A/N: This chapter is the chapter I'm the least fond of. Just so you know.
Chapter beta read by Forty-Two Dreams. All remaining mistakes are mine.
IN THE TEACHER'S LOUNGE
"We're not getting anywhere."
Snape looked up and sighed at the sight of Wilson crossing her arms across her chest. They had never talked about the memories in the Pensieve again and had resumed their work as if nothing happened. Snape suspected burying herself in her work was Wilson's way to cope with problems, but he never commented. It was now almost the end of April, and they still hadn't succeeded in finding a cure for the Dormant Poison.
"We're advancing blindly," she remarked, "and actually I'm not sure we're advancing at all. We can't keep experimenting without focus."
Snape raised his eyebrows mockingly. "Well maybe you have been experimenting without focus, but I clearly haven't."
"What do you mean, that you knew exactly what you were doing?" Wilson asked.
"I only exploited the fact that three basic ingredients, rat tails, groundhog hair and Graphorn horn powder go into the making of every anti-poison potion," Snape clarified.
"You used these three ingredients in all the potions you made?" she repeated, looking surprised.
"One would think you would have noticed by now," Snape remarked bitterly, "seeing how we've been working on this project for over two months now."
"Why didn't you tell me about this before?" Wilson queried, looking as though she hadn't heard what he had just said.
"Because it is supposed to be a well-known fact," Snape retorted, "at least to people with some knowledge about potions."
Wilson looked positively excited - which meant she hadn't listened to what he had said. "Had I known I would have concentrated the charming on these ingredients!" she exclaimed enthusiastically. "After some research I managed to bring the possible ways to charm an ingredient down to three… Are there any potions you think ought to have worked?"
Snape was greatly tempted to reply that all the potions he had tried had had the potential to work, but it was wrong. While experimenting he had realised some of his mistakes. "The last four batches," he eventually replied truthfully.
"So we have three ways to charm three ingredients of four different potions," Wilson summed up. "That makes thirty six test potions to prepare."
Snape felt sick just thinking about the amount of work it represented.
"So now I can just - damn it was so obvious! It's bloody brilliant!"
Snape stared at Wilson with dismay as she started to scribble furiously on a piece of parchment. When she rolled up her sleeves Snape couldn't help but notice the long scars on her forearm. They looked just like marks left by claws. Certainly a werewolf's claws, Snape assumed, remembering one of the memories he had seen in the Pensieve.
He'd better start preparing the ingredients for his next thirty six potions, Snape thought unenthusiastically.
"You know, I was thinking…" Wilson began. "Maybe once we're done with this we could work on our respective projects together, what do you think?"
Snape thought about it for a second. He hadn't succeeded alone in his researches in years, might as well give it a try. "Why not," he replied with a shrug.
By the beginning of May a couple of weeks later, they had all thirty six experimental potions prepared and ready for the testing phase. It had been agreed that all potions would be tested on McGonagall, like all the previous ones had been. First, they couldn't reasonably test any on the children - not that Snape would mind - considering their parents were already furious enough as it was. Second, they all knew McGonagall would volunteer spontaneously if she weren't unconscious.
Dumbledore came to the Hospital Wing to see the result of their experimentations when he was informed they might be on to something. One of the nine potions from the first batch gave them some hope when McGonagall twisted in her dreamless sleep - indisputably an improvement.
Then came the second batch. After seeing the effects of the first one, they held high hopes for the potion whose ingredients had been charmed the same way as the one which had been slightly effective. After drinking some of this potion, McGonagall stirred a bit.
They were definitely on to something.
They continued with the third batch, still waiting eagerly for the one potion charmed the same way as the two others. This one didn't seem to have any effect at all. Slightly disappointed, they proceeded with the next potion.
But as they were about to test the next one, Professor McGonagall suddenly opened her eyes and eyed suspiciously the flask dangerously nearing her lips. Snape almost dropped the flask out of surprise.
"Minerva," Dumbledore greeted with a broad smile, "glad to see you're recovering at last."
McGonagall looked confused for a few seconds but eventually smiled back.
Dumbledore then turned to Snape and Wilson. "I am extremely proud of the two of you. Finding a cure to one of the most potent Dark Arts poison is no small achievement. It could be worthy of an Order of Merlin, maybe even first class."
Severus Snape, Order of Merlin, first class… Snape gloated inwardly just thinking about it… until he realised his name would be associated to Wilson's until the end of times…
Absolutely brilliant.
