"The Tale of a Broken Man"

By: PsychoHaired

Disclaimer: After much legal hassle and years of arguing, I have finally persuaded the court that I was the actual person whom wrote the famed Harry Potter series… but on the count of laziness I gave it back to J.K. Rowling because I didn't feel like focusing on that deformed hormone raged scarhead. Instead I have permission to focus on greasy-haired, hook-nosed, hormone raged teenage Snape…not! But I'm going to anyways.

A/N- Well… bad news for me, I can't go out tonight with my boyfriend that for fun's sake I'll call 'Mongoose' so instead you all get an update! Woohoo for you… I miss my Mongoose :frown: Anyways as I've said before, I'll be starting school this Wednesday so updates will not be so frequent. So now that we got THAT done with… enjoy! (And give me reviews so I can finish my homework faster to read them!) Hooray for you guys!

Chapter 11:

Add 2g of chopped wormwood and stir counter-clockwise until it settles into a nice green colour.

Severus looked at the instructions on the board once more in puzzlement. "Professor" he raised his hand.

Professor Slughorn looked up from his work desk. "Yes Severus?"

"Is that line correct?" Severus asked.

The professor looked at it for a second and turned his eyes to him once more "Yes, yes it is" he turned back to his work.

"But sir… wouldn't that just cause the ingredients to bunch together?"

Slughorn gave him a mysterious look and continued with his work. Severus shrugged and added a clock-wise stir every seventh counter-clockwise turn. This action caused his potion to bubble momentarily and then settled into a vivid shade of green. Severus looked around and noticed he was further ahead than the other students. He looked at professor Slughorn whom averted his eyes quickly. Severus shot up his eyebrows suspiciously and read the next steps.

Allow to simmer, and then add 3g of powdered dragonfly wings and 4mL of diluted dragon's blood. Stir clockwise three times. Potion should now be emitting spiralling golden fumes.

Severus glanced at the instructions once more in puzzlement. 'Surely he means add the powdered dragonfly wings to the blood first…' Severus shrugged and did what he thought was better. He added the wings to the diluted dragon's blood and added it to the potion, stirring it clockwise three times. The potion immediately turned deep blood red and produced spiralling golden fumes. He glanced over at Lily whom was also eyeing the instructions confusedly. She looked amusedly at Severus and he rolled his eyes at Professor Slughorn. Lily chuckled and continued to work.

Add 25g of minced fleur de lis root and 7mL of Armadillo Bile. Raise temperature of fire until flames are blue. Let boil.

Severus didn't object to this line so he followed these instructions. A few minutes later his potion was bubbling rapidly with a murky brown liquid.

Sprinkle liberally with pulverized yellow Rosal de Fuego thorns. Stir counter-clockwise until a thick golden paste.

'WHAT?' Severus thought bewildered 'stirring it in one direction will make it chunky and gritty. It'll take much less time if I change the direction constantly.' He thought for a moment and stirred the potion in a "figure-eight" motion. After a few minutes his mixture was a thick golden paste bubbling slowly. Severus put the fire beneath the cauldron out. He looked around; most of the students were still in the earlier stages of brewing. He rolled his eyes and began washing his instruments in the sink. The noise attracted Professor Slughorn's attention and grinned.

"Oho! It seems as though Snape has finished first!" he walked up to his cauldron and looked at it with scrutiny. "The colour is perfect…" he poked the solution with his wand "Consistency is impeccable. I must say, never in my years of teaching have I seen a better bruise healing paste than this! And you brewed it so fast! Congratulations!" he patted him on the back and walked over to Lily's cauldron "Dear Merlin! And Miss Evan's isn't too far behind!" He rubbed his hands together "I always said you should have been in Slytherin" he chuckled.

"And deprive Gryffindor of some of it's glory?" she laughed as she stirred her quickly thickening mixture.

Slughorn laughed heartily.

-o-

"Great job today in potions Sev!" Lily walked beside him.

"Honestly, those instructions on the board were all wrong!" he scoffed "and we're supposed to learn from him?"

"Actually, I think he does it on purpose" she looked thoughtful for a moment.

"On purpose! Are you mad? He should be sacked!"

"Severus! What I mean to say is that those instructions, although inferior, would have made the potion work—

He opened his mouth to object but Lily cut him to the chase

"But, I think he's testing us, see who has what it takes to be a substantial brewer"

"Could be a possibility… but I still think he's nutters" he shook his head gravely.

"Well, I'm off. Tonight's girl's night at Cornelia's dorm" she grinned.

"Girls" he rolled his eyes at her.

Lily laughed "See you later!"

"See you!" Severus turned around and decided to go to the library instead.

He kept walking along the corridors with his hands in his pockets, looking at the other students. Some were enjoying the end of classes for the day; others were talking animatedly with friends. A group of noisy girls passed him, discussing what they would wear to the upcoming Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff match while others discussed homework and upcoming tests. He sighed and pushed open the door to the library.

He walked over to the dark arts section, nodding at the librarian as he passed by. He eyed the several leather-bound books and settled for 'Infamous Curses of the 16th Century'. He pulled it off the shelf and sat at a nearby table to read.

