I Can and I Will
Chapter 1 Flux Draught
A loud bang reverberated throughout the potions classroom. An acrid green smoke filled the air and popping noises could be heard.
"JOHNSON!" yelled Snape. Snape rarely lost his temper and yelled because the quieter he spoke the more scared and well behaved the pupils were, but on the rare occasion when he did yell even the bravest students shook in their seats. The only reason for some students being conscious was that no one could see the death glare Snape wore on his face. Snape quickly realized this and rectified the situation by banishing the acrid smoke. As the smoke cleared students took a look at each other, people had changed color; hair that was once blond was green, black became silver, skin colors changed from normal browns and tans to blues, purples, and even pure white. Some people had scales or fur, others wings or tails (and lots of ruined clothing). People started to laugh and point at each other, the laughter got louder as people showed off red eyes, gray fingernails, and furry faces, the noise got louder and louder until- "SILENCE!" The classroom became as quiet as a tomb, all eyes were on Snape, and the changes wrought on him were not in anyway funny.
Snape had batwings, claws and talons, paler skin that was white instead of yellow, pointed ears, but that wasn't what was scary, no; it was his face that was terrifying. Snape's eyes were black usually; so dark you couldn't tell that he had an iris. Now, the iris was very visible, as they were outlined in a black lined with a bright fiery red. They glowed angrily, the only evidence of his inner fury. His usual sneer was gone, his mouth closed, waiting for silence, and when he opened it to speak it showed that his eyeteeth were rather sharp. The class looked on awestruck, many were shaking a little bit. One boy, Ivan V. Johnson, was frozen in place, eyes wide at Professor Snape's new form.
"Johnson, that is the 4th time this week that you have purposely messed up," said Snape quietly looking at a small 3rd year Hufflepuff gone Gryffindor, "the 25th time this month." Snape glared at the boy. He was big, not fat, but built well, long messy brown hair, blue eyes, and a sneer on his face that vanished as soon as Snape addressed him. Johnson had a look of innocence and confusion on his purple face. "Mr. Johnson, you have broken so many rules I don't think there are enough detentions to satisfy your punishment needs. While normally I would not punish you for things not done in my classroom, you are using potions, brewed in my class, to do these things. I know you are doing these things on purpose because you have brewed much harder potions than this, and often kept samples of the potions in vials for your personal use. Yes, I know about that, I thought it harmless, apparently I was wrong." Stated Snape in a matter of fact way.
"B-but Sir I didn't mess up, I was at the same stage as everyone else! I was adding the hemlock. I had-" Stammered Ivan Johnson before Snape cut him off and spat venomously at him.
"You purposely added the hemlock after letting the potion simmer for 2 minutes 3 seconds instead 3 minutes 15 seconds." Ivan looked wide-eyed at Snape. "Only someone who had looked up the potion they were trying to make would have known to add it then." Snape hissed. "If you had added the hemlock at any other time the potion explode and cover the brewer in a malodorous liquid that would cause continuous changes of the pigment in the upper area of the torso… A smelly liquid that changes the color of your head constantly, the colors are not always pretty, Mr. Johnson." said Snape annoyed that he had to stop his tongue lashing to explain what he was saying. "The liquid, how shall I put this so you understand… The liquid would also cause…temporary loss of mind at random for intervals of varying length…You would become very stupid for periods of time that could last anywhere between 1 minute and a day and this could happen at anytime, during a test, while flying, while doing homework, …flirting…" Snape smirked evilly as Ivan gulped, he knew that Ivan was a flirt and did it well, so the thought of becoming stupid while about to kiss a girl was horrifying for him.
