Disclaimer: I don't own HP... Crap, I really wish I did!

Thank you to all of you who continue to read and review and special thanks to my BETA, Sindie.

Also I know it has been quite a while since I updated but as I stated in the prrevious chapter mine and my BETA's lifes are pretty hectic at the moment and sometimes it doesn't get done and posted quite as quickly as we would like, so thank you so much for your undersatnding.

Chapter Fifty

The Flamels

The flash of green flame vanished, and his eyes slowly came into focus, and he suddenly found himself looking at a grinning witch in light blue robes.

"You must be Severus," the woman, who appeared to be in her sixties or so, greeted him.

"Yes, ma'am," Severus replied politely.

"No need for formality; you can call me, Perenelle." She smiled, motioning Severus out of the fireplace. "Nicholas is in his study; come, I will take you to him."

"Thank you."

Severus followed Perenelle through the main room, which was decorated heavily with pictures, and odd knick-knacks. Of course, living as long as they had, Severus wasn't surprised by the amount of décor they had collected over the centuries. As they walked down a long hall, there were crowded pictures displayed along the light blue walls, each representing an important person or moment in the Flamels' life. Passing three closed doors, they finally stopped at the fourth.

The door was slightly ajar, and Severus could hear some sort of ticking sound coming from inside the room. As the door was pushed open, his eyes beheld a room full of trinkets and contraptions; in a way, it reminded him of Dumbledore's office, but not as organized, and without the large ornamental desk in the center of the room.

"Oh, Severus." Flamel looked up from a thick and rather old-looking book he had been glancing through and smiled at his apprentice. "You're here, wonderful."

Closing the book, he stood from his chair and walked around the side of the small table where he had been sitting.

"Well, I will leave you two to get better acquainted," Perenelle said. "I'll send Fisher in with some tea shortly." With a kind smile to Severus and a wink to her husband, she left the two wizards to chat.

"Come," Flamel said, motioning Severus farther into the room. "Let's sit by the fire, shall we?"

The older wizard sat down in a large, leather chair, which Severus noted looked extremely old, so much in fact that it was patched in several places. He then sat in a much newer, yet quite comfortable, armchair across from him.

"I always like to get to know the people I work with a little better before I collaborate on a project with them."

Severus' brow creased. He was a private man by nature, and the phrase "get to know" concerned him.

Flamel couldn't help but laugh at the expression of young Mr. Snape's. "Do not worry, Severus. I don't expect you to go into in depth concerning your personal life; I just want to know a little about your goals, specifically pertaining to your desire to help you sister, but also your plans for the future. What field you plan to go into, for example?"

Severus took a sigh of relief. "Oh, okay."

"With your skills, you are open to a large variety of possibilities."

Severus knew this to be a true statement; but of course, he planned, as he had in his previous life, to stay in the potions field, just not as a teacher.

With a sudden "pop," a small house-elf in a red smock appeared with a tray of tea and cupcakes.

"Ah, thank you, Fisher." Nicholas smiled at the elf as it placed the tray on the small table in front of the two wizards.

"You are welcome. Is the master needing anything else?" the elf asked politely.

"No, that will be all for now." With a quick bow, the tiny creature disappeared with a pop. "To start off, why don't you give me a summary of what subjects interest you most and why? Then we can move into more specifics concerning your projects."

"Okay," Severus said, and then after taking a sip of his own tea, he went on to recap the two main projects he was currently working on, both of which were inspired by people he cared about. Well, he didn't really care about Petunia all that much, but he loved Lily, and he knew how much it hurt her to see her sister suffer.

"Passion often drives one's most noted success," Flamel said, giving the young wizard a kind smile. "Is there anything else you have been working on, or even a potential idea?

Idea? Severus had more ideas than he knew what to do with. In his past life, he had notebook after notebook filled with lists of possible spells and potions. Very few, however, ever came to fruition.

"I have a few," he admitted vaguely.

"Oh. Like what?"

Severus went through a mental list, deciding which ones would be most prudent to reveal. "Currently, I am brewing a strong pain reliever to help my friend who suffers from Lycanthropy, but I would like to explore other options for it as well. Victims of the Cruciatus Curse, for example." Of course, Severus already knew quite well that it would, in fact, work for the Unforgivable, at least up to a point.

Flamel was quiet for quite some time, a contemplative look on his brow as his gaze studied the young man across from him. "So, you are saying that have successfully created and tested a pain potion so powerful it dulls the after-effects of a werewolf transformation."

Severus nodded and took a sip of his tea. "Yes."

The renowned wizard sat straighter in his seat and cleared his throat. "Are there any… side-effects?"

"No," Severus answered simply. "At least none that I am aware of, at this point."

In all his years, Nicholas had never come across a boy like Severus, so brilliant, yet so… reserved. In his experience, most people with such brilliance were very aware of the fact and had no issues with flaunting their intelligence, but this young man, this wizard… he just wanted to help. His friends, his family… such a selfless soul.

"Well, I would certainly love to hear more about your pain potion, but first," the older wizard said and placed his tea cup back on its saucer before rising from his seat, "I think a tour of my laboratory is in order."

"Of course," Severus said, standing as well. "Please, sir, lead the way."

XXX

It had been a long day. He had learned a lot; that was for certain, but still, as much as he enjoyed his first day as Master Flamel's apprentice, he was happy to be home. Of course, he was bombarded with questions from his parents as soon as he stepped through the Floo, and after he answered some of their questions vaguely, he then requested some time alone.

"I have soaked up a great deal of information today, and my mind and body are in need of some rest."

"Oh, of course, sweetheart," Eileen said, giving her son a sympathetic smile. "Why don't you get some rest, and I will call you down when dinner is ready."

"That's sounds wonderful, thank you."

