"Does this mean my mother was a witch too?"
"Well no, only I am a wizard. That's why she didn't like me, I told her that I was a wizard and she refused to believe me. I showed her some magic and she broke up with me. "
"That makes a lot of sense. It explains what she meant when she said I was like my father," I said.
He smiled halfheartedly and said, "Well normally when a witch or wizard turns 11 years old they get a letter in the mail that tells them what they need for school. You will be going to Hogwarts probably seeing as though that is the closest one and I'm sure Albus will have you signed up for there."
"Did you go to Hogwarts when you were my age Severus," I questioned eager to learn more.
"Yes I did, as a matter of fact I am still there. I teach Potions."
"Oh cool. Does that mean you will be my teacher?"
"Yes I suppose it does," he said.
My face lit up, "Cool! I bet you're brilliant."
He smiled softly and said, "Just as good as your other teachers."
"What other classes do I take? And can you tell me more about Hogwarts? Where is it? What does it look like? Did you like it?" I threw a bunch of questions at him one right after the other.
"Woah slow down there," he said putting his hands up.
"Sorry," I said looking at the ground.
"No no it's fine. Let me explain about Hogwarts. The students are split up into four different houses. There is Hufflepuff, which is an average house. Ravenclaw is the house where you go if you are really smart. Gryffindor is the house where you go if you are brave, and Slytherin is where you go if you are cunning and self-oriented."
I already knew what house I wanted to be in if I wanted to please him. It was obvious that he thought Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were mediocre houses, Gryffindor was a terrible house and Slytherin is a far better house then the rest.
"I take it you were in Slytherin?" I questioned jokingly.
"Yes I was in Slytherin. You probably will be too since normally families are in the same house."
"What if I'm not?"
"Well then that's fine as well."
"Even if it's Gryffindor?" I asked voicing something that was bothering me but discreetly.
"If you are sorted into Gryffindor I will still be proud of you," he said.
I hadn't realized I had been holding my breath until I let it out just then. I breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing I wanted was to make him not proud of me so soon by getting sorted into Gryffindor.
"Okay good. So what else do I need to know?"
"Well I will take to Diagon Alley to get your school supplies when your letter comes. Soon after that you will off to Hogwarts. I'll teach you a little before you go just so you know the basics."
"Will I be behind everyone else since I didn't grow up around magic?"
"No there will be plenty of kids that have Muggle parents and didn't know about magic until they got their letter. You will definitely not be behind even those who grew up around magic."
"What's a Muggle?"
"It's someone who doesn't have magical abilities," he answered.
"Oh okay cool. Is there anything else you can tell me right now? Like what other classes will I take?"
"You will be taking Potions with me, Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, Charms with Professor Flitwick, History of Magic with Professor Binns, Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Quirrell, Astonomy with Professor Sinistra and Flying lessons with Madame Hooch."
"Cool can you teach me about all of them before I go?"
"All of them I am skilled at except Astronomy, I always fell asleep in that class."
"That's okay, I didn't really think that would be too interesting anyways."
"No it is very boring actually."
"Okay well, did you like it at Hogwarts? It sounds amazing."
"Yes Hogwarts is certainly amazing. My time there was interesting."
"Does that mean you liked it then?"
"Some parts of it were enjoyable while other parts were not."
I wanted him to elaborate but he didn't so I just said, "Oh okay that's good."
"I'm sure you will find Hogwarts to be everything you want it to be Jessica. There is no need to worry."
"Worry? I can't wait to get started."
"Okay I'm glad you are so eager to start. There should be some books on the bookshelf that you can read to start. Some of them might be a bit hard so start with the ones that say first year or second year. I have to go and brew a few potions before we go to Hogwarts because I want my stocks to be full."
My eyes lit up and I asked, "Can I watch you? Or would that just be a bother?"
He thought about it for a moment, "Sure you can watch if you want. It's pretty boring and tedious work so you might get bored."
"I'm sure I won't sir," I said happily.
"Severus," he reminded and said, "Then you can watch. I am just going to brew some sleeping draughts and work on finishing the Veritaserum."
"Cool! What does Veritaserum do? The sleeping draughts are pretty self explanatory."
"You know what," he said standing up and taking a book off the shelf, "You can find it in here."
I took it from him and saw the title said Advanced Potion Making. Going straight to the Index I found it under the "V"s and opened to page 394. When I looked up to read it aloud I realized Severus was already standing by the doorway smirking at me.
