I came to the conclusion the other day that I hadn't figured out which house Scott would be in if he put our friend the Sorting Hat on his head. I've already realized that both of my brothers are Gryffindors, my parents are Hufflepuffs, my boss and best friend are Ravenclaws, and most of my co- workers are Hufflepuffs, except for my surgical tech, who is a fellow Slytherin. I sat there thinking about it.

Not Slytherin. (He's definitely not cunning.)

Not Hufflepuff. (He's a hard worker and loyal to his friends, but that isn't what stands out.)

Not Ravenclaw. (Not that he's not smart, he is - just not academically minded like a Ravenclaw.)

So that left Gryffindor.

Is he brave? Well, he likes snowboarding, skiing, and rock climbing, and he's gotten through some pretty tough times lately much better than most people I know would. So, yeah, brave.

Chivalrous? Well, I've never had a man open doors for me the way this one does, and he helps me in and out of the truck when I'm wearing heels. The clincher for me was when he stopped along the road during a snowstorm and pulled an elderly woman's car out of the ditch with his truck, even though he was running late. (Even his impatient girlfriend had to let him off the hook for making her wait for that one.)

Well, go figure. A Slytherin lass like me together with a Gryffindor!

Wondering - As far as I know, none of the other staff members of Hogwarts, other than the heads of the four houses, has the house they were in mentioned.

The Potions Master's Reluctant Apprentice ~*~

Kaneene stood by her brother and two of her cousins, as the final steps to the powerful sealing charm were placed on the passage that led to Hogsmeade on the third floor. They had placed three of these charms along the length of the tunnel as extra insurance, and now there were no longer any secret passages in or out of the castle.

Sirius sighed as he watched the opening in the witch's hump slide closed the final time. He knew that it was absolutely the best thing to maintain the security of Hogwarts, and he himself had ordered it, but that didn't mean that part of him didn't feel awful. It was like someone took away another small happy part of his youth.

Brandon and Dixon returned to their rounds, and Kaneene walked Sirius back to his rooms. "Cheer up." She said. "It's not forever."

"I know, K, but how long will it be?" Sirius asked, sounding uncharacteristically somber.

"You're not just talking about the passage, are you?" She asked as they entered his chambers.

"I guess not." He said quietly.

She sat next to him. "Why so down?"

"I guess being poisoned just brought everything a little closer to home again for me." He confessed. "I think part of me was hoping...." He trailed off.

"What?" She asked, placing a hand on his arm.

He looked at her and sighed. "I guess I was just hoping to have a longer period of peace and quiet. You know, a little time to relax and enjoy myself after getting out of Azkaban." He paused for a minute. "Kinda selfish, I know."

Kaneene shook her head. "Not at all. No one deserves a little peace in their life more than you do after what you've been through." She saw the distant, haunted look in his eyes when she looked at him. "It's still with you, isn't it?"

He nodded, and closed his eyes. "It's like I'm two people sometimes. I just start to feel like myself, you know, joking around and enjoying life, and then something triggers those feelings, and I feel desperate and scared all over again."

She nodded. "I can understand that." She wanted him to keep talking. She knew it would be good for him to get some of it out in the open, and she wanted to do anything she could to help him.

He continued. "It's always worse at night, in the dark." He said quietly. "Azkaban is so dark." He became quiet.

"Sirius, can I ask you something?" Kaneene asked after a moment.

He nodded.

She moved a little closer to him on the couch. "How did you do it?" She asked softly.

"Do what?" He asked.

"Survive. I mean, all that time. A lot of people wouldn't have," she said. She knew what Azkaban did to most people.

"I'd like to tell you that it was because I never gave up hope," he said, "but that would be a lie. There were plenty of times that I did, and the only thing that got me through those was hate. Anger and hate, and a desire for revenge."

She let him speak without interrupting.

"I wanted revenge so badly I could almost taste it at times." He said bitterly. "It became an obsession."

"Pettigrew?" She asked.

He glanced at her and fire blazed in the depths of the normally laughing deep blue eyes. She'd seen that look on Halloween when he'd caught Wormtail in the ministry.

"Yes!" He hissed. "It's all his fault, the treacherous bastard! So much would be different today if it weren't for what he did." Sirius moaned. He continued on, becoming more distraught as he went. "We'd all be together still - me, James, Lily, Remus. All of us. Lily and James would still be alive and Harry would have his parents." He shook his head. "I never should have agreed." He leaned his forward, head in his hands.

"Agreed?" Kaneene prodded gently.

