Angelinus

Chapter 6

A Little help from Our Friends

The potions lab was a dark damp haven to Snape's senses as he entered, striping off his dress robes. He banished them with never a glance, summoning his lab robe and sliding into it, the buttons doing themselves up as he Summoned a lead crystal vial to his hand. Holding up the Muggle bottle, he judged the amount and poured half the peony pink contents into the vial before re-stoppering the original bottle and setting it down on the shelf behind his desk under a stasis charm to preserve its condition for as long as necessary. Sealing the newly filled vial, he set it into the rack on his workbench.

Gliding over to the row of cauldrons he kept against the side wall, he chose a four pint pig iron and carefully set it onto a burner. Scrubbing his hands through his hair, he drifted over to the lead lighted cupboards that decorated one wall of his classroom. Shelf upon shelf of ingredients lay behind the locked doors, some common, some rare, a number highly illegal, all held in stasis charms to keep them fresh against the need. Running an eye over the shelves, Severus selected a large jar of diagnostics potion base. He then drew bottles, bags and boxes of various additives that would be useful in breaking down the Muggle medicine and revealing the components it had been created from. Taking his assorted arm full over to the workbench, he activated his dicta-quill and poured half a cup of base into his cauldron. Flicking on the Caminus spell, he allowed the fire to flare and began to heat the potion slowly and carefully before adding ten drops of his sample of medicine.

Thirty-eight attempts later, Severus blinked wearily, muttering to his quill as, again, he failed to get a good reading from the sample. There was something there, he could almost grasp it, but it was illusive and tantalisingly hidden. Sighing deeply, he poured out the failed brew and grabbed up the jar of base only to find it was empty.

"You effing bastard of a bloody fucking nightmare ..." he swore irrationally, spinning and throwing the empty decanter at the far wall where it smashed with a satisfying crash. There was a shocked gasp and a small embarrassed giggle that caused him to spin crouching on his toes, his robes swirling around him. His jaw ached as instinct tried to drop non-functional fangs and he hissed at the four seventh years that were staring in shocked amusement at him. No one had ever seen Snape chuck a hissy-fit with accompanying breakage before. "Out!" he roared furiously.

"Sir, its, its potions class," Mary Shacklebolt said with a tiny wary smile, putting down her potions text on her desk and moving very carefully so as not to startle the older man. "Professor McGonagall said the class was cancelled but we thought we could get some practice time in as we can't afford to fail. You didn't hear us knock."

Staring at the four with narrowed slits of eyes, Snape straightened and sneered at the girl who did not back down, although she did flinch a little. "Ten points from Gryffindor. I haven't time to teach you now and I have no time to supervise exploding cauldrons."

"Brewing base is a third year task, and you appear to need a whole lot more Sir," Jonas Fletcher murmured as he followed the Gryffindor girl into the classroom. "I think you can trust us not to blow that one up."

The internal debate was over before it really got started. "Brew me four batches and don't screw up," Professor Snape snapped, rubbing his temple wearily as he settled into his chair and dropped his head onto his hand while he studied the notes he had been dictating.

The students hurried to do his bidding, trying to move as smoothly and as silently as the Professor always did when he was brewing. Lucinda Harris raised an eyebrow when she spotted the bottle of baby medicine above the teacher's desk but only shrugged when Mike Parkinson asked her what it was in a hushed whisper. All four were senior potions students, taking their NEWTS at the end of the year and all four knew the recipe for base off by heart. They were somewhat surprised to be allowed to invade their Professor's ingredients store unsupervised but, although Jonas' fingers itched to pry into various bags and boxes, he restrained himself. Working in pairs, they hammered out the first two batches, cooling and bottling them hurriedly. As soon as Lucinda spoke to Snape, he all but snatched the first jar with barely a grunt of thanks, sniffed it delicately, his long thin nostrils flaring to test the scent.

"Very good, ladies and gentlemen, a perfect batch," he murmured as he poured another half cup into the cauldron and immersed himself in his work again. The four students looked at each other, shrugged and went back to brewing again.

They were again marginally shocked some half hour later when their professor sat down hard on the edge of the bench muttering. "Oh fucking hell," under his breathe again and again. The cauldron he had been working with was a frozen lump, the caminus spell under it destroyed and its contents turned into a dirty green ice cube.

"What's wrong Sir? Did we screw up?" Mike asked cautiously thinking it should not be possible for a person as pale as Snape to get even whiter, or greener.

"What? No, no, you all did well," Snape muttered distractedly then snapped his full attention onto the four students pinning them to the spot. "Clear the decks; I want each of you to test my method. I hope I am wrong but.... Clear up the residue. Take a number four cauldron out and put in a half cup of base. Bring it up to one hundred and ten degrees imperial using a copper rod to mix. Put six pairs of dragonfly wings and the inner skin of a common squid, half a square inch, into a marble mortar and use the pestle to pulverise them thoroughly. Add an eighth of a fluid ounce of sesame oil to the mortar and create a paste. Add all the paste to the base and stir with the copper stick until the mix turns yellow. Bring the temperature up to one hundred and fifty degrees imperial and add ten drops of this concoction. Stir anticlockwise ten times then tell me what you get."

