Fanfiction based in the world of Harry Potter, created by JKR. Her
characters are hers. Original characters are mine. Please see first
chapter for full disclaimers and description.
Huge thanks to my beta-readers: Padfoot the Marauder and Elaine. This is my first beta'd chapter, I can't believe how much better it flows! Hopefully these lovely ladies will have time to help me do future chapters and perhaps even polish up the preceding ones. I can't thank you both enough!
Rowena's first class. Katrina visits. Rowena gets a tad manipulative.
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Chapter 17: Slytherin Ways
Rowena was among the first teachers to arrive at the Great Hall for breakfast. She sat down a small distance away from the few other early risers who were already seated at the staff table. There were no 'set' times for most meals in Hogwarts, instead a time range where teachers and students could come and go according to their schedules.
The fact that Rowena generally was an early riser, combined with the knowledge that her first class was starting at 9:00 left her just too apprehensive about her first attempt at teaching to sit in her flat any longer. Thus she sought her salvation in nervously toying with the eggs and toast that were lifelessly sprawled on her plate.
Silently she had allowed the conversations of the other teachers to waft over her, until someone snuck up on her and roused her from her musings.
"Howdy, little lady. Mind if I sit here a spell? You're lookin' a might down. You ain't nervous about teachin', are ya?" Without giving her a chance to refuse him the seat, Dylan sat in the empty chair next to her and flashed his jubilant smile. "I gotta admit, I didn't know there'd be so many kids. Might have a time keeping the classes under control."
Heroically resisting the urge to glare at him in annoyance, she gave him a very small smile of greeting. 'Little lady' indeed! "Good morning, Professor Howard. Yes, I confess, I am a bit nervous. I haven't done any teaching before."
"Aw, now, I'm sure you'll do just fine." He looked at her, shrewdly assessing, "I reckon the real reason you seem a bit low today is that spat with your beau last night."
Rowena flashed him a sidelong glance that she meant to be withering, but merely increased the brightness of his smile. "Who does he think he is, to talk about my private affairs like that?" she thought indignantly.
Dylan turned in his chair towards her and leaned forwards. Rowena resisted the urge to lean away from him, though she did briefly consider activating her 'Navitas Texi' due to his proximity. Either option seemed rude or cowardly, so she satisfied herself with merely frowning at him coolly.
"It ain't none of my business, o'course," Dylan commented, "and I'm right sorry that you'd be hurtin'. But I reckon you could do better'n that fella. He's as right prickly as a cactus."
Rowena made a noise of shocked outrage, and was on the verge of telling him that he was bloody well right--it wasn't any of his business--when she found herself interrupted by a third party.
"I believe the 'little lady' is quite capable of making her own decisions, Professor Howard"
The deceptively silken tones of an annoyed Severus Snape washed over them from behind. Dylan actually jumped slightly and moved away from Rowena a fraction.
"You are correct in one thing—it is none of your business," Severus spat, "Now. Move. You are in my chair."
Rowena's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Merlin's Beard!" she thought, "Just exactly how much gossip did he want running around the school??"
Granted, only about a quarter of the student body was in the Hall at this moment, but at least half of those were watching the proceedings avidly. They hadn't paid much attention when Dylan had sat next to her, but she had noticed many heads turn in their direction shortly after he had taken his seat. She should have known that her very silent 'beau' was standing behind them. She couldn't believe she'd been so dim-witted. What a spiffy Auror she would have made!
And then for him to order Dylan to move, as though the seat on her other side wasn't perfectly empty! Rowena felt the blush heat her face, but couldn't stop the slight smile of pleasure that formed on her lips, in spite of her current irritation with both men. She glanced surreptitiously at Dylan who was obviously trying to decide what to do.
"Right 'cha are, Sev. Chair's all yours," he said courteously. Apparently he decided that taking on a senior member of the staff on his first day, in the Great Hall in front of students was NOT something he wanted to do.
As he stood and bowed slightly, he grinned at the noise of outrage from Snape at the shortening of his name. He quickly went to sit by Minerva, already chatting warmly to her in his thick drawl.
Having finally gotten rid of the annoying cowboy, Severus sat down in a graceful swirl of black robes. He imperceptibly moved his chair slightly closer to hers, but his infamous dark scowl was solidly fixed upon Howard.
She tried to stifle a small laugh as she sipped her tea, looking at him contemplatively. The idea that she might actually enjoy a brief moment of two men vying for her attention was not something she would have ever ascribed to herself. Since when had she become such a... such a GIRL? Probably the instant that Severus first walked into her lab at the Ministry, she mused.
Severus looked over at her when he heard her small snort of laughter, and his dark scowl softened slightly.
"I was unaware that cowboys were to your taste, Lupin," he said sardonically.
"I was unaware that you had a jealous streak, Sev," she replied, teasingly.
He glared angrily at her. "I will not tolerate that," he said sharply, "Not even in jest. Do not call me that again. And I do not have a jealous streak. We have a job to do, an image to maintain, or had you forgotten already? Perhaps the charms of your cowboy are causing you to have second thoughts about your role?"
Rowena laughed lightly, ignoring his obvious irritation. Everything just seemed brighter somehow, even in Severus's dark mood. He was at least speaking to her, which was an improvement over their parting last night. She noticed that he looked worlds better this morning. Apparently a nice vent of anger and a bit of sleep had gone far. She leaned in closer to him, and he moved towards her as well, so that they were nearly touching.
"I have forgotten nothing, Severus," she said. "I do not care for cowboys a jot. And you do, indeed, have a jealous streak. It's okay. I like it. It's sort of cute."
He snorted at this last and rolled his eyes, though the corners of his mouth did lift slightly in the smallest of smirks. He was finding himself newly unsettled at the thought that he couldn't maintain a good righteous anger with her. When had he gotten so soft? He reached for the platter of eggs and toast and shook his head.
"Cute? Now I have to add 'cute' to the list of your delusions about me? I'm afraid it is only a matter of time before I will be forced to place you in the mental ward at St. Mungos for your own personal safety."
He did not meet her eyes as he continued, rigidly adopting the air of bored unconcern he hid behind whenever his deeper emotions were involved.
"You would be well within your rights if you chose not to speak with me after my behavior towards you at the feast yesterday," he admitted. He realized with a mild stab of alarm that this statement was closer than he had ever come before to a genuine apology for his actions. This Lupin seemed to have a frightening effect on his mental state!
"It's okay, Severus," Rowena said reassuringly. "You were stressed, exhausted and angry with my brother. I was an easy target. I understand, as long as you don't expect me to sit quietly by and just 'take it'."
"Indeed," he said, with a smirk as he glanced over at her, "You are too full of your own quick temper for that."
She smiled back at him, but her air had a note of challenge, "While we're on the subject... I don't want you insulting or belittling any of the students in front of me. Not even Harry Potter."
Severus raised an eyebrow in surprise at this. "Now you ask too much Lupin, and you know it. I loathe the boy. It is quite mutual. I could not change that, not even for you. Not even if I wished it, which I do not."
"I don't think you really hate him, you hate his father," Rowena said, gazing at him very seriously, "He's not James. I'm not going to hash that out with you either way. I don't care how you FEEL about him, or how you behave towards him privately. I just don't want to SEE it."
She took a deep breath and continued quickly, speaking rapidly so he wouldn't have the chance to interrupt her.
"You are doing to him precisely what I hated about what James and his friends did to you. If Potter and Black had kept your feud private, I probably wouldn't have hated them quite so much. There was no excuse for them to deliberately, intentionally humiliate you in public, except malicious cruelty.
"The same goes for you and Harry," she pointed out. "I'm his Professor now, as are you. It's very unprofessional behavior to belittle the students like that, particularly in front of other professors. I don't want to see it."
With that, her flood of words drew to a close. All the while she had been watching his face to see how he would take her admonition. As always, he was inscrutable, though she thought she could detect a slight air of amusement behind the definite irritation.
"So, Miss Rowena Danae Lupin does have her limits as to what level of depravity she will tolerate in her paramour, after all. I am actually glad to know it," he said sarcastically.
There was a quirk to his mouth as he said this. He nodded, his voice becoming sardonically amused again, "Very well, PROFESSOR Lupin. I suppose you have a point regarding professional behavior. I will consider what you have said. I make no promises. Tormenting Harry Potter is one of my rare joys, and I am reluctant to give it up."
She grinned at his teasing. She knew full well that his dislike of the boy was genuine, but that his public display of that dislike was more a show for the benefit of the children of Death Eaters. He was quite possibly glad for the excuse to be able to tone it down a bit.
"That is acceptable, Professor," she said, laying a hand gently on his leg.
He placed his hand over hers and squeezed it reassuringly. "Indeed. Now perhaps I will be allowed to finish my breakfast in peace?" He looked at her piercingly and added, "Are you nervous about your classes, as Cowboy Bill suggested?"
Rowena sighed at the reminder of her classes, and the nervousness that had temporarily been forgotten returned in full measure.
"Well, yes, actually a bit. I've spent most of my life so isolated. I've only ever been around lots of people for any length of time when I was a student here myself. All the rest of the time I've been pretty alone. Even working at the Ministry, I was quite secluded. And I'm afraid my own prejudices will come through."
She lowered her voice and looked at him worriedly. She could tell him... he was Slytherin, after all. He would understand, and not laugh. "I spent all my school days firmly believing that Muggle-borns, or students raised as such, should be educated separately from children raised in a family of wizards. It seemed like it took so much time for the Muggle born kids to catch up with the basics. I was really frustrated. What if I get frustrated with my students now? It's not okay for a teacher to be biased! I'm really worried about it."
