Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, etc. Sorry about not mentioning this last time, but yes, Snape was supposed to be that out of character.
Summary: Snape's health is declining but he can't sit down for a breather just yet…
Chapter 2
Several weeks had passed since the meeting and for most of the staff at Hogwarts, things were getting back to normal as nothing more about Voldemort had been said.
However, as most of the Hogwarts staff was beginning to notice, things for Severus Snape were beginning to go down hill. He was rarely seen at the staff table at meal times and the circles under his eyes were getting darker each day. Nevertheless when some one approached him about the matter, he had only snapped at them for prying into his business. He had eventually started to avoid his fellow staff members all together. Though, he put in extra effort for Madam Pomfrey. He hardly left the dungeons unless he was taking refuge in the library. The only people who approached him there were McGonagall and Dumbledore. His students, though were the ones getting the brunt of his amplified temper.
Longbottom!" Neville flinched as he heard the voice of his professor. Severus stalked over to the boy's workbench, leaving a potion that he was brewing at his desk. "Violet," Severus was seething, "Do you think you could do something for me, Longbottom?" Neville looked down at his feet. As Severus leaned down to his ear, "Do you think that you could possibly pull out of your think skull what color your potion should be?"
Neville was shaking at this point. "N-No, professor," came the stuttering reply.
"No? Well, how shocking," came the sarcastic retort. Severus glided bat-like to the front of the class room with a scowl. Glancing at the other students' cauldrons, he had not found one potion that was the correct color in the entire classroom. "Can anyone tell me the color that their potions should be?" he spat. No one answered. Some students, mostly the Slytherins, stared at their potions professor in shock while others looked down to study their feet. He turned to face the class, "Anyone!" Still no response.
Abruptly, Severus grabbed his left arm with his right hand. At this, the students who were still looking at him gave him an odd look. He too had an odd expression on his face. He looked like he was in a great deal of pain.
Noticing the stares, Severus swiftly took his hand away from his arm and continued his speech hoping to distract the students from this interruption of his speech. "Lovely. Well, unless both Gryffindor and Slytherin wish to have twenty points taken off each of their houses, someone will pull out of their cobweb infested memory what the color of this potion is supposed to be!"
Gasps of shock and angry whispers from the Slytherin side of the classroom, could be heard. Severus looked around. Finally, a Gryffindor raised her hand. Rolling his eyes, Severus said in an irritated tone, "Anyone else?" No one else offered his or her hand. "Well," he snapped, "let us all hope that Miss Granger is there to take the end of the term exam for us." Hermione lowered her hand and joined in the others in examining her feet. "Miss Granger, would you be so kind as to enlighten the class?" He said through clinched teeth.
"Plum, Professor," Hermione said in a quiet voice.
"Well, at least one of you was paying attention. Now, I expect a twenty-two inch essay about this particular potion by the beginning of the next lesson from each of you," he snarled as if daring anyone to complain. "You may leave now. I suggest you go to the library to begin your papers." The man turned around and returned to the potion at his desk.
The students looked at their watches. They were getting out almost an hour early from their double potions class. The looked around at each other apparently not sure whether or not they should go.
"What are you all waiting for? I thought I told you to leave," Severus said coldly.
At that, every student packed his or her things quietly and left as quickly as possible.
Once they were out of ear shot, three Gryffindors skidded around a corner and stopped.
"Twenty-two inches long! I'll never get all of my work done now," Ron said furiously.
Hermione had a thoughtful look on her face, "Well, you should have been doing your homework for your other classes all week." Ron only rolled his eyes.
"What's wrong with him! I can't believe that git. He singled out Neville on purpose. He knows that Neville's afraid of him," Harry said angrily.
"He's always been like that to Neville, Harry," Hermione said, ignoring Ron's response.
"I know, but this was a bit more than normal don't you think?" Harry continued.
"Well, yeah, I suppose."
"I mean, he usually sticks with snide comments."
Ron looked at the other two, "You may be right, Harry. I mean, violet instead of plum? That's the closest Neville's ever been to getting something right in Potions."
The three quickly busied themselves in another conversation as Neville Longbottom passed them in the hall with a frightened look on his face, muttering to himself.
In unison, the three raised their eyebrows and gave each other curious looks.
"Well," said Harry looking at his new watch, a Birthday present from Sirius, "Only forty-five more minutes until our next class."
Ron caught on to his meaning. "Definitely not enough time to visit the library."
This time it was Hermione who rolled her eyes.
"Come on, Hermione, let's go and sit by the lake. It's getting cold out and pretty soon it'll be too cold and wet to go outside," Ron said with a pleading expression.
"Oh, all right. Besides, I've already done my work for the week so I won't be far behind."
The three made their way outside to the Hogwarts' grounds. It was still fall but winter's chill would be there soon. The sun was still high in the air and the three headed toward the lake.
"Look, a giant squid," Ron pointed to a shallow spot at the edge of the lake where one of the giant squids that lived in the lake was floating lazily. "Come on, Harry, Fred and George say that it's loads of fun to tickle. They said that something'll come out if the tentacles if you get it just right."
