The Silver Cauldron

"Stupid girl". Snape tore the book out of my hands and lent over the student I'd been trying to teach.

"Miss Almanay, the Palamoun plant is more commonly found in the Bavarian Mountains, not the Alps."

"Does it really matter where it's found? As long as they know its properties surely..." He gave me a long stare. I knew better than to argue with him when he was in this mood, so I sighed and moved to the next desk. Snape turned back to the girl. "Fawcett, you should have been paying attention earlier. Two points from Ravenclaw for time-wasting."

It was like this nearly every time I tried to teach something. He seemed to consider it as a personal insult, as if I was somehow infringing his position. I was beginning to feel that he thought I was some kind of servant, there solely to do what he told me and nothing else.

That evening I found a piece of parchment on my desk. It said simply "We need to talk." It was signed Professor S. Snape. I felt rather irritated, firstly because he'd just spent the entire lesson ignoring me and secondly because the note's presence meant he'd been in my room without my permission. The only other things on the desk were an untidy pile of essays, some quills and my silver cauldron. I hoped he hadn't tampered with the cauldron in any way; it possessed powers I did not want him to know about. I threw the note into the fire. The tedious task of marking the First Year's essays on boil cures was not the most exciting way to spend an evening, but it had to be done.

I had just picked up William Arcite's paper (which looked as if it had been attacked by a swarm of angry spiders) when there came a knock at the door. I opened it sharply; thinking that if it was Snape I would give him a piece of my mind. It was Neville however.

"Sorry, I forgot to come to the extra lesson this lunchtime."

"I did notice Neville" I sighed. This wasn't the first time.

"I'm really sorry. Stupid really - I needed to understand that Draining Elixir we were going to make. Still, I'll have to make do."

"We can go over it now if you like," I said. My recent encounter with Snape's bad temper had greatly increased my sympathy for Neville.

We had just finished setting up Neville's cauldron when a second rap at the door interrupted us. To my horror, it was Snape who spoke. "Miss Almanay? Are you there?" A cold terror filled my veins. If he found Neville here...with the cauldron...In a stupid panic, I looked around the room for a means of getting Neville away, but of course there was nowhere. The boy's face had gone slightly green; petrified. There was no escape.

"Miss Almanay?" Snape rattled the door handle impatiently. Quickly I got Neville to hide behind my bed. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door a fraction.

"Yes Professor?" I asked, all too aware of my pink guilty face.

"Miss Almanay, I need to speak to you." His tone was perfunctory.

"I'm afraid I'm busy at the moment. Tell me tomorrow morning" I said irritably. I tried to close the door but he held it open.

"It can wait. I want to speak to you now. You can't evade me any longer Miss Almanay" he hissed. I sighed resignedly and let him in. "You've been avoiding me haven't you?" he continued, piercing me with hollow black eyes.

"Is that hardly surprising?" I asked coldly. He didn't answer but instead looked around the room. "You're busy brewing something I see. What is it?"

"Only the elixir you will be teaching the Fifth years." Snape raised his eyebrows. "Surely you don't need to remind yourself of so simple a potion?"

"Sir, you have hardly done much to help my self-confidence" I said, wishing he would leave.

Ignoring this Snape looked towards my office. "Did you get my note?" he asked, almost softly.

"I did" I said stiffly. "You could just as easily have told me in the last lesson."

"I wanted to be somewhere more...private."

I realised this was a conversation I did not want Neville to overhear.

"Come through to my office" I sighed, hoping this would give Neville a chance to escape. Snape closed the door behind us, and to my horror, locked it.

"Professor, you really don't need to..."

"I don't want us to be disturbed." I detested the way he was looking at me. He walked over to my desk and examined the essays I'd been marking.

"Sir, what do you..."

"Where did you get it?"

"What?" I asked stupidly.

"The cauldron." He ran a white finger around it's rim. A high quavering note rang from it as it hummed with magic.

"I inherited it."

"Beautiful. Quite beautiful. One of the most perfect models I have ever seen. Powerful too I'd imagine." He ran his hands over it's brilliant surface. I shivered - I felt as if this was a personal violation.

"Professor, what is it that you want?"

He turned to face me, the faintest traces of a smirk upon his lips.

"What do I want, Miss Almanay? I seem to remember you telling me that a person's deepest desires are to be kept a secret."

"You can't have interrupted me to tell me that."

"I didn't" He moved closer to me and I instinctively moved backwards. I knocked into the desk and the cauldron emitted a sharp 'ting' as it shuddered behind me. Fighting the panic that was building up inside me I felt in my robes for my wand, realising too late that it was lying on the other table behind Neville's cauldron.

"Please Professor..."

"Such a perfect, delicate object. So easily broken. But so beautiful. Like it's owner..." His hand reached up and softly touched my face. I was frozen with fear. What should I do? I couldn't scream because Neville would hear. If I pushed him away he would almost certainly storm out of the room, and if Neville was trying to get out he would be seen. Snape stroked my cheek, smirking. I leant backwards and my hand brushed the silver surface of my cauldron. It felt warm, almost hot. An omen.

CRASH! A splintering sound echoed from the room next door. It sounded as if Neville had upset a test tube rack. Snape spun around and stared at the door.

"What was that?"

"The wind" I invented.

"The wind does not break glass" he said, eyeing me suspiciously.

I laughed cautiously. "It's probably a crow or something then."

"Why would there be a crow ion you room? You live on the ground floor." There was the scraping of a latch as Neville left the room.

"There is someone in your room is there not Miss Almanay? Who is it?"

"No-one" I cried desperately. He pushed me aside impatiently and unlocked the door.

A piercing screech. A flash of steel - like talons. A whirl of dark...feathers? Snape staggered back, blood trickling from a gash on his cheek. The coal black crow flew into the air, shards of broken glass falling from it's wings. I ran to the window but it had gone. Unnerved I turned to face Snape. He looked deathly pale as his white skin contrasted horribly with the crimson blood. I found a cloth and gently wiped his cheek with it. The same cheek as the one he'd touched on me.

"Unnatural creature" he cursed. I said nothing. It occurred to me that the bird wasn't natural at all.

"Do you realise Miss Almanay" he continued, looking deep into my eyes; "That a crow is a symbol of dark magic?"

"No" I said nervously. "I only thought of them as birds."

"Ignorant child" he sighed. "It is not a good idea to have them frequenting your bedroom." I smiled weakly. With his dark hair and hooked nose, Snape looked crow like himself.

After he had gone, I looked around the room. How on earth had I done it? The silver cauldron winked innocently at me in the moonlight. I touched its surface. It was cold again, as usual. "Thank you" I whispered. Suddenly something caught my eye. There was a tiny figure of a bird etched into the base of the cauldron. It was still warm.