Amalie Zeller will make your mouth malleable. (lafilledanse) wrote in find_horcruxes, @ 2010-01-18 02:30:00 |
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Entry tags: | amalie zeller, severus snape |
Who: Severus Snape & Amalie Zeller
When: 15 January 1980; BACKDATED
Where: Zeller's Books.
What: Sev needs Potions books, and Amalie is there to be... not even a little bit helpful.
Rating: Low.
Status: COMPLETE.
Severus Snape had not had the best of weeks. He had just barely passed the exam - barely enough that Master Jigger had given him a rather thorough talking to. He had passed, Jigger had said, but it had been a much lower score than what he'd been expecting from Severus, and he thought that before they moved on to further knowledge, some review and possibly additional practise with practical knowledge would be a good idea. He'd said all of this in a tone that had reminded Severus very much of standing in Caoimhe's office, and the feeling he'd had while being told all of these things had not been completely dissimilar either. So determined to not let his personal life get further in the way of actually obtaining his Potion Mastery, he'd decided that he would go and see what Zeller's Books had in stock. He'd saved away a few galleons and while he wasn't certain he could actually afford purchasing any of the books, he felt rather as if he needed to do something. Besides all of this, thinking about potions was preferable to thinking about Lily. Every time the thought of her popped into his head, a particularly nauseous feeling settled into his stomach and so for the moment he was simply trying to not think about her. This was only partially a successful attempt, however, and he moved to open the door into Zeller's shop with all of the enthusiasm of a man that rather hoped that entering the shop was the magic answer to all of life's problems. It wouldn't be, of course, but for a moment, at least, he planned to bury himself in books that did not belong to Brookstanton Memorial Library - where things were hideous and Lupin served simply to remind him of how hideous they were - and possibly even walk out with a title that might help him improve his potions skills. He hoped. It wasn't often Amalie visited her father's shop, knowing that he wasn't exactly comfortable with her mixing with his... seedier clientele, but today was an exception. Seeing her family together again at Christmas had made her sentimental, enough so that she had decided a surprise visit to the store was in order, and had brought a tin of tea and a packed lunch for him as well, since she was worried that he hadn't been eating properly, living alone like he did. Yes, she knew that she was the daughter and he the father, and that worrying was meant to be his job, but that didn't mean she didn't indulge from time to time. He was getting older, and she wanted to be sure he was well. Secretly, she wanted him to live long enough for Paul to forgive him, and if that took a little coddling on her part, so be it. They had enjoyed a leisurely lunch together and now she was perusing his book selection, trying to find something new and exciting (and preferably in French or German, she would like to practice) to read that month. Claude had excused himself to run down the alley on a brief errand, so she had the run of the shop to herself, something that happened very rarely. She was intending to use this to her advantage and poke around in the shelves her father didn't like her to look at when the bell over the door tinkled, and she looked up to see a forlorn looking young man enter the shop. He looked about her age, and she was fairly certain she recognized his face from school, but his name was escaping her at the moment. "May I help you?" Severus closed the door behind him and turned around in time to be asked a question and he blinked slightly. The young woman that was asking the question was certainly not Mr Zeller, the usual person to ask that question of Severus when he arrived in the door. Had Mr Zeller hired someone on? He stepped further into the shop and hesitated a moment and then shrugged lightly, then thought perhaps the shrug was rude, but he couldn't take it back then, could he? "Um," he started off rather inelegantly. "Sorry, um, I was actually looking for books on potions and potion making." And he did know where those were on the shelves, but she'd asked, and he didn't really want to say no. "Maybe if there's anything new in? I looked a few weeks ago," although he hadn't bought anything. "And I didn't really see anything that I wanted at that point, but I need to get something for study - you know, general, but not completely simplistic either." Severus sighed uncertain that he was making any sense. "Right, so that's what I was looking for." She waited for patiently for him to finish, wondering if he was always this nervous or if seeing her instead of her father had set him off. Maybe this was something private? She knew sometimes people came to her father's store looking for things that weren't always on the level, so she hoped the only customer she ever had to handle was one of those people. That would just be awkward. She braced herself against the worn desk, tapping her fingers lightly as she looked around the shelves for an answer. "You'll have to excuse