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Chapter 31Twenty pairs of scared, wide eyes stared up at Apprentice Snape. Tallis stood at the podium in the front of the room, shuffling through his papers to find his roll. This was not how he wanted to begin his first day teaching, having already arrived a few minutes late and now not being able to find the damn list of his students. He finally spotted it buried inside one of his medimagic texts and pulled it out, triumphant. He finally turned back to the room full of overwhelmed first years.
"Sorry about that. Welcome to your first year of potions. If you are not supposed to be in potions right now you may leave." No one moved. Ah well, guess he was stuck with all of them. "Right. Let's see who's here before we begin." He quickly called roll, marking down each student when they replied with their shaky affirmative. Merlin, had he ever been that scared on his first day? He sighed. He had probably been worse than they were. He rolled up the scroll that had his attendance listed on it and tucked it away in the desk.
"As I said before, welcome to potions. I am Apprentice Snape. I will be your instructor for this course. Upon occasion I will be detained in the hospital wing and Professor Snape will fill in for me." The terror level just ratcheted up a notch. Guess they were even more scared of his father. He smirked at them, making one small Hufflepuff actually let out a smothered scream and fall out of her chair. Tallis resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Barely.
"I believe that you will find that I am much more easy going than Professor Snape. When he does fill in for me though you do not need to worry. He has been teaching for many years and is fully capable of picking up a class with no notice." He was fully aware that his Father's ability to teach a class on late notice was not a concern of any of the students but he wasn't about to lie to them and tell them that his Father would be extra nice to them when he did fill in. No need to fill their heads with such nonsense on the first day.
"We will begin by learning basic lab safety. You may not begin to brew potions in this lab until you understand all of the rules and have submitted a fourteen-inch essay on the matter. If you are in breach of any of the lab rules then you will find yourself with a detention and an additional ten-inch essay on the merits of the specific rule or rules that you violated." The pale faces nodded solemnly at Tallis. "Your essay will be returned to me by our next class or you may not perform the practical. Every practical that you are prevented from performing due to your own negligence cannot be made up in any form and will result in a score of 0 for the day. I wish to take this time to remind you that this is, in fact, a required course for all of you through your fifth year. It would not be a good start to your career here at Hogwarts to begin by failing Potions." There. That should put a bit of fear into them.
Tallis quickly went through his rules and allowed ample time for questions. He wanted to make sure that everything was clear. He also taught them a few of the simplest spells that they would be using in the lab such as spells used to raise and lower the flame under their cauldrons. As much as he loved his father he was a terrible teacher largely because the students were too terrified to ask questions and those who were brave enough to ask were typically met with a sneer and ridicule, depending on their house. Severus should not have ever been a teacher.
Tallis, however, was thriving, once the students got over their initial fear of him and they began to understand his odd sense of humor. Evidently the upper classmen had kept them up late at night with horror stories about Snape Senior and the poor first years had assumed the same would be true of his son. They were thrilled to note that Apprentice Snape did not expect them to be potion experts on their first day and that he seemed to encourage students who were lost or confused to ask questions.
The class period ended quickly and the students filed out, chattering about potions and their cute new professor. Tallis rolled his eyes and packed up his belongings as the seventh year NEWT class filed in. Hermione rushed to his side, eager to hear how his first class went. "How was it? Did they all behave?"
"Yes, Miss Granger, they were all excellent" Tallis replied. He had already learned that he needed to refer to all students by their last names when he was in the classroom setting. Outside of the classroom he could still have friends and call them by their first names but never within either the lab or the infirmary. To be safe he had decided to refer to all of them by last names any time he was not either in his own apartment or else in their secret study chambers, which Severus still hadn't approved. Hermione smiled and patted his arm and quickly sat down next to the only other Gryffindor who had made it into seventh year potions: Dean Thomas.
Draco entered and quickly smiled at Tallis and also claimed a seat. "Are you going to be working with us today, Apprentice Snape?"
"I'm just here for the first thirty minutes mainly for introductions then I'm needed in the infirmary."
The rest of the students quickly filed in, clearly worried about being late and bringing down the combined wrath of the two Snapes. They knew that when one Snape was angry with you it was terrible…they could only imagine how bad it would be now that there were two of them.
