Saturday, West and Hermione were at breakfast at their usual weekday time, although most students preferred to sleep in. When he saw Professor Snape get up from the table he shook her hand gently and smiled saying, "Lunch?"
"Oh, I'll be here alright," she said with a barely suppressed giggle.
Scooping his bag from the floor, he caught up with the Professor at the door. "Thank you for not keeping me waiting, Mr. Westinghouse. I'd like to get to my paper work promptly." West replied with a silent nod.
At the classroom West went straight to his desk and unpacked his gear. Snape watched with what he would have termed morbid curiosity, since no useful information can be gained from watching a Gryffindor. But his attention was drawn to the lab notebook when West opened it and began arranging the material and apparatus with frequent glances to the hand written notes.
"What is this? Why have you copied the set up and procedure from the text book?"
West smiled at the thought that even a great specialist like Snape could learn something new, but tried to make it look like he was just being civil. It took very little to set the man off and they would be working together for seven years.
"Running it through the output side of the brain as well as the input better imbeds it in the memory. Plus, it also makes me stop and ask myself, 'Do I REALLY understand?' Then, you'll note it doesn't quite match the book. There the illustration of the cauldron is a slightly out of date model. This way I'm not caught out if I have to adjust anything to accommodate."
"And to top it off, if I have to change anything during the experiment I can note that too and add any observations," West let a bit of pride creep into his voice and a smile. "And THAT'S how I make the repeat better than the first. As I go along I'll see what went wrong and correct it."
Snape was holding the book and thumbing through the pages. The boy had excellent observation and a skilled drawing hand. "You learned this at your Muggle school in The States?"
"Yes sir, in laboratory sciences such as physics, biology and chemistry. In particular the latter two as the experiments usually take up all available time and some materials aren't readily replaced." West thought to mention that he had actually taken these classes in the accelerated program in elementary school (thanks to his father's influence) but did not want to seem to be bragging.
Something caught the man's attention. Glancing to the open text book he said, "Here, where you say you stirred ten time deosil just like in the book, you may get better results stirring only five times but widdershins."
West was honestly surprised at this assistance. "Thank you sir, I'll make a note of that."
Snape made a few more suggestions, some changing what the book said, but some calling attention to things that must be done according to the book for a successful potion and returned to his desk where he busied himself with administrative paper work. In less time than the original lab took West was holding before Snape a crystal flask full of material identical to Hermione's.
Snape pulled the cork and sniffed. His talented nose could tell more in one sniff than anyone else in the school could tell in an hour of careful analysis. "Perfect. If you had turned this in yesterday you'd have gotten full credit and maybe even a few points." The boy beamed with pride. Doing a thing right meant more to him than getting the credit for it. Snape took out his magically self-winding pocket watch. "There is a half hour till lunch. What did you have planned for this afternoon?"
"Nothing, sir. I left it open in case the experiment had taken longer."
"How would you like to return after lunch and work on next week's potion?"
"Splendid, sir."
"You can leave your gear here. If you prepare your... notebook did you call it? As well for this, we can finish it before dinner and you can help me handle the students next Friday."
For only an instant West was stunned. Snape was not only helping him where before he'd been hindering, but wanted West to L.A. for him. "I would be honored, sir." West scooped up the notebook and quills and headed for the library to check up on a few things.
"Hi, honey. Uh, I mean buddy." West whispered to Hermione as he passed her in the library on his way to the potions section.
She left her work to follow him into the stacks. As he scanned the spines of likely looking tomes he noticed her out the corner of his eye and saw just barely restrain herself from putting her arms around him. Taking three promising volumes from the shelf, he turned to face her. "How's it been?" he whispered offering his right hand.
"Oh, fine. I've got a lot a material, especially on transfigurations." Her smile came perilously close to a giggle as she took his hand. "How are you getting along with Snape?"
His face took on a mock severity. "That's PROFESSOR Snape, sweetheart, err, Hermione." He almost laughed out loud. "As I expected, I was only a little off on a few points. Can you believe it? Snape actually gave me some useful advice and I made a first class job of it. When I had him critique my vial he said it was perfect. And get this! He said if I came back after lunch and worked on next week's potions, really now, he wants me to L.A. next Friday. Uh, that's American for Lab Assistant. He wants me to direct and advise the other first years."
Hermione was in awe. Snape had been doing everything he could think of to humiliate the Gryffindors and here he was bestowing high (to her way of thinking) honor on one of them.
West explained to her how impressed Snape had been with the concept of the lab notebook. She was rather taken with it herself so he told about it as he prepared the entry for that afternoon. By the time he had his notebook ready and they had put away her work, lunch was well under way.
Grabbing the last two chairs at the end of Gryffindor table they began scooping from the serving dish with only the briefest greetings to their table mates.
Ron looked particularly scruffy as if he'd been doing some make-up work of his own in broom practice. "So, having fun on your day off? Must be hollers, one of you cooped up in the library all day and the other imprisoned in a dungeon with Snape." His head shook to the ccompaniment of a small, bitter laugh.
Hermione and West glance to each other to silently ask, "Is that how you feel?" Their eyes answered, "Positively NOT!"
West managed to make it back to the dungeon with a full stomach just as Snape was sitting down. "Thank you for not keeping me waiting, Mr. Westinghouse." It was a line he seemed to be in the habit of using but the tone seemed to indicate he didn't really feel the contempt he had expected. "Do you have the notebook entry for the baldness cure ready?"
"Right here, sir," he said as he handed up the book.
"Yes, yes. Everything seems to be in order. Do you mind if I make copies of this for the class?"
"My pleasure, sir," the boy replied with a nod.
He made a casual wave of his wand over the book and said, "Duplicatus." There was a fussy glow about the book and a similar glow formed to right which solidified into a stack of papers. He sighed. "Well, it's not parchment, but will do." He handed back the bond original and West began.
After a time West asked, "Sir, is it supposed to be this color?"
Snape got up for a look. "Not by a long sight. Let me see your notes." He studied them for a moment with an occasional grunt. "Well, I can see where you went wrong. The armadillo bile should be shaken, not stirred. Where's the text book." Picking it up he read the corresponding section. "Mordred's mustache," he swore under his breath. "You did copy it right. This new edition wasn't properly proofed." He looked at West with a sense of distaste like the aftermath of Draco's boil debacle. "You saved the entire class a wasted afternoon, five points to Gryffindor."
While West cleaned up his gear and prepared to try again, Snape went over the text with a fine tooth comb. "Well, everything seems alright, other than that. You should be able to finish before dinner."
When West left the dungeon it was so close to dinner he just had time to dump his bag in his dorm and wash up before getting to the Great Hall. He was looking forward to the look on Hermione's face when he told her about the points Snape had given him for the second lab. But when he took his seat next to her she seemed to have something announce.
Before either could speak, McGonagall came and said, "I've been thinking about what you suggested, Miss Granger. I think it would be an excellent idea for you to assist me in Transfiguration class. You should have no trouble getting your own work done in time to help the others. And you can expect a little something in the way of house points for each session you help." West was speechless. Hermione was genuinely embarrassed from the combination of McGonagall's praise and West's look of unadulterated pride.