me. My father has just stepped out for a moment and I'm not exactly sure where everything is. If you know your way around though, you can maybe take a look? I'm sure he would be okay with it, since I'm here to make sure you don't kip anything," she said with a small smile. He didn't exactly look like the shoplifting type, anyway. Severus gave her a small smile and pushed his hair back behind his ears. "Yeah, well, I can just look over there if you don't mind." So this was Mr Zeller's daughter then? Severus realised that he should have known, and he should have recognised her. And in truth he had thought that she looked familiar when he walked through the door, but he couldn't have told anyone what her name was. He realised that despite the fact he was certain they'd shared at least a few years at Hogwarts, that he wasn't certain he could do so even still. It made sense though, although he wondered if she was at all used to minding the shop. "Don't worry about me," he added with a slightly self-depreciating smile. "If I tried to snitch something it'd probably just fall out the hole in the bottom of my book bag, and never leave the store anyway." He looked over at her. "Will your Father be back today then?" He had actually hoped to ask for Mr Zeller's opinion on any books he might purchase - assuming he found something that suited his need and his budget. "I don't mind. You have an honest face, I won't even ask you to leave your faulty bag at the desk," she said, settling back into her father's chair and feeling a bit like she was treading on sacred ground as she did. She felt oddly taller and yet also more childlike, as if she had crawled into her father's lap without realizing it. Funny how we never truly grow up, despite all our efforts to the contrary. "He should be back shortly?" She said, glancing at the clock. "He had an errand to run but he didn't say he would be long. But take your time. I don't know how to work the till so you will have to wait for him anyway." Severus nodded slowly and turned his attention to the potions section of the store. At least a few of these books he had, one he'd received from Mr Mulciber over Christmas and he had gone through part of that text. He considered the bindings, the titles, feeling ridiculous that he was standing in the store doing this. He ought to have passed the test with ease. It was potions. Everyone had been completely confident in his ability to do well and frankly, Severus felt as if he ought to have done well. He knew potions, he simply understood how things worked together and he ought to have been able to complete the exam easily. He sighed as he reached for a book that looked as if it might fit the need - something not too complex but that would assist with some of the elements he'd done so poorly on. It was probably five minutes later when he finally closed the last book and selected one that he was fairly certain he'd be able to pay for, feeling a bit awkward as he turned back around. After all, Mr Zeller still wasn't back, which would mean he'd need to either leave the book and come back, or he'd need to talk to her. He really disliked small talk conversation, but it was cold and he really didn't have anything else he needed to do, so he turned around and glanced at the desk. "Well, I think I'm going to try this one, unless your Father has a better suggestion," he placed the brown leather volume down on the desk and shifted his weight slightly, falling quiet with an awkward uncertainty of what precisely to say. She had spent the time he had spent browsing finishing her mug of tea, idly flipping through a volume on Thestral breeding she had found earlier. She thought it would make a nice gift for Paul, if she could remember to put it aside for his birthday. Books were always appreciated in the Zeller household, which made gift-giving easy. With Paul she always tried to find something relevant but slightly wacky, in the hope that he would at least get a smile out of it. She found her brother entirely too given to seriousness. When Severus returned, she completely ignored his awkwardness and slid the book across the desk, flipping it open and beginning to read over the introduction. Maybe it made him uncomfortable, but she never let a book go by without seeing what it contained. This one had stuff that might have seemed basic to Severus, but was way beyond her level of comprehension. She had stopped Potions at the OWLs level, and he was clearly more advanced than that. "Oh, well, I am not the audience for this one." Severus smiled a little bit. It was silly, perhaps, but the fact that he could understand most of what was in the book, and it was clearly too advanced to her, was making him feel a bit better. Not much, admittedly because even if it was too advanced for her and he could understand it, he'd still done poorly on his exam. "Well, I suppose we each have to have a specialty," he shrugged a trifle uncertainly and shifted on his feet again. He was silent for an awkward moment and then added. "So what is yours Miss Zeller? Obviously you don't work here in your father's shop all the time or I'd have seen you before." "I work for the Ministry," she explained, "I'm a translator, actually." It was clear from the tone of her voice that she was rather proud of her work, and took