Severus blew into the room at the last minute, as usual, making a grand entrance, robes flapping wildly. "Good morning, class. You are all present because you somehow managed to pass your final examination last year, although some of you defy explanation for your presence. Regardless, this year will be far more intense than prior years. You will be working on delicate potions occasionally that will take longer to brew than the allotted class time. If you expect to pass the assignment then you will remain in the classroom and work through your lunch period." A quiet murmur filled the room. "If you feel that you prefer a timely lunch to ever finding a remotely respectable job outside of Hogwarts then by all means, leave now." No one moved.
"Pity." Severus said quietly, having hoped that this would get rid of at least a few students. "This is Apprentice Snape. He will be assisting in the classroom throughout the year. If he tells you to do something then I recommend either doing it or withdrawing from my course. I will not brook disrespect from any of you toward my apprentice. Have I made myself perfectly clear?" The fourteen students who had made it into seventh year potions nodded quickly, trying to avoid his wrath. "Good. Today we will begin work on a revitalization draught. Open your textbooks to page 214."
The class listened to Severus' brief lecture trying to jot down as much as they could as he spoke rapidly about the intricacies of the potion and then they hurried to the storeroom to gather ingredients. They stared blankly at the newly rearranged shelves until Draco snidely pointed out the system to the other Slytherins who were in the class: Millie Bulstrode, Blaise Zabini, and Theo Nott. He, of course, did so loudly enough for everyone to hear. He wouldn't want to be accused of being kind though, so he made it look like he only helped his friends. Tallis had to leave shortly after everyone began preparing his or her ingredients.
Tallis hurried on his way to the infirmary. He was on duty there during Madame Pomfrey's lunch hour. He had not had any true training yet but he knew enough to deal with the typical first day woes that rarely allotted to more than a case of homesickness. He had also been given a necklace that he could use to alert Madame Pomfrey when he needed her help. She had a matching one that she would wear whenever he was alone in the infirmary and it would start to heat up when he had a question. Once she responded to it they could use the necklaces to consult on the case at hand. If it were bad enough then she would return to the Infirmary. A great many of the cases that they dealt with though could be healed with a simple potion so she knew it would be rare that she would need to return to him.
He managed to arrive just on time. There were no patients in the Infirmary at all and the sight of the completely empty Infirmary was strange to Tallis. Madame Pomfrey sat at her desk, sorting through her files for her new students. "How has your first day gone so far, Tallis?"
"Pretty well. My students were all scared of me when they got to class. One girl even fell out of her chair at one point, though I'm not entirely certain what brought that on. They seemed a bit more relaxed toward the end of class though."
"You met one of the NEWT classes as well, didn't you?"
"Yes, the seventh years. My Father blew in and terrified them as usual, trying to get some to drop his class. No one left though." Tallis and Poppy laughed at Severus. He had been doing that religiously since he had started teaching and only about three students had ever actually withdrawn when he offered it on the first day. He never gave up hope though. He once told Poppy that he had actually dreamed once that after making his traditional Start of Class speech that the entire roster of students withdrew immediately in terror of remaining. Poppy still giggled remembering the look of bliss on Severus' face when he told her that.
"Well, things have been quiet around here so far. At 2 our check ups with the first years will begin to establish a medical history. You will stay by my side for the first hour or so and then I will let you try a few of the spells on the students while I observe. Once I am certain that you have it correct you will go to the second examination room and begin examining them as well." Upon seeing Tallis' startled expression at the idea of testing new spells out on first years she hurried to explain. "The spells that we use on the average student are only scanning spells to check recent and current illnesses and deeply probing spells to check for a general medical history. The spells are part charm and part medimagic so I am sure that you will pick it up quickly. You shouldn't need to do anything else. Each appointment only lasts around ten minutes."
Poppy watched as Tallis processed the fact that his four hour long appointment when he was a first year was so abnormal. He hadn't really expected anyone to come in as beat up as he had been but he had assumed that they would all need a bit of healing magic for various things. "It's alright, dear. We have a special friendship, don't we? And we got to start it all those years ago at your first appointment." She put her arms around Tallis, hugging him tightly. Tallis pulled himself back together and smiled weakly at her. "There now, that's better. Do you remember how to contact me if you need help?"
"Yes, I should be fine. Thank you Poppy."
"There's nothing that I wouldn't do for you dear. You just need to let me know what you need." Tallis knew that she spoke of more than just giving him some help with any patients who may come in. He hugged her tightly, surprising the nearly unflappable witch momentarily and then he quickly released her and went to sit down at his new desk. Poppy smiled at Tallis, pleased that he had healed so much over the summer. Severus had been good for her young friend. "I'll be back at one, dear."
