A/N: Hello, have to apologise for the tardy update but I have a lot of work to be getting on with plus I'm starting my prep work for next year's dissertation. So I am going to have to ease up on the updates, I will be aiming for once a fortnight or once every week and a half; I will make it up by making it longer - this chapter is 11 pages long.

Thank-you all for your continue support and to answer Dsdaughter's questions: you're almost right, I'm a forensic science student and it does have a lot of chemistry, and no I'm not planning on making this a romance, I'm not very good at them and I have nothing new to add so it would sound cliché-y. And just today I have thought of how to make Snape and Black interact more, you will have to wait and see. I am aspiring to be a writer someday, it's nice to know I'll have at least sold one book; I'm going to be using a pseudonym - Katrina Newman (don't ask why, I don't know).

I've reloaded chapter 12, I've just added Victoria Sinistra and Alates Jurgen to the table, you'll see why.

Chapter Thirteen

Severus awoke early the next morning and after a hot shower he proceeded down to the Great Hall for breakfast. The only person that was present was Hermione; she was absently chewing on a piece of toast whilst poring over a huge tome. Severus took a seat on the opposite side and to the left of Hermione, they exchanged pleasantries and Severus began breakfasting. Out of the corner of his eyes Severus saw Hermione screw her eyes shut and rub the bridge of her nose in apparent frustration.

"Some thing the matter, Miss Granger?" asked Severus.

Hermione looked up in surprise, "Erm, yes. It's this book, it seems to be contradicting everything I have learnt in potions,"

"What is the title of the book?" inquired Severus.

"Potion Studies, by R.J Lavigne," replied Hermione.

Severus snorted, "Lavigne? Is that book still in the library? I should have been burnt, it is of no relevance to the study of potions,"

Hermione stared at Severus in shock, "What do you mean?" she blurted out.

"Lavigne was a fraud, albeit a good fraud, he never even past his NEWts, he made a living off the back of others. Many Potion Masters saw through his charade, unfortunately he charmed the rest of the wizarding world," Severus said.

"Sounds like Lockhart," Hermione said quietly.

Severus smirked.

"But this is the only book in the library that talks about the 'Trans- Dimensional Inverse Theory'," Hermione said disappointedly.

"The trans-dimensional inverse theory, why do you wish to learn about that? That theory is of a very advanced level," Severus asked curiously.

"I read a reference in Brewing Potions by Higgle and I was curious to know more about it," admitted Hermione sheepishly.

"Well, I do know something about the theory," Severus said.

"You do? Can you teach me?" Hermione said, her eyes lighting up at the mention of it, immediately she caught herself and said in a more calm voice, "That is if you don't mind, I'm sure you have more important things to do,"

Severus hesitated, "Well, I am only eating breakfast, and I can give you the basics of the theory over breakfast," Severus said slowly.

"Oh, thank-you, Professor Snape," Hermione all but gushed.

"I have read Lavigne's explanation of the trans-dimensional inverse theory, he does have the basic idea of what it is although he has confused most of the facts. Without going into too much detail, the trans-dimensional inverse theory pertains to the phenomenon that if a potion is inversely brewed in a certain dimension that exists beside our own then the resulting potion will have the opposite effect of the original," Severus explained, "Have you read about the 'Dimension Theory'?"

Hermione shook her head.

"The dimensional theory suggest that next to our own dimension there exists many dimensions that are variants of our own; certain aspect are different, for example, a dimension where gravity does not exist or one where primates never evolved into humans. After many experiments and trips, a fourteenth century witch Gayle Stuart, proved that the theory was indeed correct. The group that worked under Gayle found the exact dimension that is used in the trans-dimensional inverse theory, but the potential of the dimension was not realised until two hundred years ago by Yanni Schwartz, the grandson of one of the original group,

"The exact reasons why the resulting potion brewed has the opposite effect of the original is not too clear suffice to say that it is a feature of that particular dimension. The potential of this is extraordinary, there exist many thousands and millions of potions in this dimension that can be brewed but there are still many that have not been invented or are not able to be brewed because of the limitations of this dimension, but with that dimension the possibilities are endless. If you wanted remedy for an incurable poison, all you have to do is brew that poison backward," concluded Severus, who had stood up during the impromptu lecture and paced in front of Hermione.

