Chapter Eighty-Eight: Back to Brewing

Chapter Eighty-Eight: Back to Brewing

Monday, 29 March 1999

Severus was stirring the two cauldrons for the second time when there was a knock at the door.

"One moment," he called. With both hands engaged in stirring the cauldrons...charming the stirring rod was not an option for this potion...he couldn't leave the bench or even wave a hand to open the door.

There was another knock about thirty seconds later.

"Stirring the potion," Severus said loudly. "Just a moment." He hoped it was Poppy back alone with news of Albus. If Albus were actually missing...which Severus doubted...he'd leave the potion and just begin again the next day, although that would be a waste of good ingredients.

Severus gave each potion one final anticlockwise stir, set down the stirring rods, and stepped over to the door. When he opened it, he found Poppy leaning against the wall opposite the lab. She was alone.

"Sorry my timing wasn't good," Poppy said. "I'd hurried and tried to get back before the potion needed its second stirring, but I guess I didn't manage."

"I was in the midst of stirring when you arrived," Severus replied, stepping back to let Poppy into the room. "Where did you find Dumbledore?"

"We didn't exactly find him," Poppy said. "But we learned where he is."

"Yes?" Severus asked, sitting down on the low wooden bench.

Poppy sat down beside him. "Apparently, Hagrid had wanted to go into the village for a drink this evening, but he couldn't find anyone who wanted to go with him. Because of Minerva's request that no one leave the grounds alone, he didn't go. When he told Albus, Albus said he'd go down to the Hog's Head with him for a quick pint."

"And Dumbledore couldn't leave word with the Headmistress?" Severus asked irritably.

"I think he believed he had. He told Rath that he and Hagrid were going to the Hog's Head together and that Minerva had expected him back by around eight, but they were going to be gone longer. Rath told Shunpike, but Shunpike didn't understand that it was a message to be passed on to the Headmistress. He thought he was just supposed to be on the look-out for them to come back, or something. Anyway, Albus may even have returned by now."

"Hmph. Rath should have told the Headmistress himself. Shunpike isn't the brightest light, and his time in Azkaban didn't sharpen his wits at all."

"As you say, Shunpike's easily confused, and in Rath's defence, I don't believe that Albus was very clear when he spoke to him. But Minerva was glad she hadn't sent a Patronus to try to find him, since if it did find Albus and he was in the Hog's Head, it would not be very discreet."

Severus shook his head. "I understand that Minerva was concerned about Albus, but I think that her dragging you off to see whether he was still with Hagrid was extreme. She could have had his old house-elf look for him. She could probably find him within seconds if he were on the grounds somewhere, and even though he went to Hogsmeade, she could still find him almost as quickly."

"True, but Minerva didn't drag me. I offered."

Severus was quiet for a moment, then he said, "I noticed." He hesitated. "I know that you are a good friend, Poppy. I appreciate that about you. And I know that you have been friends with Minerva for longer than . . . than we've known each other, but . . . I . . . I felt I . . . I don't want to be possessive, I am trying very hard not to be, but I felt that I came in a very distant second tonight. I know that this wasn't the most romantic date, and it wasn't what we'd planned to do this evening, but it was important to me. If Albus had really been missing, I'd have been the first out the door to look for him. If you had returned and told me that you and Minerva hadn't found him, I would have abandoned the potion and done what I could to help. But you left so readily, and it wasn't even a real emergency. It felt as though . . . as though you didn't really care about our relationship."

"Of course I do! But we each have our obligations..."

"And if there were a sick or injured student, I would have understood that you had to leave then, too." Severus shook his head. "Never mind. Just . . . forget it." He stood and walked over to the workbench. He looked down into one of the cauldrons and shook his head again. He swallowed hard.

Poppy got up and came over to stand next to him. "I'm sorry, Severus."

"There's not a lot more to be done to the potions for a while, and then I can finish them. You go up to the Hospital Wing. I'll deliver the potions when they're finished."

"I'd like to stay."

Severus shrugged. "It's up to you."