Snape's smirk disappeared and his eyes turned cold, the hot fury of before gone, replaced by cold anger. The red in his eyes became softer, but this would not be a sign to relax. Snape's cold anger was more deadly than fury, rash decisions made and control lost. Snape rarely lost control of his anger, but when he did, someone could get hurt, badly. When Snape's usual anger, cold fury, set in, Snape could hurt you in such a way that would remain with you forever; humiliation, fear, pain, from doing some unspeakably horrible chore for him that could include anything from scrubbing 10-100 cauldrons or preparing some potions ingredient, alive or dead… This glare would send some students into a faint where Snape would sneer and maybe consider the embarrassment punishment enough, others would cry, beg, grovel, and ask for forgiveness, a few just ran. Of course if the student ran away the detention would be worse, unless Snape summoned them back with his wand, which usually happened because Snape was rather fast. Ivan did none of these, but continued to look confused and innocent. Snape's cold stare changed, somehow, something clicked in his head and the red in his eyes became so dark they looked like blood as he stared into space for a moment. He licked his dry lips. Coming back to the situation Snape stood to his full height and glared at Ivan.
"The potion you brewed is a little known potion simply called Flux Draught, as it randomly changes someone's appearance; to make this potion you would have to do research and know the exact time to put the leaves in, and do it purposely, as I told the class that anyone putting the leaves in at the wrong time would lose 50 points for their House in hopes that that would discourage…accidents. I can honestly say that no accidents happened here today, am I right Mr. Johnson?" Snape raised an eyebrow in question to the boy who still looked confused. "Mr. Johnson, you can come quietly with dignity, or I can force you to tell me the truth. There are other, legal, less known, and… painful ways of getting truthful answers than veritaserum." Snape hissed and again raised an eyebrow at Ivan, who was still trying to look confused and innocent. Snape shook his head and smirked. "Mr. Johnson would you like to endure 10, or 20, or if you are feeling lucky, maybe 50, detentions? I believe that would be a record for the number of detentions given out together…" Johnson looked a little startled for a moment before going back to his innocent pose that said he didn't know what Snape was talking about. This time both Snape's eyebrows went up and he curled a lip into a snarl.
"Mr. Johnson, I commend you for your bravery, but you will admit your doings in front of the class. Would you like to lose…for the first time in the history of the school… all your House points?" Many students gasped at the unimaginable horror of the idea and not knowing if anyone could actually do that. The hate that would be dumped on Ivan would be horrible, Ivan had to relent, but he would do it with style. He grinned, something no one should ever do in Snape's class. Everyone looked at Snape for his reaction, but he just stood there waiting for what he knew was going to happen.
"You got me Snape. Yeah, I did it, and I am glad I did. You look a lot better this way." Ivan said as he reclined in his seat and put his feet on the table. There was a general intake of breath and a hushed silence as everyone waited to see what Snape would do. Snape just summoned a mirror and looked at himself, he raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth, showing off the pointed teeth, he looked at his eyes and his hands. He finally looked at his wings, he moved them and he lifted a few feet off the ground and hovered in mid air. The students gasped, none of them could do that; those that had wings had tried and failed miserably. The class started to applaud, Snape glared and the room was quiet except for the flapping of wings. Snape looked at his shoes, they were ruined; talons had broken through the black leather. Snape shook his head, what a waste. He landed and walked over to Ivan.
"15 points for disrespecting a teacher, though I must agree with you, I rather like the wings." Snape said as he scared every student in the class by allowing the smallest smile to come to his features. Snape waved his wand and all of the strange features disappeared. "Ivan, you will have detention at 8:00 tonight, it will last for 5 minutes, do not be late. You will also stay after class. Everyone else will leave now for the infirmary." The students stared at him, frozen in place from all the information. "Now!" Barked Snape and all the students rushed to gather their things and put out the fires before leaving. "Anyone who did not finish the potion will write a report on it and what you believe would cause the timing of adding ingredients to matter." Snape said as they rushed, and lowered his voice to a deadly whisper. "If I find that any of you have not gone to the hospital wing you will serve a full detention with me." The class had stopped to listen as Snape whispered, not daring to make noise, but once he finished they ran as fast as they could out of the room, too scared to even grumble about the unfairness of the report they would have to do.
