My Name's Severus!

Chapter 18: A Decision Made

Draco stared out over the lake watching the small waves formed by the wind ripple over the surface. He lost himself in the patterns formed by them trying to forget why he was sitting here, what he was waiting for. He looked at the pebbles and grass at his feet, watched the clouds pass by in the sky, but whatever he did he kept his back turned towards the castle. He didn't want to see it, didn't want to know what was going on inside.

It seemed to him that he sat there for an eternity ... or maybe just for a few minutes. He never consciously thought about the friend he was about to loose, or as a small voice of hope kept whispering somewhere deep in the back of his mind was going to keep forever, but still the thought was always with him.

The sun was reflected on the water creating patches of light blinking happily that remained only for the wink of an eye as the waves moved on to be replaced by others and then others yet again.

Draco tried to predict them, guess the combination of the light and the movement of the waves. It was fascinating how so peaceful a scene could also be in constant ever changing motion.

"Draco?" came a voice behind him.

He recognised the voice, but he wished he could ignore it, wished he could remain here staring at the lake and the waves the moment frozen forever.

Still he turned around fighting down the tears. 'It had to be done. It was the right thing to do.' he reminded himself.

"Professor?"

"I believe I must have said this about a hundred times in this last year: My name's Severus." Severus Snape said smiling as he sat down beside him.

And Draco smiled and threw his arms around him hugging him tightly. It was good to have him back no matter what he looked like. Maybe they couldn't go to school together, maybe there would be no more pranks and fights against the other Slytherins, but it was still good not to be alone.

Severus held Draco for a while until he thought that the boy had calmed down sufficiently.

"I'll be gone a lot during the weekend. There are some things in Hogsmede and London that need to be put in order, but you can always come to me when I'm here and you can tell me anything. I know I'm a bit old for you, but I'll always be your friend."

Draco looked up at him. He didn't look old to him, actually he seemed a little younger than Draco remembered him, but maybe that was just because he was smiling. It was that same smile he'd had as a boy and Draco was sure he'd never seen it in the adult before. He'd hardly ever seen Professor Snape smile at all and for a moment a small part of his mind wondered how many of the other kids ever had.

"You're not old." he smiled at his friend. "But. you might regret that offer after a while. I'll be after you night and day."

"I'll be glad to see you, believe me. You'll find me in Professor Calligra's former office for the time being. Mary Sue decided to leave us on Friday evening, but I'll give my room a weekend's time to lose some of her smell. It'll be hard enough to sleep in there the way it looks now. I don't want to put up with the smell as well.

"Can I help you move in?" Draco asked grinning.

"And what about your classes?"

"I've missed most of them anyway. Please? I'll be a good boy and work real hard to catch up tomorrow."

"Okay, but I'll be testing your knowledge." laughed Severus.

Mary Sue was indeed gone by dinnertime on Friday. Hardly anybody seemed to miss her.

When Professor Snape arrived in the great hall for dinner and claimed his old chair back cheers went up from the pupils and Draco noted with satisfaction that the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were cheering just as loudly as the Slytherins.

The Ravenclaws were a little less vocal, but that was normal for them. They never did create much of a racket.

Draco smiled over at his friend triumphantly and Severus winked back at him before turning back to his meal and feeding Greenie.

"Hey Draco, do you miss him!" asked Vincent suddenly.

Draco looked over at his former friend feeling unsure of himself. Why had Vincent asked that question? How should he react?

"I'm glad to have him back as a teacher. He's way better than Mary Sue."

"We all are, but that's not what I meant." said Vincent.

"Then what did you mean?"

"Well, you two were inseparable all this year. You wouldn't even talk to any of us at times.

Draco stared down at his plate. Yes, he had been neglecting his other friends. In a way it was his own fault that he was feeling lonely right now.

"I was just thinking how I'd feel if Greg wasn't in our dorm anymore." Vincent went on. "I don't think I could stand that. So do you miss him?"

"A little." admitted Draco softly. "He's still here after all and we still talk and draw together, but I guess it will be lonely to go to classes without him."

"You can sit with us again, if the teachers let you." said Vincent. "If you want to, that is."

