Hello. I know it has been a while, and for that I apologise. As most of you have probably seen in the news, music legend David Bowie died this week. If you have stuck with me through both 'Sisters of Magic' and 'Finding Magic' you will have guessed by now that I was a fan his. I was really shocked to hear about his death, and my thoughts go to his family and friends at what can only be a difficult time for them.

Chapter 15

Monday rolled around quicker than Jenny would have liked. When she awoke on the sofa with a very stiff neck on the Saturday morning, she had still been snuggled up in Severus's arms. For a moment she had forgotten where she was and enjoyed the feeling of being held by a strong man. Then she shifted and woke him up. To say he had been embarrassed had been an understatement; Severus had bolted from her quarters quicker than she had ever seen a man run, and had avoided her completely for the whole weekend. Today however they would have to face each other. Severus was teaching a fifth year potions class third period, and Jenny would be sitting in on it. She had already sat in on one of Alice's Herbology classes, and James had taken her on a tour of the castle by broom. Remus had offered her a seat in his next class, which happened to be on the following Thursday night, and Maddie and Lily had volunteered to show her what it was like to work in the hospital wing whenever she wanted. Jenny would be joining Minerva's forth year class on Wednesday after her own class with them, and the other staff members were constantly offering her seats in their own classes when it suited her. Severus's class however was the one Jenny had most being looking forward to. From what she had hear from the students both in the corridors and in her lessons, Severus was a master when it came to potions. There wasn't much he couldn't make, and although he was absolutely terrifying to the students, there was no doubt in her mind, that she would learn an awful lot more about himself as a person, though he teachings. Now however she wasn't so sure she wanted to go into the class.

During breakfast, Severus sat as far away from Jenny as he could get. Something Narcissa picked up on almost instantly.

"Has something happened between you two?" She asked when Jenny, again trying to catch Severus's gaze, failed and sighed again.

"What?" She asked as Narcissa pulled her from her worries.

"Severus," She whispered so no-one could hear them, "Has something happened with you and Severus? He hasn't left his quarters since Friday night, apart from his patrol with Lucius on Saturday, and he said that Severus was so moody and quiet, he would have preferred to patrol with Sibyl Trelawney." She murmured. Jenny sighed.

"Nothing, I babysat for the others on Friday night and Severus joined us. He stayed after the kids got picked up and we watched another film together." Narcissa smirked and raised an eyebrow. Jenny glared at her. "Nothing happened! We watched a film, we talked, and then..." She trailed off. That got Narcissa's attention.

"And then what?" She all but squeaked a whisper. Jenny looked around and noticing nobody was really paying any attention to her, she bent closer and whispered in the woman's ear.

"We ended up falling asleep on each other on the sofa. We woke up in the same position on Saturday and he ran out on me." Narcissa's eyes were a blaze when Jenny pulled back and looked at her. Without warning, she stood up from her seat, pulled Jenny up with her, and hurried out the back door to the Great Hall pulling Jenny along with her.

"Narcissa where are we going?" Jenny called to the woman as she stumbled trying to keep both her balance, and the same speed as the woman. Eventually Narcissa found an old store room, and pulled the two of them inside it.

"I have a class first thing." Jenny complained.

"Well tough. I want details." Narcissa gave a cocky smile. Jenny had had her pegged as a gossip from the moment she had met the blonde witch.
"There's nothing to tell, we just talked."

"And then slept with each other." She cried out.

"We fell asleep on each other, we did not sleep together." She clarified, but Narcissa was having none of it.

"Do you like him?" Jenny felt like a schoolgirl being interrogated about a crush.

"What?"
"Do you like Severus?" Narcissa said in a slower tone trying desperately to make a point.

"Narcissa, I am fond of Severus yes," Narcissa went for another squeal, but Jenny covered her mouth. "But as a friend nothing more." Jenny turned on her heels and hurried out of the classroom before she could be interrogated any further. Narcissa gave a knowing smirk.

"We'll see, we'll see." She chuckled.

