A/N: Second chapter is here! Thank you to those who kindly reviewed my
story so far, it helps to keep me going and it means a lot to me. So thank
you to 'Minerva Lupin' (whoever you may be), Lari (a.k.a. Elf), Sarah and
KT, you guys are soooo special!
Disclaimer: As I stated before, none of these characters are mine, they are all J.K.R.'s, I only own the story line.
1
2 Secrets in the Dark
2.1 - Part Two
Professor Snape awoke the next morning, feeling quite disorientated. He jerked upright to take in his surroundings. The memories which had been haunting his sleep that night had laid, untouched, unrecognized for the past seven years, and now, suddenly, the were dancing around in his mind, clear as crystal. Snape swung his feet of the bed so that they rested on the floor, the coldness of the stone beneath his feet brought forward in his mind the recollection of the night before - the coldness that had touched him. Could it have been the very same as what had got a hold of Harry Potter's father? Certainly not, Snape concluded thoughtfully. For James had described the touch as burning! Snape, although still a little shaken from the night of hard memories, easily buried his inner insecurities. He prepared himself to face yet one more miserable day of his wholly miserable life, or, so it had been since that terrible day when Darkness had taken a full hold over his friend James...
Snape burst through the class room door in his usual manner, hatred steaming from every fiber of his being. All the fifth year Gryffindor and Slytherin students looked apprehensive, bracing themselves for a double period of potions with the cruel Professor. Snape glared angrily around the classroom. "I expect that all of you have completed the assignment I set for you on 'The curative powers of dried Garshwort'" Snape snarled in his smooth, silky voice, sending shivers down each and everyone of the students spines. He swiftly glided along the rows of desks, collecting each of the student's assignments. Snape then walked silently back to the front of the classroom. "Now, I want you all to take out your text books, 'An In-depth Study of Today's Magical Potions'. By the end of the lesson you shall have written for me a three-page essay about the seven major ingredients for the Windificus potion. Those who fail to complete this task shall have the displeasure of spending some quality time with me during every lunch time for a month". The students all hurriedly pulled out their textbooks and started scanning the pages of the 739-page book for any information that may help them. Snape sat down at his desk to immediately start marking the assignments, he wasn't one to waste time.
'Seamus Finnigan, a rotter of a boy, should have stayed in the muggle world with his father,' Snape thought bitterly. 'Constantly blowing things up!' Snape noted the singe marks on the corners of the pages. Snape continued to read through the assignments, rashly judging them as he glanced over the writing, only half caring as to how good of a job they had done. 'Hermionie Granger...hmmm, yes, that would be right! Perfect, as usual!' He thought with spite as he emitted a small groan of objection. Snape reluctantly scribbled out an 'A' in the corner of one of the leaves of parchment. 'Oh, here is young mister Potter's paper...yes, just as I thought, little Granger has helped him again.' Snape hurried to put the paper on the bottom of the pile, & swiftly jotting down a 'F', one marked deducted for getting Granger to help him, another for being well known for doing absolutely nothing, and the others...the others...well, he didn't really like Potter anyway! 'Ehh, Longbottoms, no need to even read his!' Thought Snape, unfairly giving Neville a D-. 'Hmmm, Bullstrode...' Snape quickly scanned through the paper. 'Yes, fairly satisfactory, B+.' Snape pulled out the next paper, cringing at even the sight of the name: 'Weasly! Suprised he had enough money to buy the roll of parchment, let alone the ink! Generous Potter probably gave it to him,' Snape thought to himself sarcastically. Snape then pushed that paper to the back of the bundle, revealing Draco Malfoys paper. 'Mmm-hmmm, he has obviously put in his very best effort, yes...yes, I think this is very good work indeed, A+.' Although Harry's paper had been better than Malfoys, Snape looked on Malfoy as a younger version of himself, so favored him most highly. Snape continued to mark the assignments, thinking to himself sadistic comments about each of their authors.
Finally the assignments were all marked. And the lesson was close to over. Snape stood from his chair. This movement from him caused the class to look up from their essays. "I shall now come around and hand you each back you paper and collect your...completed essays." With his last phrase all the heads in the class bobbed back down to their papers, and all that could be heard was the sound of quills furiously scribbling on the parchment, besides a quick squeal courtesy of Neville. Snape seemed to float across the floor as he took the students papers and handed them back their assignments. He always hovered over each person a few extra seconds, delighting in watching their face drop as they discovered that all their hard work had scored them a C or less. Snape rounded on Harry, and leaned down over the boy's desk, so that his faces were so close to each other, Harry could smell the foul dead odour being emitted from Snape's mouth, sneering with it's thin lips and stained teeth. "Mister Potter," Snape acutely pronounced. Harry could feel the jets of spittle flying from Snape's mouth (which tended to happen when Snape was angry) and landing in his cheeks and chin. Harry tried not to flinch. "Look at your score", Snape demanded quietly. Harry quickly glanced at his score, not fully understanding where this was going. Then Harry realised that he had...FAILED??? Snape saw Harry's disappointment register in his eyes.
