A/N: Chapter beta read by Forty-Two Dreams. All remaining mistakes are mine.

CHAPTER 4
SUCH A SMALL WORLD

Snape walked slowly through the alleys of Hogsmeade's apothecary shop and examined closely the ingredients displayed. He was extremely picky when it came to the quality of his ingredients, and didn't tolerate second-rate material for his personal experiments. And Hogsmeade's apothecary knew it well.

Snape came there on a regular basis, and the apothecary had become accustomed to his exigenciesas long as he could make lots of galleons in a short time he probably didn't care, and Snape was certainly one of his best clients.

Severus looked up to the bats' wings hanging from the ceiling. They seemed a bit dustyand a bit hacked as well.

"Professor Snape! What a pleasure to see you again!" the apothecary greeted him, and Snape could almost hear the sound of a cash register going 'ding' in the old man's head.

"Does one give these to a hippogriff to chew?" Severus asked.

The apothecary followed Snape's gaze. "Oh, don't worry, I have others in my backroom, in a better shape…"

"Good. I will take ten of them then," Snape concluded.

"Ten bats' wings," the apothecary nodded. "Anything else?" he asked with a hint of hope in his voice.

Snape moved to a row of jars on a shelf, and stopped in front of one filled with a dark purple powder. Too dark to his liking.

"Would you have, by chance, purer Graphorn horn powder in your backroom?"

"Absolutely, Professor, absolutely…" the apothecary assured him. Powdered Graphorn horn was immensely expensive, and Snape would only buy the best available.

"I will need a quarter of a pound," Snape replied and saw the apothecary's eyes glitter. Severus took a look around. "I can't see the Cocatrix feathers, where are they?

"I didn't have the time to display them yet, Professor, but I have plenty of them."

"In your backroom," Snape assumed.

"In my backroom," the apothecary confirmed, and Snape supposed it would probably be easier if he went directly to the backroom to do his shopping.

"It will be twelve of them then." Snape looked at another shelf full of jars. "I will also need fifty wasp stings and ten dragon claws."

"An excellent choice, Professor," the apothecary guaranteed.

Snape then reached a row with hundreds of little flasks. "Two flasks of skunk essential oil."

"Certainly. Anything else?" the apothecary asked again.

Snape moved to the desk. "I suppose you keep all of your class B tradeable material in your backroom."

"Of course, Professor. Is there any class B product you would need?" the apothecary queried, and Snape heard the old man rub his hands behind him before he reached the desk as well. Class B products were always very expensive.

"One Erumpent tail and a flask of exploding fluid," Snape replied.

"Very good. I will just need you to sign this piece of parchment," the apothecary replied and took a class B tradeable material selling agreement from a drawer.

"One last thing…" Snape went on.

"Yes?" the apothecary encouraged expectantly.

Snape looked around and made sure there was no one else around. "I also need something a bit special… Something rare…"

The apothecary's eyes glinted again. Rare meant expensive.

"I need some unicorn milk," Snape finished.

The apothecary's face fell. "It is… very rare indeed… And extremely hard to obtain…"

"I am very aware of this fact," Snape said, "but you probably have some of it somewhere in your backroom."

"I don't," the apothecary replied looking utterly devastated, "but I'm convinced I can obtain some very soon. Maybe tomorrow…"

"You see, I'm in a bit of a hurry…" Snape replied.

"No, no I meant, probably later tonight…" the apothecary rectified. "I expect a delivery from a breeder and – "

"I don't think you understood what I meant…" Snape interrupted. "But it's no worry. If you can't get this, I will just apparate some place where I can get everything I need."

"In an hour!" the apothecary exclaimed. "Come back in an hour, and I will have everything!"

Snape smiled with satisfaction. The old man had always been very easily influenced as long as enough galleons were at stake. And Snape didn't care if the apothecary spent the next hour milking a female unicorn himself as long as he got what he needed.

"Good. I knew you could make an effort. I will come back in an hour then. Of course, I will pay for everything when I return."

