I'm backkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk! I didn't end up going to the Davis Cup thing today. My boyfriend said it was a guys day out thing. I said, ok. I will be going tomorrow. I get to see Pete ..... So here is my next installment. Please read and review!
Here is the space where disclaimers take place.
***
Ch 9. Severus has an idea
Delia spent all of Sunday afternoon hanging out with all of her friends. They spent most of the day outside enjoying the sunlight. Once the Slytherins had left the Quidditch Pitch, Delia, Josh and Nicola took turns hitting with Delia's baseball bat. They came in at suppertime. Delia walked into the Great Hall with her baseball gear. The Slytherins were unsatisfied at Delia from earlier events of the day. They wanted revenge, and revenge they would get. Slytherin after all would be playing Hufflepuff in the year's first Quidditch match. The Slytherins gave Delia cold stares as she passed their table. Delia silently wished Severus had kept his mouth shut.
Delia and her posse were walking out of the Great Hall towards the library when they passed the staircase that led to the Slytherin Dormitory. Delia was having an animated conversation with Josh about the Quodpot when all of a sudden Delia's nemesis, Becky Jennings, Craig Daniels girlfriend, came screaming down the staircase. She leaped off the last three steps right on to Delia knocking her down.
"You BITCH!" Becky shrieked, giving Delia a good punch on the cheek, "How could you? You're a HUFFLEPUFF HUSSY!"
Josh was on the defensive ready to throw his dukes up at Becky, however Becky's posse outnumbered theirs by three. Delia stood up but was pushed down by Becky. Becky's group was watching in trepidation from the stairway. Delia wanted so badly to kill Becky. Delia pulled herself up from the ground and lunged for Becky, wrestling her down. Delia got a good throw in and had Becky pinned down. Delia may have been shorter then Becky, but she was the stronger of the two.
"You little slut!" Becky yelped turning the tides and pinning Delia down, slapping her, causing Delia's lip to slip open. "How DARE you! And with OUR Professor Snape! You are an American tart!"
Nicola who had been standing awe struck couldn't take it anymore. She went over and pulled Becky off by her robe collar and gave her a good shake. Nicola was from a farm in Yorkshire and wasn't intimidated by prissy girls. "'Ere," Nicola said in her Yorkshire accent, "LEAVE Delia alone. She didn't do a thing to you!"
"Oh yes she did, oh yes she did! THE BITCH!" Becky screamed.
"What's the meaning of all this? I can hear the clamor from all the way down in the dungeon!" said the person who could only make Delia's life worse. "Miss Wheelrite to the Hospital Wing, now before that nosebleed gets any worse! The rest of you had better put in plain words to me what's going on!"
***
Delia was still in the Hospital Wing with a towel to her nose. She had been there for an hour and her nosebleed hadn't stopped. Her head hurt badly, her eye was swelling shut and her cut, from the night she fell while serving detention, had opened up from a punch Becky had given her. Her lip wasn't any better either it had swollen and was tender. Delia was madder then a wet hen. She was having five minutes of peace. Since she had arrived in the Hospital Wing, the Headmaster and Professor Sprout had been at her side. Delia shooed them away wanting peace. Delia heard footsteps on the other side of the curtain. There was enough light in streaming in from the windows to know that stature.
"Don't come over here and look!" she commanded Severus in a firm voice.
"Delia, I'm not going to ask if you are fine, because I know you aren't."
"Thanks a lot!" she snapped, her voice muffled from the towel. "I appreciated you coming down to make sure I'm not all right. None of this crap would have happened if you had let what happened this morning pass."
"I couldn't do that, Delia."
"Oh bull! Oh, that's the biggest bunch oh BULL I've heard all freakin' day!" she screamed into the towel. "You've been around when YOUR DAMN Slytherins made a mockery out of me! You didn't do a thing. Now just because I'm your love interest you have to fight my battle with me. Well, let me tell you BUG OFF! I was doin' just fine an' dandy without you defending my honor. I can fight my own bullies on my own. THANK YOU VERY MUCH SEVERUS!"
"Delia..." he pleaded, "allow me to explain myself..."
"Just get the hell away from me. Just GET the hell out," she said brusquely.
