A/N: I would like to thank the two people who have reviewed my first chapter, thank you much! And here is the second chapter...Has Snape gone...mad? Hmm, I do not know, but it is, indeed, interesting, LoL. And it looks like Ron and Hermione are fighting again. Please enjoy, and review!
MHPS Chapter Two: A Change in Appearance, a Change in Mind
Harry just stared. That's all he could do. The whispers echoed off of the dungeon walls all around him, the voices that carried them in the tone of complete amazement.
"Can you believe it?" Ron said quietly, hiding behind his cauldron. "I just can't believe it...You think he's gone mad?"
Harry just shook his head, unable to speak.
Ron's eyes were wide with astoundment. "He'd have to be a nutter to do this...What do you think, Hermione? Hermione? Earth to Hermione!" Ron hissed.
Harry caught sight of Hermione and almost fell off his chair. She was staring at Snape; so was everyone else, but Harry could tell Hermione was looking at him differently. He immediately began feeling sick.
"No way," Ron said under his breath, gazing at Hermione, realizing at once what Harry had. "NO...." he groaned loudly.
"WEASLEY!"
Ron paled as Snape strode over, hovering above him menacingly.
"Is there something that is not to your liking, Weasley?" Snape said icily.
Ron just stared up at him, lost for words.
"Pray, tell, Weasley, what you are groaning about needs to be brought to my attention so that I can see to it that it is fixed to your pleasure," Snape said colder than the dungeon around them, insuring everyone that he would do nothing of the sort.
Ron's jaw was nearly scraping the floor, still staring blankly up at him. Everyone was dead silent, watching. Harry looked over at Hermione but quickly looked away as his stomach churned with that morning's breakfast.
"Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley!" Snape was shouting, his teeth bared. "You will do your best to answer me before I am forced to take even more points from Gryffindor!"
Ron was moving his mouth but seemed to be having trouble getting words out; his eyes continued to be transfixed, unbelievingly on Snape.
Snape was beside himself.
"FIFTEEN MORE POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR! ANSWER ME NOW OR IT'S FIFTY! WEASLEY--"
"NOTHING!" Ron yelled suddenly, finally discovering his voice. "Nothing, sir...."
Snape glared down at Ron, who finally looked away. As he walked back to his desk, Snape continued to oddly ignore the whispers like he had been all morning.
Harry closed his eyes. 'I'm going to wake up now,' he thought. When he opened them again, they landed on Hermione, causing his middle to lurch violently, knowing all to well what the look on her face meant. Forcing himself to look away at Snape, Harry couldn't decide whether he felt amused, amazed, or afraid.
Harry knew Severus Snape was going to have to go through some changes, after witnessing the scene between him and Professor Dumbledore in the hospital wing at the end of last year. But never, Harry thought, would Snape do something like this.
Snape seemed to be sporting a new look---an entirely new look; far from the look of horror Harry fantasized about while he poured slugs down the Professor's front or performed a painful curse upon him...Much, much worse.
Harry, like everyone else, had no idea what possessed Snape to do it. To even wash that greasy hair of his would be something. But not only did Snape wash his hair, he cut it! Styled in a trendy, short, spiky 'do, Snape looked like a completely different person. The absence of shadows on his face that were caused by his long, limp black hair seemed to make his hooked-nose look smaller and his face brighter. His skin was no longer pale and pasty looking, but fresh and clear. Even his robes seemed to be neater kept.
Harry remembered that morning, walking into the dungeon with the rest of the class. A young man was sitting at Snape's desk, his head bent over a bit of parchment.
"Can you believe our luck?" Ron had said, beyond happiness. "Snape's ill!" Ron's eyes were growing wide with hope, "You think maybe he could be so sick that he'll be out all week?!"
A low, deadly voice sounded from the front of the room. "I'm feeling quite well, Weasley, thoughtful of you to ask."
Everyone stared, dumbfounded as Snape rose from his desk, no one believing what he or she saw. Even Draco Malfoy and his gang of Slytherins were at a loss for words. Harry had been even more amazed at the slight look of insecurity on the professor's face.
