The Last Potion

The Proposal


Justin Penny
Normal
Justin Penny
2
114
2003-04-30T05:47:00Z
2003-04-30T05:47:00Z
3
1042
5941
49
11
7295
9.2720







The
Proposal

 

I stood alone in the empty dorm room. All of
the other girls had gone ahead of me. I took my time folding my clothes and
packing my suitcase again. For me, the prospect of leaving Hogwarts again
wasn’t as exciting as it was for everyone else I’d shared a room with. They all
had husbands, fiancés or boyfriends to go home to. Me, I had a divorce to
finalize and a trial in front of the Ministry of Magic to prepare for.

Lucky me.

I was just on my way out the door when a
friendly pair of eyes appeared just before me. I smiled at the Headmaster and
set my suitcase down. Before saying anything, Professor Dumbledore held his
arms out and gave me a warm, friendly hug.

“I am so happy you were able to join us this
weekend, Elizabeth,” he said before letting me go. “I do hope you enjoyed
yourself.”

“Absolutely,” I said with a confident nod.
“More so than I expected.”

“Splendid!” Dumbledore clasped his hands
together and sighed. He peered at me through those unique spectacles and
smiled. “Now, you remember that I want you to write me if you need anything -
anything at all. I’ll be more than willing to lend a hand to those who deserve
it.” His last few words threw a rain cloud over my horizon. He must have known
it, too. I saw the frown appear on his face.

“I’m not so sure I deserve any help from
anyone,” I told him. “I think I deserve exactly what’s ahead of me. I’ve gotten
myself into this mess and it’s up to me to get out of it, even if that does
mean I’ll lose my PhD and spend a few years in You-Know-Where.”

“Nonsense Elizabeth!” Dumbledore cried. “You
were betrayed and tricked by a man who you thought loved you. None of this was
your fault. I’ll not let anything happen to you.” Dumbledore put his hand to my
cheek and smiled as he nodded. “I promise.”

There wasn’t a soul on the planet I trusted
more than Albus Dumbledore. Even if it weren’t for his supreme powers and his
confidence, I still think I’d have found reassurance in his words. He’d helped
man witches and wizards out of sticky situations in the past, and if rumour has
it – Snape was certainly one of them.

Snape. Now there was a subject I perhaps
should not have taken up with Dumbledore. Up in the Hospital Wing after my
suicidal attempt with the Eau Noir, his words of wisdom left me with a
tiny reassurance that my life would shape up for the better – not for the
worst.

‘Don’t trouble yourself
Elizabeth, once you’ve had a taste of what the future has to offer you, you’ll
have forgotten all about him and you’ll find love again. By the time you’re his
age now, you’ll both understand why I cannot allow you to bid him farewell this
evening.’

I think
those words have been permanently committed to my memory. Sure, I did fall in
love and I did – for the most part - forget about Professor Snape after a few
years, but what good has that done me? Daemon was a Death Eater.

He’s
still a Death Eater. And if Voldemort is ever restored to his power again, I’ll
not live to see the end of it. He’d make sure of that. Anyone who ever stood up
to him ended up dead.

Everyone
except that little boy.

Harry
Potter.

He must
be nearing the age to receive his first Hogwarts letter. It can’t be more than
a year or two before he discovers who he really is. Perhaps his re-entry to the
wizarding world will bring comfort and reassurance to people like me.

Perhaps.

I had
just reached my hand out to open the large, oak doors at the head of the castle
when I heard an exceptionally cold, icy voice sound behind me.

“Ms.
Sullivan.”

The way
he sounded my name wrought a tiny shiver. He sounded mocking, yet intrigued all
at the same time.

Before I
turned around, I set my suitcase down and slowly turned my neck to look at him
first. He was standing at the bottom of the staircase leaning up against the
railing. His arms were crossed in front of him and he woreartiarticularly
twisted, devious smile on his crooked mouth.

I
watched him e mae made a sudden move forward. He pushed his black robes off of
his arms and let them billow out behind him as he neared me. I swallowed hard
and felt my palms begin to sweat once he stood near enough for me to smell his
subtle aroma of nectar and spice. For a brief moment I closed my eyes as I
inhaled the enticing scent.

“I have a proposition for you,” he told me.

“Oh? And what’s that?” I asked him
curiously. My eyebrows instinctively narrowed into a curious squint as I could
not imagine what he of all people had in mind for me.

Professor Snape reached into his robes and
pulled out a tattered piece of parchment and held it out in front of him for me
to look at.

It was a list of potions. More specifically,
rare and complex potions I happened to excel in concocting. I let my eyes skim
all the way down to the bottom of the list and then met his captivating black
eyes with an inquisitive stare once I was finished reading. “Not one for
legibility, are you Professor? Did you write this list as you hurried to stop
me just now?”

Instead of a reply,eceieceived a sinister
trademark glare. His eyes narrowed into tiny slits and I could see his lips
curve disapproval. Had I still been a student, my snide comment probably would
have earned me a ten-point deduction from my House.

“I’ll need these for my seventh year
students,” he told me as he delicately placed the parchment back into the
inner-left pocket of his robes. “For a FIAMA graduate, this should be easy
work.”

“You want me to brew these for you?” I asked
him.

“Well I wasn’t going to suggest you appraise
my handwriting,” he half yelled at me.

“What’s in it for me?” I asked him. “You
can’t expect me to put my whole life on hold to spend the rest of the week
concocting these simple potions for you, can you?” Little did he know just how
much I dread going back to the life I gladly put on hold to come here in the
first place… well… until I remembered all about him! I think I gladly
would have accepted such an offer, should it have been offered by anyone
besides the snide Potions Master.

“You offered to help me now, didn’t you, Ms.
Sullivan?” Professor Snape distinctly reminded me. “Or would you rather I call
you Miss Chamberlain?”

At the mere mention of my maiden name, I
could feel my jaw nearly touch the floor.

Professor Snape’s dark, empty pop popped
wide open for a split second and then burned fiercely into my own. “That’s
right Elizabeth, I know who you are. Don’t think that in ten years of absence I
could have forgotten you.” It first occurred to me after hearing this
particular tone that perhaps he wasn’t asking for my help because he could use
it, but instead because he desperately needed it and had no other choice.
Either way, he didn’t sound as if he wanted me to accept his proposal. “A
decade certainly hasn’t depleted the resemblance you bear to the child I once
knew.”

For a brief moment I saw his eyes graze
disapprovingly up and down my body once again. I can’t explain how it happened,
but he seemed to warm every part of my body his glimpse touched.

“If it is still your wish to lend me your
expertise you can take my offer or leave it.”

Again, I swallowed hard as I debated back
and forth. As I thought I closed my eyes and imagined which fate was worse.
Home? Or here?