Nice and Lost

[Susan Matthews]

One of the things Susan enjoyed most about Hogwarts was the fact that is quite easy to get lost in. It was almost effortless to lose track of the staircases and floor levels. She assumed she must have been on the fifth or sixth floor due to the Ancient Runes classroom a floor or two below her her. This wayward feeling of getting lost gave her something to do other than homework. It was nice to roam the halls and to try to forget about life.

Walking rather slowly, Susan looked with interest into most all of the paintings and portraits on the walls. She passed one that featured a field full of lambs and a Shepard. The Shepard seemed to be having a hard time keeping order to the flock. The next one included a grand party with all sorts of ladies in beautiful dresses and masquerade costumes. The portrait after that one however, was far from grand. The man sported a very unbecoming grimace. His face was gaunt and rather pale. His long black and somewhat greasy hair fell at an usual place just above his shoulders. Susan noticed the caption.

"Professor Snape. Headmaster, Potions Professor, and Occlumens Master," Susan read aloud. Professor Snape snorted with disgust. Susan recognized the name from her history books on Harry Potter. Professor Snape was perhaps one of the bravest wizards on Earth. Having the courage and skill to trick Lord Voldemort for all those years . . .

"Professor Snape," Susan told the portrait, "I'm a big fan of yours." "You were an absolutely amazing Potions Master," She commended. The portrait grunted in response. So maybe he wasn't the nicest professor. He was still brilliant, she could at leat try to hold a conversation with him.

[phee]

Professor Phoenix Albion came around the corner of the fifth floor corridor just in time to hear Professor Snape's "big fan" trying to engage the portrait in conversation. Snape's reaction -- predictably -- was less than warmly welcoming, but the girl seemed determined enough, so Phoenix stopped where he was, giving her the opportunity to continue.

"You were an absolutely amazing Potions Master," the girl commented with enthusiasm, and Phoenix smiled, silently agreeing with her. Snape's portrait grunted in response to the girl's remark, but it was her thought

[glow=red,2,300]So maybe he wasn't the nicest professor[/glow]

that made Phoenix grin.

"Do let me know if you get more than a grunt out of him," Phoenix said on impulse. "He was quarrelsome enough when he was alive. I dare say death and being immortalized on canvas has not improved his temper any."

[Susan Matthews]

Startled at the sound of something other than grunting, Susan spun around. At the end of the corridor, Susan recognized her Divination teacher, Professor Albion. She had thought she was alone. Under most circumstances Susan would not have liked to be caught talking to Professor Snape. He was after all just a portrait.

"Professor Albion!" Susan exclaimed. She was thoroughly embarrassed. "I don't normally go around, you know, talking to the portraits," She lied. She figured it wouldn't hurt to make herself sound less abstract than she already was. "I was just trying to get some tips," she said, this time truthfully, "I'm not the best at potions."

She found it quite unnerving to be talking to a teacher outside of class. Especially since this teacher was still alive. She wasn't used to seeing the professors outside of class. I guess they must do something when they're not teaching, Susan thought. They couldn't just sit around in their classrooms all day twiddling their thumbs.

[phee]

"I should know you, shouldn't I?" Albion mused. His appearance in the corridor had obviously unnerved the girl, who had fallen silent at his appearance, a blush creeping into her pale face. Her thoughts were all over the map and he forced himself to draw back mentally a bit, hiding a smile at her confusion. She was obviously flustered at being forced into conversation with a professor and she would doubtless have been much happier if they were all locked away behind their desks when classes were not in session.

Leaning against the wall, he stared at the girl a moment, a frown on his face as he wondered where he'd seen her. Hogwarts was large enough that he didn't expect to know all of the students in the short time he'd been there, but the girl did looked familiar.

After a moment, realization dawned. "Oh, yes, of course," he said. "Now I remember. Miss Matthews. You're enrolled in Divinations, aren't you? I can't recall hearing much from you in the classroom, however," he added, and his words hung in the air like a criticism.

[Susan Matthews]

Susan watched as Professor Albion leaned against the wall, a casual gesture. Realizing that the professor probably wasn't as bad as she made him out to be she began to relax. Her breathing returned to normal and the burning in her cheeks began to fade.

"Oh, yes, of course," he said. "Now I remember. Miss Matthews. You're enrolled in Divinations, aren't you? I can't recall hearing much from you in the classroom, however."