Once Jenny had finished her first period class, she decided to spend her next lesson marking the homework. She was about three quarters of the way through the hour when she finished, and spend the next 15 minutes worrying about Severus and how he would react. She was hoping and praying he wouldn't have forgotten that she was due to sit in on his class otherwise that could be very awkward, well more awkward than the situation already was.

In his lab Severus was watching his students finishing their potions. His next class was his fifth years, and Jenny would be sitting in on the class. His scowl deepened. Since waking up snuggled together on her sofa on Saturday morning, he had avoided her like the plague. And now he was going to have to spend a whole hour in her company, watching him as he taught, questioning his every action, it was enough to make him go crazy. He hated to admit it, but there had been something nice about waking up with someone lying with him on Saturday. Just the feel of another person next to him, for a moment he was able to believe that Rachel had never been missing, that she was in fact snuggled up to him. He wouldn't admit it but he was awake before Jenny had moved, her moving had only made him realise that this wasn't Rachel he was currently spooning with on her sofa. He ran a hand through his hair and glanced at his watch. Only 15 minutes to go before Jenny would be arriving. This was going to be a long lesson.

The beginning of third period found Jenny standing with some of her students outside the potions lab. The students were asking her questions to which Jenny was more than happy to answer when they immediately stopped talking and Jenny could guess why. She turned to find Severus Snape standing right behind her, a scowl plastered on his face. She wouldn't have been afraid to admit the look was terrifying, but in front of the students she had to put on a brave face.

"Good morning Professor Snape."
"Good morning Miss Matthews." He said in his monotone voice. Jenny couldn't believe her eye and ears, the man standing in front of her was nothing like she had seen him before.

"I trust you remembered I was sitting in on your lesson this morning?"
"Naturally." He replied again sending a shiver down Jenny's spine. "Well?" He turned to the students. "To your seats!" He bellowed sending a class full of children scurrying to their chairs.

"You will sit at my desk." He spoke to Jenny. She swallowed and nodded, not trusting her voice.

"Now class, you will have the pleasure of Miss Matthews sitting in on our lesson today. I expect you to treat her with the same respect as you would normally show her. You will also answer any of her questions, is that understood?"

"Yes professor." The class chorused. Jenny tried desperately not to stare at the class when they answered their professor. It was all so military.

"Today we will be brewing the Draught of Peace, page 95 in your text books. Set up your caldrons and once you have gathered your ingredients you may begin. You have one hour." Lily had leant Jenny her old copy of her fifth year potions textbook, and Jenny joined the students reading the list of ingredients for the Draught of Peace. She noticed out of the corner of her eye students paring up and hurrying to collect the ingredients from the shelves dotted on one side of the room. She also noticed one of the students was on his own. She recognised him as one of her fifth year Ravenclaw students Harrison Clearwater. Severus also noticed Harrison was alone.

"Mr Clearwater, where is your partner?"
"I'm sorry Sir, Louisa didn't feel very well yesterday, Madam Black is keeping her in the hospital wing with a fever." Jenny remembered hearing something from Maddie's direction at breakfast about having a girl with a fever under her care at that time, it must have been Louisa. Luckily Severus seemed to have remembered it too.

"Well then, it seems you are a partner down." He stated turning his head towards Jenny. "You can work with Miss Matthews then." He said with a smug smirk. Jenny felt all the eyes in the classroom fall onto her.

"I thought I was here to observe only Professor?" She replied. Severus glared at her.

"The best way to learn is through doing." He snapped. Jenny bit her tongue as so she didn't retaliate. He wasn't going to get one over on her.

"Very well then, if that's going to be alright with you Harrison?" She smiled past Severus blanking him out. 'Two can play at this game.' She thought.

"Sure." Harrison quickly replied. Jenny smiled at Severus as she walked past him to join Harrison, but as she didn't she couldn't resist leaning in to Severus and whispering in his ear.

"Lighten up Severus, maybe you need to take some of the potion; relieve that agitation you seem to be stuck with." Although none of the students heard what she said, the look of thunder on Severus's face was evident that she had succeeded in winding him up. They were in for a horrible lesson.

