Man, I feel kinda silly! I sent props out to all of the people who reviewed on my other story in the previous chapter! Woopsie! Props to hulahula, MorotheWolfGod, and kidarock!
Disclaimer: I would say that I owned Harry Potter, but then J.K. Rowling's lawyers and publishers would swoop down on me like vultures on a partially rotten corpse in the middle of a field on a hot day in the middle of a so far dry spell when it comes to the amount of death occurring in the immediate area.
Severus walked down the corridor with a huge smile on his face as he made his way towards Double Potions with Potter and the other damned Gryffindors, but then stopped. Smiling? Severus Snape does not smile! Why was he smiling just then? His mind went back to when Filius was trying to get him to sign up for the Greenhouse Renovation Project, and his drink got knocked over. The diminutive Charms professor offered to get him another… Filius must have spiked his drink! But with what?
"An Amiable Potion; Filius, you dog!" Severus shouted to open air, then turned and walked briskly towards the Charms classroom. When he got there, he noticed the entire room was in disarray, even by Filius' standards. At the sight of him, the fourth year Slytherins and Hufflepuffs immediately quieted down and sat almost unmoving at their seats. "Filius, may I have a word?"
"Ah, Severus, you're here just in time!" Filius exclaimed after firmly shutting the door behind them in his office.
"What were you practicing?"
"Cleaning Charms." Filius replied, summoning a Gillywater from his desk. "Would you like anything to drink?"
"That depends, are these spiked with Amiable Potion?"
"So you found out. There is a sunny side to this situation, if you're curious."
"Thanks to you, all I can see is the sunny side at times!"
"Well, you're not having much of a problem with that right now," Filius muttered. "But there really is a good side to all of this; you're signed up to help out on Saturday with the renovation project!"
"WHAT?" Severus yelped, "I AM NOT GOING TO HELP YOU WITH YOUR STUPID PLANT GROWING!"
"Severus, please, lower your voice!" The short teacher stammered, "All you have to do is just be there, that's all! I've got a really easy assignment for you!"
"What, do I have to watch the plants grow?" Severus quipped.
"Well, yes, in essence. You and a few more teachers will just watch and make sure none of the students go near the more dangerous plants."
"I won't be able to do very well at that if I still have this Amiable Potion in my system. How much did you give me?"
Filius retreated to behind his desk. "My class is waiting, and so is yours. You'd better get to the dungeons before they decide to leave."
"How much did you give me, Filius?"
"Erm, there were a lot of people near me when I was measuring the dosage, somebody could have knocked my arm-ach!" Filius gasped.
Severus had grabbed the teacher's robes and had lifted him several inches off of the ground. "What did you say?" Severus whispered, but suddenly stopped, put the man down and stood back up to his full height. "Sorry, professor; when did you want me at the Greenhouses?"
"Around noon, if you don't mind." Filius wiped the sweat off of his brow and took a deep breath. That was a close one!
In the dungeons, as everybody waited for the teacher to burst through the door, writing appeared on the chalkboard, saying "Gather your things, three foot essay about the use of Acromantula venom; to be handed in tomorrow morning. Class dismissed."
Severus waited until all of the students filed out of his classroom before entering through his office. If that outburst in Filius' office was subdued by potion that had been administered to him several days ago, then the effects would probably wear off by the end of next week. He should probably get a substitute, then.
A knock on the door drove him out of his thoughts. "Severus?" A woman's voice called from the outside of his classroom.
Severus composed himself and slipped his mask of anger and mistrust on. "Come in," he stated coldly, but a wave of warmth and happiness attempted to break through the frustration, especially when he saw Rolanda Hooch walk through the door with a wriggling Snitch in her hand.
"You forgot your portfolio again." She said shortly. What happened to him? He was warm and, well, gentle when he was in her room, but now he looked angrier than ever! She handed it back to him, but this time he didn't seem so edgy about it, like he was saying 'You've already seen inside of me, why should I care now?'
"Thanks." Severus mouth came dangerously close to twitching into a smile as he reached for his portfolio again, but he managed to suppress it.
"Griffith's book signing starts in an hour," Rolanda started, but decided not to finish when thinking of how angry Severus looked when she came in. When Severus didn't say anything, she tried again at making conversation. "Oh, erm… Why did you dismiss your class early?"
"I needed to be alone." I wanted to talk to you more, so I left my portfolio in your quarters, but I didn't want anybody interrupting us. "I wanted to finish grading some essays in peace."
"Sorry for interrupting, then." Rolanda could have sworn that his features softened for a moment, but dismissed it as a trick of the light.
