16
When Snape left his quarters the next morning he almost collided with Dumbledore.
"Thank Merlin," cried the old wizard. "Just the man I was looking for! Tom wants to hold a workshop for the first years this afternoon. We can't allow that!"
"I don't think that would go over well," Snape pointed out as the two men set out to the Great Hall. They walked slowly to give themselves time for a private conversation. Snape had taken care of potential eavesdroppers with a muffliato charm the moment Dumbledore said 'Tom'.
"That's why I came to you. We need to distract him!"
"This is a bit short notice if he wants to hold the workshop this afternoon. What does he want to teach them anyway?"
"I don't care what he says he wants to teach them. We can't allow him to poison those young minds with his teachings! Knowing Tom, he can turn a crochet lesson into an introduction to the Dark Arts." Dumbledore was more worried than Snape had ever seen him before.
"I'll try to think of something," Snape promised.
The Dark Lord was enthusiastic about his idea to contribute to the advent calendar by teaching the young students how to make presents for the advent calendar.
"When will you hold your workshop?" Snape feigned ignorance.
"This afternoon," the Dark Lord informed him. "Bella is going to assist me."
"What a wonderful idea," the potions master said carefully. "May I ask what you are planning to teach them? One has to be very careful not to overcharge them."
"I was thinking of showing them how to make parchment fold itself into stars," the Dark Lord mused. "They could be used as Christmas ornaments."
Snape was relieved. Parchment stars sounded harmless enough.
"What a beautiful project!" he enthused. "May I suggest though to involve more assistants? Your choice of project is pretty advanced for first years; they may need more help than you anticipate."
Dumbledore had been listening in on their conversation and seized the opportunity immediately. "May I offer my services?"
"I was going to ask Lucius," mused the other wizard, "but I don't see why not."
The headmaster smiled happily and gave Snape the thumbs-up behind the Dark Lord's back.
"Why don't you ask Filius for advice?" the potions master added. "He's the Charms teacher and can tell you where in your project to expect difficulties for the children. It's always easier to teach when you know what your students already know."
"That's a very useful piece of advice!" The Dark Lord got up to speak to the Charms teacher. When he returned a little later – Snape had finished two cups of coffee in his absence – the Dark Lord was even more enthusiastic. "Flitwick has a free period in the afternoon. He can't stay for the whole workshop but he will drop in for a while and help."
When the students opened their gifts, it became clear that the Weasley twins had done their homework. Harry Potter downed the potion he had found in his parcel and his hair developed a stripe pattern in bubblegum pink and purple. Snape felt strongly reminded of Nymphadora Tonks. Potter's new hairstyle looked exactly like what the clumsy auror would do after her fifth or so shot of fire whisky.
The Dark Lord roared with laughter when he spotted his nemesis. His laughter doubled, when Bellatrix Lestrange sported a similar hairstyle a couple of minutes later.
"Better you than me, sister in law," laughed Lucius good-naturedly. "At least you are not clowning around like Potter."
"Excuse me, I'm a witch of breeding," huffed Bellatrix. "I do have some dignity."
"Don't be a sour-puss, Bella," said the Dark Lord as he wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. "Remember that this whole business is intended to raise the morals of the children."
"That's the spirit, Tom," agreed Dumbledore. With a quick wave of his wand, his own hair turned the colour of Potter and Bellatrix's. Another wave of his wand, and a similar wig appeared on the Dark Lord's head.
Snape got a new notebook. It had obviously not been bought but made by a student. The spine was decorated with a pattern of gold and silber stars which sparkled when Snape touched the small book.
"This is nicely done," commented Flitwick. The small wizard was wearing a new hat with a quite spectacular peacock feather.
"Very," agreed Snape. "You have reason to be proud of your students."
During the lunch break, Snape complained to Dumbledore. "My whole afternoon class is on the list for the Dark Lord's workshop! Those children are not good at potions. The class is almost a month behind where they should be, they simply can't afford to miss a potions lesson!"
