The Web Wizard

Tara woke up after a night of fitful dreams to the sun streaming in through her window. She felt strangely refreshed; the potion had done its job. She bounced out of bed and got herself ready. Today was the big day, when the students arrived.

She and Hagrid took off for the train station right after Lunch, then rowed across the lake and journeyed to the station. Soon, they could hear the Hogwarts' Express in the distance. Tara got her camera out and got up on the cat walk to take pictures.

Soon the train pulled into the station, and the students, all clad in robes, spilled out. Hagrid beckoned for the first year students to follow him, and they all went to get in boats to row back to the castle as the night fell upon them.

Tara had purposely dressed in robes so she wouldn't be stared at by all of the young charges making their way back to school. She took many pictures and Hagrid explained who she was and why she was taking pictures.

Once back at the castle, Tara photographed the sorting, and the banquet. It was quite a job and she was glad she brought extra media cards with her. After everyone was sorted, Dumbledore took a few minutes to go over the rules and announced the creation of their web site and introduced Tara. Then, the feast began.

Tara was astounded at the amount of food. "It's a good thing it's 10 flights of stairs to my room or I'd be fat as a pig!" she commented to Madame Hooch, and dug into her dinner. There was a flash and a goblet of golden liquid appeared before her. Where did that come from? She hadn't asked. She looked around and found Severus Snape's gaze boring into her. He raised his goblet to her. She could hardly swallow, and raised her glass to him too, shocked that he would make a nice gesture like that towards her. He sure was an odd bird.

"What's with that guy?" she asked, turning to Madame Hooch.

"Who?"

"Snape! He just got me this wine," she said. Madame Hooch giggled, and so did Minerva.

"I think Snape's smitten," Minerva commented.

"Oh puh-LEEZE!" She shuddered and Minerva and Madame Hooch laughed like teenaged girls, while Tara frowned. She took another sip of her wine. It was quite good, actually, and she looked over the brim of her goblet at Snape, who was concentrating on his salad. He looked at her again and she quickly looked away, feeling all gooey inside again.

The next day was the first day of classes, and Tara laid low in her office, getting together the photos she had taken. She had 4 media cards crammed full and was putting them on her image server. Next, she began assembling Snape's PC for him. A chime went off indicating she had received an instant message. She didn't know who it was; whoever it was wasn't on her list.

"Hello, Miss Hall," the message said.

"Hi. Who is this?" she typed back. The screen name just said sspm which meant nothing to her.

"I think you know, don't you?"

Now she became irked. "No, I don't. And if you don't stop bugging me, I'll put you on my ignore list. At least do me the courtesy of identifying yourself, or it's good bye," she typed, furiously.

A message came back up a few moments later. "You're as feisty via communicating this way as you are in person. Good day, Miss Hall."

She knew who it was now. "I see you are getting the hang of instant messaging. What computer are you on? I'm just building yours now."

"I have one in my office. I figured out how to put this instant message thing on all by myself. Not bad for a computer muggle, wouldn't you say?"

She could almost hear him say the words in his cool but deliberate way, and she shivered.

"Yes, I'm impressed. I ought to have your computer done by about 3. When do you want me to fix up your network connection and hook it all up?"

"I have no classes after 4 PM today."

"Okay I'll come down there. Have fun with your instant messages."

A little after 4, she loaded everything on a cart and made her way down to the dungeon, which was no easy task. She cursed, wishing for an elevator as she parked the cart and carried each piece down. She arrived in the dungeon, sweaty and a little out of breath.

"Perhaps you should stop that nasty muggle smoking habit of yours, and you wouldn't get out of breath so easily," she heard the moody potions master quip. Where was he? She spotted him sitting at the desk in the corner.

"Yeah, yeah yeah. Well I'll get this started here. First of all, I'll hook up your computer so you can get a feel for what's on it while I get your connection taken care of."

"As you wish, you're the expert after all..." he said in a condescending tone.

"Would you knock it off with the attitude?" she burst. "I mean, shit. I didn't come from half a world away to be verbally and emotionally abused by some scary lookin' dude who works in a dungeon 24/7!" Oh now she had done it...she cringed, hoping he wasn't going to turn her into a desk lamp or maybe a chair.

Snape was taken aback by her outburst, but wondered why she was visibly bracing herself.

"I'm sorry, Miss Hall. What--what is the matter?"

"You're not going to turn me into a lamp or anything are you?" she asked, opening one eye to look at him. He actually chuckled.

"No, I wouldn't do that," he said, amused again by muggles and at how ignorant they could be.

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Okay. I--I'm sorry I went off on you like that...I--"

He cut her off, "I fear I had it coming. I apologize."

"Thanks -- so do I --"

"No need. Now, what do you need me to do?"

