Severus nodded as he handed it to her, “can you tell me what this is?”
“Ummm…” Olivia looked for a label, but there wasn’t one. She bit her lower lip in concentration trying to think of what could possibly be blue that she would use, “blueberry seeds?”
Severus nearly allowed himself to smile, “no.”
Olivia frowned, “dried bluebells?”
“Powdered turquoise,” Severus supplied.
“Oh…” Olivia held up the vial, “it’s pretty. What will it do to my potion?”
Severus glanced at Olivia’s currently violent orange concoction and mentally ran through the ingredients he had allowed her to add already, “It will turn it blue and give it a citrus smell.”
“Really?”
Severus nodded; he found her enthusiasm to be quite enjoyable. “Just add in a small pinch. It doesn’t take much.” Not that it really mattered, her potion would be harmless and have no real affect given the ingredients he had given her to work with.
Olivia very carefully added a pinch of the turquoise to her play cauldron and squealed in delight when the contents turned the promised blue color. “Now what can I add?”
Severus glanced at his watch, “I have to check on something at the other table. You can add anything you want from this set of vials here,” he pointed at the six other vials lined up in front of her, “each one will turn it a different color. But don’t touch anything else.”
“Alright,” Olivia picked up each of the vials in turn and examined the contents, trying to decide which one was the prettiest.
Severus made sure that Olivia was doing as she was told before he turned to his own work table to carefully check the temperature of the altered Wolfsbane potion he was working on. He knew he would have to get another shipment to Remus before too long.
Olivia frowned at the contents of the vials in front of her. None of them were right. She scowled at the yellows and whites and greens and reds. She wanted something orange to add to her blue potion.
She thought about adding the yellow and red at the same time. She had figured out with her paints that they made orange together. But she had a feeling that in potions it didn’t do the same thing.
She looked around her, trying to see if there was something else she might be able to use. Her eyes landed on a jar of orange feathers sitting on another table next to her.
“Which one are you adding?” Severus asked as he turned back around.
“I’m still choosing,” Olivia answered as she turned her attention back to the vials in front of her.
She waited until her father had turned his attention back to his project before she carefully lowered herself down to the ground from the high stool she had been sitting on. Moving slowly so that she wouldn’t be noticed she crept over to the table next to her and retrieved the jar of orange feathers from on top of it.
She didn’t dare take the whole jar. She quickly unscrewed the lid and removed one feather before putting the jar back in its original location.
She quickly crept back to her table and climbed back up on her stool, swinging her legs happily back and forth. She twirled the feather between her fingers, trying to decide whether she should pull it apart or just drop the whole thing in.
She glanced up at her father to make sure he was still preoccupied. Deciding that he might turn back around at any moment she quickly dropped the whole feather into her blue potion and stirred it in.
She watched, fascinated as the blue turned first a deep red and then a light yellow before it turned into a swirling, sickly looking green gooey mess. “Uh-oh…” she muttered. She had a feeling nothing she had been given to work with would have done that.
She quickly tried to fix it by throwing in half of the contents of the yellow vial she had been given, but it only succeeded in turning the potion brown. Next she tried the red ingredient, but that only appeared to make things worse, and the potion turned a dark grey. By this point she realized it was probably beyond hope.
Olivia’s eyes widened as dark smoke began to pour out of her toy cauldron and she quickly ducked under table before its contents exploded.
She cowered there for several long minutes that felt like an eternity. Even when all the smoke was gone she stayed right where she was. It seemed safer at the moment. She glanced up hesitantly at the pair of black boots that came into her line of vision, but she didn’t dare look any higher. She just wanted to sink into the ground.
However, she had no such luck. Long before she was ready to come out a hand reached down and dragged her out by the collar.
Olivia glanced up timidly and immediately wished she hadn’t.
“Did any of it get on you?”
Olivia opened her mouth to answer, but realized she didn’t know. She shrugged, still a bit too scared to talk.
Severus knelt down in front of her and slowly turned her around, making sure that none of the ruined potion had gotten on her. Merlin knew what it would have done had she come in contact with it.
When he was satisfied that she was still intact he wrapped his arms around her, sighing in relief.
Olivia responded by throwing her arms around his neck and holding on as tight as she could. She sniffled loudly as she clung to him desperately.
Severus detached Olivia from him and stood back up to his full height. He opened his mouth to speak, but realized he had no idea what he was going to say. And at the moment he had a feeling that he probably shouldn’t say anything as he felt his anger rising.
Olivia noticed the dangerous look on her father’s face. “I’ll help clean up,” she offered in a soft voice.
“No.”
“Can I do something?” Olivia asked in an even smaller voice.
“You can start by explaining to me why you took something you knew you were not allowed to touch and used it even though you had been told not to and had warned about that sort of behavior before,” he kept his voice low, but it was strained as he struggled not to yell.
“Because it was pretty,” Olivia whispered.
Severus clenched and unclenched the fist at his side, “I want you up in your room, standing in the corner. I will be up to deal with you as soon as I clean this up. Is that clear?”
“Yes sir,” Olivia nodded once before quickly fleeing from the room. She paused once at the doorway to look back, but decided it might be safer if she did as she was told as quickly as possible.