"That'd be nice, but I don't think they'd allow three of us to a desk." Draco smiled at Vincent.

Maybe it wasn't going to be all that bad with his old friends.

"I know, I just thought you might want to sit close again. Like we used to." explained Vincent.

"Yeah." said Gregory. "Come back, Draco."

"As long as it doesn't mean one of us has to sit with Blaise again. I'll never forgive him."

"So you're staying all alone in transfigurations?" asked Gregory frowning.

"McGonagall said I couldn't change places again anyway. And I'll ask Severus if I can work with you in potions. There'll have to be one team of three after all. Might as well be us."

"Okay, shake." Vincent held out one huge hand.

Draco took it and laughed despite the pain when Gregory's iron grip descended over his. The trio was back together even if Vincent seemed to have taken the lead. Draco didn't mind. He wouldn't be taking part in anything he didn't like anyway. He'd just be the independent partner.

He looked back up towards the head table and saw Severus smile at him. Draco smiled back. 'Yes, everything's okay. I'll get by just fine with my old friends. Don't worry about me.'

Severus nodded at him and got up. He walked past the headmaster's seat on his way out of the hall, bent down to talk to Dumbledore for a moment and then headed for the door. Draco wondered about the little detour for a moment until a loud BOOM cleared things up.

This time it was the teachers, who were all covered in soup.

Dumbledore sat blinking in surprise for a moment his beard dripping. Then he very, very slowly dipped his spoon into the rest of his soup and fished out what was left of the firecracker.

"Severus!"

"Sorry, Albus!"

All of a sudden the pupils overcame their shock and started laughing. Draco jumped up and raced over to Severus' side to congratulate him on his prank.

McGonagall's protests were drowned out by Hagrid's roaring laughter. Dumbledore picked up a napkin and started a hopeless attempt at drying his face and beard.

Filch who had been lucky enough to sit far enough away from Dumbledore to remain nearly dry sent Severus a very dark look, which the potions master ignored. Severus never played any pranks on Filch directly and the caretaker knew and appreciated that. He was of course setting a bad example for the students, but on the other hand very few of the kids liked him anyway so why would they imitate him?

At the Gryffindor table Neville Longbottom turned to Harry Potter and said: "Isn't he the greatest teacher ever? I've got to try that firecracker soup trick on my grandma sometime."

About an hour after dinner Ginny approached Neville in the Gryffindor common room. "Hi, Neville. Do you still have the keys to the potion dungeons?"

"Hi, Ginny." said Neville cautiously. "What keys do you mean? Why would I have any keys for the dungeons?"

"Draco says you had them and I'm to ask you if you still do."

"What do you want with them?" asked Neville.

He supposed it was okay if Draco had told her, but he didn't like the idea of giving those keys to anyone but Professor Snape who they rightfully belonged to. Maybe he ought to go and give them back right now?

"Well, we're planning a little surprise for Professor Snape, but we can't do it without those keys. Do you still have them?"

"Yes," nodded Neville. "but you'll have to tell me exactly what you're going to do with them before I decide if you can have them."

Ginny glanced nervously through the room checking for any listeners. There was nobody near enough to have been listening in on their conversation, but that wasn't good enough for Ginny. She bent and whispered their plan into Neville's ear. Neville's eyes grew very wide.

"That's a great idea Ginny, but you're gonna need all sorts of stuff for it. Where do you plan to get all of that?"

"Draco's gonna ask Mr. Filch to lend us his tools, but we need to know if we can have the key first. Will you help us?"

Neville thought it over for only a moment.

"Who else is gonna be part of this?" he asked excitedly.

"So far only Draco and me. And you if you want to. We're planning to ask a few others once we are sure we can go through with it."

"Okay, count me in."

Half an hour later Neville and Ginny stopped Harry and his gang on their way back into the castle after visiting Hagrid.

"Harry, is it true that you know a secret passage into Hogsmeade?" asked Ginny.

Harry and his friends exchanged quick nervous glances.

"You don't have to tell us where it is, if you don't want to." Neville said quickly. "We just need somebody to sneak to Hogsmeade tomorrow morning and buy some stuff for us. Could you do that?"

"What do you need?" asked Harry.