"I see we are interrupting scholars at work," a cheery voice cut in.

Both Hermione and Severus looked sharply toward the door, Flora, Victoria and Alates were standing a few feet away from the table smiling.

"Professor, good morning. I didn't see you there," Hermione said quickly.

"I don't think you would have noticed a herd of irate hippogriffs charging through the Great Hall, let alone us three," joked Alates.

The three professors took a seat next to Severus.

"Oh, don't mind us," Flora said, "carry on with what you were talking about,"

"Oh, I would not want to bore you with such a heavy topic for breakfast," replied Severus. "Miss Granger if you wish to know more, I have.well, your Professor Snape, has a book on his bookshelf all about the trans- dimensional inverse theory,"

"I don't know," Hermione said hesitantly, "I'm not sure Professor Snape would be too happy about you lending his books out to a student,"

"Nonsense," Severus said, "I'm sure he would be delighted to know that a student is taken such a keen interest in potions, believe me,"

"Well, if you insist," Hermione said, barely suppressing the grin on her face.

"I will have a house elf deliver it to your dorm,"

"How was your first night at Hogwarts?" asked Flora.

"Well, I have been sleeping in almost a different bed every week for the past few months so I can fall asleep anywhere," Severus said, then added a small smile as an afterthought.

"It can be quite cold down in the dungeons," Victoria said, "if you want you can always request a room change, I'm sure there are vacant rooms around the castle,"

"The cold does not bother me, I like it," Severus said.

Flora laughed, "Spoken like a true Snape,"

"Good morning, everyone," Remus said as he crossed the threshold of the Hall, following him in was Snuffles.

Snuffles trotted ahead of Remus and made a beeline for Severus, after giving the new girl the once over Snuffles leapt onto the bench and nuzzled Severus' arm, Severus just about stopped himself recoiling in horror.

"Remus, could you call off your dog?" Severus asked in a slightly strained voice.

"I think Snuffles likes you," Remus said with a laugh.

"Remus," Severus said, the single word seemed to convey an entire sentence.

Remus suddenly turned serious and called off Snuffles, who went to Remus' side with his tail between his legs.

Severus looked relieved, and then upon seeing the puzzled face of his tablemates Severus explained lamely, "I am not really a dog person,"

"Well, Snuffles can be a bit full on sometimes, I'm sure you like him once you get to know him," Remus said as he took the seat next to Severus.

Snuffles went over to Hermione who gave him a plate of bacon and sausages.

"Remus," Severus said wearily.

"What?" Remus asked innocently.

"You know exactly what I mean," Severus said.

Remus said nothing, and just smiled.

"Why do I bother?" asked Severus rhetorically.

"Have you had a chance to go through the results of that experiment last nigh, Seraphina?" asked Remus.

"Not yet," Severus replied, "I'm planning on doing it this afternoon or tonight,"

"May I join you?" Remus asked, "I would like to learn more about that technique you were using,"

"I usually like to work alone," Severus said.

"Don't worry, I'll be as quiet as a mouse, you won't even know I'm there," Remus said.

"I highly doubt that," Severus said, "you are not going to leave me alone until I agree, are you?"

"No," Remus said.

"Fine, but I reserve the right to hex you out of my room if I so wish," Severus said.

"You won't regret it," Remus said cheerfully, "So what are you planning to do for the rest of the day?"

"Poppy wants me to go down to Hogsmeade with her, something about shopping" Severus said with a sneer.

"Hogsmeade? You know we haven't been down there for quite sometime," Victoria said, "what do you say girls?"

"I'm in," Alates said.

"Same here," Flora agreed.

"It would be nice to take the children to Hogsmeade as well," Alates said, "do you think Albus would agree to that?"

"I don't see why not," said Victoria, "it would be a nice treat for them,"

***

"Why don't you try that in a different colour, Seraphina?" Poppy suggested as Severus picked up a black velvet dress.

Severus and Poppy were currently standing in Madam Sara Stitch's dress shop in Hogsmeade, Poppy had convinced Severus that he needed more clothes, Severus had grudgingly agreed and was stubbornly trying to buy as many black clothes as he could get away with.

