Chapter 7: Unexpected letters

Narcissa seemed to hesitate for a second before answering.

"Well, that, I, it seemed like, well, we really aren't very well," she said awkwardly. "The relationship is nice as always, well, but we have our misunderstandings like everyone else, the war isn't helping, but we still love each other like the first day."

"Yes, yes, I can imagine," Severus said. "Narcissa, I truly wish you both the best, I will always be grateful to you for everything you did for me these years, and if there is anything I can help you with don't hesitate to tell me."

"I - ah - " Narcissa didn't know what to say, since when did Severus Snape behave so friendly, where is the cold, direct, hard, and dark man she knows?

"Narcissa, come on," Severus said softly. "We've known each other for years. You should know that you can always count on me for something like this, I may have always been a bit closed off, but as I said, I'm looking to turn over a new leaf."

Narcissa nodded, completely bewildered. She heard a queer ringing in her ears and wondered dizzily if she was under an enchantment of some sort.

"Besides, I, well, I wanted to tell you that I consider you a good friend," said Severus

"Severus" Narcissa was very surprised by everything that was going on, Severus was completely changed, it wasn't his physical appearance, no, he still looked the same as before, neither did his voice or his eyes change, what changed was his attitude, the way he spoke, how social and kind he was being, how sincere and grateful his words sounded made Narcissa couldn't believe she wasn't sounding or talking to a completely different person.

For a moment, Narcissa could only stare at him. Severus had to be under some magical effect, either from a potion or a spell. This was completely unreal. The idea that Severus, was behaving like this was delusional, all of this had to be the work of some magic.

She had known him since her first year, he was always witty and very talented, but he also acted very distant in front of her, whenever he could he avoided her, Severus was so strange, unlike most who feigned interest and sought to talk or look good with her, he was always sincere, hard and cold with her, well, as he was with everyone, but she liked that about the little Slytherin, he was genuine unlike the others, he could be strange, dark and even a bit unpleasant the first time you met him, but once you spent time with him, you could see that he had a lot of potential, not only in potions or the dark arts as Lucius thought, he had the talent to be someone important and powerful, but the poor boy was blinded by that muggleborn, he was not progressing because of his obsession, he was stuck in something that Narcissa from day one knew would never work.

Lily Evans might be a muggleborn but she was no different from other girls her age, sooner or later she would start to be interested in other boys who surely had everything Severus didn't and Narcissa was convinced that Severus was going to suffer from it sooner or later, because she was a girl and she knew what every girl was looking for, and Severus could be very special, but he was not the kind of man that a teenage girl would date, she preferred men like Lucius over men like Severus, but that did not mean that she was not worried about the future of young Severus, she could see the love he had for the muggleborn, but sooner or later he would start to become obsessed with thinking of nothing else but her.

Now Narcissa could say that she was not wrong in her thoughts, but perhaps all that suffering that she thought was going to destroy Severus and that it was better to avoid it, ended up being the best thing for him, since it made him change, and change for the better, much better from what she noticed now. This was a very good thing and Narcissa was happy for Severus, she always considered him a friend, with him she could be genuine and at the same time receive a sincere answer from him, he was not looking for anything from her, so she came to appreciate his advice and help in potions or other subjects because she knew that he did it without looking for anything in return from her, neither her favor, nor to call her attention, nothing, Severus was not interested in her and that was a breath of fresh air for Narcissa, she knew it was due to his obsession with the muggleborn Lily Evans and that bothered her a little, after all, Narcissa always had very good self-esteem and noticing that Severus did not even give her a glance was difficult for her, but she was happy that it was so because that made him what she considered a true friend.

"Thank you, Severus, I also consider you a very good friend and I am very glad to see that you have managed to overcome everything for the better."

After continuing to chat for a few moments Narcissa already had to go to the Ministry, so she said a warm goodbye to Severus, then slipped through the Pub and slipped through the doors that led to the fireplaces connected to the flu network, her long white muslin dress whispering behind her.

When Narcissa left Severus proceeded to finish his breakfast and read one of the letters that had come to him.

