Severus Snape was a cautious man, by training and by temperment. He was... displeased, that there were some Slytherins who were not. Slytherins ought to be cautious and cunning, sneaky and wise; betraying nothing as they weave their lies. It was an old saying, and yet it still held true.
He breathed in and out through his nose, taking long, deep breaths. In spite of his fury, he would be ice.
Snape strode through the door from his private chambers into his study, where a handful of Slytherins sat uneasily, their cameraderie and resolve eroded by the questions they'd thought up while waiting.
The door hit the wall behind him, and were the wall not stone, it would have buckled. The door swung back hard, locking itself.
Snape strode up to the front of the room. "Did you think I was blind?!" he asked the students, who exchanged easy and terrified looks at each other.
"N-!" one of the boys started, before Snape brutally cut him off.
"You thought, for one moment, that I did not know what you were doing, in Hogwarts' own dungeons?" Snape's inky eyes found the boy who had started to talk. He loomed over the boy's seated form, as his eyes narrowed, "Or did you think I approved?"
Jaws swung at that remark. Children shifted uneasily in their chairs, as if they had thought he'd actually approve.
"Where is your cunning, Slytherins? Where is your patience?" Snape said, throwing up his hands, his eyes and voice projected up toward the ceiling, as if calling on God or Merlin to intervene.
"You are a disgrace," Snape spat, his voice so low it rumbled, and so soft that they leaned forward to hear the poison spilling out of his lips. "Were Slytherin alive, he would have you killed."
Snape's eyes sparkled cold, "I am not that merciful. For unwary Slytherins that do not know how to comport themselves in the home of their enemy? You have earned my wrath." Snape sounded nearly friendly, his voice relaxed. He knew he didn't need to stretch to make these children fear him. They all had heard from their elders enough about him, during The War.
"We will begin your punishment with a Trial of Pain." Snape said with satisfaction. "Before tommorrow, you will find my potions lab, and clean the cauldrons I have sullied over break. They will be sparkling, will they not?" Snape smirked, "Use of magic will result in expulsion, if not worse." His eyes glimmered a warning.
The students sat in their chairs, trembling.
Snape, with his characteristic impatience, suddenly snapped, "What are you waiting for? Go! Go!"
He had the good grace to wait until they'd left and the door was safely shut and warded before he laughed in delight.
[a/n: Snape is not a nice man. Snape enjoys intimidating people he has power over. This is not new.
Leave a review!]