"Of course," the apothecary said with a nervous laugh. "I will prepare all your ingredients for you."

Snape nodded and left the shop. He walked down the street and entered the Three Broomsticks. He would wait for his order to be ready there. Snape sat at a table, his back to a pillar. His place ensured him relative tranquillity for he was out of sight of most of the other clients of the bar. He then hailed Madame Rosmerta and ordered a drink.

Snape spent the next half hour planning his experiments for the weekend while taking sips at his drink. Distracted by a sudden outburst of laughs, Snape sharply turned around towards the table of noisy wizards next to the entrance door, and glared at them with annoyance. Until a wizard and a witch entered the barand his field of view.

Remus Lupin and Endora Wilson.

And now that he saw the two of them standing next to each other he couldn't help but remember who the new Charms teacher reminded him of. They shared the same brown hair, the same brown eyes… The family likeness was unmistakable. Snape didn't remember any Endora Wilson, but he now remembered one Endora Lupin in her sixth and seventh year during his first two years of teaching. Remus' sister. How could he have forgotten about that? Granted, among her year's fellow students there had been plenty of troublemakers that certainly caught his attention more than her, but still…

Endora Wilson instantly climbed two steps up his personal scale of hate, and Snape turned back to face his table againthey probably hadn't seen him. His guess was confirmed when he heard them seat at the table behind him, on the other side of the pillar.

Snape was totally disgusted by his discovery and had no more will to remain there with the two of them around. He quickly finished his drink, prepared his coins and began to stand up.

"Seriously Remus, how did you manage to stand him when you were teaching here? When I applied for the position I thought the most difficult part would be handling the students, not the other teachers!"

Snape sat back. Would there be any chance that they were talking about him?

"Demeaning one's abilities is Severus' favoured technique. Just don't play his game and ignore him," Lupin replied.

So they were talking about him, Snape concluded. Maybe he could stay a little longer and listen to what they had to say… He pricked up his ears.

"I've done nothing other than try to ignore him since the beginning of the year. He's doing his best to get on my nerves, and he's succeeding; I can barely stand him any more. I swear, Remus, the next time he provokes me I hex him!"

"Calm down Endora, I'm sure it's not as bad as you think it is."

"You mean, you think it could get any worse?"

Oh yes it could, Severus confirmed, much worse… And it would get worse now he fully remembered her identity.

"You know," he heard Remus begin, "it's funny when you think you were afraid of him back when we were all students at Hogwarts."

There was a lull. "Was I?" Endora asked. Then another lull as she was probably thinking about it. "I don't remember."

Neither did Snape, though knowing the Charms teacher had feared him at some point was a delightful thought. He would have to borrow Dumbledore's pensieve some day and try to check some of his memories.

"You were a first year and we were all in our last year," Remus went on. "Snape was always hanging with a group of Slytherins: Avery, Rosier, Wilkes…"

"Oh, right… Freaky bunch, they were…"

Freaky? Snape mentally exclaimed, indignant. And she was still wondering why he took it out on her?

"By the way, I was thinking…" he heard Remus begin.

Oh, really? The werewolf had been thinking? Then he should owl the Ministry so he could get a special reward for his fantastic abilities! Oh great. He had been spending a wonderful morning until they came in and spoiled it all by annoying him.

"Maybe Snape is so hard on you because of me," Lupin finished.

"What do you mean?"

Yes, what did he mean?

"To say that Snape never liked me is an understatement, and you being my sister…" Remus let the sentence hanging.

Snape could do nothing else than agree to both statements. It certainly was a huge understatement, and had he known they were related before he would have been definitely much harder on her.

"When you were a student of his," Remus went on, "did he ever give you any rotten mark for no particular reason?"

"No, and I never gave him any occasion to give me detention either."

Of course, Snape thought. He hadn't started his Slytherin favouritism policy yet back thenbut was already experimenting with the Gryffindor-bashing. But he would have to check his old marks recordsit upset him greatly not being able to remember whether Endora Lupin had been a good or a poor student in Potions.

