Don't Stand So Close To Me

Chapter One

Of Potions and T-shirts

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Snape smirked as he felt glares directed his way. It really wasn't his fault none of them could make a decent Soundproof Serum. God knows it was a useful thing to know how to make. He swept through the dungeon arrogantly. It was a skill he had perfected unknowingly, after watching his father do it for years. Occasionally, he caught a glance of himself and thought with disgust how much of his looks he had inherited from his parents. He had his mother's black hair and blue-black eyes, and his father...well, his father's nose. Yet another reason for me to hate him, Snape thought, only half-joking. He really did hate his nose.

He wouldn't admit that to anyone, either.

"Professor!" a voice in the back called. He scowled and turned, being greeted by yet another Longbottom potion. Which is to say that it was attacking everyone who came near it, shooting green droplets at them. From the yells, it seemed the potion was slightly painful. Snape snickered and took his time strolling across the room. The potion did not seem to have that bad of side effects, and it might just teach the students a lesson. Hermione, however, was frowning intently, and muttering under her breath as she tossed something into the potion. To Snape's amazement, the potion slowly calmed down and started humming cheerfully.

"Brilliant, Hermione!" the Finnigan boy started clapping, and the rest of the Gryffindors followed suit as Hermione blushed furiously.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor for performing a charm and making a potion in my class when you were not instructed to! And ten for managing to foul up a potion that badly, Longbottom!" Snape barked angrily. Hermione grinned at him, and he floundered for a response. Bloody irritating, it was. He scowled, and was saved from forming a response as the bell rang.

"Get out!" Snape snarled in Hermione's direction. She smiled again at the Potions Profesor as she left, self-satisfaction making her glow.

Snape stood there for a few minutes, muttering under his breath. It was bad enough that she was an amazing witch, but did she have to have that gorgeous smile?

What?! Snape checked and double-checked what he had just thought. What was wrong with him? Maybe I should start brewing those Dreamless Sleep Potions a little stronger, because lack of sleep is obviously affecting my mind, he thought disgustedly. He growled in frustration and cursed to himself.

And now that damn potion was trying to give him a hug.

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Snape stalked down the hall, irritation making his countenance even more unpleasant than normal. Suddenly, he stopped.

Wait a minute, why am I in such a bad mood? he thought in frustration. Merlin, it was that Granger chit. Why was she so damn irritating? He stepped into his quarters and was greeted by a sight that did not make him any more pleasant.

"Yes, Albus?" he said shortly.

"Good afternoon, Severus!" Dumbledore said, beaming. "I just wanted to let you know that the potion you made for me was most helpful. Thank you."

Snape raised an eyebrow. Since when did Albus make an special trip to thank him for something?

"If that will be all, Albus, I believe I shall retire." Snape said smoothly. Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"Well, actually, Severus," Albus began, "Several people think that you deserve a..." here he hesitated.

Snape's eyes narrowed. "A what, Albus?" he snapped.

"A good vacation," the Headmaster finished. "And I," he said loudly when Snape opened his mouth, "happen to agree with them!"

"You work too hard," Dumbledore said severely, peering at Snape over his half-moon glasses. Snape glared at him.

"I do not need a vacation!" he hissed. "I am fine!" his eyes narrowed further. "Molly put you up to this, didn't she?" he growled low in his throat. Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling again.

"I just thought I'd at least mention it to you," he said merrily, "though I told her you wouldn't take to it. But the offer's there, Severus, should you ever care to take me up on it!" With that, he hopped back into the fireplace.

Was it his imagination, or had the old bat looked smug after that last comment? Snape dismissed it from his mind. It wasn't as though he was going to take a bloody vacation anyway.

He crossed the room and sat down at his desk. It was lovely, one of the few gifts he had ever received that he truly appreciated. He didn't much like most of the gifts he had gotten in the past. But then, he supposed he was difficult to buy for. It was made of a lovely wood that grew in only one place in the world. Had he been poetic, he may have called it a deep chocolate color with creamy swirls. But he wasn't, so it was brown.

But a very nice brown.

As he sat, his latest research rose up onto the desk from wherever it had been, along with a quill and a bottle of his favorite ink – black with small flecks of green and silver. He wasn't exactly school spirited, but he did like Slytherin colors.

A few hours later, he was again sitting at his window. He just couldn't concentrate today! So instead, Snape sat and watched the students outside again. And –bloody hell – it was Granger and her friends again. This time they were having a water fight, siphoning water from the lake as ammunition. They looked soaked, and had tossed their school robes in a heap under a tree. He scowled and contemplated yelling at them from his window – then decided against it. Instead, he took the passage from his room down to the entrance hall and stalked out onto the grounds.

"POTTER! WEASLEY!" he shouted in anger. "Ten points for inappropriate conduct and not complying with the dress code!" The effect was somewhat ruined, because they hadn't heard him in time – a blast of lake water hit him right in the face.

Potter and Weasley stood frozen on the spot, resembling two statues, mouths hanging open. Behind, him, though, he heard a gasp. Or was it a snicker? He wheeled around, sputtering, and saw none other than Granger. She was soaked, too, and like the rest of them, not in her robes. But he noticed with dismay that she happened to be wearing a white shirt.

And he could see right through it. Shocked, he saw, from the way it clung to her, something that was less apparent when she was wearing robes. She was...she was...

Attractive, his body concluded for him. He swallowed hard and shook himself. The three students were now looking at him curiously, wondering whether they were going to get off easy. He heard Hermione whisper something, and the pile of robes flew into her hands. He shook himself again.

"Get to your dormitories!" he snarled, and his three students scrambled. He watched them go, realizing too late that he was watching Granger's receding form. Cursing, he followed them back up to the castle, stomping in irritation.

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I've decided, as with my other fic, to write short chapters often instead of long chapters occasionally. Also, please critique! Be cruel! Well, not really. But, um, DO tell me what I do wrong, since I don't use a beta. :) Love you guys! Thanks to Madelynn Rae for the encouragement and yoggle, who apparently has excellent taste in music.

OH! And I found out that there's, like, fifty other fics of the same name. So...think I should change the title? XOXO