Chapter Three
When Severus walked into his classroom the next morning he could tell that it was going to be a bad day, he was teaching first year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws potion first thing that morning.
"Good morning, Students, I am the Potion Master, you may address me as Professor Snape," Severus silky voice drifted over the classroom, "There will be no foolish wand waving in this classroom. Instead I will be teaching you the finer arts of potion brewing, if you have the talent you will excel in this class, if you don't, I can teach you how to."
Severus went over to his desk and grabbed a bundle of scrolls tied with green ribbon, "This," began Severus, holding up a scroll, "is the syllabus for this module and the lecture plan. I expect you all to have read the necessary literature before the lesson, so there will be no excuses,"
As Severus passes the scrolls out to the students he spoke again, "I want you all to take out Potions Guide Vol. 1 and turn to p3."
Returning to the front, Severus begins his lecture on potion preparation.
"Can you tell me the proper way to prepare pods, Mister Sampson?" asked Severus as he finished the section on potion preparation.
The young Ravenclaw, Charlie Sampson, looked up with a slight timid look on his face, he ducked his head as he muttered the answer.
Eyeing up the blond boy Severus tried again, "Speak up, boy. What is the proper way to prepare pods?"
This time Charlie looked up and blushed, "Y-you have to c-cut the pod lengthways, being careful not to spoil the seeds," he said, then added, "Professor Snape,"
"Correct," Severus said, "Now for the remainder of the lesson you will brew a simple nausea potion that will incorporate most of the preparation techniques that I have mentioned. The instructions are on the board and also in your books on p6."
"We'll what are you all waiting for, an invitation?" asked Severus harshly when no one made a move.
The students made a scrabble to get their equipment out and start working. Severus stood at the back of the class to observe the students as they worked; occasionally he walked up and down the aisle making sure the students all were doing the brewing correctly.
A scream sounded at the far end of the classroom, Severus looked around and saw smoke rising from a cauldron. The student of the cauldron, Suanne Keeley, was standing on her seat as the cauldron melted, the contents spilt onto the table and ran onto the floor.
Severus was there in an instant, cleaning up the potion with a flick of his wand. When the hysterics were over with Severus regarded the culprit.
"That will be 10 points from Hufflepuff, Miss Keeley, for the ruined potion and cauldron. I suggest you clean up the rest of the mess and then assist your neighbour," said Severus.
Green eyes filled with tears as she nodded and set to work on the cleaning process, her auburn hair falling forward as she started to scrub her desk.
Severus turned just in time to see Justin Manor about to add a handful of shredded Colchicum autumnale (meadow saffron) into his cauldron, "No," shouted Severus.
Everyone froze, wondering who the Potion Master was shouting at. Justin, however, jumped at the shout and dropped the Colchicum autumnale into the cauldron. Severus whipped out his wand just as the potion started to bubble wildly, casting a containment charm at the cauldron Severus managed to catch the explosion before it did any damage.
"Did you not read the instructions properly?" shouted Severus. "You are suppose to add the Symphoricarpus racemosa (Snowberry) before Colchicum autumnale to combat the poison and irritant properties of Colchicum autumnale, and then Vitex agnus castus (wild lavender) to combat the explosiveness of the potion."
"I-I'm s-sorry P-professor S-snape," stuttered the frightened Ravenclaw, "it was an ac-ccident, s-sir,"
"That will be 12 points from Ravenclaw and three detentions for endangering the lives of your fellow students and a teacher," Severus stated.
Justin ducked his head in shame at losing points from his house, he reached a hand up to his eyes and wiped at them.
"All right everybody get back to work," Severus told the students, "Mister Manor you will clean up your mess and then join a fellow colleague for the remainder of the lesson. You will come to see me after the lesson to arrange the detentions."
The blonde haired boy nodded not trusting his own voice not to crack up.
As the lesson drew to a close all of the students bottled their potion for inspection; only seven potions were a success. When all of the equipment had been cleaned and packed away Severus dismissed the class.
When the last student was out of the door Severus collapsed into his chair, with a sigh he looked at the room; bits of ingredients scattered over the floor, Don't the student realise how valuable the ingredients are, though Severus with despair. With his wand he levitated the ingredients into the air and deposited them into a glass bowl to sort out later.