"Now...this is strange, I didn't usually get mail from anyone other than Lily or some of the Slytherins in her house, but this time I had two letters, one coming from Gringotts and the other coming from abroad, so it couldn't be from either of them unless one of them had traveled outside of Britain recently," Severus thought.

He opened the Gringotts one first.

When he opened the envelope the first thing he read was: "Mr. Severus T. Snape. Acceptance of emancipation proceedings."

"Oh ... a pleasant surprise, it seems they finally accepted my petition for emancipation, so it seems I am currently emancipated which gives me a lot of freedom as a member of the magical and muggle community, after the death of my parents, I decided not to tell anyone at Hogwarts of the event and do on my own the emancipation paperwork at Gryngotts along with the British Ministry of Magic, I had discovered that apparently it was not that difficult to process it since I did not have any direct relatives alive since the Christmas vacations and I already met all the minimum requirements for the emancipation process, which were to be older than 16 years old, I was also taking advantage of the fact that the British magical world is in chaos because of the Dark Lord and his mortifagi, which makes it easier to do the paperwork for this kind of things, the British Ministry of Magic doesn't have time for this kind of paperwork at the moment, As long as you have the papers in order and meet the conditions, it is approved right away, and Gryngotts, as long as they have a new bank account for an adult wizard, they don't have any problems."

"Well, now that the good news I wanted so much has arrived, let's see what this letter from abroad is."

Quickly Severus took the letter that had a high-quality red sealing wax seal that said SWI and opened it.

"This?...., SWI?..., Eh?, Salem Witches' Institute, Salem Potions College Summer program? Oh, now I get it, I remembered, I had applied to the Salem Potions College summer program which is a branch of the Salem Witches' Institute as a challenge from Lily at the beginning of my fifth year, if I remember correctly, it was just a joke between the two of us, as it was an all-girls institute and supposedly the potions school within the institute was one of the best in the world when it came to potions research and study, Lily had jokingly challenged me to send a letter seeking to apply, I accepted and ended up sending some of the improvements I had made to the potions recipes in the Hogwarts potions book. It was just a silly challenge that we both laughed about for a while, nothing serious. Wait, this..." while Severus was remembering the situation he had gone through with Lily he suddenly thought of something that made him change his mind about this prank, as it could be something more than that if he wasn't mistaken, so he read the letter more carefully.

---------------Letter from SWI - SCoP---------------

Salem Witches' Institute.

Office of Admissions, Salem College of Potions(SCoP).

June 17, 1976

Dear Mr. Severus T. Snape:

It is with great pleasure that Salem College of Potions accepts your application to study for the next session of this summer's specialized potions program lasting 2 months (June 24 - August 24, 1976).

The members of the Admissions Committee were very impressed by your application and were especially interested in the methodology you employed in developing your improvements to the well-known and often tested potion recipes you included with your application.

Should you apply to the summer program given by our school, we can assure you that our institute has much to offer you in advancing your knowledge in potion making, as well as many renowned specialists and experts with whom you can collaborate and exchange ideas; likewise, we believe that our institute and professionals in charge have much to gain from your creative efforts in potion-making.

As a reminder, while you are enrolled here, we will measure your performance in the Salem Potions College summer program along with that of 47 other outstanding potion-making students from around the world who attend this program, if your performance is optimal you will be eligible to apply for a full scholarship for a mid-term transfer to our SWI (Salem Witches' Institute) to continue your studies at SCoP (Salem College of Potions) at the beginning of the fall term when we offer qualified students in the sixth (6th) and seventh (7th) year of their magical education the opportunity to remain at SCoP to complete their secondary-level studies alongside our students, while also earning college credit at the same time.

Successful completion of the SCoP summer program is the equivalent of the British Ministry of Education's N.E.W.T. Potions exams. (In the United States, we refer to the magical exit exams as H.S.P.P.s: the Professional Level Tests).

Typically students participating in this program are about to enter their seventh (7th) year of their magical education or have already completed their magical education and are graduates with a major in the field of potion-making who are looking to extend their knowledge of potion-making.