Harrison and Jenny proved to be quiet a team to face. Whilst Harrison set their cauldron, Jenny began setting their ingredients in the order they would need to be used to make things easier for them. She began on Harrison's instructions to crush the moonstone he had gathered for the first ingredient, powdered moonstone. Splitting the moonstone into thirds, since the potion required three separate doses, Harrison added the first batch and began to stir the potion 7 times to achieve the required colour change. Adding more moonstone to change the colour again, Harrison kept an eye on the potion whilst Jenny focused on the next ingredient Hellebore, which luckily had to go in all at once. Jenny noticed Severus wandering around the room peering in on others on his rounds, he looked at their potions and simply grunted. Jenny paid no attention to him and carried on with the ingredients. Whilst the porcupine quills needed to be shaken before split for three doses, she and Harrison decided to switch, and Jenny took over control of the cauldron. Following the instructions again, Harrison added the quills until the potion changed from a purple colour to a blood red, when Jenny took over immediately stirring until it changed again to an orange colour. She heard groans from other pairs indicating that their potions were doing what they were supposed to be doing, Jenny heard Severus sigh as he continued his rounds, and couldn't help a smirk grace over her face. 'Serves him right'. She thought. The pair continued to add more porcupine quills changing the potion again to turquoise, before simmering and changing again. Jenny gave control of the potion back to Harrison and began to crush up the last ingredient on the list powdered unicorn's horn. They added the correct amounts and watched as the colour changed again. "This potion has more colour changes than a rainbow." Jenny couldn't help but remark. Harrison chuckled.
"At least we know we're getting it right Miss." He joked back. Jenny had to agree with him. Harrison quiet liked working with Jenny, she was willing to learn and not afraid to ask him why he was adding something at the right stages and what effect this would have on the potion. He was beginning to think she would have made a brilliant Ravenclaw. After adding more powdered moonstone, and simmering again, the potion changed yet again, and finally they were able to add the last ingredient, and left the potion to simmer. The textbook said that if brewed correctly the potion would be white, and would emit a silvery vapour. The duo watched as their potion emitted the exact vapour it was supposed to. Jenny couldn't resist giving Harrison a high-five, and the muggleborn student laughed as he smacked hands with his teacher.

Severus was over the other side of the room when he heard the clapping of Jenny and Harrison's hands. He looked over at their potion, and noticed that it seemed to be the right consistency and giving off the correct vapour, which couldn't be said for a couple of other potions. One was the same consistency as glue, another was pure Slytherin green and wouldn't change no matter what they students did to try and fix it, another seemed to be smoking a blue vapour. Severus quickly evaporated the offending potion before it decided to explode as he knew full well it would.

"I see you have finished Mr Clearwater, Miss Matthews." He remarked coming over to Jenny and Harrison's work station.

"Yes sir." Harrison said.

"Well bottle it then." He snarled, giving Harrison two vials. Harrison gulped and quickly filled the two vials he had been given.

"What do you think professor?" Jenny couldn't help but add. "Not bad for a first try eh." She said smugly. Severus took both vials but labelled only one with Harrison and Jenny's names. The other he held onto and smiled quiet wickedly.

"You seem very assured with yourself Miss Matthews." He said turning to face Jenny. The entire room was now staring at the two professor's squaring off against each other in the middle of the room. Although Severus was taller than Jenny, she was standing her ground, and most of the students were silently routing for the strong willed woman to win the battle between herself and the Slytherin bat. Severus held out the potion to her.

"Care to prove how confident you are Miss Matthews?" There was a collective gasp from the classroom. If Jenny and Harrison had brewed the potion wrong, one sip could prove fatal for the young teacher, and Jenny knew that. Harrison went completely pale. If Jenny drank the potion and died, he would have killed his teacher. That sort of thing wouldn't be good for his future. The students expected Jenny to back down and admit defeat, however they couldn't be more wrong.