Sirius didn't even lift his head, but explained about being the original secret keeper and the switch that was made that allowed Peter to betray the Potters. "I knew better. I never should have let them switch. It's just as much my fault that they're dead as anyone." He said, voice choked with emotion.

Kaneene grabbed his arm and jerked it sharply, causing him to finally look up at her. "Now, you listen to me, Sirius Black! I don't want to hear another word about it being your fault. There was no way you could have known what Pettigrew would do, I mean he was your friend, wasn't he?"

Sirius nodded slowly. "One of my best friends."

"Why wouldn't you have trusted him, then?" She asked.

"I suppose..."

"No supposing. You all trusted him and he's the only one to blame. The Potters weren't the only ones he betrayed that day."

"You're right." He said tiredly. "You never knew who to trust at that point. Hell, for a while I didn't even trust Remus." He became distant again. "That day was awful - the worst day of my life." Sirius said, apparently caught up in the painful memory. "I can't even begin to tell you what it was like to stand there and see the remains of their house..." He stopped as he continued to stare blankly at a point in space, and then after a bit continued on.

"It was surreal." He said. "I could stand there and look at the blasted remains; I could touch them, smell them, and yet I still couldn't believe it. I stood there forever, it seemed, until it finally hit me. Harry was ok, but Lily and James were gone. Dead." He uttered the last word as a whisper as he stared into nothingness.

Kaneene spoke to him tenderly as she draped her arm around him. "When did you know it was Peter?"

Sirius looked back at her with obvious pain in his eyes. "It didn't take me long. I knew that was the only way that Voldemort could have found them. It was just that the shock of realizing what he'd done was more agony on top of everything else. I knew that I'd lost three of my four best friends that night. Lily and James were dead, and Peter I'd lost to the dark."

Kaneene just sat quietly with her arm around him for a few long minutes and then he spoke again. "Do you know what it's like to want to kill someone?" He looked at her with a haunted expression. "I mean, really, really want them dead?"

Kaneene had to admit she did not. She shook her head, but said nothing.

"I do." He said in a whisper. "And I almost did it too."

"I don't think you really would have done it, Sirius. Besides, I wouldn't have let you." Kaneene replied.

"No, that's not when I meant." Sirius said, smiling a little at the thought that perhaps the decision to not kill Peter did hadn't rested as much in his hands as he thought last Halloween. He told her about the night in the shrieking shack two years ago, and how very close Wormtail had come to meeting his demise at his and Remus's hands.

"Remus hated him at that moment too. I know he wanted him dead. Remus loved Lily and James as much as I did, and after that Halloween he lost all of us because of Peter." Sirius shook his head. "Poor Remus, he ended up without any of us."

Sirius was thoughtful for a moment. "I've never seen Moony hate anyone like that before. I mean, he even thinks Snape has redeeming qualities."

"I take it you don't?" Kaneene asked, knowing she was opening a whole new can of worms.

"Huh!" Sirius snorted. "I'll let you know if I find one."

"I have to say that I don't understand that whole situation." Kaneene admitted, knowing at some point she was going to have to tell him about the class IV restorative potion, and not relishing the thought.

"What's there to understand? The man was a Death Eater. He was one of the very reasons that Voldemort became so powerful." Sirius snapped.

"Yes, but you hated him before that." Kaneene accused him softly.

"That I did." He said defiantly.

"Easy. I'm not attacking you, Sirius. I just wish I could understand why you feel the way you do." She said soothingly. She hesitated and then spoke more tenderly. "I'd like to understand a lot more about you."

Sirius's expression softened. "You would?"

"Yes. I'm glad that you told me everything you did, tonight. It helps me to understand things better." She said. "I still find it amazing that you made it through all that time. I've been to Azkaban, and I can't take much more than being there for about half an hour." Kaneene smiled at him finally. "Of course, now that I know how stubborn you are about some things, I can understand it better."

"Me?" Sirius said, feigning innocence. "Stubborn?"

Kaneene rolled her eyes at him. "Just a bit." She said sarcastically.

Sirius laughed. "I guess, maybe. Oh, and I had one more little trick up my sleeve." He said, his tone just a little lighter.

"What was that?" Kaneene asked curiously.

She suddenly found herself face to face with the great black dog, sitting on the cushion next to her. She smiled at him and tentatively reached out to touch the large head.

"Woof!" He let out a sharp bark and she let go a short cry and jumped as he startled her. Sirius was once again sitting on the couch next to her, laughing.

