Hibernaculum

The next day, during breakfast, Elizabeth\'s mother arrived. Like Elizabeth, she was a small woman, her hair still dark despite being over fifty, and her blue eyes shined with tears as she embraced her daughter. They left the hall together to talk, as mothers and daughters often do, and to sort out the death of the man who had been both father and husband.

Suzanne Dupries had been visiting one of her friends who had recently experienced a tragedy, when the Death Eaters converged on her home. Had she been home she may not have survived, but she couldn\'t forgive herself for not having been there when her daughter had been so near to danger, and her husband had been killed. She said as much to her daughter, who only shook her head and stated her relief at her mother\'s being gone, and that she had survived.

Arms linked, they wandered the grounds speaking softly about the man, who despite his having ruled his family with an iron fist, had cared for them very much, and they grieved for his loss. They walked together until teatime when they would join the staff.

The staff had been delighted to meet the witch and she was disappointed in Professor Sinistra being on holiday, as they had been at school together and, though in different houses, had been friends. She delighted them with tales of pranks they had played together with another friend, one being charming Dumbledore\'s beard to glow different colors, depending on his mood. He laughed merrily at the memory and begged her to remember the charm, which she soon did and performed for them. Much to Dumbledore\'s amusement, she then \'forgot\' the counter-charm for the next half-hour.

Mrs. Dupries was quick of movement and speech, which only emphasized the deliberate movements of her daughter. Her laughter rang like bells throughout the room, and others could not help but laugh with her.

Professor Sprout and Professor McGonagall begged her to come with them to Hogsmead and drag her daughter along. They spoke enthusiastically about a shop called Glad Rags, and how well their fashions would suit the young slender woman. Elizabeth rolled her eyes in annoyance, and Mrs. Dupries laughed.

\"Believe me, I would love to get her out of those awful gowns, but she will not hear of it. The charms to protect against potions will turn any dress black, they are so heavy.\"

Elizabeth seeing an out agreed, \"The length is merely for protection against the ingredients, many of them are corrosive.\"

McGonagall disagreed, \"But you cannot be constantly making potions, and we all see how deliberately you move. I can\'t believe you could ever be sloppy with ingredients.\"

Professor Sprout nodded in agreement, \"Even so, you could wear robes that were charmed and wear something completely different underneath, or vice versa. You don\'t have to constantly be wearing black.\"

\"And, of course, you\'ll want some charmed robes and shoes for when you start teaching anyway.\" Added McGonagall.

Elizabeth was surprised at this, \"Oh, they cannot be that bad.\" The staff\'s roar of laughter answered her as they listed the injuries inflicted on them by the students.

\"My arms were covered in burns for days!\" cried Professor Sprout.

\"My nose will never be the same. Everything still smells like cheese!\" ranted McGonagall angrily.

\"Burned my beard clean off, \"snorted Dumbledore. \"Flitwick gave me a growing charm, but I looked silly for days.\"

\"But shoes!?\" exclaimed Elizabeth.

\"Longbottom melted my ,\" ,\" grumbled Lupin. \"It took a week for it to grow back, and I limped for the longest time.\"

\"What potion was he making that melted your foot?\" demanded Elizabeth.

\"Rejuvenation Potion,\" he muttered.

She trembled at this, and finally gave in to the laughter that shook her. They watched annoyed, as peal after peal of laughter roared from her slight form and bounced off the walls of Dumbledore\'s study.

When finally calm, she said merrily, \"I suppose Professor Snape was covered head to foot in charmed clothing.\"

Lupin nodded, \"He had to be. I don\'t think he has ever been injured from his Potions classes. But, he always wore black anyway, even as a boy.\"

Mrs. Dupries nodded, \"His mother\'s family the Sharps have always tended to be a little macabre. It took Sinistra and I months of badgering to get his mother to wear anything but black.\"

Elizabeth was surprised at this, \"I had no idea you knew his mother.\"

\"Well, I didn\'t get to visit her very often with your father being the way he was. It was only after she lost her son that he permitted me to visit her. Even then it took me months to convince him.\"

\"So that night, you were with Mrs. Snape?\"

\"Yes, I was with the Snapes the night the house was attacked.\"

\"We had always hoped to betroth the two of you to each other,\" glancing at the dog who had started gagging on his biscuit, \"but your father had other ideas and chose that Mr. Avery,\" she said casually.

