Chapter 14

It was Monday morning breakfast, as in her birthday. She had absolutely no idea how the whole entire school had found out, she supposed maybe Albus or Minerva had spread the rumour but she had been receiving Happy Birthday's all morning. She would smile at them and thank them sometimes even her cheeks would heat up and she wished no one would notice. She wasn't used to getting so much attention and she wasn't sure whether she liked it or not. She noticed with a little disappointment that Severus wasn't at breakfast, not that it surprised her of course. But she would see him tonight she thought as a sly smile crept across her face.

Her first class went by quickly, as did her second…and third. They all went by so fast she had barely noticed the change of students and years from one class to the next. They had all wished her more Happy Birthday's and one class even sang it, very loudly. Lunch had also passed by quickly and finally at the end of the day her last class walked in. Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter were shooting glares at each other; she could feel the tension in the classroom already, what could have possibly happened already?

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Earlier that day

Severus was stalking up the rows in his classrooms, watching over potions and scolding students when they did something so completely stupid he had no idea why they even bothered coming to his classes.

Much to his surprise, and he didn't like surprises, his students had smiled at him this morning…smiled at him! Well only his house students obviously but even they refrained from showing any sign of affection for him. Maybe Claire was right and he should have been there for the Quidditch game, not that he could have gotten out of the bed that evening, he had just woken up.

He brushed it aside and focused on the class exiting his classroom. He looked at his schedule and almost groaned, fifth year Slytherin and Gryffindor already, they couldn't be serious? His limbs were still aching a little and his back became sore if he stood to long so he guessed he was going to have to watch what he did, he couldn't have the students think he were human after all, he thought sarcastically. Well, he didn't want to show any sign of weakness so he waited in his office so he could dramatically sweep in as he always did.

Harry was walking towards his potions class in high spirits, Snape hadn't been in class for the last two weeks, maybe he just wasn't coming back? He allowed himself that small hope and turned to Ron as they waited for the dungeons door to open when the bell rang.

"Another potions class Snapeless." Ron said in satisfaction.

"Yup, wonder who it's going to be today, I hope its Dumbledore again." Harry said hopefully.

Just as Ron began to nod in agreement the door swung open in synch with the bell indicating the start of class. Harry Ron and Hermione walked in and took their spots together, they were never allowed to do this with Snape in the class but because he had been absent for the last two weeks they felt comfortable with the fact that they were disobeying his rules and he wasn't there to punish them.

Just then, the back door opened and slammed against the wall menacingly. The class fell dead silent.

Harry watched in horror as Snape himself walked to the front of the classroom, but something was off, he looked paler and maybe just a little weaker…

"What are you all staring at?" he snapped, his eyes glittering. The whole class removed their shocked eyes from their Professor and went about gathering their notes for class.

Ok maybe not any less weak, Harry decided after watching the man stalk over to the black board. Suddenly he turned on the spot and regarded the class suspiciously.

"And who," he said taking each step towards the class just as slow as his words, "Gave you the permission," he was now standing right in Harry's face because he was sitting in the front of the class. "To switch seats?" he finished in a menacing whisper.

Harry watched as his lip curled and his eyes hardened. They gave him the creeps, why was he always coming so close to HIM? Why couldn't the man stick his big nose in Malfoy's face or something?

"Um...Professor Dumbledore, sir." Hermione replied at the wrong moment.

"Was I speaking to you Miss. Granger?" He said acidly, still in Harry's personal space but his eyes flashed over to her face. Harry also moved his eyes in Hermione's direction and he noticed she had paled quite a bit. It a been a while since fear had been reinstalled in the potions masters classroom. Hermione didn't answer.

"I find it odd," he said now walking a foot or two towards Hermione, "That you answer when not spoken to, but don't when you are addressed." He said silkily.

"I'm s-sorry P-professor." She stuttered.

"No more excuses Miss Granger, ten points from Gryffindor and," Here he raised his voice a little louder, "You will ALL get back to your assigned seats" he ended in a hiss.

