Hey! Sorry it's been so long, I've been really busy with schoolwork and have had a massive amount of writers block. It's gone now, though. Hope you enjoy this chapter! Please review- I would love to hear back from you!

Disclaimer: C'mon. Really? You know what I do and do not own. I don't need to go through this, do I?

"Detention, Sly!" Professor Snape snapped as I passed him on the way to Transfiguration from the missed class of DADA. I scowled as he stepped in front of me, dark robes billowing out behind him. "My office, seven o'clock tonight."

As much as Snape liked to coddle Slytherins, he didn't seem to like me very much. I got almost perfect grades in his classes, but the ongoing rivalry between me and Malfoy, his favorite student, seemed to affect how he saw me. Funnily enough, I didn't see him talking to Malfoy very often anymore. In fact, it sometimes seemed as though Malfoy was intentionally avoiding the hooked-nosed professor. Food for thought.

Seven o'clock came in the middle of dinner, much to my dismay. I scowled as the clock in the Great Hall hit 6:57 pm and reluctantly abandoned my pot pie. Of course Snape would schedule my detention in the middle of eating. That was just another way of him torturing me for missing class. The only good thing was that I knew he wouldn't take house points away. Unlike Professor McGonagall, the Gryffindor head, he wasn't counter productive.

"Come in," Snape said when I knocked on the door. Malfoy was already in there, his white-blonde hair, carefully slicked back as always, shining in the low light. A glower was plastered to his features, which I found odd- normally he would take any opportunity to suck up to Snape. What I found stranger, however, was the fact that he had to turn up for detention in the first place. Snape's low voice cut through my thoughts before I could do anymore analyzing of the tension between the two: "I assume both of you know what you are here for?"

We nodded at the same time, Malfoy rather sulkily. "Good. Sly, you will be sorting pickled horned slugs, good from bad. Mr. Malfoy, you will come over here and help me with tomorrow's lesson preparations."

I scowled at Snape's blatant disrespect of me- or over-respectful attitude towards "Mr. Malfoy-" and strode over to a table on the far side of the room. Of course I would have to deal with the nastiness of Snape's persistent potion obsession. He wasn't the potions teacher anymore, but that didn't seem to have stopped his fascination with brewing all sorts of draughts. About fifty jars of the pickled slugs sat on the table. I grimaced.

"Professor? Where are the gloves?" I asked, looking around. I didn't see any, but maybe they were hidden in a drawer somewhere?

"You won't need gloves," Snape replied silkily. My mouth dropped open and I stared at the jars. Disgusting. My hatred for the professor rose considerably.

An hour into the detention, my hands were covered in slime and whatever the slugs were pickled in. I fought back vomit as I picked another one out of my tenth jar. A large cut split it up the side, and pale green guts spilled out. I tossed it into the "bad" pile. Nasty. Behind me, Malfoy and Snape worked silently, Malfoy wordlessly copying handouts with a simple spell. Snape sifted through books, looking for pictures and text. When he found what he was looking for, he handed it over to Malfoy. For one moment, it looked as though he was talking, and Malfoy's face soured. But that was stupid- no sounds were coming out of the professor's mouth.

Another minute, another slug. I sighed and closed my eyes as the next one burst open as my hand closed around it. Shuddering, I reached for another one. This was the worst part, when I was almost at the bottom of a jar and had to reach all the way into the pickling juice/slime mixture to reach my next slug. This one was slimy and covered in the guts of the last one I had tried to get out, but otherwise fine. I tossed it into the "good" pile.

I snuck a peek behind me and almost fell over at what I saw. Malfoy was standing up, obviously yelling at Snape, who looked frustrated. I couldn't hear anything, however. For a brief moment I wondered if I had gone deaf. Then, my brain caught up to the circumstances and realized that Snape had probably cast some sort of spell to keep me from hearing anything. Malfoy stormed out of the office at that moment, and Snape did nothing to stop him. He did, however, glance at me. Muttering something quickly, he then called over, "Mind your business, Sly. Report back here tomorrow to finish your detention."

Understanding that I was dismissed, I turned and followed Malfoy out the door.