Ginny handed him the shopping list. Ron and Hermione stared at the parchment over Harry's shoulder.

"What do you need all that for?" demanded Hermione sternly.

"We're planning a surprise for Professor Snape." explained Neville.

"Sort of a welcome home gift." added Ginny.

"What exactly are you going to do?" asked Harry curiously.

Ginny whispered into his ear. Harry turned to talk it over with Ron and Hermione.

Ginny and Neville waited with their fingers crossed. If they couldn't find a partner who knew how to sneak into the village, they could forget their whole plan.

"Oh, that's such a sweet idea!" exclaimed Hermione.

'Yes!' thought Ginny. 'They're gonna do it.'

"No, I don't see why we should risk detention for Snape." announced Ron.

"Oh, come on, Ron. After all that we've been through with Mary Sue we should really show Snape how much we appreciate his return." Harry tried to convince him.

"At least hear them out, Ron!" advised Hermione.

"All right. Who else is part of that plan?" Ron asked his sister.

"So far only Draco and us, And Filch promised us that we could use some of his tools."

"We didn't ask anyone else yet, because he doesn't have everything we need." explained Neville. "Without the shopping trip. to Hogsmeade we can't get to work."

"No problem." promised Harry. "We'll get everything right after breakfast tomorrow morning so we can start working before lunch. Right Ron?"

"No way!" protested Ron. "I'm not working together with either Malfoy or Filch."

"Oh come on, I'll need someone to help me carry all that stuff back here." begged Harry.

"Not me. I'm not going to have anything to do with that idiotic plan of yours."

"Ron ..."

"It's okay, Harry." Hermione said to everybody's surprise. "I'll go with you."

"Great!" exclaimed Neville. "Now all we need are a few more people to help with the work."

"Let's ask Dean and Seamus." suggested Harry. "I'm sure they'll love your idea. They missed Snape a lot too."

Indeed the two Gryffindors were easily won over and so was Susan from Slytherin. They didn't ask the twins as they feared that they'd add some nasty pranks to their plan and Vincent and Gregory already had made different plans for their weekend.

"Never mind." Draco told them. "We've already got enough helpers to manage with. Have fun and we'll show you when we're done."

Saturday at lunch the teachers were treated to the surprising sight of two Slytherins arriving late for the meal in the company of a bunch of Gryffindors all chatting and laughing amiably.

Strange. And what was that strange black stain on Neville Longbottom's cheek? It didn't quite look like ink, but maybe that was just a trick of the light.

The same group arrived late for dinner in much the same fashion and this time several kids wore black stains that looked a little too dark to be ink.

Severus Snape was the only teacher who didn't notice anything unusual. He'd had lunch in London and arrived for dinner much too late to see the kids enter. He did notice the black stains on Draco's hands when the boy visited him about an hour after curfew, but he didn't ask him about them.

Sunday morning the group dashed out of the great hall after grabbing a few slices of toast each and several people stared after them wondering what they could possibly want in the dungeons at this time.

Minerva McGonagall noticed to her surprise that Ron Weasley was sitting alone without his friends and looked very sulky. Her attempt to ask him what was wrong met with failure however as Ron only grumbled something about people hanging out with slimy Slytherins.

During lunch on Sunday Draco and Susan sat at the Gryffindor table with the rest of the group while all the other Gryffindors gave their end of the table a wide berth and Ron strictly refused to sit down and eat at all.

Again Severus Snape was not present to see the unusual behaviour of his pupils.

He did arrive before dinner however, but this time the group didn't show up for the meal at all. When the teachers started wondering out loud where they might be Mr. Filch just grinned and assured them that he knew exactly where they were and that there was no need to worry about them.

After dinner Severus decided to take a quick look at his distorted office and try to find what was left of his potion ingredients. He'd have to get started on his shopping list as he suspected correctly that Mary Sue had most likely thrown most of his collection away to make room for her pictures and other decorations.

As he walked down into the dungeons he steeled himself for the sight of his pink classroom and office. The next thing he'd do right after the shopping was to redecorate. Maybe he could already remove some of the more disgusting items.