At least he remembered her. It was often that Susan went unnoticed in her classes. She didn't like to speak up much because she was afraid of getting the questions wrong. Especially in the case of Divination where the interpretations could vary greatly.

"Yes," Susan responded, "Sorry I didn't participate much with the tea leaves." She was interested in Divination, she just didn't like tea much. "I'm just more interested in the Astronomy aspect of the subject," Susan explained, "I want to learn how the positions of the stars and the planets and our moons reflect what's going on here on Earth." She thought back to when she and her cousin used to stargaze late into the night, picking out their favorite constellations or the planets that were visible at the moment. They would wonder what would happen if the planets aligned? Or did the planet Venus really have an impact on a person's "lucky day"? She was hoping that Divination would help her to answer these questions.

[phee]

Professor Albion nodded. "I know what you mean," he said. "I couldn't make heads or tails of reading tea leaves when I started taking Divination classes with Professor Trelawney. In fact, I'm still only fair at it. In my experience, if you have an affinity for a particular method of divination already, the odds are fairly good you have an underlying talent in the area. My strengths were always with the crystal ball and reading the flames of a fire, and none of my teachers here at Hogwarts ever taught the latter."

"So, tell me, Miss Matthews," he said, "are you a regular visitor of Professor Snape's? When I was a student at Hogwarts, he was the Potions master, and you're right -- he was absolutely amazing. I used to get cramps in my hands and fingers, trying to get the various ingredients just the way he wanted them, and I promise you, I succeeded less than half the time to his way of thinking."

"Half the time?" Professor Snape's portrait rumbled, and Phoenix chuckled.

"Oh, that's right -- assassinate my character in front of a student, why don't you?" Phoenix shot back at the portrait. He grinned, raising one brow at Susan in amusement. "No one was talking to you, Professor Snape," he said.

[Susan Matthews]

Susan giggled at Professor Albion's reaction to Professor Snape's comment. "Actually, this is my first time meeting him," Susan said, referring to Professor Snape, "I've read all about him in my History books, but I've never had the pleasure of speaking with him before." If you could call it speaking, Susan thought, he'd hardly said a word to her yet.

"It must have been so cool to learn from a teacher like him," Susan sighed. "No offense to any of the current teachers, or you, I mean," Susan stuttered hoping Professor Albion didn't get the wrong idea. "It's just all of those professors from Harry Potter's Day seemed, I don't know, so experienced, so accomplished . . ." Susan knew it wasn't good to dwell on the past, but she couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like to be taught like Professor Albion, by all those amazing teachers. Maybe it was better that she was in her time after all. It probably was safer. Without Lord Voldemort Roaming around, her world was bound to be a better place.

[phee]

"Cool to learn from a teacher like him?" Phoenix echoed, nearly choking on the laughter that inevitably greeted Susan's comment. "Oh, believe me, Miss Matthews, none of the current faculty would take any offense whatsoever at your assessment. I assure you, Professor Snape was . . . most certainly . . . the coolest."

Professor Albion's eyes sparkled and he was definitely losing the battle to keep a straight face.

"He was so cool, we even had a special nickname for him when I was at school. Of course, I realize students often have . . . shall we say . . . unflattering . . . nicknames for their instructors, but the one we had for Professor Snape --"

"If you don't mind, Professor Albion," Professor Snape's portrait rumbled, and before Albion could respond, Snape's image turned stolidly and walked out of his portrait's frame, leaving the painting empty.

"Ah -- " Professor Albion said. He glanced into the empty painting and then, rather guiltily, at Susan. "I think I may have gone a bit too far there," he said.

[Susan Matthews]

Susan frowned, she had noted the sarcasm in Professor Albion's voice.

"I assure you, Professor Snape was . . . most certainly . . . the coolest."

Why do I have to be such a nerd? Susan thought to herself. She could have easily steered the conversation in another direction. Instead she had chosen to talk about how much she liked her teachers.

Professor Albion continued discussing Professor Snape while Susan was half listening. She began to pay more attention to the Professor when she noticed how close he was to laughing. It was rather amusing watching him reminisce.

She was quite disappointed when Professor Snape left. Not because she truly missed him, but because she had wanted Professor Albion to continue. She wanted to hear Professor Snape's nickname. She was curious.

"So what did you call him?" Susan pushed. She turned to see that Professor Snape had proceded through the paintings behind them and was turning the corner from which Professor Albion had come.

