Chapter 2: Getting Started

Morning came early and Brixton leapt out of her bed filled with excitement. She was determined to prove herself. She dressed as quickly as she could and gathered her books, parchment, ink, and quill into her Ravenclaw blue book bag. The bag was made of faux leather and was a gift from Luna. After giving her things a second glance to be sure she had everything she rushed out of the dormitory and headed to the Great Hall. On the way she nearly tripped going down the stairs twice and ran into a first year student. She stopped in a little enclave of Ravenclaw Tower and took several deep breaths. The last thing Brixton wanted was to muck up her chances at the Potions Master position by getting ahead of herself. After settling down a bit she continued on her way.

Upon entering the Great Hall Brixton was surprised to see Professor Snape in what looked like a deep conversation with Professor McGonagall. She had yet to see him in the Great Hall for meals so she wondered if they were discussing her desire for extra potions lessons. Oh, Brixton now that is just arrogant. Mind your own business. She scolded herself.

She ran past the Ravenclaw table to join Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Luna at the Gryffindor table. She had been eating with them since the start of the school year. After the war and everything she just felt like she should be amongst her friends and not just the students from her house. She had always been rather lonely at the Ravenclaw table anyway. She had many acquaintances from her House, but no one that really mattered like her friends from Gryffindor.

As she settled into the table Brixton began picking out pastries and fruit for her breakfast. She was seated between Neville and Luna. Luna had a large bowl full of pudding and Brixton wasn't even sure where she had gotten it from as there was never pudding at breakfast. Across from them were Harry, Hermione, and Ron. Hermione had her nose in a book as she slowly nibbled on a piece of bacon. Harry and Ron were talking about the upcoming Quidditch match. Not wanting to interrupt but thoroughly excited Brixton broke the conversation. "Guys, I have something I just have to tell you about!"

At that exact moment a familiar smooth voice interrupted from behind her. "Excuse me." Brixton and her friends turned to see the Potions Master himself standing next to Brixton a small folded piece of paper in his hand. He passed it over to Brixton and gave her a small smile before turning to leave the table. Hermione nudged Harry encouragingly. Harry mumbled, "uh, Professor? Could I have a moment of your time maybe later today?"

Professor Snape turned back to the group. His eyes were closed tight and his face was strained in an uncomfortable looking way. "Not yet, Potter." And the man was gone as quickly as he had arrived, his dark cloak sweeping behind him.

"See?" Harry motioned at the man leaving "Hermione, he doesn't want to talk about it."

"But you have plenty of questions! Surely after everything we have all been through the two of you can come to some sort of cordial conversation." Hermione pressed.

"Not yet it seems." Harry muttered shoving a muffin into his mouth. He clearly wanted to avoid the conversation. Brixton did not blame him. It had been all too personal.

Luna turned to Brixton smiling, "What does your letter say? I do hope you aren't in any sort of trouble. The school year has just started."

Brixton laughed and began opening the note. It read:

"Miss Winchester,

Headmistress McGonagall has approved your private potions lessons and your assistance with my first year class. It has been decided that since you are Muggleborn you really don't need your Muggle Studies class. Instead you will attend the first year's Potions Class as your first class of the day. This starts today. Please be early so that we can prepare before the first year students arrive. I hope that this is to your satisfaction.

Severus Snape"

Brixton was barely able to contain a squeal of joy. Her friends were all staring at her waiting for an explanation. She smiled at them, "I am going to start learning how to teach potions. Professor Snape has agreed to give me private potions lessons that will cover things that are not traditionally taught at Hogwarts. I also am going to assist him in teaching his first year class." She turned to Luna, Ron, and Neville "I won't be in Muggles Studies with you anymore." Her happiness was written all over her face.

Hermione smiled at Brixton and asked, "Well that makes sense. Harry and I don't take Muggles Studies either. So, is this what you want to do after graduation? You want to teach Potions here?"

Brixton nodded. "More than anything!"

Neville shuddered next to her. "You'll have Potions three times a day? I can't imagine! Having to see Professor Snape once a day is plenty for me."

The group erupted in laughter at that. Luna noted, "He must think very highly of you to take on all the extra work. He also didn't even remind us to sit at our own table. Maybe you can convince him to talk to Harry."

Brixton shook her head. "No, Harry, I'm very sorry. I don't want to ruin my chances at getting the lessons I will need to apply for the Potions position."

Harry nodded back at her, "I understand. I think its best if we just leave him be. He will talk to me about it all when… and if he wants to." His face held a mixture of emotions. He hadn't wanted to talk about it with his friends but they all knew it had been very hard to see his father in such a negative light. Brixton assumed that that was one of the reasons that he had been avoiding forcing a conversation with Professor Snape. It would mean having to reconcile with those complicated feelings. Brixton and Hermione shared a knowing glance.

"Well, I will see you all later. I need to hurry in order to be early to Professor Snape's first class. He wants to be able to go over the lesson with me before the first years come in." She gathered her things and shoved one last small pastry into her mouth and waved goodbye to her friends.

When Brixton made it to the dungeons she was overfilled with a happiness that she hadn't felt since before the war. Things finally seemed to be going her way. She opened the classroom door and found Professor Snape gathering ingredients and distributing them amongst the tables. "Hello Professor" Brixton smiled. "Thank you again for this opportunity. What can I do to help?"

Severus gave a small nod of his head back to his student. "Good morning, Miss Winchester. Today we are going to be teaching the first years how to brew the Vitamix Potion." He waved his wand to an empty space opposite his own desk and a desk and small lamp appeared. "You may place your things over there."

