DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author Note: Many thanks to Shiv5468 and Ann_MCN for betaing this story for me. My brief for the SSHG_Exchange (Summer 2006) was to write a story involving either a Time-Turner or a young Snape. I'd like to think I've accomplished both! :)

Part II – Retribution

I did not enjoy my Potion's class today. Some days are all right, but today was definitely not one of the better ones. Better sounds positive, but when positives are measured by how few points I lose, today was definitely not i'better.'/i It was strange too, with an odd flicker of déjà vu at one point. There were a mishmash of random words and phrases that seemed so familiar, as though I'd heard them only recently in the same sequence. It felt like I was reliving something, rather than experiencing it for the first time. I must have been studying too much. It's only a month until my O.W.L's start, and I've been trying to revise every possible class so that I'll be prepared for it all. I...it's worrying me; the exams, but I need to do well. I need to show all of those people, like Snape, that I can do the work, and that a Muggleborn is just as good at magic. Snape's already told me that I'm in danger of failing because of my i'defiance and wilful attitude,'/i whatever that means. I just never seem to win against him. It's almost as though he is actively trying to goad me into retaliating.

Somehow, I think hexing a teacher would be grounds for me to be sent down, but still, it is tempting. I've been having some odd dreams lately too, nothing drastic, just odd. I'm the teacher railing at Snape and he's the greasy boy having to deal with me. It's nothing I can really remember, but they seem so real at times. Yes, I've definitely been studying too much.

~*~

"In your own time, Miss Granger. The class has an unlimited timeframe to watch you waste ingredients you did not pay for."

He took my stirring rod off me then, tutting all the while. Draco and Pansy were snickering in the front row, just waiting to hear what punishment was to happen to me and by extension, Neville.

"Really, you are a stupid child aren't you, Miss Granger? Now, now, there's no need to answer the obvious. That will be twenty points from Gryffindor for wasting class time and a further twenty points for wasting precious school ingredients."

I tried to look chastened, but it's a bit hard when you're seething. I hoped he'd just go away and find another victim to toy with for the rest of the class. Harry and Ron were grumbling just behind me, and Snape wasted no time taking points off them as well. He, Snape, looked at me oddly at one point, then leant forward and made sure to glare at me before he straightened up and called me i'stupid'/i again.

"You are surely the most wilful and stupid student I have ever had to teach. You will present yourself to detention here at precisely seven o'clock this evening. I will not waste any more time on you when others wish to learn. Is that clear, Miss Granger?"

"Yes, perfectly clear."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, Professor, you've made yourself perfectly clear."

I had the oddest sensation then, as though I'd heard those few phrases before. I've never been quite so flippant in my remarks to a Professor. I'll have to think about that one, just not right now. I have to go down to my detention shortly and I don't want to be late.

"You're late, Miss Granger. Twenty additional points will be taken for your tardiness and obvious inability to tell the time."

"Yes, Professor Snape."

"Well, don't just stand there. Come in, close the door and sit down immediately."

I did so, though I can't help mulling over how I was supposed to do three things immediately. He watched me close the door and move over to my seat. I set down my bag and just as I was about to sit down, he started off at me again.

"There really is no need to sit down, Miss Granger. I am most interested to know exactly what you were messing around with during class time."

"Well, that is...err,"

"Come now, I've never seen you so lost for words. You have a mouth like a bucket – it's always open and can never shut up. Surely the question isn't that difficult to answer for such a belligerent know-it-all?"

"No, Professor, it's not a hard question to answer, but I fail to see what it has to do with my class work."

"It has nothing whatsoever to do with your class work, but as you chose to experiment in my classroom, it's a question I would like answered. I need to know what to tell the Headmaster when I push for you to fail your O.W.L in Potion's."

"You'd fail me for trying to improve my knowledge?"

"Yes, Miss Granger, I would. You might even say that I'd thoroughly enjoy myself at the same time. I for one will be happy to see the back of you. You're a disruptive element in my classroom and I have been far too patient with you. That ends now, am I understood?"

"Yes, Professor. What do you want to know?"

"Everything, Miss Granger, everything."

So I told him what I was working on and I watched his jaw twitch constantly whilst I did so. He didn't say anything at all. He just glared at me from his perch. Snape held his hand up just as I was about to finish, and got up from behind his desk. He scouted along his bookshelf before he returned to his desk with a ragged old book in his hand. I watched him closely and he kept looking at me oddly, almost as though our thoughts had merged in that moment. It was a very strange sensation and it's giving me goose bumps even thinking about it now.

The spine cracked as he turned the pages to near the back of the book, but he didn't say anything to me for the longest time. I was waiting for him to ridicule me or deride me for thinking an individual thought.

"You do realise that plagiarism is a serious offence, Miss Granger?"

"Of course, Professor, but what does that have to do with me?"

"Quite a lot as it happens. You are dismissed, but I will see you promptly at eight o'clock tomorrow morning in front of the gargoyle leading to the Headmaster's office. If you insist on being late, I shall take sufficient points as are needed to render Gryffindor into negative figures. Now, get out of my sight."

I can't sleep. I haven't slept all night because I've been worrying about everything. I've never been in trouble before – real trouble that is. Anything else I've done was to help Harry and Ron. I wish I had my Time-Turner so that I could undo whatever it is that's got Snape so aggravated. I wish I could turn back time and do...something. Anything is better than this limbo, anything.

I wonder how Snape would feel if our positions were reversed?

~*~