He had listened to her with a brow raised in mild surprise.
"Yet again you leave me astonished that you weren't placed in Slytherin house, Rowena," he commented, "Do not overly concern yourself with this. There is one Miss Hermoine Granger in your first class. She is muggle- born. I will say no more. You will see for yourself."
The rest of their meal proceeded in relative silence. Perhaps it was because, as time went by, more and more students were making their way into the hall for breakfast. Or perhaps it was because of those butterflies (that felt like they were the size of a fist) nervously fluttering in her stomach; but Rowena could almost physically feel the first period closing in on her. Why on earth had she allowed herself to be talked into teaching? This wasn't her 'thing'! If this had been her thing she probably wouldn't have had the sudden urge to run to the loo to rid herself of her freshly ingested breakfast.
Damn those butterflies.
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Rowena sat silently at her desk, reading over her class notes as she waited for the students to trickle in. Her first class was to be the sixth years. She would have all Houses at once. This was unusual, but her subject was so specialized and obscure that not many students had signed up for it. There wasn't justification to split the Houses into pairs as most of the other classes were organized.
She was beyond nervous to almost panic-stricken. Her palms were sweaty and her hands shook when she held them up to look at them. She wasn't exactly a shy person—in small groups or one-on-one she was fine. But the idea of TEACHING! Again she wondered in panicked musings how she had come to be here.
She dried her hands surreptitiously on her robes as she watched the kids of her first period file in. As she made note of where the students took their seats she perceived that their behavior would make interesting data for a social study. Even though this was a combined class of all the Houses, the students of each house segregated themselves as though she had drawn invisible lines dividing them.
When the bell rang, Rowena stood at the front of the class, and the students fell silent. She noticed Draco had to nudge the two large boys that sat at either side of him to get them to be quiet, but she was grateful that he was attempting to show her that much respect at least. The rather pug-nosed girl that was with them seemed to be willing to follow his lead as well.
Her mouth was terribly dry, and she was quite afraid that the students could hear her heart pounding in fright. Still... this was it... first impressions and all that...
"My name is Professor Rowena Lupin, as you know. And yes, to answer your question, Professor Remus Lupin is my brother. Professor Dumbledore has asked me to teach this class as another way of enhancing your magical knowledge and capabilities. I've spent the last 15 years in Research and Development in the Ministry of Magic. I started out with your basic household charms. Your mum might very well clean her toilets with one of my first successful charms. Not very glamorous, I know, but we all start somewhere, right?"
She paused and inhaled, which she realized she hadn't done for a while, "Breathe, Rowena, breathe," she told herself. Her voice was slightly less tremulous when she continued.
"I eventually worked my way up to the Combative Spells Division, and that's where I've been for the last 8 years. I am completely a non-combatant, so don't expect fancy wand-work or elaborate demonstrations from me. I am very familiar with nearly every offensive and defensive spell there is, so long as I can cast it or teach it in a controlled setting, such as my lab or this classroom. We will NOT be practicing dueling in this class. So. That's my basic experience in a nutshell."
She clasped her hands together as she spoke, to attempt to calm their trembling. This had to get better... didn't it?
"How does this affect or benefit you? Well... most of our magical education is just on learning to do the spells. We learn how to do the spells, and with practice we get them to do what they are supposed to do. But HOW do they work? WHY do they work? Most of us are satisfied with the standard answer: 'Because it's magic, that's why'."
The students were listening politely, so far, so that was something in her favor. She leaned back against her desk, hoping to finish explaining the 'boring' stuff before she lost their attention completely. She really wanted to get to some wand work right away!
"In researching new spells, we find that there are actually components to magic. Some of those components we can change and affect, and some we just have to learn to live with. By learning what those components are, you can learn to enhance your own magic. I'm going to outline the basic components here on the board for you, and then we're going to do some spell work today to actually demonstrate the differences."
She moved over to the chalkboard and waved her wand at it, so that the words came up on the board as she spoke. And now she found that discussing the subject with which she was most familiar—with her back to the students so she didn't have to face them directly—helped her nervousness begin to fade. This was her love, her passion, and it showed in her voice as she relaxed.
"All of the components of magic fall into one of four broad categories. INTENTION, MECHANICS, EMOTION and INNATE ABILITY" she said, reading the words she had conjured onto the chalkboard.
"INTENTION is precisely what it sounds like—what is the intent of your spell? Have you ever been asked to clean your room when what you really wanted to do was go outside and ride your broom? You know from that experience that even if you perform the wand movement and incantation perfectly, the spell flops unless you are focusing your INTENTION on what you want the spell to do.
"MECHANICS includes your wand movement, incantation, pronunciation and also includes having the correct components for potions--all of this falls under the mechanics of magic. This is pretty self-explanatory. Some pretty unique and sometimes explosive things can happen if your mechanics are off when you are doing spell work.
"EMOTION is a component that we are only just beginning to understand. It's most obvious in things like the Patronus Charm—one must have a vividly happy emotion upon which to focus in order to successfully produce a corporeal Patronus. The most powerful wizard in the world, with perfect intention and mechanics, could not produce a Patronus if he or she has no happy memories strong enough to fuel the charm. But we are also learning that this can have effects on other spells as well, and we'll be studying this at length in this class."
She paused for breath here as she was writing on the board. She had a moment to fleetingly wonder if Severus had ever produced a Patronus. She didn't think she would ask... she thought she'd rather not know.
"Finally, we have INNATE ABILITY. We are each born with a certain amount of magical 'power' if you will. Nothing we can do will change or alter our own magical power. We can learn to control other things to maximize what power we have, but we can't change it."
She turned back to face the class again. The Ravenclaws were scribbling notes rapidly, as was Miss Granger. Most of the other students were merely listening with varying degrees of attentiveness on their faces, from true interest to barely concealed bored stupor. It was time to stop talking and start listening.
"So. Does anyone have any questions or comments on any of this? Do you think it's bunk? Don't be shy to tell me your thoughts and opinions. One thing about Theory and Research—there really aren't any set right and wrong answers. Every new idea leads to new avenues of research."
Hermoine's hand shot into the air, and Rowena nodded to her, "Miss Granger?"
"When you talk about Intention—doesn't this apply to other things aside from magic? I seem to recall reading about an experiment in the Muggle field of Quantum Physics..."
Draco Malfoy sniggered loudly, and Hermione trailed off in embarrassment, shooting him a venomous glance. Rowena however was looking at her encouragingly. She frowned at Draco.
"Mr. Malfoy, I will not tolerate students deriding each other in my class. I meant what I said about new ideas. Nothing is too strange or off-the- wall to be discussed. I will not warn you again. Please, Miss Granger, continue... I suspect you are on a very interesting point."
Draco scowled at being reprimanded in front of the class, but Hermione blushed with pleasure.
Hermione, given that encouragement, went into great detail about an obscure Quantum Physics experiment. It was quite complex, dealing with the properties of light and electrons and some of Einstein's work. The end hypothesis that made it especially fascinating is that it seemed to prove—scientifically--that the intention of the scientists involved had a measurable effect on their research.
Now Hermione had the same glitter of excitement in her eyes that Rowena often felt when she was onto something that particularly intrigued her. So THIS Muggle-born girl and her thirst for knowledge is what Severus was referring to this morning...
"Well done, Miss Granger. Five points to Gryffindor for such in-depth research into your work. Don't worry, class. We won't be studying Quantum Physics here, but it is a highly valuable field of Muggle Science that I have frequent occasion to utilize. And Miss Granger is precisely right—there are numerous Muggle experiments that support the hypothesis that the intention of the scientist can affect the outcome of their work. It really is fascinating. Our thoughts can be very powerful things.
"Does anyone else want to discuss something about the components of magic?"
"Emotion can affect some shield spells and curses," said Harry Potter, in a rather bored and sullen voice.
Rowena tried not to look pityingly at him. He would have personal experience with that, of course. He was surely unaware that he was the subject of much research in the Ministry. How he had survived the Curse? How had his mother saved him? Whenever their primary work stalled or diminished, several of her colleagues would join her in attempting to hash out the specifics of what had happened there, only finding more questions than answers. Love seemed in many ways to be the greatest mystery of them all...
Drawing her attention back to his comment, she smiled and nodded, "Yes, there are many spells that can be strengthened by focusing the proper emotion. But most of them are naturally the combative spells. Who needs to get all emotional about fixing supper or cleaning the laundry? This is also the easiest component to manipulate when first studying these things, so we will be focusing on this one quite a bit.
"Does anyone else wish to make a comment before we start practicing with some spells?"
"Innate Power is something you are born with," drawled Draco Malfoy lazily, with the arrogant air of the Crown Prince surveying his subjects, "That's why the Pureblood Wizards are so much stronger than the Mudbloods. We have more magical essence to work with,"
"That's a good point, Mr. Malfoy, and one that has been perpetuated within the magical community for many decades. However, you may not use that term in my class again—say Muggle-born if you have need to differentiate. And please be aware that research does not back-up your claim. There are many half-bloods and Muggle-born who have stronger innate talent than many Purebloods. In fact, there is some research to suggest that too much inbreeding is causing Purebloods to become weaker magically. I wouldn't rest on your Pureblood laurels too comfortably, if I were you."
