Disclaimer: Do not own the Wonderful World of Harry Potter… not making any money from my writings…DO NOT LIKE that Rowling has killed Sirius Black and have chosen to pointedly ignore that certain part, allowing him to make an appearance here…
Note to readers: your reviews are only welcome in these types of formats: praise, gushing, skepticism, flames, anger, denial, repulse/disgust, and I suppose constructive criticism can be entertained as well…
A/N: Warning: Snape/McGonagall appearance starting from this chapter, will get worse as story progresses, or as worst can be without increasing the ratings. Also be prepared for unorthodox reaction of Harry towards Snape and Snape's unSnapeish behavior
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Just some S/M fluff somewhere inside this chapter… ;-)… did me by any chance mention that certain characters have been hexed to act OoC in accordance to the writer's demented and slightly abnormal muse's wishes? Well, they are. Sorry, peeps, but I think at least one couple should have a little fluff in their lives, since Jessica and Harry are so adamant to make things difficult for themselves. [Writer shakes head at her muse who's grinning evilly trying to come up with more madness]
"Jessica, your actions today on the quidditch pitch were inexcusable. Such show of violence is not tolerated in this school," said Professor McGonagall. They were in her office. She was facing Prof. McGonagall who was sitting at her desk and Professor Snape was leaning against one of the tables, a smug look on his face. Jessica wished she had put her fist through his face and not Malfoy's. Jessica's tight lip was rivaled only by McGonagall's. Her lips were almost disappearing into her face.
"But Professor, he called Hermione a mudblood," Jessica protested. Was it possible, yes it was; Minerva McGonagall's lips disappeared.
"Mr. Malfoy will be treated accordingly," said Snape. Jessica couldn't resist hitting him with a barb remark.
"A pat on the shoulder from you, Professor?" she spat. Snape raised an eyebrow, clearly taken aback.
"Ms. Stanford, that's enough. You will serve a two hour detention, tonight in the trophy room. Seeing that I am not available, Professor Snape will be taking your detention," said Professor McGonagall briskly.
"But Professor…" Jessica tried to protest, but Professor McGonagall stern face stopped her.
"Nine o'clock, Ms. Stanford. Don't be late," said Professor McGonagall, her tone indicating that the subject was closed. Jessica sighed and knew there was no point arguing anyways. She nodded then excused herself, allowing herself one last evil look towards Snape. The two remained silent until they were sure she was out of hearing range. Without taking his eyes off the doorway, Snape said.
"Go on Minerva, I know you want to do it," he said dryly. Minerva looked at him questioningly, her face masked with fake innocence.
"Severus, I don't know what you are talking about," she said, trying to keep her voice sharp and no-nonsense like, but failed as the corners of her lips began to twitch upwards.
"Don't act innocent on me Minerva. If you could, you would have treated Jessica to a butterbeer instead of giving her detention, right? I realized the absence of deducted house points," he said, turning to her and sitting slightly on the corner of her table. He watched her fight a losing battle. Finally, she gave in.
"Oh, Severus, I know I shouldn't but did you see his face when he went sprawling to the ground?" she suddenly burst, her words coated with hilarity.
"Taken out by a girl… not just any girl, a Gryffindor girl. He'll never live this one down," she continued, her laughter growing stronger. Severus just looked at her amusedly.
"Severus, don't look at me so. You know that boy had it coming. Honestly, calling anyone a mudblood is… intolerable. It's about time someone did something," she said, her laughter finally dying down. Sometimes she wished she could wrap her fingers around that conceited ass's neck and strangle him. As if reading her thoughts, Snape laughed. A real deep laugh. There had been on occasion, where he wished he too could put a cork into Malfoy's butt kissing ways. It felt great to not have to favor the brat to keep Lucius Malfoy from being suspicious.
"Well, rest assured, Potter and friends won't let him forget. Jessica most definitely will be hailed as a hero," he said dryly. She smiled as his words rang true.
"And that would be the worst punishment of them all," she said. The next few days were going to be pretty interesting.
"Yes, that would be true," he replied. The two were quiet for a while, absorbed in their thoughts. Then a sly smile crept across Minerva's face. She magically removed her shoes and in one swift movement placed them on Severus's lap. (She had gotten a pedicure the night before, just in case). She waved her wand one more time, and a bottle of baby oil materialized on her table.
"I believe you owe me a foot rub," she said, her voice honey laced. He looked at her. So she wanted a foot rub eh? Then a foot rub she'll get. He took her feet into his hands and then grinned mischievously. It wasn't long before the dark halls echoed with peals of hysterical laughter and the cry for mercy, so cruelly ignored by the 'tormenter'.
@~~}~~
Back in Gryffindor Tower;
"Jessica, you have to come to dinner," pleaded Hermione. Jessica had gone straight to her room after her meeting with the two professors and had refused to budge from her bed.