Getting up from the chair Severus walked around the room magically cleaning up the mess that the first years had left. When everything was satisfactory Severus walked over to the stock cupboard and started to pull ingredients out for the next lesson.
The classroom door opened with a creak, Severus turned round to see Albus crossing the threshold. Today he was dressed in a garish orange satin robe with a matching pointy hat; his half-moon spectacles perched precariously on the tip of his nose.
"Albus, what are you doing here?" greeted Severus.
"What not even a 'hello'?" asked Albus with a smile. Severus raised his eyebrow quizzically. "Okay, I was just wondering how you were. You left the feast early last night and I didn't see you at breakfast this morning." Albus said.
"I was finishing off the wolfsbane potion last night. The timing has to be just right," said Severus, "and this morning I was busy with some preparation," lied Severus. Seeing the look on Albus's face Severus added, "Don't worry, I got the house elves to send up some breakfast," another lie.
Whether Albus knew Severus was lying or not he decided not to comment, but instead moved onto another topic.
"Severus you know you shouldn't be so hard on the first years," Albus gently chided, "There were some rather weepy looking students walking up the stairs,"
"Albus, do you have any idea what they are like?" asked Severus, "They nearly destroyed the classroom,"
"Come, come, Severus, they couldn't have been that bad," Albus said, trying to be reasonable.
"Suanne Keeley melted her cauldron and then Justin Manor added Colchicum autumnale into a nausea potion before he added Vitex agnus castus and Symphoricarpus racemosa," Severus explained, "I just about casted a containment charm. If I didn't then we all would have been in the infirmary by now,"
"Okay," Albus conceded, "maybe it was bad but there is no need to shout at them,"
Severus rolled his eyes at Albus.
"Well, how about your first potions class?" asked Albus with a twinkle in his eyes.
Severus laughed, "Yeah, that was a good lesson,"
"Hmm, I'm sure Professor Bint didn't think so," Albus said.
"Professor Bint didn't know what he was doing," retorted Severus.
"That could be true," Albus mused.
"He didn't even realise that I was making an exploding glitter potion,"
"No, he didn't." said Albus, "then you set it off in the classroom and covered all of your colleagues and Professor Bint in glittery stars,"
"Well they should have hid, like me," snickered Severus.
"They didn't know that that was going to happen did they?" asks Albus, smiling. "You were the first person that year to be sent to me for discipline"
"I think 10 points from Slytherin was a bit harsh," said Severus.
"Well it was 5 but I had to confiscate the remainder of the potion, even though you said you didn't have any," Albus reminded the younger wizard.
Severus shrugged, "Well I was going to set it off in the Great Hall. Maximum coverage," said Severus with a sigh.
"Silly child," Albus laughed, giving Severus's shoulder a squeeze. "Well, I'll leave you to prepare for your next lesson, Severus. Which class is it?"
"6th year Gryffindor and Slytherin," said Severus with a frown, "teaching them a class three mind stimulant potion."
Albus smiled at Severus and left the classroom.
***
The grandfather clock struck 11 o' clock, the Gryffindors and Slytherins would be arriving any minute, thought Severus put away his potions journal and pulled out his lesson plan along with the scrolls for the class.
Just as Severus sat back down the first trickle of students arrived, Blaise Zabini who took a seat in the third row near the door. Next came Draco with Crabbe and Goyle following like bodyguards, Pansy Parkinson was hanging off Draco's arm, twirling her dark hair around her finger, probably hoping it looked cute and alluring. Draco, however was doing his best to ignore her, he looked quite uncomfortable with her.
Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown came through the door next, followed by most of Gryffindor. Neville Longbottom looked frighten as he entered the classroom and sat down next to Hermione.
Standing in front of his desk Severus greeted the class, "Good morning students. I trust you have all completed the work I set over the summer," A collective groan rose from the students, Severus glared at them and they fell silent.
"Please pass them to the front," Severus told the class, they obeyed.
When the papers were all collected Severus started to pass out the scrolls, "I have decided to do things slightly different this term. These scrolls contain the module syllabus and the lesson plans for the entire term, I hope that all of you will make use of them and read the proper literature before turning up to class. That will mean that I expect everyone to know how to answer the given questions, and correctly prepare and brew the required potion in the second lesson of the week," Severus said with a meaningful look at Neville, who didn't know whether to be thankful for forewarning or cry because that would mean he had to get it right.
