Sorry about the long wait between chapters. More as soon as I can.
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The Warming Potion Incident
Chapter 4
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The proprietress received the owl with some surprise. It was unusual for a client to commit their desires to writing, but once she opened the letter she understood.
The girl.
Well, far from having a laugh at the little rich girl's expense, it appeared that there was an unexpected market for the warming potion outside of the usual. It also appeared that the girl was a sharp negotiator. Violet Plushbottom owled back her counteroffer and hummed happily at the thought of all those Sickles rolling in during her slow season.
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It took some thinking for Emily to come up with a suitable cover for her contraband. A visit to Eve's Leaves allowed her to buy something that no male would be able to search with impunity – fancy knickers.
Pretty things with cute prints, ribbons, embroidery, and lace were purchased and tucked into bags with Eve's fig-leaf logo. Emily carefully hid the potion bottles in the pretty panties, brassieres, camisoles, and slips before setting off down High Street. Head high, she could feel a bit of heat in her cheeks and hoped that the redness would be ascribed to the cold. When she had been trying these things on, she'd been surprised to have some heretofore-vague thoughts become unsettlingly sharp. She especially thought that Missy would like the green silk with silver embroidery – and that she really might like to show them to her.
Everyone thought she was naïve, but Emily knew that her feelings toward her friend were of a warmer sort. Missy loved to tease and play, grab bum and get kissy, but sometimes there was a look in those grey eyes that made every thing below Emily's waist just go to hot jelly. And sometimes, in the privacy of her bed, Emily did more than think about what might happen if Missy were to kiss her for real.
The ride up to the school was uneventful, and Emily took the chance to gather herself for the second stage of the operation. Once she set foot out of the carriage, Snape would be waiting to pounce. The bloody man had been popping up everywhere for the last week, staring at her as if trying to see through her skull to her thoughts. He was sarcastic, nasty, and rude at every opportunity, giving her detention if she so much as breathed wrong. The smile on her face felt more like a baring of teeth. If Snape wanted a contest of wills, she'd give him her level best.
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Severus prowled the entry hall as the carriages came back from Hogsmeade, keeping an eye out for the Mayborne chit.
Two weeks of detention had done little to put the girl back to her normal, tractable state. Indeed, it seemed that every night of detention served to stiffen her resolve. Ravenclaw blue-and-bronze ribbons in her hair were more like a banner of challenge than a schoolgirlish affectation, and though excruciatingly correct in her manners, her demeanor was another thing entirely. Rebellion was budding, and Severus was of a mind to nip it there and then.
A swirl of blue wool announced Miss Mayborne's presence and Severus assessed her sourly. If there were any chance that the girl would be smuggling contraband potions, today would be it.
He placed himself right in her way and she stopped, looking up at him. "Miss Mayborne."
"Professor Snape. Good evening, sir."
There was a feral spark in her eye that was all too common of late. It was recalcitrance, her thinking that at just fifteen, she had a firm grip on the realities of the world. The naïf could not possibly know what dangers lurked for the unwary, and she was too damned stubborn to heed the wisdom of her elders. If Albus hadn't done away with corporal punishment, Severus was of the mind to apply the birch to drive the lesson home.
"Your shopping trip to Hogsmeade went well, I trust." He counted five bags of goods – Gladrags, Dervish & Banges, Whigmaleerie's Rare Books, Honeydukes, and Eve's Leaves. Eve's Leaves? It was no secret that Eve sold some of the most… hmm… advanced undergarments available to witchdom. The girl was heading down the road to ruin at a gallop!
"Quite well, sir." A pleased smile curved her lips and was wiped away as he spoke.
"Then you'll not object if I inspect at the spoils? After all, your propensity for obtaining and distributing questionable substances in direct contravention of my edicts is now quite familiar to me."
Seething, she handed over the Honeydukes bag first – it contained nothing more than chocolates. Dervish and & Banges contained simple school supplies, including a small copper cauldron and flasks of aromatics. There was a set of dress robes and some fripperies in the Gladrags bag – the girl had entirely too much spending money from her aunt.
Was it his imagination or was she reluctant to hand him the Whigmaleerie's bag? Severus secured the bag with a firm tug and opened it.
