Disclaimer: I own nothing of J.K Rowling's.
A/N: Man, I'm still on a roll. where are my beloved reviewers? I miss you all. This is a fun chap btw..no point to it except for a laugh lol. Kinda like Dave the Laugh from Georgia Nicholson books, or like a diaper on a gorilla...no purpose except to laugh. (Watch someone correct me and say they do have a purpose. yeah, i know they do..but I'm making lame jokes so try to tolerate me.)
Chapter 26: The Clone Compliment
"The rules for Truth or Dare are as follows:" Hermione cleared her throat, "If you do not answer a truth, you have to do a consequence, which, unlike a dare, you cannot pass up under any circumstance. If you pass up a dare, you get a promise to repeat, which is a statement you must repeat to a person the next time you see them. The person to ask truth or dare is determined by the last person who had to pick what they did. Any questions?"
Neither Ron, Harry, Seamus, Neville, or I had any questions. Recoiling into the soft cushions of a couch, Hermione sighed and asked for a volunteer to be first. Seamus was the first to yell out that he wanted to be the first to start the game. Nodding, 'Mione told him to begin when he was ready.
"Let's see," Glancing around the room, Seamus pointed to Ron, "Truth or Dare, Red-Head?"
An agitated noise escaped Ron's mouth as he answered, "Truth."
"Have you ever thought a female professor was in the least bit cute, and who was it?"
Ron responded quickly, "No, but I did fancy a ghost once. She died from a hanging in the Salem witch trials. I saw her hanging out with Nearly Headless Nick one afternoon, but I haven't seen her since."
Everyone giggled at the silly thought of a relationship between a human and a ghost. Ron asked 'Truth or Dare' to Hermione, which wasn't very surprising since they're in a relationship. Choosing truth, which in my opinion is the sissy's way out, Hermione was asked if she would ever die to receive an 'A' in class. Her shy remark was a shake of the head, indicating no, followed by more laughter in the room. For some reason I didn't believe her, but I let it slip this time.
Hermione thought for a few seconds before picking Neville. He picked truth, and 'Mione asked him if he had a crush in the school presently.
"Erm.." Neville thought for a moment, "Yes..I kind of think Melisa Knowles is pretty."
No one laughed, but sort of glanced at each other with a smile on our faces. We knew not to laugh at Neville, for he didn't need more teasing. Neville looked into my eyes and asked me 'Truth or Dare?.'
"Dare," I wanted to break the nervousness of picking dare.
Apparently, Nev had a hard time thinking of a dare, but he soon thought of one. "Alright, Manic-Mara, I dare you to dress in all black, like Snape, during classes tomorrow. See if you can't act a little like Snape too. I want to know what he'll say to the new you."
Agreeing, I stated, "Fine, Mr. Longbottom, this will be done tomorrow. I will act and dress like Snakey Snape. Harry," I turned to Scar-Boy, "truth or dare?"
"Dare," He stated with a smirk.
My brain raced, trying to find a suitable dare. Then a light bulb turned on in my mind. "Ok, Harry," I pressed on, "I dare you to talk to Lockhart like he's a child tomorrow. He'd go bananas!"
Harry agreed to his dare before calling on Seamus. The game continued for about ten more minutes, without any consequences, until we started to get sick of the game. As it was almost midnight, we all decided to go to bed. Our night was done, but the essence of funny, immature dares still lingered in the air. Tomorrow would be pretty torturous yet enjoyable.
0o0o0o0o
Black attire, including an ankle-length skirt and a long-sleeved shirt, lay on my bed, ready for me to change into it. Monday mornings might've not always been too great, but today would be awesome. All night I had been waiting and anticipating the moment where I could dress up, and hope not to get slaughtered by Snape. I was a little nervous after I remembered I have to not only dress like my Potions Professor, but act like him too. Letting my hair down straight, I made sure to place a few strands out of place, making it look unkempt and uncared for. Kind of like Snape's, but not as shiny.. Or greasy..
Hermione commented as she walked in the Gryffindor Common Room, "Maranda? You can't possibly be serious, wearing clothing that definitely reminds me of Snape. Are you kidding?"
"No, 'Mione. I'm going through with this." Just as I stated this, Ron came into view with braids in his hair. This was Neville's late-night dare to him.
"Go ahead," Began Ron dolefully, "make fun. I'm not the one who has to be Slimeball Snape for a day, though."
Whining, Hermione retorted, "At least you don't have to talk back to a teacher today, Ronald. Damn you for making me do this."
"It's only to Professor Flitwick," Ron's voice sounded perky again.
Harry, Neville, Seamus, Ron, Hermione, and I finally went to breakfast after insanely chuckling at each other. Neville had a ridiculous pair of purple sunglasses on, which shot water out at whoever came within eye contact. It felt more like Halloween then a 'do your dare day.' The Great Hall was quiet until we walked in. All of us sat in our normal seats, acting normally. That's when I initiated benig a Snape clone.
