Severus Snape was seated at his usual place at the head table when Alex arrived for breakfast the next morning. Also as usual, Snape greeted her curtly, then ignored her. As she was leaving the great hall, however, he caught up to her. "Miss Rose. When will you have time to discuss the Clarity potion ?"

"Um, after lunch ? I have double Potions with the third-year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs in a few minutes." She glanced up at him. "So, make much progress on the database ?"

Snape flashed his coyote grin. "Some. Sorry you didn't get a chance to compose your emails," he said, not sounding sorry in the least. Instead, he looked smug. Then he frowned. "What does the 'e' stand for, anyway ?"

"Enchanted. I think. Stay up late ?"

"Yes," he said shortly as they descended a flight of stairs. "Would you please not do that ?"

Alex frowned. "What ?"

"Hop over the step that way. You act as though someone has hexed your shoes."

"Excuse me ? I do not. What did you want to discuss ?"

"The potion ingredients. Some of them are quite rare." They approached another set of stairs. "There," he said triumphantly, "you just did it again. Hopped over the top step."

"All of the botanicals are common in the States," Alex told him, trying to change the subject. She slowed as they reached the bottom of the stairs. He was watching her feet. The man has absolutely no tact. "Remember the stuff I unpacked ? That should be everything we need." Alex gritted her teeth and managed to step off the flight of stairs casually.

"Now you look as though a blast-ended screwt just crawled up your butt," Snape remarked pleasantly. "Whatever is the matter with you ?"

"Gee, I don't know, maybe I don't enjoy having you nag at me," Alex snapped. It's not my fault the damn stairs go wandering off on their own.

-----

Alex taught her class and spent the next hour or so grading papers. She didn't see Snape at lunch. Descending the stairs to the dungeon, she felt a flash of irritation at the man. I do not hop. She winced as her body refused to leave the bottom stair without the ritual hop over the last step. Professor Snape was sitting at the computer table, several yards of printout in front of him. She pulled up a chair and plopped down next to him. "Ok, Severus, what's on your mind ?"

"This potion is complex. Have you ever brewed it yourself ?"

"Yeah, half a dozen times. It's tricky. It's all in the cactus juice. Has to be reduced just so or the potion goes all watery. Pretty much worthless if that happens."

He raised his eyebrows. "The cactus juice. Really. I would have thought the preparation of the lizard skin was the tricky part."

"Nah, that's the easy part." Alex laughed. "Tell you what, I'll skin the lizards, and you can do the cactus juice." If we ever get around to doing anything other than taking more notes.

"Fair enough." He tapped the printout, indicating a long list of ingredients. "Bark of thuja plicata, powdered phloeosinus punctatus," he glanced over at her. "Some sort of native beetles ? Why not just use scarabs ?" Without waiting for her reply he continued down the list. "Carnegiea gigantea juice, needles of pinus edulis -"

"Ooh, Professor, I just love it when you speak Latin," she interrupted him teasingly. "You sound so...sexy."

He frowned. "Please try to control yourself."

"You have no sense of humor, do you ?" The frown deepened into a glare. Yeah, yeah, seen it before. Alex returned to the subject. "I suppose you could use scarabs, crushed to a very fine powder. But I brought plenty of the cedar bark beetles."

"The snake venom is about the only thing on this list that I'm familiar with," Snape grumbled. "I had no idea wizards in the U.S. used such esoteric ingredients."

"That's John Chavez for you," Alex said with pride. "Almost all of his potions are made entirely with ingredients found in the Four Corners - the American Southwest," she explained, at Snape's blank look. "It's part of his whole philosophy of magic; use what nature has provided you, right where you live. Be thankful for what you have, waste nothing, honor your mother the Earth."

"Sounds like a religion," he said skeptically.

"There's an element of religion in a lot of American magic," Alex admitted. "You have to understand, things are...different there. You've never been to America ?"

"Great gods above, no,"He recoiled at the thought. When he glanced at her, his dark eyes gleamed. "Nor have I any desire to; I've met some Americans."

There's the incomparable Snape charm at work again. She ignored the jibe. "Seriously, I wish you could meet John. He's one of the greatest potions masters of our time. Heck, one of the greatest wizards." She smiled. "Albus Dumbledore kinda reminds me of him."