XXX

Lily glanced at the clock on her bedside table; it was just half past four. Severus had been home for a half an hour now, and she was debating with herself whether it would be too early to call him. He was probably talking with his family or about to eat dinner, but she was anxious to hear how his first day had gone. Did he like it? Did he feel overwhelmed? Did Mr. Flamel like his ideas? Had they talked about ways to help Julia and Tuney?

With a sigh, she flopped down on the edge of her bed. Letting out a deeper sigh, she ran her hand through her hair, pulling it over her left shoulder. She decided that she would give it another half an hour, and if he didn't call her by five, then she would call him.

XXX

James decided to give genius boy a Floo call just to see how his first day had gone. He would have to drink a gallon of Pepper Up just to keep himself from nodding off. After all, who would actually enjoy spending the entire day with a nearly seven-hundred-year-old man doing nothing but research? Then again, this was Severus; sometimes he swore the guy was born middle-aged.

"Who are you?"

James was greeted by a tiny girl with bright blue eyes in a pink jumper, obviously one of Severus' sisters.

"I'm James, a friend of your big brother's."

The girl giggled before dashing out of the room, and a few seconds later, she returned with her mummy.

"Oh, hello, James." Eileen smiled politely. "How are you?"

"Just fine, thank you ,Mrs. Snape. Is Severus around?"

"Sev seeping," the girl said in a hushed voice.

Eileen smiled at her adorable little girl. "I'm afraid she's correct. He had a long day and needed a rest."

James couldn't help but smirk. Oh, poor Sevy needed a nap time, he thought. I am so going to use this to mess with him. "Oh, okay, will you tell him I called?"

"Of course, dear."

XXX

Nicholas sat by the fire, a million thoughts swirling though his mind. With every visit, Severus becomes more and more amazing to him. There is no doubt the boy is a genius, so much in fact he had a feeling he was downplaying his knowledge a bit. He could understand that; however, he didn't seem the type to enjoy attention, much like himself.

"Nicky, dinner's ready." He looked up at his wife and smiled before slowly rising from his seat.

"Thank you, dear; what are we having?" he asked as he followed her out of his study and down the hall.

"Roast beef. So, are you going to tell me what's on your mind, or do you wish me to guess?"

Nicholas gave a small laugh and shook his head. "I was thinking about my young apprentice," he said simply as they entered the dining room and sat at the table.

"Oh, how so?" she asked, sitting beside her husband, then placing a cloth napkin on her lap, and then picking up a fork and knife.

"I starting to wonder if the child is smarter than his teacher."

Perenelle laughed at his joke; that was, until she glanced at her husband's intense expression.

"You're serious, aren't you?"

Sighing, he nodded. "The boy answered every question I asked him with perfect accuracy, and when he replied that he did not know something or answered vaguely… I don't know, but he had this look in his eyes. I could tell he was holding something back. There were things he was unfamiliar with, mostly pertaining to alchemy, but, Perenelle… if his power and skill are half as good as his knowledge base, and according to what Albus has said, I think it is, then I have no doubt that Severus truly could be the next Merlin."

She smiled before adding, "And you will be known as his teacher."

Flamel laughed and shrugged. "What I desire to be is the man who teaches him the correct way to use his abilities. We have had too many powerful wizards corrupted in recent years, not that I believe Severus would ever go down a dark path, but then again, no one thought that of Tom Riddle, either."

XXX

Severus woke to the feeling of tiny fingers prying open his eyelids. With his eyes fully open, he found himself looking into the pretty face of his littlest sister. "Julia," he laughed, slowly sitting up. "What are you doing in here?"

She just giggled, pulling on his sleeve. "Okay, I get it, you want me up. All right." Picking up his sister, he gently placed her on the floor, and she took a couple of steps while holding onto the edge of her brother's bed, before plopping down on her bottom. "Don't worry, sweetie; you'll get the hang of walking soon enough."

Of course, he didn't know if that was actually true, but he hoped it was. Julia would take a few steps at a time outside of her walker; it wasn't much, but it was a start. She actually did better walking than crawling. When she crawled, she sort of pushed off with one leg and dragged the other. Picking up his sister, Severus placed her on his hip and headed downstairs.

"Well, there you are." Tobias smiled at his son as he descended the stairs; his expression, however, quickly turned to confusion when he noticed Julia in his arms. "Was Julia upstairs?"

"She was the one who woke me up; I thought you or Mum brought her up."

Tobias shook his head. "Your mum's in the kitchen making dinner. Julia fell asleep in the playpen," he said, motioning to the now empty playpen in the corner of the room. "Lina and Claudia are in the kitchen with your mum. How…?" Tobias scratched the back of his head as he looked between the empty pen and his baby girl, who was still in his son's arms. "She couldn't have gotten out…and even if she did… the stairs."

"Well," Severus said with a sigh as he placed his baby sis on the floor beside his feet, "it could have been her magic; she has used it before."

The Muggle's eyes widened as he looked down at his daughter, and he nodded. "Yes, I suppose I should have thought of that. Anyway," he said, and his gaze moved back to Severus, "your friend James fireplace called you while you were sleeping. Lily did as well, though on the phone, so you might want to call them back after dinner."

"Okay, I promised Lily I was going to call her after I got back; I guess I was just so tied, I forgot."

"It's okay, son; I'm sure she'll understand. Now, let's go see if your mother's nearly done with dinner. I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

Tobias picked up his daughter and headed toward the kitchen, and Severus followed.

A/N: Hope you like the chapter; if so, please leave a review. Next up, Sev's summer continues, more time with Flamel and a little with Lily. Plus, if I can fit it in, maybe a bit on how the rest of his friends are doing over the holiday.

I already have the next chapter done and sent to my BETA so as soon as I get it back I will post it as well.