Chapter 2

Entering inside, she found that the inside was as far from the outside as you could get. The room smelt musty, it was dark due to a lack of well sized main lighting and dust laid thick on every surface. She stepped around shelves containing rows and rows of corked potion bottles of all sizes and shapes, avoiding other customers as she went, as they were too intrigued by their potential purchases to move out of her way. The floors creaked as she approached the dark wooden counter, looking around for anyone who may be able to assist her.

Spying a pale, dark haired, severe, strangely familiar looking man dressed in black, high collared robes behind the counter, but he was assisting another customer, so she swept the area behind the counter again to see if there was anyone who was available to help her, she hoped there was someone else as this man didn't look like the sort who would accept that she'd come to an apothecary when there was a perfectly good hospital wing at her disposal.

Finding strangely no one else, she resigned herself to having to wait and deal with this man, get her potion and get back to Hogwarts to rid herself of this annoying cold. The man turned to her, eying her as though judging her before approaching her. "Professor", he said with a slight inclination of his head, "strange to see yourself here when you have the hospital wing at Hogwarts that I already stock." He spoke in a voice barely above a whisper, yet he had a confident and mocking tone, making Minerva wish she had just sucked it up and gone to the hospital wing in the first place.

She stared him right in the eye and said in a voice more confident then she felt, "I'm looking for a Pepper-up potion to relive my cold, and before you even think to ask why I came here instead of going to the hospital wing I will make it so you will never be able to show your face around here again". The man smirked, seemingly amused by her speech but said nothing and turned around to the shelves behind him. He picked up a small vial and seemed to fumble with it, before giving it back to her, but she couldn't see what he was doing as his back was to her. He turned back to her and gave her the vial, "the whole vial before you turn in for the night should be sufficient" he said, "Thank you, and what do I…" she said as she reached into her pocket for her money bag. "No, no. Let's just count it as an extra from the Hogwarts stock, shall we?" he said with a small smile, she was a little suspicious by his mood change but blushed before nodding and leaving the apothecary with the vial securely in her inside pocket.

As she was walking back, she brought out the bottle and eyed it, trying to determine what he'd done to it before he handed it to her. She was surprised to find the label wasn't for a Pepper-up potion at all, it was instead just a jumble of words, that from a distance looked like a regular label for a general potion but when one actually looked at the words, it would make no sense... She was about to go back and berate the man for this nonsense when she saw a note tied to the vial. "I remember you from my days as a student and you haven't changed a bit, if you wish to reminisce, particularly about the same thing I do, meet me here at 8:30 this evening. As for the label, I changed it to not embarrass you if anyone saw it.".

She felt a smile tugging at her lips as she finally remembered who the man had been, none other than Mr. Severus Snape, a student she'd been more than close to during his Hogwarts days. She looked back at the apothecary as she contemplated the note, warmth flooding through her as she vividly remembered the time he was referring to, her heart racing as she thought of the possibilities of the night ahead. She started on her way back to Hogwarts to hopefully heal herself of this damn cold, nothing would ruin the mood more than her sneezing and spluttering all the time. Then again, maybe he would just spend the evening holding her, comforting her and making her well the muggle way. She could only hope and wait.