it seriously. Fortunately she lacked that pompous tone that some Ministry employees affected because they thought their jobs made them more important than everyone else. She closed the book and slid it back toward him. "And you? I'm terribly sorry, I know I should know your name but I can't remember it." "Oh," Severus said, automatically a little impressed. A month ago he might have been less so, but considering that Evan's tutor had been putting him through French lessons with enough vigor to make his head hurt, he was more impressed now. It had been easier to learn Latin when he was a boy than French was proving to be now. He retrieved the book from her grasp and laid his hand on it as he nodded. "That seems like it would be rather important, really," he said quietly. "I've been trying to learn French for a bit now, so I'm certainly impressed by people who can pick up languages - er, I'm assuming you know several anyway." "And I'm Severus Snape," he said. "I think we might have both been at Hogwarts at the same time - at least for some of our years. What house were you in?" "Well, it's not that impressive. My father speaks several, and he always made sure we did as well. Things like that are easy to pick up when you're young. And then the other romance languages came easier afterward," she explained, her modesty genuine. "Why are you trying to learn Frence?" she asked, curious. She always wanted to know what compelled people to become fellow francophiles. "Amalie. I was a Hufflepuff, and I think you were a Slytherin? What are you doing now?" Severus nodded. That much was true. it had been much easier to pick up some of the things he'd attempted when he was a younger boy than it was proving now. of course, Latin had been all reading and writing, and no speaking - and it did make a bit of a difference it seemed. "Well," his cheeks felt suddenly hot and he wasn't certain he wanted to admit that it was for a girl. "I've got friends who know the language," he shrugged again. "So, I thought perhaps it would be nice to attempt to learn it well enough that they could speak it to me if they wanted to and I wouldn't completely have no idea what they were saying." Amalie. Amalie Zeller. He tucked the name away for future reference - mostly because one never knew when knowing people would come in handy and clearly she was occasionally in the shop. "I was in Slytherin," he nodded and thankfully Amalie didn't seem to be one of the people who would be put off by that fact. "And now I'm - " he glanced down at the book. "Well, I'm doing several things, really. I work part time at Brookstanton Memorial Library, I've been helping to put things back together again after the fire and so forth. And then I work part time for Master Jigger - I'm working towards a Potion Mastery," he nodded his head at the book in front of him. "Thus the light reading," he smirked slightly. "I just passed an exam," even if only barely, "So I've got to start working on the second part of the apprenticeship." She lit up a bit at his admission, "I think that's really admirable, that you want to understand your friends. So many English speakers just don't bother to make the effort, thinking it's their right to have the lingua franca. A large part of my job at first was translating simple things to send to other offices that no one could figure out how to do on their own. It's really sad, the dearth of international thinking in this country." She wouldn't be assume he was evil for being a Slytherin if he wouldn't assume she was dumb for being a Hufflepuff. It seemed a fair trade, to her. She leaned back in her chair, looking at him with that direct, undistracted manner she had that people sometimes found unsettling. Still, he seemed comfortable enough. "Congratulations. On both accounts. You seem to be quite the upstanding member of the community." Severus laughed shortly and ducked his head. Upstanding member of the community hardly seemed like a term he would apply to himself and it hardly seemed like a term that most people would apply to him - well maybe Mr Mulciber, he supposed. But even the Inner Circle - well, such terms came only when he was completely successful and if he couldn't provide them with information about Lily then that would certainly lessen their opinions of him. That thought sobered him, at least internally, as he was brought back to one of the things that he had been trying to escape by coming in here. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind and glanced up at her. "Well, thank you," he said aloud, "But I think that might be a bit too much praise. I'm just -" What was he trying to do? He'd thought that joining the Death Eaters would assist him in being a better member of the Wizarding Community, but he couldn't help but think of the werewolf attacks and wonder just what the break-in in the ministry had had to do with the recent attacks at Hogsmeade. "I'm just trying to get by and do something useful, I suppose. Like anyone. In the scheme of things, translating for the ministry seems much more useful all told. What sorts of things do you end up translating?" "I think they're both equally important. Disseminating knowledge is always needed by society, and the fact that you're helping repair the library says a lot about you." She tucked her