The sound of breaking china filled the sudden silence of the room as Dumbledore dropped his teacup, which was quickly followed by the sound of Snuffles vomiting on the rug. Hagrid was choking silently and had to be smacked on the back several times by a very pale Lupin before he recovered. The scene was saved from more drama only by the absence of Trelawney, who had taken shelter in her tower.

\"Bad dog! Bad dog!\" scolded Professor Sprout, who grabbed a nearby newspaper and whopped him over the head with it. Then, shocked at forgetting herself for a moment, she immediately apologized to the dog that was about to bite her leg.

Elizabeth\'s worst fears were confirmed by the reaction of the room, and she felt her heart sinking into despair.

\"Um, Mrs. Dupries, could I speak with you privately after tea?\"

\"Of course, Dumbledore,\" she said, confused by the strong reaction of the room.

The very pleasant tea ended on an extremely awkward note, as everyone began to make wild excuses about having to rush off elsewhere. Lupin dragged Elizabeth down to the dungeons to start on the Wolfsbane Potion.

\"Don\'t worry Elizabeth Dumbledore will talk to her. He will make her understand.\"

\"But what if she does listen? What will they do to her if she calls it off?\"

He shook his head. \"I don\'t know.\"

Much later, Mrs. Dupries walked into the Potions classroom followed by Dumbledore.

She took Elizabeth into her arms. \"I will not allow you to go to such a man, Elizabeth. I will have our lawyers send the letters breaking the agreement. Your father held him off so long it may not come as a surprise to him. I will have them say that your father requested we do so in his will. Don\'t worry, everything will be fine,\" she said softly, holding her daughter tightly.

\"I will go stay with my friend for a little while. You mustn\'t worry. I couldn\'t protect you from your father locking you away, but I can protect you now.\"

Lupin and Dumbledore discreetly made their way out, as mother and daughter spoke quietly about the obstacles they would face.

July passed by quickly for Elizabeth. She was kept busy with potion making for the hospital wing as well as working with the staff on teaching techniques. With her mother safe at Snape House, she had little time for maudlin contemplation over her situation. Each night after her patrols with Lupin and Sirius, she collapsed into bed from exhaustion.

They didn\'t meet during the full moon, the logistics of any complications that might arise were simply too much to worry about should anything happen during Elizabeth\'s patrol. Just the thought of any aurors popping in on a werewolf, an escaped convict, and a woman gave them all the willies.

The first day of August, Dumbledore came up with a plan to help Elizabeth and Madame Pomfrey prepare for classes. The Professors were to sit in as various house members, and the two new teachers were to go through the exercises as if they had actual students in front of them.

Professor McGonagall was to be Ravenclaw; Professor Vector, Slytherin; Remus and Lupin sat in as Gryffindors; and Professor Sprout and Hagrid as Huffelpuffs. Though the four houses are almost never represented in one class, they didn\'t want to get overly complicated about it. Professor McGonagall had been annoyed at representing a different house from her own, but with Flitwick in Bermuda, Dumbledore had convinced her that, compared to the others, she was the most similar to Ravenclaw. Dumbledore came into the room all smiles, and sat with Professor Vector.

Professor Vector sneered haughtily at the Gryffindors as they grinned at her. Dumbledore, watching Professor Vector, followed suit and sneered as well. At this, Lupin and Sirius\' grins faded into worried looks. Hagrid was rubbing his beard and fidgeting in his seat nervously. Professor Sprout had to nudge him with her elbow before he would settle down. Professor McGonagall sat at the front waiting expectantly.