Impressed, the students followed the instructions obsessively, precisely, perfectly and all four jumped back hurriedly, covering their faces as their cauldrons gave off the unmistakable odour and sparks indicating the presence of direstium.

"Yes, that's what I thought too," Snape snarled, instantly casting obrigesco charms over all four cauldrons and revoking the forge fire spells. "You will say nothing of this outside this room; do I need to use a compulsion charm?"

"No sir, but what is it? How come ..." Jonas Fletcher began to ask.

"Direstium is outlawed, it is sort of like anti-magic and it can suck a wizard dry in a few weeks, and it's addictive. Once you get a taste for it, you can't stop using it until it kills you." Mary Shacklebolt said harshly.

"You are your father's daughter, ten points to Gryffindor," Snape remarked with a smirk as he strode over to the fireplace and snatched up a handful of floo powder. "Malfoy Manor, Lord Malfoy."

The student exchanged glances as the fire turned green and a pale blond head appeared in the flames. "Severus, a pleasure, as always...."

"Stuff it Draco, I need you and Hermione here, now," Snape snapped, cutting his godson off most rudely.

"Who put a bee up your bum?" Draco asked huffily. "Really Severus, your manners are appalling! Why should I.... No! Severus! Stop it!"

Snape reached through the flames, wrapped a long, thin hand around Malfoy's throat and simply plucked him through the flames holding him out at shoulder height without any visible strain. "I do not have time for this nonsense! I have just discovered direstium in a Muggle medicine, which was inadvertently given to my new charge, and to keep the children alive, I have tied Remus' magic to them and to myself. I am on a tight schedule and have only a few hours before both my husband and children are past the point of no return. I am not in the mood to be charming, polite or even civil. Now get fucking Hermione!" He thrust Draco back through the flames and turned away.

"You only had to ask." Draco coughed, massaging his throat even as he disappeared from the flames.

In less than five minutes both Malfoys stepped into the potions lab, Draco nodding to the four students who were still hovering by the student benches. "What do you need Severus?"

"Hermione, do you recognise this? Good. How common is it?"

"Any Muggle mother who has a teething baby probably uses it. Its safe, tastes good and readily available over the counter, and cheap too," Hermione replied promptly. "Why, what is this all about?"

"Direstium do you remember it?"

"Oh yes, too well. Isn't that what Caroline Blacklake tried to put into the water supply at Grimmauld Place during the war? Let me see if I recall the Encyclopaedia definition now. 'In the first dose or two it enhances and boosts a person's magic by up to one hundred percent. Subsequent doses make the person believe they are better but it is a false sense of power as the direstium is actually consuming and destroying the magic in their soul until they are little better than Squibs. Worse, the insidious poison burns up their physical energy, which also damages their internal organs. Because the victim is straining to use the magic to the point of destruction, they eventually die of exhaustion.'" She smiled, having recited the textbook definition word perfectly, and then her expression grew worried as the sense impacted. "Oh my! And you think it's in the.... Oh Merlin! Then many a Muggle-born witch or wizard will fail to develop magic if they are given this stuff as a baby. They will not do themselves damage but they will never know their magic because they never truly control it. Good God, that's insidious!" Hermione gasped as a sneer twisted Snape's face.

"But it is one very secure way to get rid of mudbloods and half-breeds, don't you think?"

If looks could kill, Snape would have dropped dead at that point and even Draco and the students drew back from the brown haired witch. "You know Severus, you are evil at times! What do you want me to do?"

"I have just over twelve hours left to find a cure. I need 'useful' input, anything you can find on direstium, its effects, symptoms and treatments. Draco, we need to know if this bottle is the only contaminated one so I need you to send your people around the country and get me some samples of this stuff from as many Muggle towns as possible. Parkinson and Fletcher, start making me base, lots of it. Shacklebolt and Harris, mix up batches of additive so that the test can be run as quickly as possible."

"And what are you going to do Severus?" Draco asked, one foot poised on the edge of the fireside.

"Find out who is making this shit and then go stuff it down their throats!"

All three older magicals exchanged smiles of pure vindictive pleasure that made the younger generation wonder just what sort of people their teacher and his friends were.

~~<*>~~

Hermione burst through the floo and staggered out of the hearth, books and wads of parchment clutched to her chest. "It's not much but I think I got it all!" she gasped as she wove dexterously through the rows of cauldrons tended by the four students. "Goodness Gracious! Have you children been fed? Honestly Severus, you are a slave driver!"

Severus ignored her while he continued to add newt tails one at a time to his bubbling cauldron while muttering the words of the spell. Hermione watched in amused silence that slowly turned to concern when she realised there was a slight tremor in the man's usually rock steady hands. As soon as he finished the chore, she offered him a small vial she took from the cabinet on the left. "Its just pepper up potion unless you have taken to changing labels," she said in exasperation at his glare.

Still glaring, Severus upended the vial into his mouth and gulped it all down with a shudder. "I hate that crap," he muttered, stirring the brew with a glass rod in precise figure of eight motions. "Pass me the bloodwort, please."