"I'm staying. And you're right. I should have stayed here earlier and not gone off. It's a habit for me, I suppose, that when Minerva needs someone...or looks as though she does...I help her. It's not her fault, though. She didn't realise we were doing anything other than brewing the potion. I wish you'd said something at the time."

"As I said, I'm trying very hard not to be possessive or jealous. I know I can be. And I didn't want to make a scene or make Minerva feel uncomfortable."

"I'm glad you told me how you felt now, though, Severus," Poppy said, placing her hand on his arm. "That's really important to me. And you are right about tonight. I should have told Minerva to send word down to us if she couldn't find Albus...especially since we'd been in the middle of our date and we weren't just brewing a potion."

Severus nodded. "We need to bruise the Memory Plant leaves now. I'll do the hybrid leaves, and you can do the ones from the regular plant."

"All right. How bruised?" Poppy asked, reaching for a fresh mortar.

"Not to the point of crushing," Severus said.

"I'll watch you first, then," Poppy said, "and make sure I know how they need to be."

"I do them in small quantities to ensure consistency. In this instance, three or four at a time."

Poppy nodded. "It could be easy to bruise some too much and others not enough if they were all done at once."

"Precisely. I already weighed out the leaves for your potion, but weigh them again after you bruise them and see whether you need one more small leaf, or part of one."

"Right." Poppy watched as Severus bruised the first few of his Commemoratum leaves, then she took a few of her own, put them in the mortar, and pressed them with her pestle. She held up the mortar for Severus's inspection. "Is this all right?"

"Just a bit more, and they'll be perfect," Severus replied.

Poppy nodded. She finished bruising her Memory Plant leaves, then weighed them carefully. "How much longer until we add them?"

"We add those in about fifteen minutes," Severus said, looking at the clock above the bench. "And then after stirring for ten minutes, we add the beeswax, stir, then we wait a half hour before removing the heat."

"How long does it need to cool before we can administer it?"

"At the temperature of my lab, it will complete brewing a half hour after we remove it from the heat, but it will be a more palatable flavour and consistency after it's set for a while...at least another half hour, or so."

"Gareth said that one year when he lived with Robert, he brewed the Refragor Syrup and he'd have different batches going at different stages so he wouldn't become bored."

"There must have been an unusual amount of Malaclaw activity, then. I don't believe that apothecaries normally stock the Refragor. Its shelf-life is only about eight months and Malaclaw bites aren't very common. It's more economical to brew it as it's needed and keep the Calamity Refuge Draught in stock instead. The Draught is faster to brew and it keeps indefinitely. The ingredients are also more common."

"But it's not as effective, you said." Poppy took a seat on the bench and watched as Severus took the leftover Memory Plant leaves and set them out on a sheet of brown paper to dry.

"No, it's not as effective, but it will mitigate the victim's bad luck," Severus said as he put the paper on one corner of the workbench and then cast a charm to keep the humidity level low in just that part of the lab. "For a mild nip, it's probably sufficient...as long as the person's not a professional gambler or something. Then all bets are off," Severus said, glancing over at Poppy to see if she smiled.

She did smile, groaning slightly in appreciation. "That was a bad one, Severus. But funny." She patted the bench beside her. "Come sit with me?"

Severus smiled and nodded. When he sat down, Poppy slid closer and rested her head against him. He put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed.

Poppy took in a deep breath and let out a contented sigh. "I am sorry about earlier," she said softly. "I wish I'd stayed here with you. And I'm sorry I hurt your feelings." She felt Severus shrug, then he turned his head and kissed her hair.

He nuzzled her for a moment, then he whispered, "As long as we have many evenings together . . . I could spend every evening with you for the rest of my life, and I would be a happy man. But I will try not to be selfish." He kissed the top of her head again.

Poppy tilted her face toward him, then she reached up and put one hand behind his head. She kissed his lips softly. "I hope we do spend many evenings together, and I hope I do not take you for granted."