"Delia, please."
"Just go!" she whispered angrily. "Just leave me alone!"
"No!" he said firmly. "I'm not leaving. I'm pulling Hogwarts teacher privilege." He stepped over to Delia's bedside. Her face was still buried in the towel. "I've brought a few things at Madame Pomfrey's request."
"If they are from you, I'm NOT using them. I'll heal on my own thank-you-very-much!" she retorted.
"Delia, ninety percent of what is used in here is from me," he steadfastly spoke in his silky tone of voice.
"I'm still not using whatever you've brought. I'm quitting Potions. I'm dropping it all together and I'm putting in a transfer to Beauxbatons. The term starts next week so I'll be fine."
"Don't be impetuous!" he said furiously.
"I am. I am going far far far away and NEVER returning! Never-ever!" She took her face from the towel. "There, you see how AWFUL I look. Are ya happy?" Her face was puffy and swollen. Severus also noticed she had been crying. Severus didn't recoil instead he handed her a bouquet of roses in a vase. She didn't take them.
"Ah, how sweet and touching," her voice was full of sarcasm. "I get the holy be gibbers knocked outta me from here to kingdom come and you bring me roses! Just what every girl needs!" he set the roses down on the bedside table. It was getting darker in the room. Madam Pomfrey entered and lit a few torches and left. She had heard that there was something going on between Severus and Delia. She figured it would be best to leave them alone. And anyway it took an act of God and sometimes that didn't work to make Severus leave. Severus took out four potion bottles from his pocket, setting them on the bedside table. "You had better get those bottles outta here `cause I ain't takin' em."
"You will. You have no choice," he replied.
"Yes, I do! I'm eighteen and by US law I'm in charge of my own medical judgment!"
"We aren't in the US are we!" he snapped. "Now you are either going to let me do this now or I'll let Madame Pomfrey give you a sleeping potion and THEN you WILL, my dear! You will!"
"I don't have the strength to fight. Do, as you must."
"All I have here is the Disinfecting Solution. Then I have the Stronger Healing Potion, just a little stronger then the Simple. Then you will take half of the green bottle, it's a solution called Swell and Pain Away. The other half you have at bedtime. If you need more, come see me in the morning. It will reduce the swelling in your eye and lip. I'm afraid there isn't much I can do about your split lip other then Simple Healing Solution every few hours for a few days until healed. You can let me or Madame Pomfrey clean you up."
"In view of the fact that you are here, just get it over with." Severus brushed back her hair and wiped down with cotton balls Delia's face with the Disinfecting Solution. He then dabbed on the Stronger Healing Potion.
"I'll let you take care of the lip," he said. "I'll leave the Disinfecting Solution and Simple Healing with you. Now take half of Swell and Pain Away." He handed her the bottle. She took off the cap and drank down to the half way mark. It tasted awful and pasty. Since it was an ugly shade of green she presumed it would turn her teeth green. She capped the bottle and set it down. Then reached for the mirror and tended to her lip. Once that was done Severus sat down on the edge of the bed and stroked her hair until she feel asleep. He smiled. He had secretly slipped in a small amount of asphodel and wormwood. He then left.
***
Delia woke up just after midnight. She had a note from Madam Pomfrey authorizing her to leave if she wanted to return to her own bed. Delia put on her shoes and collected the three necessary potions and vase of roses. She left the Hospital Wing and headed for the dungeon. She was going to apologize to Severus. She had acted stupid. She had no right to yell at him. She found his classroom and office to be deserted. She then walked behind the false wall that hid his bedchamber entrance and knocked. He opened the door dressed in his nightshirt.
"Before you say anything, yell or threaten to yank House points off I'm going to say sorry. Thank you for the roses and the small bit of sleeping potion you slipped in. Now, I'm getting out of here before anybody can say anything else. I've had enough. I'm going to bed. If I woke you up, sorry for that too."
"Delia come in. I was in bed, but I hadn't dozed off yet." He took he vase and she followed him into the room. He set the vase down on the small table.
