The Life of a Potions Professor
Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter characters, J.K. Rowling does.
AN: Captain of Pride of Portree Season 2 for The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition
Character - Severus Prompt - slice-of-life situation
"Avada Kedavra!" – Speaking
'Knowledge is power!' – Thoughts
*Numa Numa Dance* – Actions
~.~
"Because of the mass explosions you dunderheads contributed during this class period, you will all be writing a three foot paper on all the ways this potion could go wrong and how to fix them. And no, you cannot just say that redoing the potion will solve the problem." Severus Snape, the Potions Professor of Hogwarts stated to his class of second years. "Dismissed!"
After that, the second year students ran from the room and the very pissed off potions professor.
*sigh* 'Putting Slytherins and Gryffindors in a potions classroom is ALWAYS a recipe for disaster! What was the Headmaster thinking?' Thought the disgruntled professor, the tick above his eye was not going away anytime soon with the way his thoughts were going.
"Tempus," Severus whispered to the empty classroom and the writing that appeared in the air with silver lettering was 4:47 PM. 'Dinner will be in a little more than an hour...I do not think I will manage with this blasted headache. Bloody dunderheads!'
He pinched his nose and with a sweep of his wand, the class room was cleaned of any extra potions particles that still remained after the explosions of cauldrons. He knew that before starting a potion and after ending a potion to always clean the potions work area so that the ingredients would not mix with one another and create even more problems (i.e. more explosions). He did this before the start of each class and after the end of each class before retiring to his rooms or to the Great Hall for meals.
Severus sighed again before walking to the door attached to the labs, which were his personal rooms. No one but him could enter into his rooms from either the classroom entrance, the hall entrance, or the floo entrance...for personal and safety reasons, he could not have any mischievous students lurking in his rooms for some prank or have the Headmaster pop in whenever he wanted. He liked his privacy thank you very much.
"I need a headache potion from my stores if I want to think straight," groaned Severus. He grabbed the aforementioned potion from his stores and downed it in one gulp. His headache slowly cleared up and then was gone. "Thank Merlin."
After thinking what a day he had, Severus decided not to endure more of the brats for the day and took to eating dinner in his rooms. He ordered a nice pot-roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, string beans, and a nice glass of scotch...got to love the muggles and their many different alcohols. Savoring his meal and silence, Severus calmly ate his dinner in peace without the babbling of the Headmaster, idiocy of Lockhart, and the annoying chatter of the students (or blundering dunderheads in his mind).
After enjoying his peace, he cleaned up his meal with a wave of his wand and decided to crack down on grading his students essays. Which would need the rest of the bottle of scotch that he had for dinner. He was not an alcoholic...but sometimes...okay most of the time he needed a little help with grading by his little friend named Mr. Scotch. Mr. Scotch helped calm his mind and make grading a little easier...which was that he would not fail every student in his classes. His students should really appreciate Mr. Scotch, and they would if they knew about him...but it was not like Severus could introduce everyone to Mr. Scotch, it would cause many problems if everyone knew they were really really close friends.
So on nights he decided to grade his student's essays, him and his friend Mr. Scotch took the stack or papers and a red-inked quill to the couch by his fire and started grading. He always started with the seventh years since they weren't too dunderheaded in his classes and that there were only like five of them. It didn't take too long grading their essays, so he grabbed the next stack which were the sixth years. It took Severus a few hours to grade the stacks of parchment of his students, and that was only because Mr. Scotch was helping Severus a lot more towards the ending of his stacks...i.e. the second and first years.
By Merlin they were the worst essays! Severus made comments like, "Last minute writing...TROLL!" and "Granger...I only asked for two feet of parchment, not four!" and "I...hate...teaching!" By the end of his grading, Mr. Scotch was gone leaving Severus alone with red-inked essays that looked to be bathed in blood.
"FINALLY! I'm done." Severus commented to the empty room and the small glowing fire. He stared into the flames as if in a trance and became relaxed. If only his students or the other professors could see him now. He was so relaxed that he didn't look so scary, in fact he looked peaceful and normal. Not like the evil dungeon bat that everyone called him. It was times like these that Severus wished could last forever...the peace from everyone...the lightly lit fire that warmed the room...the dark night that bathed the room with moonlight...just simple peacefulness that could last forever.
But peace doesn't last long...only in the dead of night does he get his peace and quiet. In the morning it would the same old routine...barking at students to follow his directions, scaring students to listen to his rules, glaring at everyone who would step into his comfort zone and keeping everyone at arms length. Everyday it was always the same monotonous life, the only differences were the new first years and defense professors.
Sighing, Severus got up from his seat on the couch and put away the essays. He leisurely strolled to his bedroom and got ready for bed. Once in his silk forest green pajamas, he slid into bed and turned out the lights thinking, 'Those dunderheads better not melt another cauldron.'
But alas, that wish would never happen since it always happened at least once in every class.