"Get to your seats!" he had barked at them, and there the students all sat for the past hour, wondering who had put Snape under the Imperius Curse to make him do such a thing. When the bell finally rung, signaling the end of the lesson, Harry got up slowly from his seat and walked to the door, feeling like he was in a dream. A few people glanced back at Professor Snape when leaving, Hermione included.
Harry trudged his way up the stairs, his head buzzing. Ron was grumbling next to him, and Harry finally caught his eye. They stared at each other for a brief moment, but then both of them burst out laughing.
"Never--in--my--wildest--dreams!" Ron was gasping through wild hoots. "Never! He's--gone--mental!"
Harry was laughing so hard, streams of tears were rolling down his face as he gripped the railing for support. He could hear Dean and Seamus ahead of them, also in wild fits of laughter. Harry could just make out Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, all looking as though Christmas had been cancelled this year.
When all of them reached the landing in the Entrance Hall, Dean called out to Malfoy, "Looks like your head of house has been taking a few lessons from Witch Weekly!" Draco scowled back at him, but Pansy Parkinson moved him along, saying there was nothing for him to be ashamed about.
"Wait till you see him!" Ron was saying later on in the Gryffindor common room. "He's all dolled up!"
"You're kidding!" Juliet exclaimed, sitting forward in her seat next to the fire. "No wonder he hasn't been to meals!"
"C'mon, guys, stop making fun," Ginny said quietly. "There's nothing wrong for a person to take an interest in their appearance."
"Ginny, it's Snape!" Harry said, shaking his head.
"Yeah, Gin," Ben agreed, laughing, "it's quite different."
"I agree with Ginny," Hermione said suddenly. "We should all just leave him alone about it."
Ron stared at her. Harry was beginning to feel that sick feeling in his stomach again. "Of course you'd say that!" Ron said to her angrily, "Harry and I saw the way you were looking at him!" The group went silent, looking from Ron to Hermione apprehensively.
Hermione, looking harassed, answered, "I have know idea what you're talking about, Ron!"
"Don't give me that," Ron said, his face turning red. "Harry'll back me up!" He turned around and looked at him, but Harry couldn't open his mouth, for fear of something other than words coming out of it.
"Oh, so exactly what kind of look did you see?" Hermione asked, her eyebrows raised. Juliet and Ben exchanged a look between each other; neither of them had really been through an actual row between Ron and Hermione.
Ron's voice was getting louder, attracting attention from other people in the room. "You were looking at him like he was a sort of treat or something!" He looked at her accusingly, "YOU FANCY SNAPE!"
Hermione immediately began to blush as the whole common room went quiet. "Stop shouting! I don't fancy Snape, Ron, but I'm not going to deny that I think he looks a bit better than he did before!" Ron looked absolutely revolted, and Harry closed his eyes, praying he didn't throw up.
"I saw him too," Ginny said, looking at Ron. "I had to deliver a note to him from Professor McGonagall. He does look all right, Ron, I'm sure a lot of the girls think so."
"Please," Harry groaned, "Don't say that...."
"He's only changed his look," Ron was saying through clenched teeth. "He's still a filthy git who would do anything to take points away from Gryffindor! No reason for you to go and like him now, Hermione!"
"I don't, Ron!" Hermione answered, shaking in anger. "If you didn't notice, I wasn't the only girl looking at him!" She got up and ran quickly up the girls' spiral staircase, everyone in the common room watching her. Ben, Juliet, and Ginny all looked at Harry, who just looked back, not knowing what to say.
Ron stared into the fire, his eyes blazing just about as much as the flames. "Disgusting."
A few days later, all the students in the school had eventually had Snape in a Potions lesson, and everyone was buzzing about why he had taken such a drastic change in appearance. If it was at all a disguise for his spying on the Dark Side, Harry personally felt that Voldemort would be able to see through it. Rumors had been floating around that Snape had a secret love interest, and he had changed his look in order to impress his lover. Of course, Harry preferred not to think about Snape's love life.
"I think he looks quite good," Parvati Patil said one day during a Care for Magical Creatures lesson. "Too bad he's still got a dreadful personality." Lavender Brown nodded in agreement.
"Can you believe this?" Seamus Finnigan whispered to Ron and Harry. "They'd rather be looking at Snape than us!" Ron didn't say a word, but continued to glare in Hermione's direction.