"Prat!" She punched him in the arm. "You startled me."

"Ow! Come on, you have to admit that was funny." He said.

"It was not." But she was already laughing.

He smiled as he saw her give in, and enjoyed the fact that he could make her laugh. He watched her for a moment longer and then sobered. He started to realize then just how much he cared about the woman sitting next to him, and it dawned on him how much he wanted to be close to her. Very close to her. Merlin! It had been so long since he was even this close to anyone.

Kaneene stopped laughing when she saw the way Sirius was looking at her. "What?" She asked, concerned. She reach out to place a hand against his cheek.

Sirius closed his eyes as he placed his own hand over hers and simply sat and enjoyed the feel of her touch against his face. After a moment he pulled her hand away a little and pressed his lips against her palm. When he looked at her again, he drew her closer to him by the hand that he held, and then slid his other arm around her.

Kaneene didn't resist in the least, and she kissed him back tenderly as his lips met hers. Their second kiss carried a little more fire in it, and by the third one she had swung one leg over his lap, and was kneeling, straddling him on the couch as she pushed him back against the cushions and kissed him hungrily.

Sirius was about to say something about maybe moving to the next room, but the fact that Kaneene was now nibbling on his neck and ripping the front of his shirt open made him decide that he ought to just keep his mouth closed. He didn't resist at all when she pushed him down to lay on the couch, and he smiled at her when she leaned down over him to kiss him again. "Why, Miss Moody, there you go being forward again." He said.

She eyed him for a moment. "Are you complaining?" She teased.

"Not at all," he answered with a grin.

She leaned down to whisper in his ear. "We have a deal, you and I."

"We do?" He asked.

"Yes. You survived the poison, didn't you?" She asked with a slightly crooked smile.

Sirius nodded and grinned. "So, this is where things get more interesting?" He asked.

"Definitely." She said, as he pulled her tightly down against him. She kissed him in a way that made him hardly notice when they tumbled together, still passionately engaged, onto the floor. **

It ended up that Draco alternated nights in detention with Filch and Hagrid for the next three weeks. Snape chose Filch for the man's talent at devising suitably unpleasant tasks for the students to perform, and Hagrid purely because he knew the boy was immensely irritated by the man.

In addition to the detentions he handed out, Snape also put Malfoy to work on the weekends, making sure that all of his free time was being utilized in a constructive capacity. The ordeal with the mangabey attack had left the medical ward depleted of many of the potions it needed to have on hand, and Snape was damned if he was going to do all of the work replacing them himself. Malfoy in fact, did possess the predisposition to be a talented potion brewer, and Snape kept him for hours to prepare most of the ingredients needed for the restoratives, painkillers, and bezoar derivatives.

Draco had set about preparing a particularly long list of ingredients one night during his punishment, and was engrossed in finely chopping a pile of valerian when Lorien entered the room. He could see that she was a little surprised to find him there, and that obviously he wasn't who she was looking for. He didn't particularly like the woman since the day she had taken points from his house for calling Granger a mudblood, and since she was one of those pathetic treehugging nature children. He kept his tone civil as he spoke to her, but didn't attempt to keep the sarcasm out of his manner since Snape was not around at present.

"Good evening, Mistress Lorien." He drawled. "Looking for your...boyfriend?"

Lorien knew enough not to let the boy get to her, and she walked to where he was working as she returned a polite greeting that she knew would irritate him as well. "Ben Notan, Draco." She said. "And I believe the appropriate term would be 'paramicaan'," she said, giving him the Nemorosi term for a lover or close companion.

Draco didn't even try to refrain from rolling his eyes. "Whatever. He'll be back shortly."

Lorien looked at the pile of components on the table next to him with mild surprise. Evidently Severus was letting Malfoy help ready the ingredients for the wolfsbane potion. She picked up some of the plant he was working on and smelled it. "Valerian?" She asked Draco.

"Yes. He gave me some monster list earlier, and I've been stuck here all evening getting this stupid stuff ready." He replied.

"It's not stupid, Draco, and I think you should actually take this as a sign that your head of house has quite a bit of faith in your abilities." Lorien said.

"Why? Because he let me chop leaves for him for two hours?" Draco sneered.

"No." She laughed a little. "You don't know what you're working on, do you?"

"Some other potion for the hospital I imagine." He sighed.

"Draco, read the list again." She said, indicating the parchment on the end of the table.

He frowned at her for a second, and then picked up the parchment to read Snape's writing. Dragonroot, mandrake, mistletoe, primrose - stabilizing and enhancing components for a lot of potions.