As Severus looked at the students he could see that only Hermione was actually smiling, mentally shrugging he started the lesson.
"Today, as you can see, we are going to study class three mind stimulant potions." Began Severus, "As you would expect, a class three potion is more complex than the class two mind stimulant potion that I taught last year, however the basis of the potion is just the same. A class three mind stimulant potion will stimulate those that are deep in depression, or those that are mentally weakened.
"Mind stimulants differ quite a bit from physical stimulants; the mind is made up of hundreds and thousands of nerves, if something goes wrong then the nerves will be destroyed forever. So I would advise you to brew it correctly because one of the potions will be tested."
Severus continued with the lecture, describing and explaining the ingredients in particular Rosemarinus officinalis (rosemary) [for the brain], Veratum album (white hellebore), Chincona officinalis (china) and Onosmodium (false gromwell).
As the lecturing came to a close Severus set them on to a few exercises and questions pertaining to the potion, before sitting at his desk to start marking the homework. Holding a Raven-feather quill in his hand he begins ruthlessly crossing out and writing 'suggestions' in red ink.
"This is boring," whispered Ron to Harry.
"I know," agreed Harry, "at least it isn't long till the lesson ends,"
"It is a little boring," chipped in Hermione. Ron and Harry throw her a shocked look. "What?"
"Who are you and what have you done with the real Hermione?" asked Ron suspiciously.
"I'm just saying that I would prefer to be doing the potion at this moment rather than answering questions" Hermione said, "besides I've finished the questions."
"Hmm, thinking about it I think I would prefer to do questions than the potion," mused Harry.
"Me too," Neville whispered not wanting to raise his voice in case the Potion Master heard him.
Suddenly a bit of parchment hit Hermione in the back of the head, turning she could see that it was Draco, he sneered at her.
"What is your problem, Malfoy," Hermione hissed.
With a condescending look Draco said, "You,"
"Me?" Hermione asked, a gut feeling told her that she wouldn't like the answer.
"Yeah, filthy mudblood," Draco said deliberately slow and drawn out.
"That's it, Malfoy," Ron yelled at him. Pulling out his wand Ron used the first spell that came to mind, "Stupefy!"
Severus is by Ron side in a heartbeat, "Detention, Weasley and 20 points from Gryffindor," announces Severus.
"But professor, it wasn't his fault," Hermione protested, "Malfoy insulted me,"
"And how did you come to the conclusion that it wasn't his fault. He was clearly in control of his faculties and his wand," Severus said to Hermione, who blushed a deep red hue, "Furthermore, Mr Weasley should learn to keep himself in check. And detention Miss Granger for your cheek,"
Hermione looked at him with a disbelieving look on her face, which was quickly replaced, by an understanding look. During the last year Hermione, with the consent and tutelage of Severus, had been using the detention time to learn and brew more advanced potions.
Turning his attention to Draco Severus examined the boy to make sure he hadn't sustained any serious injuries, apart from a small bruise on his hand, which he got when he fell, Draco was fine.
Placing the tip of his wand to Draco's temple Severus said the awakening spell, "Eneverate,"
Draco's eyes fluttered several times before he opened his eyes fully, "Professor Snape, it was Weasley's fault."
"Yes, Mister Malfoy, I witnessed it, and I have dealt with Mister Weasley," stated Severus. "Now everyone get back to your places and finish off the questions in silence. The next person to talk will get a detention."
The lesson ended finally when the clock struck 12 o' clock, the students silently left the classroom and headed up to the Great Hall for lunch. With a flick of the wand Severus cleaned the classroom, satisfied that all things were in order he left the classroom.
The torches flicker silently in the empty corridor as Severus slowly made his way down the corridor and up the stairs. Toward civilisation. After walking down several corridors and up another flight of stairs Severus walked out onto the corridor of the Great Hall.
Students eagerly headed toward the Great Hall and lunch; glaring at several students Severus entered the Great Hall. With an air of purpose Severus walked up to the staff table and sat down at the far end of the staff table.
Frowning at the dishes in front Severus opted for a scoop of shepherd's pie and some mixed vegetable, accompanied by a goblet of water.
A few moments later Remus joined him, sitting on his left. "Afternoon, Severus," Remus cordially greeted Severus.
"Afternoon, Remus," Severus returned.