Draco scowled darkly at her, a look which gave her a slight chill. She ignored the sensation and went to the large cabinet in the back of the room.
"I will be teaching you to research and modify your own spells in this class, eventually. But first I want you to become consciously aware of the different components of magic that we've talked about today."
She began pulling out several large objects that vaguely resembled scarecrows on stands. Each was a rather tall, flesh-colored humanoid mannequin. The head was bald and smooth, with no facial features to speak of. They were dressed in tattered rags that must once have been robes, and they had flesh colored fingerless hands that could be made to hold a 'wand'.
"These are research and training mannequins. Researchers and trainee Aurors alike need somewhere to practice their new spells without causing injury to others. We use lab animals extensively as well, of course, but these are far more effective. They are enchanted to show the physical effect of nearly any spell that has a visible result. Obviously things like the silencing charm would not be visible on the mannequin. They are quickly repaired with 'Reparo'.
"For now, we are going to work with emotion. You will think of a curse or hex that you know that has a visible result, and perform it on your mannequin normally. You will observe the result and record it. Then you will repair your mannequin, and think of a strong emotion. I don't care what the emotion is, so long as it is very, very strong. Hate for an enemy, love for a parent, fear of something, whatever it may be. Once you feel you are in the grips of your emotion, cast the exact same spell again, and again observe and record the result.
"I should have enough mannequins here for one for every two to three students. Oh, and the mannequins will melt if set on fire, so please repair them quickly if you use a flame-producing spell, or they will be damaged beyond repair."
The students quickly complied, apparently curious and eager to do some spell work. They touched and prodded the mannequins, trying to ascertain what they were made out of as they talked amongst themselves about what spells they would use.
Rowena walked among them and observed. Malfoy had carefully positioned his mannequin and was standing before it. She had set the mannequins against the classroom walls, so the students would be facing the mannequin and the wall to do their spells. Malfoy had moved it so HE was standing against the wall, facing the mannequin and looking out into the rest of the class.
The hex he was aiming at the mannequin missed, and instead struck... Harry Potter. Harry had been sitting facing their mannequin waiting for Hermione to have her turn first, so his back had been towards Malfoy—he hadn't a chance to see the spell coming. In an instant, Harry's face was covered in large purple boils, and he was covering his face in pain. Hermoine had had her wand in hand, in preparation for her go at the Mannequin, and had reacted quickly with the counter-hex, so that he was almost immediately boil-free again.
Rowena, however, was livid. She strode briskly to Malfoy, where he stood laughing with the other Slytherin Students in the class. She had no idea if he thought she hadn't seen what he had done, or if he thought she wouldn't care... but he was about to learn otherwise.
"Draco Malfoy!" Her voice had a snap to it that which would have made Minerva beam with pride.
He interrupted her while trying to suppress his laughter, before she could continue, "I'm very sorry, Professor. I seem to have missed."
She drew herself up to her full—and not very impressive—height and pulled his wand out of his hand. "That was deliberate. You will not perform any more spells in my class today, Malfoy. Ten points from Slytherin. And if I see you doing anything like that again, you will be serving detention."
Pointing imperiously to a chair near the back wall, she continued, her voice tightly controlled, "Sit there and observe the other students. You will give me a three-foot-essay describing the effects of various emotions on various spells. I suggest you observe your fellow classmates closely, and hope they feel sorry enough for you to tell you what emotion they are feeling on their second go at their spell. See me after class for the return of your wand."
She carefully pocketed the wand and walked to where Harry was standing with his friends. All three seemed to be trying to suppress their own smirks and laughter. "Are you injured, Mr. Potter? Do you need to see Madam Pomfrey?"
"No. I'm fine," he said, with a stoically straight face.
"Very well. Carry on."
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She had only one other class that day, since she was teaching only half- time, and it flowed much more smoothly than the first. Draco played the part of the genuinely remorseful student when he retrieved his wand from her at the end of his class, though she didn't trust him in the least. It was apparently universal that new teachers were 'tested' by some one or other of their students to see how fair they will be, or how strict. She hoped she had 'passed' the test.
Harry stopped by her office as she was leaving to go to lunch. He was looking even surlier than she had yet seen him, and didn't meet her eyes when he spoke to her, "I can't do Occlumency tonight, Professor Lupin. I have detention with Snape."
"PROFESSOR Snape, Mr. Potter," she chided gently, "He gave you detention? Why?"
"What does it matter?" he said angrily, "I have detention. I'm pickling rat brains until he decides I'm done."
She stepped back inside her office and waited for him to follow, then closed the door behind them. She knew how Severus could be towards the boy, and so decided to overlook his rudeness for now.
"It matters because I would like to know what happened. I might be able to have a word with him, but I'd like to know the facts."
"The facts are Snape hates me. The facts are that Malfoy was ticked that you took points off him because of me. He dumped something in my cauldron that made my potion explode when I added my powdered salamander skin. There was a big mess, Snape blamed me, and I got detention," Harry blurted out with a snarl, "And there's no point 'talking' to him about it—he'll just get angrier and make my life worse!"
Rowena sighed, "PROFESSOR Snape, Mr. Potter. I see. Well, let's just leave tonight's Occlumency open, okay? If he lets you out earlier than you expect, you can still come by. Otherwise we can do it tomorrow."
"I have Quidditch practice tomorrow. I'm not missing that for some stupid extra lesson that won't make any difference anyway!"
"Mr. Potter. I understand that you'd rather not be doing these lessons. And I am more than happy to work around your schedule. But I do insist that you be respectful," she chided him again, more sternly this time.
Harry had the grace to look chagrined, but his jaw was still set rather mulishly. "Alright. Sorry. Well, Wednesday, then. There's no chance that PROFESSOR Snape will let me out of detention before dawn."
Rowena smiled at him, and gave him a rather mischievous wink. "Don't underestimate the power of a woman, Potter. We'll wait and see."
Harry looked at her suspiciously, but gave a small smile and a nod.
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Severus was sitting at his tall worktable reading The Daily Prophet in his lab when she arrived. He didn't look up at her entrance, but said decisively, "He's doing the detention, Lupin."
She grinned as she walked over to him. She stepped around behind him, placed her hands on his shoulders and began rubbing his back and neck. "So, did you give him detention because of our argument this morning, because I took ten points off of Malfoy or because you're torqued off that Dumbledore wants me to do his Occlumency?"
He snorted and set the newspaper aside, turning to face her, "I gave him detention because a cauldron blew up in my classroom, making a huge mess and causing several minor injuries. HIS cauldron."
"And you know as well as I do that Malfoy did it."
"Indeed. And you know as well as I do that I have to give Malfoy a free ride in my class. You've made that worse, you know. By making an example of Draco in YOUR class, I have to work harder to prove my position with him in MINE. I'm supposed to be exerting some level of control and influence with you, not the other way around."
Thoughtfully, she frowned. "I hadn't considered that. But I'm not going to let Malfoy rule my class—not for you, Dumbledore, You-Know-Who, anybody. I might be expected to maintain a ruse, but I am also expected to run a class."
"Precisely. I do not expect you to change your teaching methods. Do not expect me to change mine."
She sighed and nodded, "Alright, so give him the detention. But not tonight—he's supposed to do Occlumency with me."
"Very well. I will change it to tomorrow," he said, raising an eyebrow challengingly.
"He has Quidditch practice tomorrow."
"Yes. That is why I chose tonight. I do consider these things you know. But if the Occlumency is so important to you, I am glad to make the change. He won't mind missing one Quidditch practice, I am sure. It would be a great benefit to my House for him to miss as many as possible," he said sardonically.
"Severus, you are being difficult."
"No. I am maintaining my role. If I get a small amount of sadistic satisfaction out of taking the arrogant Potter down a notch in the process, well... I am only human after all."
Rowena sighed and shook her head, "He's not his father, Severus. Just like you aren't yours. Don't make Harry pay for James's crimes. It's not fair to either one of you."
He frowned at her, "Do not throw that in my face again, Lupin. I bloody well know exactly who he is and what I have to do to prevent suspicion. Since you are now involved in this to the point of being in no small amount of danger yourself, I thought you might appreciate that a bit more."
"Well, then give him the detention, make it something suitably unpleasant, but make it short. Run out of brains to pickle or something. He needs the Occlumency, Severus."
"As well I know."
She smiled at him, stepping closer and draping her hands around his neck where he sat facing her on the tall four-legged stool he used at his workbench. "You are the brilliant Potions Master, Slytherin Head of House, I'm sure you can think of a believable scenario where he could get out in time to do some Occlumency."
He reached out and grabbed her waist with his hands, pulling her to stand rather suggestively between his knees, "You are attempting to distract me from the subject at hand, Lupin."
She gave him an exaggeratedly coy look. "No. I am attempting to use my feminine wiles to get my way. What is my success?"
He actually laughed at this, and kissed her soundly. "None at all. I am more than happy to taste of your 'feminine wiles', but he does the detention."
"Hmmm. We'll see. I'm not done scheming of ways to get him out of it," she said, also laughing.
"Rowena."
"Yes?"
"Shut up and let me kiss you properly, as I should have done yesterday."
With a blissful sigh she melted against him as his lips found hers. She was vaguely aware of him waving his hand to shut the lab door, and then the arm wrapped around her again to caress her back, pulling her hips tightly against him.
Teasingly he found her lips with feather-light kisses. She wound her fingers through his hair and tried to pull him to her, urging him to deepen the kiss. He gave her a rather feral grin and nibbled lightly at her lower lip, running his tongue teasingly along the sensitive flesh.
