Snape tried to swallow his disappointment as he followed the billowing black robes of the elderly nun through the corridors of the convent. Of course she hadn't recognized him. It had been more than a dozen years since she'd seen him last. He'd been a mere child then. There were several children milling about. They stopped in their tracks to gawk at the pale, lanky-haired stranger in their midst, then jumped aside to make way for various nuns walking briskly to and fro. The sisters gave the children the curtest of nods as they passed, their black habits billowing as they walked. As they arrived at her office, Mother Superior startled him by speaking again. "I was just thinking about you, Severus," she admitted. She opened the door and ushered him inside. "Why is that?" Snape asked as he glanced about the office. It hadn't changed a bit in all these years! The stately nun took up a stance not behind her desk but beside a window that looked out over the garden and beyond it to the neighbor's estate. "One of the postulates came to me with a concern this afternoon," she explained as she gazed out the window. "She thought she saw a starvling child darting covertly about the neighbor's property. She described the small being as best she could and I suddenly remembered those creatures you told us your family could not afford... elves, you called them." She turned to give Snape a sly smile. "I had no idea my neighbor was like you." Snape shrugged, wondering when the old woman would invite him to sit down. Instead, she scowled suddenly and demanded to know, "What on earth is wrong with your hair?" Snape flinched, but barely. "It's a medical condition," he lied smoothly, and after studying him for a few moments, the nun nodded and returned to her view of the nearby manor. "That's odd." "What?" "A light." The nun squinted. "He's home, which is odd for this time of year. He came over to tell us he'd be about, but there are seldom any lights on. I think he's trying to hide." She glanced at Snape and added, "Maybe he can't afford much light. Maybe he's lost his job." "I have his job." The nun whirled around, immediately concerned. "Is it dangerous?" Snape frowned. "Why do you ask?" "When he came by..." The nun left the window and took a seat, nodding at Snape to do the same. When she was neatly arranged in the chair behind her desk, she concluded, "I got the distinct impression he wanted to ask us to pray for him." Snape considered that for a moment. "I teach," he told his former caregiver. "In a school to the north." Mother Superior looked surprised. "I always saw you as more of a dragon slayer, Severus," she protested. "Important work... but solitary." "That's what I would have preferred," Snape agreed. The elderly nun smiled. "Well, then!" Her tone turned cheerfully brisk as she demanded, "How are you getting on? Give me an account of yourself!" Snape hesitated. After several seconds, he lowered his head and shook it slightly. It was the only reply he could make. The Mother Superior bristled. Who had done this, she wondered. Who had put young Severus in this ludicrous position? There must be trouble, she surmised. Her heart ached for her former charge. One day, perhaps he'll tell me about it... She couldn't help smiling to herself as she added, ... probably when he needs another favor. She gave him what she hoped was a serious but encouraging look. "Most people who care for children," she assured him, "fail. They fail because they reproduce, or undertake to work with children, for self-indulgent reasons. They seek affirmation, or to preserve or perpetuate a point of view, or some other selfish end." Snape nodded, leaning forward a bit. "The only way you can succeed with children," the nun continued, "is to serve motives that are truly noble. Lip service idealism or pretty-sounding expressions of principled goals won't do." Snape swallowed. He clasped his hands to keep them from trembling and tried not to let his voice shake. "My students fight among themselves," he whispered. He prayed she wouldn't ask why that caused him such pain. She didn't. Instead, she smiled. "Well, that's easy!" she declared, folding her arms across her chest with an emphatic nod. Snape felt much better. He leaned back in his chair, a smile of his own starting on his thin lips, and as he settled himself for a good long talk, he made a mental note to stop by Diagon Alley on his way back to Hogwarts. He needed robes with more billow to them.