Dumbledore looked at the potions master over the rim of his glasses. "Severus, honestly, the class's potions level is the least of our problems. Personally, I will admit, I'm glad that the whole class signed up for the workshop. This gives us an excuse to bring you into the workshop."
Snape growled in frustration. He wanted to teach Potions, not play chaperone to a wanna-be teacher!
"I promise to organise an extra lesson for you and your first years after Christmas," Dumbledore offered.
"Great, because I need more lessons in one week," complained Snape. "I want my lesson this afternoon."
"I hate to disappoint you but it can't be helped. Now come, I heard there are those cucumber sandwiches you like so much for lunch today."
The potions master huffed. Typical for Dumbledore to use the house elves to bribe his teachers!
There were a total of eight adults present to help twenty small first years – Slytherins and Gryffindors – as well as Harry Potter and his two sidekicks. Dumbledore must have enlisted their help at some point during the morning.
The Dark Lord had brought sheets of parchment for everybody and started his lesson by demonstrating what he was going to teach the children.
"First I choose a word to trigger my charm," the dark wizard explained. "I will make it 'pureblood'."
"Christmas," Dumbledore interfered. "Don't you think it would be nice to use the advent calendar topic?"
"Yes, 'Christmas' makes a nice trigger word," the Dark Lord agreed. "Then," he continued, "I choose my charm." He demonstrated how to make the parchment fold itself into a Christmas ornament.
"Then we combine the trigger charm and the folding charm." The Dark Lord showed how to do it.
"If I may," Flitwick interfered. He reminded the children of how they had combined two charms a couple of weeks ago during a lesson. "I suggest," the small Charms master ended, "that you form groups now and each group gets one or two adults to help them."
The Dark Lord took over and proceeded to assign assistant teachers to pairs and groups of three children.
He himself chose a pair of Slytherin boys to work with.
"Tom, Harry is still free. May I suggest you team up with him? Who knows, you may discover that you like each other." Dumbledore smiled at the Dark Lord.
Both wizards snorted but the Dark Lord summoned another chair to the table where little Algie Parkinson and Lauren Bulstrode were nervously eyeing the parchment in front of them.
Snape watched from afar as a battle of charms demonstration unfolded between the two arch-enemies. Algie and Lauren moved their chairs a little away from the table as the parchment figures got more and more complicated and bigger.
When Harry Potter's parchment dragon and the Dark Lord's parchment Cerberus started to rip each other apart, Snape decided that it was time to act as head of house.
"Mr Parkinson, Mr Bulstrode, kindly move to Professor Flitwick's table. He will help you."
When the boys were gone Snape glared at the two wizards. "Potter, how very much like you to ruin an exceptional learning opportunity for two young Slytherins!" he sneered. "My Lord," he continued in a friendlier tone, "it was a wise move to expose Potter's poor character but I think now is the time to return to this afternoon's original purpose. There are still many children who need help. May I ask for the honour of your help with dealing with those two?" He pointed back at the table he had just left. Ebony Brown (Lavender's little sister) and Barclay Wood came from families which were the epitomes of light. Snape was sure that the Dark Lord was not going to be able to influence these two.
"Of course!" cried the older wizard. He joined the two Gryffindors at their table and looked at what they had achieved so far.
Once the workshop was over, the Dark Lord, Lucius and Bellatrix retreated to their quarters to rest a little before dinner – "I had no idea teaching was so exhausting!" admitted Lucius – and the teachers went to the staff room for a cup of tea.
Dumbledore praised everybody's good work and then brought out a bottle of mead as a reward. Flitwick contributed a bottle of champagne and McGonagall had muggle Scotch. Sprout had eggnog.
"And you Severus?" asked McGonagall as she sipped her second glass of champagne. "Don't tell me you don't have something nice to add to the party."
The potions master smiled slyly and wiggled a vial in front of his fellow teacher. "Sober-up potion," he drawled. "A dose for each of us."
"Excellent!" cried Dumbledore; and if there was a wild party at the staff room that afternoon, the students never knew.