Chapter Two - Heads Will Roll
It didn't take long for any student to figure out that Severus Snape was NOT the teacher to cross. He was snide, he was cruel, and he was picky. The slightest mistake in any manner would be enough for a severe punishment. A first year was 10 seconds late to class the first day: He had detention for a week. A fourth year ALMOST put the wrong ingredient in a Potion: Two weeks of cleaning cauldrons after class. Snape's fury was one that no student wanted to invoke. The saving grace for any student was their assistant teacher, Ianna. While the students brewed potions, she reviewed them, while Snape would leave to grade papers in his office. Instead of yelling at them or punishing them, Ianna would gently lend a hand, whether to stop a student from putting in the wrong ingredient, or to help them understand the directions better. Snape had a habit of being very, very vague.
One particular afternoon, the 3rd year Ravenclaws and Gryffindors had a double Potions lesson together. When it came time to brew the Forgetfulness Potion, Snape sat down at his desk to glare over the students, while Ianna wandered between cauldrons. As she turned to move up another row, she glanced up in time to see a boy drop a Horned Slug into his cauldron. "Jerry, no!" she screamed. She quickly grasped his arm, and yanked him down behind her, as all of the students ducked behind their cauldrons screaming. Snape stood quickly, but not quickly enough. The cauldron exploded, showering Ianna with purple liquid. Within seconds, she was screaming, as the robes on her body began to burn away and leave her skin exposed to the vicious acidity of the potion. Snape quickly whipped out his wand and made the cauldron disappear, along with the horrible purple liquid, leaving only the smell of acid and burning fabric.
"Everyone, out. NOW!" he shouted. The students scattered quickly, abandoning their potions and bags, unconcerned for anything but their own skin, should they incur his wrath. Ianna dropped to her knees, sobbing in pain. As the last student left, the classroom door slammed behind them, and Snape waved his wand again. Ianna's robes and uniform vanished, leaving her curled up in her undergarments and rocking back and forth in agony. Snape kneeled beside her, able to see where her skin was burned and starting to eat away from the potion. He pulled a small bottle from the pocket of his robes, and uncorked it. He poured the yellow liquid on her shoulders and, though she gasped from the cold liquid hitting her skin, she didn't cry out. As the yellow, sweet scented potion crawled down her back, it began to dance into her wounds and seal them up with a little burst of light.
When she was completely healed, he yanked her up by the underarm, and pulled her face very close to his own. "What the HELL were you thinking?" he spat viciously. "You NEVER throw yourself between the student and his failure. If it is a danger to the occupants of the room, use your wand to remove it. If not, let the little brat suffer with the abomination he has made!" Her eyes, red from her previous tears, began to well up with more. Shakily, she opened her lips to simply state: "I am not you, Professor, so I will never let a student stuffer that amount of pain, no matter how horrible his or her potion is." He let go of her arm, and let her fall weakly back to the floor, striding to his desk. He sat down and rubbed his temples. "Get out, Williams."
She stood slowly, leaning on a cauldron for support. "Um, sir... my clothes?" Snape waved his wand a third time, and Ianna's shredded robes were once again on her trembling frame. She wobbled unsteadily on her feet, and slowly pushed herself to walk up to his desk. She slammed both hands down on the desk, and glared straight into his eyes. "I can't understand the issues you have with me, or anyone else in the school, but I can tell you this: I will never, EVER let my students suffer the way they suffer under you. You are a cruel man, and you are vicious and mean. No one here has done anything worth the daily torture you put us through, and none of us deserve it. I can be polite to a point, and I can take constructive criticism, but you intentionally have made me regret every moment I've had to spend here with you. Although I hate every minute of it, I am determined to make something of myself, and I will not let you destroy me. I WILL get through this student teaching session, and I WILL become the teacher I have always wanted to be. YOU will be here the rest of your life, doing this job that you obviously detest, and staring daily at students you can't stand. You will be here, alone, and you will only have yourself to blame."
He stood, his hands parallel to hers on the desk, and glared down into her eyes. Even leaning forward, he towered over her, but she stood firmly focused, refusing to cower under his gaze. "I said, get out. And for that delusional and disrespectful speech you just gave, detention. Be back here at 7. I will work you to the bone, Williams. YOU will regret every word you just uttered."
Ianna glared at him, then stormed to her desk, grabbed her bag, and left, slamming the door behind her. She stormed up to the Ravenclaw tower, dumped her bag on her trunk, and began to remove her uniform. When she was down to her button-up shirt, her panties and her stockings, she flopped down on her bed. Her hair sprawled out, fanning across the blue comforter. The blonde and pink strands stood out against the cover, while the blue began to sink in and disappear. She set an alarm on her wand to make sure she'd have time for dinner before her long detention, and settled into the bed for a nap.
At first, she didn't dream, but her mind quickly brought the worry of detention and her daily trials forward in her mind. She dreamt of the Potions classroom door in front of her. She pushed it open and stepped into the room. It was very dim, barely lit by the candles around the room. She heard the click of the door behind her, but before she could turn around, she felt a firm body press against her. She relaxed into the warmth of the frame, and slender but strong arms wrapped around her. The hands gently stroked the curves of her hips. She moaned softly, as a set of soft lips caressed her ear before dipping down to nip and kiss her neck gently. She was overwhelmed with passion and quickly twisted in his arms, feverishly pressing her mouth to his. Their tongues danced together and their lips molded against each other. When they finally parted, she opened her eyes to see a set of onyx ones that she instantly recognized. She gasped and fell backwards, scrambling away from this odd version of Snape… As she tumbled backwards, she fell endlessly through darkness. Finally she crashed onto the hard floor of her dorm room, gasping frantically. That was the creepiest dream she had ever had. She couldn't even figure out why her mind had given her such a strange version of him. He'd never been like that towards her. He was too acidic and vicious for that.
