The smell of musty mold made Sari gag slightly as the dead air of the potions dungeon enveloped her. She made a face, fighting the urge to use her fingers to pinch her nose closed.
The students filled in behind her unenthusiastically, the Gryffindors more or less trudging as if they were on death row in Azkaban.
The musty classroom looked more like a scientific torture chamber then anything. Cabinets lined nearly all the walls with jars upon jars of pickled animal body parts or slimy plants. Well, those were the two options Sari was hopping they were. Rows of tables were set up with dirty wooden stools like in a muggle chemistry lab classroom, all facing the desk in the front of the room where the most unpleasant man Sari had ever seen sat.
The Slytherins all sat on one side of the room while the Gryffindors took the other. Sari, assuming she should sit wit her…. her house. She bitterly sat with the Gryffindors, looking longingly at the other side of the room.
"Settle down."
The man behind the desk spoke softly in a slow, dangerous manner, as he rose from his chair from behind his desk, rapping his knuckles on the wood to silence the room.
Sari, suddenly remembering whom the greasy haired man was, sat up straight and paid very close attention. Professor Snape after all was the Slytherin house head. She felt a small pang in her stomach as she remembered the night before. The most awful day of her life she figured.
The Professor introduced himself curtly and began going over the potions curriculum for the year. He drowned on and on, glorifying his subject in a way that made Sari wonder if he was maybe slightly insecure about his subject. Sari was beginning to lose interest, and let her eyes wonder to the other side of the dark room.
Honestly, the Slytherins weren't what exactly what she had imagined. She had been raised to believe they were the strongest, smartest, and the elite of Hogwarts. She looked at them and one caught her eye. The boy she had been sorted after with the brutish face arched his eyebrows at her and licked his lips in a perverted manner. His "mates" as they were called here snickered softly and punched his arm as if he had just done something outrageously funny.
Sari scoffed and returned an even ruder gesture under the table making them laugh harder. She pretended to brush it off, but she felt sick inside, like she had been violated.
She tried to focus on the professor's explanations of classroom expectations that seemed abnormally strict when something whizzed past her ear.
She didn't realize what had happened until she looked and saw the brute-faced boy gasping, clutching his nose that had a quill lodged smartly inside.
"Mr. Samuels? Is there a problem?"
Professor Snape stopped his lecture and looked at the unfortunate pervert with a quill in his nose.
The boy looked to him, stuttering an explanation about how the quill had become lodged in his nose, but the professor apparently did not what to hear any excuses. The professor strolled calmly over to the boy, staring at him for a moment before in a lightning fast movement, yanked the quill from his nose causing Mr. Samuels to shriek slightly, squinting his eyes so hard they seemed to disappear under his apish eyebrows.
Saris mouth twisted up into a smile of glee, but she quickly hid her pleasure, not wanting to be blamed for the incident. She looked around the room to see the culprit. One of the twins she had meet yesterday on the train waved slightly to her and beamed as if he deserved an applause or something. The other twin, she couldn't tell which one was which rolled his eyes and made an attempt to shove his quill up his brothers nose. They two began struggling and she couldn't help but giggle slightly.
"Mr. Weasleys? Is there yet another problem?"
Snape has positioned himself behind the boys so quietly; they hadn't realized he was behind them, looking down disapprovingly. The boys looked up, one with a quill halve way up his nose. Professor Snape jerked it out roughly, causing the twin to swear slightly under his breath,
"Oi! Bloody hell!"
The Gryffindors snickered in approval to the disruption.
The professor glared at the two, but took his long strides back up to the front of the room.
"Apparently" he said in a soft voice, "I was not making myself clear in terms of classroom expectations. Foot long essay due tomorrow, pertaining to the rules of the classroom, why they are important, and how the Weasley twins have violated them."
The whole room groaned. Sari stared wide-eyed at the man she was beginning to lose respect for. Could he really do that? It was so unfair.
Sari sighed and glanced up at the clock in the corner of the room, wishing for this horrible class to be over.
Apparently, she wasn't the only one. Her book bag stirred slightly. A halve smile formed on her face as two bright green eyes opened slowly from there slumber from inside and looked up at her sleepily from the darkness from her bag. Sari had traded in her green backpack for a bit more of a fashionable square shoulder book bag, perfect for little Jacobo.
She couldn't stand to leave him alone all day in a strange place, especially after he had yowled loud enough to make her roommates complain when she had tried to leave him earlier that morning.