"I'm not staying. I'm just going to use your mirror for a min. Because I really belong in bed and I mean my bed In the Hufflepuff Dormitory. Right next to my mother, Nicola." She went to the bathroom. Then went over to the mirror took out the bottles and found some cotton balls on a shelf and began to take care of her lip. She was humming `Yankee Doodle Dandy' as the disinfecting solution stung. Severus was leaning in the doorway watching all this. She could easily be my wife, he thought. Delia capped both of the bottles and stuffed them in her pocket of her Levis. She turned away from the mirror and walked passed Severus out of the room. She picked up her roses. "Anyways, good night. I'm off for my beauty sleep. Heaven knows I need it."
"Do you think you are leaving that quickly?" Severus asked.
"Yeppers" she replied in her Kansas accent. "I can and will. I just came to say sorry not have a midnight chitchat. Oh by the way, I'm not going to Beauxbatons. I'd have to brush up on my French. No, thanks! I'll stick with English. Anywhos, gute nacht."
"Ha! You aren't leaving until I say so. I get an attractive night visitor and all she does is use my mirror, say sorry and then good night. No no no. This will not do."
"Well, I'm leaving! Bye!" she waved briskly and turned on her heel.
"Not if I put a password lock on the door!" he smirked.
"Sure, then I'm the Queen of England. Good night, Severus." He snapped his fingers. Delia shook her head and went to the door. She turned the knob but found the door to be locked. "Severus, you WILL open this door, I'm not in the mood to play games! I want to go to bed."
"Just five minutes, Delia. I want to talk to you."
"Can't it wait until later?" she sighed.
"No, it can't."
"All right. FIVE minutes! No more." She set the vase of roses back down on the table and sat on the couch next to Severus. There was still a blazing fire going.
"My five minutes begin now," he said in the firm voice he used for classes.
Delia looked at her Mini Mouse watch, "Nope they started thirty seconds ago."
"DELIA!"
"All right, ok," she said calmly. "They start now."
"I'm going to apologize for anything I have done today. You have no right to be treated they you were today. I'm sorry for not realizing what my House has said and done to you. I'm sorry for letting it slip by for so many years. I have decided that I will not let anymore of this foolishness go on. The Slytherins will learn that Hufflepuffs and Americans are people too. I am making the members of my house write an apology letter to be read aloud next week at dinner. I'm also starting a project where you, my dear Delia, will go and sit in the Common Room of Slytherin and have a civilized conversation with the members there. My point is that they will learn you are just a person."
Delia was wide eyed. "I am NOT sitting there alone! No way Jose! No offence I'm NOT going in there! I wouldn't even touch it with a ten-foot poll! Heck no! You are not sending a lamb in with a horde of lions! NO WAY! Not on your life. Not for all of the gold in Fort Knox!"
"Delia, this is the problem. Either you are part of the solution or the problem. I would be there with you, so would Professor Sprout. She agreed this was a good idea. You could bring a few friends-"
"Oh a few friends will make it allllllllllllllll better. Funny, Severus, funny ha ha ha. Oh lookey here, the five minutes is up and we are two over. I'm off. You better unlock the door or I'm going to transfigure myself into a beetle and slip under the crack. Good night!"
"Delia, think about it, ok?"
"Let me think.... I have thought...no...GOOD NIGHT." She picked up her roses and walked over to the door. She tried the knob it was, in spite of everything, locked. "SEVERUS SNAPE IF THIS IS YOUR IDEA OF KEEPING ME HERE YOU HAVE ANOTHER THING COMING!" with her free hand she pounded on the door in frustration.
"I'm not letting you out until you agree," he firmly said coming up behind her snagging her wand out of her back pocket. "You'll get your wand back, later."
"I can still turn into a bug!" she argued.
"No, you can't. Besides you aren't licensed to turn into anything."
"Touché!" she exclaimed. "Then I'll pick the lock or bust down the door."
"If you think that is the way out", he said with a laugh, "you have another thing coming. If it were that easy other students before you would have done the same to get in here. Many girls would have liked to slip me a Love Potion in my sleep. You will have to do better then that, Delia Penelope Wheelrite to get out. Like knowing the password."
Delia sighed. She set her roses down on the table, kicked off her shoes, emptied her pockets and sat down on the couch with her Swell and Pain Away. She took the last of the bottle and stretched out on the sofa. She didn't bother to say good night. Before she knew it, the solution was putting her to sleep.