"Keep reading." She said when he looked up.

Draco jumped a bit further down the list. Valerian, passionflower infusion, betony, wolfsbane. "Wolfsbane!" He said with surprise. "You mean to tell me that all this work that I've done is to help that.. that beast?" He knew he had said the wrong thing the moment the word escaped his lips.

Lorien was angry, but did her best not to show it. "That beast," she said quietly, "for the other twenty-seven and a half days a month, is one of the most worthwhile people I know, Mr. Malfoy. I believe you would do quite well were you to strive to be more like Professor Lupin, than some of the people that have obviously influenced you in the past."

Draco gave her a scowl that was a pretty good imitation of the Potion master's.

"Besides," she continued, softening her tone again. "This potion keeps him from becoming a beast. You know that. It'll be good for you to do something to contribute to the safety of the student body, don't you think?"

"I guess so." He agreed reluctantly.

"Good." She said. "You have a long way to go to make up for what you did, but it's good to see you trying." She spoke kindly and placed a hand on his arm for just a moment.

She smiled at him, and Draco curiously found himself a tiny bit pleased that she approved of anything he did. So, was that what it was like for Snape? Did he get the same feeling when this woman gave him that smile? When she approved of what he did?

Snape's entrance into the room interrupted Draco's musings, and he watched the interaction between the man and his, what did she say, 'paramicaan'?

Snape gave Lorien a glance and his customary monthly greeting. "Why am I not surprised to find you here?" He spoke sternly, but it was now a bit of a game.

Lorien walked away from Draco and went to Severus. "I assure you it is not due to any lack of faith in you, memory or otherwise."

"Huh." He snorted at her a little.

"I'll be going now." She said quietly. "I'll just leave you men to your work, shall I?"

"Very well." Severus said, knowing he would find her later. "Ben notan, Sylvanesti."

Draco rolled his eyes where he stood.

Lorien stepped very close to the dark robed man before her. "Ben notan, Paramicaan." She said, and then surprised him by kissing him quickly before she left.

Draco thought he was going to be ill.

Snape stood there for a minute, caught off guard by the fact that she would kiss him in front of a student, and wondering what she had just called him. He was snapped out of his contemplation when Draco spoke to him.

"It's a term of endearment that she considers more appropriate than 'boyfriend'." He explained, a look of amusement at the Potions master's discomfort on his face.

Snape walked quickly to where he was and spoke sternly. "I had no idea that you were such a fan of the Nemorosi culture, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco smiled wickedly. "Evidently not as much as you."

Snape glared at him.

Malfoy was already serving so much time, he didn't care about risking another snide comment. "I never thought I would ever see YOU hanging on a woman's every word like a dog waiting for a bone."

Snape met his gaze and spoke frankly. "Mr. Malfoy, I thank Merlin that a woman such as that even takes the time to speak such words to me."

Draco opened his mouth and made as if to gag himself with a finger.

"I hope I live to see the day when you finally understand what I'm talking about." Snape said with an exasperated sigh. "Shall we get to work?"

"Fine." Draco said, unenthusiastically.

Snape prepared the wolfsbane himself, and then went about examining the rest of Malfoy's work. He pointed to the pile of shredded mandrake. "This is very good. It has to be just right for this potion."

"It ought to be. I've shredded enough damn mandrake this week." Draco replied.

Snape continued his inspection, nodding his approval at each well-prepared component. He frowned at one point. "No, no, this is wrong. You have to have everything in the correct order, Draco. Wormwood is added after the Hypericum, not before." Snape moved the vial of green liquid.

"Ok." Draco said, mildly interested.

"Mr. Malfoy, the components are added in three basic groups, do you understand what they are?" Snape asked.

Draco thought about it. "I think so. The first third contains all of the enhancing and stabilizing components of the potion."

"Explain." Snape said, folding his arms and looking expectant.

"Well, Dragonroot is one of the most powerful stabilizing agents there is. Mandrake is one of the most powerful restorative and enhancing components." Draco spoke his thoughts out loud.

"What comes next?" Snape asked without expression.

"The five sisters." Draco replied confidently.

"Which are?"

"Herbs that increase the potency of the potion." Draco replied, beginning to enjoy this a little.

"Name them." Snape directed.

"Mistletoe, primrose, henbane, pulsatilla, and clover." Draco said quickly.

"Tell me about the second group." Snape ordered quietly.

"Symptomatic treatment for the side effects of the transformation. Skullcap for joint pain, bugbane for headache, infusion of willow bark for discomfort..."