"I will have to agree with Poppy, my dear," Sara said as she came up behind the duo, "Such a beautiful young girl, you should be wearing some of the latest fashions. Why don't you come here and I will show you some designs that have been seen in the Parisian fashion houses,"

Sara waited for no reply and dragged Severus to the counter, moving behind the counter Sara pulled out a large black folder and opened it to the first page. The pages contained moving photographs of models parading about in different styles of dresses and robes.

"Now this one," Sara said, pointing to a watery blue dress with a asymmetric hem line from mid calf to mid thigh, and sleeves slashed from shoulder to elbow and elbow to wrist, "is favoured by young ladies such as yourself, and quite popular with young lads as well,"

Severus' mouth dropped open, he managed a slightly strained, "I was planning on something slightly more conservative, I will be teaching at Hogwarts,"

"Ah, a new teacher. Well, let me see," Sara said as she flicked through the book quickly, "Now, these dresses are more conservative but still cut to make the most of the female form. As you can see bodices and corsets are making a return, it's as if they never left, and for some people that is true,"

Wanting to get out of the shop and far away from Sara as possible Severus chose two of the dresses. A dark blue dress with embroidered detail around the hem, collar, cuffs and chest, and an amethyst coloured square-neck dress with tapered sleeves and ribbon detailing around the neckline.

Unfortunately for Severus, Sara had the dresses in stock and wanted Severus to try them on to see how well they fitted and to see if they needed any alterations. So Severus disappeared into the changing room and tried on the amethyst coloured dress, when he came back out to show Sara, she immediately descended upon him.

Poppy was standing a far distance away and chuckled at a distressed looking Severus as Sara flustered about him, rearranging and re-stitching parts of the dress. Finally Sara positioned Severus in front of a mirror to check that the dress hung right.

"Something is out of place here," Sara muttered to herself, "I know," Sara said as she pulled the pins that were holding Severus' bun in place, and fluffed out Severus' hair.

And according to sod's law, the door of the shop opened and in walked Hermione with Harry and Ron in tow; they all stopped in the doorway and gaped at the reflection of Severus in the mirror.

"Wow," Ron mouthed.

"That's a beautiful dress, Professor Snape," Hermione commented.

Sara turned and smiled at the students, "Always good to see that people approve," she commented, and then added, "I see you have a few admirers,"

Severus blanched at the comment, "I will never live this down," he muttered to Poppy.

Poppy put a reassuring hand on Severus' shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I will not say a word,"

"I am not worried about you, Poppy," Severus replied.

Poppy gave his shoulder a squeeze then turned her attention to the trio at the door, "Would I be right to assume that you are here to buy a dress, Miss Granger? Unless there is something that the boys are not saying," she joked.

Hermione smiled, "As far as I'm aware yes," she said as she moved into the shop.

The boys averted their gaze from Severus and followed Hermione in.

"Well, Seraphina, why don't you try on the other dress whilst I serve Miss Granger," Sara suggested.

Severus nodded and stepped into the cubicle and drew the curtains shut. As Severus changed into the second dress, he could hear the conversation outside.

"I'm looking for something for my cousin," Hermione explained, "she's into the whole Goth genre,"

"Ah, the Gothic style, we stock many dresses in that style, it is a trend that seems to be going full circle, we influenced muggle fashion and they influence us in return," Sara said, "anything in particular?"

"The usual, tapered sleeves, full skirt, corset, lace and velvet, preferably in black or dark blue," Hermione said.

"I have the perfect dress," Sara said.

Eventually Severus bought the two dresses and two extra plain black cotton dresses, and left the shop. After shrinking his purchase Severus turned to Poppy, "Is that all?" he asked.

"Well, for today," Poppy said, "You can always order your other bits and bobs via the owl post, or you can always get things from Diagon Alley,"

Severus sighed in relief.

"Now, I have to go to the Hogsmeade Clinic to consult with Dr Philips about the new medical communiqué, and you are suppose to meet Flora, Victoria and Alates at the Three Broomsticks" Poppy said.

"Do I have to?" Severus asked.

"Yes, they are expecting you, I will join you after speaking to Dr Philips, now go," Poppy said pushing Severus in the direction of the Pub.

