The Web Wizard

Chapter 12

Tara decided to finally come down for breakfast after a couple of weeks of being noticeably absent. The Thanksgiving holiday (for her) was that week, and she had arranged to leave right after dinner that night to go to her mother's home, via floo powder. She needed a few days to sleep off the effects.

The professors were clearly happy to see her. She dared to glance over at Snape, who gave her a dark look that should have turned her to dust on the spot. She swallowed hard, and went to sit down at her spot. She noticed a small jewel-like bottle next to her silverware, with a rolled up note. She took the note and read:

"I thought this might help you curb any symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. Put 5 drops of it into your morning beverage every day until you no longer feel the withdrawal."

"What's that?" M asked her, glancing over to read the note, that Tara held up to her.

"Do you know who put this here?" she asked.

"It's been there for a couple of weeks. But is there any question of where it came from?" M said, gesturing towards Snape's end of the table. Tara turned to him, and sure enough he was staring at her.

"Should I trust him?" Tara asked, quickly turning to her friend, "what if there is something else in here?"

"Nonsense. He's never been known to try to harm anyone."

"Just makes them dance occasionally..." Tara said frowning.

"Well, that wasn't harming you..."

"No. But my heart is another matter..." she said, blinking back tears. When would she get over this? Severus looked at her and saw her wiping her eyes and it moved something deep inside him. Oh no, don't let your guard down, he told himself. It was enough that he had made the withdrawal potion for her as a gesture of kindness. He felt pleased when he saw her dispense the prescribed amount into her can of Diet Pepsi. He had read that withdrawal could go on for months, and he was prepared to make more of the potion.

Right after she dropped it in, small sparks rose from the hole in the can and did kind of an inch high fireworks show in the air above it, then dissipated. "Whoa! That was cool!" Severus was pleased with her reaction. He knew she'd appreciate the extra flare he had put in, and had put that in just to see her smile.

After breakfast, she slipped out the door and Severus was quick to follow her. She turned around, knowing he was behind her. "Hey, thanks for this potion. It's getting better, but it's still hard sometimes," she said. He looked into her eyes and nodded. "It is difficult, isn't it?" he said, meaning something completely different. Tara looked away, blinking back tears once again. "I have to go," she told him. "I'm going to my mom's for Thanksgiving. It's an American holiday that's this Thursday. I have to leave tonight so I can recover from the floo powder," she explained.

"When will you be back?" he asked, then wondered why he cared.

"I'll be back Saturday and sleeping until Monday. I have to get back to work, after all. So just long enough for my mom to start asking me why I'm not married or seeing anyone. So, I could be back Friday, for that matter!" Severus was amused by this. Then he noticed that Tara had lost a considerable amount of weight. "You look awfully gaunt. Are you eating?" he asked. "Yeah, some. I was supposed to gain weight. So much for that theory. Well, I have to go." She was feeling increasingly uneasy around him, and wished she could vanish into thin air, but even if she was able to, it wasn't allowed on the grounds.

She bade him a farewell, and went back to what needed to be done in preparation for her trip. Just before she was to leave, she knocked on Albus Dumbledore's office door. The door swung open and she entered.

"Tara, are you ready to head to your mother's?"

"As ready as I can be. I have my preliminary outline for the computer course portion of Muggle Studies," she said, handing him a folder. He sifted through it. It was neatly organized and easy to read with major points in bold, and not too wordy.

"Straight and to the point. I wish all of my staff wrote their outlines as concisely as you do. Some of them go into every last little detail - it isn't necessary in these outlines," he said, a little flustered.

"Well let me know what you think, what should be changed, and all of that. I'll be back Friday or Saturday but the floo powder makes me sleep for a couple of days as you know..."

"Yes. Well, have a safe journey and let us know when you're back amongst us - awake."

"Thank you, Professor," she said turning to leave.

"Uh, Tara...sit down for a moment."

She turned again, and sat in the large chair in front of his desk.

"You and Professor Snape - is everything okay there?"

"Well, no. I mean, we started sort of seeing each other but it ended really quickly..." her eyes filled with tears and Dumbledore handed her a tissue. She blew her nose, the tears running down her face.

"Oh my, you really care for him, don't you?" Tara made a face. "Yes, and I don't know why. He's an impossible, dark, moody --" she paused, but there was no other way to put it, "Bastard..." Albus couldn't help but smiling at that. "Yes, he can be, but for a moment with you, he wasn't."

"I guess not..."

"Well, if you need any help preparing for your journey - or you want someone to accompany you each way to make sure you get where you are going - let me know."

"That might be good. How about M--"

"M? Oh, you mean Madame Hooch? Perfect. She has already expressed concern of you going so far and she'll take care of you."

"Oh good. I sure like her."

After dinner that night, M assured Tara that Heidi and Henry would be taken care of while she was away, and they went to the fireplace in Tara's quarters. The trip made Tara scream; it had been a few months since she had used floo powder. It was like a violent roller coaster ride and although it was better than flying in an airplane, it was still rather scary. Finally, they rolled out onto the floor in her mother's living room. It was early in the morning there and the room was dark. Tara's mother heard the commotion and came out to greet them.