"Why?" Harry asked, trying desperately to keep his voice steady. He knew he deserved better than an F.
"That's what unfairly using a fellow student's help gets you, Potter" Snape snared, sending spit into Harry's face once more.
"Nobody helped me!" Harry answered back, sounding braver than he felt. "This was all my own work.
"...Detention, Potter..." Snape said quietly, feeling a wave of victory come over him.
"WHY?"
"For back answering me, for getting Miss Granger to help you on this assignment, and for lying to me" Snape answered proudly.
Ron glanced at Hermionie, but she only shook her head, she didn't want to get in trouble from Snape too. Ron gave a firm nod, gathered all the courage he could, stood up and said "She didn't help him! He didn't do anything wrong!"
"Looks like we have another volunteer for detention." Snape snarled.
Ron dumped himself back onto his chair, and gave Hermionie an angry stare. Hermionie rebutted it with an I-told-you-so look.
The bell signaling the end of class tolled, and all the students bolted for the door, not wishing to stay in a room with Snape a moment longer than necessary.
Snape was glad that he had the authority to make Harry miserable, and in Ron Weasly volunteered to join the ride, so be it, an added bonus! Now, he had to think of terrible things he could make them do, oh, his mind was scathing with ideas. 'Sort out all the ingredients for potions,' he knew how much they hated having to even look at the pickled dead animals. 'Ah, but there was a flaw with this plan, knowing Potter and Weasly, they would probably steal some of his precious ingredients so as to make some potion, and then everyone would think even MORE highly of Potter,' and that was the last thing Snape wanted! 'Or they could clean all the shelves, floors, and walls of dungeons…the muggle way, but Harry was probably used to that, living with a trio of muggles for the majority of his life'. No, they needed something unusual, something repulsive... 'They could test out some of the potions I have been striving to perfect! Then I will know whether they worked for sure!' Snape thought maliciously.
Snape paced the room impatiently, awaiting the arrival of Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter. Finally there was a scuffle at the door and some quiet bickering, they had obviously arrived. Snape opened the door to find them both looking extremely guilty. "Done something else wrong already?" Snape questioned quietly. Harry and Ron just looked at each other, then followed Snape in to the cold dungeon, which was only two doors down from Snape's own living space. Snape spun around to face the obnoxious pair. "Now, I have thought of a very special way to spend this little bit of time we shall share in each others' presence. You will understand that I have been creating some potions, you shall help me to see if I have been successful." Snape wrapped his lips curtly around every one of the silky syllables he spoke. Harry and Ron's eyes opened wide, Snape could see that they were overcome with confusion and fear. "Follow me" Snape commanded almost delightedly. All three of the walked through a small arched doorway, in fact, neither Harry nor Ron had noticed it until now. The entered another room full of shelves made from old, rotting wood, most likely held up by magic. Potions in vials of all sizes were sitting on the shelves, some fizzing, some bubbling, some whistling, and others just sitting there looking like any muggle liquid. Snape turned his back on them for a brief second before spinning back around holding two vials, each containing fluorescent green liquid. "Now, drink up, boys, this is very important, surely you can do this simple task without making any mistakes." For the first time in their lives, Harry and Ron saw Snape grin, it wasn't really an improvement, just fully revealing his stained teeth. Snape was watching them intently, waiting for them to pour the liquid down their throats. Snape himself knew that all it would do, if anything at all, was to make their skin turn green, and there was a simple spell to fix discolouration like that. But watching these two boys thinking that he was trying to poison them was a sight that amused Snape highly. Ron closed his eyes, put the vile to his lips…then Harry felt a cold breeze seem to pass through his body, causing him to jump and knock the vial clean out of Ron's hands. Snape fixed Harry with a glare that could kill. He stepped up very close to Harry so as to intimidate him, opened his mouth, quite clearly to yell at Harry, when Snape seemed to stumble backwards. Snape was caught by the wall, which he gratefully leaned against. Snape looked at Harry with suspicion, guessing that Harry must have drawn his wand and cast a spell, but then, Snape felt the coldness beside him, it wasn't Harry…
Disclaimer: As I stated before, none of these characters are mine, they are all J.K.R.'s, I only own the story line.
