Not my first rodeo
Severus sat in his lab at Hogwarts. It was the Saturday before classes were to begin and he was working on stockpiling potions for Madame Pomfrey before the students arrived and he would be forced to listen to tearful first year Slitherins, thus limiting his precious brewing time. He was just preparing ingredients for a large batch of pepper-up when he heard a quiet knock on his door. He waved his wand impatiently and his door swung open to reveal Professor Smith. She was petite with long brown hair almost to her waist. Her skin was almost as pale as his but dusted with light freckles. Her fist was still raised to knock on the door and he caught her eye as she awkwardly lowered her hand and stood hesitantly waiting for him to acknowledge her.
“As you can see professor, I am quite busy at this moment, so I’ll appreciate it if you choose not to waste my time standing there.” She shook herself slightly and then took a deep breath. “Professor Snape. It was brought to my attention that you are working on replenishing the stores for the Hospital Wing at present. As mentioned at the staff meeting, I have a passion for potions, and while I did not pursue it to mastery, I still enjoy brewing. Professor Dumbledor mentioned that you might need a helping hand in the days leading to the students’ arrival.”
Here we go. Severus thought to himself. Now I have to babysit and waste time supervising a supposed potion enthusiast while precious potions neglect to be made. He made an effort to look inconvenienced and sighed. As he glanced up, he noticed that Professor Smith looked amused. How dare she! Interrupt me while brewing and find amusement in my inconvenience! He fumed. “While your so-called passion may entertain you, I have no interest wasting perfectly good ingredients on a botched potion, so no thank you, I prefer to brew in peace.” He said albeit rudely. This seemed to encourage her somehow. She walked into the lab and looked around, Glancing at the ingredients as she walked towards his station. “Hmm, Pepper-up I see. Rudimentary but effective nonetheless” she said as she moved to a separate work station and began sorting through the stores to gather her own ingredients.
Enraged by this, Severus spun towards her and caught sight of a blade slipping out from beneath her robes, as she began to expertly slice her ingredients. He noticed the handle. It was a custom blade. Curiously, he took a step toward her to view her technique. She was not using a book. She was preparing the ingredients expertly, from memory.
“Not my first rodeo” Professor Smith said as she glanced up at him cheekily. The American colloquialism sounded interesting coming from her mouth. He began to find himself questioning her heritage, as her accent didn’t fit the American patterns he was used to hearing. He shook himself realizing he had become distracted. Straightening his shoulders to make himself seem more imposing, he sighed saying “If you must. But if you ruin this potion, I will be making a visit to Professor Dumbledor to dock the expenses of the ingredients from your salary.” She rolled her eyes and continued working at her station. Her stubbornness had thrown Severus and he noticed he had left his ingredients untouched. Luckily he had not started brewing, or the potion would have been lost. He set to work and the two of them sat in silence for the next hour.
When Professor Smith completed her pepper-up potion, she summoned a box of vials towards her and began to fill them up. Severus rose from his seat and walked over to check the quality of the potion. Smiling, she held up a vial for him to look at. “Does this meet your standards, professor?” she asked, feigning innocence. To his dismay, it did. The potion was perfect. He noted that she had even adjusted the potion to improve the effectiveness. Not just a hobbyist. A talent. Sighing in defeat, Severus took the vials. “Yes, they are acceptable. You may brew with me if you so wish, however, I suspect your workload will be heavy enough as it is. “Worry not professor” she stated, “I know my own limits.”
By this time, she had finished filling her vials and had taken her cauldron to the sink to wash by hand. “You know there are spells for that.” Severus acknowledged passively. “I know. But I find washing by hand makes the cauldron behave so much better with the ingredients, don’t you?” She said casually while still scrubbing. Surprised, Severus agreed. He often made his students scrub cauldrons by hand for detention. It was in part as punishment, but also in part to save him time, while still getting the results he required with each cauldron. While lost in his own thoughts, Professor Smith had finished washing up and had vanished all traces that she had been there. Brushing her hands together she said, “Well! Thanks for the pleasant hour professor! Until next time!” she said cheerfully and swept out of the room.
Severus stood dumbly in his lab, staring at the empty doorway.