"Keep some on hand in case they keep the whole sample. Brilliant!" Severus was already at the cabinet, jumping to reach his favorite iron stirring rod from the top shelf. "Just do the preparations as perfectly as before. Whatever you did before...whatever you were thinking before as you did the slicing... Oh, actually, write it down just in case that matters."

Severus stood as he conjured the cauldron to heat up, wrist graceful in the way he could manipulate the magical matrices of currents for simple spells without the focusing device of a wand. His fingers twitched lightly and the base water filled the cauldron to the proper levels.

He sat heavily beside Remus, and blinked at the other boy. "What's wrong with you now?" He sometimes forgot his rudeness levels.