[phee]

"I'm sure he had many nicknames, primarily because he was a pretty scary teacher," Professor Albion told Susan. "The one that I always heard, though, was 'the bat.' It seemed as if he was always striding along, almost rushing through the halls, and wherever he went his school robes were always billowing out behind him. And since they're black . . . well, they made him look rather like an enormous bat, flying down the halls."

He smiled in memory. "We used to speculate, the way students do, that he might even sleep hanging upside down from the rafters, the way bats dangle from the roof in their caves." He shot Susan an assessing glance, admitting, "It really wasn't very nice of us, but -- well, I suppose we were about 14 or so at the time. I seem to recall that being nice to the teachers or saying nice things about them wasn't very high on my list at that age.

"Of course, I'm sure none of the students you know suffer from those faults. Now . . . " he said thoughtfully, "where do you suppose he got off to?"

[Susan Matthews]

"The Bat." Susan had a very clear image of Professor Snape in her head. Just as Professor Albion had described, she pictured Professor Snape with his robes billowing. She found it hard to believe that he might have slept hanging from the rafters. She laughed along anyway.

"Hanging from the rafters?" Susan repeated skeptically. She didn't often have nicknames of her own for her teachers. She could however, remember back to elementary school where her friends had very colorful names for their rather large fourth grade teacher.

"where do you suppose he got off to?"

Susan thought a moment, trying to think of something funny and creative to say. "I don't know," Susan said, "Probably off to that painting of a cave down the hall for a visit with his relatives." Susan laughed, "What's your guess?"

[phee]

Susan's comment caught Professor Albion unprepared for the image of Professor Snape striding off to sulk in a cave. He stopped in mid-stride, turned to look at the girl and found himself unexpectedly laughing outloud even as he shook his head. "As funny as the image may be," he told her, "I imagine he's gone anywhere but there. Somehow, I can't imagine the good professor exposing himself to any jibes about a bat cave . . . No, I think we'll just have to keep looking. And no doubt I'll have to come up with a truly monumental apology once we do find him . . . Oh, well. It's not as if I don't actually owe him one."

They walked on along the fifth floor corridors, looking left and right into the various canvasses hung there, some large, some small, one or two actually large enough to fill an entire wall by themselves, but there was no sign of Professor Snape in any of them.

[Susan Matthews]

As long and as large as the fifth floor corridor was, it was hard to believe that Professor Snape could have disappeared so quickly. Susan had followed along with Professor Albion searching for the missing Professor Snape. Susan looked with interest into the painting of the cave, but found no Professor Snape. She even asked one of the ladies from the masquerade party if they had seen the greasy-haired professor. Her reply was a simple "No." Either she was being smart, and didn't answer truthfully or she really hadn't seen which way he'd gone. Professor Snape obviously didn't want to be found.

"Maybe he went to another floor?" Susan suggested, "Or to one of the paintings in the Dungeons?" "He might be in Professor Sparrow's classroom somewhere," she said, referring to the current Potions teacher.

[phee]

"I guess he could have gone almost anywhere -- at least, anywhere that has a painting to receive him. Hmmmm . . ." Phoenix paused, looking at nothing in particular, drumming his fingers on one thigh. "You don't suppose?" he asked, half frowning. "You don't suppose he's simply having a joke at my expense and has slipped back into his own painting again?"

He half-smiled, raising one eyebrow at her. "It would be just like him," he mused, "except that there's no evidence whatsoever he actually has a sense of humor. Well, it's worth a look, I suppose, but there's really no need for you to trail along if you don't want to."

He looked at Susan. "You must have . . . what? Homework of some sort, I'd imagine. Surely all of your teachers can't have let you off without an assignment today?"

[Susan Matthews]

At the mention of homework, Susan heart dropped. "Why'd you have to remind me?" Susan asked. She had completely forgotten about the piles of paper she'd left in her common room previously. As much as she wanted to continue on their search for Professor Snape, she really shouldn't have left her homework in the first place.

"I probably should be getting back to it," Susan told Professor Albion. "Good luck finding Professor Snape!" She concluded. "And I guess I'll see you next class, if not sooner. Good-bye professor!" Susan called as she turned to walk back down the hallway the way she had come in the first place. She walked more quickly this time, thinking about all the things she had to do before she slept tonight.