"And the last group?" Snape cut him off.

"The components that interfere with the transformation of the mind." Draco replied, a tiny bit of smugness in his voice.

"Correct." Snape said. "Why are the three groups added in the order they are?"

Draco faltered, and Snape spoke again. "You will please have an answer when I am finished." Snape picked up the dragonroot and began.

Draco had been on a roll, but now Snape had stumped him. He didn't like not having the answer, and he pondered the question as he watched the Potions master work. He was adding the components of the first group, and the one thing that Draco realized was odd, was the fact that these were the first components. Normally all of the enhancing and stabilizing ingredients went in last in most potions. There had to be something to that.

Draco mulled it over for a long time, and as Snape added two drops of the wormwood infusion, and the potion went gray, Draco began to debate why the symptomatic treatments were added before the ones that combated the transformation. Well, the transformation of the wolf's mind at least. Why? Why, why, why?

He considered several plausible reasons, but none seemed to be what he was looking for as he watched Snape add the belladonna. It was the first component of the third group. They should by all rights go first, then the second group and then the stabilizing agents. This seemed backwards altogether.

The groups were backwards.

Draco grabbed the list. What if he placed the components in each group in reverse order? That would start with wolfsbane, and end with dragonroot, which would make sense. The potion would then interfere with mind altering, deal with symptoms, and then be enhanced. The potion already acted that way, it just wasn't put together that way....because it was a reversal potion.

Draco had to keep from hitting himself in the head. Most potions were created to induce some sort of effect, but the wolfsbane potion, like other reversal potions, was made to counteract or reverse the effects of another potion or other form of magic. It was kind of like an antidote, and the magical potency of an antidote was always enhanced by brewing it backwards.

Draco smiled and waited.

Snape finally cast in the wolfsbane and finished as the potion cleared and then steam began to rise. He looked at Draco expectantly.

Draco had his answer. "It's a reversal potion, so it's brewed backwards." He said, obviously pleased with himself. "Rather an antidote of sorts."

Snape nodded. "Correct, Mr. Malfoy. Very good. Ten points to Slytherin." Snape said, pleased that Draco had worked out the answer.

Draco would have been in a good mood for the rest of the night if it weren't for what Snape said next.

"Now, Draco, speaking of antidotes," Snape said. "Mistress Lorien has advised me that she and Madame Pomfrey would like to keep at least a small amount of Culpeper's derivative on hand in the hospital. Since it was all used to treat the remaining patients, we shall have to make more."

"Tonight?" Draco didn't like where this was going.

"No, tomorrow." Snape replied. "However, there are certain ingredients that need to be replenished before we'll be able to complete the potion, so after you finish preparing the individual doses of the wolfsbane potion, and take it to the hospital wing, I'm going to put you back to work."

Snape stabbed a small sharp knife into the table with a 'thunk', and Draco jumped a little and then eyed it with unease. "What's that for?" He asked, not really wanting to know.

"Why, let me show you." Snape purred. He knew that Draco was now painfully familiar with the potion's makeup. He led Draco across the room to a large wooden barrel with a lid, and lifted it. "There should be enough in here for one batch of the potion, so I don't think you'll need to do a second barrel."

Draco peering in at the dozens of crabs that were staring back at him from the depths of the barrel. He felt suddenly very queasy.

"Well, best if you get to it right away." Snape said, almost cheerfully.

"I have to do all of them myself?" Draco croaked.

Snape nodded.

"What do I do with....with the rest of them?" Malfoy asked.

"Why, I think that should be obvious." Replied Snape. "Take them to the kitchen." He turned and started for the door.

Draco was sure that his stomach heaved at least once. He watched the Potions master leaving. "Where are you going?"

Snape turned from the door to answer. "Not that it's really any of your business Mr. Malfoy, but I am going to hang on more of the words of that lovely creature that was here earlier." He said.

Draco recovered a bit of his sarcastic attitude and rolled his eyes again. "Hoping she'll toss you a bone, huh?" He asked flippantly.

"I rather expect that it might go the other way." Snape replied wryly.

The Potions master let the door close, and Draco stood there with his mouth open, trying desperately to rid himself of the image that he just had painted for him. He guessed he'd just have to add it up with his other punishments.**

A/N: Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I know that was probably over the line, but how could I resist a comment from Severus when Draco feeds him an opening like that? (Naughty author! Bad!)

And remember that one of the major components of Culpeper's bezoar derivative is crab's eyes!