Starting with a simple boil cure that the first years would work on, Elizabeth went through different potions varying the degree of difficulty as one would for different years. Dumbledore had given her a copy of Snape\'s lesson plan, so she was familiar with what was expected of each year.

All went well until she got to the Fifth year\'s aging potion. As the teachers made their way back from the student stores with their ingredients, she missed Professor Vector casually dropping a shrivelfig into McGonagall\'s cauldron. It wasn\'t long before Professor McGonagall\'s potion quickly foamed over, flooding the floor with an iridescent green slime. McGonagall jumped back in shock at a seemingly botched potion. Glaring around the room, she started to wave her wand to clean the mess away when Elizabeth stopped her.

\"It will not do to waste ingredients, Miss McGonagall. You must clean it up without magic.\"

McGonagall glared at her but did not speak.

\"Did you wish to speak, Miss McGonagall?\"

Her glare quickly dropped as she got the bucket of water and dragon hide gloves, and furiously wiped the mess away.

Dumbledore smiled at her angelically as Elizabeth complimented him on his potions skills, and grinned evilly at McGonagall as soon as her back was turned. McGonagall glared back at him.

The next potion, a memory potion, was difficult, and she tensed at the possibilities for error. She glanced at Sprout who was looking at Hagrid with something that resembled dread. Hoping Professor Sprout would be able to assist Hagrid, she quickly copied the directions on the board. While her back was turned, Dumbledore slipped some frog\'s eggs into Lupin\'s cauldron while he wasn\'t looking. Lupin\'s potion quickly exploded in a dramatic display of purple and yellow, hitting the ceiling, and oozing back down to the floor in a thick trail of goo that stretched from floor to ceiling.

Elizabeth glared at Lupin.

\"I do not recall frog\'s eggs being listed as an ingredient, Mr. Lupin.\"

\"I didn\'t-,\" started Lupin.

\"Sir, this potion obviously contains frog\'s eggs. You may clean the ceiling later when Mr. Filch can bring a ladder. I will not have your mess all over my Potions class, and Mr. Filch has other duties that do not include cleaning up student\'s messes.\" Lupin choked back an argument and nodded, grabbing the bucket and filling it with fresh water, he cleaned the floor and quickly went back to his seat, sullen.

She smiled and glanced over in time to see Sirius toss a filibuster firework at Professor Vector\'s cauldron.

\"STUPIFY!!\"

Sirius crumpled to the flas Vas Vector\'s cauldron exploded and went all over everyone.

\"Everyone to the fountain and wash off!\" she shouted over the dim roar of Professors yelling at each other.

They immediately quieted and obediently marched over to the stone gargoyle and washed off the potion.

When they had returned to their seats, she walked over to the wizard lying on the floor.

\"Ennervate\"

Sirius opened his eyes and stared at her in confusion.

\"Hey, you stunned me!\" he complained loudly.

\"You, Mr. Black will have a week of detention with Mr. Filch. I am certain he would appreciate the assistance.\"

Black nodded dumbly.

Dumbledore grinned, \"I think it is about time for the dinner bell. Why don\'t we all take a break, shall we?\"

McGonagall glared at him and stomped from the room.

Elizabeth looked at him, defeated. \"I did terribly, didn\'t I? You\'ll not want me for a teacher now.\"

Dumbledore laughed, \"Actually, you did quite well. Reminded me of my own Potions class years ago.\"

Elizabeth stared at him, \"Do you mean that all Potions classes go this way?\"

\"Well, they do hold fast to their rivalries, it is one of the few subjects where they can sabotage each other\'s work. Most Potions teachers have to run their classes with an iron hand.\"

Elizabeth nodded and followed him to dinner.

Later, as she drifted off to sleep, she thought about his words, and wondered if he still felt the same having spent half the evening cleaning out the chamber pots in the Hospital wing, for blowing up Professor McGonagall\'s caldron in their after dinner session.

\"Probably,\" she said, smiling to herself. \"He was just lucky it was summertime and the hospital wing was empty.\"