Disclaimer 2: The title of this story, and the song lyrics that will
proceed each chapter, are not mine (although I really wish I could claim them).
They belong to a fabulous band which tours the folk festivals in Australia,
called Jigzag. The lyrics I'm starting with are actually from a different song,
which is called "Ordinary Mystery". Both of these are great songs,
and if you visit you can listen to some mp3's of their
work and maybe even buy their CD (no, I don't make any money off promoting them
but if they make money then they might come to Melbourne more often).
Also note that the lyrics are not necessarily following the order they appear
in the song. They're being chosen partly on whim and partly for their appropriateness.
Author's Note: Bleh. My life hasn't allowed me much time for writing lately. Apologies. I'd recommend anyone interested in keeping up with this story should add it to their alert list since I give no guarentee of the frequency of updates.
________________________________________________________________
Chapter 4 - The Interview
Who will reach us. Who will teach us.
This was the last straw. Severus glared over his class, all of them now dripping from head to foot. The Slytherin side of the room had fared the worst, that being where the explosion had occurred in one of the cauldrons, but the Gryffindors hadn't escaped unscathed either. Vaguely satisfying, but it didn't change the fact that it had happened at all. His dark eyes came to rest on one particular Gryffindor who was looking around the room with an air of awestruck interest. She must have felt the weight of his stare because she turned her grey eyes on him with a look of pure innocence.
"I hadn't expected it to react quite that violently," Seona admitted ingenuously. This attracted her glares from the Slytherins and rolled eyes from her own house. Severus just gritted his teeth. She had been playing numerous pranks in his class for some time now, and discreet questioning in the staff lounge suggested that she wasn't like this in any of her other classes. It puzzled him, since it was obvious from her work that she knew what she was doing and put a lot of thought into the subject, but she also seemed to delight in being as annoying as she possibly could.
There was another thing, too: since that first class, where she had made such startling statements before and after, she hadn't been the intellectual challenge he was expecting. She worked quietly and well when she wasn't stirring up trouble, she answered questions politely and generally correctly, but that was it. He wasn't sure why, but he felt a vague sense of disappointment.
Realising that he had been quiet for some time, just glaring at her, he snapped, "Miss MacGinty, you will see me in my office after the last class today. We shall discuss this then. Now," he turned his attention back to the rest of the class, "I will see this mess cleaned up, and then you will go on with concocting the sleeping draught. There is still plenty of time left to finish if you all work hard."
There were grumbles, naturally, and Blaise Zabini said, "Why should we have to clean up? It's not our fault there's a mess."
His eyes narrowed, Severus glared the boy into submission and watch in satisfaction as he went and gathered rags to mop up the puddle around his desk. He disliked students questioning his orders, even when the students were from his own house. He leaned back against the edge of his desk and kept roving his gaze around the room. There was unlikely to be any more trouble, but he was going to be ready for it if there was.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Heading to his office at the end of the day, Severus was annoyed to find the door standing ajar and Seona MacGinty stepping out of it. She started slightly when he cleared his throat and gave him a small apologetic smile.
"I knocked, but the door wasn't latched properly I guess because it swung open. So I looked in to see if you were there, but you weren't. Obviously, since you're here." She dropped her gaze to the floor and added softly, "I apologise for intruding on your space, Professor."
He grunted in response and swept past her into the room. Settling himself at his desk, he gestured for her to take the seat opposite and watched as she took it meekly. They sat in silence for a while, during which time she kept her eyes on the hands that were folded neatly in her lap. Finally he simply asked, "Why?"
She looked up, surprised, and her face redened abruptly and she looked away. "Do you want the short talking-to-teachers answer, or the long frankly-honest answer?" she asked.
"Let's start with the short one and work from there," he suggested acidly.
She glanced up again and gave a half-hearted grin. "Well, the short talking-to-teachers answer goes something like 'I'm very sorry I misbehaved, I don't know why I did it, and I promise I won't do it again'. Then you say that's fine, give me some sort of punishment, and we go our seperate ways."
He found himself holding back a smile at this assessment. It was true that this was the way these interviews usually went. But she had admitted that there was another possibility. "And the frankly-honest answer?"
"I'm bored." The words were said softly and simply, and his eyes widened a little in surprise. Bored? Before he could respond, she continued, "I had such high hopes for this class, but it's not really that different from my old school. I can make most of the potions we've covered so far without even thinking about it. I'm not learning anything new, and I'm bored." Her eyes looked suspiciously bright and her face was flushed, but she didn't look away this time. "I'm sorry that I've been such a pain, but I have a tendancy not to take boredom real well and you roam around the room so I can't read like I do in History of Magic... and I didn't just say that." A small lopsided smile.
At least she seemed to be regaining a little of her spirit, he mused. It had been quite worrying to see her so withdrawn. Ordinarily he enjoyed breaking students to the point where they would offer unquestioning obediance, but he was begining to realise that this particular student had more potential than that. So she felt she could make all those potions without thinking, did she? Perhaps it was time to test her knowledge.
"You really think you're that good?" he asked mildly. She nodded, and he pulled a piece of parchment towards him and quickly scribbled down a list of ingredients. Handed it to her. "Prove it. Tell me what potion can be made using all of those ingredients." It would be an interesting test. There were actually two answers, both of which were valid since he hadn't included the amount of each ingredient. Both potions were reasonably obscure, as well. It would be interesting to see which one she knew.
