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Chapter 15

After a rushed lesson with Snape that morning, and a cold Care for Magical Creatures class with Hagrid, followed by an dull Divinitation class, Harry was more than ready to retreat to the dungeons for his next lesson. Much to his joy, at the end of the lesson Snape announced that he would be ready to try his hand at apparation the next week.

Moving through to the normal potions classroom, Snape set Harry to mixing a large batch of dreamless sleep draught, a complicated potion that required total concentration. While Harry laboured over a steaming Cauldron, Snape waited for the rest of the class to arrive.

As the class arrived in small groups, Snape sat behind his desk, his glare silently daring any of them to speak. Once all the class was seated, all well within time, as Snape walked to the back of the room, and closed the door. Walking back to the front on the room with a trademark swish of his robes, Snape addressed the class, his voice little above a whisper.

'As of this class, I will no longer be accepting bad work from any of you. It is high time you accepted your positions as senior members of the school. Consequently, prep work will now be longer, and more difficult. I will accept no excuses unless they come with a note from the Madam Pomphrey. Is this understood?'

Working in the corner, Harry glanced up in amusement, before turning his concentration back onto the potion before him. The rest of the class remained silent.

'In that case, you may begin. Follow the instructions on the board. Now.'

The class scrambled to their feet, and hurriedly began to collect ingredients. During the class, Snape wandered round the room inspecting potions, dealing out scathing remarks to some, and veiled praise to others. Much to their surprise, Ron and Hermione were one of the few pairs not to be reprimanded, as was Neville. In fact, at the end of the class Neville's potion was looking the same as everyone else's. Seeing this, Snape narrowed his eyes slightly, before looking up at the scared boy.

'Congratulations Longbottom, this is almost perfect. Just a little more asphodel next time.'

Neville nodded, and sighed in relief as Snape moved on to the next pair. Beside him, Justin gave him a light dig in the ribs, accompanied by a grin, which Neville returned happily.

Harry had also finished, and was waiting patiently beside his cauldron when Snape came over. After a quick inspection, Snape nodded at him.

'Good. Much better than you're last try, at least. You will take this up to Madam Pomphrey this evening'

Harry bowed.

'Yes, my lord.'

Snape turned to the rest of the class, giving them a quick dismissal, as wll as instructions as to that night's homework. This announcement was met with silence, the only reply being the scratching of quills as the more reliable members of the class made a note of what they had to do.

The class were soon shuffling in the direction of the door. Harry joined the class after receiving a nod from his master, along with a flick of the wrists that Harry translated as meaning 'clear up later'. Catching up with Ron and Hermione, the trio walked in silence to charms, each consumed by their own thoughts.

The class was an interesting one, focusing on complex locking and opening charms that Harry had yet to cover with Snape. Despite this, he caught on quickly, and by the end of the class had a firm grip on all the spells discussed. Most of the class had the same success, and consequently they left for supper in a good mood. Trying to ignore his growling stomach, Harry once again left them and headed down to the dungeons.

Instead of the usual classroom based session, Snape had Harry doing the physical exercises that he would have usually done after lunch, but were now overtaken by his school classes. The two hour session left him tired and hungry, so much so that he did not notice that his back was bleeding once again. However, the fact was not missed by Snape. As they began to eat a well deserved meal, Snape commented on them.

'The blows to your back must have been harder than I realised for them to bleed still.'

Snape glanced up from his plate to measure Harry's reaction. He was just in time to catch Harry's quiet response. Hearing Snape's word, Harry reached a hand round his ribs. Pulling his hand back, he saw the smear of red on his fingers. He wiped his hand on his trousers before he replied.

'I hadn't noticed'

Snape was careful to keep his face impassive. Harry, meanwhile, kept his head down, seemingly concentration on his meal.

'Indeed. Well, I suggest you clean yourself up before you go to bed.'

Harry's voice had a slightly relieved edge to it.

'Yes, my lord.'

Snape sat back, satisfied with this answer. Breathing out heavily, he spoke once more.

'If you are done, we will move on. I believe it's time you did some practise on shield charms.'

Harry gave a weak grin, standing up. Harry knew for a fact that Snape's version of practising shield charms was him simply having to resist curses for as long as possible. Considering how tired he was, Harry was slightly doubtful that he was up to it, but he followed nonetheless. They moved back into an empty dungeon, and began.

An hour later, Harry collapsed on his bed. After a few minutes well deserved rest, he stood up with a groan and went to take a shower, ignoring the needle-like stings the hot water sent rushing down his back.

Rolling into bed after going over that day's work, Harry was almost instantly asleep. He did not dream, and slept through till morning, to be woken once again by the rapping on the door that heralded a new day.



Thanks for all the reviews, though I don't know where you all found the time considering it was New Year's Eve, but anyway. Several people have asked me to make my chapters longer. I do try, and there will be several long chapters coming up. However, there always will be some short ones because sometimes small things need to be mentioned, and I refuse to simply add them to another chapter. I do think about where to end my chapters, but I will try to extend them a bit.

qtpie079 - Good point, and I'll see what I can do. There's a chapter coming up that does focus more on them, and I'll try to give a bit more of their thought when Harry's not around.

Shadowseeker - I've just drafted a chapter where that kind of happens, chapter 18. So when that comes up you'll have to tell me what you think. I'll see what I can do, though I promise there will be more evil Gray in later chapters. If my sister hasn't chucked me off the computer by the time I've finished the chapter I'm writing, I'll also go and have a look at your story. Thanks!!!

Pheonix Flight - Yeah, I know. We do have internet access but it's filtered so I can't get onto ff.net, sorry. I'll try and get a few chapter up before I go, so you'll just have to re-read those while you wait. Thanks for all the reviews!!