"I don't believe I could ever take you for granted," Severus said. "I know how very lucky I am, and how little I deserve you."

"Don't say that, Sev." She kissed him. "I am not a prize or payment to be earned or deserved, not that way, anyway. I do like the things you've been doing for me, though. I loved our date last night, and every time I look at the flowers you've given me, I think of you and I'm happy. I put the carnations you gave me in my bedroom. I can look at them first thing on waking in the morning."

"I'm glad." He caressed her face, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "By the way, I must tell you that I give you an Outstanding for this potion, and for your earlier grinding," he said in a whisper.

"I do believe that it was incomplete, however," Poppy said. "We were interrupted. Will I have the opportunity to complete it at some other time?"

"I hope so," Severus replied. "In fact, I must insist on it."

"So I'm forgiven for leaving earlier and inadvertently hurting your feelings?" Poppy asked.

"Of course." He smiled and cupped her cheek with his free hand. "I am grateful, too, that you believe that I have feelings to be hurt. Odd, but true."

"Not so odd. Of course you have feelings that could be hurt. I'm glad you weren't angry with me about it...and that you didn't just cut me off without telling me why, like you did before, although this time, I could have guessed the reason pretty easily."

"I was angry, to be honest. Not at you, precisely. More at the situation. It seemed one more piece of my usual bad fortune. I was annoyed with Albus, actually," Severus admitted, "even though it wasn't exactly his fault you decided to leave with Minerva."

"I can understand that."

"I felt less angry when I admitted to myself that I was upset that you seemed to care more about Minerva than about me and our time together."

"I hope you'll give me the opportunity to make up for my rash decision to go with Minerva," Poppy said, reaching up and kissing his cheek. "I think that could be quite enjoyable for both of us."

Severus smiled. "Yes, I would like that. But now it is almost time to add the leaves." He stood, and Poppy followed suit.

"You know, I've begun using the rose-scented lotion you made for me," Poppy said. "It really is lovely. It feels nice going on and it smells heavenly. Did you make it in this lab?"

"Yes, I did. I'm glad you like it."

"I actually only opened it a few days ago because before, every time I looked at it, I felt sad."

Severus looked at her. "Sad? I don't understand."

"It made me miss you. I wondered whether . . . well, I just wondered whether that was the last gift you'd ever give me, and if we'd already had all of a relationship we were going to have. But now I'm glad that we did take a break."

Severus shook his head. "I just begin to think that I understand what you're saying, and then you confuse me again. Why are you glad?"

"Because you still wanted to see me. I thought you would...or that you might...simply lose all interest in me after you had some time to think about it and had become busy with other things."

"That couldn't have happened," Severus said. "I was confused about things, but I kept thinking about you. Even when I was most confused, I thought about you, and then I had a moment of sudden clarity when I realised that I . . ." Severus covered his near-admission of love by Summoning a fresh glass stirring rod. "Use a clean stirring rod for this stage, and drop in the leaves as you're stirring. Don't let them clump together."

Poppy nodded and Summoned another stirring rod for herself. "What did you realise?" she asked.

"That I wanted us to have a full relationship," Severus replied, not looking at her. "That you were too important to my life to let you go without trying to have more."

"That's similar to something I said to my sister," Poppy said matter-of-factly, recognising Severus's embarrassment and discomfort in discussing his feelings.

"You spoke to your sister about us?" Severus asked, glancing over at her.

"Yes. I told her that I had a date with you yesterday, and I said that we'd had a bit of a fling and now we were going to see whether there could be more. I told her that if I didn't try, I'd always wonder whether I'd cheated us both out of something very special."

Severus was quiet as he stirred the Commemoratum tyrensis leaves into his potion. "What was her reaction? What did she think when you told her that you had a date with me?"

"She was a little surprised, but she actually had guessed it might be with you. She said . . ."

"What? What did she say?" Severus asked nervously. He could easily imagine that Violet thought that her sister should stay well clear of him.

"She said that a part of her wasn't surprised because she knew that I'm fond of you," Poppy said.

