Chapter 3: The Test
Monday morning dawned bright and clear, utterly contrary to Snape's mood. He trudged up to the Great Hall for breakfast, failing to quell the dread that flooded his stomach.
It was not unusual for Snape to hate Mondays, seeing as he had Slytherin and Gryffindor fifth-years for a double period in the morning and Occlumency in the evening—a far too large dosage of Potter, as far as Snape was concerned. What he had learned the previous day merely compounded those feelings.
He ate quickly, ignoring both the students and his colleagues. As soon as he finished he fled back to his office to put his lesson plans in order for his morning classes.
Snape's first class went without incident, and his mood was improved through successful verbal abuse of some unfortunate Hufflepuffs. He had, for a blessed but short time, been able to completely block from his mind those things of which he wished not to think.
But now, striding with billowing robes toward the classroom door, where his most troublesome students were gathered (Draco whispering conspiringly to Crabbe and Goyle while Granger glowered at them, Weasley scribbling hurriedly on a parchment that Snape supposed was the essay due today, and Potter leaning against the wall looking insolent), everything came rushing back.
As he glanced at Potter, he felt a surge of anger. On top of everything else for which Snape hated Potter, now he had yet another reason: Snape could no longer look at or even think about Potter without remembering what Snape himself had done to Lily.
Potter matched Snape's glare as the professor swept past the children and entered the classroom. The students followed him in and sat down while Snape began issuing instructions for that day's task. He wordlessly collected their essays with a quick wave of his wand, smirking as Weasley issued a small yelp of dismay as the parchment piece upon which he was still writing flew out from under his quill. The fifth-years quickly settled to work and Snape started patrolling the classroom, warding off disasters by giving Slytherins helpful hints and by berating the Gryffindors.
Shortly after Snape successfully prevented an explosion of the potions of both Longbottom and Goyle, he noticed that Potter, too, was about to make a costly mistake. Swiftly gliding behind the boy, Snape reached out and grabbed Potter by his thick, untidy hair to stop him, albeit much more harshly than strictly necessary, from adding too much of a volatile ingredient. As he did so, he deftly pinched a single hair between his thumb and forefinger and pulled. In the midst of the unfriendly treatment, Potter did not notice the hair-extraction.
"Potter," spat Snape, "what do you think you're doing?"
The teen turned and glared loathingly at Snape once his hair was released. "Following instructions," the boy snapped. "Sir," he added reluctantly.
"Then why, Potter," the potions master sneered, "were you about to add eight milliliters of salamander blood when the instructions clearly state that you need six?"
Potter squinted back at the instructions and turned a bit red, and he poured two milliliters back into the container.
Snape raised his voice—unnecessarily, as his little sparring already had the entire class' attention. "Does anybody know what would have happened had Potter added two extra milliliters of salamander blood?"
Draco smirked and raised his hand as Granger's hovered quivering in the air.
"Malfoy?" Snape drawled lazily.
"It would have blown up in your face, Potter." He spat the last word. "Of course," he added with malice, "that could be regarded as an improvement..."
"Correct, Malfoy, five points to Slytherin." Granger put her hand down, pouting slightly, as Snape continued: "Excess blood would react with the sneezewort, which, if you recall from your essays earlier this year, is a plant commonly used to produce inflammation in the brain. Hence, combined with too much salamander blood, which is generally used to heal by increasing temperature and circulation, a substance would be produced that does not merely heighten the senses, as today's potion is designed to do, but would, if ingested, inflame the brain to an extent that would cause permanent damage, but while sitting on the table merely...explodes."
As Snape lectured, he returned to his desk and discreetly placed the hair inside a test tube and corked it before sliding it into a pocket in his robes.
~.~.~.~
When his class ended and the last student scurried off to lunch, Snape locked the classroom door and returned to his office. Perusing the shelf of potions texts that accompanied all the jars adorning his walls, Snape selected a book that looked likely to contain what he needed: Tests for Assorted Ailments and Conditions. He flipped it open and ran a slender finger down the index. His finger stopped at "Relatives' Test." He turned to the proper page.
Relatives' Test
Developed by Orion Black in 1856 as a means
to ascertain the precise blood relationship
between family members, this potion uses a
broad color palette to accurately identify the
relationship between two persons—whether
they be identical twins or fourth-cousins-twice-
removed.
Snape nodded once to himself and retrieved the necessary ingredients from his cupboard. The potion was straightforward and relatively simple; he had it completed within twenty minutes. He ladled the colorless potion into a clear flask so as to best see the results. Snape wrapped a stringy hair around a finger and tugged it from his scalp, dropping it into the flask. Then, he took Potter's hair and added it as well. He gently swirled the liquid within the flask, and it gradually took on a color.
When it was finished, the potion was a bright, vibrant gold. Snape consulted the book's color scale and felt his throat close.
Gold represented the Parent-Child relationship.
Potter was a Snape.
A/N: DUN DUN DUN! Wow, what a big surprise. You readers probably knew that by the end of the first chapter. Anyway...
Sneezewort was mentioned in OotP, Chapter 18, in the fifth-years' Potions textbook, along with scurvy-grass and lovage, as being "moste efficacious in the inflaming of the brain" and often used in Befuddlement Draughts and such. Salamander blood is used in the Strengthening Solution the class is making the day that Umbridge inspects Snape's teaching. According to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, salamander blood has "powerful curative and restorative powers." I thought to myself, "self, salamanders are creatures that dwell in fire (according to Fantastic Beasts); hence, why shouldn't salamander blood have the effect of increasing temperature, thus increasing circulation by expansion of blood vessels, thus healing and restoring cells by providing ample nutrients and oxygen? This would explain why it is used in the Strengthening Solution, as it would increase the amount of oxygen the user's cells would receive, thus enabling the user's muscles to work at their maximum ability. Then, coupled with a small amount of sneezewort or related plants, more blood would reach each brain cell, which might heighten the senses, assuming that the sneezewort does not inflame the brain too much and the salamander blood does not increase the temperature too much." But I'm not a biologist, neuroscientist, or potions master, so this is probably all cow manure. = P
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