"This breakfast," I firmly said, "is disgusting. Ten points from the Kitchen for poorly putting people's food together. Mr. Weasley, Why are you wearing braids? Is this a fashion show? We are here to eat breakfast, not to make stupid fools out of ourselves. Of course, Mr. Potter cannot grasp that concept."
"That was good.." Seamus announced, impressed by my sudden take on immitating our professor.
Nearly no time passed before Hermione and I headed to Charms. Whilst moving, I stood up straight, and walked as intimidatingly and billowingly as Snape did. Draco passed us, glancing at me with wonder. Of course he wouldn't know what the Kerfuffles were up to! We were a group of friends ready to take on the world with both humor and bravery, wit and knowledge.
In the middle of Charms class, while we were learning a new spell, Hermione shouted that she was sick of the class. Flitwick ran over and asked what was wrong. She only snapped at him, saying her tolerance for the class just happened to be wearing thin.
"I'm so sick of this class! Everytime I come in here, I want to shoot myself!" Hermione yelled as all the students hid laughter. After class, Hermione appologized to Flitwick, and explained that it was a dare to pretend not to care. He sympathized and understood her quarrels with 'peer pressure.' Even though this was not the reason Hermione completed the dare, she was happy not to have any punishment for the attitude previously displayed.
Gilderoy Lockhart's Defense Against the Poptarts Class started as burnt and tatseless as ever. I have way too much fun with his metaphor..Damn Poptart..
Harry was called on to read and responded with, "Oooh, Gildy-Wildy, You want me to read you a story?" Of course his voice sounded as though he were addressing a child.
Lockhart pretended to laugh, "Harry, my boy, please, read as I instructed. The first page of Chapter Twenty."
"Aww," Harry went on with his childish banter, "Little Gildy wants me to read! Alright..but no more stories after this one, for you've been a naughty boy!"
At this point, Lockhart stared with confusion at Scar-Boy as he began to read. Harry shouldn't have put that last comment in.
So far, on this Marvelous Monday, I didn't have to speak or even read, which was perfect. I kept in the Snape character, but saved most of the sarcasm for the last class of the day, Potions. Talk about saving the best for last! Well, maybe the worst for last. Depends how Snape reacts to his new female clone.
"Miss Granger," My voice boomed in the classroom as I came in, "Ten points from the Granger Household for giving birth to you!"
Surprisingly, Hermione didn't take offense to my insult. She knew, and I knew, that it was an exaggeration on Snape's punishments. As I sat down, my nerves ignited like a flame, ready to burn any of my plans down. Severus Snape, Master of Intimidation and Sarcasm, glided into the room with his usual facial expression of hatred planted on his face. He turned on his heel and shouted for us to get our books out. I did as ordered and quickly got back into character by slouching just a tad.
At last noticing me, Snape raised an eyebrow and parted his lips, simply speechless at my appearance. I kept a stern look, forcing the giggles to implode and disappear before thye even thought about exploding out of my mouth. The rest of the class had their books out now, ready to face the music...err...To face the landmines.
"Mr. Longbottom," Apparently Snape's attention was now focused on Nev's purple sunglasses, "Take those infernal glasses off. This is not a beach!"
Taking his glasses off, Nev appologized and mumbled that he didn't know they were on him. I swear, Nutty-Nev's gotta grow guts!
When Snape was done giving our assignment, everybody piled to the cabinets to get ingredients for a potion we were about to make. I had already forgotten the name of it by the time I actually initiated conjuring it. Yet, no matter what, I stayed in my Snape character. The ingredients were layed out, ready to be cut, sliced, stirred, and boiled in my cauldron. As if he were a tourist viewing an amusement park, Snape checked on all of the potions.
"I see," Snape's silky voice made my goosebumps jump, "You have not failed to impersonate me, have you Miss Maguire?"
My tongue became dry.
He stood close, inspecting not only my potion, but me as well. "If you want to look exactly like a clone of me, you might want to get a hair cut. My hair is not short, but it's definately not as long as yours. I don't think you'd appreciate if I came in dressing like you, but had my hair in, say, a buzzcut, would you? Don't answer that, just know that next time you want to be me for a day, get the looks right. Other than that, nice job."
Of course no one could hear the little compliment Snape threw in at the end of his lecture, for he said it too softly for anyone but me to notice. With a half-smile, Snape continued to roam around the room.
So, let me get this straight, he didn't mind having a clone?
Maybe I should dress up like people more often.
The remainder of Monday dwindled away with my fire of nervousness. After living through what could have been a horrible day, it dawned on me that Snape does have some funny bones in him. Too bad he doesn't use it all the time. Supper was normal, for the Kerfuffles and I haulted any action of dares. We all admitted we had fun, but it was time to bury our now finished challenges. The rest of the week would fly by, with no traces of Snape clones, braided hair, childish adults, daring attitudes, or purple sunglasses.