She determined the best layout for his computer on his desk and set it up for him, then turned it on. Everything was in working order; she had already tested it.

"You put this together yourself?" he asked.

"Yeah. I do it all the time. If it starts f---I mean screwing up, let me know and I'll come hit it with a sledge hammer." He looked alarmed. "Not really. Just a figure of speech. Now, here's your word processing program, a spreadsheet, a database, and I'll have your Internet going in a few minutes. Okay?"

"That's fine," he said and inhaled deeply. Her nearness to him brought feelings he hadn't felt in years, and he inhaled her sweet, slightly musky scent.

"Something wrong?" she asked him, hearing do a deep intake of air.

"No, not at all." What is wrong with me? he thought to himself, scowling.

"Okay. Well if you have any questions, ask."

She got out her tools and a 50 foot cat 5 cable, and ran it along the base of the wall and taped it with duct tape. She didn't know how else to do it since the walls and floors were all stone. She finally reached the CPU and plugged the other end of the cat 5 into the ethernet card. The green light came on and flickered with activity.

"Can I drive for a moment?" she asked Snape, coming to his side.

"Of course," he said, standing up and offering her his chair. She sat down, hit start and run, and pinged the network.

"What does that do?" he asked, watching her hands expertly fly on the keyboard, issuing commands.

"That is called pinging. It means I am sending out a pulse to the network to see if this computer is communicating. It is--you see the replies there? Now I'll ping an IP address on the Internet - my server back in the USA to be exact," she said and typed ping followed by some numbers. The replies came back, pulsing.

"Do you mean to tell me that is coming all the way from the USA?" Snape asked, amazed at the concept.

"That's what I mean, all right. Not bad for muggle technology, eh, Snape? Excuse me, Professor Snape?"

He made a face that she couldn't see. "Not bad at all," he agreed, not without a bit of reluctance. He again leaned close and again inhaled her fresh scent. What was going on with him? He stood back again. With a muggle? And an exasperating one at that?

"Tara?" a voice called from the door. Both Tara and Severus looked up to see the man from the pub - Seth.

"Hi! Seth, is it?" Tara asked, her smile lighting the dungeon.

"Yes. Professor McGonagall said I would find you here. Good afternoon, Professor Snape," he said respectfully.

"Good afternoon. Weren't you a first year when I was in my last year here?"

"Yes."

"I remember. You were a Gryffandor," he said with an overtone of smugness. "I think I have everything I need. Thank you," Snape said, dismissing her.

"You sure?"

"Quite. Good afternoon."

She gathered up her tools and went to walk with Seth. Severus watched the two walk out the door and felt a confusing array of emotions. He couldn't let himself fall for her. She was a muggle--a very challenging American Muggle, in fact. That was enough said.

"Can I take you to dinner?" Seth was asking Tara.

"Well, I think so. I'm pretty much done for the day. I got the pain in the butt over with," she said motioning to the dungeon.

"He's not that bad," Seth began.

"Speak for yourself. We just constantly rub each other the wrong way is all. Oh well, everywhere I've ever worked, I've encountered at least one person like that."

The two went out to dinner, and Minerva and Albus couldn't help but notice how annoyed Snape looked at Tara's empty chair at the banquet table.

"What do you suppose he's thinking?" Minerva asked Albus.

"I don't know but I have my feeling about it," he replied.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say he is taken with our young muggle computer wizard. Hooch and I were joking about it last night. But then again, I know better. This is Severus we're talking about."

"He's a tough nut to crack," Albus agreed.

"I'll say!"

Tara arrived back at the castle just before midnight. She was walking up the steps, humming a little song and was greeted by Henry and Heidi. "Waiting up for your mum?" she asked. She had started adopting some of the British jargon; how could she not. The cats followed her happily to her room, where she readied herself for bed. She decided to check e-mail before retiring, and had the usual messages of things to do for the site from Dumbledore and the Web Committee which was forming amongst the students. She was replying to one of them when an instant message interrupted her. Snape.

"Hello there. We missed you at dinner. I trust you had a pleasant evening."

She made a face and typed back. "Hi Professor Snape. Yes, I had a nice time. But I have lots to do and I'm trying to answer an onslaught of e-mails right now. Do you have a question with your new computer or something else I can help you with?"

"No, I just wanted to say hello and make sure you are safe."

Make sure I'm safe? This guy was way over the edge. She didn't know whether he was being sarcastic or nice.

"I'm fine. Why do you think I wouldn't be?"

"Your fall off the broomstick the other night."

"Oh, that. Well thank you for your concern, but I am fine and unscathed. Good night, Professor."

"Good night."

She finished up her e-mail and went to bed. She dreamed that night but did not dream of her new friend, Seth. She dreamed of Severus Snape and did not understand why.