He drank in her soft whimper of frustrated desire and pulled her tighter as he felt her tremble against him, her heart pounding against his chest. At last he yielded to her what she so desperately wanted, and delved his tongue passionately into her sweetly yearning mouth. Tongue caressed tongue as they kissed and tasted in an age-old ritual dance of sensuality. She leaned her body tightly against him, reveling in the feel of his warm strength. A thrilling stab of desire raked through her when she felt the evidence of HIS desire pressed against her, and she moaned against his lips again.
"This is hardly appropriate behavior for two Professors to be fraternizing in such a way between classes," he finally said, teasingly. His own ragged breathing and the added depth to his voice belied any real reprimand in the words. He held her close to him, leaning his cheek against her soft hair, waiting until he had regained some control of his body.
She laid her head against his chest, listening to his heart pound as rapidly as her own. She smiled contentedly, in spite of the frustrations of her body. "We are grown adults, and we aren't exposing ourselves to the students. I hardly think there's anything inappropriate here."
He stood then, altering their positions somewhat by the change in height, though he didn't relinquish his hold on her. "Hmm. You may be correct in that. However, I would not like one of our colleagues to walk in on us in such a way. I have to admit, I had no idea that those work stools were such an... interesting height."
He pressed himself briefly against her again, to illustrate his point, and then laughed lightly at her blush. The desire in her eyes was no less ardent than his, and he felt the need to kiss her lightly and step away.
"I think it is time to proceed to lunch before we degenerate to something truly indecent, Lupin."
She sighed in only semi-feigned disappointment and brushed his hair away from his eyes once more, "Very well. Lead the way. I haven't given up on that detention, you know."
He smirked, "Indeed. I would be surprised if you had. But I appreciate the warning."
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The aroma of pickling juices was thick in the air, almost eye-watering even from down the hall. No voices could be heard from inside the lab, though she knew Severus would be there, watching the boy like a hawk for any opportunity to criticize or ridicule. She smirked and held her finger tightly to her lips towards her companion, who nodded equally silently.
The door was open—probably to prevent asphyxiation of the two inside the lab--the odor was nearly overpowering. Still she observed them silently for a moment. Harry was hunched over a huge cauldron near the back of the lab—he had obviously tried to put as much distance between himself and his irritable professor as possible. Periodically he fished out a small rat brain from the huge vat with a large ladle. He would then examine it carefully, and if it passed his scrutiny it was placed it in a small phial and carefully sealed. Severus seemed to be taking inventory of sorts, striding back and forth between tall store cabinets, clipboard in hand, occasionally scratching on it with his quill.
Rowena stepped lightly into the lab and adopted her most cheerful, unconcerned voice. "Oh, Severus. I was looking for you. I thought I might find you here. Hello, Mr. Potter. Nearly ready for your Occlumency, are you?"
Severus looked up and frowned at her darkly, "You knew you would find me here, Lupin, as it is necessary to baby-sit Potter whenever there is a cauldron involved. He will not be available for Occlumency tonight, as well you know."
She raised her eyebrow playfully, and asked archly, "Oh, really? Are you sure about that?"
A small figure that might have been a house elf streaked through the door at that moment, squealing in high-pitched tones that were incomprehensible to two of the three people in the room. All that was heard for certain was a name, "Severus! Severus! Severus!"
Katrina had flung herself into his arms before he could fully register her presence, though he caught her deftly, laying the clipboard and quill aside as he hugged her in greeting.
She was beaming brightly and chattering to him in rapid German, stopping periodically only to hug him briefly and then resume her happy chatter. She was so obviously ecstatic to see him that she was nearly laughing and crying at the same time.
Severus tried to get a word of his own fluent German in edgewise, but the child apparently had too much to say after nearly ten days absence, and at last he gave up the effort. Looking over the child's head, he scowled at Rowena, who had just shut the lab door.
"Low blow, Lupin," he muttered darkly, though his delight at seeing the child was difficult for even him to conceal, and he did not succeed in fooling her.
She merely grinned unconcernedly, and placed a large basket on his workbench, "It turns out that Molly had some business she needed to do tonight, and wondered if Katrina could come and spend the evening with me. Well, of course I was delighted to have her.
"But she's missed you so much, she wouldn't stop begging to come and see you. So. I thought that I could have Harry while you two catch up. She's brought a whole basket full of games she wants you to play, books she wants you to read, and pictures she's drawn for you that she won't let me look at."
She stood, smiling innocently at him, watching his jaw muscle work in irritation.
"Potter has to finish his detention. We discussed this earlier," he said in the silken tones he only used when he was truly angry.
"Of course he does. That's why I've shut and sealed all my doors, and just did your lab door as well. What are the terms of his detention?"
Severus raised a brow at her, "He is done when all the brains are pickled and stored, and he may not use magic to do it."
She nodded and went over to the cauldron where Harry was working, peering inside. "HE may not use magic? Perfect. Harry, how long have you been at it?"
"Two hours," he said from behind his cauldron, where he was obviously trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible, though his curiosity had him listening to the exchange with rapt attention.
"Well, I think that we can all agree that two hours is punishment enough for a crime that the three of us know you didn't commit to begin with, right?"
Before either male could respond to her comment, she had produced her wand, and with a wave stored all the rest of the brains neatly in the empty phials stacked next to the cauldron. She then casually stuck her wand back in her robes and walked over to Katrina and Severus—the later of whom was looking completely outraged.
"This solves all," she said, cheerfully dusting her hands in a 'task is done' manner, "The brains are pickled, and HE did not use magic to do it. I'll take him through the private doors to my office for the Occlumency. No one need ever know that he didn't toil away down here all night with those brains. And you get to spend a lovely evening with Katrina, who has missed you desperately just as you've missed her. I'll bring him back here when we're done so he can leave through the proper door, and no one will be the wiser."
"I am going to be speaking to Dumbledore in the morning about you, Lupin," Severus growled.
"Oh? Going to have me sacked?" she asked, smiling innocently.
"No. I am going to see if there is a procedure in place for transferring school Houses after graduation. That Sorting Hat had no business placing you anywhere but Slytherin. I am not pleased about being manipulated, but I can't find fault in your logic, nor your methods.
"Take him and go then," he said with annoyance.
She smiled at him as she hugged and kissed Katrina, "You have fun, okay?" The little girl nodded and laid her head against Severus's chest, as he continued to absent-mindedly stroke her hair.
She thought briefly of kissing him as well... but her common sense won over. He had not descended to rage over her machinations, but she doubted he would tolerate such a display of affection in front of Potter. His fathomless black eyes bored into her, inscrutable as always, but the tell- tale jaw muscle twitched. She decided she had tested his limits quite far enough for one day.
"Don't be angry with me, Severus. You needed to see her as much as she needed to see you."
"Just go, Lupin," he growled again, "And Potter—if word of any of this finds its way ANYWHERE, including Weasley and Granger—you will be extracting the brains before pickling them. This requires carefully killing the rat during the new moon by stopping its heart between beats with the poisoned needle of a Knarl. I go through many, many pickled rat brains in the course of a year. Do I make myself clear?"
Harry had been standing silently this whole time, though he had picked up his bag in case he needed to run in a hurry, and also had his wand firmly in hand. He met Snape's eyes, and expected to find them scowling with the pure hatred that he usually saw there. The anger and threat were there, without question. But it was hard to find him completely terrifying when he was playing gently with the golden curls of the tiny girl on his lap, unconsciously rocking her tenderly.
Ron had told him about Snape's interaction with the girl, and he had seen the child himself the last couple of days of the Holiday. But he had never believed a word of the stuff about Snape being affectionate with the child!
He found his way out of his shocked disbelief to nod his head stiffly. "Of course, Professor; not a word."
Rowena led him to a tall shelf on the back wall of the lab and spoke a password that he didn't quite hear. "This way, Mr. Potter. We'll be in my office in a minute."
Harry followed her quickly, without another word. His most hated Professor had already ceased to regard their presence, as he was talking softly in a foreign language to the child on his lap, who conversed animatedly with him in return. Their voices were lost when the wall slid shut behind them and he had time to muse on what he had seen as he trailed after his favorite Professor's sister.
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A/N: I'm sorry if the class stuff is too boring. I won't be writing much more class stuff in this sort of detail in the future, but I needed some background material.
Occlumency will be next—I intended to do it in this chapter, but it simply got too long. And I'm still debating with myself how angry Snape will be over Rowena's machinations to get Harry freed for Occlumency.
I agree totally with my reviewer on fanfiction.net who says that she finds it a stretch to believe that our beloved Severus is still a virgin at the age of 37. But I couldn't resist the sweetness of it. The poor guy's had such a hard life—I had to give him one 'perfect' thing. You will just have to suspend belief for this story.
Here's my rationale for this little bit of Alternate Universe: He never sunk to the depths of rape, and didn't want to be snagged into marriage for his 'bloodlines' so he avoided the advances of the willing as well, including the typical Death Eater Orgy business. Sorry if you're finding that too much of a stretch.
This much satisfies my own fantasy. When they at last get together heaven and earth will sing in the sweet perfection of it! That's my story, this time around, and I'm sticking to it. /wink/
As always, I appreciate your reviews and comments. The more specific, even if critical, the better. I desperately want to improve, as well as have fun writing. Please recommend my story to others if you liked it! Please tell me if you didn't.
