Snape and Meg had finally gotten back from Hogsmeade. The sun was now setting; anybody would have classified this as "romantic." They weren't on a hillside or anything, but in Snape's office, in which there was what might have been Snape's first kiss. The mood was good; Snape had managed to get rid of his guilt for the time being. Meg was snuggling him affectionately.

"Nice sunset, isn't it?" said Snape unnecessarily.

"Really nice," said Meg. "Today's Monday, too. So tomorrow's Tuesday, obviously, and after that's our wedding, on Wednesday. And Grandpa's out getting my dress, he said. And he's also getting a suit for you. You'll just look so sweet, won't you, it'll go great with your hair. That reminds me, we've got to get you a haircut…When was the last time you washed your hair, anyway?"

"Oh…I don't know," said Snape, heat creeping up his face.

"Who cares?" laughed Meg. "I like it how it is. Maybe you should wash it anyway, though, since there are a lot of people coming to our wedding that don't like your hairstyle. Why don't we go to a hair salon, and we can trim your ends, too, you have split ends…It'll be so fun!"

"Oh, yeah, fun…" said Snape, suddenly imagining, for some reason, a Ministry of Magic official standing above him, cutting off his hair and eventually leaving him bald. "You know, Meg, as long as I still look like myself when I'm done…You know, the day's almost over now."

"Do you want to look like yourself, Severus?" said Meg. "I want you to, because you're so incredibly handsome and all, but that's not really the reason I fell for you."

"What was it, then?"

Meg sighed dreamily. "It was…it was…just something about you. I know I didn't always like you. I think I once hated you. I vaguely remember…but I suddenly couldn't stop thinking about you. You do everything so…so right. Just a tap of your wand and everything's fine."

No, Meg, everything's NOT fine, thought Snape, guilt erupting in him again, but he shook it off, determined to enjoy Meg's happiness, too. "Well…I suppose…"

Meg whipped out her wand and broke something. "Fix it, Severus."

"I-I didn't…This is my office!" Snape yelled at her. At the expression on Meg's face, he went quiet again. "I'm sorry, Meg. Okay, I'll fix it." He, also, took out his wand. He said the incantation for the Repairing Charm in his head, and the empty jar that had broken repaired itself.

"Oh, Severus, see what I mean?" said Meg. "You don't even need to say it out loud."

"Well…it's fairly easy…can't you?" asked Snape, amazed. "Anyway…look, it's getting dark out, so maybe I should go." It was true. The sun had set on the two of them.

"All right, Severus." Meg smiled and waved as he walked away.

The next day in class, Snape didn't want to have anything to do with Harry and his friends, but he wasn't going to make them think his class was almost like recess was in Muggle schools. So, when Harry's class came in, he told himself, Get a grip on yourself, Severus. Teach your class.

"I suppose you've been hoping you could go outside today again," said Snape, trying to do the usual sneer, but it didn't work. Instead, he thought of himself and Meg sitting by the ocean, watching the sunset, with his arms around her. He actually smiled at Harry, then shook his head. "Umm…yeah. Well, bad news for all of you slackers, because we're not going to."

"Why not?" called Ron. "Don't you want to smooch Professor Smith in here again?"

What did he mean by again? How would Ron have known that? Snape sat down in his desk chair and stared at Ron. "What did you just say to me, Weasley?"

"I said," said Ron, more loudly this time, "Aren't you going to send us outside again today so you can call Professor Smith to your office and make out with her? I've got to admit, Professor, I now know that your Love Potions are really strong. Can you make me one?"

Andrea had decided to join the conversation. "You don't need one, Ron." She edged over to him and gave him a huge hug. Harry and Hermione looked at each other.

"Love Potions?" said Snape thickly. "I'm not…my God, you're stupid!"

"Why am I stupid?" said Ron. "I know what you're doing to her. You're stirring Love Potions in your cauldron, I know it. Hey, Harry, why don't I have Hedwig go leave him a 'present' in his cauldron so he can't make any more Love Potions? Ha, I bet he'd really like that…"

"If your ignorance did not allow you to notice," said Snape, teeth gritted, his hand automatically balled up around his wand, "I am still in this room and listening to you."

"Oh," said Ron, feigning a look of dawning comprehension.

"Anyway," said Snape, feeling like he wanted to send everybody outside again, "I'm putting the ingredients up on the board for Strengthening Solution. Here you go."

After the class was halfway over, Snape went to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Andrea's table. Even though it was only to be expected, Hermione was finished with her potion, which was perfect. Harry was desperately trying and failing to make his potion that good before Snape's arrival. Andrea (who was simply grinning) had a potion that looked pretty bad, but Ron's was horrible. It looked like doxy droppings mixed with bile, and who knows what else. He looked rather nervous. Snape was actually glad he could inflict this kind of terror over him, and he thought he would make some use of it.

"Weasley," said Snape silkily, taking out his wand and stirring Ron's potion, which Snape found had the consistency of Jell-O, "do you wish you were good at my classes?"

"Yes," said Ron fearfully.

"Well, SO WOULD I!" Snape shouted in Ron's face, making the majority of the room jump and turn to look at him. Snape went to his desk, leaving only silence in his wake.