Severus's pleasure at hearing that Violet had already noticed that Poppy was fond of him was mitigated by his concern over her reaction and whether it would influence Poppy. "And she didn't warn you away from a former Death Eater?" Severus asked.

"She did tell me to be careful, and she worried about my being hurt, but she'd say that no matter who I was dating. She's my big sister, and it doesn't matter how old I get, she still feels like my big sister. She was half-way my mother when we were growing up, too, so it's understandable," Poppy said.

"How so?"

"My parents died when I was five. Violet is almost six years older than I am, and she was five years ahead of me in school. They died in nineteen thirty-two."

"I'm sorry to hear that. How did they die, if I may ask?"

"They were in Africa working. Almost every year, they would spend a few months working in this particular village that was almost entirely wizarding...think Hogsmeade, but about twenty times the size...and that year, there was a bad outbreak of Tobenga's Syndrome. It's actually why they didn't leave the village when they had planned to. They stayed to help treat the sick. I don't know if you're familiar with Tobenga's Syndrome."

"Isn't that the magical disease that's sometimes carried with the malaria parasite?"

Poppy nodded. "The wizarding population wasn't usually directly affected by malaria, except as a fairly mild, easily treated illness, but whenever malaria became a problem, there was the possibility of an outbreak of Tobenga's Syndrome, too. There'd been no cases of Tobenga's Syndrome in that area in more than a decade, and I suppose people were becoming lax. My mother was a Healer and my father was a Potions master, and as I said, they would visit this big village, Ndoto Village, every year. They'd do research, study plants, trade knowledge with the local Healers, and they'd help by brewing potions and lending a hand to the local Healers if they needed it. Anyway, that year, Tobenga's Syndrome broke out alongside malaria, and apparently it was very bad. They both died of it. My mother first, and my father a couple days later. One of the local Healers died, too, at about the same time."

"But I thought there are potions that can cure Tobenga's Syndrome," Severus said, his brow furrowed. "Hadn't they been invented by then?"

"They had been, but the pace of infection outstripped the Healers' ability to brew the potions and treat the patients. They brewed potion for almost everyone in the community but themselves. Perhaps that's a slight exaggeration, but all of the Healers agreed that the children should be treated first, since children are more severely affected by it. At the same time they were doing that, they were trying to treat the Muggle villagers who had malaria. There were just too many sick people and only a handful of Healers. A number of adults died, but only one child. Our parents did a lot of good.

"Violet and I went to visit the village the summer after my NEWTs, just before I began training at St. Mungo's. It was very touching to meet all of the people who had been children treated by our parents and who had lived to grow up, some already with children of their own. I think it was especially good for Violet that we went. Mummy and Dad had been so far away when they died, and Africa...well, that's another continent, and so different from here. It was hard for either of us to comprehend it, but it was harder in some ways for Violet. Going there and seeing that our parents hadn't been forgotten, and that their work there had helped so many people, it was . . . I don't know how to describe it. But we felt good about it."

"What happened to you after they died?"

"We lived with my grandmother and grandfather in Leeds, whom we always stayed with when our parents were away. My mother's parents. They were Muggles. My father's parents were still alive, but let's just say that they weren't very well suited to parenting. We visited them pretty often, but only for a few days at a time. They enjoyed it when we visited, but it wouldn't have worked for us to live with them all of the time. Of course, Violet started at Hogwarts the year after our parents died, so she was away except during holidays."

"Weren't your Muggle grandparents pretty old by then? Even for Muggles?"

Poppy shrugged. "I suppose. They're both dead now, and my paternal grandmother is still alive. But my grandfather was still working, and he didn't retire until after I started at Hogwarts...he was an engineer and he worked for the railway. He generally worked in an office, but sometimes he'd bring me into work with him and he'd bring me to see the engines and things. I remember that they had a spanner as big as I was. Bigger, even."

Severus snorted a laugh.