During the next weeks, he and Wilson proceeded to prepare the cure in gargantuan proportions so as to heal the fifty odd students ailed by the poison. By the time mid-May came, everyone was restored to health, except a couple of students who would have to remain a little longer in the Hospital Wing, just long enough for their warts to disappear - you couldn't always avoid side effects. Even in the students treated at St Mungo - a batch of the potion had been sent to the Hospital.
As soon as everyone was up and about again, Dumbledore decided to hold a celebration banquet the next evening and to cancel lessons the following day.
The Headmaster stood up at the beginning of the dinner. "Ladies, Gentlemen, students and colleagues," he said. "You certainly all know now the Dormant Poison has been vanquished."
The whole Great Hall cheered loudly, except a small pack of Slytherin students, Snape noticed, including Draco Malfoy.
"Now," Dumbledore continued, "I'd like to thank our Charms and Potions Masters, who are the ones who found the cure."
More cheers erupted from the Great Hall. Snape snorted. It would take him months - no, years - to repair the damage caused to his image.
"While tonight we will celebrate and rejoice," Dumbledore went on when the cheers subsided, "I must remind you that all danger is not gone. Hogwarts is still under the threat of an attack. So I would like all of you to remain vigilant." He paused. "But tonight is not the night to worry about all this."
The Headmaster clapped his hands and all kinds of meals appeared on the tables. Everyone began to eat heartily.
A few minutes later, Snape noticed Dumbledore bending to one side and saying something in the ear of the teacher sitting next to him, then bending to the other side. Each teacher transmitted the message to his other neighbour.
Professor Sprout bent towards Snape at last. "Teachers' party in the teachers' lounge after dinner."
Snape nodded and resumed eating - he had no neighbour to pass the information to. Teachers' parties were quite rare events. They usually celebrated important occasions, like the Dark Lord's downfall sixteen years before, or symbolic birthdays like McGonagall's seventies several years before.
A few hours later, Snape joined the rest of the staff in the teachers' lounge. He wasn't very keen on these kinds of celebrations - nor was he keen on any kind of social event actually - but they usually had the advantage of being supplied with a decent amount of alcohol. And this one was no exception to the rule.
There were several talks this evening. Some serious, some lighter, and all in all it was a pleasant evening.
Professor Trelawney was the first to leave, barely half an hour after the celebration began, pretending it was all perturbing her inner eye. Hagrid soon followed, explaining his pet creature of the moment - Snape didn't even want to know what it was - required his full attention.
Dumbledore was the next to leave, much later though, claiming he was getting too old for this - such a bad excuse, really. McGonagall followed shortly. She was still recuperating and didn't think it would be reasonable to stay up so late.
An hour later, Professors Sprout and Vector excused themselves. There might be a celebration, but they were still both on a night watch.
As Snape was about to leave as well, having already drank quite a lot, Hooch spoke up.
"Ah, alone at last!" she exclaimed. "It's now that the real party begins! Give way to the younger generation!"
Snape gave a look around and noticed that, indeed, only the younger staff members remained: Hooch, Wilson, Ursaglow, Sinistra, and himself.
"Just give me a couple of minutes and I'll be back with proper drinks," Hooch continued. A few seconds later she disappeared through the door.
"Does anyone know what she means by 'real party' and 'proper drinks'?" Wilson asked with uncertainty.
"Well, every time Hooch goes on holidays to the Muggle countryside with her husband, she likes to try the local alcohols and bring some of each back," Sinistra explained. "She's some kind of a collector, if you will. And she loves to show us her discoveries during our celebration parties. But be careful though, I'm sure some of this stuff is so strong it can actually make you blind," Sinistra assured them.
Snape nodded knowingly. The last time Hooch had shared her collection with them - almost ten years before already - McGonagall had ended up singing carols right outside the entrance to the Slytherin common room, Flitwick had ended up trapped somewhere in the dungeons without his wand, and Snape would rather forget what he had ended up doing that night - pink definitely wasn't his colour.
He gave a look around, and seeing as how they were all already slightly tipsy, this evening would probably be just as entertaining as the last.
Sinistra had a kind of resigned look on her face - like him she knew the threat these drinks represented, but wouldn't miss it for anything in the world. Wilson, after Sinistra's warning, looked rather cautious. As for Ursaglow - who had been unusually silent the whole evening - he seemed rather enthusiastic - one could wonder what didn't make this man enthusiastic.
Hooch came back, a dozen of bottles floating around her and a huge smile illuminating her face. She laid the bottles on the central table and began to pour the contents of one of them in everyone's glass.
"This one comes from Ireland," she explained, "from a small village near Galway."
Snape lifted his glass to his nose: it smelled strongly of alcohol. He drank it in one gulp, and felt every single drop burn every single square inch of his throat. Wilson coughed loudly after drinking her own glass, Sinistra made a face, and Ursaglow paled abruptly, looking rather sick.