Tallis pulled out the book he was currently working through, Unnatural Transfigurations. It was a book that explained how to fix patients who had a transfiguration spell go horribly wrong. When that happened it was impossible to simply reverse it as easily as it was when the spell had been done as it was intended. Undoing mistakes was incredibly complex because it essentially needed to be taken on a case by case basis while taking into consideration any one (or more) of a thirty page list of potential issues. Before he could begin to actually work with patients Tallis needed to learn all of the theory behind the practice and memorize books and lists such as this one so that he could call the information to hand in an emergency without stopping to look up a text.
No one had come to the infirmary for any reasons during Tallis' hour alone. Poppy came bustling back promptly at one and sent him packing off to lunch. They had arranged their lunches so that Poppy was in the Great Hall at the beginning of lunch and Tallis was there toward the end. Severus would no doubt time his own entrance around Tallis' projected lunchtime.
Tallis entered the hall somewhat hesitantly. A great deal of the eyes once again swung over to him but he ignored them as best he could and walked up to the head table to sit beside his father. His father's surly expression immediately lightened and a hint of a smile (which no doubt Snape had believed he had squelched entirely) was present, shocking the great hall into a temporary silence. Tallis took no notice of the students though and happily settled in next to his father. His morning, while calm, had still been overwhelming. He was grateful for the familiar presence of his father.
"I hear you were actually…nice to the little buggers" Severus sneered. "The brats have been singing your praises all day."
"Not too much. I just lectured on lab safety like I had planned. Nothing too exciting. Did you get anyone to drop out of your seventh year NEWT class?"
"Unfortunately not. I had hoped that a few would run screaming at the idea that they might miss their precious lunch. Not to mention the threat of two Snapes. One would think it was the apocalypse the way some of them were acting." This statement set Tallis laughing, knowing that many of the students were no doubt thinking exactly that. Not too long ago he would have thought that. His bright laugh caught the attention of many of those sitting near by who wondered how on earth the young Snape could possibly find Professor Snape funny. They strained to hear what the two men were talking about but no one could make anything out. Students exchanged looks of incredulity across the hall as one and all wondered how their Potions Master was so…human with his son.
"You begin your examinations of the first years this afternoon, do you not?"
"Yes, at two. It will be a bit odd examining my own students but I guess I'd be faced with it sooner or later when some of my students show up in the infirmary. Somehow that hadn't occurred to me before today."
"I'm sure you will do well. Have people been leaving you alone?" The simple question was loaded with other, more important questions, all of which Tallis understood. He was really asking if Dumbledore had bothered him, if the students had been harassing him, if too many people had been touching him, and a myriad of other concerns.
"Yes, for the most part, I haven't been bothered. I'm still not used to having so many people near me, regardless of what is going on. Before, I always had my friends to serve as a buffer and I could pretend that the rest of the students weren't there. Without them, it is a bit overwhelming. I'll manage though. At least during the exams I only need to use spells from a few feet away. If anything is actually wrong I'll need to call in Poppy to deal with it."
"Even if there is something wrong I sincerely doubt that you will need to physically touch any students. Poppy and I have already discussed it a bit and she'll explain it in greater detail to you later but the more powerful the witch or wizard the further away they should be from their patients when actually casting a spell. Poppy needs to physically touch the students in order to obtain an accurate reading much of the time because she is not very powerful. Your spells will be so powerful that you could actually damage yourself badly if you touched a student while using healing magic."
"Myself? Not the student?"
"Touching them would provide too great a drain on your powers, most of which would simply enter the environment rather than the student. The student may feel overly energized for a short while but nothing too major would happen. With as powerful as you are, I'm not entirely certain what would happen if you abused your power by doing that. I would rather not find out, either" he said sharply, giving his son his the most threatening look he dared. He knew that his son was still at least partially a Gryffindor and he was worried that the boy would rush right out to find out what happened if he channeled healing magic into a patient and touched them while the spell was still in full force.
Tallis nodded. He didn't entirely understand everything that he had learned. He needed to speak more with Poppy to understand everything. He was relieved though that he wouldn't need to touch his patients constantly. Although it was easier when he chose to touch someone than when they touched him he was still uncomfortable with it and having to do so for long hours would stress him out beyond imagining. He was well aware that he needed to move beyond his fear of touch but he wasn't ready for something quite like that yet.