"But back then Ravenclaw had double potions with Gryffindor," he heard the witch go on, "so I suppose he was too busy taking care of the Gryffindor troublemakers like Jonathan to really pay any attention to me."

Jonathan! Jonathan Wilson, that was the name of the Gryffindor nuisance he remembered very vividly! Snape had actually been relieved when he eventually graduatedunfortunately, the Weasley twins entered Hogwarts only a few years later…

But it hadn't been the last he heard from Jonathan Wilson, for he soon became an Aurorhow he had achieved such a miracle with execrable results in Potions was beyond Snape's understanding. And had taken a liking to investigating the pasts of former Death Eaters cleared by the Ministry.

Had he been a real pain back then… Snape hadn't heard from him for years though. The Ministry had probably told him to calm down after receiving complaints from some wizards of high rank like Malfoy.

Wait a second… Endora Wilson? She had married Jonathan Wilson? The Gryffindor pest? Could this day become any worse?

Two more steps up his scale of hate for Professor Endora Wilson. She was now an inch from her brother and his Marauder friends.

"Maybe there's no reason to find…" Remus concluded.

There was a short silence followed by a sigh.

"Do I miss my old job!" the Charms teacher said. "If you hadn't insisted so much, I wouldn't even have applied for this position."

"But you can do so much more here, for the students, for the Order… Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Yes but… I kind of hoped to enjoy it a bit more."

Snape couldn't help a snort. Teaching at Hogwarts and working for the Order weren't supposed to be enjoyable, but they were necessary.

"Look on the bright side: we can see each other more often now that you're back in England!" Remus said.

"Yeah, and thankfully we don't have to rely on the international floo network any more…" Endora added.

"What international floo network?"

Chuckles.

"The Ministry should really do something about that," the Charms teacher said, "sign more agreements with other countries and all. I sent them dozens of owls back then. Do you think they would take even five seconds off their precious time to reply?"

Her words were followed by a long silence, and Snape decided to stand up. Listening to their conversation was now totally pointless, and he had already learned more than he had wished for.

"Do you know what annoys me the most about Snape?"

Severus froze when he heard the witch. She soon went on.

"It's his superior attitude, as if Potions was the most important kind of magic that ever was…"

Snape clenched his fists.

"I mean, at least it were a complex subject, I would understand… Transfiguration is complex, Arithmancy is complex, but Potions… Potions is no more than cooking."

With boiling rage Snape turned around and faced their table, revealing his presence to them. But only Lupin could see him for Snape was standing right behind the witch. Remus stared at him with surprise, looked at his sister, looked back at him, unable to articulate anything. And Endora was going on.

"No need of any particular magical knowledge, even a Muggle could be a successful potions maker."

"Endora, you shouldn't – " Lupin tried to stop her.

"Just give a Muggle a Potions book," she went on, "all the ingredients he needs, and he'll probably manage very well." She then probably registered her brother's gaping mouth. "What?"

"Good morning, Severus…" Remus greeted uneasily.

As Snape was about to make an extremely spiteful remark Endora sighed.

"Remus, I'm no longer four years old, I know he's not right behind me."

"My deepest apologies for having to disagree with you then, Professor Wilson…" Snape eventually spoke up, his voice very smooth and betraying none of his ire.

The witch tensed up, and Remus cast her an apologetic look while she muttered a couple of curses under her breathprobably very nasty ones Snape guessed. When she eventually turned to face him he went on.

"I will have you know, Professor Wilson," he said putting all his venom in the title, "that Potions is the most ancient form of magic and precedes any kind of wand gesticulation that you seem to hold so much affection for. I would advise you to read 'The Origins of Potions' by Fornax Varkov, but it would probably be a waste of time considering your obvious lack of interest in the subject. Hence, I suppose all you can do is continue revelling in your ignorance."

Snape swiftly left the Three Broomsticks, still full of rage. His order had better be ready, or the apothecary would have to endure the full extent of his wrath.