He was deeply immersed in the third chapter when he was interrupted by a fit of giggles. He looked around curiously and continued to read. A few seconds later, the same giggling interrupted his reading. He looked up in aggravation and spotted Narcissa and Bellatrix hidden behind a bookcase, spying on a blond seventh year. They giggled again and the boy turned around in confusion; it was Lucius Malfoy. Malfoy shrugged and continued reading. As soon as hi did, Bella and Cissy started their giggle fit once more. Severus rolled his eyes and continued reading, only to be interrupted by the incessant giggles. Severus grinded his teeth in frustration and stood up.

"Will you two please keep it down? I'm trying to read!" he hissed.

At this time, Malfoy threw the three of them a glare and moved to another table.

"You're such a spoil-sport Severus" Cissy scoffed and stomped off, closely followed by Bellatrix.

Severus watched them leave the Library in indignation. "Bloody girls…" he muttered and sat back down on the table.

-o-

Severus sat seething, crossed legged on his four-poster bed, looking through his Latin Thesaurus. His scalp stung from washing it so much. And yet no matter how many 'Scourgifies' and vigorous scrubbing with shampoo, the vague smell of toilet water remained behind. He was still shaking with fury, he'd been so stupid to think that little duel with Potter back on his first day wouldn't have any repercussions.

He flipped another page in annoyance.

Body: Corpus, Corporis

"Corpus…" he thought and ripped out a page from an old notebook. He tapped it with the tip of his wand and the paper folded itself into an origami person. He flipped through the Thesaurus vigorously.

Sever: Abrumpo

"Corporis Abrumpo!" he blasted the tiny origami man and it ripped itself in half. Severus imagined James's body ripped in half. "…too messy". He tapped the paper with his wand "Reparo" The pieces glued themselves back together.

Pain: Poena, Dolor

"Corpus Poena" the paper man shivered. "Well THAT looks interesting…" he rolled his eyes.

After a few hours of fruitless search Severus brushed the book aside. It fell out of his bed. "Bugger…" he bent over to pick it up and something caught his interest.

Levitate: Levo

He glanced and the origami man and pointed his wand at it "Levicorpus!" Nothing happened. "Maybe I pronounced it wrong… Levicorpus!" Again, nothing occurred. 'I give up… if Levicorpus doesn't—

"Whoah!" The paper man was dangling upside down. Severus grinned malevolently. Severus shook his wand; the paper shook with it. "How do I make it stop?" he shook his wand vigorously, the paper still shook with it. He jerked his wand upwards and the paper fluttered down. "Hmmm" he pointed the wand at his own feet 'Levicorpus' he was hung upside-down by his ankles. He jerked his wand and he fell on a heap on the floor. He rubbed the back of his head tenderly "Should've done that on the mattress…"

-o-

Lily sat down next to Severus whom didn't notice her.

"Severus?" she waved her hand in front of his face.

"Hmm? Hi Lily" he said weakly.

"Are you okay?" she looked concerned.

"I don't know… I'm dizzy… I feel awful" he leaned back against the tree, coughing; his throat felt like it was on fire. He was shivering violently, even though it was fairly warm outside. He looked around disoriented.

"Sev I think you're sick" she placed a hand on his forehead "oh wow! You're hot!" she felt his cheek.

"…not too bad yourself" he passed out.

-o-

Severus awoke and saw a pair of emerald eyes on his.

"What happened?" He sat up slowly; his head was pounding.

"You had a very high fever and you fainted" she looked flushed.

"Oh" his throat rasped.

"I brought you your homework," she pointed at a small stack of books on his bedside table. "The nurse said you had a 40 degrees Celsius fever. You even started to have convulsions on your way here…"

"Oh" he rasped again.

"Don't worry, it's just a throat infection" she chuckled lightly. "Anyways, I'd better go. Madame Promfey said I could stay until you woke up"

"Oh… thanks" he stretched "…bye Lily"

"Bye Sev, I'll stop by later, after classes." She turned to leave "get better soon okay?" she walked out the door.

"Mr. Snape you're up! How are you feeling?" the nurse walked in carrying a bottle of medicine.

"Eugh" he flopped back down against his pillows.

"I thought so…" she poured some bright red liquid into a small cup "Drink up, its pepper-up potion"

Severus took the cup and gulped it down, his oesophagus burned, his eyes watered, and steam came out of his ears.

"Now get some rest, this infection will keep you in here for a few days, I will not have you spread it around the school"

Severus opened his mouth to protest but decided against it, for he immediately felt woozy again and drifted off.

-o-

When he woke up again it was dark, he turned on his side and found a Sugar Quill with a green silk ribbon tied around it; it was Lily's ribbon. Severus felt himself blushing a bit and drifted off to sleep again with a smile on his face.

To Be Continued…

A/N- Well, here you have it. This one's not so long as last chapter… actually I think last chapter was the longest so far… anyways, next chapter might be up by next week since I'm starting school again… so much fun. I'm pretty surenext chapter is much shorter than this… but trust me… MUCH more interesting than this one. Ooooooh what could it be? Dun dun dunn, anyways, review please!