"NO!" she screamed, her voice muffled by the duvet that covered her whole body.
"Jessica don't be a baby. Getting detention is not that big an embarrassment," reasoned Hermione, although she knew if she got one she'd hex herself.
"Yes, it is. Now everyone will think I'm some… uncivilized barbarian!" she cried. Hermione let out an exasperated sigh. Sometimes Jessica was too melodramatic.
"C'mon, big baby. Let's go," she said, but Jessica still wouldn't move so Hermione tried a new tactic.
"Fine, if you're too chicken…" she began, but stopped when Jessica shot out of her bed.
"I am not chicken, Hermione Granger! Fine, I'll go to dinner!" she barked and stomped to the bathroom. Hermione smiled to herself and mentally gave herself a pat on the back. You won't regret it Jessica.
~@~
Jessica couldn't believe she let Hermione talk her into coming down for dinner. She had never felt more awful in her life. Detention?? She had never gotten detention before… even in her previous school. And how was she going to face the rest of the school? And Harry? He must really think low of her. He hates Malfoy, she knew that, but he wouldn't hit him, like some… uncultured person! Maybe I can lose Hermione on the way to the Hall. Jessica's brain was in hyper mode as they processed these morose thoughts.
But it seemed that Jessica didn't have to worry about going to the Great Hall, as the Gryffindors were having their own party, right in the Gryffindor common room. Jessica tried to run back up the stairs, but Hermione caught her and pushed her down the last flight of steps. Jessica stumbled into the common room but she quickly straightened up. The common room had been changed. Tables had been joined to form one long table laden with food and drinks, currently being enjoyed by the students.
And perpendicular to the table was a slightly raised platform that held another long table with eight chairs, seven of them occupied by the quidditch players. Harry was in the middle and he had a gold crown with red rubies on his head. On his left, a chair lay empty. The other players were wearing tabards with a prancing lion in the middle, made of red and gold velvet, with silk trimmings, and gold circlets on their head, trimmed with scarlet, not unlike those worn by nobility in the medieval era. Music was playing from some unknown source and the fire was burning brighter than ever. It was plain to see that everyone was having a great time. All thoughts of detention were gone as she beheld the sight in front of her. Harry was the first to spot her.
"Jessica!" he cried, and then waved at her. Almost instantaneously, Ginny got up from her seat and walked over to her. She passed something to Hermione and the girl placed it onto Jessica's head. It was a coronet, identical design to Harry. Ginny draped a red velvet robe around Jessica's shoulders and clipped it together using gold clasps. Then they started to pull her towards the table. Jessica, by instinct, pulled back.
"Jessica, c'mon!" Hermione whispered in her ear. Ginny's grin broadened.
"Yeah, Jessica, c'mon. The king needs his queen," she whispered naughtily and Jessica refused to even think of how Ginny Weasley knew of that particular piece of news. Blushing furiously, Jessica allowed them to lead her up the raised dais, took her place next to Harry and looked at the other students below her. She turned to look at Harry, who was smiling at her. Then he stood up. The chatter almost immediately stopped. He raised his goblet of butterbeer, and the rest promptly followed his lead.
"A toast, to the real hero of today, Jessica Stanford and her excellent right hook!" he said. Cheers erupted around the room, and Jessica blushed harder than before. She shyly acknowledged their toast with a nod of her head and a huge grin on her face.
"So how does it feel?" he asked softly, once he had sat down and the others had stopped congratulating Jessica. She feigned an innocent look.
"What?" she asked.
"Funny. You've done what most of us have only dreamed of doing," he said, then shook his head, like in disbelief.
"You've practically stripped Malfoy of any self-respect. Decked by a girl. I hope I never forget this day," he said, laughing slightly. Jessica just smiled.
"Well, I have to pay for that. Detention tonight at nine," she said, her mood dimming slightly at the thought.
"Dun worry about it. You're not true Hogwartian until you've been given detention. Its tradition," he said dismissively and then added in an after thought,
"Unless you're Hermione," Jessica laughed and felt much better. So, Harry didn't think her to be uncivilized. In fact, he sounded impressed. She dug into her food, her appetite replenished and feeling a lot better. Unfortunately, nine o'clock came too quickly and before long, she was bidding everyone goodnight as she stepped out of the portrait. She slowly made her way to the trophy room, and once she got there, Snape was already waiting for her. Torches that hung on the wall lightly lighted the room. A bucket of soap water and a rag were next to his feet. He turned when he heard her enter.
"So you made it," he said, his voice low, as if he didn't want to disturb the silence of the castle.
"I take responsibility for my actions, Professor," she replied, her voice loud, the tranquil silence the last thing on her mind. He smiled slightly, but it held no warmth in it. Jessica shuddered at the mockery she saw in it.