"Ok then, what's the wager?" She squared up to Severus again. The classroom gasped.

"You brewed it correctly you don't die." Severus said bluntly.

"And when I prove you wrong, you admit we did a good job, sound fair?" Jenny retaliated. Severus felt the veins in his neck standing out. Merlin this woman was so irritating. She wouldn't back down from a fight, kinda like another witch he knew. He simply held out the vial. Jenny took it to a chorus of "No Miss", and "Don't do it Miss", and downed the potion in one without even blinking. For a good few minutes there was silence. Most were getting ready to run out of the room to get help if the worst should happen. Jenny simply wiped her lips and handed the vial back to Severus. The bell rang to signal the end of the lesson, but the students kept to their seats staring intently at their two professors none of them wanting to leave. After about 5 minutes Jenny let her smile widen. Both she and Severus knew that if the potion had been brewed incorrectly she would have dropped down dead instantly, yet she was still standing and glaring at Severus.

"Well Professor Snape, don't you have something to say to myself and Mr Clearwater?" Harrison stared at the floor.

"Hmm," Severus grunted. "I suppose you did alright." The students couldn't believe their ears. Severus Snape had never congratulated students on correctly brewing a potion ever, yet here Jenny Matthews was, not even a witch, and she had single handily managed to get the dungeon bat to admit that she and another student had made a potion correctly, and it was able to be drunk. Jenny could feel the anxiety lifting from her body more and more each second. Her smile grew wider and wider.

"Thank you Professor." She said with a gleeful tint to her voice, before thanking Harrison for helping her and answering her questions, before turning on her heels and storming from the classroom.

"Please tell me that the rumours aren't true Severus!" Minerva whispered to Severus that night at dinner. Jenny had yet to arrive and Minerva was in two minds about whether to go and find her to make sure she was all right. Jenny squaring up to Severus and drinking the potion was the talk of the school. A minority of the students thought she was stupid, but most were thinking of how courageous she was.

"Do you want the truth or shall I lie to you Minerva?" Severus hissed back confirming Minerva's suspicions. He was still in a back mood, and Jenny's embarrassing display had only pushed that mood deeper.

"Severus! She could have died!" Some of the other teachers had heard the rumours going around the school and with Severus's admission hanging in the air, were seeing their Muggle colleague with a greater admiration. Lily, Alice, Maddie and Tonks were scowling at Severus as he waited for dinner, and even the men were giving him funny looks. The doors opened suddenly and in stepped the woman the entire school was talking about, the students simply stared; trying to see if she was suffering any ill effects from the potion, but Jenny seemed to be walking on air as if she had no cares in the world. She was rewarded with a gigantic round of applause from the entire student body, and a few whistles thrown in.

"Well done Miss!"

"Bloody good show Miss!"

"You put him in his place right Miss!" Jenny smiled wider and wider. A sharp look from Minerva though shut the students up pretty quickly.

"Jenny dear what were you thinking?" Minerva scowled as Jenny took her seat.

"Are you alright dear, do you want me to have a look at you?" Poppy added with a worried tone. Jenny simply took Poppy's hand.

"Thank you for worrying, but honestly I'm fine. In fact I've never felt better." She added in Severus's direction. Severus's scowl grew deeper and he turned his gaze away from the table.

"Bloody woman!" He mumbled to himself. She was so stubborn and irritating, he wondered how on earth he was going to get through the rest of the term with her. But in that minute, he couldn't help but think of how much she had resembled Rachel. What had happened in the classroom today, he standing up to him, drinking the potion, proving him wrong, he had no doubt in his mind, that if Rachel had been in the same position, she would have done exactly the same thing.

"Bloody bloody woman!" He mumbled again.

And another chapter finished. I really enjoyed this chapter, I think hopefully I captured Severus quiet well it was nice to write him as a snarky bastard for a bit. Here's hoping you all agree with me. :)

As normal please read and review, and I'll try and post another chapter soon. (Two chapters from two stories in one day, aren't you all lucky)

Beth xx