"Well, what have we here, Miss Mayborne?" What we had was yet more evidence of sheer willfulness. He'd have to put her in his advanced classes just to keep a closer eye on her if she had progressed this far without his knowledge. "The Ayurvedic Herbal; a Practical Guide for the Student – quite advanced for your age and level of learning, is it not? In Her Space; Rituals of Female-Centered Magic – this is entirely inappropriate for a girl of fifteen. I'll have to speak with Professor McGonagall about this, as she has jurisdiction over female matters." That thought of what a too-bright child could whip up just with the guidance with those two volumes made him shudder. He reached into the bag for the third book, "Cerridwen's Essence; the Role of Women in the Alchemical Arts. Miss Mayborne, this book, all of these books encompass a type of magical knowledge that can quite easily be put to nefarious use. I question your need of them – and your intent."
Emily Mayborne lifted her chin, and spoke with that shiny new hauteur. "My choice of reading material is none of your concern, Professor. Those books were sold to me by Master Whigmaleerie himself, feel free to take it up with him." A note of steel chimed under the tinsel of her bravado, "I'll have my property back now that you're done."
"Oh, but I am not done, Miss Mayborne. Not at all. I believe that there is one more bag left." He smiled, reaching for the green bag clenched in the girl's white-knuckled fist. This time he did not imagine it – there was resistance. "Now, girl, or lose points and gain yet more evenings in my company." She was scarlet with rage, shaking with it, and for a moment, Severus had to wonder if she'd be fool enough to strike at him.
As it turned out, her retaliation was one that he had never imagined, and it echoed all through the hall, leaving dead silence in its wake.
"Get your hands off my knickers, you terrible man!"
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"Get your hands off my knickers, you terrible man!"
Snape reeled back as if she'd gut-punched him. His eyes popped, and his eyebrows flew halfway to his hairline as all the breath left his body in a rush. He did not, however, let go of the bag.
"Leave my knickers alone! What do you think you're doing, putting your mitts all over them!" She yanked the bag hard, tearing it from his grip. "There are limits to everyone's behavior, sir, and the state of my knickers is none of your concern!"
The larger portion of the student body was watching, slack-jawed and silent as Snape's jaw worked, trying to find words to refute Emily's diversion. Emily knew from experience that just mentioning the word 'knickers' around a boy dropped their intelligence by a marked degree – she pressed her attack, advancing on the professor, brandishing the bag of underthings like a mace.
"How dare you, sir, presume to even put your hands on my knickers, much less think that I would permit you to paw through them in front of the whole school! What do you take me for?"
Snape's answer was forestalled by the arrival of Professor McGonagall and the Headmaster, who came parting the students before them in a bow wave.
"What in Merlin's name is going on here? Who is in whose… Severus? What?" Professor McGonagall looked at each of them in turn.
Emily spoke even as Snape was taking a breath to respond. "I went shopping in Hogsmeade and Professor Snape said he was going through my bags to look for contraband. He confiscated my books and then he wanted to look at my…" There was a blush rising into her face so hot that it hurt. "He wanted to look at the… things from Eve's. My new… things."
"I laid not a finger upon her kni… und… things!" Snape's face was a discernable shade of pink and he glared right at her. "Miss Mayborne has a history of importing potions of dubious origin, and has now taken it upon herself to advance her education in some questionable ways." He handed the books to Minerva, whose lips thinned in a most satisfactory fashion.
"Master Whigmaleerie sold me those books, he even recommended them!" Miss Mayborne's protest was aggressive, and not lost on either Albus or Minerva. "He said they were for students. I'm a student, I paid for them, and hence, those books are mine."
The Headmaster took the books, studying the titles on the spines, his brow furrowing with concern. "Perhaps we should continue this discussion in my office. Minerva, please find Filius and have him join us? Emily, Professor Snape? Come with me, please."
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Albus Dumbledore stared over the tips of his fingers at his latest set of problems. Severus was reacting to what he perceived as another bright youngster heading down the path that he and his friends had taken not so long ago. Severus felt the girl was dangerously naïve, and needed protection – in the form of detentions and tight supervision. To a certain extent, Albus agreed with him, some youngsters retained an innocence about sexual matters even when in the throes of puberty. It appeared that young Emily was one such – though Albus agreed that the bottle did look like a cupcake with a gumdrop on top.