"Hi mom, I made it! This is my friend, Madame Hooch. I call her "M". She came to make sure I got through okay."

"Pleased to meet you..." Tara's mother, Joan, said, eyeing M's feline features.

"Send us word when you are ready for the journey back," she said, "pleased to meet you, ma'am. I really must get back. We have a big Quidditch practice in the morning." With that, she threw a handful of floo powder in the fireplace, and was gone.

"She looks like a cat!" Joan gasped. "Yes, I know. She's my best friend over there. She teaches flying and coaches Quidditch, that cool game I e-mailed you about"

"The one where they fly on broomsticks?" Tara nodded. "That's the one." Then a wave of sleepiness washed over her. Tara was feeling the exhaustion setting in. "Well, this fireplace travel makes me sleep for days, so I must go to sleep before I just fall right here. I probably won't wake up until Thursday morning."

"Yes, that's what you said," Joan said, accompanying her daughter to the guest room. She put her bags down and said goodnight to her mother, then closed the door and collapsed onto the bed without even being able to change her clothes...

Tara's nose was being treated to a familiar scent. Food. Oh, wonderful food. Memories of holidays past were instantly brought to mind as she opened her eyes. Only she did not see the stone ceiling above her. Oh that's right, she was at her mom's back home in the USA! Floo powder. Ugh. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, then got up. She was still in her clothes she had travelled in! She stripped them off, and climbed into the shower.

20 minutes later, she emerged from the bedroom. "Good morning, sleepyhead," her mother said.

"Hi mom. Wow that smells good. What time is it?"

"A little after 1. Dinner will be around 4."

"Not morning at all then is it?"

"Nope!"

Tara's relatives began to arrive and they had a very nice Thanksgiving Dinner. Tara wasn't allowed to talk about the details of her assignment at Hogwarts'; she just said that she was doing a site for a big academy in the UK. Her mother was the only one who knew the magical details.

"So when do you fly back?" her Uncle Frank asked her.

"Oh, probably Saturday."

"You're not sure? What, has the airline got you on stand by?" he started. "Yes. She's on stand-by," Joan answered, shooting Tara a strange look.

"Yeah, you know those airlines," Tara said, taking a bite of stuffing.

"Which airline did you fly?" he asked. Tara was at a loss. "Um, which one is it, mum?" Tara's young cousin, Fred, laughed. "You called her 'mum.'"

"Well it's tough not to pick up some of their Brit terms. I'm the only American over there, and the only muggle--"

"The only what?" Fred asked.

Oh shit. How was she going to get out of this one. "It's what they call computer geeks over there," she said quickly. Yeah, that's it.

Fred made a face. "What a weird place," he commented. Tara was relieved.

By the next day, she was ready to leave after she read her e-mail. One entire node on the network had gone down in one of the dorms. And then, came the question from Tara's mother. "Have you met anyone over there?"

"Well, kind of, sort of. But it didn't work out."

"What did you do?"

"Mom, why is it always my fault?" Tara asked, angrily.

"It takes two to tango, you know..."

"Oh tango. Why did you have to say tango?" Tara sat down on the couch heavily. Joan could see that she had struck a nerve and was immediately sorry for pressing her daughter.

"What is it, dear?"

"Oh, at a banquet, I did the tango with one of the professors--"

"You learned to tango? I can't believe it!"

"No, I didn't. He put some kind of spell on me so my body just danced. It was very bizarre...but it got to me...anyway. It didn't work out. That's all."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yes, me too." She glanced at the clock. It was noon, which meant it was about 8 at Hogwarts'. She went to her mother's computer to send an e-mail announcing she was ready to come back. This time, she put on her night shirt with her big robe over it so that way if she fell asleep on the spot, at least she would be dressed for it.

"Well, I'm all packed, I think I'm going to head back," she said.

"So soon?"

"Christmas is just around the corner, you know I'll be back in a month. Or, you could come over there, you know...well maybe not..."

"Okay, whatever, dear."

Whatever. She went to her mother's fireplace and opened the doors, waiting for M to come back and get her.

"Oh good, they're sending your friend again?"

"Yes. You'll hear from me in a few days, remember. The sleep thing..."

"Right."

She heard a whoosh coming from the fireplace like a train coming. But who rolled out of the fireplace was not M; it was Snape.

"Good evening, Miss Hall," he said. Oh, we're back to Miss Hall again. "Good evening, Professor Snape," Tara stammered. Joan noticed that he flustered her daughter. "Good evening, you must be Mrs. Hall," he said politely. Joan nodded and extended a hand. "Pleased to meet you."

"Your daughter has done amazing things," he said in his slow, cool way. "You must be very proud of her."

"I am." She could see that there was more than admiration of Tara on his part.

"Are you ready?" he asked, looking down at Tara.

"Yes," she said, picking up her bags. He took one from her. "It was nice to meet you," he said to Tara's mother. "Yes, thank you. Nice meeting you too. Take good care of my daughter," she said.

"I intend to," he told her, and with a whoosh, they were gone. "He intends to," Joan repeated the words he had said. She wondered if this was who it hadn't worked out with. She did say she had danced with a professor. He was much older than her daughter...but that didn't matter so much those days.

She wondered if she was going to end up with another wizard in the family...