Severus set off for the Three Broomsticks at a very slow pace, and eventually arrived sooner than he would have wanted, that is if he actually wanted to be there. There were many people in the pub, as it was a Saturday, looking around Severus spotted Flora waving at him from a booth next to a window to the left of the room. Severus made his way toward the trio and slipped into a seat next to Flora.

"Ah, Severus, I'm glad you made it," Alates said and placed a mug of butterbeer in front of Severus.

Severus smiled weakly and said, "I would not have missed it for the world,"

"She says that so sincerely," Flora laughed.

"Don't worry, Seraphina, we don't bite, much," Alates said deadpan.

"Oh hush, Alates, we don't want to scare off the new teacher before she has started teaching," Flora playfully chided.

"Yes, Alates, don't forget that this is Severus' cousin, you wouldn't want him to get hostile with you, would you?" Victoria chipped in.

"Well, I wouldn't know about that," Alates said coyly.

Flora began to laugh.

"Alates," Victoria said in mock-horror, "It's always the quiet ones," she said to Severus.

Severus laughed weakly and threw a puzzled look at the duelling professor.

Flora recovered from her laughing fir and said, "Well, I'm not sure you would have a chance with him,"

"Why not?" Alates asked.

"Oh, well, we think.we're sure that Severus is taken," Victoria explained.

Severus looked at Victoria in astonishment; it was news to him that he was 'taken'.

"Really? By who?" Alates said.

"Well," Victoria said, looking at Flora.

"We think that it's Remus," Flora finished off for Victoria.

Unfortunately Severus was taking a swig from his butterbeer at the time and began to choke on it, Flora gave Severus a few slaps on the back to help. Once Severus had recovered he looked at Flora and asked, "What?"

Flora had the grace to look sheepishly at the table, but Victoria answered for her, "It's just a hunch,"

"How did you get to that conclusion," Severus asked incredulously.

"A mixture of things, really," Flora said, "the way they talk and interact with each other, the things they talked about,"

"Not that we eavesdrop on their conversation," Victoria hastened to add, "Only when we accidentally overhear or something,"

Victoria suddenly regarded Severus shrewdly, "You gave quite a reaction to finding out Severus may be in a relationship with Remus,"

"Well, I am quite sure Severus is not in a relationship, let alone homosexual, he would have said something to me," Severus said quickly.

"Or perhaps you were concerned about a certain DADA professor," Victoria said,

"The both of you seem to get along quite well," Alates suggested.

"There is nothing going on between us," Severus said.

"Not now, may be later though," Victoria said.

Severus realised that no matter what he said the trio would make up their own conclusions about it, so he decided that silence was the preferable option, second to perhaps hexing them into oblivion but he knew that Albus would not be pleased by that alternative.

***

Severus was now safely back in his quarters, he had just had to endure dinner with Flora, Alates and Victoria throwing knowing looks at him all night as he sat next to Remus. Severus pulled out a large roll of parchment from his desk and then went to his bookcase and chose three large books. A knock sounded at the front door and Severus went over to let Remus in.

"So how was your day at Hogsmeade?" Remus asked with a certain glint in his eyes.

Severus looked at Remus and said, "You already know, so why are you asking?"

"I just wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth," Remus said, "you know I think you are starting to get some kind of following, I can't wait to see what happens when the rest of the school comes back for the new term,"

Severus' eyes widened, "Following? Who? No wait, I don't want to know," Severus said sitting down, "Is it too late for a appearance charm?"

"Well, for a appearance charm to work the other people will have to be ignorant of the fact that there is one, so yes," Remus said, "I noticed that Flora, Victoria and Alates were giving you weird looks over dinner,"

"Oh that, that is nothing, a simple misunderstanding," Severus said, "I never knew the three of them were so."

"Boisterous," Remus suggested, "you are never around them long enough to realise that, be thankful. I thought Victoria and Flora were bad as a duo but now with Alates they are a force to be reckoned with,"

"We really should start working," Severus said, changing the topic, "I will need to teach you the basics of interpretating the data," Severus partially unrolled the parchment onto the coffee table; it was the roll that Remus had seen in the laboratory the day before.

Remus took a seat next to Severus.