The class quickly clambered to the seats they were assigned at the beginning of the year. Harry grudgingly moved over to sit beside Malfoy, all the desks were spaced out so he wasn't technically next to him but he still didn't like the idea of being one desk away. Malfoy was still in whisper range so Harry knew he was going to be spending the rest of the class trying to tune Malfoy out.

He dumped his books on his 'new' desk and angrily shoved them to the corner pulling out his cauldron and potions kit.

"Having a little tantrum are we Potter?" Malfoy whispered just as Harry predicted.

"Shove it Malfoy." Harry whispered back, and of course his whisper was the only one heard in the classroom.

"Five points Mr. Potter; do not insult your classmates." Malfoy smirked beside him and all he felt like doing was shoving the idiot's wand somewhere it didn't belo—His thoughts were cut off when Snape flicked his wand and the ingredients as well as steps to follow were written on the board.

The whole class's jaws dropped for the second time. Snape was going to give them the steps AND ingredients? They had never, in all their five years, been given anything by their potions master. He would give them the potion, they would find it in their text books and then try and decode whatever the hell it was talking about so they could try and present a somewhat passable potion. All the students seem to come to the same conclusion…The potions master had finally gone loopy. Maybe it was the mission he just came back from? Or maybe it was them…did they cause this?

"No talking, follow the directives and no questions." He turned on the spot and stalked off till he reached his desk. The potions master sat down rather stiffly and began grading papers.

Harry glanced over at Ron and they both shrugged, hey if Snape was going to give them directives they weren't going to complain.

Half an hour passed and Harry's potion was going surprisingly well, that is…until Malfoy started to talk.

"Potter," He whispered, Harry ignored him completely.

"Hey, Potter" he hissed again, and again Harry ignored him.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, the whole class turned their heads to take a look at the 'intruder', no one dared interrupt Snape's classes. Dumbledore walked into the class, pointy hat first.

"Professor Snape, I was wondering if I could have a word…"

"Of course Headmaster" Snape replied as if bored and walked to the door. He glared at the classroom, the evil in his stare turned on high, before sweeping out of the classroom. Everyone knew that that certain look was the Shut-up-do-your-work-and-if-I-catch-you-doing-anything-other-than-that-I-will-personally-hang-you-by-your-nostrils-in-the-dungeons, look.

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Severus walked out of class and shut the door behind him, on second thought he barred the door with a sound barrier, he didn't want them listening in on him.

"Severus, I just wanted to check up on you and make sure you are as fit as you say you are." Albus said with a little concern in his voice.

Severus sighed, why did everyone make such a fuss about him getting out of bed early? He healed quickly, why didn't anyone believe him?

"I'm fine Albus, as I told Miss Laurel, I'm in perfect health." Severus said with a little more aggression than needed; he cooled himself off, why was he so angry all the time?

"Alright Severus, I just wanted to be sure, Miss Laurel had just informed me that you had declared yourself healthy enough to leave without a second opinion."

"I'm fine." He growled again, Albus smiled softly at him.

"If you are sure, my boy." He was about to leave when Albus stopped him one more time.

"I have heard of certain…events you are to attend to this evening, please drop by my office after your lessons; am I right to assume you don't have any classes after this one?" What the hell was the old man talking about?

"Yes." Severus said slowly,

"Very good, do take it easy Severus, I'm sure you are still very tired."

Severus nodded and turned his back; he reached for the door knob and undid the sound barrier. As soon as the door was opened just the slightest bit the volume of noise almost pushed him back a couple of steps. There in the middle of the room stood the Slytherins and the Gryffindors, wands drawn and firing spells at each other. Oh no, they were not going to do this in his classroom.

"ENOUGH!" he roared causing his head to spin.

The entire class quietened at once, it seemed as though Miss. Granger was the only one not fighting, she was pulling at her friends sleeves trying to get them away from the opposing house. He couldn't BELIEVE the nerve of his students. At that moment he couldn't help but recognize the entire class as his students, at that moment he didn't see red and green he saw children, his children.