Our offices often use an assistant liaison with the Consulate of the country of the foreign student enrolling in the SCoP summer program to ensure that the summer program exam scores are transferred correctly in your country, but since your case is special and unique, as you are about to enter your sixth (6th) year of magical education and this program should be advanced for you, SCoP has arranged with the Consulate of the country of your country to ensure that your summer program exam scores are transferred correctly in your country, the SCoP has agreed with the board of the Salem Witches' Institute to make an exception in your particular case, the SWI will communicate to the Education Office, which is the division responsible for the supervision of magical schools around the world, that since your performance meets and exceeds the usual standards for entry into the summer program, the SCoP would make use of an assistant who will arrange with the British Consulate, to make sure that the H. S.P.P. scores from the summer program are converted correctly and without fail to your country's equivalent, thus validating your N.W.T.S in potions despite your young age, it can be considered a benefit given to you by our institution for your participation at an early age to our summer program which is usually only for students older than you and it is also a sign of our interest in your participation in the program given by our SCoP.

You should know that in our institution we highly value creative efforts along with the very achievements of young wizards, your efforts and excellent creative achievements in potion-making are one of the qualities we look for and value in SCoP.

On a lighter note, the mid-term break in this year's program will be given earlier to coincide with the celebration of America's Independence Day (July 4-10). As you are no doubt aware, 1976 marks our nation's Bicentennial, and Sunday, July 4, 1976, marks the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

There will be several events, contests, and performances that you and your relatives are invited to attend both on and off-campus.

We are also pleased to report that as SCoP has the honor of being recognized throughout the magical world as the best magical school for potioneers, President Fischer of the Magical Congress of the United States, the leader of the magical world in the United States and the highest-ranking member of the Magic Congress of America Society (MACUSA) has given us the important task of holding an exhibition of ancient potions from the Native American magical community who were particularly gifted in potion making, Native American potions were, in particular, one of the sophistication beyond what was known in Europe, so we have to meet the expectations of the American magical community, in addition, our SCoP is also the venue responsible for evaluating and awarding the best-invented potion, created by those potioneers who submit a new potion made by them, in the contest held on July 10.

To register for the contest held by our SCoP for potioneers, you only need to submit the creation of your invented potion along with the written specifications of the potion first thing on July 10th at the SCoP main campus, then the award ceremony will take place a few hours after the end of the registration period and only when the judges (world-renowned potioneers or professional brewer) invited to attend by our Institution to evaluate the potions, have finished examining and scoring the potions submitted by the young potionists, the results of the contest will be given together with the details of the winners' potions that will be shown to the public present.

Regarding the full scholarship with an optional transfer, you will be awarded according to your performance in the program, but given your knowledge in the subject, we have no doubt that you will be able to obtain it and we hope you can and will accept to attend as a new student of our SCoP at the SWI.

We want to make it clear that even though SWI is only for female witches, it is often forgotten that our institution has many schools within it, which each SWI student may choose to attend according to their interest or ability, our SCoP is part of those schools and although it is also only for women like most SWI schools, in SCoP this is only true in the first years (from 1st year to 5th year), The Salem Witches Institute and SCoP are pleased to say that we allow and encourage all students from abroad or other institutions in the country who excel in potion making to enter as transfer students to our institution in the final years of SCoP, allowing them to see and compare their studies and knowledge with the level of our students, this is because we seek to encourage the development, competition and interaction between the final year students in our institution, and SCoP contributes in this search by giving a summer program in which scholarships are awarded to all those talented and creative students, in order to introduce and share knowledge of students from all over the magical world in a single magical institution with the help of our SCoP.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Magic, as well as the entire United States, is laying out the welcome mat for all the outstanding magical students of the world.

Attached below you will find all necessary documentation, which includes: parent/guardian permission forms in case you are underage; room and board requests; and a complete list of required supplies and textbooks. In addition, highly recommended, but not required, are the following items of clothing for our potions students: two (2) protective spelled robes, and one (1) pair of protective gloves and boots. (Dragonhide is the industry's preferred safety standard).

Please send your completed paperwork and any questions to: SWI Dean, Summer Program, Salem College of Potions.

Respectfully yours,

Helen Stacy

SWI Potions Mistress

Dean, Summer Program

Salem College of Potions

---------------Fin Letter SWI - SCoP-------------------