sir," she said, somewhat disappointed as he walked towards the stairs.
"And catch my rat," he added as he left the cellar.