Snape's frown had turned thoughtful. "If he is as gifted as you say, I don't understand why one of the big universities wouldn't jump at the chance to advance his research."

"Because his views aren't popular," Alex said with a touch of bitterness. She pulled the keyboard toward her and brought up a program. A series of tiny pictures appeared on the screen. She enlarged one. Snape leaned forward and peered at the image of an old man dressed in Muggle-style clothing; jeans, a denim shirt, boots, straw cowboy hat. A bolo tie accented with a polished chunk of turquoise appeared to be the wizard's only concession to formality. As they watched, he took off his hat and waved it genially, revealing close-cropped gray hair and a lined and weathered face. "John's an American Indian," Alex elaborated, "Apache. There's still a lot of prejudice -" she broke off into giggles as a black-and-white goat wandered into the picture and began to nibble on the old wizard's pants leg. "That's Pecos Billy," she told Snape. "Darn, I actually kinda miss those dumb goats."

Snape watched the goat for a moment with an expression of extreme distaste. "Charming. Much as I'd like to stay and watch your little ungulate friend, Miss Rose, I have a class of equally stupid herd animals who require my attention if they are ever to have the slightest hope of passing their O.W.Ls." He set aside the printout and headed for the storage closet. A moment later he returned, arms full of ingredients for the next class. Alex walked over to her desk and flipped open her plan book. She was enjoying working from her own lesson plans with the third-year students. "You know," Snape remarked, laying out bundles of wormwood, "it would be useful to cross-reference the various ingredients native to the States with those found in the British Isles. I find the idea of using only native ingredients an intriguing challenge."

"Yeah," Alex replied absently, intent on her lesson plans. "I'd thought of doing that. I mean, think about it, the cure for boils in the first-year text calls for American porcupine quills. Why not use hedgehog quills ? Hedgehogs are common all over Britain."

She didn't notice Snape's hawk-like features sharpen with interest. "I don't see where it would make a difference," he said silkily, watching her intently. "One might easily substitute one for the other."

"Uh-huh. That's what I thought. I brewed up a couple of batches to test it out..." Alex realized her mistake as the words left her mouth. Oops. Busted. Slowly, she raised her eyes. Snape loomed over the desk.

"I knew it !" he said. "I just opened a box of porcupine quills at the start of term. Half of them have been used up already."

Whoa. Talk about anal. Alex tried to look innocent, then gave it up at the potion master's next words.

"And I suppose you brewed these illicit potions during the first detention I had you take for me ?"

"Oh, for cryin' - yeah, I did. Sheesh, that was back in September. How'd you guess ?"

Snape pointed at the floor theatrically, his dark eyes gleaming in triumph. "The floor. When I arrived that Friday morning to observe your class, it was spotless. It had obviously not been scrubbed by the lazy little gits assigned to detention, not with the pathetic tools I provided for them." He laughed at the look on her face. "You used magic in an effort to make it appear as though you'd followed my instructions. It backfired. These flagstones haven't been so clean in twenty years." He let out another snort of laughter, obviously pleased with himself.

Well, at least he's not angry. Alex frowned as the normally surly wizard lounged against the desk, still grinning over the discovery of her deception. "So, you figured I'd been up to something because you noticed some lousy quills missing, and a little less dirt on the floor ?" He nodded, smirking at her. "For cryin' out loud, Severus ! You really need to get out more."

-----

It was late that evening before Alex had a chance to check her email. There was one from Snape. Alex felt a little shiver of anticipation. She hesitated, then clicked on the 'compose' option. She typed and sent long messages to Naomi and John Chavez before finally opening the email from the potions master. She laughed softly as she read the oddly formal sentences.

Miss Rose,

Would you do me the honor of accompanying me to dinner Saturday evening after the Slytherin-Gryffindor quidditch match ? I await the pleasure of your reply.

Yours,

S. Snape

Alex ran her hand through her hair. Um. Don't know if that's such a good idea. Then again, I did tell him he ought to get out more. She pondered a long moment before typing out a response.

Sure, Severus. It's bound to be more fun than detention.

See ya, Alex

She pressed the 'send' button, then giggled. He's going to have to wait to read my answer until I bring the laptop back to the lab. We really need to get another computer. And a new printer. She grinned. Maybe I'll go down in history as the witch who finally brought Hogwarts into the twenty-first century, she mused. Alex snorted. I'd settle for the twentieth century.