"Two feet of parchment on antidotes ? What, does Snape think his is the only class we have ?"

"Rose is no better,she gave us a pop quiz today. Shrinking Solutions." The boy's voice was filled with disgust. "So unfair. I mean, we'd just started on Shrinking Solutions last class ! I hate Potions."

Alex hid a smile as she made her way up out of the dungeon, surrounded by oblivious Hogwarts students. Good thing I've got a thick skin, she thought. Gaining the top of the stairs, she noticed a wizard striding towards the main doors, head and shoulders above the crowd of teenagers. "Hey, Remus !"

He turned and waited for Alex to catch up to him. "Leaving so soon ?" She knew better than to ask what he was doing at the school. He's been meeting with Dumbledore, probably. The headmaster had been gone for days. He'd appeared at breakfast that morning looking the same as always, only to announce that he'd be leaving again in the evening.

"Just dropping in," Lupin answered with a smile. "I'm heading back to London now."

"Aw, do you have to go right away ? Stay for dinner." She glanced at the chattering students jostling all around them and chuckled. Um, maybe not. "Why don't we go to the Three Broomsticks ? I'll treat," Alex suggested impulsively.

"That sounds good." Lupin hesitated. "Snape..." he let the question trail off.

Alex grinned wickedly. "I'll ask Severus if he wants to join us. Just give me five minutes to change and dump these scrolls." A short while later the two mages were walking down the path to Hogsmeade. Unsurprisingly, Severus Snape had declined the invitation to dine with a werewolf.

"Albus and Minerva's mission is going well," Remus told Alex softly once they were well away from the castle. "They haven't been able to locate the Dark artifact themselves yet, but Albus thinks they're getting close. And they've managed to leave a false trail for, um, Pettigrew to follow."

"That's good news." Alex watched Lupin, concerned. A tense, almost pained expression had crossed his face. And he stumbled over Pettigrew's name. He looks freaked out. The wizard's eyes darted from side to side. He lifted his head, almost seeming to sniff the air for danger. "Hey, relax. We're safe here, this close to the castle." Aren't we ?

"Armand Lestrange escaped from custody this morning," Remus told her.

"You're kidding. I thought he was going to be transferred to Azkaban !"

"That was the plan," Lupin said heavily. "He simply disappeared. We're certain he had help."

"From Bellatrix and the Lestrange brothers," Alex guessed. Lupin shrugged. They walked in silence the rest of the way to the Three Broomsticks. As they entered the pub, he seemed to shake off his bad mood.

"This is my treat," Remus insisted, pulling out a chair for her at a table near the bar. "I've actually had a paying job for the past few days."

"That's great," Alex said sincerely. He looks good. Healthier – looks like he's even gotten a bit of sun. "What have you been doing ?"

He grimaced. "Don't ask. At least it was honest employment."

"Sorry." Alex looked away, embarrassed.

"It's all right." He smiled his gentle smile. "My inability to hold a steady job isn't your fault. Nor mine, either," he added. "No reason for either of us to be embarrassed about it."

"I don't get it, Remus. As long as you take the wolfsbane potion, your lycanthropy doesn't pose a danger to anyone."

"The Ministry discriminates against werewolves," Remus told her bitterly. "The situation's gotten worse in recent years." He shook his head. "It's nearly impossible now to find work in the wizarding world. Of course, I could do very well for myself if I were willing to go outside the law." He grinned. "Mundungus has offered to 'hook me up' half a dozen times."

Alex took a sip of her pumpkin juice to try and cover her discomfort, acutely aware of her plans for later that evening. Severus Snape was going to brew yet another batch of the Clarity potion for delivery to Saint Mungo's, while she made the hair of the dog hangover remedy. And I'm sure Remus would have a few choice words to say about me making potions for Lucius Malfoy. He was watching her shrewdly. "Have you ever thought of moving to the United States ?" she asked. "There's no werewolf registry, for one thing."

"And the streets are paved with gold," he quipped. "Is it true that wizards live openly alongside Muggles ?"

"Not exactly openly. It isn't like Britain, though. We've never had the policy of total isolation like you see here. Wizards who made their way to the new world found a different situation. The Native Americans were comfortable with magic, or at least, they didn't have the terror of it that the Europeans had. And America was big." Remus gave her an inquiring look. "For more than two centuries, a witch who attracted too much interest from her neighbors could just pack up and move west," Alex elaborated. She laughed. "Gods, I sound like Professor Binns."

"No, go on," Remus told her.

"Well, I guess the best way to put it is, in America, the wizarding world is hidden in plain sight," she explained. "Take Roswell. About fifty years ago, there was a huge breach of secrecy when some experimental magic went wrong. Muggles for miles around saw evidence of it. The uncontrolled release of magical energies lit up the night sky for miles."

"Merlin's beard. It must have taken dozens of memory-modification spells-" Alex shook her head. "How did the wizarding world deal with it, then ?"

"Rumors began immediately, of course. But hardly any of the Muggles blamed magic. The weird effects and lights were attributed to UFOs." Lupin looked blank. "Unidentified flying objects ?" Alex prompted. "Aliens from outer space ?"

"There's no such thing," he protested.

"Exactly. And there's no such thing as magic, either," Alex said triumphantly, "not to the average Muggle, anyway. Since then the government has carefully 'covered up' evidence of aliens, which only makes the Muggles believe in them more. Roswell is one of the easiest places in the States for a witch or wizard to conceal themselves. Just don't let a Muggle see you doing any actual magic, and they'll quite happily excuse any eccentricities you might exhibit."

