Yay! I finally updated. Sorry it took me so long. I've been trying to figure out the best way to finally get Snape and Alex together. I think I have it planned out now…. there's some great stuff to look forward to in the upcoming chapters! Please read and review!

Chapter 12

It was later in the morning when Alex finally headed over to the South Tower to get to work. She had slept in late and had a quick breakfast in her rooms, instead of going down to the Great Hall. She knew Snape would think that she was still avoiding him but in all honesty, she just needed some time to herself. There was a lot to do and she had to rearrange where some of her team were located. Paige was stationed in Hogsmeade, working in a small shop in order to keep her ear open for any information. Carlos and Anitrey were doing the same thing, working between Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley. They had to be extra careful since the Death Eaters now knew that Alex had been working undercover. It was easy for the enemy to assume that there would be more people infiltrating the area.

Nate and Kimi worked with Lia up in the South Tower, where Alex was currently headed. They had set up base in a small room at the top. This was the only room in the entire castle that allowed Muggle technology to work, made possible for the use of the three computers linked to the Internet.

"What have you found so far?" Alex asked, walking into the room. Nate looked up from the computer he was working on.

"Well it seems that several Death Eaters have been using websites to promote their ideas to other areas of the world. They set up which looks like to be a Muggle hate site based on a minority group, but if you look deeper into what it says, it's clearly someone from the Wizarding World." He explained. He pulled up one of the sites that he had been working on. "Look, here it makes a reference to dirty blood." Alex studied the passage carefully.

"Is there any other evidence that indicates this is not from the Muggle world?" Alex questioned. Even though dirty blood could also mean Mudblood, there needed to be more proof before they could make any clear claims.

"There are blatant references to He Who Must Not Be Named." Kimi chimed in. She leaned over Nate and scrolled to a different part of the website where is refers to their leader as the Dark Lord. "Scott would refer to him as that, right?" Kimi and Nate both looked at Alex, who grimaced at the mention of Scott's name and the memory of what happened not even a week before.

"Yes, Scott would call Voldemort the Dark Lord." She said coldly. "So have you found out any information about who the Death Eaters that are in charge of the information or about any future attacks or meetings?"

"No we haven't." Lia sighed, speaking up from the third computer. She ran her hand through her hair and leaned back in her chair. "The information seems vague. It seems that you need to register as a member to get into any more details."

"You can't just hack into their database?" Alex frowned. She wasn't sure if she wanted anyone to register in case it could be linked back to them. They didn't need to be discovered and suffer any more setbacks. Johnson wouldn't stand for it.

"That's what we've been working on today." Kimi said. "We have each taken a website and have been trying to access deeper into it. I just came across some information where it looks like they might be planning on meeting with some members from other countries. But the information isn't clear yet."

"You know, I'm surprised that the Death Eaters are even using Muggle technology. Aren't they supposed to be against anything dealing with Muggles?" Nate commented lightly.

"Yeah they are but the Internet is a great source of communication. You are able to direct messages all over the world in a blink of an eye. There's no owls to be intercepted and you can have an instant response." Lia explained. "Plus, why not use the technology? Half of the Wizarding World doesn't know how to use it, it would be the last place they would think that anyone would look."

"Yeah I guess that's true." Nate admitted. It made sense, if you thought about it because no one would suspect them using the Internet, when it wasn't even normally used in their world. Alex nodded in agreement and took a seat at the small table by the door, where she started to go through some printouts of information from the various websites. She wasn't sure about what she was looking for but anything that mentioned something that could deal with the Wizarding World, she highlighted with a bright yellow marker.

It was sometime in the late afternoon when Alex finally emerged from the South Tower. Lia had come in and out between teaching classes, while Alex, Nate, and Kimi stayed in the room working diligently on the computers. Honestly, Alex hated it. She wasn't very good with computers and couldn't offer any help with hacking into the websites. She spent most of the time working through the printouts, while Kimi and Nate typed away on the computers. She knew that if they could figure out a way to get in, they would have invaluable information at their hands. But she felt like she was more of a hindrance in the room, then being helpful. She wished that the whole mess with Scott never happened so she could be out in the field, instead of under house arrest. And then Snape would never have revealed himself as a spy, and he wouldn't be under house arrest either.