Walking up to his class he noticed with satisfaction that the hole in the wall had already been closed. Good old Argus Filch. He'd have to remember to thank the caretaker for his quick work.

Severus pulled out the reserve keys and pushed them into the lock. That was another thing on his to do list. Ask Neville to give his keys back. And if anyhow possible do it without scaring the boy. Poor forgetful Neville had probably meant to bring him the keys a long time ago. He didn't want to embarrass the boy or make him feel like a thief. He knew that feeling too well himself after all.

Severus turned the key in the lock and ...

CLATTER!

Neville who had been stirring paint near the door had turned hastily at the sound of the door opening and had accidentally knocked over a ladder, which had fallen onto Ginny and Susan who had as it seemed been just about to climb it and thrown over the pot of paint. Just lucky that nobody had actually been standing on the ladder yet.

Seeing that the two girls were already climbing back to their feet more surprised than hurt Severus stepped fully into the room and cast a quick look around. The kids had removed all the furniture except for two tables which Draco, Harry, Dean and Seamus were standing on painting the ceiling. Ginny and Susan had obviously intended to use the ladder for that same purpose while it was Neville's duty to supply everybody with fresh paint. Hermione was standing in the back of the room her wand raised, obviously in the middle of casting a quick drying spell on an already painted wall.

The children had repainted the whole room in it's original black colour. Only the ceiling appeared to still be pink. Painting overhead had obviously proven to be an unexpectedly difficult undertaking. The paint had dripped down from the brushes and onto the painters leaving their hands, clothes and in some cases even faces covered in black dots.

Draco jumped off his table and came over to Severus.

"I'm sorry. We didn't expect you to come down here before tomorrow morning. By then we'd have had it all done."

"Where's the furniture?" Severus asked trying hard not to laugh.

Somehow Draco had managed to get a whole streak of black paint right through his silverblond hair. Maybe somebody's brush had slipped? The paint would be hard to remove.

"In the office. We needed some room back when we did the floor."

Severus walked over into the office and found that it's walls too had been repainted and only the floor and ceiling remained. The tables and chairs from the classroom had obviously been pushed in quickly. They too had returned to their customary black while the office furniture had just been pushed aside unpainted.

"We only did the walls here and in your room so far, but we'll have the floors and ceilings done in a few hours. We decided not to touch the furniture, though as we don't think it's even yours. Mr. Filch promised to show us where Mary Sue put your stuff once we're done, but we didn't plan to brig it back in yet, because we don't know what goes where." Draco explained.

Severus took another look at the repainted furniture and room and the paint covered boy.

"Do you want to help me repair the blackboard?"

"Sure! I'd love to. How's it done?"

"With a potion of course. And that means we've got to get one of these worktables back into the room and a cauldron on the fire. And while we're at it I think we'll also need to brew a special potion to get that paint off of you kids and out off your clothes and yet another for your hair."

"Why? Wouldn't the one we're going to use on the clothes work on the hair as well?"

"With your hair colour? I doubt it. Looks like I'm going to have to wash your hair myself."

"Hey, I know how to wash my own hair!"

"Yes, but I'm not gonna let you handle a potion as strong as that. It could cause some serious damage if it got into your eyes." Severus declared sternly.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"For what? For saving me from having to bare Mary Sue's decorations for one more week?"

"No for fooling around and getting that stuff in my hair."

"That's okay. I really don't mind. Now, did you per chance see some potion ingredients in here somewhere?"

They went looking through Mary Sues drawers and cupboard, but in the end found that they had to make due with the student supplies. Of course those didn't include all the needed ingredients and Draco already feared that they'd have to give up their plan, but instead he was treated to a demonstration of the ingenuity of a true potions master at work. The students watched in awe as Severus simply adapted the recipes to fit the available ingredients.

Within one hour he produced four different potions. Then handed the first cauldron to Draco as it was.

"Put this into the water and wash the blackboard with it. Then dry it off and try to write on it. It ought to work."

Draco nodded excitedly and poured the potion into one of Filch's buckets which he had already filled with water. While he was busy washing the blackboard Snape filled the next two potions into small bottles.