"What do you think you are doing?" He hissed, he felt color rise to his cheeks, he was soo angry.

All the students simply stared at him as if he were the Dark Lord himself. Some students attempted to sit back down, wrong move.

"Did I say you could sit down?" he snapped and the students righted themselves in a second.

"Since you all find you must duel in my classroom, you will all be punished." He hissed again. Fury rolled off of him and the students closest to him cowered away. His limbs were shaking slightly and he felt like his head was going to explode. What possible punishment could he dish out to the entire classroom?

"None of you are going to attend to the next Quidditch match; you will all present yourselves in this classroom, understood?" The entire class gaped at him, he wasn't serious was he?

As if reading their minds he sneered, "When am I not serious?" the students eyes bulged out of their sockets and some of the Slytherins glared at him as if betrayed.

"You brought it upon yourselves, you all disappoint me. You have shamed your houses and your head of houses; do not even think for a second that you will get off scot free." He glared at each individual student as he said so.

"Professor McGonagall will be informed and will punish you all accordingly, as for you," Here he glared at each Slytherin, "I will decide the next step to your punishment." He was so sick of the fighting, why couldn't he have one classroom uninterrupted?

All the students looked at one another, so caught up in the injustice of Snape's punishment; they had simply forgotten the reason why they had been fighting in the first place.

"Any questions?" He sneered one last time, no one dared raise their hand not even Miss Granger and he noticed many of the girls were almost in tears. Did they actually find their punishment that horrible, or did he actually scare them that much? He received his answer when all eyes avoided him, most students were shaking were they stood. Were these children actually that afraid of him? He glanced at Potter, the boy who had faced Voldemort on countless occasions, had his head bowed and his eyes were wide, he looked skittish as if he were going to curse him at any second. Even Malfoy looked slightly taken aback, what? They had seen him angry before, why was this any different?

"You are all dismissed, get out of my sight." He said a little less aggressively, he was extremely disappointed in them. He thought most of them were idiots and dunderheads at best but he still believed they had potential and besides, when they were in his classroom he was responsible for them. When in his class, he expected them to behave, to do their work and to give their all. That's why he was so demanding, he wanted to push them to their limits, he wasn't demanding so he could see them walk like zombies into the Great Hall drinking coffee and such because they had spent most the night doing work.

No, he didn't do it to see them suffer; he wanted to know how far they could push themselves. How well they could apply themselves. And after all, when in his class they were all hisstudents regardless which house they came from. True, he didn't like Gryffindor but that didn't mean he wasn't going to push them to their limits and see their true potential, if he really didn't like them, well, he wouldn't be so harsh. Everything was backwards with Severus Snape, when he didn't give a damn what they did, that's when he didn't care for them.

He doubted they would understand that, oh well, he would always know in the end that he did make a difference in their studies. And that's why instead of going to the Quidditch game they were going to do some extra study work for their OWL's. They would see it as torture but he would bet anything their scores on their tests were going to be the highest in most of Europe.

He noticed he was alone in the room and that all the students had scrambled out as quickly as possible, he remembered their scared faces, he wanted to tell them that he was doing it for their own good but the was no way in hell they would believe him.

He walked back over to his desk and looked in the mirror, his eyes still held fire. A fire that he doubted could be extinguished any time soon because that certain fire was anger, hatred and everything in between. Sometimes it was represented with ice, his eyes would go hard and freeze over, but not today, today they were a ball of heat. His hair hung limply from his head and his cheeks still had a tinge of pink, a reminder of his earlier anger. His teeth were bared in a snarl and his fists were clench.

He unclenched them slowly and looked away from the mirror, his stomach twisted; he looked exactly like his father. He supposed he was going to have to get used to it because he was in too deep now and his heart was still too frozen. He doubted that would ever change.

