I liked writing this chapter. It was actually supposed to be two parts, but I scrapped the last part when I noticed how long the dang thing had gotten; ten pages freehand writing, and that wasn't even including the next part. So, I scrapped the hypothetical 'next part' and just made this chapter four. :) A small note, the WWN stands for Wizard Wireless Network (I believe), which apparently JKR herself mentioned in an interview. I remember reading it in an interview somewhere, wish I had the actual address. :)

A note to readers, I'm still revising the previous chapters as I get time so it might do good to look over those a bit too. Adding more descriptive stuff, trying to flesh out two-dimensional characters (including, IMO, my own OC's), etc. Not absolutely necessary, not much in the plot changes, but just a thought. And, as always, pretty please review!! Everyone can now review, so please do! :-)

DISCLAIMER: This world, of course, belongs to JKRowling and Scholastic books. I'd suggest you read them to get a handle on the non-original characters, as I'm not going to give a whole lot of defining to them that JKR herself hasn't done already. Star Pellerin, also, doesn't belong to me; she's being inserted as a favor to CrystalStarGuardian, her originator. She's not an original member of the cast and if you want to know more about her (and don't mind slash because, well, that's all she's ever in! *g*) then go read about her from CSG's works here on FF.net. Cheers!




CHAPTER FOUR


Less than a week after his encounter with Voldemort Snape was again secluded in the dungeons when he heard someone knock. Annoyed, he ignored it but the knocking continued, echoing across the stone walls. Realizing the incessent tapping wouldn't stop until he answered, he barked out, "What!"

The door creaked open and a head popped inside. "Professor Snape?" the newcomer asked, looking about and locating him before stepping inside the dungeons.

Sighing loudly and resisting the urge to thrown down the ingredients in his hands, Snape glared at his visitor. "Shouldn't you be at dinner with your mother, Miss Stanhope?" he asked smoothly, his voice conveying both his annoyance and clear derision.

Still standing at the doors, Leah raised her eyebrows. "Wow, you really are good at the insults," she commented, allowing the door to shut behind her. "I'd been warned, but..."

"You haven't even gotten me started," he muttered, his expression growing darker as she made her way towards him. "What do you want?" he growled, hoping she'd be leaving soon.

"No need to be so negative," Leah replied with a smile. "Maybe I just wanted to introduce myself properly." Her hand trailed along the edges of the tables as she passed them, silently coming to a stop across from the Potions professor. "No need to bite my head off," she added, gazing around the table between them. Interested, she reached out to examine one flask of ingredients before Snape, very casually, snatched it up.

"If I really felt like 'biting your head off', Miss Stanhope," Snape replied coldly, "you'd be running away crying by now. If you truly wished to introduce yourself, then consider yourself introduced and see yourself out my door."

Leah gave a longsuffering sigh, which only seemed to aggrevate the professor even more. She seemed to get the hint, however, and said reluctantly, "I heard that you were the head of Slytherin house, and I was wondering..."

"If I could put and end to the pranks being played on you?" Snape finished smoothly, his tone faintly mocking. "It would have been better if you'd never told the students you were, as you Americans put it, 'magically challenged'. But, if you are unable to handle it then I suppose I can speak to them."

Leah's eyes narrowed at the not-so-subtle insult, but she gave him a measuring look and replied, "I'd appreciate it." She didn't leave, however, and Snape felt his nerves fraying.

"What are you working on?" she asked suddenly, looking interestedly in the cauldron set up between them.

Snape's jaw clenched as he picked up the pestle and mortar, emptying the carefully measured amount of ribwort into the bowl and grinding it irritably. "Something I'm afraid you won't understand," he grit out, wondering if he'd have to tell the daft twit to leave him alone. She didn't seem to get any of his hints.

"That's ribwort, isn't it?" she asked, examining (but not touching, Snape noticed; perhaps she wasn't as obtuse as he'd thought) the jar of leaves Snape had yet to close. She studied the other herbs and extracts, then glanced into the simmering cauldron. "It looks like an expectorant," she said thoughtfully, "but what is the jasmine supposed to be for? Unless, this isn't an expectorant but a diuretic..."

Snape looked up, the pestle pausing its grinding. "You know a bit about potions?" he asked.

