#14 Christmas Morning Visit

"Enter" came the voice from inside.

She was about to push the door, but it swung open and halted before hitting the wall. Slowly she went inside to find him still busy with his work. She wasn't sure if he had noticed her coming inside. "Merry Christmas, Professor", she announced her arrival calmly.

There were so many books covering his desk. Alice was casually scanning at the titles of those books from a slight distance and forgot about her intention of arriving in the dark, cold office. All those titles sound too advanced, but they look critical enough to hold Professor's attention.

The coldness of the room was shivering her, and she remembered why she came here. "Professor, I wanted to ask... I want to use... I mean permission... brew the potion in laboratory... student laboratory.", She finished finally, but probably it was confusing. "I wanted to ask for permission to use student laboratory to brew potions", she repeated with more confidence this time.

Professor Snare's glare was scary, but the good thing was that it didn't last long. He was so concentrated on his word that he didn't even care to see when she came forward and grabbed the sheet.

When was easier than she thought. She imagined professor Snape asking many questions before this, but it went fine. All the details she needed were already on the sheet.

"Thank you, Sir", She said and turned around to get out of the office before he would change his mind.

[Exit]

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She walked through the dark dungeons and halted outside Professor Snape's office. She was about to knock on the door, but she stopped. It is better to verify once. She opened her bag to count the different types of ingredients she had. One, two, three, four, five.



After confirming that she had everything she needed, Alice knocked on the door calmly. She was sure now she would get permission to use the student laboratory.

After receiving permission from Professor Snape, Alice entered the office. This time she was more confident than she was on her previous visit a couple of hours ago. Alice showed all her collected ingredients to him with enthusiasm. She was expecting some good encouraging words but didn't get any. Instead, he summoned an empty jar and a vial for her without many words.

Before she could even retrieve them, He walked out of the office with a command to follow him. Alice grabbed the glass items and ran behind him to accompany him wherever he led her.

The path was familiar on which she had already walked many times. They reached Potion's classroom. She wasn't sure why they came here. Does she have to brew a potion to prove herself worthy? Or maybe he will show her some helpful tips to not hurt herself? Somewhat praying for the latter, she was standing silently.

He pointed at some spare cauldrons ask to clean them with her hands. Alice was not expecting this, but he is not the type of person to joke about this or anything. She went near them and picked up a cauldron that looked the least dirty. Professor was still watching her, having this in her mind. she rubbed every part of the cauldron thoroughly.

It took her more than half an hour. But in the end, she was able to see her blurry reflection on its surface. Alice picked up the Cauldron and took it to him.

"Sir, it's clean." She said forwarding the cauldron towards him.