"Okay kids, now don't confuse these." he warned eying Neville. "The white ones are to be used on your clothes. Rub the potion onto the stains then wash the clothes. The green ones are for the stains on your skin. Use like soap. White for clothes, green for you. Got it?"

They nodded.

"What about the fourth potion?" asked Harry.

"That's for Draco's hair and I'm applying that myself, so you don't have anything to do with it. Don't touch!"

"Why not?" asked Neville peeking into the cauldron.

Severus gently grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back.

"Because it's dangerous. Get a little too much onto your body or forget to wash it off in time and it'll eat a hole into your skin.

Neville yelped and jumped back.

"It's not that dangerous, Neville. It can't kill you, but the wounds are rather unpleasant and take a long time to heal so I'd prefer if you all stayed away from it."

They nodded again.

"Now if only we get the furniture back in here, I think we're done with this room and can start on the office."

Monday morning Professor Snape arrived for class in a good mood. This surprised even himself as he couldn't even remember the last time that had happened.

His classroom and office were back to the way they should be except for the lack of most of the ingredients that ought to be in his office, but a few shopping trips to Diagon Alley ought to solve that problem easily enough. His room was still smelling slightly of perfume and they still had to bring back most of the furniture, but the smell would disappear within a few days and with the help of his little friends the furniture would be back by dinnertime.

The cockroach colony might have annoyed anybody else, but to Severus it only presented a steady supply of beetle legs, beetle eyes and hedgehog snacks.

Greenie still sniffed disgustedly whenever his nose caught a whiff of perfume or paint smell, but otherwise he seemed to like their new home. Since Severus still refused to have cornflakes for breakfast just to humour his hedgehog and Minerva McGonagall had strictly refused him any taste of hers Greenie had decided that it was from now on Albus' duty to serve him breakfast. The headmaster didn't seem to mind sharing his plate with a little green hedgehog. Or maybe he hadn't noticed? Anything was possible where Albus Dumbledore was concerned.

Severus' first class of the week was the first years Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. He barely knew those kids at all. He'd only taught them for a few weeks before his accident and he shuddered to think how little they'd probably learned from Albus and Mary Sue.

He sat Greenie on his desk stopping for a moment to admire the new black paint. 'Thank you, Draco. You're the best.'

Then he proceeded to check for any absences. Every body there. Excellent. Now to check their knowledge.

One little girl tentatively raised her hand before he could even ask any questions. He nodded at her.

"Sir, please don't laugh at this, but there's a green hedgehog on your desk." she reported.

"I know. I put him there."

"Oh." said the little girl sounding confused.

Severus suppressed a wave of giggles and asked the students how to brew a shrinking solution instead.

The results were better than expected. Putting their minds together the children were actually able to reconstruct the recipe. His students were usually better than that, but their knowledge was sufficient. Maybe Albus was an okay potions teacher after all, if there was no actual potions master around to confuse him?

'I'll have to tell Albus that he did well with the children. He worked hard for those lessons after all.' he thought. 'On to the next potion.'

A little boy raised his hand.

"Sir! Sir! The green hedgehog on your desk is eating your potion ingredients!"

"I know. I put them there."

"Huh?"

"They're meant to be hedgehog food. I don't intend to actually brew anything in class today. I have to check your knowledge first. We're not going to start on anything new if I find that you don't know any of the old stuff."

"Oh."

"On with the quiz: What is the main ingredient for all growth potions?" Severus demanded.

Flapp, flapp.

"A dragon's tooth."

"Thank you, Corvus. But I was asking the children."

The children stared and pointed.

"That bird talks!" shouted somebody excitedly.

"Yes, it's a raven. Ravens talk." stated Severus.

"What's the raven doing here?"

"Bringing me a letter it seems." said Severus reaching to untie the ribbon from Corvus' leg.

"Are ravens owls?" asked one obviously muggle born little boy.

"No, they're not."

"Then why does the raven bring you a letter?"

"Because I trained him to do that."

"Oh."

"Is it your raven?" asked the little girl that had originally spotted Greenie.

"Yes, he is." sighed Severus.

Wasn't he the one who was supposed to ask the children questions?

"What's his name?"

"Corvus."

"Why's his name Corvos?"

"Not Corvos, Corvus. That's Latin for raven."

