Chapter 5: The Dungeon Bat's Wrath
Severus stormed into his classroom and slammed the door shut behind him with a loud bang. He was boiling inside.
"That brat!" he spat angrily. Just seeing the Gryffindor Princess enter the Great Hall had already forced him to make use of every single ounce of self-control obtained from years of living as a double spy under the surveillance of the most evil dark wizard of all time – he had wanted nothing more than to just jump up and grab her to try to shake some sense into her petty little mind.
Why on earth would she want to become his apprentice?! Yes, it was true that she was one of the most gifted students in the entire history of this school, and even Snape himself couldn't deny the fact that she had at least some amount of aptitude when it came to brewing potions. But no student in their right mind – not even Little Miss Perfect herself – would ever voluntarily spend two additional hours per week in the cold and dark dungeons just to study one of the most unpopular subjects under the most loathed Hogwarts professor in centuries. Not to mention that he could certainly think of countless other things he would rather spend his time on than being bombarded by her infinite questions.
The Potions Master was pacing up and down. The more he thought about it, the more he was sure that Granger's application must have had some sort of hidden agenda behind it – she did belong to the circle of Potter and Weasley, after all. Those two idiots had probably talked their prudent friend into signing up so that they could play some sort of practical joke on his expense or even steal from his storage room again.
Oh yes, these nitwits might think that they'd gotten away with it, but Severus had definitely noticed some of his bicorn horn and boomslang skin supply – ingredients for the infamous Polyjuice Potion – go missing nearly five years ago. The only reason that they hadn't gotten expelled that very same day was that he hadn't had any distinct proof of their guilt at the time. And even if he'd had that, Dumbledore would have never punished them. That imbecile would have most likely just smiled away their "little shenanigans" since The Boy Who Lived and his cult-like followers were simply too precious to experience any real-life consequences. Damn that old fool! (Severus did have to admit, however, that it was quite impressive for a 13-year-old to be able to brew such an advanced potion. But he would never say that out loud, of course.)
The thought of his ungrateful students made him more irritated by the second. Well, two could play this game. If Granger really wanted to be his apprentice, then he wouldn't make it easy on her. He started to make a mental list of all of the strenuous and tedious tasks he would assign to her. He thought about how he could send her into the Forbidden Forest to collect some much-needed fresh knotgrass or even into the icy cold waters of the Black Lake to gather a few handfuls of those squirming, squidgy flabberghasted leeches. And if that was not enough, she would definitely come to regret her decision once he made her manually extract every last bit of mucus from the three stone flobberworm delivery he was going to receive next week. The former Death Eater even cracked a slight smile at the idea of having her stay up all night to harvest fluxweed, which needed to be picked during full moon to bring the best results.
While thinking about all of the horrible errands he could plan for his unwanted mentee had certainly been able to lighten his mood a little, this quickly changed when his gaze settled on the slip of paper lying on his desk. It was his new apprentice's schedule, which he'd received at the end of the staff meeting this morning, and it acted as an instant reminder that his first lesson with the know-it-all was about to start.
A quick look at his old-fashioned Muggle wristwatch – the one that he always kept well-hidden from both his colleagues as well as his students – told him that it was exactly 9 o'clock. At that very moment, there was a knock at the door. Punctual as always. "Enter!" he snarled.
The classroom door opened to reveal the petite figure of Hermione Granger. Severus immediately noticed the Head Girl badge attached to the right side of her grey sweater and he grimaced as he remembered how smug his nemesis James Potter had acted after being appointed to the prestigious position during their final school year almost two decades ago.
"Good morning, Professor," the witch said quietly. "Thank you so much for letting me study under you. I appreciate it greatly."
Snape scowled. "It is not like I had much of a choice," he growled before turning around and strutting towards his desk. Sitting down in his big black leather chair, he beckoned her over with a vague hand gesture.
"Here is how this will work, Miss Granger," he said, looking at her sternly. "I am not delighted by the headmaster's decision to bring back the apprenticeship programme, but there is nothing I can do about it. I can, however, decide how all of this is going to go down." He noticed how the student couldn't quite conceal the nervous expression on her face.
"As my apprentice, I will expect immaculacy from you. You are to come to every single one of our fixed hours as well as any other dates I may set. You will be on time and you will work hard. You may be required to teach the younger students as my assistant at some point during the school year. During those times, you are expected to act just like any other professor here at Hogwarts. As such, you must demand respect and you will have ability to award and deduct house points as well as give detentions to misbehaving students. These detentions will take place in my office under my supervision, but I will require you to be present as well since you were the one who handed them out. As the assistant professor, you are also responsible for the pupils' safety and must ensure that there will be no accidents whatsoever. In addition, I expect you to excel during regular Potions class as well as all of your other classes. I will not accept slacking of any kind from my apprentice, even if said apprentice was forced upon me."
He saw her gulp as he continued, "I sincerely hope that you thought long and hard before applying for this position, Miss Granger – because I will not go easy on you. The art of brewing potions is a particularly delicate craft, something that only few have a talent for and that I take extremely seriously. Now –" he said, ignoring her clearly growing anxiety. "You may start right away. After our lesson, I will be teaching the fourth-year Slytherins and Gryffindors. To start off the new term, they will have to repeat the material that they have already learnt over the past three years. You are to put together an assignment which tests their knowledge and requires them to identify at least two dozen and a half potions ingredients. They shall also have to describe each one's effects when used both correctly and incorrectly. You may sit down over there –" He motioned towards a desk in the front row. "And start."
It took a few seconds before the girl realised that her teacher's speech was over. "Yes, sir," she then mumbled before sitting down at her assigned seat. Severus had to admit that he was rather surprised that she only gave a brief answer instead of harassing him with her annoying enquiries as usual.
For a while, they both worked quietly. While Granger was preparing the examination for her fellow students, the Potions professor was going over his lesson plans once again. He'd already arranged them all during the summer, of course; but there was always room for improvement – he was a perfectionist, after all.
After about twenty minutes of silence only interrupted by the sound of quills moving over parchment paper, the brunette cleared her throat. "I hope that you had a nice summer, Professor," she declared shyly.
Snape was taken aback by her sudden attempt at small talk. "Miss Granger, I assure you that there is no need for making conversation. Do not for a second think that you are in any sort of special position just because you so happen to be my apprentice now."
Hermione turned bright red. "No, no, that's not what I meant! I –, I –" she hastily stuttered. "I didn't –, it's not … I apologise, sir." He saw a look of embarrassment on her face before she hung her head in defeat and continued working. He believed that he could even see her shake a little.
"It's her own fault," he thought grimly. "As a professor, I can still demand some respect – even from a member of the idiotic trio!"