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Harry's heart was still beating rapidly in his chest; it was all Malfoy's fault. If he hadn't started up about Neville again then none of that would have happened. He realized his hands were still shaking, but it wasn't out of anger. Snape's face had actually scared him more then he would like to admit. The man could definitely give the students a fright. He had never seen Hermione almost in tears because of a teacher but she looked terrified.

The three walked quietly together until they reached their Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Hermione still looked a little spooked but Ron looked angry. Harry had calmed down a little but instead of feeling angry that Snape had taken away their Quidditch game, for the first time he felt ashamed. Many had pointed out that he had quite the temper and he was going to try and handle that. He had been doing pretty well since the beginning of the year but Malfoy's jabs at Neville broke his control. Other than that, he was just happy that the Slytherins got the same treatment.

They reached their last class of the day and walked in at the same time the Slytherins did, they glared at each other and the room went tense quickly. To escape the atmosphere Hermione bounced up to Professor Laurel's desk and wished her a happy birthday, as did Ron. So he ended up going to see her to.

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Severus knocked on Albus' door and awaited an answer. He had spent a long time wondering what Albus could possibly have meant about going out for the evening…

"Come in" Said a grandfatherly voice.

Severus walked in cautiously and gracefully walked over to a chair, he didn't need to be invited to sit anymore so he did automatically.

"Lemon drop?"

"No thank you Headmaster." Albus gave him a disapproving look.

"Albus" he corrected himself. Why did people always insist on first name basis?

Albus could tell Severus was getting antsy, so the boy really had no idea why he had called him there?

"Down to business as always right Severus?" he chuckled lightly, Severus didn't seem to be enjoying himself.

"Of course Headm—Albus" He said with a small amount of irritation. He really didn't want to be there, if the headmaster had called him to his office instead of simply telling him what was happening in his own quarters then it was going to be something he didn't want to hear.

"I understand you have an…outing this evening with Claire? That's very nice of you seeing as it's her birthday today…" he trailed off a hint of a smile playing on his lips.

Medalling old man, how did he know about that? Damn, why would he care anyway? Had Claire told him? He was going to murder her. Albus was still looking expectantly at him.

"Believe me; I had no intentions of going out…" He said grudgingly.

"And how, may I ask, did you land yourself into that one?" Albus asked smiling, he honestly had no idea how Claire had managed it.

"None of your business." Severus snapped folding his arms over his chest.

"Oh come now, Severus! You know I have only your best interest in mind, maybe I can assist you." Albus said honestly, besides he did intend to 'help him' maybe not the way he wanted him to but help none the less.

The headmaster could get him out of this? Brilliant! This was perfect.

"She used the wizarding law against me; I'm in dept to her." He said with a sigh, what a mess. He, Severus Snape, was going on a date tonight.

Albus smiled, she was indeed a gifted witch. Most people overlooked that law and let it pass; most people didn't think it was necessary for them to be in debt. But obviously Claire wasn't 'most people'.

"I have just the thing for your date Severus."

"Please don't say that word." Severus said in reply, it still sounded too odd to say his name and that word in the same sentence.

Albus simply turned around and handed him a small stick, it almost looked like a mini version of his wand.

"What is this Albus?" Severus asked, holding the stick in front of a sceptical eye.

"Brake it in half when you get to your dating spot," he ignored Severus' glare as he once again said the offending word, " it will help, trust me."

Severus had a feeling he would rather not trust him, he also had a feeling this wasn't going to help him the way he wanted it to.

"Is this going to render her paralyzed so she won't fight back when I throw her into the lake? Other wise, I'm not sure it'll be any use to me." He sneered at the small object in his palm.

"It'll help Severus, now go get ready for your date, have you given her a time frame so she can get ready?" In truth, he hadn't even thought about the date all day, suddenly the worst possible thing happened. He got butterflies. Suddenly he was nervous, was he supposed to wear something nice? Wait, she couldn't see what would it matter? But wait, could she tell? But he didn't care right? so WHAT DID IT MATTER?!