1
2 Secrets in the Dark
2.1 - Part Two
Professor Snape awoke the next morning, feeling quite disorientated. He jerked upright to take in his surroundings. The memories which had been haunting his sleep that night had laid, untouched, unrecognized for the past seven years, and now, suddenly, the were dancing around in his mind, clear as crystal. Snape swung his feet of the bed so that they rested on the floor, the coldness of the stone beneath his feet brought forward in his mind the recollection of the night before - the coldness that had touched him. Could it have been the very same as what had got a hold of Harry Potter's father? Certainly not, Snape concluded thoughtfully. For James had described the touch as burning! Snape, although still a little shaken from the night of hard memories, easily buried his inner insecurities. He prepared himself to face yet one more miserable day of his wholly miserable life, or, so it had been since that terrible day when Darkness had taken a full hold over his friend James...
Snape burst through the class room door in his usual manner, hatred steaming from every fiber of his being. All the fifth year Gryffindor and Slytherin students looked apprehensive, bracing themselves for a double period of potions with the cruel Professor. Snape glared angrily around the classroom. "I expect that all of you have completed the assignment I set for you on 'The curative powers of dried Garshwort'" Snape snarled in his smooth, silky voice, sending shivers down each and everyone of the students spines. He swiftly glided along the rows of desks, collecting each of the student's assignments. Snape then walked silently back to the front of the classroom. "Now, I want you all to take out your text books, 'An In-depth Study of Today's Magical Potions'. By the end of the lesson you shall have written for me a three-page essay about the seven major ingredients for the Windificus potion. Those who fail to complete this task shall have the displeasure of spending some quality time with me during every lunch time for a month". The students all hurriedly pulled out their textbooks and started scanning the pages of the 739-page book for any information that may help them. Snape sat down at his desk to immediately start marking the assignments, he wasn't one to waste time.
'Seamus Finnigan, a rotter of a boy, should have stayed in the muggle world with his father,' Snape thought bitterly. 'Constantly blowing things up!' Snape noted the singe marks on the corners of the pages. Snape continued to read through the assignments, rashly judging them as he glanced over the writing, only half caring as to how good of a job they had done. 'Hermionie Granger...hmmm, yes, that would be right! Perfect, as usual!' He thought with spite as he emitted a small groan of objection. Snape reluctantly scribbled out an 'A' in the corner of one of the leaves of parchment. 'Oh, here is young mister Potter's paper...yes, just as I thought, little Granger has helped him again.' Snape hurried to put the paper on the bottom of the pile, & swiftly jotting down a 'F', one marked deducted for getting Granger to help him, another for being well known for doing absolutely nothing, and the others...the others...well, he didn't really like Potter anyway! 'Ehh, Longbottoms, no need to even read his!' Thought Snape, unfairly giving Neville a D-. 'Hmmm, Bullstrode...' Snape quickly scanned through the paper. 'Yes, fairly satisfactory, B+.' Snape pulled out the next paper, cringing at even the sight of the name: 'Weasly! Suprised he had enough money to buy the roll of parchment, let alone the ink! Generous Potter probably gave it to him,' Snape thought to himself sarcastically. Snape then pushed that paper to the back of the bundle, revealing Draco Malfoys paper. 'Mmm-hmmm, he has obviously put in his very best effort, yes...yes, I think this is very good work indeed, A+.' Although Harry's paper had been better than Malfoys, Snape looked on Malfoy as a younger version of himself, so favored him most highly. Snape continued to mark the assignments, thinking to himself sadistic comments about each of their authors.
Finally the assignments were all marked. And the lesson was close to over. Snape stood from his chair. This movement from him caused the class to look up from their essays. "I shall now come around and hand you each back you paper and collect your...completed essays." With his last phrase all the heads in the class bobbed back down to their papers, and all that could be heard was the sound of quills furiously scribbling on the parchment, besides a quick squeal courtesy of Neville. Snape seemed to float across the floor as he took the students papers and handed them back their assignments. He always hovered over each person a few extra seconds, delighting in watching their face drop as they discovered that all their hard work had scored them a C or less. Snape rounded on Harry, and leaned down over the boy's desk, so that his faces were so close to each other, Harry could smell the foul dead odour being emitted from Snape's mouth, sneering with it's thin lips and stained teeth. "Mister Potter," Snape acutely pronounced. Harry could feel the jets of spittle flying from Snape's mouth (which tended to happen when Snape was angry) and landing in his cheeks and chin. Harry tried not to flinch. "Look at your score", Snape demanded quietly. Harry quickly glanced at his score, not fully understanding where this was going. Then Harry realised that he had...FAILED??? Snape saw Harry's disappointment register in his eyes.