Still, two of the three books that young Emily had in her possession were highly advanced magical texts, and Albus would have sharp words for Malcolm Whigmaleerie. The magic within the very least of them segued from simple workings into altus arcana with little to warn the uninitiated. It was a serious matter when a youngster decided to tackle high-level magic without also having the resources in place to handle the possible consequences – and his own potions master was living proof of the aftermath. Quite aside from that issue, the rituals in the book of female-centered magic assumed a degree of emotional maturity and sexual readiness that Emily simply did not possess at this time. However woman-shaped and intelligent, she was still an inexperienced child – and the knowledge in those books could well destroy her.
At the moment, though, the girl was distinctly unnerved. While Severus might be able to get her wind up – and she his, for that matter – Emily was now dealing with the combined scrutiny of four powerful adult wizards.
"No, I don't understand your objections at all! Knowledge hurts no one, only the purposes to which knowledge is applied can do that!" Emily was standing with arms folded and chin high, giving Severus glare for glare.
"Woman in speech, infant in reasoning and experience! You have no idea what it is that you are playing with, Miss Mayborne, or what it might do to you."
Albus interrupted before Emily could earn herself another detention with her response – thus far she was in for three. "I was unaware that Miss Mayborne was so advanced in her studies that she would be able to make use of these books. Were you, Severus?"
It took Severus a deep breath to get himself under control. "No, Headmaster, I was not aware. Then again, Miss Mayborne is quite the little contrabandière – it's very hard to tell what she's doing unless you can manage to catch her in the act."
Filius cleared his throat, "While I can certainly understand objections to the other books, I see no real danger from permitting her to retain access to the Herbal – but only under strict supervision."
Oh, how the old forgot the ups and downs of youth! In the space of that one sentence, the child had gone from anger to elation, then to utter dejection. Albus spoke next, taking a calculated risk as he did so – he was about to combine to highly volatile elements and it might well blow up in his face. "I'm certain that Professor Sprout will be more than happy to assist Miss Mayborne in her study of that particular book."
As Albus had hoped, Severus protested, "Professor Sprout is an expert in her field, but her experience is only with cultivation – she has little idea of their properties in actual use. I do not think that Miss Mayborne is best supervised by someone who lacks that essential knowledge!"
"Well, the ayurvedic teachings relate primarily to healing?" Minerva asked. "Perhaps Madam Pomfrey would be best – she is a healer of power and experience, surely she understands the properties of such things?"
Emily looked hopeful at that, only to have Severus ride right over her.
"While I might consider the professional abilities of Madam Pomfrey to be without peer, she does not compound most of the remedies she uses. Severus turned his gaze on Miss Mayborne once more, "And she hardly has the time to supervise this one to the extent that she obviously requires."
Albus smiled, "Well, Severus, I'd say that you've narrowed the field quite nicely."
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It was not to be borne!
Severus slammed the door to his rooms behind him and indulged in a fit of cursing that should have scorched the stone walls. How neatly the old coot had maneuvered him! Even worse, he'd not been able to get a clear look at the deceitful girl's mind – all that he could see was an image of her strangling him. It was not a memory, but a heartfelt desire that blocked his legilimens as effectively as a trained occlumens might.
On top of all that, the wretched girl had been permitted to leave without a thorough search of her bag – and Minerva had taken him to task afterward!
"Severus, I understand your concern, but you must temper your zeal with a little understanding. It's a difficult age – she's too old to be a child, to young to be a woman – any intrusion by a man is going to be met with either teeth and claws or a purr and a flick of her tail." The old witch fixed him in place with a glare and a raised finger, "And it had better be met with teeth and claws, Severus, if you take my meaning."
Growling, he flung himself into a chair – he was the youngest member of the staff by some three decades, and when it came to sex, they all treated him as a hormonal adolescent. He was twenty-bloody-eight, not a fool of seventeen!
Now he had the blasted heathen child in his Advanced Class and for tutoring one night per week. Well, he'd not coddle her, and what's more, he would work her until she begged to go back to regular classes.
Severus' smile was grim - the little hellion was in for an even longer year than he was – he'd make sure of it.
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