Albus watched as the potions master's face paled considerably, he almost felt bad for the boy, only almost though. He knew Claire had taken a fancy to him, he hoped his potions master learnt to enjoy company and unfortunately for him this was the only way.

"You'd better go get ready Severus and don't forget to send her letter or something, she's a woman after all, she needs a time frame."

Severus nodded dumbly and headed through the door, Albus chuckled again. He knew exactly where they were going tonight, he wanted to give them their space but it just so happened that the tree which he was going to take her was just outside his window…

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Her class had ended rather uneventfully; she had given up trying to make the students work together that day, something had obviously happened for them to be so uncooperative. They had left grumpily and she headed to her rooms, she didn't know what time Severus intended them to leave so she thought she mind as well pick out her clothes and such before dinner.

She walked into the Great Hall later and sat at her usual place. She could hear Severus talking so she knew he was there; good, she needed to ask him when they were leaving.

She was in the middle of eating her chicken when she felt Albus rise beside her.

"Attention students," the entire hall went quiet. "As I'm sure you have all guessed, we have a celebration tonight." The school started whispering excitedly.

Claire was confused, what celebration? Suddenly there was a loud pop and a giant…cake? She smelt the air uncertainly, yes a cake popped in front of her. The hall cheered loudly and she smiled despite herself. She heard Albus chuckle and Severus grunt; well he was certainly being a party pooper.

She laughed delightedly when the school started to sing happy birthday to her. The teachers all joined except for one. Well, that was expected. All at once birthday cards and gifts all popped in front of her, she supposed the house elves had been told to do it.

She laughed when she realized they had written them in brail, as for the ones that weren't, well that was taken care of with a flick of her wand.

Most of them were very nice, wishing her happy birthday and happy wishes such as those, she had a couple more personal ones from student with whom she spent more time and then she finally came across one that she didn't expect to see.

-Miss Laurel,

Seeing as you still insist upon a 'date' please do me the honour of being ready at eight o'clock sharp, do not be late.

-SS

She smiled for the tenth time that night, her gut twisted with tension but she knew her smile to be genuine. She glanced in his direction and felt his eyes on her; she winked at him and continued looking at her cards.

Severus watched as her cake and gifts appeared in front of her, for some odd reason he felt light and airy as he watched her open her gifts eat her cake. He did feel nervous but something about the way she always seemed so at ease influenced his nerves. He still didn't want to go on a date with her but for the time being he was just glad to be drinking pumpkin juice in the Great Hall rather than by himself in the dungeons…Wait, was he actually thinking that? There was no way he would rather be there with a school full of students and the woman who was the cause of his wasted time rather than by himself in his dungeons.

He watched as she read his card and surprisingly she turned and winked at him. Why did she do that? He hated her in that moment as every teacher stared at him. Damn, couldn't she be a little less obvious?

After about half an hour it was six thirty and he (grudgingly) needed to get ready for the night. He swept out of the Great Hall, ignored by many and headed for his rooms.

Once he arrived he took a shower, dressed in his similar black clothes and brushed his teeth. He hated that he did actually care what she thought about him. It was seven forty-five so he headed out of the dungeons towards her quarters, the small stick Albus had given him firmly tucked inside his pocket.

Claire was finally finished getting ready, she wanted to look nice for him. Contrary to what he thought of her, she took his opinion to heart. She had brushed her hair, taken a shower, brushed her teeth and put on a nice outfit. She once again put on the perfume that smelt of vanilla with a pin prick of fruit and touched herself up critically.

She had picked out a v-neck sweater and a pair of muggle jeans instead of robes. It was two minutes to eight and she was about to open the door when someone knocked form the other side.

She opened the door and heard silence on the other end.

"Severus? Well, as you can see I'm ready so where are we going?"

"All in due time." He said as casually as possible, his voice once again sent a chill down her spine and together they headed out towards the grounds.

A/N- Hey guys, I know you're probably disappointed that this wasn't the date chapter but I promise you, I will have it posted tomorrow as soon as possible, hope you liked it!! Thx guys.