A/N: Written for The House Competition, Round 2.
House: Gryffindor
Class: Herbology
Category: "Standard"
Prompt: [Dialogue, Multi-line] "No." / "That's not the correct response." and [Dialogue] "I know you."
Word Count: 1189
"No." His face was set: eyes narrowed, jaw clenched. His hands, so often held behind his back, were instead crossed in front of his chest in a rare gesture of defiance.
"That is not the correct response."
"Minerva—"
"Do this for me, Severus, and I will not ask another thing of you."
Severus snorted. That would be the day. His employer simply narrowed her own eyes at him, and he braced himself mentally for the impending onslaught.
"Severus Snape, I know you. I have known you since you were a boy—granted, I didn't know you well at first, but as time went on I came to understand you. As much as you allowed, at any rate." She shot him a half hearted glare, and tapped her quill to emphasize her words as she shared her observations. "You value effort. You appreciate a job well done. You recognize the cost and the benefit of putting in hard work to earn a reward or an outcome. It's what drew you to the field of potions, and what makes you excel in that same field. Severus, to you…" she faltered, as though seeking the right words, "excellence is like catnip."
He scoffed, his mind reeling as he realized she was right. Every effort and achievement he had ever held dear had been the direct result of tireless effort and precise execution. This same value was what caused him to lose patience so quickly with those who seemed so willing to accept 'good enough' and move on. He craved innovation, hungered for improvement, and longed for others to share that worldview. That longing had once led him down a dark path; now, it simply guided his hand as he sought to shape the minds of future potioneers.
He had established multiple interdisciplinary programs at Hogwarts over the three years since he had returned fully recovered from his injuries during the Final Battle. Having been pardoned, his newfound freedom and extra time had at first seemed a relief, and all too quickly had become a burden of their own. After over twenty years of working constantly towards one singular goal, he was imbued with a drive to do something, to use his mind and his instincts to make a difference. The interdisciplinary programs were helping; teachers of each department were encouraged to not only coordinate their lesson plans, but also to merge the occasional class. Charms and Transfiguration had had great success with their partnership, as had Herbology and Potions. Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy had even partnered up on occasion, with arithmantic equations having come in surprisingly useful in calculating the correct potion and herbal concoctions to use—and in what dosage—for a new hybrid Hagrid had introduced (he couldn't decide whether to call it a Threstorn or a Unistrall, but the students seemed to have settled on Stabbybat, to Severus' private amusement), which had fallen ill after contact with male students. Professor Vector was also now partnering with Poppy Pomfrey to create a slew of Healing courses that would serve as pre-apprenticeship training for those considering becoming a Healer.
In addition to working closely with Minerva to restructure the classes offered at Hogwarts, Severus spent a bit of his time tinkering with modifications and improvements on standard potion recipes. He had finally cashed in on the numerous patents he had filed away in reserve, but there were always improvements to be made.
Which brought him to his current predicament: he had, in the back of his ever-working brain, been contemplating how best to approach a combination of Potions and Transfiguration. After numerous theories, each of which had been carefully considered and either resolved within a number of days or dismissed as not being worth the effort, he had arrived at a hypothesis which made sense to both himself and Minerva.
If Polyjuice potion could be altered to intentionally allow animal transformations, it would allow prospective animagi to get a sense for their form (once said form had been identified through the initial phases of the process, of course) before trying to transform via the standard transfiguration spells alone. This would, theoretically, cut down on the number of transformation mishaps—including injuries and permanent transformations, partial and otherwise—as the individual could better visualize and sense the differences between their human form and their animagi form, and change between them at will successfully. The applications extended from there: those without the ability (or discipline) to become animagi could still experience animal forms, and animagi could experience animal forms different from their own natural transformation. One would simply need to add the fur of the animal of one's choice.
However, in order to determine how best to alter the existing Polyjuice potion—he had four possibilities that he had planned out which all arithmantically and theoretically worked—they needed someone to try the standard Polyjuice Potion with animal fur, and then the new one, to compare the differences.
He had been quite prepared to test on himself, both because he was habitually reluctant to put others at risk, and because he didn't trust the observational skills of others to make not of the nuances involved; however, Minerva had stepped in and insisted that they instead use a resource that was but a Floo call away.
He had been rather speechless when she had clarified that he would simply have to request that Hermione Granger return to Hogwarts to test the Anijuice, as they had dubbed it. Minerva made good points: Granger certainly had the attention to detail that would be required, though she would have to revisit her original experience in a pensieve and then reabsorb the memories to regain a fresh awareness; Granger's medical file was on record, so her vitals and any other measurements or observations that they might need would still be there in Poppy's clear, concise script; and they wouldn't risk a valued member of staff getting stuck in a half animal-half fur state unnecessarily, since they all knew it had been by a stroke of luck alone that he had been able to reverse her mishap all those years ago.
Minerva had argued, too, that there would be significant follow up, multiple batches of the potion, and that he could use someone who had as firm a grasp of the Arithmancy and theory involved as he did. 'And,' he thought grudgingly, 'whoever assists deserves to get something in return for their efforts.'
He had to concede. "Fine. You'll be the one to inform her, though. I doubt she'd welcome a missive from me."
Minerva looked at him as though he'd grown a second head. "Severus, you are a war hero. The most accomplished potioneer in your field. One of very few Potions Masters in Great Britain, and arguably the most skilled at that. And your class was always her favorite. She will be thrilled to be offered an apprenticeship with you."
Severus sighed, pinching his brow. Failing to muster the energy to even argue the point, he settled for a grumbled 'we shall see' before he bid Minerva a good day, and left her office.
It was going to be a long year.