Chapter 37 : Kaboom

Severus had his hands steepled in front of his face as he stared out into his busy classroom. Each student flipped though their books, stared at his notes written on the board, and attempted to decipher the instructions on making their potions.

Time had flown since the start of the fall semester, encroaching on the colder hint of winter. Winter break was almost upon them and keeping his classes focused on their work was getting harder by the day.

Hermione had drawn over another blackboard, making a sketch on the board with his instructions, giving the more unsure students a different way of looking at it. The instructions were identical, yet it seemed that when she impressed upon them the reason why some things were done that way, it seeped in a little more. It was almost as if hearing it from her as well as him made it more real to them. She walked up and down the aisles, peering into cauldrons, motioning for some to stir clockwise while others to do the opposite.

Sometimes, a student would cringe from the scowling Potion Master and immediately seek an appeal from Hermione. Her face would gain the impassive look that mirrored her mentor's, letting it be known that they would gain no respite from either of them for doing something wrong. Yet, even so, she showed more patience in explaining some of the more subtle tasks than he ever did. He admitted, at least to himself, that she helped take some of the innate desire to throttle some of his more idle-brained students down to a dull roar.

Hermione didn't mention any other incidents of being watched or possible Legilimens since the one morning after they pondered the strange order for salmon feet flakes and gilldragon feet. He shook his head at the memory of the odd ingredients.

Hermione was leaned over a student's cauldron, testing the viscosity with a spoon when a BLAM shattered the quiet of the potions classroom. Green goo splattered over everyone in the back 3 rows of the room as a cloud of vapor with the odor of moldy bread permeated the room.

A dark cloud seemed to form around the dark wizard as he stood from his desk. The students in the front, who had escaped being slimed, stared down into their cauldron as if to will it to simmer by their will alone.

Severus moved towards the back of the room, the air of malevolence draped around him like a third robe. "Mr. Belfry, 15 points from Hufflepuff for careless use of potion ingredients and whatever you care to call THIS," Severus pointed to all of the dripping students. You will report to detention with Professor Sprout tonight and every night for the rest of this week, and you will take a zero for that sorry excuse for a potion." He scowled down at the dripping boy.

Severus stormed to the door of the classroom and stuck his head out and waved at someone down the hall.

"Mr. Williams, you are a prefect are you not?"

"Yes, Professor Snape," came a reply from the hall.

"Please… escort these sopping victims to the hospital wing and make sure they are not dying of anything… overly fatal," Snape growled.

"Yes, Professor," the voice agreed. "Come along."

The cluster of dripping students shuffled out after the prefect.

Severus waved his wand across the back of the room, vanishing the excess goo from the pores of his violated classroom. "Everyone else, back to work."

Snape sat back in his chair, pressing his fingertips together as he scowled back over the classroom. Hermione smiled at him as she leaned over another student's cauldron, inspecting it for color and viscosity. He shot her a look, but the corner of his lip curved up as he nodded to her.

He placed his fingers on the bridge of his nose and stared at the parchment he was grading. Winter Break couldn't come fast enough.

"Have I broken out in a pox, Ms. Granger?" Severus asked as he graded his papers.

Hermione chuckled as she set the quill down she was using to grade the opposing stack of papers. "I was just… remembering you."

Severus arched a brow at her, his pen scribbling across the parchment. "I apparently need to give you more things to grade."

Hermione chuckled, picking up her quill again. She scribbled over the paper she was grading. "Wow, this one says flobberworm mucus is gathered from… leeches."

Severus grunted. "This one thinks adding frog brains to wheat hulls will turn someone into a frog."

Hermione chortled as she continued to grade. "Fairy wings from fairy fungus."

"Goosegrass harvested from between the toes of wayward geese," he countered.

"Honey water harvested from bee-hives dipped in water," Hermione giggled.

"Dragonfly thorax," Severus replied, "harvested from the Dragonfly's rear end."

Hermione busted out laughing, taking a moment catch her breath. "No wonder you were always so irritated with us. I'd be irritated at me too if I wrote something like that."

"Hrmph," Snape grunted. "You were never one I had to worry about despicably horrifying no-brain answers."

Hermione finished grading the stake of papers she was on and found herself watching Severus as he quilled away. His dark hair fell about his face as his pale hand controlled the quill with exacting detail. It was comforting watching him. He was familiar now in a way she could not imagine not seeing him there, furiously grading his papers.

"You're staring at me again," he said, marking a large ornate "T" on the paper in front of him.

Hermione looked away, but smiled. "I can't help it, Severus. So many things have changed since the war," she said in reply. "I treasure some of the irrationally mundane things that haven't."

"Like me crankily failing student papers?" Severus asked dryly.

"Yes," she replied softly.

Snape lifted up the stack of papers he was grading and handed her a few more. "Don't let me stop you then," he said softly, continuing to scribble over the parchment.

Hermione grinned broadly, dipping her quill into the inkpot. "I wouldn't dream of it."