23
The next morning, Dumbledore brought breakfast again, and it was excellent.
"Your potion works for the house elves," he said. "Within an hour they are right as rain. For humans the effect is not as good. The Hufflepuff seventh year who volunteered to test the potion has regained some control over his magic. The fever is down to where it's no longer dangerous and he still seems to improve. It's possible that the potion will heal him but will take longer than for the elves. Time will tell. The details are on the parchment."
Again the headmaster left as quickly as possible. The bluish aura which indicated that he was using a shield spell to protect his potions master was weaker than the day before.
Snape indulged in a lengthy meal for there was not much he could do before the Hufflepuff data were complete. After breakfast he owled to St. Mungo's about his find concerning the plague potion and its effects on the house elves. He included a sample of the potion and also a short report on what was going on with the human proband.
Once that was taken care of, Snape made work sheets for his students to complete while they were restricted to their houses. He made the necessary number of copies and banished them to the respective common rooms together with a note saying that their achievements during distance learning were, of course, going to be taken into account when it came to their marks for the year. He also asked his NEWT students to collect their younger housemates' work and send it to him. He was not going to deal with lost assignments just because a first year was unable to perform a proper banishing spell (which they could not because those were taught in fourth year).
All work taken care of, Snape returned to his sofa for lunch – which had magically appeared like it normally would at Hogwarts. The tray held a small feast. All of the potions master's favourites were there. Roast duck, cheese cake, shepherd's pie, stuffed tomatoes and even a small portion of that Indian dish he never failed to get when he was in muggle London. Chicken korma.
There was a small note saying "Thank you for saving the elves! PS Happy took the liberty of getting your parcel out of your calendar bag"
Snape smiled. He still got to open his advent calendar! It was the parcel for the 22nd, and there wasn't going to be one for the 23rd because nobody had been allowed to the Great Hall in order to fill the bags, but still, it was nice.
The potions master opened his gift eagerly.
It was a small tin of chocolate biscuits. How very nice! Snape asked the house elves for some coffee and settled down comfortably for dessert.
He was just nibbling his fourth biscuit when it hit him. If he put phoenix tears into the plague potion, its effects should set in much faster. Especially if he used a little oregano to compensate the effects of the ink of squid.
Snape rushed to his lab and started brewing.
Two hours later, he sent another vial to Dumbledore with instructions how to use it.
Shortly before dinner time there was a knock on the door. It was the headmaster and he had no shield charm in place.
"It works, my boy!" he cried. "The Hufflepuffs who took this new potion recovered even faster than the house elves!"
"I'll fetch the rest of the batch," said Snape and together the two wizards brought the healing potion to Sprout who was to hand it out to the students.
Snape returned to his lab to brew more of the healing draught for the hospital wing and to write to St. Mungo's again. Dinner, Dumbledore had declared, was to take place an hour later than usual and everybody was invited to bring the gift they had intended to give for the 23rd.
The students, Snape learned when he returned to his place at the Head Table, were to open their 22nd window before the meal and then put their new gift inside. Dumbledore was going to trigger the swapping spell by hand so that after dinner, everybody could open their window for the 23rd.
The first calendar opening went fast. Everybody was hungry and wanted to start the meal. Cookies, Christmas ornaments and other small trinkets were put away quickly. Potion vials were kept for later.
Snape was the only one who didn't open a window because he had his already delivered by the house elves.
"That was excellent work, Severus," the Dark Lord praised the potions master while he ate meat loaf and mashed potatoes. "Amazing really, you achieved in a day what others have been working on for months."
"The breakthrough came when I thought of the plague," Snape told the Dark Lord.
"The plague?" Dumbledore joined the conversation. "Fascinating!"
Soon the three wizards were deep in a discussion of experts. They discussed brewing techniques, the influence of stirring angles and whether the oregano could be replaced by basil.
The Dark Lord was just pointing out that a gold stirring rod could be beneficial for the potion when McGonagall interrupted. "The children are waiting to open the advent calendar," she pointed out. "You can continue this later."
Dumbledore apologized for forgetting everything around him in the throes of scientific passion and started the swapping spell. After a couple of seconds there was a flash of red light and it was done.
Everybody got up to get their gift. Snape got a parcel wrapped in the Dark Lord's signature paper – black with white skulls.
"You got that?" cried the Dark Lord who had a green parcel. "Oh, that's fitting!"
Like always, they first watched the children. Draco must have put another vial of his elf ear potion into the calendar because Longbottom sprouted ears after downing a potion. At the Slytherin table, one of Snape's fourth years got a potion which made him grow two feet. The whole table roared with laughter because the boy had gone through a growth spurt recently and was still struggling with his new height.
Dennis Creevey at the Gryffindor table got a potion which made him sing when he wanted to speak. The boy was a gifted soprano. Dumbledore clapped enthusiastically when the young Gryffindor told his housemates off for laughing at him in an angelic voice.
At the Hufflepuff table, only small gifts like cookies and glass baubles were unwrapped but the badgers certainly looked happiest of all Hogwarts houses. Having the whole house at the Great Hall and healthy was the greatest gift of all and they had got that.
When it was the teachers' turn, Snape opened the Dark Lord's gift with trepidation. One never knew what the dark wizard found appropriate.
It was a very nice but all in all unspectacular water glass.
"It's beautiful, my Lord," Snape thanked the giver politely.
The older wizard smiled secretively. "Choose wisely what you pour into it, Severus," he said, "for it will refill with that beverage whenever you touch your wand to it."
"You mean I got a never-ending supply of Ogden's finest? Or of my favourite Merlot?"
"Or pumpkin juice, should you prefer that," the Dark Lord nodded.
"What a powerful object!" Snape gasped. "Thank you, my Lord! You are right, I'll have to think about what I want to put into it."
The Dark Lord opened a gift wrapped in pink paper. In it was a small ring. When he put it on his finger, the colour of the ring changed to blue.
"What is that?" asked the wizard. "Blue does not go with my robes at all."
"It's a muggle mood ring, my Lord," explained the potions master. "It will change colour according to your mood. Blue means relaxed. Green means excited, red is angry and so on. Check the box, there should be a list of colour meanings in there."
There was and the Dark Lord spent the rest of the gathering trying to display various emotions to try the ring out properly. "Say something stupid, Lucius, and make me angry," he ordered his right hand man.
"I'd rather not anger my Lord," the blond replied evasively.
"He's too busy playing with his new comb to follow his Lord's orders," spat Bellatrix from her brother in law's side. Lucius had got a comb which made the hair shinier. It was not a student project but came from a very high-end brand. One of the Slytherin purebloods must have put it into the calendar.
"Lucius," growled the Dark Lord. "I gave you an order!"
"There!" cried Dumbledore. "It's red!"
"Excellent, Lucius!" cried the Dark Lord and the ring's colour changed to a delighted lime green.
Flitwick got a wooden flute. He tried it out and when he liked its sound he spelled it to play of its own accord.
With a double helping of advent calendar treats around, dinner turned into a small party. The teachers didn't begrudge the students their joy and let them stay longer than usual.
When Snape returned to his quarters, he put his new glass on the coffee table and thought about what to put into it. At last he fetched the bottle of finest fire whiskey – a special edition of Ogden's – which Dumbledore had given him for Christmas a couple of years ago. It was almost empty. With a sly grin, Snape poured the last shot he had kept for a special occasion into the glass.