Leah looked up, a flash of annoyance crossing her features as if she hadn't welcomed the interruption. "Yes, a little," she admitted, turning her attention back to the table. "Sort of a hobby really - the only part of the wizarding world I could appreciate." She picked up a small vial with a reddish powder inside, only to have Snape snatch it away.

"These ingredients are not meant to be played with by amateurs," he stated, unstoppering the vial and adding a pinch of its contents to the brew he was working on.

"I'll have you know," Leah stated heatedly, "that I am not simply an amateur. I suppose I haven't had the schooling in it you've had, but I'm good with potions. I even patterned my Muggle studies after it, sort of: my major in college was chemistry."

"Indeed," Snape replied dryly, emptying the crushed herbs from the mortar into the cauldron; the mixture immediately began to fizz and pop. "Then tell me, what do I get if I take oleander extract and infuse it with ground poppy seeds?"

"Which part of the oleander?" Leah shot back, taking up the challenge. "If it's the flower then you have the start of a powerful sleeping drug, one that could induce a coma with the tiniest amount applied, while the leaves could be used to produce a number of toxins."

Snape raised his eyes, staring bemusedly into her determined eyes. Where had the little Muggle gotten her information? "Alright then, oleander leaf extract combined with powdered vomica, diluted twenty times."

"A poison known as Nux strychnos," Leah answered hotly, "although at that dilution it would take nearly a tablespoon to render a normal person incapacitated. Undiluted, and with correctly potent herbs, a single drop in one hundred gallons could still be lethal with just a sip. First produced by an Indian herbalist by the name of Logan Shatil, whose protege used it to on his master and was condemned by the Indian Magic Council. The ingredients are strictly regulated because of this."

Snape's gaze sharpened and he stared shredly at the woman before him. "Where did you learn all this?" he asked, his black eyes boring into her brown ones.

"I told you," she replied, unnerved by his gaze but refusing to look away, "it was the only thing in the wizarding world I could really get into so I kind of latched onto it. My mom had a few books on the subject, but I got more of the info from the WWN and her friends' private libraries." She snorted, breaking eye contact to look at the table. "Many of them found it amusing that a Muggle like me read so much about things like that, so I guess it was just me being stubborn." She gave a small smile and a shrug, her gaze flitting to his before settling again on the cauldron. "At least, at first."

"And then?" Snape asked, genuinely curious. Most students, indeed many adults, wouldn't be able to rattle off information like that totally unprepared; she knew her history.

"Well, it was kind of cool," she replied, toying with the handle of an extra cauldron. "My mom humored me and bought me this potions set when I was around eleven. I got stuff from the garden and neighboring houses and brewed my own potions, experimenting with new recipes and the like. I ordered a few magical items, things I wouldn't normally run into in the Muggle world, or bought them with my allowance if ever we went to any wizarding areas. That's sort of how I got into chemistry too; the more I learned about that field, the more I wanted to know. Drove my lab teachers nuts in college; almost got caught a few times filching certain chemicals."

"Really," Snape drawled, but was no longer in any hurry for the girl to leave. He'd heard about chemistry before but had never been able to sit with a muggle chemist before.

Leah, now talking about something in which she revelled, didn't even notice Snape's tone. "Did you know, for example," she continued, "that if you add sodium bicarbonate to a mixture of Marjoram oil, Seneca milk, and Dragonsclaw you've got something that will immediately cause any succulent plant to up its production of water and oxygen by three times? Or that straight sodium added to Hauer's Draft will cause the reverse effect for the potion, making one actually begin to get horrible allergies instead of clearing them up."

"And how did you learn all that?" Snape asked, careful to keep an eye on his cauldron while giving the woman his attention.

"Psychology," Leah replied succinctly, and Snape's brow furrowed. "For one of my psychology classes," she explained, "we were given a rat to run mazes, do conditioning tests, etc. Well," and here she rolled her eyes innocently, "I used him as my guinea pig for a few potions. Almost lost him when my aging potion added too many years to his physical age; I had a doddering, about-to-die rat who couldn't get to his feet and a maze runthrough in eight hours with my Psych professor. I was up until late brewing the age-decreasing potion, just in time for that dumb rat to mess up my grade by not running the maze right."

Snape quirked an eyebrow at the odd Muggle before him. He wondered if she knew she was rambling, then had the suspicion that was just how she talked. Still, it was nice having someone who understood where he came from at least a little bit, if even she seemed to be a ditz in other areas.