Keeping a finger in that page I followed him down the hall down some stairs and into a medium sized room with large pots everywhere and odd ingredients.
He pulled out a tall stool for me and I hopped up onto it. He went over to a pot with clear liquid in it and stirred it three times clockwise. I watched him carefully as he went over to an empty pot and added 4 pieces of what looked like Lavender.
As he stood there not doing anything I figured it would be a good time to look up what Veritaserum does, so I didn't miss anything. Opening back up to page 394 I skimmed the page ignoring the directions for brewing it and read the part about uses. It read, Veritaserum is a potion that can be used to make anyone spill their darkest secrets. It is a truth potion which renders the drinker unable to lie unless they drink the antidote or are proficient at Occlumency.
I closed the book satisfied with that answer. Severus had gone back to the second pot and added some power, then waved his wand. He went over to another empty pot and added more of the Lavender pieces. I realized that he was making another of the same potion as before; which means that it would be another Sleeping Draught.
As he was busy keeping three potions going at once I opened up the book in front of me to the very first page. I read through the page about how to make Amortentia which was a powerful love potion that could be added to anything and would cause the drinker to feel a powerful obsession with the person who gave it to the other person but didn't actually cause any real feelings of love.
Soon I was halfway through the book eagerly learning more and more about potions, which I decided would probably be my favorite subject.
I only stopped reading when Severus said, "Are you enjoying this, or is it as boring as I told you it would be?"
I looked up and saw him look up. When he saw the book in my hand his expression grew amused.
"I knew it would bore you, what book is that?"
I held up the book to show him the cover and said, "The book you handed to me upstairs."
He smiled and said, "Are you enjoying it?"
"Yes. It's really interesting. Although this must be an old book because some of the instructions are wrong."
His expression went back to being amused and said, "Oh yes and in what way?"
I looked down unsure if I was right or not but said, "Well in some potions it would say stir 2 times clockwise when really stirring it 3 times counterclockwise would make it more potent."
He raised his eyebrows and said, "And you figured that out for yourself or was it written in the margins?"
"No there wasn't any writing in it. I just thought about it and decided that one way would be more efficient because of what other potions had said."
He smiled widely at me and said, "Wow I guess I shouldn't be surprised but good job. Most grown adults wouldn't have been able to tell that doing it a different way would be better."
"Really? I mean it's not that hard to figure out."
"Really," he confirmed and continued, "I tried to tell my classmates the same thing when I was at Hogwarts but they would never believe that it wasn't that hard."
"So you were good at Potions when you were at school?" I questioned.
"Yes it was my best subject and judging from how good you already are it will be a safe bet to say that it will be your best class."
"Well people will assume that it's because you are my father."
He winced at those words and said, "You might not want to tell people you are my daughter."
Confused I asked, "Why not?"
"Well you see I'm sure they have heard stories of me from their siblings or once they have class with me will probably hate me."
"Why would they hate you?" I asked suddenly suspicious.
"Well I'm not exactly the nicest teacher at Hogwarts for sure. I have a reputation to uphold so I am not the most approachable when I am there."
"Oh okay," I said discouraged, "Should I use Wallwirt as my last name then?"
"It would probably be best."
"Okay," I said quietly.
He must have realized that he unintentionally hurt my feeling because he stirred the potion then came and pulled up a stool next to mine.
"Believe me, once you are there you will be happy that no one knows you are related to me," he laughed somewhat bitterly and said, "On the holidays you can stay at Hogwarts of course. During the Summer you can come back here since this is where I spend my Summers."
"Okay, but would you be upset if I didn't mind that you were my father and told the people I got closest to? Or do you just not want anyone to know?"
"You can trust your judgment on that. Keep in mind that if they do know they might treat you differently. It will not affect me at all but it could end up hurting you."
"Okay I'll keep it in mind but if I do become close friends with anyone I don't want to keep something like that from them. I try to be pretty much honest with most people."
"That's a good trait to have. Now I'll leave you to your book. I must go and stir the Sleeping Draught."
I reopened the book in my hands to the page I was on. I was soon immersed in the book pushing all thoughts of Hogwarts to the back of my mind for the time being. Severus was slaving away at his potions for the rest of the day and I poured through potion after potion in the book trying to find ways to make them better.