Quote of the Chapter:

"Do, or do not. There is no 'try'." – Yoda (Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back)

Chapter 8: The Arthimancy Professor

"Mione! Daddy! Daddy! Mione! Mus! Mus!" cried Draco as he thrashed in his sleep. Hermione instantly woke up and tried to wake the sleeping boy, but to no avail.

"Severus! Severus!" called out Hermione getting scared, as Draco seemed to be trapped in his nightmare. Severus ran into the room wearing pajama bottom and a t-shirt that said, "I am only nice to one person a day and today is not your day and tomorrow doesn't look like it either."

"He's not waking up! Look" she cried pointing to her hands that were covered in blood from Draco's newly appearing cuts and bruises.

"Ennervate " said Severus pointing his wand at Draco, but that too failed to awake the sleeping boy.

"Ennervate!" said Hermione pulling out her wand desperately trying again.

"Let's try together!" said Severus.

"Ennervate" said Severus and Hermione desperately hoping for the little boy to open his eyes. Their hopes were granted as the boy opened his eyes calling out for them. Hermione immediately gathered Draco up into her arms covering his little face with kisses.

"Daddy! Hurts" said Draco before burying his face in Hermione's shoulder. Severus quickly said some spells to heal the cuts and bruises and stop the pain. Then he put his hands out for Draco. Hermione handed Draco to Severus who clutched him close. Hermione watched in amazement as Severus rocked the baby while murmuring words of comfort.

"I will watch him for the rest of tonight," said Severus and walked off with Draco back to his room.

Hermione couldn't resist the urge to go spy on them and was only more shocked when she did. Severus lovingly wrapped blankets around the sleeping boy and tucked him into the middle of the bed. Severus then slipped into the bed protectively holding Draco close.

Hermione heard him whisper, "I failed you the first time. I am not going to fail you the second time." Severus brushed a kiss on the little boy's forehead and fell asleep.

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"Severus! Severus!" called out Prof. Katrina Louver before she slammed into another person.

"Oh I am so sorry," said Hermione holding her hand out to help the Professor up.

"No, no! It's my fault," replied Prof. Louver getting up. "Would you know where Prof. Snape is, Hermione?"

"Yeah, Severus is in his classroom. I am going there right now, Prof. Louver," said Hermione pleased that the new Prof. remembered her name.

"Thank you! You would think after spending seven years here, I would know my way around," replied Prof. Louver smiling.

"You were a student here, Prof. Louver?"

"Yes of course! Please call me Katrina, I am not that old."

"Yes, Katrina. Did you know Severus or Remus when they were here?"

"Did I know them? Of course, they were in the same year as me!"

"Oh here we are!" said Hermione walking into the Potions classroom.

"Hermione, where is Draco?" asked Severus not even turning around from working on a potion.

"He is with Albus at the second, but feel free to pick him up whenever you want," said Hermione. "I came here to ask you about Remus' project. When do you want my report on the ingredients?"

"Excuse me?" Severus turned at the sound of Prof. Louver's voice.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you to never to talk to me or come near me. Go!" said Severus, his voice quiet but deadly.

"Severus, plea…"

"Go!"

"Please hear me out…"

"No!"

"Plea…"

"No!"

"Please…"

"No!"

"I AM SORRY!" yelled Katrina before storming out of the room. Severus just sunk down into his chair covering his face with his hands.

Hermione left the room quietly, not wanting to disturb Severus in his mood.

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After Hermione's DADA lesson, she started asking Remus some questions about Prof. Louver.

"Did you know Prof. Louver when you were in school?"

"Of course, Kat or Prof. Louver used to hang out with Lily and Arabella a lot."

"Who is Arabella?"

"Arabella was one of our other classmates. Cassandra was another one of our classmates was also close to Lily. In fact she, Lily, Arabella, and Kat were one of the weirdest groups ever."

"Why?"

"Because Kat and Cass were in Slytherin, while Lily and Arabella were in Gryffindor."

"Did Katrina know Severus in school?"

"Well...I don't think I should be telling you this…"

"Please, I want to know!"

"Okay…you see Severus was always a loner not really a people person. I think it was around the beginning of fifth year when Kat and Severus fell in love. It was perfect in the beginning; Kat's love changed Severus and made him so much nicer and overall more social. But…"

"Well, what?"

"Well, it happened in seventh year, I think a month before graduation. Katrina was taking a walk around the lake. Usually she would have been with Severus, but that day Severus had Quidditch practice. Therefore, she went on her walk only to unconsciously walk to deep into the Forbidden Forest. By the time she realized where she was, a vicious beast, the Vivouns, attacked her. They are lions except can fly and have bird like claws. After being torn half to death, she laid there for god knows how long. Severus died in the time they spent searching for her. Died. Then one day, a month or so later she came back unexpectedly. Perfect and healed unusually her magic grew in the time she had been lost. Severus could never accept her again because in his mind she had made him burn in thirteen hells through and back. She used to work for the Ministry for a while, but now as you can see she is Arthimancy Professor. What no one understood was how she was healed, and no one will until she tells us and she won't. She died too that day when she came back. Died when she came back and saw the look on his face."