Here is the space where disclaimers take place.
***
Ch 9. Severus has an idea
Delia spent all of Sunday afternoon hanging out with all of her friends. They spent most of the day outside enjoying the sunlight. Once the Slytherins had left the Quidditch Pitch, Delia, Josh and Nicola took turns hitting with Delia's baseball bat. They came in at suppertime. Delia walked into the Great Hall with her baseball gear. The Slytherins were unsatisfied at Delia from earlier events of the day. They wanted revenge, and revenge they would get. Slytherin after all would be playing Hufflepuff in the year's first Quidditch match. The Slytherins gave Delia cold stares as she passed their table. Delia silently wished Severus had kept his mouth shut.
Delia and her posse were walking out of the Great Hall towards the library when they passed the staircase that led to the Slytherin Dormitory. Delia was having an animated conversation with Josh about the Quodpot when all of a sudden Delia's nemesis, Becky Jennings, Craig Daniels girlfriend, came screaming down the staircase. She leaped off the last three steps right on to Delia knocking her down.
"You BITCH!" Becky shrieked, giving Delia a good punch on the cheek, "How could you? You're a HUFFLEPUFF HUSSY!"
Josh was on the defensive ready to throw his dukes up at Becky, however Becky's posse outnumbered theirs by three. Delia stood up but was pushed down by Becky. Becky's group was watching in trepidation from the stairway. Delia wanted so badly to kill Becky. Delia pulled herself up from the ground and lunged for Becky, wrestling her down. Delia got a good throw in and had Becky pinned down. Delia may have been shorter then Becky, but she was the stronger of the two.
"You little slut!" Becky yelped turning the tides and pinning Delia down, slapping her, causing Delia's lip to slip open. "How DARE you! And with OUR Professor Snape! You are an American tart!"
Nicola who had been standing awe struck couldn't take it anymore. She went over and pulled Becky off by her robe collar and gave her a good shake. Nicola was from a farm in Yorkshire and wasn't intimidated by prissy girls. "'Ere," Nicola said in her Yorkshire accent, "LEAVE Delia alone. She didn't do a thing to you!"
"Oh yes she did, oh yes she did! THE BITCH!" Becky screamed.
"What's the meaning of all this? I can hear the clamor from all the way down in the dungeon!" said the person who could only make Delia's life worse. "Miss Wheelrite to the Hospital Wing, now before that nosebleed gets any worse! The rest of you had better put in plain words to me what's going on!"
***
Delia was still in the Hospital Wing with a towel to her nose. She had been there for an hour and her nosebleed hadn't stopped. Her head hurt badly, her eye was swelling shut and her cut, from the night she fell while serving detention, had opened up from a punch Becky had given her. Her lip wasn't any better either it had swollen and was tender. Delia was madder then a wet hen. She was having five minutes of peace. Since she had arrived in the Hospital Wing, the Headmaster and Professor Sprout had been at her side. Delia shooed them away wanting peace. Delia heard footsteps on the other side of the curtain. There was enough light in streaming in from the windows to know that stature.
"Don't come over here and look!" she commanded Severus in a firm voice.
"Delia, I'm not going to ask if you are fine, because I know you aren't."
"Thanks a lot!" she snapped, her voice muffled from the towel. "I appreciated you coming down to make sure I'm not all right. None of this crap would have happened if you had let what happened this morning pass."
"I couldn't do that, Delia."
"Oh bull! Oh, that's the biggest bunch oh BULL I've heard all freakin' day!" she screamed into the towel. "You've been around when YOUR DAMN Slytherins made a mockery out of me! You didn't do a thing. Now just because I'm your love interest you have to fight my battle with me. Well, let me tell you BUG OFF! I was doin' just fine an' dandy without you defending my honor. I can fight my own bullies on my own. THANK YOU VERY MUCH SEVERUS!"
"Delia..." he pleaded, "allow me to explain myself..."
"Just get the hell away from me. Just GET the hell out," she said brusquely.
"Delia, please."
"Just go!" she whispered angrily. "Just leave me alone!"
