5. Testing the Patience of a Snape
In no time at all, they found themselves standing outside a shop with a large hanging sign out front that read, MOONSHADOW. Two display windows flanked the door. One contained some attractive casual robes, and the other sported mannequins wearing jeans and t-shirts. Perfect, thought Evangeline with a smile as she opened the door, and they went inside.
A young blond, wearing a garish purple robe and enormous gold hoop earrings, came hurrying over and asked how she could be of service. Snape gave her a look that he generally reserved for vermin and idiotic first years. The clerk took the hint and focused her attentions on Evangeline, who told the girl what type of clothing she was looking for. The two of them went off together to search through the merchandise, leaving Snape to wander about on his own. After a bit of browsing, Evangeline had picked out some items to try and was considering a robe in a lovely shade of leaf green, when the shop girl nudged her, nodded at Snape, and said with a knowing grin, "I think your boyfriend over there has found something else for you to try."
Evangeline turned around to see him idly examining an ivory silk negligee. As he became aware of his audience, he dropped it as if it had bitten him. He glowered darkly in their direction and told Evangeline that he would wait for her outside. Then he hastily exited the shop, but not before she noted a faint blush on his cheeks. Mindful that she was keeping Snape waiting, she made her selections quickly, paid for them, and arranged for them to be sent directly along to Hogwarts. Then she joined a very impatient Snape outside the shop.
Hoping to smooth any ruffled feathers, she smiled pleasantly at him, and said, "I seem to be safe enough here. It was probably a bit presumptuous of me to assume that I needed a bodyguard for a simple trip into town. I'm sure I'll be fine if you have more important matters to go and attend to, Professor Snape." Snape looked as if he longed to take her up on her offer, but he had far too highly developed a sense of duty for him to run out on a task that had been assigned to him by Albus Dumbledore.
He frowned impatiently down at her and announced in a slightly annoyed tone, "Professor Dumbledore expects that I will escort you safely back to the castle myself this afternoon. I don't leave town until you leave town, so the sooner we get this over with the better, Miss Winthrop." He gestured for her to precede him down the street.
I was just trying to be nice, and all I did was manage to annoy him again, thought Evangeline. Conversation with this man is like navigating through a minefield.
"I need to find a shop that sells art supplies, do you know where I can find one, Professor Snape?" she asked cautiously.
He nodded brusquely. "I believe there's one around the corner. A few doors down the street on the right."
Without another word, they set off again. The shop he directed her to wasn't particularly large, but it contained a wide variety of materials. Fortunately she had no difficulty obtaining everything that she needed because she didn't look forward to the prospect of having to ask him to direct her to another one. These purchases she also had sent on directly to the castle. Once she was finished buying what she needed, she crossed the room to where Snape was examining a display of brushes. "Find anything you want?" she asked, as she came up to stand next to him.
He shrugged carelessly and turned to look down at her. "I was merely curious; I don't know anything about the quality of art supplies. I've never had occasion to use any. Are you finished here?"
"Yes, just one more stop, I think. I need to visit an apothecary for my potion ingredients and supplies."
With a look of satisfaction on his face, he gave a short nod. "Now, that's something I do know about. Follow me, Miss Winthrop." He swept regally out of the shop and off down the street.
The shop he led her to was a pleasant airy one just a few doors away from the art supply store. It was crowded with aromatic wares and lots of interesting looking equipment. As they entered it, a large wizard with muttonchop whiskers, and a florid complexion, came out from behind the counter and approached them with a smile. "Professor Snape, sir! It's always a pleasure to see you in my shop. How may I be of service, today?"
Snape nodded to the wizard. "Good day to you, Adalhart. I'm not in need of anything at the moment, but Miss Winthrop here needs some ingredients for some potions that she has to concoct."
Obligingly Adalhart turned his attentions to Evangeline and inquired politely as to what he could get for her. She produced a list and handed it to him, asking if he could provide her with its contents in the quantities indicated. He took the list and looked it over carefully. "I believe that I have most of these ingredients, Miss Winthrop. I'm not sure about the Hart's Liver, though. I may be out of that at the moment. If you'll feel free to look around, I'll just nip into my storeroom, and see what I have on hand."
Evangeline thanked the shopkeeper and then crossed the room to join Snape, who was examining the shelves with interest. "Almost done, Professor. I just need to look for the equipment I'll need to make the potions, then we can return to Hogwarts."
Snape considered her in silence for a moment and then said, "Actually, I have everything you should need to mix up your potions, down in my classroom. As the students are not at the school at the moment, I'm not as busy as usual. You're welcome to use my equipment if you wish. I'd find it interesting to watch you make them. Potions of this sort are not ones that I've ever had occasion to make. I'll admit, I'm curious." He paused and watched her carefully, trying to judge what her response would be.
A bit surprised at his offer, Evangeline looked him in the eye, smiled, and said, "Thank you, Professor Snape, that's very kind of you. I'd appreciate the loan of your equipment. I'll be happy to tell you anything you want to know about animating and restoring potions. Although, I'm not sure what use you'd have for the knowledge."
He smiled faintly. "Knowledge has value for its own sake, and expanding my knowledge of all types of potions is always a personal goal of mine. You never know when a certain piece of information will turn out to be of use, after all."
At this point, Adalhart returned with her order, and the news that he was, indeed, out of Hart's Liver. "I'm sure I could acquire what you need in a couple of days, though, if you could wait that long." He added hopefully.
Evangeline nodded at him. "That'll be fine, sir. I'll take what you have here and pay for the Hart's Liver as well. Perhaps you'd be kind enough to send it directly up to Hogwarts when it arrives." Adalhart agreed to this, packaged up her potion ingredients, and smilingly ushered them out of his shop into the late afternoon sunshine.
Satisfied with the success of their trip, they headed back up to Hogwarts. When they reached the entrance hall, Evangeline once more thanked Snape for helping her with her shopping and also for the future use of his equipment. He nodded stiffly and replied, "Not at all, Miss Winthrop. I'm glad that I could be of service. Now if you'll excuse me, I do have other things I need to attend to." With a brief bow, he disappeared through a door that led to the dungeons.
Evangeline found herself standing there staring after him. What a perplexing man! His personality seemed to shift from moment to moment. Every time he found himself being pleasant, he seemed to go out of his way to be rude. Then, when you thought he was the most unpleasant man you'd ever met, he'd do something kind. Which one was the real Severus Snape? Still shaking her head, she took herself and her package off to her room. She spent the next hour unpacking her purchases, all of which had already arrived, courtesy of Hogwarts efficient staff of house elves no doubt, and settling into her new home. Once this was all accomplished, she found herself too tired to go down to dinner, so she went right to bed.