At the end of the lesson, Harry and Ron asked Hagrid if he knew anything about Snape and his new glamorous life. His fierce size was usually compromised by his kind nature, but Hagrid answered curtly, "What he's doin' ain't none of me business. He's still young, he can do what he wants ter do."
"But don't you think it's a bit odd?" Harry asked. "This doesn't have anything to do with him spying on Voldemort, does it?"
Hagrid knew there was no point in telling Harry not to use Voldemort's name, and he knew all about what happened in the hospital wing after the Triwizard Tournament, but he still looked slightly surprised that Harry knew about Snape and his work with the Dark Side. "It would do you good not ter go aroun' shoutin' abou' what you know abou' Snape, Harry," Hagrid said lowly. "But I'm workin' closely with him, see, and I don' think this new look has anything ter do with it. And that's all I'm sayin'."
"Yeah, that's her, isn't she beautiful?" Will was saying heartily, handing Ginny a new picture. They had been sitting on the rug for the last half hour in front of the fire, Will showing Ginny the new photographs he had been sent from home; he seemed to be showing off his new black lab puppy, Claudia, at the moment.
Harry couldn't stand watching the scene, but because he wasn't in the mood to play, he just watched as Ben and Juliet played a game of Exploding Snap. Ron and Hermione had been avoiding each other for the last few days, so it was rare that you could find them in the common room.
"Juliet, I know you're not this bad," Ben said, yet again winning the fifth game in a row. "What's up."
"Nothing," Juliet answered curtly, but Harry swore he saw her blue eyes shoot over toward Will and Ginny.
Sitting back in his chair, Harry closed his eyes, but he couldn't help catching what Will was now saying. "A Hogsmeade weekend is coming up soon, you know."
"Yeah," Ginny answered. "I'm glad. I need to do my Christmas shopping."
"Well," Will went on, "maybe you would like to meet me in the Three Broomsticks, you know, just to hang out."
"Sure," Ginny agreed without a hesitation. "Juliet and I had been planning to go."
Harry's eyes snapped open as he heard the screech of a chair scooting across the floor. "I'm going to bed," Juliet said, standing up, the usual happy look on her face gone.
Ben raised his eyebrows, glancing at the clock over the mantle. "Juliet, it's only half past eight."
"I'm tired." And with that, Juliet walked up the spiral staircase, her long golden hair swinging behind her.
"Wonder what's up with her?" Ben asked Harry, his dark eyes puzzled.
Harry shrugged, but in his head he wondered what was so special about Will Morris.
"Harry...?" Ben's southern drawl was saying out of nowhere. Apparently, Harry had been staring at Will and Ginny longer than intended.
"Wha---" But Harry was interrupted by the portrait hole banging open and a loud voice:
"When you're done blaming me for everything, maybe then you can give me a proper apology! As for now, I'm tired, and I'm going to bed!"
Harry had one moment to witness Hermione's brown, bushy head fleeing up to the girls' dormitories. Ron was standing near the portrait hole, his ears burning, and a tight scowl on his face as he too watched Hermione stomp angrily up the girls' spiral staircase.
Ben shook his head and laughed pitifully. "Nice to see people are lighting up around here. Nothing like showing the Christmas spirit more than bickering and going to bed early...."
Harry wasn't feeling too much of the holiday air either as he stared at Will's face, longing to pull out his wand and say a few well-chosen words.
Trying to think of something else, Harry pulled his eyes away from Will, and he saw Jonathan climbing through the portrait hole. He stared at Ron for a moment, who didn't acknowledge he was there and then he walked silently, with his head bent down, across the common room and up the boys' staircase.
Ben noticed him too and said, "Hey, I'm gonna go see what Jonathan's up to, okay?" Seeing that Harry was concentrating on Will and Ginny again, he got up and he too walked up the boys' staircase.
"Everyone these days is going through it," Ben muttered aloud. "I wonder how they can stand not telling each other...Hopefully things will get better, only a little while until Christmas."
