Disclaimer: I do not own HP. I repeat, I do NOT own HP. But, of course, you lot know this, right? If not, whack yourself repeatedly in the head with a blunt object until you do.

Serpens Erus Temptatio

"Serpent Lord's Temptation"

Chapter 13 – I'm Over This

Severus frowned at his friend and his…well, lover, for lack of a better term…and exclaimed, "You found the what?"

"Dolor Miniatus Potion," replied Harry. "Mischa had heard of a charm that would get rid of the effects of Cruciatus from her Charms Master and we went to Sal about it as it was a charm supposedly created during his time. Turns out that it's a potion, not a charm."

Severus frowned and glanced at the curtained off area of the wing before he turned his eyes on his friend. Harry noted that they had begun to spark with hope but also with the realization that this might not work.

"Do you have the ingredients? How long does it take to brew?"

"Yes," replied Mischa. "And two months according to the statue."

"Salazar," corrected Harry, earning a slight glare from the woman.

"I am not going to call a Hogwarts Founder by his first name, even if he is a statue!"

"Alright," said Harry, his eyes swirling a light green for a moment. He then looked at Severus, who was thumbing through Mischa's little notebook. Black eyes locked with green suddenly, their depths flickering with wry amusement.

"Powered Thestral hooves? A dragon's fang? Sliver of horn from a unicorn and some blood? My dear old friend, I do believe those will be the easiest things on this list to find."

Mischa frowned and said, "I know he's a Thestral (she motioned towards Harry here) but how to you expect to get those other things?"

Severus just smiled and replied, "Harry, Hermione, and I, along with my nephew, all became Animagus' in our seventh year. Harry is a Thestral, I am a unicorn, Mione is a Phoenix, and my nephew, Draco, is a dragon."

Mischa blinked a few times before she turned towards Harry and said, "You have had the most extraordinary life that I have ever heard of."

"I doubt he's told you every little nuisance," remarked Severus with a wry smile. He then looked at the curtained off area again and sobered. "Would your new Potions Master be annoyed if we took over a cauldron?"

"Potions Mistress," corrected Harry. "And, no, I don't think she'd mind at all. I'll go ask. You two figure out where we can find at least some of those ingredients." With that he rose and left, leaving the two of them sitting on either of one of the bed's.

Severus looked at Mischa, who was staring after Harry.

"I suggest you learn now that he has many sides," he said, bringing her attention back to him. She stared with cornflower colored eyes that reminded him of Dumbledore's. Without that annoying twinkle.

"How many?"

"More than most people." He fixed her with a cold gaze and continued, "And I warn you now that if you hurt him, I will kill you with my own hands."

Mischa found herself believing him. Not because Harry had told her that he had once been a Death Eater, but because of the look in his eyes. It was the look of someone who would kill for those they loved.

She realized in that moment that Harry and Severus were very much alike.

"I'd never hurt him," she said softly, wanting to get that look out of his eyes. More especially off of her.

Severus frowned and said darkly, "I'll have to take you at your word. I do not know you and I do not trust people easily."

"Don't you have to trust someone to work with them?"

"No. I did much work with Lucius Malfoy and I never trusted him, even when I was a foolish first year and he a fourth year. Harry trusts you, I can see that. I think he might just love you." He paused before continuing, "But always remember that you have not yet earned my trust, Miss Tatchya."

"I will," swore Mischa, her voice shaking.

"Good. Now, then…can you tell me where we might find a large quantity of monkshood?"

"Maesha?"

Harry poked his head into the Potions classroom and heard a single shriek before he was hit on the forehead with a silver spoon. He frowned down at the object then looked across the room at a middle-aged woman.

"Thanks. I missed my appointment to be hit on the head with a spoon this morning."

Maesha O'Brien scowled at him and snapped, "If you think you're going to take that tone with me, youngin', you've got another thing coming!"

Harry chuckled softly as the witch's American accent came through her slight Irish lilt. Maesha had been born in America – in the state of Alabama, to be exact – and had married an Irish wizard when she was twenty-two. Now she was fifty-four and a widow. Her husband had been one of the few Aurors killed in the battle thirteen years before – only five had arrived before the battle ended and three of them died. Harry had met her the morning after the battle as she had been set to watch over him – or more specifically, his wounds to make sure they didn't become infected. It had turned out that Aubrey's sword had been laced with poison and he'd have died if not for the quick work of Madam Pomfrey and Maesha.

