The Burning Pen

An Unlikely Savior
by Ruth Solomon

The story content is adult in nature and can contain graphic sex and violence.  Those under the age of 18 are asked to leave this site immediately.  You are not welcome here.  The author is not responsible for those under-aged who view these works.

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 16 ~ Meeting Mr. Potter (Short Chapter)

Snape was behind the front counter, grinding some dried herbs into powder. Weekday mornings were always slow. Most of his walk-in business occurred in the evening. He was distracted as he turned the grinder, wondering what Eileen was thinking or doing. Not sharing breakfast with her felt odd, and he had a little empty hole inside him, just a tiny one. How much would that hole magnify if she turned her back on him, refused to talk to him. How devastating would it be to lose the closeness they shared? It was like when Eileen breathed in, he breathed out.

The wizard began to blink rapidly at the thought of Eileen turning away from him, and stopped turning the grinder, placing both hands on the counter and drawing in a deep breath to try and stop the sense of panic rising inside of him. Snape wasn’t used to feeling this way. He had known fear, but fear was basically a healthy respect for the unknown. This was something deeper than fear coursing through him. It felt as if his life was in the balance. His heart began to race and he was finding it hard to breathe. After all he’d gone through, Severus Snape was for the first time in his life feeling the effects of deep anxiety.

The wizard turned and quickly shifted through the bottles sitting on the shelves in straight rows until he found some Calming draught. He opened the bottle and quickly drank it down. Panting slightly, he set the bottle on the table and waited for the potion to take effect. It didn’t take long, thank the gods.

Snape put the empty bottle under the counter into a box. He would purify and reuse it later. Recycling saved Galleons.

Suddenly the door to his shop opened, and Snape looked up to see a young wizard with auburn hair and brown eyes enter the shop warily, looking around before focusing on the wizard behind the counter. He looked very nervous.

”Um, Mr. Snape. My name is Alsop. Alsop Potter, sir. I’m a friend of Eileen’s,” he said, his voice a bit high.

Snape blinked at him. So this was the fabled Alsop Potter, the boy who got help for his daughter and was supposed to be her date for the Christmas party. Well, he didn’t look like Harry exactly. There was some resemblance, but it seemed a lot of the Weasley genes had claimed this particular incarnation of the Potter clan. He had brown eyes, not green like his father, or his grandmother. Snape’s black eyes narrowed. This was something to take his mind off his daughter.

”Shouldn’t you be in school, Mr. Potter?” Snape asked him, walking from around the counter and approaching the young wizard.

Alsop swallowed.

”Well, yes sir, but—I was worried about Eileen, so I just left during my study time. I’m not missing any classes sir,” Alsop replied.

”No, but you are a fifth year off school grounds illegally. You cannot leave Hogwarts grounds on your own until you are in your seventh year. Clearly, you are a rule breaker, Mr. Potter,” Snape purred at the boy. “You could earn quite a few detentions for this, if not outright suspension.”

”I—I just wanted to find out if Eileen was all right. No one could tell me anything at Hogwarts, sir,” Alsop responded, his brown eyes worried. “Is she okay, sir?”

Hm. So Alsop thought so much of his daughter that he’d risk getting in trouble to see about her. Yep, Potter was in there all right.

”Yes, Eileen is fine. She’s at home convalescing,” Snape replied studying the boy as he visibly slumped in relief.

”I’m glad. She was pretty bad off. I didn’t know—I didn’t know if she’d—if she’d—“

Alsop’s voice failed him.

”I’m just glad she’s all right,” he finished, blinking at Snape. He was almost as tall as he was and only in his fifth year.

“As am I, Mr. Potter,” Snape replied, turning and going back behind the counter.

Seeing that Snape wasn’t nasty to him, Alsop found a bit more courage, and walked up to the counter as the wizard began grinding again. He watched him for a moment, then ventured a question.

”What was wrong with her?” he asked.

”She had a blood issue. A transfusion took care of the problem,” Snape said softly.

”Oh,” Alsop said, looking at the dried herbs. “That’s Hippodilly Weed. It’s primarily used to clear the contents of the stomach.”

Snape looked up at him. He had correctly identified the herb, which was quite an accomplishment as it resembled several other herbs used in potions and elixirs..

”Why yes, you are correct, Mr. Potter. Are you majoring in potions?”

”Ah, no sir. I guess you can say I’m majoring in everything. I try to learn as much as I can about every subject, so I can be—well-rounded.”

