Lessons in Safety

[bohemianspirit]

Title: Lessons in Safety
Author: bohemianspirit
Genre: Het
Characters: Severus/Charity, with discussion of Neville Longbottom
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 100 x 4
Challenge: snape100 #281: Cauldrons and Snitches
Notes: No Snitches, just Cauldrons in this story. ;-)

Charity walked into the dungeon room where Severus did his own Potions work. Shutting the door behind her, she locked it and cast a silencing charm over it.

"The toad was never in any danger."

"Legilimency without eye contact." One corner of her mouth curved up. "I'm impressed."

Severus kept his attention fixed on the cauldron before him. "One look at the potion, and I knew that one of his meddling friends had corrected it for him."

"He didn't know that you knew."

"He needs to pay closer attention. But a moment's thought, and he'd have had naught to fear."


* * *


Charity watched Severus measure out powdered something-or-other. "That toad is very dear to him."

"Then he shouldn't be bringing it into Potions," snapped Severus. "A toad in my classroom is an aggregation of ingredients, not a best friend."

"You know bloody well he doesn't see it that way," Charity retorted. "Else your little drama should have been of no effect."

"I doubt it had any lasting effect, anyway. We are talking about Neville Longbottom."

"You scared the shit out of him."

"Good." Severus reached for a vial and dropper. "Perhaps it will clear his brain as well as his bowels."


* * *

Severus, as usual, was as demanding of himself as of his students.

"He thought you really meant to kill his toad."

"I might have done."

"Severus!"

"If the death of one toad would guarantee the lives of his classmates in future?" Severus squeezed several drops into the cauldron. "Yes. In a heartbeat."

Charity sighed. "I don't think, in his case, it should have been a pedagogically effective approach."

Severus halted, mid-stir, then slowly turned about. "Pedagogically effective," he echoed in an undertone.

"Don't sneer at me."

"Don't lecture at me."

"You know his background, Severus!"

He scowled. "Yes. I do."


* * *


Severus shrugged. "Be that as it may, I was attempting to impress upon all of them that a single careless mistake in Potions can be deadly."

"Yes, I understand--"

"Do you?" countered Severus. "With all due respect, Charity, what is the worst consequence if your students perform poorly in Muggle Studies?"

Charity narrowed her eyes. "Death."

Severus stared at her.

"Death," she softly repeated, "to innocent people they've failed to understand."

Abruptly he turned away. "I've got work to do," he muttered over the cauldron.

"I'll see you at dinner." She released the silencing spell and let herself out the door.

Comments

[bohemianspirit]

I half-expected that gut punch at the end, yet it still delivered.

Well, you were ahead of me. ;-) Even after I wrote it, it took me a few re-reads to absorb the full impact and layers of subtext of what I'd just put on the page. I'm glad it still had impact, even if you saw it coming.

I like your Charity so very much.

Thank you. I started writing her when Snape100 posted the "Eye of the Beholder" challenge, and it's been an interesting pairing to explore. Of course I wondered what was going on between Severus and Charity as soon as I read the first chapter of DH, but only in writing these drabbles have I begun to really consider what kind of a person she must have been, even from the next-to-nothing we are told about her. What kind of a person publishes a brazenly Wizards-and-Muggles-Unite! article when Voldemort is back in power and anti-Muggle and anti-Muggleborn persecution is kicking into full swing? She had to be either incredibly naive and stupid, or else incredibly gutsy. I opted for gutsy--which makes even more sense if I'm going to put her in a long-term relationship with Severus Snape. ;-)

Thanks again for reading and letting me know you liked it! And sorry my reply got so wordy; I tend to do that.