hair behind her ear, stopping herself. She simply meant to commend him but she didn't want to get too over-the-top. Books were one of the rare things she could be chatty about with someone she didn't know well, but she didn't want to make him uncomfortable. "Now, mostly legal documents, sometimes agreements, things like that. Rarely correspondence, anymore." Severus could agree with that. It was the part of him that could have been Ravenclaw - his love for knowledge and reading and logical thought. Of course, it was knowledge as it would be potentially able to assist him, not just knowledge for knowledge's sake which is where his likelihood of being sorted into Ravenclaw broke down altogether. He nodded at her comments, realizing that he was a bit tired, and putting his bag down on the floor so that he could lean against the edge of the desk. It was a bit more casual, but he had decided that probably, anyway, she wouldn't bite. "I happened to think what happened at the Library was just simply awful," he said, pushing another hair back behind his ear. "I don't understand what people would go about destroying, not just books, but I mean -the one place in the library that actually contains essential and irreplaceable volumes and that's where they choose to blow it up?" He shook his head. "It's practically unforgivable, really." He looked up at her wondering what it would be like to translate legal things all day long - or even other people's correspondence. "Do you like it then?" She had often wondered why the Hat had seen fit to sort her into Hufflepuff and not Ravenclaw, despite her great love of learning. She thought of herself as a loyal person but wouldn't count it as her prominent trait, but then again, the thought of determining someone's future based on their personality at eleven years old was a bit silly. And she thought people were too complex to be given a defining characteristic anyway. Still, she had loved Hufflepuff, and wouldn't trade it, so who was she to complain? "It is unforgivable. Knowledge doesn't belong to one person, and no one has the right to deprive others of their access to it. People who think they do are too arrogant for words." Not to mention her well-developed distaste for anyone who saw fit to act outside the law. Society's lived and died by their legal systems, and people who acted against the Ministry were as good as saying they wanted to overturn Wizarding society, in her opinion. "I like it quite a bit. My favorite jobs are translating research for use in briefings and such." Severus smiled slightly and glanced down. He had suspicions of what had gone on, obviously - enough of what he'd heard behind Death Eater wards to figure that the vigilantes he was supposed to be researching had been involved and very likely Death Eaters as well. He wondered which ones, precisely had been involved in causing the damage he was cleaning up now. He rather thought the Inner Circle ought to have commanded them to go volunteer. It would have perhaps made them appreciate a bit more what they had damaged - and they had damaged Wizarding society. In Severus' opinion they had caused more harm than good that night, but he was beginning to wonder if that wasn't what was becoming a bit more par for course. "It seems like it might be interesting," he said quietly. "Like you'd get to know a lot of things that most people wouldn't ever read or even think to care about. Do you think you'll always do that, or would you want to use your translating skills elsewhere?" "That's one way to look at it, and it certainly helps. I really thoroughly enjoy research and writing, so it's kind of ideal. I don't know if I would ever go elsewhere, though--I understand this field best, and translating for another Department might not be as enjoyable. I also might not get as much freedom. But maybe, if I keep working hard, I'll be promoted out? Who knows." She tapped her finger against the Thestral's book, not sure what to do with her hands. When she was sitting, she was pretty much always reading or writing, so having nothing to do made her nervous, even if she wasn't generally a restless person. "It sounds like it'd be nice enough," he nodded. He understood enjoying research and writing, and he understood liking a job - even if it wasn't the most spectacular of jobs in the world. He'd rather begun to feel that way about the library after all. "Sorry," he added. "Am I bothering you, I mean, if you have reading or whatever, I could just have you put my name on this and I could come back in a bit when your Father gets back?" He actually wasn't entirely minding talking to her, which was somewhat unusual in and of itself, because typically conversation with strangers was taxing and frustrating, and while this was, he supposed, a bit taxing, it wasn't like it frequently was. In fact, for a moment or two, he'd almost forgotten that he didn't really know her very well at all. so, he didn't feel desperately that he should leave, but on the other hand, he didn't want to bother her or keep her from her own reading or research. "No, of course you're not bothering me. I, too, am waiting for my father to return and you are being kind enough to allow me to prattle on. I am afraid on the subject of books I can be quite verbose. Though I assume, working in a