"What are you brewing?" Hermione asked, proffering the requested jar.

"A signature tracer, I hope. Let's face it, the potion is an advanced one and most likely brewed at a Master level. Anyone who gets their Masters in Potions tends to be an arrogant sod and yes, it's the voice of experience talking. Most Masters add inert ingredients to make the signature more readily visible, especially in the patented potions. Most are not so arrogant as to label illicit substances but the majority are not good enough to eliminate their trace entirely and it can be found if searched for diligently."

"And can you hide your signature thoroughly?" Hermione asked almost teasingly only to receive an evil smirk in return.

"What do you think?"

She laughed delightedly.

Severus clicked his fingers and held out a hand for the parchment, leafing through hurriedly then turning back and forward between the pages, reading intently. "This? Is this all there was in the book? Damn! I was hoping my copy was incomplete but it seems to be all there. Damn!" He kicked the table leg hard. "Alright, if we use this research as a basis for what we need to do and use the detection potion as the opposite side of the problem, where does that leave us?"

Hermione slipped behind the desk and read over his shoulder as he traced the lines of text she had copied from the book. "Maybe extract of bitterroot mixed with nicotine and raspberry seeds?" she offered thoughtfully.

"Have to use a trembling charm to stop them spontaneously combusting in the cauldron."

"Yes, or at least until we added mugwort and swamp grass for internal trembling."

"Aspen leaves would be more effective and would bring in a hint of Light at the same time."

"True. Severus, are you alright?" Hermione asked suddenly, realising the man beside her was trembling all over and sweating.

Swearing bitterly, Severus turned to the nearest sink and was copiously sick. Pepper up potion mixed with stale blood sent Hermione's eyebrows shooting up. When the convulsive heaves subsided, she eased him over to a stool and offered a cloth and a drink of water to wash his mouth out. Scrabbling through the nearest shelf, she searched for some sort of stomach potion until Severus snapped at her to stop fussing!

"Fussing? You are vomiting like a fountain and there's a lot of old blood and you don't want me fussing? Either you have a bleeding ulcer or you have been doing something very silly Severus Snape! Now you tell me immediately or else...." Worry clouded Hermione's judgement for a second before she realised she had gone too far. The man in front of her morphed into evil incarnate without moving a muscle and she suddenly felt she was a gauche schoolgirl again. "I'm sorry Professor," she apologised hastily, dropping her eyes.

"That will be all Miss Granger," he hissed in deadly smooth tones that sent a shiver of dread down her spine.

Apologising again, she backed away and fled up to where the students were gathered in a tight huddle. They sent her commiserating looks as they made room for her in their small circle. The tall man rose in a swirl of darkness and went back to brewing his potion in utter, icy silence, alone.

~~<*>~~

Hours passed while Snape studied the heavy tombs and pieces of parchment he sent the students off to fetch. Occasionally he simply held out his hand and said accio, one of his own books flying to obey the summons. He jotted a thousand notes in his fine, copperplate script, sometimes biting the end of his quill thoughtfully. Draco returned with a collection of Muggle medicine bottles, listened while Hermione aired her grievances and worry about their former professor but didn't disturb the man's formidable concentration. Suddenly an electric feel sparked the air, as the black clad wizard seemed to stiffen alert. He grabbed one of the first books he had discarded, leafed through it hurriedly then slapped his forehead in disgust.

"Hermione, have you changed anything in the Malfoy library? Good. In the fifth case to the left of the door and on the bottom shelf there should be a slim volume called 'A thesis on the Movement Within Magical Conduits' by Singalli Snape, do you know if it is still there?"

"I'll look," Hermione said hurriedly and disappeared into the floo only to appear a few minutes later, laying the book desk before him. "You have a good memory; it was exactly where you said it would be."

Smirking, Severus carefully opened the ancient, crackling parchment and began to read the wild and heretical theory written by one of his ancestors regarding the movement of magic through a human body. Using the information he had gathered and the mad speculation of his many greats uncle, Snape drew a new piece of parchment forward and outlined his theory on how direstium worked, how it affected wizards and how it could be neutralised within the body. The two part solution, a mix of brewing and wand work, seemed to be viable and he smiled in satisfaction as he waved the Malfoys over to check his work. Despite his rude and off-hand comments he had a great deal of respect for the younger couple's abilities as Potions brewers and intelligent Charms makers.

"Think you can follow these instructions?" he asked when the couple had finished.

"It's complex and high level stuff but yes, it seems complete," Draco mused, waving his hand to practice a wand movement that accompanied the charm. Severus had drawn tiny, detailed illustrations to show exactly how a swish or a flick should be accomplished and he was very good. "A platinum cauldron?" One eyebrow rose in surprise. "Do we have one?"

"Accio cauldron, special order," Severus murmured and a softly shining, silvery cauldron came to his hand almost instantly. "We do."

"Then yes, I think we can do it," Draco consulted his wife with his eyes and nodded decisively.

"Good," Severus said almost cheerfully and slid off his stool in a dead faint.