"Oh."

"Why did you put the hedgehog on your desk?"

"Because I like to have him with me when teaching. He's my pet."

"I thought Corvus was your pet?"

"He is. I have two pets."

"Why can you have two pets? We're only allowed one each."

"Because I'm an adult. I can have as many pets as I want to."

"Oh."

"What does the letter say?"

"Nothing."

"Why nothing?"

"Because I haven't read it yet."

"When are you going to read it?"

"After the lesson."

"Oh."

"What's the hedgehog's name?"

"Greenie."

"Why's he called Greenie?" asked a little blond Hufflepuff.

"Obviously because he's green, you idiot!" shouted a Ravenclaw rolling her eyes.

"Five points off Ravenclaw for insulting a fellow student!" announced Severus to everyone's surprise.

He sent Corvus back to his room, before he went back to questioning the children. The raven knew potions too well. He'd have expertly answered all questions for them.

"Why can't Corvus stay and learn with us?"

"Because he's not on your level."

"Not?"

"No, he's a seventh year."

"Huh?"

Severus went on with the quiz leaving the children to puzzle over that last answer on their own.

It turned out to be quite obvious where Mary Sue had taken over from Albus. The kids were able to reconstruct most of what they'd learned from Dumbedore with only a little help here and there. About the things they'd learned from Mary Sue there was complete confusion. They had forgotten some things Albus had told them, but had misunderstood most of Mary Sue's explanations.

By the end of the lesson Severus knew that he'd have to pick up right where Albus had left off. Trying to reconstruct anything the class had done after that was futile.

His next class a group of third years was no different. They had a slightly better idea of what Mary Sue had been talking about, as they'd already known some of the basics from their first two years, but still Severus didn't trust them to actually brew any of the potions Mary Sue had taught them without serious accidents.

He arrived at lunch in such a bad mood that Dumbledore actually asked him what was wrong. That was unusual as the staff was used to Severus' constantly bad mood. Was it that much worse today?

"I'll have to start over on almost everything my pupils were supposed to learn this year. They didn't understand anything of what they were taught."

"I'm sorry, Severus." said Dumbledore. "I tried my best, but I had no idea your job was so difficult. I just didn't ... "

"Albus, its not your fault. They'll be able to live with what they learned in your lessons. Mary Sue's the one who messed up. She couldn't explain things properly and she made the poor kids read books that were way too complicated for their levels. You did fine, really."

"Well, I'm sorry for hiring Mary Sue then, but I couldn't find anybody else willing to attempt to fill your shoes. I guess it just went to prove what my potions master is worth."

That evening Albus Dumbledore took a walk along the edge of the forbidden forest. It was a beautiful evening and his first chance to relax a little in a long time. The school year was almost over and all his pupils and teachers were for once safe and unharmed. Severus Snape was back, Mary Sue Blackwell gone and it even seemed like Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter were getting along for once. Life at Hogwarts couldn't be any better in the eyes of the headmaster.

He walked on breathing in the cool fresh air deeply and thinking back on the school year. It had been an eventful one and at times he had felt like it was all too much, that this couldn't possibly end well. But it had. Severus really seemed to have learned something from his experience, Albus himself had grown to respect him more and finally come to understand the problems of Slytherin house and even the pupils seemed to have found a new respect for the potions master. And maybe, just maybe, the youngest Malfoy wasn't all that bad after all.

A sudden rattling and snarling startled Albus. He froze wand ready to defend himself against the approaching monster.

Three small shapes appeared for a few moments from out under a bush, but decided they didn't like it out in the open and returned into the forest.

Albus laughed at himself. The only man feared by the dark lord himself, scared of a hedgehog family. Shaking his head he resumed his walk smiling at the thought of the little hedgehog mother and her two babies.

Albus stopped in mid movement. He returned to where he had seen the hedgehogs, but couldn't find them anymore. Had he really just seen a green baby hedgehog? No that couldn't be. There was only one green hedgehog in the world and that one was fully grown. It must have been a trick of the fading light.

With one last amused shake of his head Albus Dumbledore turned to return to the castle. If he was already seeing green hedgehogs it was really time for bed.

Still to come: the epilogue