library, you are frequently encountering people afflicted with this condition?" she said, smiling a bit. She wondered what it was actually like to work in a library. She had the fantasy version that it was all intellectual discourse and philosophical debate all day in a rarefied atmosphere, but she knew that couldn't be true. Father certainly seemed to get his share of annoying customers, and even stupid people could read. How often must they be inundated with questions with no point, vague descriptions, and rude people? She supposed that was one of the top benefits of her job--the only people she was required to interact with were her coworkers. She never had to listen to an outsiders opinion on what she was translating. "You're not prattling on," Severus said quickly, and then he ducked his head, smiling a little. "I mean, prattling on would indicate that I have absolutely no interest in what you're saying, when it in fact rather interesting. And I can go on and on about books," he added, tapping his finger on the one he meant to purchase. "So I'm always extremely sympathetic to anyone who tends to have the same ability. Well, perhaps not that little lady the other day that kept going on about romance novels, but fortunately, I mostly work with repairing them and I was able to send her on to someone else." Caoimhe, in point of fact, although he was fairly certain Caoimhe hadn't been pleased to deal with her either. The thought of Caoimhe sobered him slightly and he wondered if he shouldn't try something more than what he was doing. "But, I suppose even when most of your companions are water damaged and smoked out books, you do occassionally run into people." "You probably don't much though, do you? Or do you translate speeches and things as well as written things?" "I try to tell myself that at least Romance Novels means she reads, but it's not terribly reassuring," she said, tucking her hair behind one ear. Of course, it was hypocritical to bemoan the decline in literacy and then begrudge people their less-than-cerebral book choices, but no matter. She supposed reading books that had no intellectual value were okay, as long as they were an occasional diversion and not one's sole source of reading material. "Sometimes, if it's urgent and needs to be understood immediately. But usually there is a translation provided within a few hours. I have occasionally gone to conferences or meetings to provide simultaneous translation, but that's usually a more senior job. I'm not quite as good at it, I need more practice." She felt they had been talking about her entirely too long. "So, what exactly does one do with their Potions Mastery?" Severus was, of course, perfectly happy to continue talking about her. Talking about him was, well, less than interesting, he thought. Right now his life felt like it was a mess. Everything he touched seemed to be turning to sand under his fingertips and he genuinely felt as if he were walking a very thin tightrope across a very long canyon, but he couldn't really dismiss her question, and he supposed at least the Potions Mastery wasn't particularly personal. He could deal with that, couldn't he? "Well, I suppose there are a lot of things you could do," he said with a quiet shrug. "Research among them, but probably the most obvious is to work in or run an apothecary. one could do instruction as well - although I don't know that teaching holds much interest for me. Too many people," he smirked slightly. "But um, the apothecary thing - maybe. Someday I might have my own shop, or alternatively research - although that's a bit more complicated, cause someone has to pay for it - so you're either working for the ministry, I don't know, maybe Department of Mysteries, or St Mungo's or you are privately backed," he bit off his sentence and smirked. "And now who is rambling on? But I suppose you asked for it." And at least with the potions he could pretend that the rest of his life wasn't falling apart around him. He could pretend that it was going precisely how it had always intended, and maybe if he continued working hard enough - it would do so. "It's okay to ramble. I'm learning about something I had no idea about." She began to tap her fingers again, thinking about what he had said. She had never really thought about Potions as a dynamic field. They were something you learned from a book and tried to get right and hope they didn't explode. But she supposed that was silly--all those potions had to have come from somewhere, and they weren't all invented at the same time. In fact, they were probably the exact opposite of Ancient Runes, which had been one of her favourite subjects. Still, she couldn't help but be a little amazed that people actually came up with these things. It seemed incredibly hard work, judging which ingredients in what precise proportion would have the effect you wanted. And how did you test that without... you know, maybe accidentally killing someone? "The research bit sounds fascinating, if not... a little terrifying. I would never have the confidence to try and come up with something, but then again, I was always rubbish at Potions." "Really?" Severus supposed you never could tell who was going to be good at something or not. "It's not that much - I mean, I suppose it could be, but potions is... it's