Chapter II – Cursed
Monday, 10 a.m. Severus Snape was sitting in his classroom, waiting for the 7th year Slytherins and Gryffindors to show up for yet another freak show supposed-to-be potions lesson. It might be allright, if that Longbottom boy didn't screw everything up every single time, and if those Weasley and Potter wouldn't use all their might to give him ulcer and migraine, and if that Granger girl…
||Hermione. Hermione… Granger.||
He went pale at the thought and gulped. He'd had hard time concentrating on teaching lately with Hermione Granger in the classroom.
||I must be going mad. Or someone has cursed me. Perhaps this is part of Voldemort's next return? He's making me mad to get at least someone to stand next to him and the good ol' Unforgiveables just won't do this time. Knowing the man's sense of humour, he's been doubled over with laughter the past few months just thinking about me trying to teach something to those dunderheads with my mind messed up with thoughts of that girl instead of potions recipes… oh, dear Merlin. It must be Voldemort. I wouldn't be thinking…dreaming of her… her lips. What they would taste like? And her… Calm down, Severus, old man! You have a class to bully.||
He watched the wretched kids take over the worktables and glared them one by one with a sour face, eyes staying at Potter a little longer and skipping Hermione altogether. Then, leaning back, crossing his arms and pulling on a sneer, he started the lesson.
"Today we shall be making the Somnus Profundus Calming Potion. It is used, in small amounts, to relieve tension, stress, mania, excessive excitement and insomnia. In larger amounts it is used to stun dangerous psychiatric patients. There are a few patients in St. Mungo's psychiatric ward who are continuously fed this particular potion."
His eyes flashed at Neville, who squirmed in his seat.
||That boy could surely join his parents. He is, after all, as brain-dead as they are.||
He got up and turned to his blackboard. As he was writing the ingredients and instructions on the blackboard, he gave the class a few tips verbally, knowing they would forget them as soon as he had said them.
"Remember to crush the nutmegs carefully. Asphodel must be heated and mixed with salt before adding to the potion. And the needed amount of belladonna is only one pinch," he turned around and glanced at Harry, "unless, of course, you wish to end your studies at Hogwarts before graduating."
||It's his last year to try to get himself killed with me running to save him at the last moment. I might be missing him next year.|| he thought sarcastically and felt a pang in his chest. ||Potter is not the only one leaving. Hermione… sweet Hermione will be gone in under a year.||
He sat down and turned his attention to the pile of essays that needed grading, though he wasn't really interested in what his 1st year Hufflepuffs knew about the Shrinking Solution, he just needed to hide his face from his students, in case the emotions he was struggling with might be visible.
He had just marked one particularly inadequate essay as D-, when there was a loud pop, followed by an even louder hiss and general noise of sudden disorder. He sighed and snarled, "Another Longbottom, I assume?"
Raising his head with a smirk on his face, he took a look at the mentioned Longbottom situation and his face quickly paled.
"What in the name of Merlin have you done?!" he yelled as he got up and hurried towards Neville.
He assumed it was Neville Longbottom he was yelling at. With all that long green and blue hair growing from his body, it was hard to tell. And it wasn't just Neville. Half of the students were covered in long, colourful hair. Snape glared in Neville's cauldron narrowing his eyes.
"What did you put into that cauldron? The ingredients of Somnus Profundus should not have such reaction, even if used in wrong quantities."
His voice was very soft and he spoke slowly and dangerously. Neville was trembling.
"I…I..I..ddid..didn't…I.."
"Well you certainly did, Longbottom. What – was – it?"
He glanced around the working table and his eyes stopped at a small vile, filled with something dark red.
Snape actually let out a little malicious laughter. Then he sighed dramatically and sneered loudly, so the whole class could hear,
"So our beloved Mr. Longbottom decided to not follow my instructions, which I very clearly wrote on the blackboard. He decided, with his very limited knowledge on potions, to design and create a potion of his own."
Snape glared the now sobbing Neville with an evil smirk and continued,
"Mr. Longbottom here decided to… experiment with Somnus Profundus and dragon's blood. As you all can see, this… experiment was rather fruitful. As much as I would love to see Mr. Longbottom running around the school camouflaged like this, as much as it would be fair to let him alone suffer the consequences of his little experiment, I doubt it would be appropriate. So, off to the infirmary, all of you! I shall clean up the mess. And thirty points will be taken from Gryffindor. Class dismissed!"
The whole class had been standing silently when Snape spoke, half horrified because of the sudden change in their appearance, half because of Snape's rage. Now they started to move out of the classroom, and Snape noticed that Hermione, too, was exposed to Longbottom's latest invention. He felt even better for bellowing at Neville, and regretted that he hadn't been meaner.
||The boy should suffer the rest of the day, walking around the school with that ridiculous fur. Unfortunately Albus would not be pleased. Nor Minerva, come to think of it.||
He waited until the dungeon was empty, then pulled out his wand and, with a wave of hand and few muttered words, the mess was gone.
||If the potion hadn't had such effects, Longbottom would have been here scrubbing the tables and the floor until his knuckles bled.||
As he had plenty of time before the next freak circus ||Ohh, my. The little Hufflepuffs trying to not pee in their pants.|| would show up, he decided to clean up all the tables and arrange the supplies, for once. With a few flicks of his wand, he emptied and cleaned the cauldrons. Then he turned his attention on arranging the ingredients. When he was done, he thought that a nice cuppa might calm his nerves down
||Especially if I add a drop of my own Somnus Potion…||, so he conjured a pot of Earl Grey and sat down to enjoy the hot liquid.
The rest of the lessons went smoothly. The 1st year Hufflepuffs didn't manage to blow any cauldrons, after Snape told them about the accident.
||Accident, indeed.||
The 4th year Ravenclaws created quite adequate Tickling Tinctures.
Snape was feeling much better when he exited his office and headed towards the Great Hall for dinner. As he sat down and glanced around the hall, he couldn't help a little smirk. Some of the Slytherins and Gryffindors still had a few funny coloured hairs growing from their heads. Neville was sitting embarrassed, staring at his plate.
||Serves him right.||
He ate some potatoes, meatballs and boiled vegetables. As the dessert arrived, he noticed Hermione giving him strange looks.
||She must be furious because of that Longbottom situation…Perhaps I was too severe earlier. Now wait... Why would I care what Hermione…no, Granger thinks of me?||
He pushed the thoughts of regret away and continued eating his pudding.
After the plates had disappeared, he returned to his quarters to grade more essays. He hadn't really had a productive day, for obvious reasons.
||Perhaps I should check my Slytherins later, to make sure the effects have worn out.||
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To be continued…