Severus ran a hand over his face as he watched her race out. He was still trying to figure out what in the world he was going to do with her when a thought came to him that almost made him smile. Any semblance of a smile faded quickly however when he looked around at the mess covering the surrounding tables and floors.
~~~~~~~~~~
“What are these?” Stefan asked as he picked up a stack of letters sitting on the kitchen counter.
Dierna instantly blushed, “well… they’re…”
Stefan raised an eyebrow at her and slit one of the envelopes open and slipped the parchment out.
“Stefan, I…” Dierna reached to grab the letter from his hand but Stefan held it out of her reach.
“Anything I should know about?” Stefan asked curiously as he brandished the rather amorous letter.
Dierna buried her face, which was still quite pink, in her hands, “they’re from the guys I met in Florence. They obviously didn’t understand the meaning of the phrase ‘I already have a man’.” She glanced up at Stefan, hoping he wouldn’t be angry.
“Well… I guess I can’t blame them. Any man with eyes and half a brain would throw himself at your feet,” Stefan wrapped an arm around Dierna and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“You’re not mad then?”
“Did you do anything with them? Or even think about doing anything with them?”
Dierna emphatically shook her head no.
Stefan smiled, “I trust you completely. And as lovely a thing as you are it wouldn’t do me any good to get angry every time another man cast an admiring eye your way. Let me know if another man tries to touch you though, then you can see me angry.”
“If you two are quite finished…” Serena drawled as she tossed an apple back and forth between her hands, “I really would like to get going sometime in the next century,” she tossed her sleek black hair over her shoulder as she tapped a foot impatiently on the floor.
Dierna rolled her eyes, “we’re coming oh impatient one.”
Serena set the apple down on the counter. “Good, because I’m ready to hit the party, and I intend to hit it hard. This may be the only chance we have to get out of the house after dark this summer. I say that we get the most out of this, because we may not get another chance.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
“I smelled smoke,” Morgan said as she looked warily at her husband.
“And I am on my way to deal with the culprit.”
“Severus…” Morgan worried her lower lip as she tried to figure out exactly how angry her husband was.
Severus smirked at his wife, “don’t worry, I promise not to kill her.” When he saw the look Morgan was still giving him he leaned in to whisper something in her ear.
“You’re off your rocker,” Morgan told him flatly.
Severus shook his head, “I am right. I have been teaching Slytherins since before you were at Hogwarts,” he said calmly, “and I know a Slytherin when I see one. That girl is going to be in my house. It is almost enough for me to let her off the hook. But not quite enough.”
“Twenty galleons says she’s a Gryffindor.”
“Morgan, I am ashamed of you, placing bets on our daughter. However, I am taking your bet. You better be prepared to pay up 4 years from now.”
“You’re delusional Severus Snape!” Morgan shouted after her husband as he climbed the stairs.
Severus didn’t look back, but smirked to himself. He knew he was right. However he schooled his features as he reached his daughters room. He was pleased to see that she was standing in the corner as he had instructed, “Come here Olivia.”
Olivia, head hanging low, shuffled over to where her father stood, “I’m sorry I didn’t… I didn’t listen to you, and that I made a mess, and caused an explosion, and… I’m sorry.”
Severus nodded once, “I am glad you realize what you did was wrong. However, I am still going to punish you.”
Olivia looked up at him miserably “wasn’t standing in the corner enough?”
A muscle in Severus’ jaw twitched in amusement, “I think not. Follow me,” he turned on his heel and walked out of her room, clearly expecting to be followed. He didn’t have to look back to know that Olivia was right behind him. He went down the stairs and stopped when he came to the door of his study and held it open for Olivia to precede him in.
“I promise I’ll never do that again,” Olivia said solemnly.
“I know you won’t,” Severus looked down at her, his hands clasped behind his back, “because if you do every other punishment I have given you will seem like an act of mercy by comparison.” The muscle in his jaw twitched again while he watched his daughter’s eyes grow as large as saucers.
“How much trouble am I in this time?”
“We are going to have a long discussion about safety when working with potions and about how you can earn my trust back, because until I feel that I can trust you again your toy cauldron, as long as several other yet to be determined privileges are going to be removed.” He waited to see if it looked like she had understood all of that before continuing, “For now though I think I am going to have you write lines for me.”
Olivia pouted, writing lines was something she had had to do before and she didn’t enjoy it.
Severus lifted her into a chair at his desk and reached around her for a piece of parchment, at the top of which he printed clearly, I will do as I am told. “Let’s see how many times you can write that before bedtime.”
Olivia heaved a sigh which only got her cuffed lightly on the back of the head.
“I would not suggest you sit there and feel sorry for yourself. I believe I have been more than fair considering how serious of a rule you decided to disregard. Start writing.”
“Yes sir,” she tried to keep any hint of a whine out of her voice.
Severus mentally smiled to himself as he took his own seat at the desk with a book. His little Slytherin would do just fine.
As though she had read his mind Olivia piped up with a question that actually did make Severus smile before he could stop himself, “is this what you would do to someone in your House who did what I did?”
Severus leaned back in his chair, “I do not think that anyone who has been in my House for more than a week would even think about pulling a stunt like you did.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
Severus leaned forward so that their heads were close together, “let us hope that you never have cause to find out what the consequences to that sort of infraction would be. Now get back to those lines before I decide you need something else added to your punishment.”
~~~~~~~~~