Ivan remained, feet propped on top of the desk arms behind his head and rocking in his chair.
"You remind me of a certain person, a powerful person, a cunning person." Ivan looked stunned at the compliment, but before he could thank him the professor continued. "An inconsiderate bully, a simpleton, and an astonishingly immature git." Snape mused as Ivan's thanks caught in his throat. Snape waved his wand again and the strange features returned. Ivan looked at him about to question why they were still there. Again, he was cut off. "Impudent child, why would I have sent everyone else up to the infirmary if I could have fixed it with a simple spell? Few potions can be cancelled by spells, most can just be paused, and even more need another potion to help, for instance." Snape summoned a vial that contained a pink fluid, he rubbed his sharpened teeth, and put his finger into the vial, the potion was now blue. He repeated the process with the wings and the potion was now purple, he did this for every other changed aspect twice and then told Ivan to wait in the class while he took the potion. Ivan raised an eyebrow.
"My changes are more severe than anyone else's, if you wish to see bones and muscles reconfiguring to such a degree that you can hear the cracking and see protruding muscles, by all means, I will drink the potion here." said Snape, Ivan quickly shook his head and Snape disappeared into his private quarters.
Once in his quarters Snape recast the glamour spell to hide the attributes and placed the bottle on his desk. He went over to the fireplace. Throwing floo powder in he called; "Dumbledore, I would like to meet you, down here, in five minutes, it is important."
"Of course." said the head of Albus Dumbledore, which was sticking out through the flames. Snape nodded and they both left. Snape walked back into the classroom and addressed Ivan.
"If you weren't a talented potion maker I would dispose of you now." said Snape venomously. Ivan paled.
"You couldn't. You wouldn't get away with it." Ivan said trying to sound more positive than he was.
"Believe me, I could and I would. Tread lightly Mister Johnson, or you might find yourself…adopted." Snape said evilly. Ivan paled even more.
"I've-I've never told anyone I was an orphan…" He said quietly.
"I know anything and everything I want to about my students, as all good teachers should." Snape said as he stood menacingly above Ivan. "You will come to your detention, and leave after it is done. You will walk around and make sure people see you, and you will then come back. Your detention will take long enough that you will not be able to return before curfew, you will stay here overnight. If you tell anyone about this you will receive 2 hour detentions for the whole year, lose 200 points for you House, be banned from Hogsmeade for the rest of your stay at the school, and be banned from watching and playing quidditch." Ivan paled, that was a huge deterrent from telling anyone. Ivan paled even more, staying with Snape…overnight. That was not something any student would ever even think possible, most would run away before even contemplating such a horrifying idea. Ivan gulped and nodded. Snape motioned for him to leave and Ivan rushed out the door. Snape sneered at the boy's cowardice and left for his private lab where Dumbledore was waiting.
"Headmaster." Snape nodded as he entered noticing that Dumbledore had summoned a light purple armchair that horribly threw off the dark mood of the room. Dumbledore nodded back.
"What is the problem Severus, other than the fact that a whole class is now in the informatory with seemingly random afflictions?" Dumbledore asked eyes twinkling.
"I have two problems to discuss with you, the first one of a considerably lighter nature." Dumbledore pressed his hands together and looked over his half moon spectacles waiting patiently. Snape removed the glamour and Dumbledore smiled.
"Why Severus, you look positively-"
"Like myself, only with wings, talons, which I could do without, and red eyes…these attributes are those of a thousand year old Vampire Albus!" Dumbledore's eyes twinkled in amusement; he seemed to know where the conversation was going.
"These new attributes would be wonderful for your spying career if you could keep them hidden from Voldemort."
"Yes, I agree, to conceal this I will remove them temporarily with that potion I prepared," Snape pointed to the now black vial that he had used earlier, "but this is where my first question comes." Albus smiled and leaned back in his poofy chair and nodded. Snape took a deep breath. "I was wondering if I could keep the elongated teeth this time."