"Oh. Thank you for telling me all this, Remus."

"None of us know the whole truth; we know just enough to get by."

"Thanks, I should be going."

"Bye Hermione, I will come around five to get Draco."

"Okay Remus."

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The next couple of days were normal or at least as normal as Hogwarts can get. Hermione, Remus, and Severus worked diligently on their Werewolf potion and incantation while Draco spent time with most of the staff.

"Remus! Remus!" said Hermione walking into Severus's rooms looking for Remus and Draco.

"In here!" said Remus. Severus, who came with Hermione, walked over with Hermione to Hermione's room.

"Hello Remus, Draco!" said Severus sitting down on Hermione's bed.

"Daddy! Daddy! Want to know what I did today?" said Draco running over to Severus.

"Of course," said Severus and listened indulgently as Draco chattered on and on. Remus and Hermione watched on smiling with amusement.

"He loves that kid, doesn't he?" asked Hermione suddenly.

"Yep, or else we would all be in St. Mungo's right now," said Remus.

"By the way, how was Draco today?"

"Same just had to adjust his clothes!"

"Did you? That's weird, I adjusted them today morning."

"Now that is weird, I thought he wasn't supposed to be growing so fast"

"By the way, did you find the last ingredient?" asked Hermione. The conversation continued upon those lines until Draco soon nodded off into dreamland. After getting Draco to settle down, they decided to start the physical part of their project.

"Mione, how much unicorn root do you think we should use?"

"I don't know...why don't we try 10 strands then we will see from there."

"What are we going to do about Draco?" asked Remus.

"Why don't we leave him with someone?" said Severus walking in and out of his rooms.

"No, that would wake him," replied Hermione going to check on the sleeping toddler.

"Do you have an empty room where we can work in here?" asked Remus to Severus.

"Well…we can use my personal lab except it doesn't have as good stores as the one near my classroom."

"That's okay, if we need something we will go get it."

"Okay, shall we start?"

Therefore, they worked for over a half an hour, before…

Severus picked the unicorn root, "How much did you want to start out with?"

"I don't know," Severus hand was poised over the caldron when he was startled by a cry causing all twenty pieces of unicorn root to go tumbling into the caldron.

"Damn it!" said Severus turning to find out the source of the noise. In came running little Draco crying and yelling,

"My CLOTHES are SHRINKING, my clothes are shrinking, daddy, daddy, my clothes are shrinking, DADDY!"

Hermione like lightening grabbed the little boy before he could cause any more potions mistakes. Severus rushed over and quickly fixed the problem, but it was far from over.

"Daddy, daddy, daddy!" cried Draco reaching out for Severus. Severus took the little boy into his arms trying to soothe and comfort. Remus quickly brought Draco's blanket and teddy bear to help comfort the boy. However, Draco would not calm down one bit, snuggling into his 'daddy'. Soon though, Draco fell asleep still clutching in his little piece a part of Severus's robes. Motioning the others to continue, Severus put Draco down in the other rooms with a little difficulty, before returning to salvage the potion.

"How much unicorn root was put in?" asked Remus who was taking a careful accounting of the ingredients.

"I don't know Severus put it in!" said Hermione.

"My hand slipped...I put in twenty pieces" said Severus with some self-loathing.

"Don't worry about it, we weren't very sure how much to start with anyway so twenty is as good as any other number," reassured Hermione. Remus nodded and gave Severus a smile.

"Why don't you two continue, I have a previous engagement," said Remus.

"One sec, Remus. I have a question before you leave, does any one know why Draco is growing so fast?" asked Hermione.

"No," replied both Severus and Remus.

"His growth rate is much faster than what you told me," said Hermione.

"The way he is growing is that as if the magic caused by the strawberry is being expelled out of his body."

"But why?"

"The only answer is that he is immune, but how is that possible if this is the first time he has eaten a magical forest strawberry? If this was the second time, the magic would not work on him," said Severus in deep thought.

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A couple of days later, Severus, Remus, and Hermione were working on the potion once again. However, this time they were utterly frustrated.

"I don't know why the mice are dying each time!" said Hermione.

"Well, you have obviously missed something," snapped Severus.

"Excuse me, but who is the potions master here?" replied back Hermione sassily.

"Well...."

"Enough!" said Remus separating Severus and Hermione with a glare.

"What is that potion?" said Remus looking at a bottle of the potion unopened and obviously untested.

"Well, it has to be the botched up potion," replied Severus frowning in momentary confusion.

"Did we ever test it?" asked Remus.

"I don't think so," said Hermione searching through her notes.

"Then what are we waiting for?" replied Remus opening the potion and getting an eyedropper.

"Are you sure about testing it?" asked Severus getting out the "wolf" mice.

"Why not? You did say the Unicorn Root countered the silver, maybe more will help the potion," said Remus with if it works great, if not oh well attitude.

"Here goes nothing," said Hermione applied the spell that allowed them to see if it worked. Amazing there was no green light or blue streaks on the mouse to show that the test had failed. Cautiously Severus tried another mouse, and another. Again, the results were the same, no sign of wolf behavior at all! The mouse was normal with no medical problems proven by a simple spell.

