Alexandra hastily closed yet another potions book. For the past weeks since she had heard of the Athrimo incident in the paper, she had been trying to find out just a little bit more about it. She couldn't explain why; not even to herself. Yet so far she had had little success; she had consulted every book about potions in the library, and the most she had been able to find was a tiny blurb every now and then that just told her what she had already been told by Alanna.

She looked across the library at the restricted section and wondered if she wouldn't have any more luck if she were to search in there. But of course that would either require her to get permission from a teacher or to sneak in there, and quite frankly she didn't feel that she would have luck with either. She sighed. There had to be just one other book that she had access to that could give her just a bit more insight into this potion.

And then it hit her. There was.

Alexandra saw the image of the charred book in the Room of Requirements in her mind. That was one potions book she had yet to look in…perhaps she'd have a bit more luck with that.

She looked at her watch. She had fifteen minutes before she was supposed to be out in the Quidditch Pitch to watch Gryffindor play Hufflepuff. Perhaps if she hurried, she could make it just in time…

…

"Now that we've just apperated clear across the continent," Ron said, letting go of Hermione's hand as the two of them and Harry apperated onto a hilltop. "Would you mind telling us exactly where we are?"

"Spinner's End," Hermione replied, looking at a small slip of parchment. "And we didn't apperate across the continent. We're still in England."

"Spinner's End?" Harry repeated. "That's not where-"

"This is where Snape grew up," Hermione said softly.

"Bloody hell," Ron said, looking around. "Not exactly a cheerful place."
"Yes, well, Snape wasn't exactly a cheerful person was he," she sighed. She pointed to a small run-down cottage at the base of the hill. "That's where he lived. I was thinking that maybe if we searched the place, we could find some sort of book or some notes that could tell us more about the Athrimo potion."

"That's brilliant," Ron said.

"Yeah, good work, Hermione," Harry nodded.

The three hiked down the hill in silence. When they reached the house, Hermione performed a quick spell to make sure it was indeed empty.

"Alohamora," Harry said, pointing his wand at the rusty lock on the front door. It clicked open and he gently pushed the door open.

"Looks like nobody's been in here in years," Ron coughed as a storm of dust greeted them as they walked into the place.

"Nobody has, Ron," Hermione reminded him.

"This looks like the kitchen," Harry commented, looking around at the piles of dusty dishes. There was a bottle of red wine covered with cobwebs that sat on the counter.

"Let's try to find a library or something," Hermione said.

They walked into the next room, which appeared to be a sitting room.

"This whole place could be a library," Harry said, looking around at the rows of shelves, each crammed with numerous books.

"Most of them look like they're about the Dark Arts," Ron said. "Well that fits, I suppose. He had to school up or Voldemort would've seen right through him."

"There has to be some potions books around here somewhere," Hermione said, looking through the titles on the shelves. "Let's just look go through these and see if we find anything."

The three of them busied themselves for close to an hour as they searched through the books, though they were careful to put them back exactly where they had found them.

"Hey, Harry," Ron said.

"Did you find something?" Harry asked, looking up from one of the books.

"Sort of," he replied. "It's not about the potion, but you'd still want to see it, I think."

Harry walked across the room towards him. "What is it?"

"I found it behind all the books," Ron explained, handing over a wooden box. "Go on. Have a look."

Harry opened the lid and found many old, faded pictures. They were all of a young girl and boy, no older then maybe ten years old, but Harry recognized the girl at once.

"That's my mum," he whispered. "And the boy…that would be Snape."

"That's got to be the only time I've seen him smile," Ron said. "Other than when he was making us miserable in Potions class, of course."

"Lily really looks like her," Hermione said softly, looking over Harry's shoulders. "The hair, the face…"

"He kept these after all those years," Harry said. "He never stopped loving her."

He closed the lid and slid the box into his pocket. "Come on; let's keep looking."

And so for another hour there was absolute silence as they continued to go through the books, trying desperately to find any mention of the Athrimo potion. Then, finally, Hermione cried, "I think I've found something!"

"Show us," Ron said as him and Harry rushed to her side.

"There's a whole section of this book dedicated to talking about it," Hermione said, leafing through the pages. "Far more than what the other books had combined."

"Why's the head of the page circled?" Harry frowned. "And this page…it looks like the end of it has been folded down and bookmarked."

"He's right," Ron nodded. "But-But he didn't make this potion, did he? I mean, if he did, wouldn't it have been for Voldemort? And Voldemort never used it."

"No, he didn't," Harry said. "He didn't use much of any potion…"

"Maybe it's circled because Snape wanted to find out more about it," Hermione suggested. "And the page could be folded down because he ended his reading here and didn't want to lose his place."

"Could be," Harry agreed. "But that's an awfully big coincidence, don't you think?"

"Don't tell me we've got to try to figure this out too," Ron moaned. "It was hard enough finding the book; now we've got to interpret the way it was handled? That's going to be near impossible seeing as the owner is dead."

"Wait a minute…" Harry said thoughtfully. "What about his portrait at Hogwarts?"

"What about it?" Ron frowned.

"Well what if we were to go and ask it why this page is marked?" Harry said.

"That's not a bad idea," Hermione nodded. "You'd have to get permission from McGonagall, of course."

"She'd let us," Ron said. "And if not we could get Kingsley to wave us right in anyway!"

"Do you think we could go there now?" Harry asked.

"We should wait until tomorrow," Hermione said, looking at her watch. "It's late, and I feel she'd be more willing to let us into her office earlier in the day."

"You're probably right," Harry agreed.

"In the meantime, I'll read what this book has to say about the potion," Hermione said. "And by the look of the other potions listed in this book, I can't say it will be too pleasant…you couldn't believe some of the potions in here; they make some curses looks tame!"

"And unfortunately," Harry sighed. "I'll bet Claridina knows every last one."