Teen Drama or "Are we sure there are no more Horcruxes, wife?"

An Interesting Trio

February 2010

Hogwarts Dungeons

Potions Master James Snape sat at his desk while the third years Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students walked out of his classroom. He had a tall pile of essays to mark and a couple of potions to finish before his wife arrived to help him on their special yearly February project.

"Hi, James. Are you busy?" an unexpected female voice asked from the door.

He raised his head, "Hi, mum. Yes, I have a lot of essays to read and potions in stasis waiting for me. But do you need anything?"

"Yes, love, I won't take much of your time," Florence said, walking in and stopping by his desk, "I just wanted to check with you how Stephen is doing in your class. He's had some problems this morning during Charms."

James frowned, "What kind of problems?"

"Apparently," she exhaled, concerned, "his wand was acting out. He tried to cast an Engorgio but ended up exploding a few desks instead and hurt some classmates."

"That's odd, he's never had problems with Charms, Nick says he's one of the best-" James hesitated, lowering his quill onto the desk and resting his arms on the papers, realising what his mother was probably thinking: "You're afraid that his wand's malfunctioning has something to do with what happened during the Holidays."

"Yes," Florence nodded slowly, looking troubled, "Lily and Stephen will be twelve next month, they're preteens... and that means hormones and feelings all over the place; I've always hoped his childish squabbles with Gianah would stop once they reached a certain age... now I fear they will only get dangerously worse."

James grimaced, "I hate to say that I agree, mum," then he tilted his head to the side: "But Gianah is not here, Stephen hasn't even seen her in over a month... why would his wand's malfunctioning have anything to do with her?"

"The connection between wands and their owners are much more complex than we know, James. And Stephen's got a black walnut wand – which are known to have a temper. If he's fighting his feelings for Gianah, maybe his magic is being affected-" she sighed, "I don't know. I'll have to talk to Chris about this."

"Yeah, he'll certainly know if there's reason for concern. Well, in my classes Stephen is great – one of the best first-year students, actually."

Florence smiled in relief, "Good. Let's hope this was just an isolated episode."

"Either way, mum, you should talk to Chris," James paused, for the door that led to his private quarters was opened and a woman showed up.

"Hello, Hermione," Florence greeted with a knowing smile.

"Hi, Florence," Hermione replied, walking to James and giving her husband a kiss.

"Hi, kitten," he held her hand, affectionately rubbing his thumb on her knuckles, "The potion I need your help with is in stasis on the lab table," it was clear he was trying to keep a professional face in front of his mother.

Florence chuckled low, "You're needing your wife's help to finish a potion now, James?"

"Yes," he looked at her, still keeping a straight face, "As I told you, mum, I'm pretty busy-"

"It's February, James!" Florence rolled her eyes, "I'm well-aware you've continued your father's tradition of brewing Amortentia the week before Valentine's Day only to let the students steal it," a smirk slowly formed in her burgundy-painted lips, "I'm also aware of how interesting it is to be shagged over a freshly-brewed Love Potion cauldron," she raised an eyebrow at the couple.