A/N: Don't even ask what goes on in my head, to do what I've done to Snape...but it's fun, heehee ((the thing to wonder, is *why* I've done this to Snape)). So it looks like Will is standing it Harry's way of Ginny. Hmm, please stay tuned, it will get interesting, and the plot will definitely thicken...~*isolemnlysweariamup2nogood*~
MHPS Chapter Two: A Change in Appearance, a Change in Mind
Harry just stared. That's all he could do. The whispers echoed off of the dungeon walls all around him, the voices that carried them in the tone of complete amazement.
"Can you believe it?" Ron said quietly, hiding behind his cauldron. "I just can't believe it...You think he's gone mad?"
Harry just shook his head, unable to speak.
Ron's eyes were wide with astoundment. "He'd have to be a nutter to do this...What do you think, Hermione? Hermione? Earth to Hermione!" Ron hissed.
Harry caught sight of Hermione and almost fell off his chair. She was staring at Snape; so was everyone else, but Harry could tell Hermione was looking at him differently. He immediately began feeling sick.
"No way," Ron said under his breath, gazing at Hermione, realizing at once what Harry had. "NO...." he groaned loudly.
"WEASLEY!"
Ron paled as Snape strode over, hovering above him menacingly.
"Is there something that is not to your liking, Weasley?" Snape said icily.
Ron just stared up at him, lost for words.
"Pray, tell, Weasley, what you are groaning about needs to be brought to my attention so that I can see to it that it is fixed to your pleasure," Snape said colder than the dungeon around them, insuring everyone that he would do nothing of the sort.
Ron's jaw was nearly scraping the floor, still staring blankly up at him. Everyone was dead silent, watching. Harry looked over at Hermione but quickly looked away as his stomach churned with that morning's breakfast.
"Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley!" Snape was shouting, his teeth bared. "You will do your best to answer me before I am forced to take even more points from Gryffindor!"
Ron was moving his mouth but seemed to be having trouble getting words out; his eyes continued to be transfixed, unbelievingly on Snape.
Snape was beside himself.
"FIFTEEN MORE POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR! ANSWER ME NOW OR IT'S FIFTY! WEASLEY--"
"NOTHING!" Ron yelled suddenly, finally discovering his voice. "Nothing, sir...."
Snape glared down at Ron, who finally looked away. As he walked back to his desk, Snape continued to oddly ignore the whispers like he had been all morning.
Harry closed his eyes. 'I'm going to wake up now,' he thought. When he opened them again, they landed on Hermione, causing his middle to lurch violently, knowing all to well what the look on her face meant. Forcing himself to look away at Snape, Harry couldn't decide whether he felt amused, amazed, or afraid.
Harry knew Severus Snape was going to have to go through some changes, after witnessing the scene between him and Professor Dumbledore in the hospital wing at the end of last year. But never, Harry thought, would Snape do something like this.
Snape seemed to be sporting a new look---an entirely new look; far from the look of horror Harry fantasized about while he poured slugs down the Professor's front or performed a painful curse upon him...Much, much worse.
Harry, like everyone else, had no idea what possessed Snape to do it. To even wash that greasy hair of his would be something. But not only did Snape wash his hair, he cut it! Styled in a trendy, short, spiky 'do, Snape looked like a completely different person. The absence of shadows on his face that were caused by his long, limp black hair seemed to make his hooked-nose look smaller and his face brighter. His skin was no longer pale and pasty looking, but fresh and clear. Even his robes seemed to be neater kept.
Harry remembered that morning, walking into the dungeon with the rest of the class. A young man was sitting at Snape's desk, his head bent over a bit of parchment.
"Can you believe our luck?" Ron had said, beyond happiness. "Snape's ill!" Ron's eyes were growing wide with hope, "You think maybe he could be so sick that he'll be out all week?!"
A low, deadly voice sounded from the front of the room. "I'm feeling quite well, Weasley, thoughtful of you to ask."
Everyone stared, dumbfounded as Snape rose from his desk, no one believing what he or she saw. Even Draco Malfoy and his gang of Slytherins were at a loss for words. Harry had been even more amazed at the slight look of insecurity on the professor's face.
"Get to your seats!" he had barked at them, and there the students all sat for the past hour, wondering who had put Snape under the Imperius Curse to make him do such a thing. When the bell finally rung, signaling the end of the lesson, Harry got up slowly from his seat and walked to the door, feeling like he was in a dream. A few people glanced back at Professor Snape when leaving, Hermione included.
