a/n: hey all, this is a short but humorous (at least 4 me) chapter…but there should be more coming as it is Thanksgiving break! cheers have a happy one, y'hear? Right, on with the story

Severus seriously wondered why this was a chapter. Not that his wonderings ever really mattered. A few nights after the staff meeting, Severus was sitting at his desk in his dungeon, grading essays. The grading scale went like this:

O-outstanding

E-exceeds expectations

A-average

P-poor

D-dreadful

The first paper in the pile belonged to the Bush-Hair. He picked it up and skimmed it, humming the tune to the Weird Sister's newest hit. There were a lot of words in Bush-Hair's essay that were more than four syllables. Severus didn't know a lot of them. He thought she probably made them up, but he gave her an O not to look stupid. He wondered if her whole life revolved around homework.

Severus came to the Weasley's paper and noticed that he wrote really big on purpose to fill up the space. Besides that, it looked okay, so he gave it an A. He had just picked up the next paper, which belonged to Potter-his-new-least-favorite-student, when the door to his classroom opened and in came Pointy-Face Brat. What is he doing in here? Severus thought angrily, more to the point, he didn't even knock!

The Pointy Face Brat strode over to Severus's desk.

"Hello Professor," he said in a very drawling voice. Severus sat very still, trying to resist his sudden urge to pick up one of the quills on his desk and poke the kid's eye out.

"I just came by to see if I could have my essay back early, so I can see how well I did. When do you think mine will be done?"

Never!

"Soon, Draco. I am correcting them at this moment as a matter of fact, and I am pleased to say that yours is…"

On the bottom of the pile

"Next. So if you will wait a minute, it should be done."

The Pointy-Face Brat did not go and sit down or anything. Instead he stood in back of Severus's chair, looking over his shoulder as he corrected Potter-the-not-that-great-at-writing's essay. Severus did not feel so comfy with the arrangements. He finished skimming Potter-the-mediocre-student's essay, and was going to give him an A, or maybe a high P, when he suddenly was reminded that Potter-who-needs-to-try-harder was the number one death eater target, and that he had the son of a death eater's breath on his neck at the moment. Screw it he thought, and scribbled a large D across the top of the paper. He could almost feel the Pointy-Face Brat's satisfaction.

Next, he skipped through the rest of the pile, before finding his unwelcome guest's parchment, which had imprints of stupid skulls on it. Severus thought that the Pointy-Face Brat must think he's cool. Without looking at what was on the paper, Severus gave the Pointy-Face Brat an O, and handed it to him. The Pointy-Face Brat sneered in triumph, and left the room. Severus thought that boy needed to practice his sneering.

The boy who he could probably beat up had gotten a D. Severus didn't even think he had known what the essay was supposed to be about. The two stupid Slytherins had also gotten D's, and just when Severus was getting really sick of seeing the letter D, some unknown Slytherin earned an E, making him nearly fall out of his seat with the pure joy of the change. Only he didn't. When you're a sinister Potions Master, you have to remain composed…you never know when someone might be spying on you.

When Severus had finished grading papers for the day, he went over to the chalkboard and pointed his wand at it, before remembering that he had forgotten the spell to make the words appear. So…he had to resort to using his emergency pack of Colorific Chalk-pastel colors. He had purchased it in a Muggle shop called CVS, just in case. They had asked Severus if he had an Extra Care card, whatever that was. Muggles were really weird.

Severus selected a pale green piece of chalk, and dragged it across the board just to make sure this Muggles didn't sell phony products, in case there was a no-satisfaction guarantee. Then he began to write the next lesson for tomorrow's first class. Chalk took some getting used to, and it sometimes made a sound that made Severus's teeth hurt. After Severus was done writing the ingredients they would need, he read Most Potente Potions for a while, and then went to bed dressed in his gray nightshirt. It was the only one he had.