The scrawl of a quill was all that could be heard in Agnes Blackwood's office. There were at least three different books opened on her desk. Random sentences were highlighted at various intervals on each of the pages. The heading of her parchment read "Magical Theory Notes," and the header was underlined. A few books levitated as they waited their turn to be opened and skimmed. The feather of the quill danced with furor as Agnes wrote down what had been highlighted. Her finger marked her place as she worked.

A knock on her office door broke her concentration. The quill jagged from Agnes' startlement. The previously levitating books fell to the floor with a crashing thud. Agnes shook her head as she looked down in dismay at the parchment and leather binding heap on the floor. Sighing, Agnes called, "Come in."

The door creaked open enough to allow half of a face to be visible. "Agnes, may I come in? You had requested to see me." It was only McGonagall.

"Yes, come in Professor McGonagall."

Minerva looked about the room as she stepped in. "My, I hope that I wasn't disturbing you with anything."

Agnes followed McGonagall's gaze to the fallen books in the floor. "Oh, no. Just startled me is all. Please, sit."

Minerva gathered her robes and sat down in the chair opposite to Agnes' desk. Agnes set aside the parchment that she had been writing on just a short while ago and the closed the books that were still open.

"I had called upon you to ask if you could assist me in some research," Agnes said as she pulled another book and more parchment from the bottom drawer of her desk. "My curriculum covers a bit into the Magical Theory of Transfiguration. More for the advanced students, actually. But I seem to have run into a sort of dilemma. I can't find much on Transfiguration in my Magical Theory texts and I was wondering if you happened to possess some material that I could reference."

"Why, yes, of course! I would be thrilled to assist you." Minerva nodded in Agnes' direction as she smiled - much like a lady would do at a tea party. "I will have to go through some of my older materials, but I believe that I have something that'd be of some interest to you."

"Thank you, Professor." Agnes returned McGonagall's smile. "You can send it to me at anytime whenever you have found it."

"But of course." Professor McGonagall bowed her head in courtesy. "Please do excuse me, but I must scurry off."
Minerva stood and turned to leave. Before the Gryffindor had made it to the door, she stopped. "Oh, Agnes, dear."

Agnes looked up to her elder colleague.

"Dumbledore had asked me to tell you that he would like to see you up in his office whenever you are free."

Ah, Dumbledore. Agnes knew what he would want. He most likely would be asking her how she's doing, or how she is feeling about the position of Hogwarts Professor. Honestly, Dumbledore was the last person that Agnes wanted to see right now. She doubted that she really had any choice in the matter. He was the Headmaster of Hogwarts and her boss. She might as well go see what he wanted. Agnes feigned a smile. "Thank you, McGonagall. I will see him as soon as I finish up with my research for the day."

Minerva nodded and took her leave. Agnes was alone in her office once more. Sweet, sweet solitude.

Agnes was accompanied only by the sound of her heels clacking against Hogwart's floors as she marched to the Headmaster's office. She swayed her arms to keep a steady rhythm as she walked. She had maybe 40 minutes until she had to go back up to the third corridor for her first class of the day. It would be dreadful if the professor were late to her own class. How would she know who was tardy and who wasn't? That probably wasn't the best way to look at the situation, but that's all Agnes had reasoning wise.

She rounded the corner of the corridor the Headmaster's office resided. She approached the gargoyle, said the password, and took to the staircase. The hinges of the Headmaster's Chamber doors creaked as Agnes approached. Dumbledore himself was seated behind the massive desk. The old wizard smiled as he motioned for Agnes to sit down.

As Agnes' behind planted itself into the seat of the chair, the doors seemingly closed on the own just as they had opened. Agnes neatly folded her hands upon her lap before speaking. "You had wished to see me, Headmaster?"

"Indeed I have, Miss Blackwood. I had wanted to call upon you to ask how you have been adjusting to Hogwarts?"

Agnes had figured that was what the old man would get at. A smile tweaked at the corners of her lips before her facial muscles rested once again. "I've been adjusting well, Headmaster. It really isn't that hard to get back into Hogwart's schedule after one has spent seven years of their own within these walls. I would also like to thank you, Headmaster, for allowing me to have my planning period in the mornings. I don't do too well with getting up dreadfully early like the students."

"Not a problem at all, Miss Blackwood. It was a very rational request. And the students seem to be doing really well in your classes."

"Thank you, Headmaster. You are too kind." Agnes bowed her head in courtesy.

"But, there is another thing."

Head still bowed, Agnes opened her eyes. Another thing? Her brows furrowed. What other thing could there be… All he usually wants when he asks to see me is a check on how I am doing within the school and my teachings.

"Tell me; has Severus been giving you any trouble at all?"

Agnes didn't lift her head. She merely cocked an eyebrow in confusion. Severus…? Of all the things that can happen in this trollish school, Dumbledore wanted to ask how her interactions were with Severus? Not if the school had wanted to troll her for old times sake and have the magical stairs take her to Argus Filch's office instead of her classroom (which has happened), but he had wanted to ask her about Severus?