Thanks, next chapter soon. Happy reading.
Lisa/aka Shanti
Huge thanks to my beta-readers: Padfoot the Marauder and Elaine. This is my first beta'd chapter, I can't believe how much better it flows! Hopefully these lovely ladies will have time to help me do future chapters and perhaps even polish up the preceding ones. I can't thank you both enough!
Rowena's first class. Katrina visits. Rowena gets a tad manipulative.
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Chapter 17: Slytherin Ways
Rowena was among the first teachers to arrive at the Great Hall for breakfast. She sat down a small distance away from the few other early risers who were already seated at the staff table. There were no 'set' times for most meals in Hogwarts, instead a time range where teachers and students could come and go according to their schedules.
The fact that Rowena generally was an early riser, combined with the knowledge that her first class was starting at 9:00 left her just too apprehensive about her first attempt at teaching to sit in her flat any longer. Thus she sought her salvation in nervously toying with the eggs and toast that were lifelessly sprawled on her plate.
Silently she had allowed the conversations of the other teachers to waft over her, until someone snuck up on her and roused her from her musings.
"Howdy, little lady. Mind if I sit here a spell? You're lookin' a might down. You ain't nervous about teachin', are ya?" Without giving her a chance to refuse him the seat, Dylan sat in the empty chair next to her and flashed his jubilant smile. "I gotta admit, I didn't know there'd be so many kids. Might have a time keeping the classes under control."
Heroically resisting the urge to glare at him in annoyance, she gave him a very small smile of greeting. 'Little lady' indeed! "Good morning, Professor Howard. Yes, I confess, I am a bit nervous. I haven't done any teaching before."
"Aw, now, I'm sure you'll do just fine." He looked at her, shrewdly assessing, "I reckon the real reason you seem a bit low today is that spat with your beau last night."
Rowena flashed him a sidelong glance that she meant to be withering, but merely increased the brightness of his smile. "Who does he think he is, to talk about my private affairs like that?" she thought indignantly.
Dylan turned in his chair towards her and leaned forwards. Rowena resisted the urge to lean away from him, though she did briefly consider activating her 'Navitas Texi' due to his proximity. Either option seemed rude or cowardly, so she satisfied herself with merely frowning at him coolly.
"It ain't none of my business, o'course," Dylan commented, "and I'm right sorry that you'd be hurtin'. But I reckon you could do better'n that fella. He's as right prickly as a cactus."
Rowena made a noise of shocked outrage, and was on the verge of telling him that he was bloody well right--it wasn't any of his business--when she found herself interrupted by a third party.
"I believe the 'little lady' is quite capable of making her own decisions, Professor Howard"
The deceptively silken tones of an annoyed Severus Snape washed over them from behind. Dylan actually jumped slightly and moved away from Rowena a fraction.
"You are correct in one thing—it is none of your business," Severus spat, "Now. Move. You are in my chair."
Rowena's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Merlin's Beard!" she thought, "Just exactly how much gossip did he want running around the school??"
Granted, only about a quarter of the student body was in the Hall at this moment, but at least half of those were watching the proceedings avidly. They hadn't paid much attention when Dylan had sat next to her, but she had noticed many heads turn in their direction shortly after he had taken his seat. She should have known that her very silent 'beau' was standing behind them. She couldn't believe she'd been so dim-witted. What a spiffy Auror she would have made!
And then for him to order Dylan to move, as though the seat on her other side wasn't perfectly empty! Rowena felt the blush heat her face, but couldn't stop the slight smile of pleasure that formed on her lips, in spite of her current irritation with both men. She glanced surreptitiously at Dylan who was obviously trying to decide what to do.
"Right 'cha are, Sev. Chair's all yours," he said courteously. Apparently he decided that taking on a senior member of the staff on his first day, in the Great Hall in front of students was NOT something he wanted to do.
As he stood and bowed slightly, he grinned at the noise of outrage from Snape at the shortening of his name. He quickly went to sit by Minerva, already chatting warmly to her in his thick drawl.
Having finally gotten rid of the annoying cowboy, Severus sat down in a graceful swirl of black robes. He imperceptibly moved his chair slightly closer to hers, but his infamous dark scowl was solidly fixed upon Howard.
She tried to stifle a small laugh as she sipped her tea, looking at him contemplatively. The idea that she might actually enjoy a brief moment of two men vying for her attention was not something she would have ever ascribed to herself. Since when had she become such a... such a GIRL? Probably the instant that Severus first walked into her lab at the Ministry, she mused.
Severus looked over at her when he heard her small snort of laughter, and his dark scowl softened slightly.
"I was unaware that cowboys were to your taste, Lupin," he said sardonically.
"I was unaware that you had a jealous streak, Sev," she replied, teasingly.
He glared angrily at her. "I will not tolerate that," he said sharply, "Not even in jest. Do not call me that again. And I do not have a jealous streak. We have a job to do, an image to maintain, or had you forgotten already? Perhaps the charms of your cowboy are causing you to have second thoughts about your role?"
Rowena laughed lightly, ignoring his obvious irritation. Everything just seemed brighter somehow, even in Severus's dark mood. He was at least speaking to her, which was an improvement over their parting last night. She noticed that he looked worlds better this morning. Apparently a nice vent of anger and a bit of sleep had gone far. She leaned in closer to him, and he moved towards her as well, so that they were nearly touching.
"I have forgotten nothing, Severus," she said. "I do not care for cowboys a jot. And you do, indeed, have a jealous streak. It's okay. I like it. It's sort of cute."
He snorted at this last and rolled his eyes, though the corners of his mouth did lift slightly in the smallest of smirks. He was finding himself newly unsettled at the thought that he couldn't maintain a good righteous anger with her. When had he gotten so soft? He reached for the platter of eggs and toast and shook his head.
"Cute? Now I have to add 'cute' to the list of your delusions about me? I'm afraid it is only a matter of time before I will be forced to place you in the mental ward at St. Mungos for your own personal safety."
He did not meet her eyes as he continued, rigidly adopting the air of bored unconcern he hid behind whenever his deeper emotions were involved.
"You would be well within your rights if you chose not to speak with me after my behavior towards you at the feast yesterday," he admitted. He realized with a mild stab of alarm that this statement was closer than he had ever come before to a genuine apology for his actions. This Lupin seemed to have a frightening effect on his mental state!
"It's okay, Severus," Rowena said reassuringly. "You were stressed, exhausted and angry with my brother. I was an easy target. I understand, as long as you don't expect me to sit quietly by and just 'take it'."
"Indeed," he said, with a smirk as he glanced over at her, "You are too full of your own quick temper for that."
She smiled back at him, but her air had a note of challenge, "While we're on the subject... I don't want you insulting or belittling any of the students in front of me. Not even Harry Potter."
Severus raised an eyebrow in surprise at this. "Now you ask too much Lupin, and you know it. I loathe the boy. It is quite mutual. I could not change that, not even for you. Not even if I wished it, which I do not."
"I don't think you really hate him, you hate his father," Rowena said, gazing at him very seriously, "He's not James. I'm not going to hash that out with you either way. I don't care how you FEEL about him, or how you behave towards him privately. I just don't want to SEE it."
She took a deep breath and continued quickly, speaking rapidly so he wouldn't have the chance to interrupt her.
"You are doing to him precisely what I hated about what James and his friends did to you. If Potter and Black had kept your feud private, I probably wouldn't have hated them quite so much. There was no excuse for them to deliberately, intentionally humiliate you in public, except malicious cruelty.
"The same goes for you and Harry," she pointed out. "I'm his Professor now, as are you. It's very unprofessional behavior to belittle the students like that, particularly in front of other professors. I don't want to see it."
With that, her flood of words drew to a close. All the while she had been watching his face to see how he would take her admonition. As always, he was inscrutable, though she thought she could detect a slight air of amusement behind the definite irritation.
"So, Miss Rowena Danae Lupin does have her limits as to what level of depravity she will tolerate in her paramour, after all. I am actually glad to know it," he said sarcastically.
There was a quirk to his mouth as he said this. He nodded, his voice becoming sardonically amused again, "Very well, PROFESSOR Lupin. I suppose you have a point regarding professional behavior. I will consider what you have said. I make no promises. Tormenting Harry Potter is one of my rare joys, and I am reluctant to give it up."
She grinned at his teasing. She knew full well that his dislike of the boy was genuine, but that his public display of that dislike was more a show for the benefit of the children of Death Eaters. He was quite possibly glad for the excuse to be able to tone it down a bit.
"That is acceptable, Professor," she said, laying a hand gently on his leg.
He placed his hand over hers and squeezed it reassuringly. "Indeed. Now perhaps I will be allowed to finish my breakfast in peace?" He looked at her piercingly and added, "Are you nervous about your classes, as Cowboy Bill suggested?"
Rowena sighed at the reminder of her classes, and the nervousness that had temporarily been forgotten returned in full measure.
"Well, yes, actually a bit. I've spent most of my life so isolated. I've only ever been around lots of people for any length of time when I was a student here myself. All the rest of the time I've been pretty alone. Even working at the Ministry, I was quite secluded. And I'm afraid my own prejudices will come through."
She lowered her voice and looked at him worriedly. She could tell him... he was Slytherin, after all. He would understand, and not laugh. "I spent all my school days firmly believing that Muggle-borns, or students raised as such, should be educated separately from children raised in a family of wizards. It seemed like it took so much time for the Muggle born kids to catch up with the basics. I was really frustrated. What if I get frustrated with my students now? It's not okay for a teacher to be biased! I'm really worried about it."