"I think we found it!" whispered Remus as they tried test after test everything coming in negative.

"I think we have," replied Severus. Hermione just stood there in amazement for a second before grabbing Remus and hugging him tightly, and then she turned and did the same to Severus. Severus had barely time react before she let go and ran out the door to check on Draco. Turning to Remus, Severus shook his hand and followed Hermione out door, not to check on Draco, but to inform Albus of their discovery. Remus also left the room, but not to do what the others were doing, but to email his dear old pal Padfoot a.k.a. Snuffles about the new discovery.

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Later that evening found Hermione, Draco, Severus, and Remus walking up the stairs to Albus' office.

"Albus?" called Severus.

"Yes, my boy?" said Albus coming into his office through a door.

"Hello Albus," said Hermione and Remus while Draco sleepily waved.

"Sit down, sit down. Can I get you anything? Lemon drop? Tea perhaps?" said Albus.

"No thank you, we are here to talk to ask you a favor," said Hermione.

"Oh and what may that be?" asked Albus smiling indulgently at them.

"We were wondering if you could possibly take care of Draco for a while for us this week," said Remus.

"Dear me, I am sorry. I am going to be out most of this week, in fact I don't think I will be here for over an hour except in the early mornings. I am sorry!" apologized Albus.

"Oh!' said Hermione.

"Well, do you perhaps know if any of the other staff might be able to take him? Maybe not for too long, just three or four hours a day," said Remus.

"I am not sure, but I am almost positive that everyone staying is occupied. Do you all have previous engagements to keep?" asked Albus.

"Well not really, that brings us to our next piece of news. We completed the potion in our project," said Severus in his usual blunt way.

"Oh good job, good job," said Albus.

"But the problem is that potions don't interact well with incantations or charms unless they are both made to complement each other. That takes a lot of time and perfecting. We thought we could start working this week and allot parts to each of us. However, the problem is that Draco is quite time consuming and attention grabbing so our work won't go as fast as we like. Hence the asking for a favor," said Hermione.

"Well, there is someone who you can trust and who is probably free today," said Albus slyly.

"Who? You said that everyone has something to do," asked Severus suspiciously.

"Well, I am sure if you ask Professor Louver she would gladly help you out," said Albus.

"WHAT! Albus...." said Severus standing up.

"Severus, please!"

"No!"

"It wasn't her fault!"

"WHAT! How can you say that?"

"Because it's true. Anyway it was so long ago!"

"No, no, no!"

"Please try to forgive her!"

"For breaking my heart? Never!" said Severus before storming out of the room. Albus sighed and looked sadly at Remus and Hermione.

"She seems to be your last hope, please talk to Severus. I am sure his thirst for knowledge will soon overcome his misgivings," said Albus. Hermione and Remus nodded and walked out with Draco who had fallen asleep during the conversation. When Hermione stood up, Draco woke up slightly.

"Daddy?" asked Draco sleepily.

"Daddy is in his room sleeping. We are going to go to sleep too, okay?" replied Hermione cuddling Draco.

"K," said Draco falling asleep. Remus and Hermione smiled at Albus before retiring for the evening.

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After some serious thinking, Hermione and Remus decided to try to persuade Severus into accepting the idea of Draco being babysat by Katrina.

"Severus?" asked Hermione coming into the family room with Remus.

"Yes, Hermione?" replied Severus distantly staring into the fire, deep in his thoughts.

"We need to talk," said Remus softly as staring into the fire as if also remembering the "good old days."

"About what?" asked Severus still buried in the memories of the past.

"About Draco, our project, and Katrina Louver," said Hermione with her Gryffindor courage and bluntness.

The response was instant as Severus stiffened and stood up.

"Regarding the first two subjects we have already resolved any and all questions and we have nothing to talk about regarding the last subject," said Severus spitting out those words as if they were poison.

"But we do, Professor, we do," said Hermione.

"Sit down, Severus," asked Remus quietly.

"What is it that you want?" asked Severus tiredly as if his years as a spy were suddenly catching up on him.

"We have decided to ask Katrina to look after Draco for the next week. We respected you and your feelings too much to not tell you before we asked her. She is our last hope in finally finishing this off. You know as well as I that charms and incantations isn't our strong point. We need as much concentration as possible on it, impossible if Draco was with us. The faster we finish, the faster relief can come to the world. I can finally get rid of this curse, the faster I can try to believe that I am a person, not a hideous beast," said Remus finishing softly only to exit the room quickly.

Hermione stood up and threw a pleading look at Severus before also retreating to her room. Severus stood there in front of the fire. As he turned a tear slowly made its way down his cheek, he whispered, "Will you always torture me, Kat?"

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Finally the end of the chapter! *Authoress stands up and dances around the room* That must have been one of my longer chapter seemingly how it took me like two and a half weeks to write it. Don't you feel so sorry for Sev? Any questions? Any comments? The next chapter will include more of our most wonderful Potions Master, our mysterious yet lovely DADA Professor, and of course, our resident bad boy turned baby. Also, watch out for cuter mushy baby stuff with a dose of a "magic show" by Severus and Albus.

♥ Madame Moony