"As I said yesterday, everything is made up of molecules, when these molecules are subjected to certain chemicals or high temperatures they begin to break up and form other molecules," Severus began, "For instances, the plant Cannabis sativa contains the main cannabinol delta-9- tetrahydrocannabinol, which when metabolised produces the compound delta-9- tetrahydrocannabinol carboxyl, the compound is a unique metabolite for cannabis. Of course, for many other plant and animal products the molecules do break down into similar metabolites.

"When you read the molecules off the parchment it is difficult to know what they came from, you have to see the 'big picture', some compounds breakdown to form several smaller molecules so if you find all of them in the results it is more than likely that that compound was present in the mixture,

"Smaller molecules come out of the apparatus first and larger molecules last, on the side of the parchment there is a time scale written down and a line drawn through that corresponds to the molecules. Here at the beginning," Severus pointed to a single molecule, "this is hydrogen, it is only an atom so has come out first. Further along is ethanol, which is made up of nine atoms and comes out later,

"How do you know the break-down products of the compounds?" Remus asked.

"Ah, when I first learnt of this separation techniques I subjected all of the potions ingredients to it so produced a book of compounds and their breakdown products," Severus said, putting the smaller of his three books in front of Remus, "Also, I did another book that related the breakdown products to the compound," this time the largest book was placed in front of Remus.

Remus' eyes widened, he reached out and opened the first book, "You must have had a lot of time on your hands," he commented. "How reliable is this technique?"

"Nothing is one hundred percent reliable, but this is approximately ninety- five percent accurate," Severus said, "Do you understand it?"

"Somewhat," Remus replied.

"Somewhat?" Severus repeated, "If you were one of my students I would have you go away and write a foot long essay on the subject,"

"A foot long essay isn't that much, wouldn't it be better if it was longer," Remus said.

"Not necessarily," Severus said, "If the essay was four feet long the students have a tendency to babble and confuse themselves, but with a foot they would need to understand the subject well enough to be able to write a concise report that covers it all and leaves out the filler information,"

"You are a very hard taskmaster," Remus said with a laugh.

Severus shrugged and stood up, "We will need some writing implements," he said whilst crossing the room toward his desk.

As Severus reached his desk he suddenly fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around himself, Remus who had been watching Severus immediately got and strode over.

"Are you okay, Severus?" Remus asked and laid a hand on Severus' shoulder.

Severus' face was contorted in pain and tiny beads of sweat were forming on his forehead, he gasped in pain and pitched forward, and began to convulse. Remus leaped up and ran over to the Fireplace and called Poppy, then returned to Severus' side and turned him onto his side.

Poppy burst through the fireplace in a swirl of green a few moments later and immediately started to cast a charm to stop the spasms that were wracking Severus' body. Pulling a small vial with green liquid inside from her brown leather bag, Poppy proceeded to pour it down Severus' throat.

Slowly Severus began to relax, his breathing returning to normal. "Arm hurts," he whispered.

"Don't tell me Voldemort is calling him," Remus said darkly.

"I do not know, it has never hurt this much" Poppy said as she pulled up the sleeve on his left arm and gasped.

Remus looked at Poppy and then down to Severus' arm and gasped as well, "Where's it gone?" he asked in astonishment.

Poppy stood up and went to the fireplace and called Albus, as Albus appeared through the fireplace Poppy explained the situation to him. Albus reached Severus and examined Severus' left arm as if to confirm it for himself.

"Poppy do you have any theories?" Albus asked.

"Only that the potion that changed him to a female must have altered his entire being including the mark," Poppy said.

"But I thought the Dark Mark was not only graphed onto the skin but also the soul," Remus said.

"This is getting more intriguing," Albus commented. "Poppy I want you to run every available test on Severus and compare it with his old medical records,"

"Do I not get a say in this?" Severus asked in a raspy voice.

"Of course, child," Albus said.

"Then I agree," Severus said with a slight smile.

"I want to keep you in the infirmary overnight, just for observational purposes," Poppy said.

"And for the test," Severus said.

"Yes, them too," replied Poppy, "I will use mobiluscorpus to transport you to the infirmary,"

Severus nodded his assent.

"Would you like me to continue with the interpretation?" Remus asked.

"No, I would rather I was present to supervise," Severus said, "there is a third book on the table that you should read, it teaches the basics of what I am teaching you,"

*****