Chapter Two
In which there is something of an incident
The next morning when all the students gathered for breakfast in the Great Hall, Hermione and Ginny found their usual seats among the Gryffindor sixth and seventh years. The rest of the house gave them sympathetic looks, having heard about their daring midnight exploits and their resulting detentions from Ron and Harry. The better part of a week of detentions with the potions' master seemed harsh to the lot of them.
"What do you expect he'll have you do?" asked Seamus Finnigan, who had served a detention with Filch a year earlier and turned over a new leaf as the result.
"It won't be that bad, I imagine." said Hermione, mainly for Ginny's benefit.
Two Slytherins in the hall had tried to scare the poor girl with tales of disemboweling live kittens. Hermione had assured her that it could not possibly be true, though Ginny was still pale at the very horrible and gruesome thought. She barely picked at her food until Ron nudged her and threatened to tell their mum that she wasn't eating properly. Then she took only a few sullen bites of her eggs.
"Maybe you'll get off easy and only have to make potions for Madam Pomfrey or something. You could both do that with your hands tied, right?" said Ron encouragingly. He was still rather regretful about sending his little sister out after hours to be caught by Mister Filch, not to mention the abominable sentence of detention with Snape.
"Of course." said Hermione, who was having no trouble with her breakfast. She was in her last year and not nearly as afraid of Snape as Ginny was. In fact she had come to have a grudging respect for the man as a professor. "It will probably be something like that. Making wound cleaning potions is always rather interesting and fun even."
"You don't have to cheer me up. I know it's going to be horrible, but I can handle it." said Ginny, looking up from her plate. "It is only a couple of hours, after all. It's not like it's eternity or anything."
The potions' classroom was quiet when Ginny and Hermione entered that very evening, resigned to their fate of detention with the disagreeable professor. Ron and Harry had escorted them to the dungeons with glum looks on both their faces. The four were fast friends, something like the Marauders of old, and when something so dreadful happened to one of them, it actually seemed to happen to all of them. Though they went back to the common room, Harry and Ron felt as though they were serving detentions as well.
The girls, on the other hand, really were having detention with Professor Snape. As they entered his domain, the soft sound of a potion bubbling caught their ears. Snape, they saw, was standing over a cauldron, adding ingredients and with an intense look of concentration on his face. He seemed to take no notice as they watched him. His delicate hands moved with practiced speed and grace as he dropped aconite into the mixture. If the man had not inspired such anxiety and possibly loathing in the two girls, Ginny more so than Hermione, they would have found the sight mesmerizing. As it was, Hermione found herself acknowledging that what he had, his ability to brew complex potions, was a precious gift and a true talent.
For an instant Hermione thought she could see a smile come to his lips. It softened his features and made him seem less hateful, less contemptuous, and more human.
Then he looked up and sneered at them, finally realizing that he was being watched.
"Enough staring. You have work to do." said Snape. Hermione glanced away quickly as his dark eyes met her own.
The pair spent what felt like an eternity under Snape's scrutiny as he divided his attention between the potion and supervising their cauldron scrubbing. These were not ordinary dirty vessels for preparing potions. They were ones that, in Snape's words, Longbottom had been at, which meant that the cauldrons had all manner of ill-prepared potions caked, cooked, and seared into them, many of which gave off a pungent aroma when exposed to water and cleaning solutions. Their hands were all to quickly becoming chapped and irritated and their nails broken as they labored silently at the difficult and unpleasant task.
"I didn't know you had helpers tonight, Severus." said a pleasant, but tired voice from the doorway.
"Lupin, the moon won't be full until tomorrow night. What are you doing down here?" snapped Professor Snape, glowering at the werewolf in the doorway.
"Just visiting, I suppose." said Remus, winking at the two girls as he leaned against the door jam. "Are you brewing the potion now?"
"I have a limited store of it put away, but, yes, I am brewing an additional cauldron." said Severus. "In case I am called away unexpectedly and ..." he shrugged. His eyes looked suddenly haunted as he absently gave the explanation.
Hermione shivered, knowing all too well what he meant: in case Voldemort summoned him and did not allow him to return alive. His other obligations would still be fulfilled. He had merely stated fact, and his words were by no means self-pitying, but Hermione felt a twinge of something, compassion or empathy, for the professor.
"Thank you, Severus." said Remus with a nod.
He stepped closer to watch Snape stir the potion, which was simmering nicely.
What happened next can only be described as a peculiar twist of fate. In a blink of an eye, a bottle of cauldron cleaner, some obscure magical draught that contained a potent mixture of cleaning agents, shot from Ginny Weasley's wet hands and into the air. Hermione spun to try and catch the flying bottle, tipping over a sudsy cauldron full of cleaner and seared potion ingredients, which splashed toward the cauldron of Wolfsbane potion, and Professors Lupin and Snape. The bottle glanced off Hermione's hand toward Remus, who grasped for the slippery glass container. Snape, whose speed and graceful movements had earlier been remarkable, unfortunately fumbled for it as well. The bottle, not to mention fate, had other plans, however, as Remus's feet slipped on the damp floor and propelled him into the table where the anti-werewolf potion was being brewed and into his greasy-hared colleague. There was an almighty kaboom a split second later as the contaminated cauldron water, the concentrated cleaner, and the Wolfsbane potion all intermixed and exploded upon Remus, Severus, Ginny, and Hermione.
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A/N: Wow, what a disaster, eh?
priya: Yes, I am continuing. Thank you for the review!
Orlando: It's nice to know that there other people in the world who are not big fans of Ron. (So many people really like him and I can't figure out why!) You're right; he really does need a smack from time to time. Glad you liked the look too. Thanks for the review!
