Disclaimer: Most of these characters and places belong to JKR. I added Barbara.

Barbara sighed over a potion that was supposed to cure spattergroit. The directions in the recipe didn't produce the same potion as the sample, and based on her tests, this potion wouldn't cure anything and would definitely do a great deal of harm to an unsuspecting public. She stretched her back, pulled herself to her full height, and prepared her standard potion rejection letter.

"Yeeks!"

"What is it now, Stewart? Have you melted another cauldron? Just clear up and finish for the day. I have to finish this letter and dispose of that spattergroit disaster."

"Er, Miss Merrill, there's someone to see you."

She signed the letter and turned with her "I expect better things of you" expression on her face and looked right into the amused but stern eyes of Severus Snape.

Without changing expression she said, "Thank you Stewart, you may leave, now." The young man scrambled away eagerly, looking with fear between the stern looks on his former professor's and current boss's faces.

Professor Snape laughed sardonically. "The lad is as scared of you as he ever was of me."

She joined his laugh. "One can only hope."

When they were alone she noticed that he wasn't stern at all. "Why Professor Snape! You're the picture of excitement! Pray tell what brings you to my humble dungeon."

"Good afternoon Miss Merrill. I'm excited for two reasons. The first is this." He handed her a letter. "The second is...we've been invited to dinner at the Burrow."

"So...?"

"It worked. George Weasley's ear is grown back. It's not perfect, but he looks completely normal, now."

"Professor Snape, that's wonderful! Let me switch my robes, and..." Turning to her work space. "Oh, rubbish, and I really mean rubbish. Let me clear this mess away. Have a seat." Pointing to her desk. She turned to clear up the potion and its disastrous results.

"Letting me see your correspondence? Any love letters to look at?"

"Noo..." he could actually hear her face turning pink and got an image of a ribbon-tied bundle of scrolls. He looked on her desk.

"Why, these are from me!" He saw them right in front of the picture of her Hogwarts class, which he noticed was three years after his own. She had graduated right before he was hired. Closing his eyes, he vaguely recalled a plain faced little girl with big eyes and long braids staring at him across the library.

"Well," she said, trying to regain composure, "I wanted to make sure they were all in one place so that I could keep track of our joint projects."

"I see." He hid the smile he felt. There aren't any other ribbon tied bundles, here. He looked intently at the Hogwarts picture, trying to see if he could find either the little girl he remembered or the woman standing before him.

"OK," she said after a few moments, "I'm ready."

"We have much to celebrate."

She looked at Severus, "Wait a minute, is there more?"

He looked at her with the expression he saved for the least bright of his students. Otherwise he would laugh. "Open the letter."

It was written on Hogwarts stationery. She sat down and opened it.

Dear Miss Merrill,

Circumstances of the last several months have left several vacancies on our staff. Due to the high recommendations of our former Potions Master, Professor Severus Snape, and upon review of your school and work records, it gives me great pleasure to offer you the position of Potions Mistress here at Hogwarts School, as well as associate House Head for Ravenclaw.

She looked up and he was smiling brilliantly. The next bit covered her expected course work, when the term was to begin and pay and the letter ended with:

The other returning professors and I would like to meet with you Thursday evening, if it is agreeable. We would then appreciate you assistance with the special OWL and NEWT testing the next morning and we can firm up any details that are still unresolved. Please owl back your expected time of arrival.

Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Headmistress
Hogwarts School

He was looking at her expectantly. "You'll come, won't you? Please tell me you don't mind the pay cut or will miss the advantages of city living, or..."

"Moving away from all this glamor?" she spread her arms to indicate the shabby dungeon. "When you put it like that, I think... you know, I think I shall." When she smiled like that, he could see dimples in her cheeks.

"Wonderful!" he said. She had never expected to see him so animated. He leaned toward her and then sat back in his chair. "We can continue our collaborations much more conveniently this way, you see."

"Oh, yes," she answered then spoke too quickly, "quite. Let me send an owl to Professor McGonagall, and we can be off..." She made herself busy so as to keep from chattering.

Later, they were walking from the Burrow toward Ottery St. Catchpole, both elated over their success with George Weasley's ear.

She suddenly realized something. "Professor Snape? How is it that I am going to take your position and yet we'll be able to continue our work together?"

"We're re-working the Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum. I've been asked to take that teaching and research position permanently and look at how we can best prepare for what is likely to come in the future. They think my experiences will be valuable."

He stopped walking. "By the way. Barbara." He said her name very deliberately and looked into her eyes. "I think, since we are both to be professors at the same institution now, you can dispense with the 'Professor Snape' and just call me Severus. Give it a try."

"Are you sure, Prof, er, Severus?" I don't want you to think me presumptuous." She was blushing.

He laughed and replied, "My dear lady, you're the least presumptuous person I know. Talented, professional, kind, definitely. Never presumptuous." He took her hand and looped it through his elbow before apparating them both to London, to a deserted street corner very near her flat.

He walked her to her door and made sure she was safely inside. "Thank you, Severus, for a lovely evening, and everything else." She closed the door and leaned against it, wondering how he knew precisely the best place to apparate into her neighborhood.

"And you, Barbara." He stood just a moment longer than necessary, wondering if she knew how his name sounded on her lips.

A/N: A special thank you to reviewer Mark Darcy, who discovered a major flaw in the flow, which has now been corrected.