"I didn't see you here at breakfast," Remus stated as he took a few slices of pork, a scoop of mash and pours gravy liberally over everything.
"I was busy this morning," Severus said.
"My first lesson was terrible," Remus said changing the topic, "It was Slytherins and Gryffindors. They were goading each other, I had to break things up several times,"
"You thought your lesson was bad?" asked Severus, "I had someone melt their cauldron and ruin their potion, not too mention a near toxic explosion by a Ravenclaw,"
"Ravenclaw, I though that was the house for intelligence," said Remus.
"Yes, but the problem is that the first years all have a potential for something, Gryffindors courage, Slytherins ambition, Ravenclaws intelligence and Hufflepuffs loyalty, but it's up to us to help them reach that potential."
"That's true," agreed Remus, "Like Neville Longbottom, he seems to be getting more confident every year,"
"Except in potions," Severus interjected.
"It could be because there is a frightening professor teaching it," Remus said innocently.
"It's called tough love," retorted Severus, "I'm sure they are molly coddled enough as it is."
"Of course," Remus said, not quite meaning it.
Severus didn't reply to that comment, instead his eyes were focused at the entrance to the Great Hall; following Severus's line of sight Remus saw Snuffles loping in. The black dog trotted up to the staff table.
Remus smiled at the dog as it ducked underneath the table and poked its head out on the other side. Snuffles glanced at Severus and growled warningly, Severus meanwhile ignored the dog and picked his goblet up. Snuffles not appreciating being ignored nipped Severus in the leg, causing the Potion Master to drop his goblet.
The contents of the goblet spilled into Severus's lap, glaring at the dog Severus placed the goblet on the table.
"Bad dog," admonished Remus, giving the dog a thump on the leg.
Snuffles just turned and happily wandered away toward the Gryffindor table.
"I'm so sorry, Severus," apologised Remus. "Don't worry about Snuffles, I'll give him a telling off tonight."
With a flick of his wand Severus dried himself. "Lets just hope that Snuffles doesn't have rabies," Severus said weakly.
"Rabies," Remus said with a smile, "at least it wasn't me who bit you otherwise you'll be worrying about something more than rabies,"
"Point taken," Severus said with a shrug.
When Severus walked into his classroom the next morning he could tell that it was going to be a bad day, he was teaching first year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws potion first thing that morning.
"Good morning, Students, I am the Potion Master, you may address me as Professor Snape," Severus silky voice drifted over the classroom, "There will be no foolish wand waving in this classroom. Instead I will be teaching you the finer arts of potion brewing, if you have the talent you will excel in this class, if you don't, I can teach you how to."
Severus went over to his desk and grabbed a bundle of scrolls tied with green ribbon, "This," began Severus, holding up a scroll, "is the syllabus for this module and the lecture plan. I expect you all to have read the necessary literature before the lesson, so there will be no excuses,"
As Severus passes the scrolls out to the students he spoke again, "I want you all to take out Potions Guide Vol. 1 and turn to p3."
Returning to the front, Severus begins his lecture on potion preparation.
"Can you tell me the proper way to prepare pods, Mister Sampson?" asked Severus as he finished the section on potion preparation.
The young Ravenclaw, Charlie Sampson, looked up with a slight timid look on his face, he ducked his head as he muttered the answer.
Eyeing up the blond boy Severus tried again, "Speak up, boy. What is the proper way to prepare pods?"
This time Charlie looked up and blushed, "Y-you have to c-cut the pod lengthways, being careful not to spoil the seeds," he said, then added, "Professor Snape,"
"Correct," Severus said, "Now for the remainder of the lesson you will brew a simple nausea potion that will incorporate most of the preparation techniques that I have mentioned. The instructions are on the board and also in your books on p6."
"We'll what are you all waiting for, an invitation?" asked Severus harshly when no one made a move.
The students made a scrabble to get their equipment out and start working. Severus stood at the back of the class to observe the students as they worked; occasionally he walked up and down the aisle making sure the students all were doing the brewing correctly.
A scream sounded at the far end of the classroom, Severus looked around and saw smoke rising from a cauldron. The student of the cauldron, Suanne Keeley, was standing on her seat as the cauldron melted, the contents spilt onto the table and ran onto the floor.
Severus was there in an instant, cleaning up the potion with a flick of his wand. When the hysterics were over with Severus regarded the culprit.