All of the previous altercations between her and Snape quickly flashed into her mind's eye, but Agnes quickly stuffed them down. Severus has surprisingly left her alone as of late. Compared to how he had interrogated her in the beginning, the git had toned it down.

"S-Severus…? My, Headmaster, you had me worried there for a moment. Of all the things in this school I had expected you to inquire of me, Professor Snape was last on the list." Agnes hid her laughter behind her fingers.

Dumbledore arched an eyebrow in skepticism. "Ah. Am I right to assume you haven't had any problems with Professor Snape."

Agnes quickly composed herself and returned to a relaxed visage. "That is correct, Headmaster."

Dumbledore nodded and smiled. "Splendid. I am glad to see that the two of you are getting along well. That was one of my worries when you had filled the position of Magical Theory professor."

The old wizard folded his fingers together to rest his chin atop his knuckles as he looked in Agnes' direction. "That puts a lot off of my mind."

"You needn't have worried yourself, Headmaster. I am getting along fine."

Dumbledore nodded again. "To more lightening news, I heard that you had asked for McGonagall's assistance in collaborating research. If I heard correctly, you were looking for reference material on the magical theory of Transfiguration?"

"That would be correct, Headmaster."

"Ah, I see," Dumbledore said. "When I was a professor at Hogwarts, I had a knack for Transfiguration myself. Perhaps I could be of some assistance to you."

Agnes' eyes widened as her lips widened into a smile. "Oh, would you, Headmaster!"

"I'm sure I have a few things that I could show you in your spare time. If that would be alright, of course."

"That would be splendid!"

"If all else, I will owl you what I find from my old reference materials and books."

"Thank you, Headmaster. I really appreciate it. As much as I hate to rush off, I must be getting to my students."

"But of course, Miss Blackwood. I hope that your research goes well."

"Again, thank you, Headmaster. I will most likely see you at supper." Agnes bowed as she left the Headmaster's office. Halfway down the corridor, the giant double doors boomed shut behind her. Agnes had forgotten about those doors.

All in all, she had better hurry before she was late to her own class.

It was much later in the afternoon. Agnes was teaching her Third Year class this period. Magical Theory becomes available to those in their Third Year. Since this is their first year taking Magical Theory, Agnes has to be sure to thoroughly cover everything on the curriculum.

"There are several different classifications of spells." The levitating chalk wrote the words as Agnes spoke. "In some cases, spells are misclassified and it creates confusion. The classes of spells are: curses, hexes, jinxes, and charms." Agnes paused to allow the students writing notes to catch up before she continued with the lecture.

"St. Mungo's most common cases that need immediate emergency treatment are those who suffer from misclassification of spells. Those problems are only oustripped in number by potion mistakes, broom and apparation accidents, and accidental magic that went awry.

"Charms Masters and Magical Theory Specialists are often called to explain these problems. Most simply get frustrated and resort to saying that they don't know instead of giving any sort of explanation."

There was a knock at the door. Agnes stopped reading from her notes to look up. Quills stopped in mid stroke simultaneously. Everyone paused to see who could possibly be interfering with the lecture. "Come in," Agnes called.

The door opened to reveal Professor Snape. Everyone was shocked. Some students openly gasped. In his hand, Snape held a stack of parchment. "I'd hate to… intrude… Professor Blackwood, but Professor McGonagall had asked me to … deliver these… .to you."

Snape awkwardly looked around as he spoke. He knew that every eye in the room was on him. Agnes' eyes softened at the sight. It was the Snape from when they were in Hogwarts. The shy, hesitant Snape.

Agnes met Professor Snape at the door to receive the parchments. "Thank you, Professor. Did Professor McGonagall have anything else?"

"As you can see, unless you were blind as a mole, this is all that I have in my possession."

"Ah, I see…" Aside from one snide remark, it was as though Snape was trying to be nice to her. Maybe he had given up on trying to hound her on her past, and accept that they were colleagues, now. One could only hope. "Did she say where she happened to find these?"

"No. I didn't ask questions, I am simply a messenger."

"Were you going this way anyway? I mean, you usually seem to stick to your dark dungeons."

A few students that were seated in the back of the class overheard Agnes' words and snickered amongst themselves.

Snape's eyes whipped to the not-well-contained laughter like a viper on its prey. His eyes darted back to Agnes. The coldness Agnes had begun to familiarize herself with returned in his onyx irises. "I will not stand here and be mocked, Professor Blackwood. I have much better things to be doing."

Severus Snape turned on his heel and slammed the door behind him as he made his way into the corridor to Merlin knows where. "Yeah," Agnes said. "Probably to go perfect a serum for his hair. I've heard that he is oh so self-conscious about it."

Agnes smiled as the children laughed - as she knew that they would. No one misses on a chance to laugh at Severus Snape.

Agnes' kinked brown locks shrouded her face as her smiled faded to a stern frown.

Yes, no one misses out on a chance to laugh at the poor, lonely, and broken Severus Snape.