Declaration of War
by: Killasandra Serentiy
Harry walked into the potions classroom and took his usual seat in the back between Ron and Hermione. But unlike normal Professor Snape was already seated at his desk reading, basically ignoring the class.
Once the last student finally arrived, Snape finally deigned to notice the class by barking out, "Why haven't you begun yet?" He then waved his wand and the instructions appeared on the board.
As Harry walked to the cabinet to get his ingredients he tried to get a glimpse of the book that had Snape so ensnared, but failed as Snape saw him looking and covered the title so the messy haired brunette couldn't see.
'I wonder what he is reading; normally he stalks around the class glaring and making snide comments towards my housemates.' Harry thought, while setting his ingredients on his desk.
"Pay attention Harry, you're cutting that too small! What exactly are you staring at anyway?" Hermione asked out of the corner of her mouth, trying not to draw attention to herself.
Harry replied while attempting to pay more attention to what he was doing, "Its Snape, he's just sitting there reading, he's normally stalking around taking points left and right from Gryffindor; I want to know what he's reading but he keeps covering it up."
"Ten points from Gryffindor, no matter how important your conversation may seem Potter, it's not! So stop talking and get back to work." Snape said, while not even glancing over his book at the class.
"See? Now forget Snape and finish your potion." The bushy haired girl said to Harry.
"But… didn't you notice he didn't even take his eyes off that book to yell at us!" Harry said indignantly.
"So? He's probably reading a book about potions." Hermione whispered while stirring her potion.
"Yeah mate, just give it up before you get more points taken." Ron said from the other side of Harry.
"But…" Harry starts but was interrupted by Snape, "Potter I shouldn't have to tell you a second time, another ten points and detention." This time Snape did glance over his book to give Harry one of his trademark glares.
The Gryffindors in the class groaned from losing twenty points while the Slytherins just snickered.
"Are you happy now? You got his attention" Hermione whispered, angry that he lost them points by ignoring her warning.
The green eyed boy just grumbled and went back to this potion still watching Snape but being less vocal about it.
Soon class was over and Harry didn't even wonder why his potion was green and Hermione's was blue. He was surprised with the fact that his potion was still better than Neville's, which appeared to be a bright orange.
As Harry bottled up his potion and went to put it on Snape's desk, he noticed Snape put his book into the top desk drawer, again hiding it from his students' prying eyes.
"Potter, I want you here after dinner for your detention. I hope that you enjoy scrubbing," Snape said while most of the Slytherins were bring up their potions, and snickering could be heard as they go back to their desks.
"Sorry 'bout your luck mate." Ron said as Harry came back to his desk to gather up his things.
'Maybe I'll find out what that book is during detention… What am I thinking? This the thing that got me the detention in the first place. I think I'll follow Hermione's advice and just give it up, unless of course I get the perfect opportunity.' The brunette grinned as he thought to himself while walking to his next class.
The rest of the day passed; Trelawny and Binns were as long and boring as ever, but charms just seemed to fly on by. Soon the golden trio found themselves in the Great Hall for dinner, and Harry dreading what's to come after.
"You've got to go mate, you know what'll happen if you skip with no excuse, more points taken and more detentions, its better to get it over with nor." Ron said to Harry between the huge amounts of food he was shoving into this mouth.
"He's right you know," Hermione replies, glaring at Ron with disgust at his eating habits.
"I know, I know, I'm going." Harry said while standing.
"You're going to forget about Snape and that book right?" The bushy haired girl asked while giving Harry a searing look.
"It will be kind of hard to forget about Snape since he is going to be spending all night with him." Ron said to Hermione.
"Knowing Snape I won't be back 'til late so don't bother waiting up. I'll tell you about it tomorrow." Harry said over his shoulder as he walks out of the Great Hall towards the dungeons.
As Harry reached the potions classroom, he stood outside for a minute thinking to himself, 'I'll just go in there, keep my mouth shut, and do as the greasy git says. That way he'll have no reason to give me another detention.' As Harry finished he pushed the door open, confident in his resolve.
"Glad to know that you can follow orders for once." Snape said snidely upon seeing Potter enter.
"Yes Sir" Harry replies as he moved to stand in front of the man dressed all in black, waiting for his instruction.
Snape was just sitting at his desk grading papers. Upon realizing that Harry was just standing there, he motioned towards a bucket in the corner, and told him to start on the floors.
Harry was a little distressed at the thought of starting on the floors, then what would be a next? Dismissing it, Harry removed his outer robes, spelled the desks and chairs to stack neatly on one side of the room, rolled up his sleeves and began scrubbing the floor manually.