Harry trudged his way up the stairs, his head buzzing. Ron was grumbling next to him, and Harry finally caught his eye. They stared at each other for a brief moment, but then both of them burst out laughing.
"Never--in--my--wildest--dreams!" Ron was gasping through wild hoots. "Never! He's--gone--mental!"
Harry was laughing so hard, streams of tears were rolling down his face as he gripped the railing for support. He could hear Dean and Seamus ahead of them, also in wild fits of laughter. Harry could just make out Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, all looking as though Christmas had been cancelled this year.
When all of them reached the landing in the Entrance Hall, Dean called out to Malfoy, "Looks like your head of house has been taking a few lessons from Witch Weekly!" Draco scowled back at him, but Pansy Parkinson moved him along, saying there was nothing for him to be ashamed about.
"Wait till you see him!" Ron was saying later on in the Gryffindor common room. "He's all dolled up!"
"You're kidding!" Juliet exclaimed, sitting forward in her seat next to the fire. "No wonder he hasn't been to meals!"
"C'mon, guys, stop making fun," Ginny said quietly. "There's nothing wrong for a person to take an interest in their appearance."
"Ginny, it's Snape!" Harry said, shaking his head.
"Yeah, Gin," Ben agreed, laughing, "it's quite different."
"I agree with Ginny," Hermione said suddenly. "We should all just leave him alone about it."
Ron stared at her. Harry was beginning to feel that sick feeling in his stomach again. "Of course you'd say that!" Ron said to her angrily, "Harry and I saw the way you were looking at him!" The group went silent, looking from Ron to Hermione apprehensively.
Hermione, looking harassed, answered, "I have know idea what you're talking about, Ron!"
"Don't give me that," Ron said, his face turning red. "Harry'll back me up!" He turned around and looked at him, but Harry couldn't open his mouth, for fear of something other than words coming out of it.
"Oh, so exactly what kind of look did you see?" Hermione asked, her eyebrows raised. Juliet and Ben exchanged a look between each other; neither of them had really been through an actual row between Ron and Hermione.
Ron's voice was getting louder, attracting attention from other people in the room. "You were looking at him like he was a sort of treat or something!" He looked at her accusingly, "YOU FANCY SNAPE!"
Hermione immediately began to blush as the whole common room went quiet. "Stop shouting! I don't fancy Snape, Ron, but I'm not going to deny that I think he looks a bit better than he did before!" Ron looked absolutely revolted, and Harry closed his eyes, praying he didn't throw up.
"I saw him too," Ginny said, looking at Ron. "I had to deliver a note to him from Professor McGonagall. He does look all right, Ron, I'm sure a lot of the girls think so."
"Please," Harry groaned, "Don't say that...."
"He's only changed his look," Ron was saying through clenched teeth. "He's still a filthy git who would do anything to take points away from Gryffindor! No reason for you to go and like him now, Hermione!"
"I don't, Ron!" Hermione answered, shaking in anger. "If you didn't notice, I wasn't the only girl looking at him!" She got up and ran quickly up the girls' spiral staircase, everyone in the common room watching her. Ben, Juliet, and Ginny all looked at Harry, who just looked back, not knowing what to say.
Ron stared into the fire, his eyes blazing just about as much as the flames. "Disgusting."
A few days later, all the students in the school had eventually had Snape in a Potions lesson, and everyone was buzzing about why he had taken such a drastic change in appearance. If it was at all a disguise for his spying on the Dark Side, Harry personally felt that Voldemort would be able to see through it. Rumors had been floating around that Snape had a secret love interest, and he had changed his look in order to impress his lover. Of course, Harry preferred not to think about Snape's love life.
"I think he looks quite good," Parvati Patil said one day during a Care for Magical Creatures lesson. "Too bad he's still got a dreadful personality." Lavender Brown nodded in agreement.
"Can you believe this?" Seamus Finnigan whispered to Ron and Harry. "They'd rather be looking at Snape than us!" Ron didn't say a word, but continued to glare in Hermione's direction.