Remus laughed. "That's incredible," he said. "They'll believe in space aliens, but not magic ?"

"Oh, there are plenty of Muggles who believe in magic, or what they think is magic. They just don't know the real thing when they see it. The crackpots and charlatans are what make it possible for the real witches and wizards to hide in plain sight."

-----

Remus said goodbye to Alex in the entrance hall. He'd insisted on walking her back to Hogwarts. She made her way back down to the potions lab. Tonight the fifth-year students would be offered the chance to practice some of the most common O.W.L.- standard potions. "Ooh, this is going to be fun," Alex crowed. Severus snorted.

The cram session turned out to be well attended. "Some of the little gits might actually pass the exam," the potions master admitted grudgingly two hours later as the last of the students filed out of the dungeon. Alex crossed to the shelves along the wall and pulled out the book of recipes she'd used before, intending to start on Malfoy's potion right away. To her surprise, Severus took her hand and pulled her toward the storage closet. "Wait until after curfew," he said, leading her down the secret passage to his quarters. "We don't want any interruptions."

Alex shook her head ruefully, thinking of the time she'd walked in on him brewing a poison for Voldemort. She curled up on the couch with the recipe book and chewed absently on the end of her quill pen. "About how much would you say Malfoy weighs ?"

"Fourteen stone, maybe ?"

Stone ? Sheesh. Alex rolled her eyes and scribbled on a scrap of parchment.

Severus leaned over her shoulder. "Double check your calculations. It really wouldn't do at all for you to poison Lucius," he chuckled.

Alex snorted. "Believe me, it wouldn't be accidental if I did." She glanced at the clock on the mantle. "Can we get started now ?"

"In a hurry ?" He sat down next to her and took the book from her hands, setting it aside.

"Dammit, Severus, cut it out." Alex pushed him away and started to get up. His fingers closed around her arm, holding her back. "Let me go-" she began angrily.

He glared back at her. "Let's try something different, shall we ? Just for a change of pace. Why don't you just tell me what's bothering you, rather than running away ?" Slowly, he released her, his eyes locked on hers.

She slouched back against the worn leather cushions with a sigh. "Sorry." She fidgeted, then sighed again. "I got another letter from my father. Yesterday." He watched her silently, waiting. "He's been checking up on me, apparently. He knows I've been teaching here at Hogwarts. I don't know, Severus. He wants me to visit him during the summer holidays." Alex picked at one of the buttons on the tufted seat cushion. She shrugged. "I don't know," she repeated. "I know he hasn't changed, but still... part of me wants to believe that things are different."

Snape glowered. "What did he do to you, Alex ?"

She blinked. "Do to me ? Nothing. No, no, it's not like that at all." She laughed shortly, without humor. "I had an idyllic childhood," she reassured him.

"Somehow I doubt that. You never speak of it."

"What is there to speak of ?" she asked lightly. "I grew up filthy rich and spoiled rotten." Severus continued to scowl. "My mother died when I was very young," Alex elaborated. "I don't remember her at all. So it was just me and Daddy. He was a potions master, of course. He was thrilled when I showed an aptitude for it early on. I remember helping him prepare ingredients," she grinned, "chopping up caterpillars. Counting out eyes of newt. I wasn't squeamish."

"It's not safe to allow a child that young in a potions lab," Severus said disapprovingly.

"Aw, I wasn't that young. Daddy started tutoring me when I was about ten. Simple potions, nothing explosive." Alex smiled nostalgically. "When I was real little, maybe seven or eight, I got an Easy-Brew Cauldron for Christmas." Severus let out a snort. "No, it was great," Alex protested. "Don't tell me you never had an Easy-Brew Cauldron when you were a kid. You're not that old." He laughed and shook his head. "Huh," she said, disbelieving. "Your loss. It was the greatest toy ever. I could make butterbeer, pink lemonade that would turn your hair curly... ooh, and these big blue bubbles that floated around for days before they finally popped."

Severus touched her shoulder gently, pulling her out of her reverie. "So what happened ?"

Alex shrugged again, shifting away from him. "I grew up. I started to question what I'd always been taught. You must know how it is," she insisted. "My father always said there was no such thing as good magic or evil magic. Just magic, with no limits for those who had the power to use it. He had nothing but contempt for those who were afraid to make use of the 'so-called' Dark arts. Weaklings with questionable abilities and bloodlines, according to Daddy. The strong and pure could use the Dark arts with impunity." Alex waved a hand in the air, dismissing the rest of her father's rhetoric. "You know. The same old story the Corwins and Malfoys of the world have been telling themselves for centuries." She shook her head. "The sad thing is, Daddy really believed it. And for a long time, so did I." She finally allowed Severus to take her into his arms. "I didn't think I'd ever get drawn back into that world," she murmured. After a while she pulled herself together. "The hell with it." Alex kissed him, then stood up. "Come on, we've got work to do."

"Forget about the potion. I'll brew it myself," Severus told her.

"Not on your life." He raised an eyebrow. "You were right, keeping Malfoy happy is a good idea," Alex said, "much as I hate to admit it. Don't give me that look," she added when he smirked at her. She took his hand and pulled him towards the lab. "Anyway, what do you know about hangover cures ?" she teased. "You might mess it up."

"My education is sorely lacking," Severus conceded with a grin. "I never had an Easy-Brew Cauldron."