He had listened to her with a brow raised in mild surprise.
"Yet again you leave me astonished that you weren't placed in Slytherin house, Rowena," he commented, "Do not overly concern yourself with this. There is one Miss Hermoine Granger in your first class. She is muggle- born. I will say no more. You will see for yourself."
The rest of their meal proceeded in relative silence. Perhaps it was because, as time went by, more and more students were making their way into the hall for breakfast. Or perhaps it was because of those butterflies (that felt like they were the size of a fist) nervously fluttering in her stomach; but Rowena could almost physically feel the first period closing in on her. Why on earth had she allowed herself to be talked into teaching? This wasn't her 'thing'! If this had been her thing she probably wouldn't have had the sudden urge to run to the loo to rid herself of her freshly ingested breakfast.
Damn those butterflies.
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Rowena sat silently at her desk, reading over her class notes as she waited for the students to trickle in. Her first class was to be the sixth years. She would have all Houses at once. This was unusual, but her subject was so specialized and obscure that not many students had signed up for it. There wasn't justification to split the Houses into pairs as most of the other classes were organized.
She was beyond nervous to almost panic-stricken. Her palms were sweaty and her hands shook when she held them up to look at them. She wasn't exactly a shy person—in small groups or one-on-one she was fine. But the idea of TEACHING! Again she wondered in panicked musings how she had come to be here.
She dried her hands surreptitiously on her robes as she watched the kids of her first period file in. As she made note of where the students took their seats she perceived that their behavior would make interesting data for a social study. Even though this was a combined class of all the Houses, the students of each house segregated themselves as though she had drawn invisible lines dividing them.
When the bell rang, Rowena stood at the front of the class, and the students fell silent. She noticed Draco had to nudge the two large boys that sat at either side of him to get them to be quiet, but she was grateful that he was attempting to show her that much respect at least. The rather pug-nosed girl that was with them seemed to be willing to follow his lead as well.
Her mouth was terribly dry, and she was quite afraid that the students could hear her heart pounding in fright. Still... this was it... first impressions and all that...
"My name is Professor Rowena Lupin, as you know. And yes, to answer your question, Professor Remus Lupin is my brother. Professor Dumbledore has asked me to teach this class as another way of enhancing your magical knowledge and capabilities. I've spent the last 15 years in Research and Development in the Ministry of Magic. I started out with your basic household charms. Your mum might very well clean her toilets with one of my first successful charms. Not very glamorous, I know, but we all start somewhere, right?"
She paused and inhaled, which she realized she hadn't done for a while, "Breathe, Rowena, breathe," she told herself. Her voice was slightly less tremulous when she continued.
"I eventually worked my way up to the Combative Spells Division, and that's where I've been for the last 8 years. I am completely a non-combatant, so don't expect fancy wand-work or elaborate demonstrations from me. I am very familiar with nearly every offensive and defensive spell there is, so long as I can cast it or teach it in a controlled setting, such as my lab or this classroom. We will NOT be practicing dueling in this class. So. That's my basic experience in a nutshell."
She clasped her hands together as she spoke, to attempt to calm their trembling. This had to get better... didn't it?
"How does this affect or benefit you? Well... most of our magical education is just on learning to do the spells. We learn how to do the spells, and with practice we get them to do what they are supposed to do. But HOW do they work? WHY do they work? Most of us are satisfied with the standard answer: 'Because it's magic, that's why'."
The students were listening politely, so far, so that was something in her favor. She leaned back against her desk, hoping to finish explaining the 'boring' stuff before she lost their attention completely. She really wanted to get to some wand work right away!
"In researching new spells, we find that there are actually components to magic. Some of those components we can change and affect, and some we just have to learn to live with. By learning what those components are, you can learn to enhance your own magic. I'm going to outline the basic components here on the board for you, and then we're going to do some spell work today to actually demonstrate the differences."
She moved over to the chalkboard and waved her wand at it, so that the words came up on the board as she spoke. And now she found that discussing the subject with which she was most familiar—with her back to the students so she didn't have to face them directly—helped her nervousness begin to fade. This was her love, her passion, and it showed in her voice as she relaxed.
"All of the components of magic fall into one of four broad categories. INTENTION, MECHANICS, EMOTION and INNATE ABILITY" she said, reading the words she had conjured onto the chalkboard.
"INTENTION is precisely what it sounds like—what is the intent of your spell? Have you ever been asked to clean your room when what you really wanted to do was go outside and ride your broom? You know from that experience that even if you perform the wand movement and incantation perfectly, the spell flops unless you are focusing your INTENTION on what you want the spell to do.
"MECHANICS includes your wand movement, incantation, pronunciation and also includes having the correct components for potions--all of this falls under the mechanics of magic. This is pretty self-explanatory. Some pretty unique and sometimes explosive things can happen if your mechanics are off when you are doing spell work.
"EMOTION is a component that we are only just beginning to understand. It's most obvious in things like the Patronus Charm—one must have a vividly happy emotion upon which to focus in order to successfully produce a corporeal Patronus. The most powerful wizard in the world, with perfect intention and mechanics, could not produce a Patronus if he or she has no happy memories strong enough to fuel the charm. But we are also learning that this can have effects on other spells as well, and we'll be studying this at length in this class."
She paused for breath here as she was writing on the board. She had a moment to fleetingly wonder if Severus had ever produced a Patronus. She didn't think she would ask... she thought she'd rather not know.
"Finally, we have INNATE ABILITY. We are each born with a certain amount of magical 'power' if you will. Nothing we can do will change or alter our own magical power. We can learn to control other things to maximize what power we have, but we can't change it."
She turned back to face the class again. The Ravenclaws were scribbling notes rapidly, as was Miss Granger. Most of the other students were merely listening with varying degrees of attentiveness on their faces, from true interest to barely concealed bored stupor. It was time to stop talking and start listening.
"So. Does anyone have any questions or comments on any of this? Do you think it's bunk? Don't be shy to tell me your thoughts and opinions. One thing about Theory and Research—there really aren't any set right and wrong answers. Every new idea leads to new avenues of research."
Hermoine's hand shot into the air, and Rowena nodded to her, "Miss Granger?"
"When you talk about Intention—doesn't this apply to other things aside from magic? I seem to recall reading about an experiment in the Muggle field of Quantum Physics..."
Draco Malfoy sniggered loudly, and Hermione trailed off in embarrassment, shooting him a venomous glance. Rowena however was looking at her encouragingly. She frowned at Draco.
"Mr. Malfoy, I will not tolerate students deriding each other in my class. I meant what I said about new ideas. Nothing is too strange or off-the- wall to be discussed. I will not warn you again. Please, Miss Granger, continue... I suspect you are on a very interesting point."
Draco scowled at being reprimanded in front of the class, but Hermione blushed with pleasure.
Hermione, given that encouragement, went into great detail about an obscure Quantum Physics experiment. It was quite complex, dealing with the properties of light and electrons and some of Einstein's work. The end hypothesis that made it especially fascinating is that it seemed to prove—scientifically--that the intention of the scientists involved had a measurable effect on their research.
Now Hermione had the same glitter of excitement in her eyes that Rowena often felt when she was onto something that particularly intrigued her. So THIS Muggle-born girl and her thirst for knowledge is what Severus was referring to this morning...
"Well done, Miss Granger. Five points to Gryffindor for such in-depth research into your work. Don't worry, class. We won't be studying Quantum Physics here, but it is a highly valuable field of Muggle Science that I have frequent occasion to utilize. And Miss Granger is precisely right—there are numerous Muggle experiments that support the hypothesis that the intention of the scientist can affect the outcome of their work. It really is fascinating. Our thoughts can be very powerful things.
"Does anyone else want to discuss something about the components of magic?"
"Emotion can affect some shield spells and curses," said Harry Potter, in a rather bored and sullen voice.
Rowena tried not to look pityingly at him. He would have personal experience with that, of course. He was surely unaware that he was the subject of much research in the Ministry. How he had survived the Curse? How had his mother saved him? Whenever their primary work stalled or diminished, several of her colleagues would join her in attempting to hash out the specifics of what had happened there, only finding more questions than answers. Love seemed in many ways to be the greatest mystery of them all...
Drawing her attention back to his comment, she smiled and nodded, "Yes, there are many spells that can be strengthened by focusing the proper emotion. But most of them are naturally the combative spells. Who needs to get all emotional about fixing supper or cleaning the laundry? This is also the easiest component to manipulate when first studying these things, so we will be focusing on this one quite a bit.
"Does anyone else wish to make a comment before we start practicing with some spells?"
"Innate Power is something you are born with," drawled Draco Malfoy lazily, with the arrogant air of the Crown Prince surveying his subjects, "That's why the Pureblood Wizards are so much stronger than the Mudbloods. We have more magical essence to work with,"
"That's a good point, Mr. Malfoy, and one that has been perpetuated within the magical community for many decades. However, you may not use that term in my class again—say Muggle-born if you have need to differentiate. And please be aware that research does not back-up your claim. There are many half-bloods and Muggle-born who have stronger innate talent than many Purebloods. In fact, there is some research to suggest that too much inbreeding is causing Purebloods to become weaker magically. I wouldn't rest on your Pureblood laurels too comfortably, if I were you."
Draco scowled darkly at her, a look which gave her a slight chill. She ignored the sensation and went to the large cabinet in the back of the room.