"A very admirable trait. Unfortunately, in this matter, your housekeeping trait will come to better much use. Peeves has been here, and has left a … 'gift' for you," he said, and moved aside, allowing her to see into the trophy shelf. She groaned loudly. The trophies were all covered in green goop. And there were so many of them. Stupid poltergeist!
"Since you won't be allowed to use your wand, you may hand it over to me now," he continued, and Jessica grudgingly handed over her wand.
"I'll be back in two hours," he said again and left, closing the door behind him. She didn't hear a lock click, so she knew the door was still unlocked.
"Ah well, time to get to work," she sighed out loud and picked up the bucket of soap water. She then reached out for the first trophy on the mantel and began the tedious work of cleaning.
It had been half an hour and so far, she had managed to clean a total of five trophies. That left a million more. Sigh. I'm never going to finish this before I graduate, she thought. She looked at the trophy she was cleaning. A lifetime award to Tom Riddle. Curse you Tom Riddle for doing whatever you did that you just had to earn this trophy. May your life never be successful anymore, she cursed him quietly. Then had to laugh at how silly she was.
"Silly girl, he' enjoying a permanent retirement vacation at Azkaban Paradise, he won't be earning anymore awards," she said sarcastically. Well, that trophy was done; she thought and placed it back on the mantelpiece. As she was reaching out to grab another, she heard the door creek open. She turned but saw no one.
"Hello?" she called out. Damn it, Snape has my wand, she thought hating the sudden feel of helplessness. Her eyes darted madly around the poorly lit room. Suddenly, someone grabbed her from behind and spun her around the room. She was too surprised to scream. And when the person put her down, Jessica nearly slapped his smug face.
"Harry Potter! What the hell do you think you're doing!? You scared ten years out of my life!" she hissed. She would've loved to have screamed at him instead but that would send a certain someone running, and that would just mean more trouble. In the background, she saw more people. Ron and Hermione were there. Well, at least their heads were. Jessica blinked at their floating heads. At least Harry had his body attached to his head.
"What are you guys doing here?" she asked.
"To help of course," said Hermione, rolling her eyes.
"that a mean lot of goop you got going here," whistled Ron as he eyed the green stuff dripping of the many trophies. Jessica rolled her eyes at them.
"Wouldn't that be easier if you had hands? Or have you two mastered the art of cleaning with your teeth?" she asked again, thinking that it was just some kind of hologram and that they weren't really there. Hey, she could use the company, real or not. The two smiled and with one sweeping movement, Ron, removed what seemed to be a cloak. But she couldn't see the cloak; just it's shimmering when Ron removed it. Only when he had folded it did she see its liquid like material…
"Whoa, that some pretty neat cloak you have there," she said, reaching out to touch it.
"It used to be my father's" Harry explained. "It's an invisibility cloak."
Jessica made a 'really, I would never have thought' face and Harry pulled her into a gentle headlock.
"If you two are quite done, I believe we have trophies to clean," said Hermione in her best prim voice. Immediately Jessica pulled away from Harry and shook her head.
"No, it's my punishment, it's not fair that you three help," she said and tried to push the three out of the room. Hermione budged a little, but you try pulling two 6 foot 2 inches tall men, that weighed mostly of muscles than fat. Harry and Ron just rolled their eyes at each other as Jessica tried to push then pull at them. Then, without much effort, Harry pulled at her arm and tugged her into his.
"You're not going to leave are you?" she asked. All three shook their heads. Jessica raised her arms in defeat.
"Fine, have it your way, heaven knows I could use the extra help anyways," she said and then went back to cleaning the trophies.
"But there's only one rag," said Jessica again. Hermione whipped out her wand and duplicated the original into three other rags. Hermione picked up a rag and sat down next to her, she too holding a trophy. Harry followed suit shortly later. Only Ron was walking about looking at the trophies. He stopped in front of three and lovingly caressed the plaque.
"Hey, Harry, Herm, here's the trophies we got for saving the day," Ron said, his face soft with bittersweet memories. Jessica looked up at him.
"I cleaned those first. You guys sure have been busy these past few years haven't you?" Jessica asked. The three just smirked. Ever since they became Harry's friends, it's been one roller coaster ride after another. But neither of his two friends would change a thing.
"You cleaned this? That would explain it," said Ron, rubbing his clean-shaven chin thoughtfully.
"Explain what?" Hermione asked, cleaning a trophy that said, First Merlin Order to Severus Snape for his commendable service to the wizarding world in the defeat of Voldermort [a complete waste to perfectly good crystal (Jessica)]. Jessica and Harry looked at him questioningly. Ron grinned and picked up one of the trophies.
"It explains why Harry's plaque is shinier than ours and everybody else's, that's all," he said, and ducked quickly to avoid a flying, soapy rag. The darkness hid the blush creeping at Jessica's cheeks.
