Disclaimer: As before, most of the characters were created by and belong to JKR. Barbara I created.
Dear Miss Merrill,
Thank you for the registry number and the information on the status of both our projects. I enclose the revisions I recommend for the paper. For someone who hasn't written a scholarly paper in a while, I'm actually impressed. It's certainly better than most of the work I get from even my advanced potions classes. Work continues on my end. It's so frustrating, but I think I am very close to the solution if I could just look at it the right way. If we are methodical enough we will find the answer.
The summer term is well under way. I have three potions classes and three DADA courses to teach. The latter classes have been made much easier by, I don't believe I'm saying this, Harry Potter, whose skills I must admit are well beyond Hogwarts levels. Of course, his year away from the school was an intensive course in practical Defense Against the Dark Arts. The boy is working with me as a sort of teachers assistant. He continually oversteps boundaries, but I'm finding now that he's not nearly so disagreeable as I used to think.
The students in general seem more eager to learn than they have in the past. Even Potter, who used to waste space in my potions class, is working as hard as possible at his worst subject. There's an attitude in general that the students are working toward definite goals, now, instead of passing time until they are grown up. It's a gratifying time to be a teacher.
I think you are right about giving colleagues and students time. Some of the most powerful potions take great time and effort, too. I spent years cultivating my previous demeanor and relationships. As the weeks have crept past, I notice that things have indeed changed. Miss Merrill, how do you stay so positive? And how can you be so kind to me all of the time?
No potions this time, perhaps in a day or two, but notes on both projects. Please keep me apprised of the progress on your end. You know how important the one has become to me.
As ever,
Severus Snape
Professor Snape looked up from signing his letter into a vacant expression on Ginny Weasley's face. Apparently there was one or two exceptions to what he had just written. However, the cause of this vacant expression appeared to be standing just to the side of his desk. How did Potter get into the dungeon without his noticing? Was he that involved with his letter? He rolled it up quickly.
"Miss Weasley, look lively. That potion won't stir itself!"
"Oh, yes, sir!" Ginny squeeked while searching for her place in her text.
"What is it now, Potter?" Snape had to readjust his composure. The look he was receiving from the green eyes just now was too much like one Lily used to give him whenever she caught him out at an emotional moment. He was just writing a letter, for pity's sake!
"Well, sir, we were doing a DADA practice class and working on our counter attacks and some questions came up. I have some ideas, but thought we better get the voice of greater experience. Will you have time later to meet with us and sort it out?"
"Yes, let's make it the hour before dinner."
"Thank you, sir. I'll pass the word."
"Oh, and Potter, for the sake of your and Miss Weasley's future children, you might choose a different class to interrupt, hmm?"
"Yes, sir."
Harry was nonplussed. Was Professor Snape making a joke? It sounded just like his former sarcasm, but somehow something about the professor's eyes were warmer than that.
The professor was sitting at his desk poking at the thought of Lily's eyes looking at him from within the face of his school nemesis. It didn't pain or anger him as much as it had done before. Was he changing?
xxxxx
Dear Professor Snape,
I fear you are holding out on me. I know for a fact that there are Quiddich matches going on and you haven't told me a thing. Could the fact that Ravenclaw beat Slytherin be involved? Be honest. I can prepare a mean batch of veritaserum.
If the red-soaked parchment that returned to me is better than what you are used to seeing from students, I have little hope for my poor dungeon's future! I will re-work as per your edits and send it back in my next letter. I think I see where we should take it next. Please look at my notes and tell me what you think.
This project is my salvation. Without it (and the truly meritorious work done by colleagues such as yourself), this place would resemble Weasleys Wizard Weazes much more than a respectable dungeon. Why do people who simply threw six items into a cauldron think that they now have a cure for dragon pox? I suppose that if the preparation were to kill the sufferer outright, the dragon pox could be considered gone, but that's hardly to be desired. The Weasley brothers' preparations that I test are actually an improvement. They don't necessarily help anyone, but at least they have been proven safe.
I didn't realize I was so kind to you. Are you sure you read my lab notes last week? I specifically remember one comment that makes me blush over my own impertinence. However, I do wish to treat you with the respect I have for the brilliance of your work. Which has only increased. I also admire your sense of remorse and your desire to help. Meanwhile, I don't know that I'm so very optimistic, either. So many things are still in such a mess that I cannot even think about them and focus on the happy things, small as they may be. There are many losses in our world, on both sides, and the remaining family members suffer so much.
Tell me something. I'm finding that Stewart Cavill, who went through seven years in your classroom, somehow has no idea about the value of starting with a clean cauldron. I cannot imagine this is something you allowed; how did you get him to clean his equipment? Didn't you fear for your life?
Once again, my best wishes for your endeavors.
Cordially,
Barbara Merrill
A clatter filled the dungeon. Barbara's eyes grew narrow.
"Not again, Cavill! You know cauldrons behave oddly when they are not clean to start."
"Well, er, Miss Merrill, I never seem to have time--" He stopped when he realized that he was under the the coldest stare he had seen since leaving Hogwarts.
"Just clean it up. When I look tonight, I better see that every kettle and cauldron is in pristine condition. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Thank you, Mr. Cavill. Do have a good evening."
xxxxx
My Dear Miss Merrill,
Enclosed you will find yet another of those frustrating attempts at the healing potion, as well as my thanks for a perfectly written paper. I believe that if there is nothing else to include, we should send it right along to JPS and see where we stand. In reading your notes, I agree that you have taken our project on the correct new path. I enclose notes of my own on the subject. I don't find you to be impertinent, just forthright. I'm sure you will have noticed my own forthright comments in the notes I've sent to you. Surely two collaborators can have a difference of opinion from time to time?
