AN: A brand new chapter on Pancake Tuesday. I hope you will all enjoy it.
Thanks for all those who have left reviews, it is greatly appreciated.
The next instalment will follow soon.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise.
'Dear Calliope,
I admit I was a bit hesitant about fulfilling your request, but you're right, you're always very careful. Please be sure to exercise caution and good sense when using these, and I do hope that you'll fill me in on the purpose.
Love, T.
The note had arrived only that morning, as Calliope had sat down in the Great Hall for an early breakfast. It was accompanied by a package containing six vials of a powerful Calming Draught. Calliope thought about it again as she hurried, yawning, through the deserted corridors of Hogwarts. Not yet eight o'clock on a Saturday morning, it appeared as if she was the only person that had bothered to get out of bed yet. Of course, she would much rather still be in her soft, comfortable bed as well, but unfortunately, she had a detention to serve. With Snape.
She had considered taking some of the Calming Draught straight away to help her through the ordeal, but Calliope had eventually decided against it. She still wasn't sure it was a good idea to be drugging herself in the first place, and she really only needed to be calm for brewing potions. While she was a bundle of nerves going into detention, she figured she would be writing lines. If her hands were shaking, her handwriting would just be even more messy than it usually was. No big deal; her parchment and quill were not likely to blow up because of it.
Calliope arrived in the potions classroom nearly ten minutes early. She had a habit of being punctual anyway, and today of all day she hadn't wanted to risk running late. To Calliope's surprise, the door was already open. She was not the first to arrive, as it turned out, but it was not the Potions Master, but rather a third year Hufflepuff who anxiously jumped up when he heard her come in. The boy visibly relaxed when he saw she wasn't Snape, and slumped back down in his seat again. They mumbled introductions but neither felt inclined to talk and they sat silently, waiting. Calliope chose her usual seat, in the middle of the class, after considering for a brief moment picking one of the benches furthest back instead. She was only half consciously aware that breaking from her normal habits would take away some of what little grip she had on the situation.
In the next few minutes, several other students filtered in; a surly looking fourth year Slytherin boy, who refused to acknowledge anyone, another Hufflepuff, a first year girl this time, and no less than five Gryffindors. Apparently the stories of Snape's particular dislike for Professor McGonagall's house were true. And it seems like he deliberately reserves his Saturday mornings for detentions, Calliope thought. Only Snape hands out such a steady stream of detentions that it would efficient to set aside a time to have them served collectively. Does the man not have anything better to do? Or does he actually enjoy this? Actually, it wouldn't surprise me at all. He is a sadist and…
Her private analysis of Snape's character was cut short by the Professor himself, striding into the room, cloak billowing, door slamming shut behind him. Every student in the room sat up straight immediately, fear in the faces of more than one.
Snape stood at the front of the class for several long moments, surveying the students cowering before him.
'I am pleased to see your all managed to be punctual. Even those of you who have had difficulties telling time earlier this week,' Snape shot one of the Gryffindors a look that had the poor girl trembling in fear.
He then focussed his attention on the two Hufflepuffs. 'Miss Davis, Mr. Smith. Professor Sprout has requested that you serve her detention with her.' Snape's curled in disgust as he spat the words out at them. 'You will meet her in greenhouse two.' It was clear the Potions Master was not particularly happy about the situation, in contrast to the two students, whose faces showed clear relief as they gathered up their things and hastened out of the class room. Calliope could not help but feel a bit jealous. Serving detention with Sprout had to be preferable. I wonder why Sprout made this arrangement. I suppose she felt they didn't deserve detention? I wish Flitwick would stand up for us in this manner.
Snape now addressed the single Slytherin in the room. 'Mr. Bourne, Mr. Filch needs helping cleaning up after Moaning Myrtle's latest outburst,' Snape smiled wickedly at the boy. 'Yes, I believe when she burst the u-bend, the bathroom flooded with sewage.' Bourne paled visibly, but he made no comment as he took his bag and left the room. Snape watch him leave with a positively venomous expression on his face. I wonder what Bourne did? Calliope thought, almost feeling sorry for the boy. That has to be worse than what Snape has in store for us here. I don't think Snape even gives detention to his own house very often. Whatever it was Bourne did, it must have been something terrible.