She studied the list in silence for a while, a look of intense concentration on her face. Finally she looked up and said, "Which answer do you want?" He raised one eyebrow and said nothing, so she continued, "Well, depending on the quantities, you can make either a truth potion that isn't quite as strong as Veritaserum but has the advantage of making the recipient babble in a streaming of consciousness style, or you could make a potion that renders the recipient unconscious and slows all their life-signs so that they appear dead to anything except a magical examination... I can't remember the exact name of it though... Or you could make a very potent... err... not a love potion exactly... more like a lust potion. A aphrodesiac, I guess."
Severus stared at her in open astonishment for an instant. Not only had she known both of the answers, but she knew a third option that he hadn't even considered. Not that he'd ever paid much attention to potions that dealt with either love or lust, but he had to admit that he was seriously impressed. Schooling his features back into neutrality, he replied, "That is most impressive, Miss MacGinty. I had expected you to only know one, if any. And I suppose I must concede that this sort of knowledge makes it understandable that you should find the standard course work boring. That does not, however, excuse you for being such a complete and utter nuisance for the last two months."
She ducked her head in embrassment and murmured, "I know. I'm sorry." She paused for a moment, then looked up and added, "But I didn't know what to do. I didn't think I could come and talk to you about it... You don't make yourself very approachable, you know."
He frowned darkly at her. He knew it was true, but that didn't mean that he had to sit and listen to a student tell him. Sharply, he responded, "So tell me why I should make an exception for you? Why should I care that you're bored, save that it's disrupting my class?"
"Aside from the professional pride of being able to teach someone who's eager to learn everything you're willing to teach?" She had recovered more of her usual self-confidence now and met his gaze squarely once more. "Do you mean the Headmaster never told you why I applied for a transfer?" He shook his head and she answered with a resigned shake of her own. "You are, Professor."
He barely managed to keep his jaw from dropping open. This was the last thing he expected to hear. Sneeringly he replied, "You should know by now that I'm hardly susceptible to flattery. Either explain yourself or retract that statement."
Unfazed, she responded calmly, "You can ask the Headmaster to show you the letter I sent him if you want confirmation. I was disappointed with the potions teacher - I can't in all conscience call him a master - at my old school. He didn't know that much more than I did, and he wasn't very good in any event. I couldn't bare the idea of having to put up with that level of teaching for the remainder of my school life, so I began researching options. There was an article in Cauldron about you and some of the research that you've done. It mentioned you taught here, and I began looking for more information on your credentials and career. I decided that if I really wanted to learn, it should be from the best... and that's not flattery, Professor, that's an assessment." She gave him a shy grin and shrugged. "I wrote to Professor Dumbledore and explained all this and asked if there would be room for me to study here. He agreed, so I came over for the start of the school year. It means I'll take an extra half-year to finish, because the school years don't align, but I didn't care." She sighed now, and her expression turned rueful. "I don't know what I expected," she admitted. "But it wasn't a set up that was almost identical to the one I left. Which is silly I guess... the students are still at the same level."
Shaking his head in amazement, Severus resolved to get hold of that letter. It would probably make interesting reading. And he did remember agreeing to that interview with the potions journal, albeit at Albus' insistance. That it should have prompted this strangely intense girl to seek him out was bizarre. He hadn't even thought it had been that good an article. Perhaps he should make an exception in this case...
Reaching a decision, he said, "Perhaps we can make a deal then. You will stop being disruptive im my class, and in return I will give you some private lessons on the weekends so that you can stretch your knowledge and improve your skills. Agreed?"
Her eyes were wide with astonishment now, and she managed to stammer, "Th-that would be wonderful! You'd really do that?" She paused and seemed to undergo an intense struggle to bring herself back under control. When she spoke again, it was in a voice that was a lot more even but still full of excitement. "Thank you, Professor. This is better than I could have possibly hoped for."
Nodding, he said, "Agreed, then. But one more stunt like today's, and the additional classes will stop." She nodded soberly. "Off you go, then. I shall see you in the potions classroom on Saturday, after lunch."
She nodded her agreement and rose to leave, but stopped and gave him a curious glance. "Professor, if you don't mind my asking, why did you agree to do this? I mean, when all's said and done, I'm still in Gryffindor."
He smiled now, without the usual nasty edge, and raised one eyebrow. "As you said before, professional pride. It's not often I find someone who is willing to blow up a room to get my attention." She laughed, a soft rippling sound, and something made him add, "Besides, I still remember you telling your friends you liked the sound of my voice. I don't believe anyone's ever said that before."
She was grinning cheekily at him now, her eyes dancing with laughter. "So the great Severus Snape isn't immune to flattery after all, it seems."
Giving her a mock scowl, he replied gruffly, "Well don't spread it around, or I'll have students writing me sonnets in the hope of improving their marks." She gave another ripple of laughter and an extravegant bow, then turned and left.
Severus sat for a while at his desk after she had gone, pondering what had
just happened. Was he actually encouraging one of his students to act with boldness
around him? And a Gryffindor at that! He had shrugged off her concern, but she
did have a point about that. Still, he admired her for the drive that had led
her half-way around the world to find someone to teach her. He also admired
her knowledge, and he picked up the list he had made. An aphrodesiac? He couldn't
place it, and with a soft sigh he turned to the books lining the walls in search
of an answer.
________________________________________________________________
Reviewer's Tribute:
Many thanks to everyone who's read this, but particularly to:
Bard of Skheria - *grin* Thankies. Glad you're enjoying the story and the character so much. I'm growing rather fond of Seona myself. And sorry it's taking me so long to update.
Skyfire - I'm trying (very trying, my friends assure me). The last story was getting far too angsty, and I don't write angst well. I liked the character though, so I'm simply being a little nicer to her this time. :)