The two men finished their meal and stood to leave, Severus heading down to the dungeons and Tallis walking quickly to the infirmary. Remus stepped into his path just as he turned the corner to enter the infirmary. The werewolf breathed deeply, taking in the mysterious scent. His eyes lit up in recognition as he finally realized why he smelled so familiar. "What—"
Tallis quickly cut him off. "I'll tell you more, when I can. Right now I am needed in the infirmary for our examinations. Meet me in the Snape rooms later tonight. Maybe around eight. You need to be quiet about this" he said quietly but firmly. Remus nodded immediately. He didn't know what was going on but he knew that he would do whatever Harry said. Harry was the last remaining member of his pack and he had missed him desperately over the summer. But this wasn't Harry…couldn't be Harry. Remus shook his head in confusion and decided that eight o'clock couldn't come soon enough.
Tallis stepped around him and into the infirmary, ready to begin his afternoon's work. Poppy gave him a bright smile and motioned toward the long line of first years awaiting their examination. The Ravenclaws were the first ones there and when they had gotten around half way through them they would send for the Slytherins.
"Come along, dearie." Madame Pomfrey motioned toward the first student. "Apprentice Snape and I will be administering the examination today. Nothing to worry about, just a few quick spells and some questions to confirm the results."
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The rest of the afternoon went well, with Tallis learning the scanning spells quickly. There weren't any "trouble" cases this year and none of the students had any mysterious or unexplained injuries. Poppy was relieved. It wasn't often that they had an abused child at Hogwarts but it happened often enough for her to worry each year. No child that she had helped before had prepared her remotely enough for the young Harry Potter though.
Tallis left the infirmary when Poppy returned from her early dinner to go to the Great Hall himself for some dinner. No one had come in during his shift again, largely because most of them were eating their dinner. The first day was always extremely slow since most of the teachers were giving start of the year speeches and very little practical work was done.
Tallis walked toward the Great Hall, once again dreading entering it. He wished dearly that there were side doors that he could use so that he didn't have to walk up that long aisle by himself. He hoped his father was still there. He didn't want to imagine a meal in the hall without either his father or Poppy at his side. He walked through the doors and breathed a quick sigh of relief at seeing his father's stern countenance in his usual seat, just starting his meal.
Draco watched Tallis closely, noticing the carefully concealed panic and then the relief when he caught sight of his father. Something was definitely strange about Tallis Snape and he intended to find out what it was. He wished that there was an easy way to simply spy on the boy and find out the secret but he was scared to get caught. Tallis was clearly brilliant and after Sev's warning on that first night he was wary of being discovered by Tallis and losing his trust. He sighed heavily and decided it would be best to simply sit back and watch for the time being. Maybe Tallis would confide in him soon.
Tallis had long gained his seat and begun his meal when he told his father about his run in with Remus. "I told him to come to our quarters after dinner. I didn't know what else to do" Tallis whispered, dreading his father's response. They hadn't discussed bringing Remus into the truth and he knew that his father disliked Remus.
Severus sighed. He had known that this would happen, sooner or later. His son may be a Slytherin but he still had a strong Gryffindor edge and he had known that his son would never give up the werewolf no matter how scared he actually was of the man. Severus had tried once to bring the topic of Remus up with his son shortly after that early conversation where Tallis revealed that he believed that Remus would abuse him or rape him. Tallis had closed off immediately and Severus had not attempted to discuss it again. As much as he disliked the werewolf on principle alone as one of the Marauders, he was actually somewhat pleased that his son was willing to fight his own demons so fiercely. He knew that it had been a difficult decision and that Tallis was still scared but he was still willing to tell Lupin the truth. "That sounds like the best solution, Tallis." Tallis blinked for a moment in shock. Well…that had gone well. "How are you going to tell him?"
"I had thought to share a few memories. It would be the quickest way."
"It is rather unbelievable in many ways. Just telling him might not be convincing. The memories should help. I'll get my pensieve out of our office on our way back. We can put the appropriate memories in it before he arrives." Tallis smiled at his father, clearly pleased that he was willing to set aside his differences with Remus for his son and give him his full support. Merlin, he really needed it now. The two men finished their meal quickly, and headed back to the dungeon to prepare for their meeting.
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Next chapter: Remus finds out the truth and the stress gets to be too much for Tallis.