"That will be 10 points from Hufflepuff, Miss Keeley, for the ruined potion and cauldron. I suggest you clean up the rest of the mess and then assist your neighbour," said Severus.
Green eyes filled with tears as she nodded and set to work on the cleaning process, her auburn hair falling forward as she started to scrub her desk.
Severus turned just in time to see Justin Manor about to add a handful of shredded Colchicum autumnale (meadow saffron) into his cauldron, "No," shouted Severus.
Everyone froze, wondering who the Potion Master was shouting at. Justin, however, jumped at the shout and dropped the Colchicum autumnale into the cauldron. Severus whipped out his wand just as the potion started to bubble wildly, casting a containment charm at the cauldron Severus managed to catch the explosion before it did any damage.
"Did you not read the instructions properly?" shouted Severus. "You are suppose to add the Symphoricarpus racemosa (Snowberry) before Colchicum autumnale to combat the poison and irritant properties of Colchicum autumnale, and then Vitex agnus castus (wild lavender) to combat the explosiveness of the potion."
"I-I'm s-sorry P-professor S-snape," stuttered the frightened Ravenclaw, "it was an ac-ccident, s-sir,"
"That will be 12 points from Ravenclaw and three detentions for endangering the lives of your fellow students and a teacher," Severus stated.
Justin ducked his head in shame at losing points from his house, he reached a hand up to his eyes and wiped at them.
"All right everybody get back to work," Severus told the students, "Mister Manor you will clean up your mess and then join a fellow colleague for the remainder of the lesson. You will come to see me after the lesson to arrange the detentions."
The blonde haired boy nodded not trusting his own voice not to crack up.
As the lesson drew to a close all of the students bottled their potion for inspection; only seven potions were a success. When all of the equipment had been cleaned and packed away Severus dismissed the class.
When the last student was out of the door Severus collapsed into his chair, with a sigh he looked at the room; bits of ingredients scattered over the floor, Don't the student realise how valuable the ingredients are, though Severus with despair. With his wand he levitated the ingredients into the air and deposited them into a glass bowl to sort out later.
Getting up from the chair Severus walked around the room magically cleaning up the mess that the first years had left. When everything was satisfactory Severus walked over to the stock cupboard and started to pull ingredients out for the next lesson.
The classroom door opened with a creak, Severus turned round to see Albus crossing the threshold. Today he was dressed in a garish orange satin robe with a matching pointy hat; his half-moon spectacles perched precariously on the tip of his nose.
"Albus, what are you doing here?" greeted Severus.
"What not even a 'hello'?" asked Albus with a smile. Severus raised his eyebrow quizzically. "Okay, I was just wondering how you were. You left the feast early last night and I didn't see you at breakfast this morning." Albus said.
"I was finishing off the wolfsbane potion last night. The timing has to be just right," said Severus, "and this morning I was busy with some preparation," lied Severus. Seeing the look on Albus's face Severus added, "Don't worry, I got the house elves to send up some breakfast," another lie.
Whether Albus knew Severus was lying or not he decided not to comment, but instead moved onto another topic.
"Severus you know you shouldn't be so hard on the first years," Albus gently chided, "There were some rather weepy looking students walking up the stairs,"
"Albus, do you have any idea what they are like?" asked Severus, "They nearly destroyed the classroom,"
"Come, come, Severus, they couldn't have been that bad," Albus said, trying to be reasonable.
"Suanne Keeley melted her cauldron and then Justin Manor added Colchicum autumnale into a nausea potion before he added Vitex agnus castus and Symphoricarpus racemosa," Severus explained, "I just about casted a containment charm. If I didn't then we all would have been in the infirmary by now,"
"Okay," Albus conceded, "maybe it was bad but there is no need to shout at them,"
Severus rolled his eyes at Albus.
"Well, how about your first potions class?" asked Albus with a twinkle in his eyes.
Severus laughed, "Yeah, that was a good lesson,"
"Hmm, I'm sure Professor Bint didn't think so," Albus said.
"Professor Bint didn't know what he was doing," retorted Severus.
"That could be true," Albus mused.
"He didn't even realise that I was making an exploding glitter potion,"
"No, he didn't." said Albus, "then you set it off in the classroom and covered all of your colleagues and Professor Bint in glittery stars,"
"Well they should have hid, like me," snickered Severus.