As for Hooch, she was just smiling. "Quite something, eh?" she exclaimed. "But wait until you try this one!" she continued as she grabbed another bottle. "It comes from the south of Spain. Quite tasty I must say."
This one went down much more easily than the first one, and all seemed to enjoy it. Even Snape felt a kind of urge to smile.
"It tastes kind of fruity," Wilson commented.
"Yes, they add some local fruit to the alcohol," Hooch confirmed. "And I personally added a drop of Jubilation Potion just for the fun of it."
Well this explained the urge to smile, Snape concluded.
"Oh, let's try this one!" Hooch offered. "I found it somewhere in the Highlands."
This time all of them coughed loudly after the first sip at their glass, except Ursaglow who collapsed head first on the table. Sinistra and Wilson burst out laughing - ah, the joys of the Jubilation Potion - while Hooch didn't seem to even notice him.
"Hey, can I have more of the Spanish one?" Wilson asked.
"Sure," Hooch nodded, filling Wilson's glass. "There's also this rare one, coming from the Netherlands," she went on while filling the others' glasses with it.
Snape was beginning to feel rather dizzy, but in a good kind of way. After finishing her own glass, Wilson began to giggle. "Hey, what's wrong with him?" she asked, pointing at the still unconscious Ursaglow with an amused look.
"I think he's drunk," Sinistra replied, grabbing the edge of the table suddenly as if to help herself keep her balance.
"Ah, young people today can't stand alcohol any more," Hooch - who was getting quite tipsy herself - said with disappointment.
"Shouldn't we do something about him?" Wilson asked, still sounding a bit giggly.
"Anyone has some anti-hangover potion?" Hooch asked.
"I have some at the Potions lab," Snape replied, "but it sounds so far…"
"True," Hooch agreed. "What about lots of water? Should work too. Anyone has lots of water handy?"
Sinistra shook her head, Wilson giggled, and Snape shrugged.
"There's the lake," Wilson eventually offered. "But it sounds awfully far too."
"Oh yes, let's throw him in the lake!" Hooch exclaimed enthusiastically. "Should be a lot of fun too!"
"That's dangerous, he could get caught by the giant squid!" Sinistra protested - she was obviously the soberest of the lot.
"Would be a pity, really," Snape commented sarcastically.
"And considering all the alcohol he's absorbed, I'm not even sure he'll float," Sinistra contested - maybe she wasn't the soberest of them after all.
"Well there's only one way to find out," Wilson retorted with a giggle, exchanging a mischievous look with Hooch.
The two of them suddenly stood up and grabbed Ursaglow's arms and legs in an attempt to carry him.
"Damn he's heavy," Hooch complained. "Hey Severus, why don't you come help us?"
Ursaglow drowning in the lake… Could be fun, Snape decided, and stood up to help them.
"This is a bad idea," Sinistra objected, standing up a bit too fast and quickly grabbing the edge of the table for support.
None of the others paid any attention to her and began carrying Ursaglow outside, all of them forgetting they were witches and wizards owning wands that could be quite useful for the task at hand.
All along the way Sinistra protested vehemently, until Ursaglow landed in the lake with a splash. The young wizard regained consciousness as suddenly as he became soaking wet. He stood up drowsily, shouting all sorts of curses at his fellow teachers when he fully realised his state and location.
Hooch and Wilson were both laughing loudly - even if Wilson's laugh sounded more like a giggle than anything. And even Sinistra and Snape were smiling.
Ursaglow looked downright furious. He kept cursing at them a few more minutes - which only fuelled his co-workers' amusement. Seeing it was obviously no use, he cursed another time before stepping out of the lake at last. He took only a few steps forward before stumbling and falling to the ground. If falling in the lake had helped him regain consciousness, it hadn't helped him sober up entirely.
"We'd better take him back to the castle," Sinistra said. She was definitely the most clear-headed of them all. "Endora, you'll help me carry him back there."
"What? Why me?" Wilson complained. "He's been stalking me for months, I deserve a break!"
"Because I don't trust the two of them," Sinistra replied indicating Snape and Hooch, "to be very helpful."
"And you really think I would?" Wilson asked with a giggle.
"Of course," Sinistra retorted, "you drank too much Jubilation Potion. Come on, let's go."
Wilson complied with a giggly pout and both carried Ursaglow away on their shoulders.
Once they had managed to stumble far enough, Hooch turned to Snape with a grin, an eyebrow raised rather suggestively. "So, alone at last, Severus?"
Coming Next: Aftermath