"No!" he said firmly. "I'm not leaving. I'm pulling Hogwarts teacher privilege." He stepped over to Delia's bedside. Her face was still buried in the towel. "I've brought a few things at Madame Pomfrey's request."
"If they are from you, I'm NOT using them. I'll heal on my own thank-you-very-much!" she retorted.
"Delia, ninety percent of what is used in here is from me," he steadfastly spoke in his silky tone of voice.
"I'm still not using whatever you've brought. I'm quitting Potions. I'm dropping it all together and I'm putting in a transfer to Beauxbatons. The term starts next week so I'll be fine."
"Don't be impetuous!" he said furiously.
"I am. I am going far far far away and NEVER returning! Never-ever!" She took her face from the towel. "There, you see how AWFUL I look. Are ya happy?" Her face was puffy and swollen. Severus also noticed she had been crying. Severus didn't recoil instead he handed her a bouquet of roses in a vase. She didn't take them.
"Ah, how sweet and touching," her voice was full of sarcasm. "I get the holy be gibbers knocked outta me from here to kingdom come and you bring me roses! Just what every girl needs!" he set the roses down on the bedside table. It was getting darker in the room. Madam Pomfrey entered and lit a few torches and left. She had heard that there was something going on between Severus and Delia. She figured it would be best to leave them alone. And anyway it took an act of God and sometimes that didn't work to make Severus leave. Severus took out four potion bottles from his pocket, setting them on the bedside table. "You had better get those bottles outta here `cause I ain't takin' em."
"You will. You have no choice," he replied.
"Yes, I do! I'm eighteen and by US law I'm in charge of my own medical judgment!"
"We aren't in the US are we!" he snapped. "Now you are either going to let me do this now or I'll let Madame Pomfrey give you a sleeping potion and THEN you WILL, my dear! You will!"
"I don't have the strength to fight. Do, as you must."
"All I have here is the Disinfecting Solution. Then I have the Stronger Healing Potion, just a little stronger then the Simple. Then you will take half of the green bottle, it's a solution called Swell and Pain Away. The other half you have at bedtime. If you need more, come see me in the morning. It will reduce the swelling in your eye and lip. I'm afraid there isn't much I can do about your split lip other then Simple Healing Solution every few hours for a few days until healed. You can let me or Madame Pomfrey clean you up."
"In view of the fact that you are here, just get it over with." Severus brushed back her hair and wiped down with cotton balls Delia's face with the Disinfecting Solution. He then dabbed on the Stronger Healing Potion.
"I'll let you take care of the lip," he said. "I'll leave the Disinfecting Solution and Simple Healing with you. Now take half of Swell and Pain Away." He handed her the bottle. She took off the cap and drank down to the half way mark. It tasted awful and pasty. Since it was an ugly shade of green she presumed it would turn her teeth green. She capped the bottle and set it down. Then reached for the mirror and tended to her lip. Once that was done Severus sat down on the edge of the bed and stroked her hair until she feel asleep. He smiled. He had secretly slipped in a small amount of asphodel and wormwood. He then left.
***
Delia woke up just after midnight. She had a note from Madam Pomfrey authorizing her to leave if she wanted to return to her own bed. Delia put on her shoes and collected the three necessary potions and vase of roses. She left the Hospital Wing and headed for the dungeon. She was going to apologize to Severus. She had acted stupid. She had no right to yell at him. She found his classroom and office to be deserted. She then walked behind the false wall that hid his bedchamber entrance and knocked. He opened the door dressed in his nightshirt.
"Before you say anything, yell or threaten to yank House points off I'm going to say sorry. Thank you for the roses and the small bit of sleeping potion you slipped in. Now, I'm getting out of here before anybody can say anything else. I've had enough. I'm going to bed. If I woke you up, sorry for that too."
"Delia come in. I was in bed, but I hadn't dozed off yet." He took he vase and she followed him into the room. He set the vase down on the small table.