"No." said Albus calmly.
"I would glamour them."
"Why do you want the teeth Severus?"
"I find that flashing them at a student who is misbehaving would cause them to reconsider their…habits." Albus smiled.
"You cannot keep the wings at all times though. No glamour, they are too big and if someone were to bump into them…"
"Albus, everyone, including most of the teachers try to stay at least 5 feet away from me when I walk past them." said Snape with a smirk. Albus chuckled.
"Yes, but the other teacher know how to sense magic properly, and a glamour that big would draw attention to you." Snape nodded. "Now what was the other matter?" Asked Albus a little more solemnly.
"Ivan Johnson made the potion that caused this," Snape waved his hand at himself. Albus's eyes turned dark.
"This is not good."
"No, it is not. The boy is an excellent potion maker, and because of that he knew when to add the hemlock, but to know that he would have had to research, and if he had done his research properly…"
"He would know the affect of the potion couldn't cause the changes you underwent…"
"He would also know the potions affect on other species…" said Snape quietly. Albus looked up quickly at Snape and his grave eyes unnerved Snape. "Snape, you have been working for me for a long time, putting your life in danger trying to find any information on the whereabouts of Voldemort…" Dumbledore said gravely. "I think it's time I thanked you again." Snape raised an eyebrow knowing that this couldn't be all. "The boy is an orphan right?' Asked Ablus quietly.
"Yes, he lives in a-" Snape's eyes went wide at the hidden meaning in the question that only he would understand. "Surely, you don't mean…" Snape said quietly. Albus nodded, sadly. Snape walked over and kneeled beside Dumbledore and put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure, are there other ways?" Snape asked quietly. Dumbledore shook his head slowly. Snape started rambling, this was too good to be true. "I mean, yes the boy deserves it, he has tormented staff and students alike since he came to the school. It cost us 3,000 galleons to repair the damage to the wall he blew up! And the three students that got under one of his potions, they will never be the same! McGonagalll is too embarrassed to let me look at her animagus form so that I could change her fur back to normal! Flitwick nearly fainted because he thought he was shrinking. Shrinking, I must admit that was rather amusing," Snape chuckled, one thing he felt comfortable doing around only Albus, "but it was still wrong! And the nifflers he let loose in Trelwany's room, they nearly wrecked 400 galleons worth of equipment, he uses small explosive potions to blow up random objects...He nearly blew up Mrs. Norris…" Snape didn't notice what was happening as he was talking through a list of atrocities that got steadily worse. Dumbledore seemed to be getting quite angry, but he sat in his chair listening until Snape got to a part about making people need to kiss anyone they saw.
"Enough!" Shouted Albus standing up and startling Snape, which said something about the amount of excitement he was feeling. "I should have had him expelled long ago! But it's too late now. Severus, the things he did purposely outside of school! He knows wandless magic! The boy is a bully outside of school, and a menace in. Severus S. Snape, you know what I said and you know what it means, it is not my thank you anymore, it is my order. If he stays he could jeopardize all we have worked toward to defeat Voldemort, there is no choice. If we some how succeed in our tasks and Voldemort is defeated, I am sure that boy, with his childish pranks, will become the next Dark Lord… I can see it in his eyes. Severus…we must stop this before it starts." By this time Dumbledore, while still angry, was back to his normal omniscient, calm, old self, no one could guess the thoughts in his head. Dumbledore made the chair disappear and nodded. "Snape, this is an order, that boy is a menace." Dumbledore swiftly exited the room and left Snape to stand their slightly stunned. He had just started to regain his composure when.
"Oh and Snape, you can still enjoy this though it is my order." Dumbledore disappeared from the doorway leaving one Severus Snape to let, for the second time that day, a small smile appear on his face. He shook his head and grumbled something about going soft.