precise. Like, most of the ingredients interact in specific ways, and if you know what those are you can mostly predict what they'll do. Although, granted not entirely." He grinned almost cockily - certainly with more confidence than Severus Snape usually showed to anyone. "And I suppose that's what keeps them a little bit interesting. I mean, don't get me wrong - part of the reason I like them is because they are precise and I can predict what they'll do - but if I could entirely predict it..." he shrugged. "I guess if you could entirely predict it, you could make pretty much any potion, even new ones without much trouble, but in principle they interact with rules." He stopped and bit his lower lip. she didn't seem to be tuning him out, which was probably a good sign. Even if she hadn't been very good at potions. "What did you like? I mean, at school - if you were rubbish at potions. Which, by the way, unless you blew up the cauldron at least once a week like this kid in my class did first year, you probably weren't rubbish." She was interested, because it was making her think about something she had never given much thought to before. Perhaps the probably with Potions was that she had never thought to see it as a sort of math--she had a knack for that kind of thinking. It's why she was talented at Runes and Arithmancy, because they were nothing more than codes and deciphering. Language as well, when you got down to it. It she had thought about Potions that way, instead of worrying about following the instructions slavishly (and wanting to impress Slughorn) she might have done better at it. "Interesting," she said, her tone sincere. "I liked Arithmancy. Runes. History of Magic. I did a lot of independent studying, in languages at least. And trust me, I was rubbish, but probably because I was going about it all wrong." Severus nodded. "I liked History of Magic - I mean, I didn't take it on to NEWT level, but just in general - I always enjoyed reading about stuff that's happened before. There's something, I don't know - not really relaxing, but rather, I like that you can look at what people previous have done and learn from them. Even if we tend to sometimes keep repeating things over - you'd think people would learn, but it seems like in the end we keep on doing things that aren't very smart. I wasn't so great with Runes though - I struggled through it cause there are potions - particularly more advanced ones - where there's some overlap, but I always felt like I did very badly with it." He looked up at her and gave her a smile. "Apparently we should have been in the same year - I could have helped you with your potions and you could have helped me with Ancient Runes." "That's exactly what I liked about it. So many people never looked passed how boring Binns could be and so they never listened to the material. Our history is so interesting and most children can't talk about anyone besides who they know from Chocolate Frog cards. Unfortunately, that's probably why we keep repeating things. That's probably why were in this mess, yet again." "You could have always asked me to be your tutor," she teased. Severus grinned and shook his head. "You're too pretty to be my tutor," he said almost without thinking. And of course as soon as he realised that's what he'd said, he felt his cheeks heat up and he looked down, quickly rushing back to the history topic and hoping that she hadn't noticed. "But I think you're right. People just got bored with Binns droning on and on so they thought history was boring and really, it's not. I mean, it's people's lives isn't it? Behind all of the dates and births and obituaries, people lived and loved and you know - they pushed it all forward." She was surprised by his compliment, and from the look on his face, so was he. Still, it was a nice thing to say, and she definitely smiled. She didn't thank him, though, because it seemed like he would like for it to go unacknowledged, given how quickly he changed the subject. "That's the way I think of it. When I think of all the things that had to happen, all the weird coincidences, decisions, failures, triumphs, that all had to happen in the exact right order for me to be here today, it's... a little awe-inspiring." "It is at that," he said, relieved that she hadn't mentioned anything about his bungle. Honestly, who told a girl they'd just met that she was pretty - unless you were attempting to pick her up, which Severus obviously wasn't - because, well, he just didn't pick women up. "At least there are Chocolate Frog cards," he grinned slightly. "If it weren't for that probably nobody would ever remember anything at all." "Well, I'm sure Merlin would still be talked about, but that's not too much." She agreed with a laugh, looking up as the bell over the door tinkled and her father entered. Standing, she crossed the room and planted a kiss on his cheek. "I had better leave you two to your business, then. Time for me to get back to work." Severus nodded and turned his head as Mr Zeller entered, straightening up as he did so. "Nice to meet you," Severus told her with a smallish smile and then he turned his attention to her Father. It had been a pleasant enough diversion, all things considered, and he supposed he would have to watch for her name in the journals. |