"I'm not staying. I'm just going to use your mirror for a min. Because I really belong in bed and I mean my bed In the Hufflepuff Dormitory. Right next to my mother, Nicola." She went to the bathroom. Then went over to the mirror took out the bottles and found some cotton balls on a shelf and began to take care of her lip. She was humming `Yankee Doodle Dandy' as the disinfecting solution stung. Severus was leaning in the doorway watching all this. She could easily be my wife, he thought. Delia capped both of the bottles and stuffed them in her pocket of her Levis. She turned away from the mirror and walked passed Severus out of the room. She picked up her roses. "Anyways, good night. I'm off for my beauty sleep. Heaven knows I need it."
"Do you think you are leaving that quickly?" Severus asked.
"Yeppers" she replied in her Kansas accent. "I can and will. I just came to say sorry not have a midnight chitchat. Oh by the way, I'm not going to Beauxbatons. I'd have to brush up on my French. No, thanks! I'll stick with English. Anywhos, gute nacht."
"Ha! You aren't leaving until I say so. I get an attractive night visitor and all she does is use my mirror, say sorry and then good night. No no no. This will not do."
"Well, I'm leaving! Bye!" she waved briskly and turned on her heel.
"Not if I put a password lock on the door!" he smirked.
"Sure, then I'm the Queen of England. Good night, Severus." He snapped his fingers. Delia shook her head and went to the door. She turned the knob but found the door to be locked. "Severus, you WILL open this door, I'm not in the mood to play games! I want to go to bed."
"Just five minutes, Delia. I want to talk to you."
"Can't it wait until later?" she sighed.
"No, it can't."
"All right. FIVE minutes! No more." She set the vase of roses back down on the table and sat on the couch next to Severus. There was still a blazing fire going.
"My five minutes begin now," he said in the firm voice he used for classes.
Delia looked at her Mini Mouse watch, "Nope they started thirty seconds ago."
"DELIA!"
"All right, ok," she said calmly. "They start now."
"I'm going to apologize for anything I have done today. You have no right to be treated they you were today. I'm sorry for not realizing what my House has said and done to you. I'm sorry for letting it slip by for so many years. I have decided that I will not let anymore of this foolishness go on. The Slytherins will learn that Hufflepuffs and Americans are people too. I am making the members of my house write an apology letter to be read aloud next week at dinner. I'm also starting a project where you, my dear Delia, will go and sit in the Common Room of Slytherin and have a civilized conversation with the members there. My point is that they will learn you are just a person."
Delia was wide eyed. "I am NOT sitting there alone! No way Jose! No offence I'm NOT going in there! I wouldn't even touch it with a ten-foot poll! Heck no! You are not sending a lamb in with a horde of lions! NO WAY! Not on your life. Not for all of the gold in Fort Knox!"
"Delia, this is the problem. Either you are part of the solution or the problem. I would be there with you, so would Professor Sprout. She agreed this was a good idea. You could bring a few friends-"
"Oh a few friends will make it allllllllllllllll better. Funny, Severus, funny ha ha ha. Oh lookey here, the five minutes is up and we are two over. I'm off. You better unlock the door or I'm going to transfigure myself into a beetle and slip under the crack. Good night!"
"Delia, think about it, ok?"
"Let me think.... I have thought...no...GOOD NIGHT." She picked up her roses and walked over to the door. She tried the knob it was, in spite of everything, locked. "SEVERUS SNAPE IF THIS IS YOUR IDEA OF KEEPING ME HERE YOU HAVE ANOTHER THING COMING!" with her free hand she pounded on the door in frustration.
"I'm not letting you out until you agree," he firmly said coming up behind her snagging her wand out of her back pocket. "You'll get your wand back, later."
"I can still turn into a bug!" she argued.
"No, you can't. Besides you aren't licensed to turn into anything."
"Touché!" she exclaimed. "Then I'll pick the lock or bust down the door."
"If you think that is the way out", he said with a laugh, "you have another thing coming. If it were that easy other students before you would have done the same to get in here. Many girls would have liked to slip me a Love Potion in my sleep. You will have to do better then that, Delia Penelope Wheelrite to get out. Like knowing the password."
Delia sighed. She set her roses down on the table, kicked off her shoes, emptied her pockets and sat down on the couch with her Swell and Pain Away. She took the last of the bottle and stretched out on the sofa. She didn't bother to say good night. Before she knew it, the solution was putting her to sleep.