Snape raised an eyebrow at the fact that Potter didn't make any argument, and the fact that he used magic to move the desks, 'I should have made him do that by hand… too late now. I just want to finish these papers so I can get back to my book; it was just getting good between Margaret and Jonathan.'
Harry was, for once, doing something without questioning it, and it was slowly driving him insane. Because he couldn't question the one thing he wanted to, he started questioning everything else about his life. 'What if I weren't born in England, what if I had different parents, what is the Dursleys weren't such jerks?'
Snape began to notice how distressed the boy was becoming, but was determined to let him be for once. For if he left Potter alone, the boy would leave him alone, and the sooner he could get back to his book.
However the potions master soon noticed that Potter had been scrubbing the same spot for five minutes. It was then that he realized that Potter had finished the floor, after only an hour, and had been attempting to look busy. "Potter!" he yelled, "Stop scrubbing. I would be most unpleased with a hole there, because you were too stupid to scrub in more than one spot. And since you have obviously finished with the floor you can start organizing the paper cabinets, starting with that file drawer." Snape said, pointing to one in the back of the room behind his desk.
Harry grumbles a bit as he stood since his knees hurt, 'Bloody hell, I was hoping he wouldn't notice I was done with the floor, and now I get to do paperwork, just great.'
'This isn't that bad,' Harry thought. 'It is already organized into folders by year, I just have to organize it by Hogwarts year and name, although why in Merlin's name does he need to keep potions papers from 1985?"
When the brunette was about halfway done with the cabinets, he noticed that Snape's pile of papers to be graded had dwindled to almost nothing. He gave a silent cheer, hoping that when Snape was done grading he would let the green eyed boy go home.
But no, his hopes were dashed as he saw Snape put down his red grading quill and open a drawer to pull out- why, the same book that got Harry in this trouble in the first place.
Harry groaned upon seeing the book, and tried to remember everything his friends told him about ignoring Snape and that damn book.
The potions master heard the groan but merely raised an eyebrow in question, and as a signal to get back to work.
This time when Harry finished his work, instead of trying to look busy, he simply got up and walked over to Snape, waiting to be noticed so that he could ask what to do next.
As he was standing there, the brunette tries his hardest not to stare at the book, even though by now he would almost die just to know its title.
Snape finally noticed that he hadn't heard the rustling of paper in a while and looked up to see Potter standing about five feet from him, waiting patiently. "What is it now Potter, don't tell me your done already?" Upon seeing the boy nod, he sighed and motioned to his desk. "Clean it out, any papers you find, file them, you should know the system by now. If you should find any confiscated items they should go in the bottom drawer, loose paper in the top, and books in the second. I'm sure you can figure out the rest." The potions master then stood and moved over to the door in the back of the room leading to his office. He levitated an arm chair in and proceeded to sit down and finish reading.
Harry sighs, he was so close to that bloody book, but Hermione would be proud he didn't give into temptation. He then started to work on Snape's desk.
The brunette decided to work from the bottom up; he started by emptying out the drawers, one by one and organizing things, into piles and then deciding which drawer everything belonged in.
In the second drawer Harry found several other books, and hoping to find a clue, to Snape's current books started reading the back of all of them. Sadly they were all potion texts and the brunette simply organized them by size.
Soon he is done, and looks over at Snape and saw him almost finished with his book. Once the potions master finished his book he stood and walking over to his desk, ignoring Harry and just set the book down, and waved his hand in dismissal.
Instead of leaving though, Harry just stood there, unable to resist the temptation any longer. "Was there something you wanted Potter?"
Harry shifted his weight and asked, "Sir, I was just wondering… What book you were reading?"
"Look for yourself," Snape said while turning and walking back to his office.
"An Untold Love? You were reading a ROMANCE NOVEL!" Harry practically shouted at his teachers back, and then instantly clamped his hand over his mouth just waiting for the scathing retort he knew is on its way.
Instead all that came was the steady reply, "Yes, well my wife is fond of them and I just wanted to try and understand why. You may go now Potter."
Harry simply stood there in shock not believing a word he had heard, and not knowing if a single person would believe him, not only was Snape reading a romance novel but he was married… 'Sometimes you just don't know what life will throw at you.'
So Harry left and promised himself never to nose his way into Snape's business again.
A/N started in my humanities class basically cause i was bored out of my mind, and was inspired by kakashi on naruto...titled by my little yugi... beted by my rabbit eared bakura