"Why?" Harry asked, trying desperately to keep his voice steady. He knew he deserved better than an F.
"That's what unfairly using a fellow student's help gets you, Potter" Snape snared, sending spit into Harry's face once more.
"Nobody helped me!" Harry answered back, sounding braver than he felt. "This was all my own work.
"...Detention, Potter..." Snape said quietly, feeling a wave of victory come over him.
"WHY?"
"For back answering me, for getting Miss Granger to help you on this assignment, and for lying to me" Snape answered proudly.
Ron glanced at Hermionie, but she only shook her head, she didn't want to get in trouble from Snape too. Ron gave a firm nod, gathered all the courage he could, stood up and said "She didn't help him! He didn't do anything wrong!"
"Looks like we have another volunteer for detention." Snape snarled.
Ron dumped himself back onto his chair, and gave Hermionie an angry stare. Hermionie rebutted it with an I-told-you-so look.
The bell signaling the end of class tolled, and all the students bolted for the door, not wishing to stay in a room with Snape a moment longer than necessary.
Snape was glad that he had the authority to make Harry miserable, and in Ron Weasly volunteered to join the ride, so be it, an added bonus! Now, he had to think of terrible things he could make them do, oh, his mind was scathing with ideas. 'Sort out all the ingredients for potions,' he knew how much they hated having to even look at the pickled dead animals. 'Ah, but there was a flaw with this plan, knowing Potter and Weasly, they would probably steal some of his precious ingredients so as to make some potion, and then everyone would think even MORE highly of Potter,' and that was the last thing Snape wanted! 'Or they could clean all the shelves, floors, and walls of dungeons…the muggle way, but Harry was probably used to that, living with a trio of muggles for the majority of his life'. No, they needed something unusual, something repulsive... 'They could test out some of the potions I have been striving to perfect! Then I will know whether they worked for sure!' Snape thought maliciously.
Snape paced the room impatiently, awaiting the arrival of Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter. Finally there was a scuffle at the door and some quiet bickering, they had obviously arrived. Snape opened the door to find them both looking extremely guilty. "Done something else wrong already?" Snape questioned quietly. Harry and Ron just looked at each other, then followed Snape in to the cold dungeon, which was only two doors down from Snape's own living space. Snape spun around to face the obnoxious pair. "Now, I have thought of a very special way to spend this little bit of time we shall share in each others' presence. You will understand that I have been creating some potions, you shall help me to see if I have been successful." Snape wrapped his lips curtly around every one of the silky syllables he spoke. Harry and Ron's eyes opened wide, Snape could see that they were overcome with confusion and fear. "Follow me" Snape commanded almost delightedly. All three of the walked through a small arched doorway, in fact, neither Harry nor Ron had noticed it until now. The entered another room full of shelves made from old, rotting wood, most likely held up by magic. Potions in vials of all sizes were sitting on the shelves, some fizzing, some bubbling, some whistling, and others just sitting there looking like any muggle liquid. Snape turned his back on them for a brief second before spinning back around holding two vials, each containing fluorescent green liquid. "Now, drink up, boys, this is very important, surely you can do this simple task without making any mistakes." For the first time in their lives, Harry and Ron saw Snape grin, it wasn't really an improvement, just fully revealing his stained teeth. Snape was watching them intently, waiting for them to pour the liquid down their throats. Snape himself knew that all it would do, if anything at all, was to make their skin turn green, and there was a simple spell to fix discolouration like that. But watching these two boys thinking that he was trying to poison them was a sight that amused Snape highly. Ron closed his eyes, put the vile to his lips…then Harry felt a cold breeze seem to pass through his body, causing him to jump and knock the vial clean out of Ron's hands. Snape fixed Harry with a glare that could kill. He stepped up very close to Harry so as to intimidate him, opened his mouth, quite clearly to yell at Harry, when Snape seemed to stumble backwards. Snape was caught by the wall, which he gratefully leaned against. Snape looked at Harry with suspicion, guessing that Harry must have drawn his wand and cast a spell, but then, Snape felt the coldness beside him, it wasn't Harry…