Disclaimer: Most of the characters and places are JKRs, with one character I created.

Dear Severus,

Thank you again for a lovely weekend.

I guess this will be my last letter to you since next week I will be at the school. It seems funny to say, but I will miss our correspondence. Odd, since we'll be able to discuss our work much more conveniently, but I'm an odd sort of a girl.

I've been packing up my things and do you know, packing up the dungeon is harder than my flat? I feel that there is so much more of me here. I guess that tells how much I get out into the big wide world.

Once again, you've held out on the Quidditch. Why didn't you tell me that Slytherin beat Hufflepuff? Is it that, since Griffindor beat all it doesn't really matter? It will be evener during the school year. With the whole school to choose from, one can't build a team with a seeker alone. And Griffindor will need a new seeker.

I haven't much else to say. I enclose my notes for the paper on the healing potion, so they won't get lost in my packing and unpacking. You will have to take the lead on that one, wizard and artist that you are. It's really your work, in which I am most grateful to have been allowed to assist.

I will see you next week. Good bye for now.

Cordially,

Barbara

She rolled it up and saw Kingsley Shacklebolt stepping over and around her packing crates.

"Well, Barbara...I guess you will be leaving soon."

"Yes sir."

"You leave me in quite a lurch."

"If I didn't know you were one of the governors who selected me, I would be sorry, sir."

He laughed. "You still have an offer in that other department, you know."

"Thank you, but potions are for me and I'm really looking forward to working with the students."

"Yes, and still I expect you to do the occasional special project for me. Especially that one we've discussed." She shifted uneasily in her desk chair. "Good luck, Barbara." He shook hands and walked out.

"Thank you sir."

xxxxx

"What can I do for you, Snape?" Kingsley Shacklebolt sat back in his chair and looked across his desk at—who? Professor? Auror? Death Eater? Order of the Phoenix member? Hero? Traitor? Severus Snape was all of these, and yet the man sitting across from him was none of them.

"I requested this meeting because I wanted some information. You were there when Bellatrix Lestrange did something to Barbara Merrill."

Kingsley leaned forward. "That's awfully personal information, Professor. Why do you want it?"

For the first time ever, he saw Severus Snape at a loss. "Interest in the well-being of a colleague, I guess." He looked up. "I feel responsible for her since I pushed so hard for her getting the job at Hogwarts. Plus, something about it haunts her. She saw Andromeda Tonks and dropped her wand."

"That is serious. I've never known her to do that. She's never done that."

The minister leaned back in his chair and looked at Snape appraisingly for a few minutes while Severus pondered the Minister's vehemence.

"I shouldn't do this because she won't appreciate it, and she throws a mean hex when she's mad, but I'll tell you what I saw that day.

"You know that after Rufus was killed, Delores Umbridge started gathering muggle-born wizards and witches. I gave Barbara the information and she was smuggling a group and herself through a floo in Kings Cross to some place out of the country. I was there to help. Then Bellatrix showed up. She cast a cruciatus at all of them and only missed Barbara, who was closest to the fireplace. Barbara stood up to hide me and the curse was somehow re-directed to herself. I'm surprised that she didn't go mad, but she actually resisted the curse and sent it back. They were all rounded up and taken away. Then those kids saved her. I managed to get her wand back to her and the next time she succeeded in getting her parents and herself out of the country."

"You got her wand? That involved some personal risk on your part...?"

"She got me through advanced potions. I owe her."

"Kingsley, are you aware of any special skills Barbara might have?"

"I know she trained in occlumency and legilimancy but that she isn't particularly proficient in either."

"Nothing else, that would account for her drawing the curse to herself?"

"I take it that you have read Albus Dumbledore's remarks in her file?"

"Has she ever trained as an auror?"

"Why ever would you ask that?" Shacklebolt looked at his watch. "Aren't you planning to catch a train, Snape?"

Severus checked his watch, jumped up and with a "thank you" was gone. The minister looked after him and pondered. "Whatever else he is or isn't...I do believe he fancies the lady." He smiled before yelling out to his assistant, "What's next?"

xxxxx

Several students noted to their satisfaction that when he ran, Professor Severus Snape still looked like a bat. That, at least, was back to normal. Then they went back to their goodbyes. He barely noticed that they were there as he leaped onto the train and started looking through the compartments. He found what he was looking for and composed himself before opening the door.

"Professor! I had an appointment here in town and thought I might accompany you to the school."

Barbara looked up and suddenly smiled. "Of course! I would be delighted, Professor. I was just going through your old progress reports on the students so that I could fix them in my mind. Now you can explain some of your comments to me."

"I would be happy to assist you, but first you have to explain something to me that I've always wondered."

She looked wary.

"What's this instrument of torture that you keep in her hair?"

She laughed, "Oh, it's a double pointed knitting needle." She pulled it out and offered it to him; a quantity of brown hair fell over her shoulders and back while the scent of roses and lavender filled the compartment. He couldn't move or speak although he hoped that he kept his face impassive. Since he didn't take the needle, she twisted it all back up, while he closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

The train started with a jolt and it brought him back to himself.

"I see. That was quite, er, informative. So, with which of my former young charges would you like to start?"

"How about this one. Exactly what did you mean by 'the only way the potion could be made worse is if the student had actually read the directions'?"

A/N: Thanks to everyone who has been reading. Feel free to review, and thanks, again, to those who have!