She reached her hand in and stroked his velvety soft lop hears, thinking about how they were going to go play outside during lunch. She honestly had no desire to go and eat lunch with the other students, it was just too depressing.
Jacobo on the other hand must have decided he wanted to play now. He popped his head out of the book bag and looked around cheerfully. Saris eyes widened and she immediately shoved his head back down into the bag, causing Jacobo to yowl slightly in protest. Sari prayed that no one had heard, but unfortunately, students were looking around the room searching for the strange noise.
Sari's stomach churned as Snape turned around from his writing on the chalkboard and stared into the sea of blank faces.
"What was that noise?"
The color drained from saris face as Jacobo yowled softly again. She pinched his little jaw together trying to muffle the noise. While the yowling stopped, deep throated growling replaced it resentfully.
Professor Snape's dark eyes scanned the room and to Saris horror, rested on her.
"Miss Songten? You are looking…particularly suspicious. Why would that be?"
Saris eyes widened, looking all over the room desperately, shrugging her shoulders.
Snape glided over to her.
"It IS miss Songten, correct? You gave the teachers quite a topic to discus this morning over tea. What an…unfortunate situation you are in Miss Songten," he sneered slightly, "It's a shame really. I am quite good friends with your family. Quite a disappointment."
Sari mouthed soundless words as he towered over her.
She had heard many second years bragging to first years over breakfast of all the smart ass retorts they had thrown at Snape when he was being unfair, and she was sure now that those were all blatant lies. This was a scary, scary man.
"Miss Songten!" Professor Snape snapped suddenly, causing her to jump, "show me your hands!"
Sari offered her left hand and presented it to him palm out.
"Both hands Miss Songten"
The Slytherins snickered
Sari squeezed her eyes shut, praying that for once, just once, Jacobo would not cause a scene and stay in the bag as she lifted her right hand and presented it to the Professor.
No such luck.
Jacobo sprang like a rocket out of her bag, landing softly on her desk. He turned and looked reproachfully at her before turning around and upon seeing the looming professor, gave him his most adorable face.
Apparently, adorable is not Professor Snape's thing.
Jacobo wavered as Snape glared down at him and decided it was time to leap from table to table. Girls squealed excitedly at the bouncy little critter and tried to catch him. Snape looked less amused, more along the lines of furious. Sari on the other hand was horrified.
"Jacobo! No! No! Bad!"
She leapt up from her seat and attempted to catch him, the chase making Jacobo think that this was the greatest game ever and jumped out of reach even faster.
Unfortunately for him, his front paw tripped over his huge lop ear, causing him to fall flat on his face, dazing him long enough for Sari to snatch him from the back of the neck. He kicked his back legs indignantly trying to wiggle away. Snape was fuming and pointed to the door.
"Miss. Songten. Get. Rid .Of. Your. Pet."
"Yes sir!"
Sari threw open the door and more or less chucked Jacobo out the door causing him to land with a thud and slammed the door behind him.
By now the whole class was in an uproar. Boys laughing and girls screeching that Sari was mean to throw Jacobo like that, but honestly, Sari was more concerned with Snaps quivering rage.
Sari didn't even try to explain to the class what had happened, and thankfully she didn't need to.
BANG!
The whole class silenced and jerked their attention to the front of the room where Professor Snape stood with his wand smoking from the spell that had made the noise like a gunshot.
"Miss Songten. You are new to this school. If you were not, you would be out of my class so quickly it would make your little head spin. Much to my displeasure, I will grant you amnesty, and take a mere fifty points from Gryffindor for throwing my class into upheaval."
"Yes sir" Sari muttered softly as the Gryffindors groaned. She didn't even bother to admit his had no idea what it meant to "take away points."
A soft scritch scratching of claws on the dudgeon door could be heard from outside the door.
She sank into her seat and laid her head down on the table, covering it with her arms compliably humiliated, praying for Jacobo to just find somewhere to play until the end of class.
Finally he stopped and she heard the pitter patter of soft paws on the hard stone outside the door, pacing back and forth, waiting for her to come out and get him.
She felt something slip under her arm. She sat up and a piece of paper fell into her lap. She unfolded it and saw a crude drawing of Professor Snape, enchanted to run around in circles around the page and yell in bubble letters,
"Blah blah blah! I've got crap for brains!"
Sari looked over to the twins again. The persistent one was grinning from ears to ear, again thinking he had done something amazing.
She glared at him and tore the paper in two and laid her head back down on the desk, completely miserable.
This is the worst day she had ever had since yesterday she decided.