Brixton did as she was told and waited for more instructions. Severus reached through his cloak and pulled out a silver key and passed it over to Brixton. He said "This is a key to my storeroom. Everything is in alphabetical order. Will you please gather enough powdered root of Asphodel for the class? Do not disturb anything else, I will notice if you do."

"Of course I will, Professor. I won't touch anything else." Brixton hurried out of the room and went next door to the Potion Master's storeroom. Once inside, Brixton was thoroughly impressed with the organization of the room. Everything was meticulously labeled and alphabetized. She was able to quickly find what she needed and returned to the classroom.

She went to return the key to her professor and he held his hand up and said, "That is a spare. Since you will be assisting me daily I think it best to keep it on you at all times. Do not lose it and do not tell anyone that you have that key. After more than one occasion of having my personal stocks raided I finally decided to put some powerful locking spells on it that can't be undone with simple magic. The keys are the only way to unlock the storeroom without myself dropping the warding spells. There are many foolish students who would see that key put to poor use."

"Yes, Professor, I promise to take good care of it and not tell anyone." Brixton assured him. She pulled a silver chain necklace out from under her shirt. It had her mother's wedding band on it, the only thing she had of her mother's. She unclasped it and slipped the key onto the chain before clasping it again and slipping it back under her shirt.

"Very well, then. The first years will be arriving soon. I want you to watch me teach the class and you will help any student who is struggling to keep up. It is a very simple potion and only takes one hour to brew so this should be an easy assignment for you."

Severus was right about it being an easy day. Brixton quietly attended to several students who were not able to keep up with the professor's lesson. She kept them on track and explained the instructions more slowly and with more detail. She also made sure to listen to Professor Snape's lecture to be sure that she herself did not miss anything.

One boy in particular was really struggling. His technique for practically every step was all wrong. Brixton had been quick to notice that he had included the leaves and not just the flowers of wolfsbane into his cauldron. Professor Snape had already covered this during his lectured, but these are eleven year old students after all. Knowing that this could prove lethal Brixton used her wand to empty the boy's cauldron and instructed him to start over. She made a point to address the entire class and stressed that while the flowers of wolfsbane were perfectly safe the rest of the plant could easily kill a person if ingested.

Severus shook his head and reprimanded the boy telling him to thank Brixton for her observation of his mistake. He said to the class, "Of course, it is always of the utmost importance that no students ever sample their potions without my explicit instruction to do so. Let this serve as a perfect example as to why."

When it was all said and done Brixton was happy to see that all of the students, including those struggling, were able to produce the perfect consistency and shade of blue. As the class was wrapping up and students were cleaning their stations Brixton began packing up her bags and tidying up the classroom.

When the last student had left Severus made his way over to Brixton. "You did exceedingly well," he said, "It seems that you not only have the passion for potions you also appear to have a natural talent for teaching. I must confess that I have always just let the students that don't do so well in my classes struggle. I have always taken the approach that if they lacked the talent or drive to succeed then that was on them. I've never seen such progress in one class from those students that simply lack the natural prowess for potion brewing. I look forward to seeing such changes here at Hogwarts. I don't mean only for the students. I confess that in the past I have allowed my own circumstances and anger to affect my teaching. That is something that I hope to change over the course of this year. It seems this training arrangement may very well benefit the both of us." He gave her a small smile.

"Thank you for the kind words, Professor. In my personal opinion, no one should blame you for allowing the heavy weight that was on you to affect your job. Anyone that would have something to say about it hasn't walked in your shoes. I can't imagine what it was like. I'm very sorry you had to go through such horrid things." Brixton didn't know what else to say and did not want to press her professor any further than he was comfortable. She knew, rather she felt, how pained and jaded he had felt in his memories. She had nothing but sympathy and respect for the man before her.

He simply nodded and turned back to take a seat at his desk. Brixton quietly left the classroom. Despite the dark turn that their conversation had taken, Brixton had a smile so big on her face that it hurt. She had done so well for her first day assisting with the first years. She was elated that she had received such high praise from Professor Snape.

Brixton had hoped that this year would be a year of healing for everyone, but she had no idea just how true that was going to be. She hurried as fast as she could to her Advanced Charms class. She wanted to catch Luna and Hermione and tell them how wonderfully her first assistant teaching class had gone. She still couldn't believe how well things were going for her already this year and was filled with optimism.

The rest of the day passed without much excitement. Her friends, although still confused at her desire to teach potions, were very supportive. After dinner she went back to the Potions classroom for her private lessons. Severus taught her how to brew Felix Felicis otherwise known as Liquid Luck. It would take six months to be complete, but due to its extremely delicate nature he thought it would be a good place to start.

They worked quietly together and neither brought up the very personal memories that they were both thinking about. Felix Felicis is an extremely delicate concoction that if even the slightest bit off can cause disastrous results for anyone who consumes it. It is also not traditionally taught to students due to the risks of using it on a regular basis to essentially cheat on exams, broom races, or Quidditch matches. Even still, the potion had its place at Hogwarts for different reasons. He had heard that the former members of Dumbledore's Army had used the potion to better their chances during the Battle for Hogwarts. After learning this Severus had felt that it would perhaps be a good potion to have several vials of in his storeroom just in the event that there were to be some new sort of danger or trouble at Hogwarts.

Severus watched Brixton brew with such ease and focus that it reminded him of his younger self. It was also a little more than painful as it reminded him of brewing with Lily. She had been a spectacularly gifted potions brewer herself. Severus tried to shake the thoughts of Lily out of his head. He was both proud at Brixton's success and flattered that she wanted to learn so much from him. He found himself smiling more than he had in years. It was a nice end to the day and as they said their goodbyes Severus felt very hopeful that by this time next year he would be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts and that his bright student would be teaching classes of her own.