"I will be teaching you to research and modify your own spells in this class, eventually. But first I want you to become consciously aware of the different components of magic that we've talked about today."
She began pulling out several large objects that vaguely resembled scarecrows on stands. Each was a rather tall, flesh-colored humanoid mannequin. The head was bald and smooth, with no facial features to speak of. They were dressed in tattered rags that must once have been robes, and they had flesh colored fingerless hands that could be made to hold a 'wand'.
"These are research and training mannequins. Researchers and trainee Aurors alike need somewhere to practice their new spells without causing injury to others. We use lab animals extensively as well, of course, but these are far more effective. They are enchanted to show the physical effect of nearly any spell that has a visible result. Obviously things like the silencing charm would not be visible on the mannequin. They are quickly repaired with 'Reparo'.
"For now, we are going to work with emotion. You will think of a curse or hex that you know that has a visible result, and perform it on your mannequin normally. You will observe the result and record it. Then you will repair your mannequin, and think of a strong emotion. I don't care what the emotion is, so long as it is very, very strong. Hate for an enemy, love for a parent, fear of something, whatever it may be. Once you feel you are in the grips of your emotion, cast the exact same spell again, and again observe and record the result.
"I should have enough mannequins here for one for every two to three students. Oh, and the mannequins will melt if set on fire, so please repair them quickly if you use a flame-producing spell, or they will be damaged beyond repair."
The students quickly complied, apparently curious and eager to do some spell work. They touched and prodded the mannequins, trying to ascertain what they were made out of as they talked amongst themselves about what spells they would use.
Rowena walked among them and observed. Malfoy had carefully positioned his mannequin and was standing before it. She had set the mannequins against the classroom walls, so the students would be facing the mannequin and the wall to do their spells. Malfoy had moved it so HE was standing against the wall, facing the mannequin and looking out into the rest of the class.
The hex he was aiming at the mannequin missed, and instead struck... Harry Potter. Harry had been sitting facing their mannequin waiting for Hermione to have her turn first, so his back had been towards Malfoy—he hadn't a chance to see the spell coming. In an instant, Harry's face was covered in large purple boils, and he was covering his face in pain. Hermoine had had her wand in hand, in preparation for her go at the Mannequin, and had reacted quickly with the counter-hex, so that he was almost immediately boil-free again.
Rowena, however, was livid. She strode briskly to Malfoy, where he stood laughing with the other Slytherin Students in the class. She had no idea if he thought she hadn't seen what he had done, or if he thought she wouldn't care... but he was about to learn otherwise.
"Draco Malfoy!" Her voice had a snap to it that which would have made Minerva beam with pride.
He interrupted her while trying to suppress his laughter, before she could continue, "I'm very sorry, Professor. I seem to have missed."
She drew herself up to her full—and not very impressive—height and pulled his wand out of his hand. "That was deliberate. You will not perform any more spells in my class today, Malfoy. Ten points from Slytherin. And if I see you doing anything like that again, you will be serving detention."
Pointing imperiously to a chair near the back wall, she continued, her voice tightly controlled, "Sit there and observe the other students. You will give me a three-foot-essay describing the effects of various emotions on various spells. I suggest you observe your fellow classmates closely, and hope they feel sorry enough for you to tell you what emotion they are feeling on their second go at their spell. See me after class for the return of your wand."
She carefully pocketed the wand and walked to where Harry was standing with his friends. All three seemed to be trying to suppress their own smirks and laughter. "Are you injured, Mr. Potter? Do you need to see Madam Pomfrey?"
"No. I'm fine," he said, with a stoically straight face.
"Very well. Carry on."
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She had only one other class that day, since she was teaching only half- time, and it flowed much more smoothly than the first. Draco played the part of the genuinely remorseful student when he retrieved his wand from her at the end of his class, though she didn't trust him in the least. It was apparently universal that new teachers were 'tested' by some one or other of their students to see how fair they will be, or how strict. She hoped she had 'passed' the test.
Harry stopped by her office as she was leaving to go to lunch. He was looking even surlier than she had yet seen him, and didn't meet her eyes when he spoke to her, "I can't do Occlumency tonight, Professor Lupin. I have detention with Snape."
"PROFESSOR Snape, Mr. Potter," she chided gently, "He gave you detention? Why?"
"What does it matter?" he said angrily, "I have detention. I'm pickling rat brains until he decides I'm done."
She stepped back inside her office and waited for him to follow, then closed the door behind them. She knew how Severus could be towards the boy, and so decided to overlook his rudeness for now.
"It matters because I would like to know what happened. I might be able to have a word with him, but I'd like to know the facts."
"The facts are Snape hates me. The facts are that Malfoy was ticked that you took points off him because of me. He dumped something in my cauldron that made my potion explode when I added my powdered salamander skin. There was a big mess, Snape blamed me, and I got detention," Harry blurted out with a snarl, "And there's no point 'talking' to him about it—he'll just get angrier and make my life worse!"
Rowena sighed, "PROFESSOR Snape, Mr. Potter. I see. Well, let's just leave tonight's Occlumency open, okay? If he lets you out earlier than you expect, you can still come by. Otherwise we can do it tomorrow."
"I have Quidditch practice tomorrow. I'm not missing that for some stupid extra lesson that won't make any difference anyway!"
"Mr. Potter. I understand that you'd rather not be doing these lessons. And I am more than happy to work around your schedule. But I do insist that you be respectful," she chided him again, more sternly this time.
Harry had the grace to look chagrined, but his jaw was still set rather mulishly. "Alright. Sorry. Well, Wednesday, then. There's no chance that PROFESSOR Snape will let me out of detention before dawn."
Rowena smiled at him, and gave him a rather mischievous wink. "Don't underestimate the power of a woman, Potter. We'll wait and see."
Harry looked at her suspiciously, but gave a small smile and a nod.
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Severus was sitting at his tall worktable reading The Daily Prophet in his lab when she arrived. He didn't look up at her entrance, but said decisively, "He's doing the detention, Lupin."
She grinned as she walked over to him. She stepped around behind him, placed her hands on his shoulders and began rubbing his back and neck. "So, did you give him detention because of our argument this morning, because I took ten points off of Malfoy or because you're torqued off that Dumbledore wants me to do his Occlumency?"
He snorted and set the newspaper aside, turning to face her, "I gave him detention because a cauldron blew up in my classroom, making a huge mess and causing several minor injuries. HIS cauldron."
"And you know as well as I do that Malfoy did it."
"Indeed. And you know as well as I do that I have to give Malfoy a free ride in my class. You've made that worse, you know. By making an example of Draco in YOUR class, I have to work harder to prove my position with him in MINE. I'm supposed to be exerting some level of control and influence with you, not the other way around."
Thoughtfully, she frowned. "I hadn't considered that. But I'm not going to let Malfoy rule my class—not for you, Dumbledore, You-Know-Who, anybody. I might be expected to maintain a ruse, but I am also expected to run a class."
"Precisely. I do not expect you to change your teaching methods. Do not expect me to change mine."
She sighed and nodded, "Alright, so give him the detention. But not tonight—he's supposed to do Occlumency with me."
"Very well. I will change it to tomorrow," he said, raising an eyebrow challengingly.
"He has Quidditch practice tomorrow."
"Yes. That is why I chose tonight. I do consider these things you know. But if the Occlumency is so important to you, I am glad to make the change. He won't mind missing one Quidditch practice, I am sure. It would be a great benefit to my House for him to miss as many as possible," he said sardonically.
"Severus, you are being difficult."
"No. I am maintaining my role. If I get a small amount of sadistic satisfaction out of taking the arrogant Potter down a notch in the process, well... I am only human after all."
Rowena sighed and shook her head, "He's not his father, Severus. Just like you aren't yours. Don't make Harry pay for James's crimes. It's not fair to either one of you."
He frowned at her, "Do not throw that in my face again, Lupin. I bloody well know exactly who he is and what I have to do to prevent suspicion. Since you are now involved in this to the point of being in no small amount of danger yourself, I thought you might appreciate that a bit more."
"Well, then give him the detention, make it something suitably unpleasant, but make it short. Run out of brains to pickle or something. He needs the Occlumency, Severus."
"As well I know."
She smiled at him, stepping closer and draping her hands around his neck where he sat facing her on the tall four-legged stool he used at his workbench. "You are the brilliant Potions Master, Slytherin Head of House, I'm sure you can think of a believable scenario where he could get out in time to do some Occlumency."
He reached out and grabbed her waist with his hands, pulling her to stand rather suggestively between his knees, "You are attempting to distract me from the subject at hand, Lupin."
She gave him an exaggeratedly coy look. "No. I am attempting to use my feminine wiles to get my way. What is my success?"
He actually laughed at this, and kissed her soundly. "None at all. I am more than happy to taste of your 'feminine wiles', but he does the detention."
"Hmmm. We'll see. I'm not done scheming of ways to get him out of it," she said, also laughing.
"Rowena."
"Yes?"
"Shut up and let me kiss you properly, as I should have done yesterday."
With a blissful sigh she melted against him as his lips found hers. She was vaguely aware of him waving his hand to shut the lab door, and then the arm wrapped around her again to caress her back, pulling her hips tightly against him.
Teasingly he found her lips with feather-light kisses. She wound her fingers through his hair and tried to pull him to her, urging him to deepen the kiss. He gave her a rather feral grin and nibbled lightly at her lower lip, running his tongue teasingly along the sensitive flesh.