"Anyway," Leah stated, waving her hand in the air, "that's why I wanted to meet you." Here she paused, looking slightly nervous. "I was wondering if, well, maybe you could teach me a bit more?"

"Sounds like you're doing just fine on your own," Snape replied, idly sprinkling a bit of monksweed into the cauldron.

The way he said the phrase, Leah couldn't tell whether it was a compliment or otherwise. She chose to accept it as a compliment and qualified her request. "It's just that I've never really gotten the basics down; I've mostly learned everything from books and haven't received any formal training. For all I know I could be doing things wrong, disposing of some potions incorrectly. Most books don't even have disposal instructions as they were meant for wizards and witches who could simply magick it away."

"So you're asking me to teach you," Snape stated, applying two drops of liquified dianthus to the potion he was working on, still not loking at Leah. "What does your mother have to say about this?"

"Oh, forget my mother," Leah exclaimed hotly, earning a glance from Snape. "If she's going to keep me here then I might as well take advantage of the opportunity."

"I take it coming here wasn't your idea," Snape murmured, giving her a dry inquiring glance.

"Not really," Leah admitted darkly, stuffing her hands into her robes. "She heard about everything that's been going on lately, and figured since I would never be able to defend myself adequately from any real magic attacks I'd be safer here with her."

Snape's eyes, still focussed on the cauldron, narrowed as he took note of the quiet resentment in Leah's voice. Could it be the girl wished she could do magic, he mused silently, studying the cauldron's contents more intently than was called for. It made sense; if she really was raised in the magicking community, she would have spent her life being looked down on for being at best a Squib. It would also explain why she'd turned to potions, really the only thing magical that non-magic folk could participate in.

"So anyway," Leah continued, leaning slightly over the table towards Snape, "would you be willing? I'd work around your schedule, come only on certains days, whatever." She turned on the puppy-dog eyes and looked up through her lashes. "Pretty please?"

Snape wondered in disgust when he'd gotten so charitable: instead of being annoyed the act served rather to amuse him. Still, he couldn't help but wonder if he had found a potions enthusiast that was nuttier than Dunston Wilkes. "And what is to be my compensation, Miss Stanhope?" Snape asked, turning sardonic eyes up to hers. "Is there anything you can give me that would make it worth my time?"

"How about some inside information on Muggle chemistry," Leah answered, the quickness of her reply making Snape wonder if she'd been planning on using this bargaining chip the whole time. "You can educate me a bit more on potions, and I'll let you have access to all my lab journals, chemistry notes, textbooks, and answer any questions you might have."

"You have all this with you?" he asked dubiously, raising an eyebrow.

Leah nodded. "Brought them all along for just this situation," she answered. "So...are you game?"

Snape stared intently at the woman for several moments until she began to squirm. Quite frankly, he was interested in the idea, if for no other reason than to learn about this Muggle chemistry. It would be interesting to read her lab journals, provided they were thorough and detailed. Most of the books he had acquired on the subject had been written by wizards examining the logic behind the proceedures, not the actual concepts themselves.

"Well?" Leah asked, uncertainty flickering across her face.

Snape caught the look and, with a heavy sigh as if it was a tough decision he replied, "Yes, Miss Stanhope, I will teach you." As her eyes lit up happily, he added, "But there is something you'll need to do for me first."

"Anything," Leah replied, grinning toothily.

Snape raised an eyebrow at the reply; the girl really needed to learn to be careful what she promised. Extinguishing the flame beneath the cauldron, he picked up a small dropper lying on the table, sucked a small amount of the cauldron's contents inside of it, and carefully placed two drops of the greenish liquid onto a bite-sized cube of cheese sitting on the other side of the table. Picking up the plate, Snape offered its contents to the woman before him. "Eat this."

Leah stared blankly at the piece of food then looked up at Snape. "What is it?" she asked dubiously, not making a move to pick it up.

"A potion I've been working on for Madam Pomfrey," he replied smoothly. When she still didn't pick it up the potions master rolled his eyes. "If we're to be working together you're going to have to trust me a little bit."

Anyone who had ever been a student in Professor Snape's class would have run away at that, but Leah brought her hand up and carefully picked up the cheese cube. With one last look at Snape she tentatively put the morsel into her mouth.