At the end of the lesson, Harry and Ron asked Hagrid if he knew anything about Snape and his new glamorous life. His fierce size was usually compromised by his kind nature, but Hagrid answered curtly, "What he's doin' ain't none of me business. He's still young, he can do what he wants ter do."
"But don't you think it's a bit odd?" Harry asked. "This doesn't have anything to do with him spying on Voldemort, does it?"
Hagrid knew there was no point in telling Harry not to use Voldemort's name, and he knew all about what happened in the hospital wing after the Triwizard Tournament, but he still looked slightly surprised that Harry knew about Snape and his work with the Dark Side. "It would do you good not ter go aroun' shoutin' abou' what you know abou' Snape, Harry," Hagrid said lowly. "But I'm workin' closely with him, see, and I don' think this new look has anything ter do with it. And that's all I'm sayin'."
"Yeah, that's her, isn't she beautiful?" Will was saying heartily, handing Ginny a new picture. They had been sitting on the rug for the last half hour in front of the fire, Will showing Ginny the new photographs he had been sent from home; he seemed to be showing off his new black lab puppy, Claudia, at the moment.
Harry couldn't stand watching the scene, but because he wasn't in the mood to play, he just watched as Ben and Juliet played a game of Exploding Snap. Ron and Hermione had been avoiding each other for the last few days, so it was rare that you could find them in the common room.
"Juliet, I know you're not this bad," Ben said, yet again winning the fifth game in a row. "What's up."
"Nothing," Juliet answered curtly, but Harry swore he saw her blue eyes shoot over toward Will and Ginny.
Sitting back in his chair, Harry closed his eyes, but he couldn't help catching what Will was now saying. "A Hogsmeade weekend is coming up soon, you know."
"Yeah," Ginny answered. "I'm glad. I need to do my Christmas shopping."
"Well," Will went on, "maybe you would like to meet me in the Three Broomsticks, you know, just to hang out."
"Sure," Ginny agreed without a hesitation. "Juliet and I had been planning to go."
Harry's eyes snapped open as he heard the screech of a chair scooting across the floor. "I'm going to bed," Juliet said, standing up, the usual happy look on her face gone.
Ben raised his eyebrows, glancing at the clock over the mantle. "Juliet, it's only half past eight."
"I'm tired." And with that, Juliet walked up the spiral staircase, her long golden hair swinging behind her.
"Wonder what's up with her?" Ben asked Harry, his dark eyes puzzled.
Harry shrugged, but in his head he wondered what was so special about Will Morris.
"Harry...?" Ben's southern drawl was saying out of nowhere. Apparently, Harry had been staring at Will and Ginny longer than intended.
"Wha---" But Harry was interrupted by the portrait hole banging open and a loud voice:
"When you're done blaming me for everything, maybe then you can give me a proper apology! As for now, I'm tired, and I'm going to bed!"
Harry had one moment to witness Hermione's brown, bushy head fleeing up to the girls' dormitories. Ron was standing near the portrait hole, his ears burning, and a tight scowl on his face as he too watched Hermione stomp angrily up the girls' spiral staircase.
Ben shook his head and laughed pitifully. "Nice to see people are lighting up around here. Nothing like showing the Christmas spirit more than bickering and going to bed early...."
Harry wasn't feeling too much of the holiday air either as he stared at Will's face, longing to pull out his wand and say a few well-chosen words.
Trying to think of something else, Harry pulled his eyes away from Will, and he saw Jonathan climbing through the portrait hole. He stared at Ron for a moment, who didn't acknowledge he was there and then he walked silently, with his head bent down, across the common room and up the boys' staircase.
Ben noticed him too and said, "Hey, I'm gonna go see what Jonathan's up to, okay?" Seeing that Harry was concentrating on Will and Ginny again, he got up and he too walked up the boys' staircase.
"Everyone these days is going through it," Ben muttered aloud. "I wonder how they can stand not telling each other...Hopefully things will get better, only a little while until Christmas."
A/N: Don't even ask what goes on in my head, to do what I've done to Snape...but it's fun, heehee ((the thing to wonder, is *why* I've done this to Snape)). So it looks like Will is standing it Harry's way of Ginny. Hmm, please stay tuned, it will get interesting, and the plot will definitely thicken...~*isolemnlysweariamup2nogood*~
