" Cheer up," Ron said to Magnolia. " Snape's always taking points off Fred and George." He turned to Harry. " Can I come and meet Hagrid with you?"

Harry looked at Hermione and nodded. " You both should come." He turned to his sister. " Sorry, Maggie."

Magnolia blushed. " I'm Maggie now, am I?"

Harry grinned. " As long as you are to Hagrid."

At five to three, Harry, Ron and Hermione left the castle and made their way onto the grounds. As it turned out, Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, far into the fields of pale autumn green. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were outside the front door.

When Harry knocked they heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks. Then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, " Back, Fang – back."

Severus was only just finishing arranging his files when there was a knock at the door and Lily Evans stuck her head out.

No, that was wrong.

Magnolia Potter peeked at him behind the wooden door, ginger hair wisping around her cheeks and neck, big, green eyes staring at him.

" Enter," he said languidly, steadying his heart rate. Had he really, for a moment, believed an eleven year old Lily was before him?

How disrupting...

" Professor Snape," she said, with a small voice that didn't suit the brassy girl that was in his classroom the Tuesday prior. " I, er, am sorry for insinuating you would poison me er- a student."

" I'm certain you are. As you now know, I am capable of finding other ways of dealing with you," he sighed. He ignored how her mouth twitched into a smile. Reminding her she was in detention, and was not here for his languid comedy, he continued, " You will be sorting through these," gesturing towards the jars of pickled toad and ground unicorn horn and squid ink and such others. " And you will do it carefully. Alphabetically, on that desk. I would have you sort them by use, but seeing as you could not make it a semester without cheek, I would rather you did not upset the balance in my storage."

" I can sort them by use," she said indignantly.

Severus smirked; She had taken his bait. If the potion she had conjured during his class said anything of her skills, and if she derived from Lily's... her mothers, skill, he reminded himself, then this could very well be true. If he was forced to spend another iota of time with her, he would take advantage of the situation, and test her skills. In other words, he wanted to see how well she would continue to do in her class. If she had truly read her potions book for the year, she would have no trouble doing as she said she would.

" By all means, do so," Severus said. " I will be here, grading papers. Disturb me if you must."

They spent the next hour of her detention primarily in silence, with the rare, meek question from Magnolia. Severus could tell from her questions that she knew the answers before he uttered them, and simply needed reminding - Something he did appreciate. She had taken the liberty, much like a Gryffindor would, of not organizing them on his desks, but directly into his storage, where he most certainly needed to know where everything was.

" Well done," he said softly when she presented him with her work. " You are a capable student indeed."

Magnolia's cheeks glowed with pride. But he sensed something coming.

"... Where is the bezoar?"

Sheepish, she presented it to him in her small, pale hands, beaming.

" Just in case?" She tried. Severus sighed, hoping she didn't see the way he almost smiled.

" Do you know why I gave you detention, Ma - Miss Potter?" He asked.

Magnolia shook her head.

" Students are not to talk back to their teachers," he informed her - accurately, he might add. " If one student gets too familiar with a teacher, they may forget themselves and their behavior will disrupt the class." He gave her a long stare. " Do not disrupt my class."

Magnolia opened her mouth, and Severus rose a brow at her. She shut it wisely.

But then, for unexplainable reasons, she opened it again, " Does that mean I can cause disruption outside of your class?"

Snape stared at her. " Do you intend to?" He asked.

" Only around you, sir," she chirped.

He sighed. Since when did students become so comfortable around him? Was this the fault of Dumbledore, for sending him to the Potter twins when all they'd ever known was dullness and abuse? Did he give the impression of someone to play with?

Despite liking her - and yes, he did like her, he confessed to himself, he enjoyed the way she stood up for herself and for her brother (he wondered if she would stand up for others, and made a vague decision to test that next time she was in his class, his domain), he even enjoyed her boyish cheek, as opposed to the pure chaos that was the Weasley twins. She was even a promising student.

But despite liking her, he shook his head.

" Another detention should warn you of the dangers of, how should I say this... 'egging on' your professors." He smirked at her. " You are not a clown, Magnolia Potter. Do not act like it." He hoped she would not have caught on to his uncharacteristic stammer at her name.

" Just acting my age, professor," she quipped.

" I'll see you tomorrow, miss Potter," he waved her away, back to his grading. He had already finished, truthfully, but desperately wanted to busy himself from this student - who looked intensely like his old friend - who was trying to familiarize herself with him. He'd never had a student do that before. He wasn't sure how to go about it.

" See you tomorrow, Professor Snape," she said, happily (Why? he asked himself), and skipped out of the dungeon, leaving Severus alone with his papers, his accurately assorted ingredients, and his thoughts.

Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of dark wizards or witches unknown. Gringotts' goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day. " But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you,'" said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.

" Lucky, ain' it, I was just at Gringotts tha' day fer - " Hagrid stopped, and what was visible of his cheeks behind his great black beard were rosy. " Nevermind. Forget I said that."

" But then, you could have seen the thief," Ron said eagerly. " Was there anyone suspicious that day?"

" More tea?" Hagrid asked, and he did not touch the subject again.

Harry wondered vaguely what was in that vault that was emptied on his birthday, and where was it now?

Magnolia had been avoiding them, going to sleep long past curfew to assure they wouldn't meet her with the same anxious, awkward gazes, treating her like some sort of celebrity, but she found herself so tired after her detention with Snape that she simply couldn't avoid them any longer.

At her dormitory, she found both of her roommates sitting up in bed, looking at her with aghast, pink faces.

" How was your detention with Snape?" Susan asked.

" Did you have to sort spider eyes?" Hannah asked.

" Why did you speak back to him like that?" Asked Susan smartly. " Are you mad?"

" She's not mad, she's brilliant," Hannah said sighingly, before looking back to Magnolia with a bright smile. " Was he as mean as they say?"

Magnolia beamed at them - Perhaps her dormmates weren't so bad after all.

i have a cat asleep on my legs... anyway, a shortie but a goodie! i hope you enjoyed!

i find myself playing a lot of animal crossing as i write... :p

have a great day!