In Need

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Dumbledore greeted Megan at the front door when she arrived at Hogwarts castle. Her cat leaped out of her arms and started rubbing up against and weaving around his legs, purring loudly. His blue eyes twinkling at her, Dumbledore said, “Welcome to Hogwarts, Professor Waters. And hello Ernie,” he said reaching down to the little cat, scratching him on the chin. “Come my dear, let me show you your quarters and your classroom.”


They climbed the grand staircase and went down a side passage which took them to still more stairs. They stopped at the top landing, and opened the door into her tower, which, Megan guessed, had to be in one of the uppermost turrets of the castle.


She loved it immediately. The rooms had high ceilings and several large windows, giving them a very light and airy feel. From her window, she could see across the grounds to the lake, and the surrounding forest.


“Thank you!” she exclaimed, hugging Dumbledore. “This is so amazing. I wasn\'t sure if I would fit in after all this time, but I’m glad to be back where I belong.”


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Removing from her suitcase what looked like dollhouse furniture, Megan arranged the tiny pieces on the floor of her quarters and then pointed her wand at each, expanding them to regular furniture size. Soon, her rooms were finished to her satisfaction. She decided to save her classroom for later and take a tour of the grounds instead. She felt like goingningning, and thought it would be a nice way to see the grounds at the same time. She changed into track pants and a t-shirt and tied her hair back into a ponytail. After she stretched, she laced up her sneakers and was on her way, deeply breathing in the fresh breezy air when she came out onto the grounds.


At first, she stuck to the campus paths to get her bearings, but then moved further across the grounds, aiming for the steep bank of the lake. She made a wide arc ran ran back around to the greenhouses.


Her affinity for plants drew her in to the greenhouses to explore. She eagerly thought of the different species she might see in person now, that she had only been able to see in pictures or samples before. She opened the doors and walked in, and examined tray after tray of specimens with great interest, marveling at the unique properties of each.


She heard voices in one of the greenhouses and started toward them, but then hesitated as they got louder. She crept to the door that joined the greenhouse she was in to the next one over, trying to appear like she was just looking at the plants in case she was discovered. As she got closer, she could hear the argument which went as follows:


“Professor Snape! There is no reason to get so *upset* about this! We still have more than a week before the students get here, and I can assure you that your stock will be ready by then.u knu know as well as I do that we have had a cloudy summer - even in a greenhouse and even withwingwing charms, nature still has to do its work in its own time. I have enhanced the maturity rate all I can without damaging the plants.”


“Professor Sprout, I would just like to know how I am supposed to teach a potions class without the correct ingredients to *make* any of the potions that I have planned! You *know* that I use the same introductory lessons every year. If you had watched your weather ch mor more closely, you would have known to plant early! I want your word that these will be ready in time for masseasses.”


“I *told* you already,” she said curtly, “I will do what I can, and it *does* look like they will be ready! With all of your class ingredients to attend to though, there is absolutely no possibility of my having time to work on the special ingredients that you requested for your private store. Those are all delicate plants and require more tendingn I’n I’m able to do right now.”


Professor Snape lost any patience he had been trying to show to that point. “Those ingredients from my ‘private store’ are used to help sustain strong enough wards over Hogwarts to keep it safe!” He added mentally that those special ingredients were also essential in various protective potions he made for himself to use when he was summoned to dark meetings. “You can be assured that I will speak to the headmaster about this!” he snapped, and stormed out of the greenhouses with his face drawn up into a particularly horrible scowl.


Megan watched him walking back toward the castle for a moment, and then went to talk to Professor Sprout.

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Later that afternoon, Megan found the dungeons and knocked on Snape’s office door.


When he opened the door and saw her there, he looked both surprised and annoyed. “Proor Wor Waters - so you have arrived already then. As I recall, we are not scheduled to begin our work that you requested until tomorrow evening.”


Taking a deep breath and holding herself back from replying in kind, she simply handed him a brown paper parcel that was light for its size, saying, “I overheard you in the greenhouse earlier. I thought that these might be useful - if you need more, let me know. I’ll see you at seven tomorrow.”
She turned and left his office, closing the door behind her and reconsidering her determination to establish any kind of collegiality with the surly potions master.

As she left, Severus put down his quill and opened the parcel. To his surprise, there was a small bunch of each of the special plants he had requested from Professor Sprout. He was baffled - the plants were difficult to propagate and Professor Sprout’s store of them had still been just slips. He had no idea where else she would have been able to come up with these plants so quickly after his conversation - the Hogwarts greenhouse, for as much as he complained sometimes, was by far the best-stocked greenhouse of magical plants in the area. He stared at the bundles of cuttings and then went to find Professor Waters.