The summer term is half over and thoughts are turning toward the Fall. I may have a day working in London, soon, to prepare for the next term. What is your policy on visitors to your dungeon?
I cannot tell you what to do with Stewart Cavill, but you may have solved a puzzle for me. He would invariably start working only to have it splatter on the ceiling, after which he would clean up and produce excellent potions. He was accepted into my advanced classes on the basis of his subsequent attempts, never the first ones. Why he chose to go into a career in potions is beyond me.
I'm afraid I will need to cut this short. I see that some of the fifth years need to be reminded of the difference between chopping and mashing.
As ever,
Severus Snape
He straightened out the fifth years and came back to his letter.
He wanted to write about Lily, but he didn't know how to write about his experiences with Harry Potter. The correspondence had advanced from strictly professional to much more friendly, but not this friendly. Still, he had come to trust her judgment.
PS: I find that my feelings about Lily Evans and her son are changing. Instead of seeing her eyes in his face and thinking with pain that he should be my own son, I'm finding more a sense of gratitude that she produced him. It's almost as if my feelings for her are more of a brother. Is such a thing possible? I ask you because of your kindness to me and your sense of optimism.
xxxxx
Barbara put the potion properly away and sat down, re-reading the letter. She would need to ponder his questions before answering. I don't care what Professor Dumbledore said, I don't have a knack for this sort of thing. She put the letter away and prepared to test Professor Snape's latest potion.
Dear Professor Snape,
The healing potion works! I hope you don't mind, but I have given a sample on to the specific family we have discussed. We should know in a few days how the "real-world test" comes out. In looking at your notes, I feel that the answer should have been obvious, but the decision to use aloe in just that way was was beyond science and more like the inspiration that creates great art.
The editors of JPS have accepted our paper. They want a couple of edits on it, and I enclose a copy so that you can see. I don't think they're inappropriate and although the paper was already perfect, they wouldn't feel as though they were doing their jobs if they took it as it came, would they?
I may have sorted out our young friend Stewart. I told him I would put a stinging hex on the cauldrons if he didn't start washing them out better. So far, so good. Another small thing for which to be grateful!
There's a big thing for which I'm not grateful. The ministry turned down my request for updating the dungeon. I had thought that perhaps this was my destiny, to make these improvements, but it's not to be. Minister Shacklebolt was quite nice about it and pointed out that the funds were needed to actually rebuild some other areas. I shouldn't be so disappointed, but I admit it's a blow. Part of me wonders why we have a Quality Testing department, anyhow. The wizarding world went for hundreds of years without it. Then I read something in The Daily Prophet about a family getting horribly sick due to an unregistered potion and I know my work is important.
Oh, bother! Pardon the chatter, please. I'm not purposely ignoring your post script. You have placed a lot of faith in me and I don't wish to say anything that will make a situation worse.
He looked up from the letter. Of course she thought it was too personal. The letter went on, though.
You said before that Lily was the only good thing in your life. Please consider that, at least during your adult life, it had to be that way. In order to play your part in working against the Dark Lord, you had to put all other good things away from yourself and place yourself at odds with the people whom you were actually helping. In many ways, I think we all owe a great deal to your love for Lily, which I see now is how it was even remotely possible. Thank goodness you had one shining thing to carry you through all the horrors in which you must have traveled. However, since you are no longer at odds with the rest of the world to which you truly belong, your need for her in that role is not as great, so a part of you may be letting her go?
This may be complete trash, of course, so feel free to blast me if I'm wrong. Just please keep writing. I shall be selfishly dwelling on my own disappointments tonight and our correspondence is one of the few bright things in my life right now.
Cordially,
Barbara Merrill
Once again, she couldn't see the tears she had left on his face. She had tremendous insight, and, oddly enough, he felt much better. Maybe he could let Lily go. There was a post script.
PS: I have an open door policy on the dungeon, so you are welcome to drop by whenever your other tasks in town allow. If I am working on something where light or open air would be a problem, there will be a note on the door.
xxxxx
He was sitting at his desk in his quarters, staring at her student records. He had obtained them on the pretext of fulfilling a task assigned to him by the Headmistress, but he knew he really wanted to look for other reasons. In sorting through portions of the records that would be used for the official business, he came upon a note from Albus Dumbledore:
Barbara has a skill for what I can only call empathy. She somehow draws the pain of others onto herself which has been very useful to Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing. I tried to make her aware of this skill, but she shyly shook her head. This is not a well-known area of magic and she will have to find ways to explore it for herself, but we may be able to give her some classes that will help. The downside of her skill is a tendency to wear her heart on her sleeve. Hopefully she will accept her skill and find ways to develop it, as we will need as much help as possible to deal with the present evil.
So that's what it was. She had a natural skill for making people feel better. It certainly worked on him and he saw it at work in the Great Hall. Didn't he feel better just when she put her hand on his arm under the willow? She would have done it for anyone. It wasn't...He sat up and wrote a memo. The information here that he would use officially was in perfect order. He was sure Minerva and the Board of Governors would approve his recommendation.
A/N: Thank you again to all who have read my story, and those of you who have reviewed have been most helpfull! Please feel free to speak up about this story. Meanwhile, to those of you wishing these people would do something, there is a little more action in the next bit.