-14-

It was Saturday and, finally, the weekend. Snape slept in a little and he and the apprentice only went up to the Great Hall when Sverre made his displeasure about the lack of food known. Who knew that a micro-reindeer would try and graze the hair of its owner's head when they were hungry enough!

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow when Snape sat down with the reindeer clamped under his arm. The apprentice had been kind enough to regrow his missing strands on the way up but Snape could only guess how bad he looked. Coiffeur spells were certainly not the blonde's forte and why would they? Her mane of blond curls didn't need more than an occasional drying spell when the girl was in a hurry.

"Are you well rested today?" asked Dumbledore. "It came to my attention that you didn't sleep as much as you made us think yesterday."

"Albus says you went shopping while I slaved away in the dungeons." Voldemort stirred his coffee casually.

"Firstly, my ingredient cupboard needed restocking and the ingredients that were missing are expensive. Of course, I'd go buy them personally to make sure the school got good value for its money. As far as I know the board of governors is very pleased with that habit. Secondly, you volunteered because you wanted to prove you are a capable teacher. That's not slaving. Rumour has it you were very successful. We overheard a couple of students on the way here who were very impressed with your lessons." Snape held out a plate of Christmassy cookies offeringly.

The Dark Lord glared at him but then his expression changed and he looked quite pleased. "Impressed, you say?" he chose a chocolate biscuit.

"They said your explanations took their level of knowledge into account and they understood better than with my master," the apprentice chimed in. "You were more patient, they said."

Snape should have been angry at the girl for claiming the Dark Lord was a better teacher than he but then he had to admit that he never had had any patience for imbeciles who came to his classroom unprepared.

The day's advent calendar present went to McGonagall. Apparently she had had to write multiple letters to worried parents after the children got ballpoint pens. The purebloods among the parents saw this present as the first step in "mugglefying their children" and they had been quick to make their displeasure known to the headmaster who had promptly asked his deputy to take care of the problem.

The present was a tin of ginger biscuits and the woman was very pleased. Since the lid of the tin said "Share me", the witch did just that and she was very pleased when the tin refilled again and again as she handed out biscuits to the students and staff.

Once everybody had their biscuit, the witches and wizards of Hogwarts went to enjoy their Saturday. Groups of friends could be seen playing outside in the snow. Snape volunteered to chaperone them for a couple of hours to escape the Dark Lord gloating about being a better teacher than Snape. The apprentice wanted to go with him but the potions master sent her back. "By the time I come back in you better have him back to earth," he snapped. "Why did you have to see he was a better teacher than I?"

"I was just trying to calm him down!" hissed the apprentice. "He was accusing you of taking advantage of him."

"Telling him he was good was enough. There was no need to tell him he was better." Snape turned in an impressive flourish of robes and stomped outside after Potter and his friends.

The blonde returned to the Great Hall with a sigh.

"Where is Severus?" asked the Dark Lord as she joined him and his group who were still sitting at the head table, enjoying some grown up tea.

"Working," said the blonde and accepted the cup Narcissa was holding out to her.

"And you are not with him?" asked Lucius. "I was under the impression you two are inseparable."

"He's cross with me for repeating what that student said," muttered the apprentice.

"Poor you," said the Dark Lord and added another dash of firewhiskey to the witch's cup. "He can't stand to hear the truth!"

"Well, that's because it is not the truth," replied the girl matter-of-factly. "While you certainly are a very good teacher, you have to admit the students only saw you teaching your favourite part of the curriculum, Severus has to teach every part of the subject. I'm sure the students wouldn't find you that wonderful if you taught them how to dissect frogs to prepare potion ingredients."

"I see your point," admitted the Dark Lord.

"Maybe you could speak with him, my Lord," suggested Lucius.

The Dark Lord drained his cup. "I'll do it immediately. We don't want Severus unhappy. Be assured, my dear," he patted the apprentice's hand, "you two will be reunited in no time at all."

It took almost two hours before the wizard returned. "Severus is extremely stubborn," he sighed as he sat. "But I did it."

Snape joined the group a quarter hour later. "Sorry," he muttered. "I had to do some last minute disciplining."

"Yes," Lucius deadpanned. "We heard the gems rattle as you took points."

The apprentice handed her master a mug of tea. "Thank you," Snape said with sour expression. Once he had drunk his tea, the potions master returned to his quarters, claiming he needed a warm shower after being outside for so long.

The blonde witch followed a little later.

The "warm shower" turned out to be a swim in the pool, followed by a cocktail at the poolside.

"Well?" the apprentice asked as she sat beside her wizard.

"He volunteered to dissect frogs with Potter's group on Monday," smirked Snape.

"Well played," congratulated the witch.

"I'm the Head of Slytherin," Snape pointed out. He petted Sverre who was sitting beside his cocktail glass, eyeing it eagerly. "This is not for you."

They passed a couple of hours by the pool before they went back to the Great Hall for dinner. At some point during dessert, Dumbledore suggested a round of charades. Snape and the apprentice declined but the Dark Lord was thrilled and his deatheaters dutifully agreed, too.

The last thing the two potions masters saw when the left the hall was Dumbledore standing on the head table, flapping his arms like giant wings.

"An angel," said Snape.

"Too easy," the apprentice shook her head. "probably a Hungarian Horntail or something."

They had fun suggesting more and more absurd creatures for a while. The apprentice made them mugs of hot chocolate and Snape treated them to a tumbler of his best whiskey each as they sat in front of the fireplace enjoying a quiet winter evening.