She had continued to watch over him during his weeks of recovery. Harry told her about Ginny's death and she about her husbands. They had gotten through the main dredges of loss together and had come out on the other side as good friends.

It was Harry himself who had suggested her for the Potions position.

"I'm thirty, Maesha, not seventeen. And why are you throwing spoons?"

"Still younger than me," replied the older woman. "And because of that old man! That Tarven! Thinks I need a man in my life. One of these days, he's going to be hangin' high 'n' dry from messing with me!" She took a deep breath then asked, "Did'ja want something?"

Harry smiled before replying. He was thinking of Jacob Tarven, the Muggle Studies teacher. The wizard was five years older than Maesha and had taken a liking to her since he'd been added to the staff two years before. Harry had heard many tales from Maesha about his ways of 'subtly' following her.

"Yes. Could we take over a cauldron in your lab?"

"Who's this 'we?'"

"Myself, Mischa, and Severus."

Maesha's eyes lit up and she breathed, "Severus Snape? The youngest ever to hold the rank of Potion's Master?"

Harry grinned, knowing he had the woman hook, line, and sinker. If there was anything she loved more than her husband Conard, it was potions.

"That'd be him. So, can we?"

"For a look at the sixth most skilled Potions Master in the wizarding world at work, lad, you can have my whole bloody lab! What sort of ingredients do you need?"

"Sev has the list," replied Harry. "We know how to get at least four of them if Animagus forms will work."

The witch nodded and said, "Of course they will. During the Animagus transformation, the wizard or witch turns into that very animal. Their minds are still human but they are very much animals. What sort of animals are you talking about?"

"A Thestral, unicorn, and a dragon." Harry silently thanked whatever gods were listening that anything involving a phoenix wasn't required in the potion. If there had been, they'd have been royally screwed as Fawkes had gone with Dumbledore wherever the old wizard had gone when he'd left McGonagall in charge.

"I see. And who are your Animagus donors?"

Harry replied, "Me, Sev, and Draco Malfoy."

"That should work," said Maesha. "You can begin at anytime you want. I left everything where it was in the lab from before. I would assume that Severus organized it."

"I'd guess. Professor Sturgis never even went in the lab, so I'd assume that too."

"Sturgis is a right old fool," grumbled Maesha. "I can't believe that Dumbledore hired him after having such a Potions Master as Severus Snape."

"He didn't have anyone else, I suppose," said Harry with a shrug. He gave a little shake and continued, "I'll go tell Sev and Mischa the news now. Whenever we decide to start working, I'll send word through Dobby."

"Very well. I hope that the lady Snape will be alright."

Harry smiled tightly at those words and muttered, "You and I both, Maesha. You and I both…"

When Harry entered the hospital wing a few minutes later, he found Tristen sitting on a bed with a large map laid out in front of him. Severus was sitting on the same bed as before, his arm no longer bandaged but his head still bearing one. He was frantically scribbling something down on a stack of parchment with a Muggle pen as Mischa – who was perched on the end of the bed – called out the names of the ingredients from her list and how they needed to be added to the potion.

Tristen was the first to notice Harry's entrance and he chirped, "Uncle Harry!"

"Scamp," said Harry good naturedly. He then looked at Severus and added, "Maesha will let us use the lab. On one condition."

"Dare I ask?" asked Severus, arching an elegant eyebrow.

"She gets to see the 'famous' Severus Snape at work."

Severus groaned and said, "I knew that being one of the six most skilled Potion Masters in the world would catch up with me someday."

Mischa just smiled at that and continued to read off the list. Severus stopped her with a raised finger and scribbled down something before he motioned her to continue.

Harry watched them for a moment before he wandered over to Tristen, peering over the elven-year-old's shoulder at the map. There were elegant scrawls all over the slightly battered map and Harry recognized part of them as Severus' hand. The others were in Hermione's neat script.

"What are you looking for?" he asked.

Tristen looked up at him and replied, "Monkshood. Dad said Mum found a place where there was a large amount of it but he doesn't remember where. I'm trying to find it."

"Need a hand?"

"Please."

Harry smiled and settled himself on the edge of the bed, tugging the map gently towards him. He looked at the first of Hermione's neat script that caught his eye and pointed at it.

"Tell you what. Let's start with this one and work our way out. Whenever we find one that won't work, we'll put an 'x' over it with our wands. Sound good?"

Tristen grinned up at his godfather and Harry took that as his answer.

"Good. Let's get to work."

A/N: If anyone's wondering, not everything's going to be this easy… Difficulties shall soon arise.