After a fruitless visit to her office, which still lay empty and appeared to not even have been visited yet by the professor herself, Professor Snape drifted back down the stairs. He paused in the entryway to the grand staircase when he heard thumping sounds coming from the great hall. Outside the door, he could heard a woman’s voice inside, followed by a couple of sharp raps.


Silently opening the door, he peered into the great hall and saw Megan in there, holding a violin. She was surrounded by two other violins and a bass violin which were hovering in the air with their bows against their strings as if they were ready to be played by unseen hands. Megan didn’t notice Professor Snape as he slipped noiselessly into a chair hidden in the shadows, intrigued by what he saw.


“Harmonium Conductore,” she said, pointing her wand at the hovering instruments, then dropping it down on the table, traded it for her bow. Putting her bow to the strings of the violin she was holding, she tapped out a measure with her foot and then nodded to the group of waiting instruments.


The deep rich tones of the bass hummed out as its bow moved across the strings, playing the first measures of Pachabel’s Canon in D. Megan joined in next on her violin, and the other two violins joined in one by one as their parts in the music came. The music soared magnificently up through the room, the timeless notes joining together and weaving a tapestry of sound. Megan walked among the instruments as they played, her face set in concentration, and her bow and fingers moving smoothly across the strings.


Severus had to admit it - he was impressed. Besides the musical talent that she obviously had, he knew that it also took immense concentration to be able to perform magic that had to be carried out with such precision. Something stirred within him as he saw her face relax into a blissful expression as the song moved into the joyful and stately climax of 16th and 32nd note runs. His mind cleared itself of ethinthing except watching her and listening to the music.


When the song was finished, Megan sighed in contentment and began to sort through her music pages, the instruments still hoveringady ady for the next piece.


“You are full of surprises, Professor Waters,” Professor Snape said quietly from his chair.


She gave a small shriek and jumped in the air, and spun around to see him. His wand was in his hand in a flash, catching the instruments midair that had started to fall when her concentration broke, and he set them gently down on the closest table.


“Good heavens! You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that!” she said, looking crossly at him and standing with her hands on her hips.


She was privately embarrassed that he had been in there to hear her, and waited for the insult that he was sure to have ready. She rarely played for other people as it was, and here she had played in front of a stranger who thus far seemed to have no interest in her except as the bearer of spite that came with being the bearer of his coveted teaching postition. When Megan played music alone, it was often to express her moods, making it an experience that would be similar to someone else writing in a diary. When she knew that she was playing for others, she concentrated more on the technicalities of the piece itself rather than on what it stirred or inspired within her. His silent observation of her unguarded performance had given him, whether he knew it or not, a deeper look into her soul than she allowed anyone, and she was not happy to have given him that opportunity. She could have just played up in her quarters, but the great hall had such nice acoustics - now she regretted having tried it.


“I’m sorry to have startled you,” he said, standing up and coming over to her. “I heard someone in here and was curious. You play beautifully,” he added frankly, studying her with his black eyes.


“Thanks…” she said, relaxing. At least he finally seemed to be in a better mood than she had seen so far - maybe there was something to the old saying about music taming the savage beast, she thought with an inward shrug. Whatever the reason, she was glad to feel that he was more relaxed arounr.
r.


“I want to thank you for the plants,” he said.


“You’re welcome - I hope they’re helpful,” she said as she began to pack her instruments into their cases and shrink them, putting them in her pocket.


“I must admit to being quite astounded to see samples that ought to have taken weeks to produce,” he continued, following her out of the great hall into the main foyer. “How were you able to procure them?”


She studied him to see if there was some kind of trick in his words, but he really only seemed curious when he asked her. So she told him the truth. “I grew them from the slips Professor Sprout had. I have some birth magic that lets me…”


He spun around to face her, cutting her off mid-sentence. “You’re an earth mage!” he exclaimed.


“Yeah,” she said.


They had stopped walking. Professor Snape looked at her for a long moment, and then said, “It seems that I have quite a bit of time freed up this evening after all. Due to your assistance with the plants, I no longer have to spend the evening sending owls trying to find alternate sources for potions ingredients. Would you be interested in beginning our practice sessions tonight?”


Megan smiled at him. “I would like that very much.”


And they proceeded together down to his office in the dungeons.


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A/N - Thank you so much for the reviews!!! You guys are the best!!! :-D

Please keep them coming, I love to have your input.


My thanks & best wishes to you all.


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