And nearly spit it out an instant later. "Bloody hell," she choked, "that is the worst thing I have ever tasted!"

Snape nodded sagely, giving the girl a superior look. "Yes, that particular cheese does take some getting used to," he admitted, setting the plate back down on the table. "The French, however, seem to consider it a delicacy."

"You mean that was the cheese?" Leah blurted out incredulously. "People actually eat this stuff voluntarily?" Her face puckered in a grimace, she pushed the half-chewed bit to the back of her mouth and convulsively swallowed, suddenly desperate for a little water.

"Yes," Snape murmured, studying the girl before him as she fanned her mouth desperately, "I was wondering what it would be this time." He pointed his wand and the cauldron topped over, pouring its contents into a funnel above a large glass flask. "How...amusing."

Leah stopped her ministrations and glared narrowly at Snape. "What, is amusing?" she demanded, her nose still crinkled in disgust as her mouth worked to get rid of the taste of cheese.

"The potion is designed to loosen up congestion in the lungs or nasal passageways," Snape explained, magically cleaning up the instruments he used. "Madam Pomfrey, however, disliked the side effects and asked me to try to develop an alternative with less, shall we say, conspicuous problems."

"What sort of side effects?" Leah asked, searching her body for any differences.

"This one usually stimulated the hair follicles to grow at an accellerated rate," Snape replied, enjoying the girl's horrified expression. "Boys would get beards as long as Dumbledore's overnight, and girls...well, let's just say it was an embarassment to be seen."

Leah's hands went straight to her cheeks, feeling about frantically for any signs of stubble. Snape, for his part, couldn't remember when last he'd had this much fun; he still regularly made certain students taste their own potions, but even that wasn't quite as satisfying as a good mind game.

"You needn't worry about a premature beard, Miss Stanhope," Snape said smoothly after a moment of enjoying Leah's frantic search. "I've remedied that, I think, although it now looks like the hair follicles are stimulated in a different way."

"What do you mean a different..." Leah exclaimed, then broke off as a strand of hair, dislodged from the clip while she had been checking for differences in body structure, fell across her face. Leah's eyes widened to the size of saucers as she lifted a trembling hand to finger the lock, not wanting to believe what she was seeing.

It was bright yellow.

"I will expect you here two evenings from now," Snape started casually, only to be interrupted by a shriek of outrage. Irritated, Snape snapped, "Well, I'm sure you can pull it off much better than I can. Closer to your natural hair color, I presume."

Considering the naturally darker color of Leah's hair, that phrase went over almost as well as the whole hair-changing-color incident.



Some time later the sounds of soft laughter echoed from behind a statue in the main hall. Behind it several students, all with green badges on their robes, snickered at the yellow-haired woman storming down the hall, oblivious to all around her.

"Looks like someone already got her tonight," Star Pellerin whispered. "Got her good too."

"I'm sure it would be funnier if she had jellylegs to contend with," Draco murmured, sniggering as he fingered his wand.

"Nah, you used that on her already," Pansy whispered. "What about if we..."

"What if you all went up to your rooms," a silky voice said behind them, "and didn't force me to give more detentions."

All five of the Slytherins jumped guiltily and whirled around, hearts racing. Crabbe and Goyle looked embarassed to be found out while Pansy, Draco, and Star all looked defiant.

"We were having a little fun with the Muggle," Pansy said, then seemed to realize she was talking to a teacher about messing with another teacher and cringed. Draco and Star both gave the girl disgusted looks.

"Yes, I gathered as much," Snape murmured, watching the still fuming yellow-haired woman disappear behind a corner before turning back to the students. "I would appreciate in the future if you ceased your little tricks."

"Whatever you say Professor," Draco replied, exchanging amused looks with Star.

"I'm not joking, Mr. Malfoy," the Professor stated sharply, and all smiles were wiped away by the authority in that voice. "Leave the Muggle alone from now on. She is considered to be a teacher now so deserves the respect. Besides," he added lazily, "I'm too busy to deal with detentions for members of my own House."

Draco's brow furrowed at the order, clearly not liking it much, but he nodded as did his companions. Snape, seeing they understood, added, "Pass that around to the rest of our classmates," then swept past the confused Slytherins.