"His trophy fell into the soap bucket, that's all," she lied, for that was in fact what it really was. A lie. The only reason why she had spent half an hour with only five trophies is because she spent fifteen minutes on one specific award. No points for guessing whose trophy. Ron just smirked at her and sat down with the rest of them.
With the help of the three, Jessica was able to clean the trophies in record time. In fact, time flew by so quickly, they were all surprised when the heard the familiar footsteps nearing the trophy room. Hermione quickly draped the invisibility cloak over the boys and herself just at Professor Snape entered. Jessica couldn't see it but she knew the three had already slinked out of the room. She turned to her potions master. He was surveying the trophies.
"Good work," he said this time no malice in his voice. Jessica was a little surprised at his lavish praise.
"Err, thank you," she stammered. He turned and smiled… actually smiled at her. It wasn't a warm smile, but a smile is a smile. Does he have a second personality that only appears at night? she wondered, feeling a little alarmed.
"Well, you may go, and here is your wand," he said and handed her wand back to her. He was about to walk out the door when he stopped and turned.
"By the way, Ms. Stanford. About the Christmas present you gave Professor McGonagall, " he said. Jessica winced inwardly. Oh no, he's definitely going to give her another detention, or at least deduct like a gazillion points from Gryffindor for inappropriate conduct or something. But he did neither. Instead, he smiled (again) at her (was he blushing?) and mumbled; 'thank you'. Then he was gone. Now she knew for sure that wasn't Professor Snape. At least not the one she knew and loves to hate.
[a/n: in case y'all forgots, Jessica gave McGonagall a book titled; pleasures of Kama Sutra as a joke]
`@'
He walked briskly down the school corridor, shaking his head slightly. He should've known. At least the job was completed. His lips curved into a lopsided grin thinking of Jessica's thunderstruck face, he hoped she hadn't keeled over of a heart attack, that wouldn't be something he wanted to explain to her mother… or Harry for that matter. So lost was he in his thoughts that he did not see a smaller figure and bumped right into her. only his quick reflex enabled him to catch her before she went sprawling to the ground.
"Severus, what on earth?" Minerva cried, holding onto his arm to prevent herself from falling ungraciously onto the hard stone floor.
"Sorry, darling. I didn't see you," he answered, still somewhat distracted. Minerva was a little stunned. Her Severus was, well, in a good mood so it seems.
"Are you all right? Jessica didn't curse you did she?" she asked. Severus laughed at her skepticism. Minerva still had trouble adjusting to Severus's "good" temper, (visible only when no students were around).
"I'm fine, I took her wand from her," he answered and the two began walking again, holding hands, (although Minerva was suppose to be heading in the opposite direction).
"So, she has carried out her detention?" she asked again. Severus nodded.
"Peeves had been there, and if was in my nature, I would have pitied the girl," he answered. Minerva had to laugh at that.
"Peeves, huh? As Mr. Weasley would say; that ghost is a bloody menace," she said.
"I agree. But they managed to clean all the trophies under two hours," he continued. Minerva stopped walking.
"Without magic? That's impossible," she said in disbelief. Then she narrowed her eyes at him.
"What do you mean they? Who's they?"
"Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and of course Jessica Stanford," he answered simply.
"You know this for a fact?" she prodded.
"Yes, there were extra rags on the floor and water spots in four different areas," he stated.
"But that doesn't mean…" she began but he stopped her.
"Trust me, they were there," he answered confidently. Minerva didn't say anything.
"I guess that is to be expected," she said finally. He just smirked. She had been so busy absorbing what Severus had told her, she didn't realize they were at the dungeons, more specifically in front of Snape's room. He prodded the green Anaconda awake and said his password. The snake slithered around to make the shape of a door and a silver doorknob materialized. He opened his door. Minerva was still thoughtful.
"Do you think that he and Jessica will get together in the end?" she asked. Severus knew who 'he' was. The two have been quite a hot topic in the staff room, and bets have been made when those two will get together.
"Minerva, how totally unlike you to succumb to gossip," he remarked, feigning shock. She lightly smacked him.
"I don't know, maybe if there were fireworks and Italian love songs," he said, thinking back when he had stumbled on the two in the hallway. He had made sure to stay in the shadows. She looked at him, her eyes narrowed, but he refused to elaborate.
"Fine, keep your secrets," she said, and turned.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"To my quarters, its nearly midnight. I need to get some sleep," she answered. Had he gone daft? He cocked an eyebrow, his smile leering.
"That's what you think," he said and pulled her into his room, closing the door behind him.
***
fluffily fluff! :-D
A/N: hehehehe… anyone lose their lunch yet? Well, I think they're a cute "never to become" couple and I like playing around with them… well, that's my excuse for writing them, what's your excuse for reading them?? hehehehe…
Btw, what does AU mean?