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The hospital wing was hushed and still.
It took a while before the boys reluctantly tore their gazes from the doorway.
Then, with furrowed brows, they turned to Severus Snape, silently questioning what made him so special.
Patrick Abbott hesitated, his lips twitching as if to speak.
But after sneaking a glance at Mary's expression, he swallowed his words and wisely chose to stay silent.
"Rest up," Snape said, giving Abbott's leg a heavy pat. "We're off."
Mary shot Abbott a venomous glare before storming out.
She moved quickly, dragging Pandora along with brisk, urgent steps.
Pandora wanted to turn back and call for Snape to join them, but Mary's grip on her arm kept her from stopping.
Their voices drifted back to Snape, faint and fragmented.
"How can you not be mad… the way she… I'm telling you…"
"Why should I be mad… she's quite pretty, isn't she…"
"No matter how I explain it… they're just…"
"I don't get it either…"
Mary stomped her foot in frustration, then finally let go of Pandora and stalked off alone.
The next day, Abbott's sprained ankle was fully healed.
"Mate," Abbott said, eyeing Snape with admiration as they walked down the corridor toward the Transfiguration classroom, "so it was you who blew up the school, huh?"
"Tch, tch," he shook his head, clicking his tongue in awe. "I don't even know what to say. Pulling off something that earth-shattering and not even getting expelled."
"Speaking of expulsion, Severus," Abbott sighed, sounding a bit glum, "it's just you and me left in the dorm now. Don't you think our dorm's got some bad luck or something? Even Avery's stopped coming to school."
"Ugh, he was kind of a pain, but I wonder what kind of trouble he ran into…"
Snape couldn't shake the feeling that Abbott's words carried a hidden jab, as if he was pointing fingers indirectly. "They got into trouble because they talked too much," Snape said sharply.
"What's even more infuriating," Abbott muttered, ignoring Snape's comment and shifting from sighs to gritted-teeth indignation, "is why Madam Rosmerta invited you to her pub. How am I not better-looking than you?"
"Maybe she prefers humans over tree-frog monkeys wrapped in slimy green herbs," Snape shot back.
With that, Snape took three quick strides into the classroom, where Professor McGonagall was already waiting.
During Transfiguration, Pandora bombarded Abbott with questions, eager to know what healing magic or potion he'd used to recover so quickly from an injury that even Madam Pomfrey couldn't fix.
Abbott hemmed and hawed for a while before finally pinning it on some exotic herb his father had supposedly gotten from a friend at Castelobruxo, the Brazilian wizarding school.
"Abbott, Pandora, what's so fascinating that you're chatting away?" Professor McGonagall scolded sternly.
"Mr. Abbott, please tell me the five exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration."
"Er… poo…" Abbott mumbled uncertainly under his breath.
"What?" McGonagall's eyebrows shot up, her eyes wide with a mix of shock and suppressed amusement. "Oh, Merlin's trousers, are you planning to dine on excrement?"
"When you graduate, don't you dare say I taught you Transfiguration."
"No, I'll have to give you extra lessons."
"Oh, no—" Abbott let out a despairing groan.
The class erupted in laughter.
"Ahem, Pandora do you know?" McGonagall asked, turning to Pandora with a hint of hesitation before quickly adding, "You don't have to answer if you don't know."
"The first exception is food," Pandora said calmly, her voice soft but clear. "We can't conjure real food out of thin air."
"Though fake food can be eaten. I've tried pumpkin pasties made from air—they're delicious, even if they don't fill you up."
"And the others?" McGonagall interrupted, cutting off Pandora's tangent.
"The second exception is living creatures. We can't create life from inanimate objects."
"Yes, yes," McGonagall nodded approvingly, pointing to a curious crow on the desk. "This was a teapot moments ago. It may look alive now, but its essence hasn't changed."
"The third exception is magical objects, like Galleons…"
Pandora's grasp of Transfiguration was flawless, leaving McGonagall with no room to criticize. She turned her glare back to Abbott. "Six-thirty tonight, remember. Honestly, why can't you lot give me a moment's peace…"
At that, Snape instinctively shrank behind his copy of Advanced Transfiguration. His last detention was still fresh in his mind.
After class, during dinner, eight long-eared owls swooped into the Great Hall, carrying a massive package that knocked Snape's plate to the floor.
Owls didn't usually deliver in the evening, but Snape had paid an extra three Galleons for express delivery.
Curious eyes around the hall followed Snape, wondering what was in the package, but he had no intention of opening it there.
"Reducio," Snape muttered, pointing at the package.
It shrank to about a fifth of its original size.
He cast the spell again, then hefted the now-manageable package onto the bench.
"Pandora, have you been experimenting lately?"
"No, I'm out of most of my supplies."
"Let's check out the lab," Snape suggested. "See what's left."
They made their way to the Room of Requirement.
Pandora gazed sadly at the sparse remains of magical ingredients and equipment in the lab, tidying the workbench with a heavy heart.
"Hey, Pandora," Snape said, pointing to the small package he'd brought in. "Engorgio. Engorgio."
"Open it."
Inside were dozens of small boxes, each bearing the Slug & Jiggers Apothecary logo.
"I wasn't sure what you needed, so I got a bit of everything."
"The equipment, though, you'll have to make yourself. I couldn't find anything like it on the market."
"No," Pandora said, shaking her head. "I can't accept this."
"Take it. You lost your stuff helping me."
Pandora still hesitated.
"Fine, consider it a conditional sponsorship. You share the results of your experiments with me."
"And next time you plan an experiment, let me know in advance."
"That 'I've got a way' you mentioned in the secret passage? It was way too big and way too terrifying…"
"Thank you, Severus."
"You're welcome."
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