"They didn't know that that was going to happen did they?" asks Albus, smiling. "You were the first person that year to be sent to me for discipline"
"I think 10 points from Slytherin was a bit harsh," said Severus.
"Well it was 5 but I had to confiscate the remainder of the potion, even though you said you didn't have any," Albus reminded the younger wizard.
Severus shrugged, "Well I was going to set it off in the Great Hall. Maximum coverage," said Severus with a sigh.
"Silly child," Albus laughed, giving Severus's shoulder a squeeze. "Well, I'll leave you to prepare for your next lesson, Severus. Which class is it?"
"6th year Gryffindor and Slytherin," said Severus with a frown, "teaching them a class three mind stimulant potion."
Albus smiled at Severus and left the classroom.
***
The grandfather clock struck 11 o' clock, the Gryffindors and Slytherins would be arriving any minute, thought Severus put away his potions journal and pulled out his lesson plan along with the scrolls for the class.
Just as Severus sat back down the first trickle of students arrived, Blaise Zabini who took a seat in the third row near the door. Next came Draco with Crabbe and Goyle following like bodyguards, Pansy Parkinson was hanging off Draco's arm, twirling her dark hair around her finger, probably hoping it looked cute and alluring. Draco, however was doing his best to ignore her, he looked quite uncomfortable with her.
Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown came through the door next, followed by most of Gryffindor. Neville Longbottom looked frighten as he entered the classroom and sat down next to Hermione.
Standing in front of his desk Severus greeted the class, "Good morning students. I trust you have all completed the work I set over the summer," A collective groan rose from the students, Severus glared at them and they fell silent.
"Please pass them to the front," Severus told the class, they obeyed.
When the papers were all collected Severus started to pass out the scrolls, "I have decided to do things slightly different this term. These scrolls contain the module syllabus and the lesson plans for the entire term, I hope that all of you will make use of them and read the proper literature before turning up to class. That will mean that I expect everyone to know how to answer the given questions, and correctly prepare and brew the required potion in the second lesson of the week," Severus said with a meaningful look at Neville, who didn't know whether to be thankful for forewarning or cry because that would mean he had to get it right.
As Severus looked at the students he could see that only Hermione was actually smiling, mentally shrugging he started the lesson.
"Today, as you can see, we are going to study class three mind stimulant potions." Began Severus, "As you would expect, a class three potion is more complex than the class two mind stimulant potion that I taught last year, however the basis of the potion is just the same. A class three mind stimulant potion will stimulate those that are deep in depression, or those that are mentally weakened.
"Mind stimulants differ quite a bit from physical stimulants; the mind is made up of hundreds and thousands of nerves, if something goes wrong then the nerves will be destroyed forever. So I would advise you to brew it correctly because one of the potions will be tested."
Severus continued with the lecture, describing and explaining the ingredients in particular Rosemarinus officinalis (rosemary) [for the brain], Veratum album (white hellebore), Chincona officinalis (china) and Onosmodium (false gromwell).
As the lecturing came to a close Severus set them on to a few exercises and questions pertaining to the potion, before sitting at his desk to start marking the homework. Holding a Raven-feather quill in his hand he begins ruthlessly crossing out and writing 'suggestions' in red ink.
"This is boring," whispered Ron to Harry.
"I know," agreed Harry, "at least it isn't long till the lesson ends,"
"It is a little boring," chipped in Hermione. Ron and Harry throw her a shocked look. "What?"
"Who are you and what have you done with the real Hermione?" asked Ron suspiciously.
"I'm just saying that I would prefer to be doing the potion at this moment rather than answering questions" Hermione said, "besides I've finished the questions."
"Hmm, thinking about it I think I would prefer to do questions than the potion," mused Harry.
"Me too," Neville whispered not wanting to raise his voice in case the Potion Master heard him.
Suddenly a bit of parchment hit Hermione in the back of the head, turning she could see that it was Draco, he sneered at her.
"What is your problem, Malfoy," Hermione hissed.
With a condescending look Draco said, "You,"
"Me?" Hermione asked, a gut feeling told her that she wouldn't like the answer.
"Yeah, filthy mudblood," Draco said deliberately slow and drawn out.
"That's it, Malfoy," Ron yelled at him. Pulling out his wand Ron used the first spell that came to mind, "Stupefy!"