"They did! It was huge! I thought they might have giants working for them. I remember that all the men laughed when I asked that. Of course, Grampa knew why I asked that as seriously as I did, but he thought it was funny, too." She grinned. "Visiting Grampa at work was fun. The men would always give me sweets and things."

"You must have been a very cute little girl," Severus said, trying to suppress his smile. "A little coquette?"

Poppy shook her head and laughed. "I don't know about that, but I do know that I enjoyed the attention. Grampa would carry me on his shoulders so I could see everything. I remember that the men called him 'sir' and 'Mr Wright,' but they all joked with him and seemed to like him."

"It sounds as though you had a happy childhood...apart from your parents dying, I mean," Severus added hastily.

"I did. Of course, then there was the war. Grampa was too old to be called up by then, but we saw friends and neighbours go off to war. I remember that they took down all the directional signs on the roads near where my great-aunt lived, in case of invasion, and there was rationing, which seemed to go on forever. For a long time, whenever I thought of Muggles, I thought of rationing."

"Were they bombed?" Severus asked curiously.

"No, not where we lived, but we all had gas masks and things. It was scary for a kid. I was always glad to return to Hogwarts at the end of the summer. There was Grindelwald, of course, but that seemed less real to me than the Muggle war did, for some reason. I think Minerva's perceptions were the exact opposite of mine, but she's older than I am, and she didn't come from a Muggle family."

Severus handed Poppy a small bowl with two pieces of honeycomb in it. "I weighed it out whilst you were gone. Drop it in in pieces. This part isn't very fussy. Just break it up and drop it in as you stir."

Poppy tried to break the beeswax with her fingers, and frowned as it bent but didn't break.

"You can use an implement if it's easier for you," Severus said, demonstrating by taking a long, narrow knife, passing his right hand over it, and then using it to slice through the honeycomb. "Warming the blade first helps."

"You did that wandlessly?"

Severus nodded, and before Poppy could Summon a knife, he handed her his and got another for himself, which he also warmed...this time showing off and doing it with his left hand. He could tell that the blade got a little too hot, but he waited a moment before slicing into his beeswax.

"So, when do you start giving me lessons in wandless magic?" Poppy asked as she cut her honeycomb into several chunks.

"I can help you practise, but I can't teach you. You already do wandless magic. You just need to expand the range of things you can do with it."

"I've been trying to do more simple mechanical things wandlessly...Summoning things, opening and closing doors, and that sort of thing."

"Those are best to start with," Severus said. "They're all really variations on the same thing. We learn them as separate spells with different incantations, but they're not as different as we're taught they are."

"I think it's almost instinctive, like grabbing things when we're babies."

Severus nodded. "But what you were doing last night, that was something very different from an Accio or a Levicorpus," he said.

Poppy smiled slyly. "Yes, that is something different, and not something for babies."

"I think we should have you practise that again soon," Severus said.

"You liked that, did you?"

"Mmmmhm. Very much."

"I think you could learn how to do it. We could practise together . . . take turns. I might like to use your wand, though. Your big wand," Poppy said with a naughty grin.

"We would have to take turns. I don't think I could concentrate at all when you were taking your turn, especially if you moved on to other areas from the ones last night . . . like to my wand." Severus's eyes gleamed. "I do like that idea."

"We will have to find some time when we won't be interrupted by ex-Aurors and mislaid former Headmasters, though," Poppy said. "You will need to concentrate. I will require it of you!"

"I am sure I won't mind." Severus dropped in his last piece of beeswax just as Poppy finished hers. "Is it anything like warming the knife?"

Poppy laughed. "No, though if you do it well, I will get very, very warm, I assure you. But the intent is quite different. It's more like forming intent in Healing, but it's different even from that."

Severus turned Poppy toward him and pulled her into his arms. "And what were you thinking about last night? What was your intent?" he asked, his voice low. His right hand trailed down to her buttocks and squeezed, then he pressed her up against the door.