Snape stood regarding the remaining group of students, the five Gryffindors and Calliope. 'As for the rest of you, please move to the front desks.' Calliope was reluctant to give up the familiarity of her customary seat, but she had no choice. I suppose he wants to be able to keep a close eye on us.
Snape was standing unmoving, watching as they moved. With the students now all in the front row, the teacher was only a few steps away, towering over them.
'As most of you continue to fail to demonstrate any understanding of the subtle art of potion making, you will spend your Saturday morning attempting to acquire some further knowledge. Not that I expect, of course, that it will make any discernable difference. I am sure that you are nothing but a collection of dunderheads that are incapable of learning. Nevertheless, I have the misfortune of being your teacher, and attempt to teach you I shall. Therefore, you will catalogue all the uses of Fanged Geraniums in the potions in your respective textbooks, and write an essay analysing that plant's use as an ingredient.'
The faces of the Gryffindors around her suggested they did not share the sentiment, but Calliope was almost relieved when she heard what the assignment was. This will actually be quite interesting, she thought as she reached into her bag for the items needed. There is a number of quite potent brews that use Fanged Geraniums. It will be interesting to compare them and analyse the function of the plant in conjunction with various other components. I think there is….
'But not you, Miss Lode,' Snape interrupted her train of thought. Calliope looked up, and found the professor's attention now fully focussed on her. He was still standing in front his desk, to her left, looking at her sideways with half his face obscured by a curtain of greasy hair. 'No, keep your quill and parchment, but put your book away.' He flicked his wand, and a book came sailing of a shelf to slam down on the desk in front of her, sending up a puff of dust. 'You, Miss Lode, having demonstrated such a lack of basic skills, I am certain you will benefit so much more from copying the first chapter of this particular volume.' Calliope looked down at the leather bound book in front of her. It was a copy of 'Magical Draughts and Potions', the first year text book. Calliope groaned internally, now comprehending what Snape wanted her to do. The first chapter was an overview of basic potion making skills, such as how to cut ingredients, stirring techniques and, of course, methods of introducing components to the cauldron. Copying this is going to be so boring and tedious, she thought in horror. Why can't I just write an essay as well? She looked at Snape again, and found he was still watching her, yellow teeth displayed in a smirk. He is enjoying this, Calliope suddenly realised. It's a punishment tailor made for me. The others, they're Gryffindors, they don't enjoy learning as I do. Like most Ravenclaws, Calliope held the healthy prejudice against the members of Professor McGonagall's house that they were mostly just a bunch of timewasting, sports mad barbarians that, while sometimes not completely stupid, did simply not understand the appreciate the joys of acquiring knowledge. For them, writing lines would be preferable, as they don't have to use their heads. Their worst possible way of spending a Saturday morning is doing homework, which is what he is making them do now. But as I would actually enjoy being engaging my mind, he gives me an assignment that will not challenge my mind at all.
Knowing why he had given her a separate assignment did not, however, change the fact that she had to do it. Suppressing a sigh, Calliope set to work.
Snape sat at his desk, grading essays. He seemed completely absorbed in his work; Calliope did not think he had looked at the detainees more than once since he had sat down. His apparent inattention had allowed Calliope to relax somewhat. The silence in the room was oppressive, broken only by the scratching of quills on parchment and the occasional desperate groan from one of the students. Calliope figured she had probably let out more than one herself. After an hour, she was already so bored that she wanted to scream. Has it really been only an hour? Surely by now more time must have passed? No, it's five past nine. Only two minutes since the last time I checked.
All the Gods in the Pantheon, only twenty minutes past nine now. How long does he plan on keeping us here? I am not sure how much more of this I can possibly stand. Calliope shook her head vigorously, trying to dislodge the cobwebs. Focus, keep going, just another little while. It was a good thing the subterranean room was quite cold without the benefit of simmering cauldrons to heat it up; Calliope was certain she would not have been able to stay awake if the room had been as stuffy as it could sometimes get during lessons.