In which there is something of an incident
The next morning when all the students gathered for breakfast in the Great Hall, Hermione and Ginny found their usual seats among the Gryffindor sixth and seventh years. The rest of the house gave them sympathetic looks, having heard about their daring midnight exploits and their resulting detentions from Ron and Harry. The better part of a week of detentions with the potions' master seemed harsh to the lot of them.
"What do you expect he'll have you do?" asked Seamus Finnigan, who had served a detention with Filch a year earlier and turned over a new leaf as the result.
"It won't be that bad, I imagine." said Hermione, mainly for Ginny's benefit.
Two Slytherins in the hall had tried to scare the poor girl with tales of disemboweling live kittens. Hermione had assured her that it could not possibly be true, though Ginny was still pale at the very horrible and gruesome thought. She barely picked at her food until Ron nudged her and threatened to tell their mum that she wasn't eating properly. Then she took only a few sullen bites of her eggs.
"Maybe you'll get off easy and only have to make potions for Madam Pomfrey or something. You could both do that with your hands tied, right?" said Ron encouragingly. He was still rather regretful about sending his little sister out after hours to be caught by Mister Filch, not to mention the abominable sentence of detention with Snape.
"Of course." said Hermione, who was having no trouble with her breakfast. She was in her last year and not nearly as afraid of Snape as Ginny was. In fact she had come to have a grudging respect for the man as a professor. "It will probably be something like that. Making wound cleaning potions is always rather interesting and fun even."
"You don't have to cheer me up. I know it's going to be horrible, but I can handle it." said Ginny, looking up from her plate. "It is only a couple of hours, after all. It's not like it's eternity or anything."
The potions' classroom was quiet when Ginny and Hermione entered that very evening, resigned to their fate of detention with the disagreeable professor. Ron and Harry had escorted them to the dungeons with glum looks on both their faces. The four were fast friends, something like the Marauders of old, and when something so dreadful happened to one of them, it actually seemed to happen to all of them. Though they went back to the common room, Harry and Ron felt as though they were serving detentions as well.
The girls, on the other hand, really were having detention with Professor Snape. As they entered his domain, the soft sound of a potion bubbling caught their ears. Snape, they saw, was standing over a cauldron, adding ingredients and with an intense look of concentration on his face. He seemed to take no notice as they watched him. His delicate hands moved with practiced speed and grace as he dropped aconite into the mixture. If the man had not inspired such anxiety and possibly loathing in the two girls, Ginny more so than Hermione, they would have found the sight mesmerizing. As it was, Hermione found herself acknowledging that what he had, his ability to brew complex potions, was a precious gift and a true talent.
For an instant Hermione thought she could see a smile come to his lips. It softened his features and made him seem less hateful, less contemptuous, and more human.
Then he looked up and sneered at them, finally realizing that he was being watched.
"Enough staring. You have work to do." said Snape. Hermione glanced away quickly as his dark eyes met her own.
The pair spent what felt like an eternity under Snape's scrutiny as he divided his attention between the potion and supervising their cauldron scrubbing. These were not ordinary dirty vessels for preparing potions. They were ones that, in Snape's words, Longbottom had been at, which meant that the cauldrons had all manner of ill-prepared potions caked, cooked, and seared into them, many of which gave off a pungent aroma when exposed to water and cleaning solutions. Their hands were all to quickly becoming chapped and irritated and their nails broken as they labored silently at the difficult and unpleasant task.
"I didn't know you had helpers tonight, Severus." said a pleasant, but tired voice from the doorway.
"Lupin, the moon won't be full until tomorrow night. What are you doing down here?" snapped Professor Snape, glowering at the werewolf in the doorway.
"Just visiting, I suppose." said Remus, winking at the two girls as he leaned against the door jam. "Are you brewing the potion now?"
"I have a limited store of it put away, but, yes, I am brewing an additional cauldron." said Severus. "In case I am called away unexpectedly and ..." he shrugged. His eyes looked suddenly haunted as he absently gave the explanation.
Hermione shivered, knowing all too well what he meant: in case Voldemort summoned him and did not allow him to return alive. His other obligations would still be fulfilled. He had merely stated fact, and his words were by no means self-pitying, but Hermione felt a twinge of something, compassion or empathy, for the professor.
"Thank you, Severus." said Remus with a nod.
He stepped closer to watch Snape stir the potion, which was simmering nicely.
What happened next can only be described as a peculiar twist of fate. In a blink of an eye, a bottle of cauldron cleaner, some obscure magical draught that contained a potent mixture of cleaning agents, shot from Ginny Weasley's wet hands and into the air. Hermione spun to try and catch the flying bottle, tipping over a sudsy cauldron full of cleaner and seared potion ingredients, which splashed toward the cauldron of Wolfsbane potion, and Professors Lupin and Snape. The bottle glanced off Hermione's hand toward Remus, who grasped for the slippery glass container. Snape, whose speed and graceful movements had earlier been remarkable, unfortunately fumbled for it as well. The bottle, not to mention fate, had other plans, however, as Remus's feet slipped on the damp floor and propelled him into the table where the anti-werewolf potion was being brewed and into his greasy-hared colleague. There was an almighty kaboom a split second later as the contaminated cauldron water, the concentrated cleaner, and the Wolfsbane potion all intermixed and exploded upon Remus, Severus, Ginny, and Hermione.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: Wow, what a disaster, eh?
priya: Yes, I am continuing. Thank you for the review!
Orlando: It's nice to know that there other people in the world who are not big fans of Ron. (So many people really like him and I can't figure out why!) You're right; he really does need a smack from time to time. Glad you liked the look too. Thanks for the review!