"I should be apologizing to you for leaving my drawings behind again." Severus smiled- damn! Why couldn't he stop smiling?
"You really should consider teaching an art class, you know." Rolanda backed out of the classroom and shut the door behind her. He really was one piece of work. One minute as happy as a clam and the next trying to keep anyone from penetrating his outer shell!
"Madame Hooch, could you help me?" A young first year asked her.
"What do you need?"
"I think I hurt my ankle, Professor." Rolanda knelt down and took the boy's foot in her hands, then looked at his leg.
"What were you doing?" Rolanda proffered a handkerchief from her robes to wrap around the child's swollen ankle.
The boy hesitated, and then said "I fell."
How many times I used that excuse when I was his age… "Can you still walk on it? Does it hurt at all?" Rolanda repeated the questions from the memories of the many times Madame Pomfrey asked her the same questions.
The boy nodded, and they were off to the Infirmary. "Poppy, this boy hurt his ankle; I thought I would walk him down here."
"Oh, we can fix that up in a jiffy." Poppy replied. "How did it happen?"
The boy didn't say a word.
"I can't fix it until you tell me how it happened." Rolanda knew from experience that the young student would soon eventually give in and tell all, so she decided to leave.
"Minerva, how are you doing today?"
"I'm tired and ready for some sleep, Rolanda."
"Wow, it's already pretty late, isn't it? Time does fly when at Hogwarts… see you around, then."
Rolanda walked the halls for a few more minutes, and then decided to go to her rooms for a bit. When she got there, she found Severus waiting patiently outside her door, and also found that she wasn't as surprised as she should be. "Severus, what are you doing here?"
Severus' left hand seemed to have a mind of its own as it wriggled, almost as if a Snitch- "Oh, sorry. I let go of it in your classroom, then?" Rolanda apologized. "Come in, have a cup of tea with me!"
"Thank you, Rolanda." Severus said as he entered her rooms after her. He handed the snitch off to her and slipped his hands into his pockets. "If you don't mind my asking, why do you have your bed in this part of your quarters?"
Rolanda gestured for him to sit down across from her near the window not unlike yesterday evening, and served him some tea. "This was originally intended to be a guest bedroom, so there was no need for anything like spare rooms other than perhaps the restroom. The Headmaster was kind enough to add another room on, but I decided that this room had such good natural lighting; it would be a terrible thing to waste on a private office or lounge. Would you like anything else with your tea?"
"No, thank you. I didn't know that you were a musician." Severus remarked as he noticed a cello and some sheet music in the corner.
"I have taken lessons since I was nine." Rolanda suddenly remembered what time it was and put on her traveling cloak. "I'm so sorry, Severus, but I just remembered I promised Griffin I would help him set up for his book signing!"
Severus also stood. "May I come? That is, if you don't mind…"
"Mind? Griffith will be delighted to see you again! Meet me at the Quidditch Pitch with your broomstick."
"May I make a suggestion?" Severus smiled again, but this time he didn't try to hide it. In a few moments, the two professors were walking towards the Forbidden Forest with Gawain at their heels. Severus grabbed Rolanda's hand and led her to a clearing where he knew thestrals liked to hide.
"Oh, thestrals? I'm not sure, Severus, are they safe?" Rolanda gripped his hand tighter as milky white eyes glowed in the shadows. Severus then summoned a piece of meat and held it out in front of one of the thestrals.
"Would you feel safer if I rode with you?" Rolanda's grip tightened yet again on his hand, which he took as a yes. "I'm not sure if thestrals are strong enough to carry a fully grown man and woman,"
Rolanda's eyes lit up. "Gawain is strong enough!"
"What?" Before Severus could ask any more, the formerly rather small Gawain had grown to be about the size of a horse. The gryphon knelt so the two people could get on. Rolanda swung her leg over with ease and settled herself in such a way that her knees locked at the wing joint. Severus had a little more trouble, so Rolanda demonstrated how he should sit: his shins should rest on Gawain's back, and he should rest on his calves.
When the two were situated, Gawain got up onto all four massive feet and Rolanda said "Hold on tight!" Before Severus could reply, they were already hundreds of feet in the air and circling the school, so he answered with wrapping his arms tightly around her slim waist.
I wanted to continue this chapter, but I decided that I should make you suffer by leaving a slope hanger (not much of a cliffhanger, so now it's a slopehanger.) Yet again thanks to MorotheWolfGod, hulahula, kidarock, and now ADandMMforever!