The students filed in, and after sweeping out in his dark robes and flicking his wand at the board, he gave the potion lecture of the day, listening to the scrawling of many quills on parchment as they took notes. Snape then set them to brew a sleeping draught, giving them an hour and a half to complete the task. His dark eyes flitted over the students, making sure that there would be no explosions, or mishaps, and especially keeping an eye on a certain set of girls he knew were prone to cheat.
His gaze flickered to a certain student he had never had to take points, assign detention, or even assist with a potion before, and he knew something was wrong. As a professor, he did keep an eye out for a student who was upset about something, and then did report it to their head of house, but he had dealt with a few tearful students himself. He had made them swear under the threat of detention for a year, not to tell anyone, but he had assisted with several students in that manner.
But now, it was clear that something was wrong, but she wasn't upset about something, and she wasn't holding back tears. Miss Tsuraya was definitely not herself, and as he watched, it came to him that she looked as if she was restraining something. He let his eyes wander, pondering the information. Her dark hair was as normal, and her robes spotless, but her eyes were wild, and she was unsteady. Her normally steady hands were slightly twitchy, and they shook when she measured out ingredients.
So when he passed by and scolded another student for being a blasted dunderhead and setting the porcupine quills down next to an open flame, he took another look at her.
Her dark blue eyes were wild, and her head twitched again, and she nearly added too many shreds of boomslang skin to her potion, making him raise a brow, as he moved on to deduct 5 points from two gossiping girls.
The class continued on as normal, and when the other students were beginning to consult their books with frowns, he met her eyes, inwardly panicked. Her orbs flickered to an iridescent copper gold, and the pupils were slits, like a cats. The eyes were frantic, and he realized that she had been restraining the need to transform.
Miss Tsuraya was the rarest of the rare witches, and she had been born into a clan of the Tsuraya, deep in her homeland of Japan. The clan itself was known for being the only living people who could transform into intelligent dragons at will and by need, and they still retained their human psyche. He glanced at the other students, but they had noticed nothing amiss, too focused on their cauldrons. The orbs flickered back to blue, and back to gold, and he knew that she was on the last threads of her self control.
"OUT OF THE CLASSROOM NOW!" He bellowed, deep baritone startling them into movement, and they all frantically ran out after a moment's hesitation, forgetting their books and potions. He flicked his wand at the door, slamming it shut and locking it, before moving out of the way as the girl moved from her seat.
Outside the classroom door, the students from Gryffindor and Slytherin whispered amongst themselves, too confused and terrified to bother hating each other.
"What's going on?" Asked a Gryffindor girl, her blue eyes worried.
"Dunno. Reckon something will blow up?" Replied a Slytherin boy, his dark eyes wide.
"Doubt it. Where's Amaki?" The Gryffindors realized that the weird girl who never spoke much was gone as well, and they all looked at each other.
"You don't think…?" They never finished the sentence, as there came a couple gentle swishes and some very pointed footsteps come towards the door. A moment later, Professor Snape flicked open the door, and stood in the doorway, his robes blocking the view. The students remained silent, eyes wide and confused, begging for an explanation.
"You will continue to brew your potions. Anyone who fails to do so will receive a zero for today and detention for a week. Anyone who says anything about Miss Tsuraya will receive detention for a year and will lose 100 points from their house. Begin." He swept back into the classroom, satisfied that he had scared them enough that they wouldn't risk it.
Tentatively the 4th years filed in, and one by one, their jaws dropped, taking in the sight at the head of the classroom. But still, they took their seats and set about finishing their potions, taking furtive glances at the sight.
Snape swept around and sneered malevolently at any student who wasn't focusing, and taking points when necessary, and keeping an eye on the dragon laying on his desk. He had cleared it with a swish of his wand, and had stared in awe when the dragon within Miss Tsuraya came forth, as he had never witnessed something along the lines of Soul Takeovers before.
The dragon wasn't large at all, about twenty feet or so long, including her tail, and was covered in beautiful deep green and mottled green brown scales. A long mane of dark hair swept down her neck and spine, the dark strands swirling along her forest coloring. Her face was angled, with a long nose and delicate muzzle, sharp cheek bones, and deep copper gold eyes. Fur covered ears were laying close to her mane, and just behind the dark jewels and scales across her forehead in a dotted pattern.
Her feet were like very large cat paws, and the claws were retracted, so as to not scratch the wood of the desk she was laying on. As he continued to monitor his class, as the hour and a half was nearly up, he heard a chuff of amusement come from the dragon when he took points from a student for being a blunderhead and adding too much diced rosehip.
He whirled at the sound, and saw that the dragon hadn't moved, and it's eyes were still closed, seemingly just resting. He narrowed his eyes, and moved on, going around and testing potions.
"This is abominable, Miss. Sunderland. 5 points from Gryffindor."
"I told you not to add the porcupine quills until after you took the cauldron off the heat. Idiot boy!"
"Thought you could get away with that, did you now? 10 points from Gryffindor."
And after sneering and many failed potions, he made it Miss Tsuraya's completed potion, as she had finished it and removed it from the heat just before transforming. It was the perfect shade of deep blue, indicating that it was indeed correctly made. He smirked in amusement, wondering how the little chit had completed it in such a state, and ladled the small cauldron's worth of potion into a large glass bottle. He made his way back to his desk, and accepted the samples of potions from each student before they left the room.
He set the vials down on a small tray on another lab table, and sat down at his desk chair, staring at the large dragon sprawled over his desktop. It opened on eye to look at him questioningly, and he raised an eyebrow at her, and she chuffed in amusement at him again, revealing a set of sharp teeth.
He just sighed, and pulled the stack of 6th year exams he had yet to grade from the drawer under her tail. She closed her eyes and he viciously found fault with every single one of papers in front of him. He finished the correcting, and sighed, knowing that he had a class in 10 minutes and Miss Tsuraya couldn't stay on his desk for the whole class.
Snape motioned for the dragon to stay put, and he quickly used the floo to get to Dumbledore's office, explaining what had happened.
"Well, my boy, that is quite the situation. I'll go and let Hagrid know not to harm her." To his displeasure, Dumbledore seemed more amused than anything about the whole situation.
"Thank you Headmaster." Snape replied, his tone sharp and quick. He swept out of the room, and strode back to his classroom, sending students left and right to dodge him.
When he returned to his classroom, he found Miss Tsuraya looking up, alert and watching him. He waved for her to follow him, and the dragon slipped off his desk and wove between the student tables to join him. Together, they strode down the hallways, and he marveled that the dragon was as silent as a wraith, and he kept an eye on her.
The dragon's coppery eyes were alert and she met his eye, but he just watched her move. The long body swayed gently with the movement, and her tail swished along the ground. He guided her up to the battlements, and watched with some amusement as she jumped up the stairs as he took them two at a time.
"Go and run around outside, but stay on the school grounds. When the class periods are over and the students are at dinner, I'll come get you here. Dumbledore knows about your situation." The dragon leapt up onto the ledge by where he was standing, and he looked at her again, wondering more and more about this unique student.
Slowly, unsure if she would let him, he reached forward and gently touched her nose. She let him, her eyes closed softly in pleasure. It was velvety soft, and he could feel the warm breath on his palm, and she felt so alive. He pulled his hand away and motioned for her to go on. Her back legs bunched up underneath her weight, and she leapt, he body coiling and swirling as she flew out. He smirked, and strode out of the battlements. He still had a class to teach.