"Oh, it's more than just intent . . ." She gasped as Severus kissed and licked her neck, his hands wandering over her body. "It's . . . desire, desire and . . . affection. My feelings for you, how I'd like you to feel, my memories of being with you . . . But my intent, mmm, my intent was to give you pleasure. Mmm, that feels nice."

"You like this? I'm glad, because it's my intent right now to give you pleasure." His hand moved from her crux, where he had been rubbing her through her robes, up to her breasts. "I wish . . . mmm, I wish that we had more time now. This pinny of yours . . . it's not designed for easy access, and I think the house-elves use too much starch. I want to feel how soft you are." He kissed her again.

Poppy pushed him away. "You are wrong, Sev. They use just the right amount of starch, and as for access . . ." She unbuttoned the buttons at her shoulders, and the front of her pinny dropped down.

Severus wasted no time. As he kissed her mouth, one of his hands slipped beneath her robe, and his fingers found the edge of her chemise. He pushed it down and caressed her breast, finding her nipple and playing with it with the tips of his fingers.

He moved his mouth to her ear. "When we're together next, in private, with time, with no Headmistress knocking on the door, do you know what I'm going to do? What I dream of doing?"

"Tell me . . ."

"It's naughty, Poppy, do you mind hearing something naughty?"

Her hand moved to his cock, and she began to stroke him through his trousers. "Tell me."

"I'm going to play with your clitoris the way I'm playing with your tit now, and I'm going to nibble and suck your breasts, give them each a good sucking, and then . . . then I'm going to move down here," he said, touching her crux through her robes, "and I'm going to use my tongue on you until you come and you beg me to fuck you. And then I'm going to pull you down on top of me, pull you down onto my cock...oh, gods, Poppy, that is good, but too much..."

"We have a few more minutes. You've done more in less time before . . . and you said the potion's better after it's set for a while."

Severus paused, placing his hands against the door on either side of her, kissing the side of her neck, and then resting his forehead on the warm wood of the door. Poppy could hear his ragged breathing in her ear, and she gave him a squeeze and a rub.

"I don't want you to think this is all I want from you, Poppy. And doing it here..." He turned and leaned back against the door next to her. He put one arm around her and pulled her closer. "It's not romantic."

"Not everything has to be romantic," Poppy said. "And we've done it in other unusual places, like that night in the staff room. That was very exciting. But I do know what you mean, and I appreciate it." She leaned her head against his chest. "I actually thought we should slow down the physical aspect of things, myself. But you have this way of . . . when you touch me, I forget what I thought I wanted."

"I love sex with you. I never knew that sex could be anything like it is with you, Poppy, but there's also so much more to what I feel for you than just that. I'm trying to really experience those feelings, all of them."

"Then let's plan a real date and do our best not to be interrupted," Poppy replied. She adjusted her robes and rebuttoned her pinny. "And we can take our time, go slowly, enjoy each other...and then do some of those things you were whispering in my ear."

"Thursday after the students leave," Severus suggested. He took her hand and led her over to the bench. "I'd like to see you sooner, of course, and we could, but on Thursday, we might be able to actually manage to take our time and not be interrupted."

"We have the staff meeting, remember?" Poppy asked, settling down next to him.

"It's in the morning." He gave Poppy a crooked grin. "And I am in charge of the schedule. I think I will move it to a little earlier. I am sure no one will object. Those staff who are leaving for the holiday will be able to leave sooner, after all. We can have the rest of the day to ourselves."

"We might still be hunted down and interrupted," Poppy said. "People seem to have absolutely atrocious timing."

"You don't have a house or a flat of your own, do you . . . Spinner's End...my house...is apparently torn apart, and McGonagall and his house-elves are working on it."

"It might be better if we didn't leave the grounds, anyway . . . I have an idea, but I don't know if you'd like it. You might actually be very uncomfortable with it, and if you are, that's fine. Just tell me."

Severus shook his head, puzzled. "What is it?"

"Dumbledore's old rooms, the ones he had when he was Deputy. Where you and Minerva..."

"I don't think so," Severus said. "But it wasn't a bad idea. At least we couldn't be easily found there."