Alsop hoped this sounded as positive to Eileen’s father as it did to him. He wanted to impress him a little and let him know he wasn’t a dunderhead. Eileen said he couldn’t stand dunderheads. Neither could she.

Snape arched an eyebrow at him.

”That’s right. You’re a Ravenclaw, aren’t you?” Snape asked him as he began grinding again.

”Yes sir,” Alsop replied.

”I imagine it must be—interesting to be the only Ravenclaw in a house full of gung-ho Gryffindors,” Snape said with a thin smirk.

”Interesting would be one way of describing it, sir. But, it’s all right I guess. I’m used to it.”

”I suppose you would be,” Snape said dryly.

Alsop got the distinct impression Mr. Snape thought it wouldn’t be so great living with nothing but Gryffindors. It really wasn’t that bad. The biggest difference was his brothers and sister were more physically oriented, while he preferred cerebral pursuits. They could be annoying with all the noise they made, or when they’d steal his notes and books in an effort to make him join in some game or the other.

”Your brain is going to burst right out of your head, Alsop!” James would exclaim.

”Yeah, give the old head muscle a break and come play Quidditch with us,” Albus would press as they fought to keep his books and notes away from him.

Yes. They could be irritating. Lily liked giving tea parties. He could stand that. Nothing was flying at his head when he folded up at her neatly arranged table, complete with dolls and stuffed animals for polite company.

Alsop looked around the well-stocked shop. It smelled of eggs and cabbages like other apothecary shops, but the odor wasn’t as glaring. He noticed a shelf on the far right that was full of what looked like pickled animals. A large frog floated in purple liquid. It seemed to jerk and Alsop wiped his eyes before looking at it again.

It was absolutely still, staring back at him. He suppressed a little shudder.

”A nice shop you have here, sir. It seems well-stocked.”

”I keep an updated inventory, Mr. Potter. If I don’t have an ingredient, I can secure it—“

Here Snape’s lip curled a little.

”Provided it’s not illegal.”

Alsop didn’t believe that at all. Many apothecaries provided illegal ingredients for the right price to trustworthy clients. Mr. Snape was a Slytherin, so that made it even more likely he sold potion ingredients under the table.

”Of course not,” Alsop agreed with a small smirk.

Snape considered him. He seemed a bright boy. Then the Potions master looked up at the clock on the wall.

”I believe you had better get back to Hogwarts, Mr. Potter. Study period only lasts so long,” he said to the boy.

”Yes sir. Please let Eileen know I asked about her?” he said to the wizard.

Snape nodded.

”I will, Mr. Potter,” he promised.

”Thank you. Goodbye, sir,” Alsop said, turning and walking toward the door.

Snape watched him.

”Oh, and Mr. Potter, thank you for helping Eileen,” he said to him softly.

The young wizard turned to face him.

”You’re welcome, sir,” Alsop said with a smile. He had earned some points helping Eileen, but he would have done that anyway. He opened the door to leave.

“Oh, and Mr. Potter?” Snape called again, his voice a bit harder now.

Alsop turned back again, smiling at the pale wizard.

”Yes, sir?” he answered.

Snape’s eyes narrowed and he looked a bit threatening.

”I expect you to act just as much the gentleman when you’re at the Christmas Ball with my daughter, as you have pretended to be in my shop,” Snape said warningly as Alsop's smile faded. “I’ll be watching, believe me.”

”Yes sir. Don’t worry, sir. I respect your daughter. I’ll be the perfect gentleman,” Alsop assured him, paling a bit at the dangerous glint in Snape’s eyes.

”You do that, Mr. Potter,” Snape purred.

Alsop hurriedly left the apothecary shop. Apparently, Mr. Snape wasn’t as taken with him as he supposed.

Snape smirked to himself as he emptied the grinder into a bowl, then inserted more Hippodilly weed. Alsop had gone a nice shade of white at the wizard’s departing words.

”I’ve still got it,” Snape thought, grinding away.


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A/N: Just a short little chapter of Snape meeting Alsop. I think he likes him, but we can’t really be sure about that. Lol. Thanks for case you're wondering about the fast updates, I haven't been receiving any article work lately, so I'm not making any extra income right now and have extra time on my hands. Rather than agonize over it, I'm just throwing myself into writing as I figure out what to do. Well, at least I'm updating frequently and hopefully making someone else happy. There's something positive in every situation I guess. ***

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