Surprise!

[sightlesswolf]

Date: Sunday, January 7, 2001
Time: Early afternoon
Location: The Woods' cottage
Characters: June Connors, Oliver Wood, Wini Wood (NPC), Severus Snape
Rating: G - there's a child present! (Well, now that Snape's involved, I should probably push that to at least PG...)

Comments

[subtle_simmer]

Severus was, obviously, quite fond of this infant, for whatever reason. It had happened quite by accident, honestly, but happened it had, so there you are.

Said fondness, however, did NOT extend to wishing to 'share' toddler-saliva, no matter how sweetly the 'offer' was made!

He did a tolerable job of concealing his grimace of disgust though, and the sweet, being quite large, was enough to conceal the truth as he pantomimed 'tasting' the treat.

"Mmmm, very tasty - well done, Winifred. You made your first potion."

Of course, nothing which ever came out of his cauldrons bore any resemblance to sweets, but the point of this exercise was to interest her in the art. She had many years to slowly learn the true beauty of the intricacies of potions.

He settled her on his lap for a few minutes while she rapturously became a sticky, gooey mess - the lollipop's being far too big to fit entirely into her mouth did not prevent her making repeated efforts at doing so, which meant in very short order her entire face was covered in sticky, pink toddler-spit.

Which naturally meant that this was a perfect time for Severus to leave and allow June her pleasant visit with the Woods' without his presence. Whatever they could have been discussing outside the door all this time was beyond him, but he didn't mind. The quarter of an hour or so had been well-spent.

Glancing toward the door as if now afraid of being 'caught', he squeezed his arms slightly around the child where she sat on his lap. NOT a HUG, of course! Surely not! He then gently deposited her on her feet.

"I must go home now, Winifred. Your 'Da' will help you make another potion later, I'm sure."

If she begged him as persistently as she seemed to do everything else! The kit was so simple, not even Longbottom could screw up the directions, so he had no fear that there would be many more sweets-making episodes now.

"I will see you at Hogwarts now and then, I'm sure. Do you remember my name? Snape."

'Severus' was much too hard for a child to pronounce, and as he wasn't (yet) her 'Professor', he wouldn't expect her to be able to say that yet, either.