'Knifes should always be kept sharp. When a knife is blunt, there is the danger of the blade slipping. In this event, there is not only the danger of injury, but it will cause irregular cuts thus diminishing the potency of the ingredient.' Calliope copied the passage onto her parchment, pressing her quill down so hard that the ink splashed. Really, so I should keep my knife sharp. How enlightening. I thought I could use the butter knife I filched from the breakfast table. She ventured another look at the clock. I can't believe it. A whole FIVE minutes passed since the last time I looked. Nearly ten o'clock now. How much longer? She turned back to the book. 'The cutting technique used depends on the instruction in the recipe. For example…..'
Calliope suddenly realised that she had been staring at the diagram demonstrating the standard shredding technique for some time. She looked at the clock again. Another three minutes gone. Huh. Snape still seemed absorbed in grading. That's why he does these detentions on Saturday morning. He uses the time to get his own work done. It occurred to her that she had never considered that teacher effectively had homework too. Interesting. Can't say I feel sorry for Snape though. Seeing as the professor was not paying attention, Calliope hazarded a glance to the girl on right. The Gryffindor sharing her desk was leafing through her text book, but the movement was mechanical and her eyes were unfocussed. The boy at the desk across to her left was scratching away at his parchment, but he seemed to be doodling, not writing.
Suddenly a shadow fell over her.
'Perhaps, Miss Lode, you should pay more attention to your own assignment.' Professor Snape! Calliope hadn't heard him get up, but he was now standing in front of her desk, towering over her as she looked up at him. A wave of panic washed through her as his black eyes bored into hers. He reached out to the parchment onto which she had been copying, pinching it up in nimble fingers.
'Only a foot and a half of writing in over two hours. My, my, Miss Lode. I would have expected more from you.'
Calliope shuddered under his glare as he loomed over her. Oh no! I should have worked harder. He is going to give me more detention. Trying to contain her terror of the Potions Master, her thoughts strayed to the package she had received that very morning. I sure could use one of those vials of Calming Draught Thalia sent me right now.
Snape flicked the scroll of parchment back onto the desk. 'Thalia Lode is your sister, is she not?'
'Yes, five years older than me,' Calliope responded automatically. Wait, what? Why is he talking about Thalia all of a sudden?
'And then of course there is Euterpe Lode,' Snape mused. 'I had the pleasure, or should I say, misfortune, of teaching both the elder Lode sisters. Of course, as I recall, they were both even more incompetent than their younger sister is turning out to be. There was never any doubt that either of them was even close to NEWT material.'
Calliope didn't respond. She didn't know what to say, and she didn't actually think Snape was looking for a reply. She was insulted on behalf of her sisters as well. It figures, he's just found another way to make me feel bad. Neither of them had taken NEWT potions, but they were competent witches. Sure, most people never went beyond OWLs in Snape's subject.
Snape was still looking down on her, with that sardonic little smile playing on his lips that reminded Calliope of a cat, pleased with himself after a fresh kill. 'No, I would not trust either of them to give appropriate advice when it came to any potions…' He let the sentence trail off, looking at Calliope intently black eyes sparkling with an expression that she could not quite place. What is he getting at? she wondered, getting a bit confused. Argh why can he not just leave me alone. Calliope found herself blushing under his scrutiny. That seemed to satisfy him, as he broke the eye contact and turned back towards his desk. Calliope rubbed her face. Maybe he just wants to embarrass me. Well, if that is the case, he is quite successful.
Snape had seated himself again. 'You are all dismissed. Leave your work on your desk. If it is not satisfactory, you will repeat the detention next week, until you get it right.' With that, he returned to his own work, not looking up as the small group of students sprang into action and cleared out of the room in about three seconds flat.
AN: Next up will be the Potions class. Make or break time for Calliope!
Although I never had detention while in school (always the good girl, me), I did try to capture that sense of intense frustration and boredom experienced during a particularly boring class, trying to focus on an assignment that you have no interest in whatsoever, so that you literally end up watching every single minute pass on the clock. Let me know if I've succeeded!
If you've read this far, and enjoyed the story, please take a minute or so to leave a review. It would really make my day.