He drank in her soft whimper of frustrated desire and pulled her tighter as he felt her tremble against him, her heart pounding against his chest. At last he yielded to her what she so desperately wanted, and delved his tongue passionately into her sweetly yearning mouth. Tongue caressed tongue as they kissed and tasted in an age-old ritual dance of sensuality. She leaned her body tightly against him, reveling in the feel of his warm strength. A thrilling stab of desire raked through her when she felt the evidence of HIS desire pressed against her, and she moaned against his lips again.
"This is hardly appropriate behavior for two Professors to be fraternizing in such a way between classes," he finally said, teasingly. His own ragged breathing and the added depth to his voice belied any real reprimand in the words. He held her close to him, leaning his cheek against her soft hair, waiting until he had regained some control of his body.
She laid her head against his chest, listening to his heart pound as rapidly as her own. She smiled contentedly, in spite of the frustrations of her body. "We are grown adults, and we aren't exposing ourselves to the students. I hardly think there's anything inappropriate here."
He stood then, altering their positions somewhat by the change in height, though he didn't relinquish his hold on her. "Hmm. You may be correct in that. However, I would not like one of our colleagues to walk in on us in such a way. I have to admit, I had no idea that those work stools were such an... interesting height."
He pressed himself briefly against her again, to illustrate his point, and then laughed lightly at her blush. The desire in her eyes was no less ardent than his, and he felt the need to kiss her lightly and step away.
"I think it is time to proceed to lunch before we degenerate to something truly indecent, Lupin."
She sighed in only semi-feigned disappointment and brushed his hair away from his eyes once more, "Very well. Lead the way. I haven't given up on that detention, you know."
He smirked, "Indeed. I would be surprised if you had. But I appreciate the warning."
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The aroma of pickling juices was thick in the air, almost eye-watering even from down the hall. No voices could be heard from inside the lab, though she knew Severus would be there, watching the boy like a hawk for any opportunity to criticize or ridicule. She smirked and held her finger tightly to her lips towards her companion, who nodded equally silently.
The door was open—probably to prevent asphyxiation of the two inside the lab--the odor was nearly overpowering. Still she observed them silently for a moment. Harry was hunched over a huge cauldron near the back of the lab—he had obviously tried to put as much distance between himself and his irritable professor as possible. Periodically he fished out a small rat brain from the huge vat with a large ladle. He would then examine it carefully, and if it passed his scrutiny it was placed it in a small phial and carefully sealed. Severus seemed to be taking inventory of sorts, striding back and forth between tall store cabinets, clipboard in hand, occasionally scratching on it with his quill.
Rowena stepped lightly into the lab and adopted her most cheerful, unconcerned voice. "Oh, Severus. I was looking for you. I thought I might find you here. Hello, Mr. Potter. Nearly ready for your Occlumency, are you?"
Severus looked up and frowned at her darkly, "You knew you would find me here, Lupin, as it is necessary to baby-sit Potter whenever there is a cauldron involved. He will not be available for Occlumency tonight, as well you know."
She raised her eyebrow playfully, and asked archly, "Oh, really? Are you sure about that?"
A small figure that might have been a house elf streaked through the door at that moment, squealing in high-pitched tones that were incomprehensible to two of the three people in the room. All that was heard for certain was a name, "Severus! Severus! Severus!"
Katrina had flung herself into his arms before he could fully register her presence, though he caught her deftly, laying the clipboard and quill aside as he hugged her in greeting.
She was beaming brightly and chattering to him in rapid German, stopping periodically only to hug him briefly and then resume her happy chatter. She was so obviously ecstatic to see him that she was nearly laughing and crying at the same time.
Severus tried to get a word of his own fluent German in edgewise, but the child apparently had too much to say after nearly ten days absence, and at last he gave up the effort. Looking over the child's head, he scowled at Rowena, who had just shut the lab door.
"Low blow, Lupin," he muttered darkly, though his delight at seeing the child was difficult for even him to conceal, and he did not succeed in fooling her.
She merely grinned unconcernedly, and placed a large basket on his workbench, "It turns out that Molly had some business she needed to do tonight, and wondered if Katrina could come and spend the evening with me. Well, of course I was delighted to have her.
"But she's missed you so much, she wouldn't stop begging to come and see you. So. I thought that I could have Harry while you two catch up. She's brought a whole basket full of games she wants you to play, books she wants you to read, and pictures she's drawn for you that she won't let me look at."
She stood, smiling innocently at him, watching his jaw muscle work in irritation.
"Potter has to finish his detention. We discussed this earlier," he said in the silken tones he only used when he was truly angry.
"Of course he does. That's why I've shut and sealed all my doors, and just did your lab door as well. What are the terms of his detention?"
Severus raised a brow at her, "He is done when all the brains are pickled and stored, and he may not use magic to do it."
She nodded and went over to the cauldron where Harry was working, peering inside. "HE may not use magic? Perfect. Harry, how long have you been at it?"
"Two hours," he said from behind his cauldron, where he was obviously trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible, though his curiosity had him listening to the exchange with rapt attention.
"Well, I think that we can all agree that two hours is punishment enough for a crime that the three of us know you didn't commit to begin with, right?"
Before either male could respond to her comment, she had produced her wand, and with a wave stored all the rest of the brains neatly in the empty phials stacked next to the cauldron. She then casually stuck her wand back in her robes and walked over to Katrina and Severus—the later of whom was looking completely outraged.
"This solves all," she said, cheerfully dusting her hands in a 'task is done' manner, "The brains are pickled, and HE did not use magic to do it. I'll take him through the private doors to my office for the Occlumency. No one need ever know that he didn't toil away down here all night with those brains. And you get to spend a lovely evening with Katrina, who has missed you desperately just as you've missed her. I'll bring him back here when we're done so he can leave through the proper door, and no one will be the wiser."
"I am going to be speaking to Dumbledore in the morning about you, Lupin," Severus growled.
"Oh? Going to have me sacked?" she asked, smiling innocently.
"No. I am going to see if there is a procedure in place for transferring school Houses after graduation. That Sorting Hat had no business placing you anywhere but Slytherin. I am not pleased about being manipulated, but I can't find fault in your logic, nor your methods.
"Take him and go then," he said with annoyance.
She smiled at him as she hugged and kissed Katrina, "You have fun, okay?" The little girl nodded and laid her head against Severus's chest, as he continued to absent-mindedly stroke her hair.
She thought briefly of kissing him as well... but her common sense won over. He had not descended to rage over her machinations, but she doubted he would tolerate such a display of affection in front of Potter. His fathomless black eyes bored into her, inscrutable as always, but the tell- tale jaw muscle twitched. She decided she had tested his limits quite far enough for one day.
"Don't be angry with me, Severus. You needed to see her as much as she needed to see you."
"Just go, Lupin," he growled again, "And Potter—if word of any of this finds its way ANYWHERE, including Weasley and Granger—you will be extracting the brains before pickling them. This requires carefully killing the rat during the new moon by stopping its heart between beats with the poisoned needle of a Knarl. I go through many, many pickled rat brains in the course of a year. Do I make myself clear?"
Harry had been standing silently this whole time, though he had picked up his bag in case he needed to run in a hurry, and also had his wand firmly in hand. He met Snape's eyes, and expected to find them scowling with the pure hatred that he usually saw there. The anger and threat were there, without question. But it was hard to find him completely terrifying when he was playing gently with the golden curls of the tiny girl on his lap, unconsciously rocking her tenderly.
Ron had told him about Snape's interaction with the girl, and he had seen the child himself the last couple of days of the Holiday. But he had never believed a word of the stuff about Snape being affectionate with the child!
He found his way out of his shocked disbelief to nod his head stiffly. "Of course, Professor; not a word."
Rowena led him to a tall shelf on the back wall of the lab and spoke a password that he didn't quite hear. "This way, Mr. Potter. We'll be in my office in a minute."
Harry followed her quickly, without another word. His most hated Professor had already ceased to regard their presence, as he was talking softly in a foreign language to the child on his lap, who conversed animatedly with him in return. Their voices were lost when the wall slid shut behind them and he had time to muse on what he had seen as he trailed after his favorite Professor's sister.
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A/N: I'm sorry if the class stuff is too boring. I won't be writing much more class stuff in this sort of detail in the future, but I needed some background material.
Occlumency will be next—I intended to do it in this chapter, but it simply got too long. And I'm still debating with myself how angry Snape will be over Rowena's machinations to get Harry freed for Occlumency.
I agree totally with my reviewer on fanfiction.net who says that she finds it a stretch to believe that our beloved Severus is still a virgin at the age of 37. But I couldn't resist the sweetness of it. The poor guy's had such a hard life—I had to give him one 'perfect' thing. You will just have to suspend belief for this story.
Here's my rationale for this little bit of Alternate Universe: He never sunk to the depths of rape, and didn't want to be snagged into marriage for his 'bloodlines' so he avoided the advances of the willing as well, including the typical Death Eater Orgy business. Sorry if you're finding that too much of a stretch.
This much satisfies my own fantasy. When they at last get together heaven and earth will sing in the sweet perfection of it! That's my story, this time around, and I'm sticking to it. /wink/
As always, I appreciate your reviews and comments. The more specific, even if critical, the better. I desperately want to improve, as well as have fun writing. Please recommend my story to others if you liked it! Please tell me if you didn't.
Thanks, next chapter soon. Happy reading.
Lisa/aka Shanti