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Flabbergasted
Part 3: Food
Severus Snape glared at anyone who had the potential to be in his way as he stomped gracefully towards the kitchens. The old codger still treated him as his little messenger boy. Not even a glorified messenger boy. And this was the second time in a row that the house elves had burned the staff's food. Naturally the Headmaster would send him to find out what was going on. The last time, he had gotten no where, what with the elves apologizing and punishing themselves every other second.
He glanced around, making sure that no one would see him doing something as undignified as tickle a pear. Before he could make it all the way into the kitchen, he ran into someone. And they weren't elf-sized, either.
Sitting up from the floor, he sputtered before wiping at the substance that had been mashed into his face in the collision, and which was now dripping down onto his immaculate robes. Whoever did this was going to get a detention!
When his eye-lids were wiped off enough for him to open them, he found himself staring into the face of the resident Head Girl, wild hair and all. She at least didn't have some as of yet unidentifiable substance dripping from her face, which allowed him to clearly see the surprise and worry scrawled across it. She was right to be afraid.
"Detention, Miss Granger, for not watching where you are going. And what, may I ask, are you doing in the kitchens?" He thought it was a relatively easy answer, but her eyes shifted guiltily, and his narrowed. "Well? Are you going to tell me now, or would you rather I use Veritaserum?" He waited patiently, but she still did not talk, her cheeks tingeing a little pink. He motioned for a house elf to come over.
"Tell me, what was Miss Granger doing in the kitchens?" He asked silkily, eyes warning the wrinkly little creature not to lie to him.
"Mistress is…helping the house elves, Sir." The elf stuttered. Severus raised an eyebrow. The Head Girl was helping the house elves? He'd heard of S.P.E.W., but thought she'd dropped it after her feeble results.
"And how, exactly, is Miss Granger helping the house elves?" He drawled, pinning the shaking house elf with his gaze.
"She is…she is helping with the food, Master Snape, Sir." The elf's eyes were wide, his hands fidgeting with the corner of his uniform. "She is making the teacher's food, Sir." His voice squeaked at the end. Severus turned, his gaze all astonishment and realization as he stared at the young woman, who shifted nervously.
"And why, Miss Granger, are you making the staff's food? Trying to poison us, or slip a few potions in? Making us suffer through burnt food and letting the house elves take the blame? How ungryffindor of you…" He couldn't finish, as she interrupted him.
"I didn't do that for any of those reasons!" She said indignantly. "It's just…the house elves are down her working morning and night…and, well, I thought they could use a break or a holiday or something, but none of them would take one, so I decided to help so there was less work for them to do."
"Miss Granger, that is ridiculous. What you are doing is just making them do more work, as they have to fix the abysmal concoctions that you created. If I weren't so sure of your proficiency in potions, I would have thought Longbottom to be the one making our meals. Now do us all a favor and get out of here." He watched the girl pick herself up and go, her posture drooping a little as she let herself out of the portrait hole.
Severus grabbed the damp towel a nearby elf handed him with a nod of thanks and wiped the muck off his face. He wondered when she would realize that he had just given her a complement, something Severus Snape, evil Potions Master of the dungeons, never gave to a Gryffindor.
Next Chapter: Detention