Severus is by Ron side in a heartbeat, "Detention, Weasley and 20 points from Gryffindor," announces Severus.
"But professor, it wasn't his fault," Hermione protested, "Malfoy insulted me,"
"And how did you come to the conclusion that it wasn't his fault. He was clearly in control of his faculties and his wand," Severus said to Hermione, who blushed a deep red hue, "Furthermore, Mr Weasley should learn to keep himself in check. And detention Miss Granger for your cheek,"
Hermione looked at him with a disbelieving look on her face, which was quickly replaced, by an understanding look. During the last year Hermione, with the consent and tutelage of Severus, had been using the detention time to learn and brew more advanced potions.
Turning his attention to Draco Severus examined the boy to make sure he hadn't sustained any serious injuries, apart from a small bruise on his hand, which he got when he fell, Draco was fine.
Placing the tip of his wand to Draco's temple Severus said the awakening spell, "Eneverate,"
Draco's eyes fluttered several times before he opened his eyes fully, "Professor Snape, it was Weasley's fault."
"Yes, Mister Malfoy, I witnessed it, and I have dealt with Mister Weasley," stated Severus. "Now everyone get back to your places and finish off the questions in silence. The next person to talk will get a detention."
The lesson ended finally when the clock struck 12 o' clock, the students silently left the classroom and headed up to the Great Hall for lunch. With a flick of the wand Severus cleaned the classroom, satisfied that all things were in order he left the classroom.
The torches flicker silently in the empty corridor as Severus slowly made his way down the corridor and up the stairs. Toward civilisation. After walking down several corridors and up another flight of stairs Severus walked out onto the corridor of the Great Hall.
Students eagerly headed toward the Great Hall and lunch; glaring at several students Severus entered the Great Hall. With an air of purpose Severus walked up to the staff table and sat down at the far end of the staff table.
Frowning at the dishes in front Severus opted for a scoop of shepherd's pie and some mixed vegetable, accompanied by a goblet of water.
A few moments later Remus joined him, sitting on his left. "Afternoon, Severus," Remus cordially greeted Severus.
"Afternoon, Remus," Severus returned.
"I didn't see you here at breakfast," Remus stated as he took a few slices of pork, a scoop of mash and pours gravy liberally over everything.
"I was busy this morning," Severus said.
"My first lesson was terrible," Remus said changing the topic, "It was Slytherins and Gryffindors. They were goading each other, I had to break things up several times,"
"You thought your lesson was bad?" asked Severus, "I had someone melt their cauldron and ruin their potion, not too mention a near toxic explosion by a Ravenclaw,"
"Ravenclaw, I though that was the house for intelligence," said Remus.
"Yes, but the problem is that the first years all have a potential for something, Gryffindors courage, Slytherins ambition, Ravenclaws intelligence and Hufflepuffs loyalty, but it's up to us to help them reach that potential."
"That's true," agreed Remus, "Like Neville Longbottom, he seems to be getting more confident every year,"
"Except in potions," Severus interjected.
"It could be because there is a frightening professor teaching it," Remus said innocently.
"It's called tough love," retorted Severus, "I'm sure they are molly coddled enough as it is."
"Of course," Remus said, not quite meaning it.
Severus didn't reply to that comment, instead his eyes were focused at the entrance to the Great Hall; following Severus's line of sight Remus saw Snuffles loping in. The black dog trotted up to the staff table.
Remus smiled at the dog as it ducked underneath the table and poked its head out on the other side. Snuffles glanced at Severus and growled warningly, Severus meanwhile ignored the dog and picked his goblet up. Snuffles not appreciating being ignored nipped Severus in the leg, causing the Potion Master to drop his goblet.
The contents of the goblet spilled into Severus's lap, glaring at the dog Severus placed the goblet on the table.
"Bad dog," admonished Remus, giving the dog a thump on the leg.
Snuffles just turned and happily wandered away toward the Gryffindor table.
"I'm so sorry, Severus," apologised Remus. "Don't worry about Snuffles, I'll give him a telling off tonight."
With a flick of his wand Severus dried himself. "Lets just hope that Snuffles doesn't have rabies," Severus said weakly.
"Rabies," Remus said with a smile, "at least it wasn't me who bit you otherwise you'll be worrying about something more than rabies,"
"Point taken," Severus said with a shrug.