It was now, after grabbing a quick sandwich from the kitchens, Alex made her way down to the dungeons. She had promised herself that she would seek him out today to thank him for the roses and accept his apology. With everything going on, the last thing the both of them needed was to have stress or hostility between them. She reached the classroom door just as the advanced potions class was ending. She could hear Snape giving the students their assignment for homework, and not even minutes before he finished speaking the door flung open as the students filed out. The first ones out the door, several sixth year Slytherins, stopped when they saw Alex standing there.

"Well if it isn't the traitor's floozie. Come to pay your services?" Blaise Zabini sneered. The other Slytherins with him sneered, for the exception of Malfoy, who simply pushed past and headed up the stairs.

"One hundred points from Slytherin." Alex retorted quickly, glaring at the students. The students looked at her, outraged.

"You can't do that! You're not a professor!" Zabini spoke up, his eyes wide in anger at the former potions assistant. To him, she was nothing but dirt under his feet and had no power over him.

"Oh you'd be surprised with that I can do, Mr. Zabini. Now go before I take away another hundred points." Alex sneered, doing a perfect impression of Snape, when he was angry. The students paused for a moment, trying to decide if she was lying or not and they hurried up the stairs to go and check and see if the points were indeed taken from their house. They would be very surprised when the points were actually missing. Dumbledore had given the power to take points away as soon as she had returned to the school, months ago. She just hadn't had a reason to use that power, until now. The rest of the class filed out of the classroom, some students giving her rude looks and others sympathetic ones.

Alex entered the classroom and found Snape sitting at his desk, his head held in his hands. He looked like a defeated man and had simply given up.

"How long has it been this bad?" Alex asked softly, closing the classroom door behind her. She cast a quick spell, to ensure that no students could be eavesdropping outside the door. Snape looked up at her, slightly surprised to find her down in his classroom. He had figured that she was still annoyed with him, since he had not seen her all morning.

"Ever since I returned to teaching, a few days ago. It seems that nothing can remain secret in this school very long." Snape sighed, leaning back into his chair. The class had gone horrible. His students, particularly the Slytherins, were openly defiant to him. The ones who had Death Eaters for parents had informed their children of their Head of House's betrayal against their master. Thus, the students were making him pay for it. "I tired to hand in my resignation but Albus wouldn't even look at it. He threw it into the fire and simply told me that I had some lesson planning to catch up on."

"He has faith in you, Severus." Alex responded quietly, taking a seat on the edge of his desk.

"So it would seem, although I don't pretend to know why." He retorted.

"He sees the same thing I see when I look at you." She said softly. He looked up at her curiously. "I see your strength and determination to make amends for your past, even though you have long made up for it. I also see you're caring for your students even though you claim that you don't." He just stared at her and she began to feel slightly awkward, opening up to him like that. She doubted that anyone had told him that about himself, besides Dumbledore. She stood up and started making her way to the door. "I should probably go."

"Alexandra, if you have some time, there's something I could use some help with." Snape said suddenly. Alex nodded and returned to her seat on the edge of the desk. "Albus has asked me to start making large batches of potions for the hospital wing as well as to use in defense for the war. It will be taking up most of my time, leaving hardly any to prepare for my classes. I was wondering if you would be willing to assist me for the next few weeks. Unless you have a project that you are currently working on?"

"The only project I am overseeing is the one with the computer's but my team and Lia are basically in control of that. I would love to help you, Severus." Alex smiled, looking forward to some potions work. It had been too long since she had worked on brewing potions.

"I have one that I was planning on starting now. You have made a blood replenishing potion before right?" Snape asked, using his wand to enlarge his cauldron to make a double the quantity of the potion in order to store enough for the upcoming battle.

"Yes although it has been a few years." Alex admitted but headed over to the cabinet to pull out the necessary ingredients. "How much of the potion do you think Poppy will need?"

"As much as possible. I was thinking about starting out with doubling all the potions on the list that Dumbledore gave me. Then going through and making more backups for here and also for St. Mungo's." Alex nodded her head in agreement. Once the battle starts, they would be treating people here at Hogwarts in addition to the hospital. Especially if Voldemort were to attack Hogwarts, which seemed to be the plan as far as anyone could tell. The two of them continued to work late into the night. They talked lightly but mainly stayed silent, focusing on making the potion accurately. Once it was bottled and stored away, Alex headed back up to her room. She was exhausted but happy to be working on something. Maybe being under house arrest wouldn't be as bad as she thought.

So they're finally working civilly with each other. Let me know what you thought about this chapter. Please click that nice little button below and review! It might just get me writing faster!