Ianna threw a new uniform on and ran down to dinner while trying to push the dream from her mind. It was really hard to do, knowing she had an impending detention with him in less than 30 minutes. She quickly wolfed down her dinner, ignoring the scalding heat of her soup. Picking up her bag, she dashed out of the Great Hall and down the stone steps toward the dungeons. She reached the Potions Classroom, and came to a screeching halt in front of the door. She was quickly reminded of her dream. She shuddered and pushed the memories away. She reached for the door handle and stepped inside.
Snape was sitting at his desk, his fingers interlaced and a maniacal grin on his face. "Well, well… my little assistant in on time for her punishment."
Ianna rolled her eyes and gave a exasperated sigh. "Ugh, let's just get this over with."
Snape stood and walked around his desk, crossing his arms and stepping closer to tower over her. "Listen, Williams, you'd better watch how you speak when you're in my presence. You think you've got it tough now? I will make it ten times worse. You will never survive. Every day you spend in my classroom will be a living hell. You will have detention every night. I will make you suffer. Now get to work. Clean every cauldron, and reorganize the shelves of books and ingredients. When you're finished, you'll come to my office and do the same there."
She glared at him. "Fine." She reached into her bag and pulled out her magically built MP3 player, and popped her headphones in. She refused to listen to his voice any longer. Cranking up the music as loud as she could bear, she got straight to work, trying to focus on the music, and drive him from her thoughts.
Severus sat down at his desk, and leaned back in his chair to observe his assistant as she worked. Unlike many other students, she was thorough in her cleaning methods. She scrubbed every cauldron diligently, making sure not to miss a single speck of grime. She also organized the Potions storage room by category of Potion and alphabetically within each category. Even though Severus could tell that she was furious with him, she still did her work well. He almost felt a little twang of pain, knowing at that age he had been the same way. He just didn't have her temper or outbursts. He wondered if the similarities between them was the reason that Albus had forced them to work together. The man had an infuriating way of nosing himself where he didn't belong. Severus was sure that, because of his antisocial behavior since Lily's death, that Albus wanted him to spend time with some other living person regularly, other than his students.
Shaking himself from his thoughts, he noticed that Ianna was no longer in the room. He felt his temper flair, ready to hex her into next week, and stood, storming to his office. He slammed open the door, hearing a cry of pain as he did so. Taken aback, he closed the door, finding Ianna smashed against the wall, two shattered ingredient bottles in either hand. The glass and the contents covered her frontside, and parts of her hands and torso were bleeding. Snape almost felt the urge to laugh; the girl was so accident prone. He pulled her away from the wall, pressing open her hands so that she dropped the smashed remains to the floor. He scooped her up and carried her over to the desk, laying her flat on her back on top of it. He sat down in his chair, summoning some equipment from a nearby cabinet. He pulled open her robes, trying not to expose her private areas. She was shaking in pain, but wasn't making a sound. He reached for a pair of tweezers and slowly began pulling the shards of glass out of her skin. He knew it was causing her massive pain, because her eyes were pressed shut as hard as she could manage.
He glanced up to her face. "Williams, look at me."
She shook her head, keeping her eyes shut tightly.
He reached up to her chin with his left hand and turn her head slightly toward him. "Ianna, please. Open your eyes."
Her heavily lashed lids slowly opened, revealing her bright green eyes, sparkling with tears of pain. He stared at her eyes, trying to neither smile, nor be frightening. "Keep your eyes on me. This next piece is very large, and it will probably hurt. I'm going to have to take it out slowly, so let's talk."
She blinked a few times. "Ok."
He nodded. "Williams, I know this hasn't been easy on either of us. This is a lot harder on me than you think. This isn't where I thought I'd be at this point in my life, and I'm not a very social person. I hated my life as a student here, so being back as staff and having to deal with these children is a living hell for me. I know this isn't what you expected to deal with in your student-teaching career, but I cannot change who I am. I can't help the way I react to students' idiocy. I expect a lot of these children. Maybe it's just my appreciation for the art of Potions, but I expect them to be wiser, more skilled at it. I expect them to appreciate it the way you and I do."
She stared at him, confused. "Me? You've never even asked how much I know about Potions."
Snape nodded again. "I know that. But don't you think I observe how you teach the children when I'm not around?"
She jerked upward to a sitting position, but he pressed her back down lightly with his left hand. "What do you mean? You spy on me when I teach?"
He rolled his eyes at her. "Williams, if you're learning the education process from me, it's not spying if I observe your practice sessions."
She looked away from him. "I suppose you're right."
He looked back down at his work. "I also know you're a lot easier on them than I am."
She twisted her head back toward him, a look of panic in her eyes. He smirked. "I'm not angry, Williams. As surprised at you might be, I think it's best for the students that they get a break from my fearsome teaching occasionally. It makes me look more vicious, and makes them fear me more. You're benefiting my reputation."
It was her turn to roll her eyes. "Damn. And I thought it was just benefiting me."
He pulled one last glass piece out of her hip and dropped it into the bowl. Reaching over to his supplies, he grabbed a salve that was glowing a pale teal color. He took small drops on two fingers, rubbing it into each cut on her skin. He stood and leaned over her to reach a cut just below her left collarbone. As he rubbed the salve into her skin, she remembered her dream, and felt her heart start to race underneath his fingers. Her stomach did a flip as he stopped rubbing and turned to look at her face. She knew he'd felt her heartbeat.
She pushed herself up and off the desk, pulling her clothes tightly around her. "Uh, thanks Professor. I'm gonna go now. I'll see you tomorrow." She grabbed her bag and bolted from his office. Severus slowly sat down in a daze. He'd felt her heartbeat speed up like a fluttering bird when he touched her. What the hell was going on?