Poppy nodded. "We'll manage. You know . . . we could use one of the guest suites. I don't know if you have access, but my password will work on any of them. We could have one of the house-elves provide us with lunch and just hide away together for the day, not even let anyone know where we were going...just tell Minerva to send a house-elf for us if there's a real emergency. The Ravenclaw guest suite is the nicest, I think, and it has a beautiful view. Do you think Flitwick will be using it over the holiday?"

"I doubt it, at least not before the weekend. Staff tell me when they're having guests, and he hasn't said anything. And if we use that guest suite . . . I suppose we could tell Flitwick. He wouldn't tell anyone, and I'm sure he wouldn't disturb us."

"So it's a date? Thursday, after the staff meeting?"

Severus nodded. "I'll speak with Flitwick. He's discreet. We'll have our private date." Severus smiled, realising something else. Flitwick was a friend. He laughed.

"What is it?"

Severus leaned over and kissed her cheek. "I'm a dunderhead sometimes, you know that?" he asked with a smile. He kissed her again. "Time to remove the potion from the heat, or the heat from the potion, however you want to look at it." He got up and went over to the potions. "Hmm, they do look different now. Come take a look."

Poppy peered down into the cauldrons. "Yours has a kind of iridescence to it, and it's not as dark as mine. Is there something wrong with mine?"

"No, yours is perfect...just like you. It's because of the difference in the leaves we used."

"How do you think we should distribute the potions?" Poppy asked. She had considered this problem earlier, but didn't know what Severus had in mind.

"That is up to you. You are the mediwitch. When we are in the infirmary, you are the master," he said with a bow.

Poppy slapped him playfully as he straightened. "I appreciate the sentiment, but not the gender designation. All right . . . you are certain that there is nothing about your version of the potion that could be harmful?"

Severus shook his head. "Anything is possible. But I'll take some in order to test it. I haven't been bitten by a Mackled Malaclaw, but the original potion wouldn't have any negative effects, so I presume that this won't either...provided I haven't created a new poison, of course."

"I should slap you again...you're positively lighthearted tonight, you know that? Don't be so flippant about poisoning yourself, all right?" Poppy took hold of his lapels and gave them a light tug before smoothing them down, then leaving her palms resting on his chest. "We could both take it," she suggested.

"Think for a minute why that's not a bright idea," Severus said with a smirk.

"Yes, flippant, that's the word for you tonight. Okay, fine," Poppy agreed with a nod, "you take some just so that I know that I'm not going to give them some other problem on top of the one they already have...and I'll be available to help you if you make yourself sick. Then if everything goes well and you don't keel over...see, I can be flippant, too...I'll give your new potion to two of the most afflicted students and two of the less afflicted students, and give my potion to the other five. That way, we can compare results."

"That sounds like a perfect plan," Severus replied. "Though it doesn't reach the heights of your plan for Thursday."

"Our plan for Thursday," Poppy corrected. "I am looking forward to that far more, too, although I'll be really glad to have given the students their treatment so I can get some sleep. This day has been too long."

"It has been, but I've enjoyed spending this time with you. Thank you, Poppy."

Poppy put her arms around him and leaned against him. "Thank you, Severus."

"And the students can thank us both for staying up and labouring over potions to save their luckless arses, and Hagrid, well, Hagrid will just have to find someway to make up for first, getting the students injured, second, not telling you about the creatures, and third, taking Albus into Hogsmeade for a drink instead of staying in for the evening. You know, come to think of it, this is all Hagrid's doing."

"Then we owe Hagrid some thanks," Poppy said, "because I'm very glad we've had this time together, even if I am a bit sleepy now."

"You are just too good sometimes, Poppy, you know that? But I'm not going to quibble right now. I'm just going to do this." He cupped her chin, tilted her face, and kissed her lips.

~End of Part Eight~

~To Be Continued in Part Nine~

Author's Note: As with many places in the HP universe and in my fanfic version of it, there's no such place as Ndoto Village. Or I'd be surprised if there were!