Harry smiled and ran after Ron while Hermione rolled her eyes again. "Boys!" she said in an annoyed tone. However, she followed the two down to the lake and sat back at a "safe distance" and opened a book for History of Magic while Ron and Harry dropped their books and each began to reach for a tentacle.
* * * * *
Once his students had left, Severus sat in his chair. He put his head down on his desk and absently began rubbing his left forearm. The pain gradually died away. "Why are you gathering them so often?" he said as he thought aloud to himself almost in a dazed state. The potion beside him was now boiling. This seemed to bring him back into reality. He took out his wand and waved it toward the cauldron which lifted itself off of the fire it was on and onto the floor to cool.
Severus got up and put his wand back in his cloak. He went into his office and picked out an empty bottle from a cabinet then went to his fire place. He picked up a bit of dust out of a container by the hearth. Throwing, the dust into it, he said "Kitchens." A house elf with a pointed nose appeared in front of him in the green flames.
"Dobby, I need your assistance."
The house elf squeaked a reply, "Yes, Sir, Professor Snape." Stepping into the room from the fire, he fell at Severus' feet. Severus bent over and held out his hand. The house elf graciously took the extended hand and pulled himself up. "What is Professor Snape needing, Sir?"
Severus straightened up, though with some difficulty. His muscles seemed to ache from sitting up late into the night in the library. "I need you to take a message to the Headmaster."
Dobby seemed to swell with pride. "What is the message, Sir?" he asked with anticipation.
"Just tell him that's it's happened again. He knows what it means."
Dobby's shoulders sagged a bit, his pride as been somewhat deflated. "Will there be anything else, Sir?"
"No, that will do." The house elf made to leave, but before he had made it to the door, Snape called after him, "Thank you, Dobby." He assumed that this put the elf in a better mood for he heard an excited squeal from the classroom and the sound of scurrying feet.
Returning back to the classroom, he ladled out the potion that he had been brewing into the bottle that he had retrieved from his office. He then left the room, locked it and made his way to the game keeper's hut on the outskirts of the grounds of Hogwarts.
* * * * *
"What do you suppose he's up to?" Ron asked indicating Severus walking across the grounds toward Hagrid's hut.
Harry looked up from his tentacle. "Don't know. As long as he doesn't come over here to give us detention for having fun, I don't care."
Ron gave a laugh, "Wouldn't put it past him, you know."
Hermione looked up from her book. "We can just ask Hagrid what he wanted later," she said as the three watched him knock on Hagrid's door.
* * * * *
As Severus waited outside the door to Hagrid's hut, he heard heavy foot steps and then the creak of the large door opening. Hagrid stood before him, at least four heads taller than himself.
"There ya are Professor," Hagrid said as he beckoned for the smaller man to enter.
"Where is he?" Severus asked looking around the small hut.
"Over here," Hagrid said as he lead Severus over to his giant bed in the corner of the hut. "Sick as a dog. Well, I s'pose that makes sense."
Severus surveyed the enormous dog lying across the bed, doing his best to take up as much space as he could. He was whimpering quietly.
"Been like this for a couple days now. Appreciate you makin' that potion for 'im."
Severus nodded slightly but he didn't take his eyes off the dog.
Feeling a bit awkward in the silence, Hagrid continued to make conversation. "Madam Pomfrey didn' want 'im in the hospital wing. Said it was 'unhygienic'."
Severus ran his hand down Fang's neck a few times, allowing the dog to smell him.
"Speakin' of Madam Pomfrey," Hagrid added, "she asked me about ya, Professor."
This caught the man's attention. "Oh?" he said as he slid one of his hands under Fang's large muzzle.
"Yeah. Was real interested in ya. Course, most people are now'a days."
"Really?" came the distracted response. He was trying, with little success to pry open the dog's jaws.
"Yeah, been noticin' you ain't been to most meals. Not jus me either. Lot's of professor's have been."
"Look, you can tell them that they can stop worrying." Severus had finally managed to get a slit open that was big enough to pour the potion inHe slid the bottle between two great teeth. The truth be told, he wasn't happy about the conversation but Hagrid had never gotten on Severus' nerves like most of the other professors had. Well, perhaps he could have gone without the giant, three-headed dog. But he couldn't bring himself to be irritable to Hagrid. Hagrid had actually stood up for him in his old school days with Potter and his gang from time to time.
"Professor, we know that yer a, er, private person but we can help but ter worry about ya."
Severus pulled the bottle back from Fang's mouth who sat up and started licking the bottle. "There now, that wasn't so bad was it?" he said, stroking the animal's head.
Hagrid beamed at him, "Thanks a lot, Professor."
"Let me know if you need any more, all right?"
Hagrid was still smiling broadly, "Al'right, Professor."
Severus got up to leave.
"Oh, almost forgot. Madam Pomfrey wanted me to tell ya to go see 'er as soon as ya can."
Severus turned to respond but an ear splitting scream split the air before he could.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading :-) Respond if you feel the need. Sometimes I get ahead of myself with writing and leave out important details, so let me know if the story does or doesn't make sense. Also, let me know how I'm doing with keeping the characters in character. Allow me some freedom with Snape, though ;-) I'll update as often as I can which is probably pretty often since I have nothing to do until the 5th book comes out…