Sunday was no fun for Neville at all. He knew he would have to pay for the lousy job he did on Snape's cabinet cleaning and as Professor Snape reminded him with a sneer, he would pay for a new cabinet one way or another.
It turned out that Neville would pay by being Filch's slave for a whole day.
From early morning until late at night, Neville was ordered to gather the laundry, scrub the floors, clean the toilets, re-scrub the floors after the Slytherin Quidditch team muddied up the halls again and the list went on and on until Neville was ready to drop.
By the time dinner came around he was falling asleep on the table as the food appeared. A jug of pumpkin juice bumped his head and spilled right near his nose but he didn't bother to move.
"Neville, mate, wake-up…" Fred reached around and moved the jar away from him as George did a border-house reach with a napkin to wipe up.
"I'm too tired to eat." Neville groaned.
"Don't worry, we'll feed you." Fred scooped up a forkful of mashed potatoes and tried to do just that when he accidentally poked Neville in the nose instead, making him cough and choke as the potatoes clogged his nostrils.
"Fred!" Hermione helped Neville wipe his face off. "This is ridiculous, honestly! Snape was obviously being lazy in giving Neville's detention over to Filch! Of all people to serve detention with, I couldn't imagine a worse person to get stuck with."
"You're forgetting Umbridge…" Harry interjected.
"Or Lockhart!" Ron added. Hermione shot him a disbelieving look before he answered, "What? Just because you didn't mind being shut up with him for four hours answering fan mail…" Ron went back to eating.
"If you ask me, I think this has gone on far enough! A month's detention is too much for Neville, look at him, he's already asleep." Hermione gathered some food in a napkin cloth to save for him later. "I think it's time for an intervention."
"A what?" Ron mumbled through his food.
"I think Neville shouldn't be the only one who has to stand up to Snape just because Snape picks on him so much. If all of the students got together and rose up to fight I believe we could win this."
"Are you talking about a war?" Ron asked incredulously.
"Um, aren't we already in enough trouble with Umbridge lately?" Harry also asked.
"We have to stick together and take a stand. Are you with me or not?" Hermione shot them all a stern look.
"Well, when you put it that way, what choice do we have?" Ron agreed reluctantly.
"Sure, I guess. But what are we going to do?" Harry shrugged.
"Don't worry, I have a plan." Hermione nodded to herself.
Fred and George looked over at them and nodded knowingly before they both chuckled. If it was for the good of their friends they'd agree and making trouble was what they did best after all.
---
Unfortunately for Neville he never knew of the plan that Hermione had hatched for the next day and it was unbeknownst to him as he sat in his class that all the students were in on the strike because that's what all the students cried out when Professor Snape hissed at Neville to stop screwing around and light the cauldron.
"STRIKE!"
"WHAT?" Snape spun around at the crowd of students, all Griffindors, who had stood up and crossed their arms like some strange game of Simon Says and it was obvious to him who was the leader.
"What is going on?" he hissed to Hermione Granger.
"We, that is the Griffindors and most of the students from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, have declared a strike. We will not do another thing in Potions until you promise to treat Neville better and not pick on him."
Neville's mouth dropped open in shock but then he turned a bright red when Snape turned to face him.
"Crying for help from your little friends, are you?" Snape reeled around to face the whole class, including some of the dumbstruck Slytherins who had no idea how to handle this class unity. This served to split them up as some of them considered joining the strike to get out of Potions or even having their own strike just for fun. Snape had to act quickly and so he rounded on Hermione, "This isn't going to work, you stupid girl. If you all decide not to do the class work I've assigned you—you all fail!" From Snape's perspective, it was settled.
"Actually, if the whole class fails consistently three times in each of your classes then it's the teacher who gets in trouble and they face a re-examination of their classes and their teaching." Hermione stated.
"What stupid rule book did you drag that out of—I've never heard of that, it's preposterous!" Snape seemed to be losing his ground against the bookworm.
"And with Umbridge being the Head Inquisitor now, she has the power to expel any teacher she sees as 'unfit to provide the necessary training for our new generation of wizards', go ahead and quote her on that. I'm sure you wouldn't want to give her any reason to question your method of teaching, would you Professor?" Hermione finished smugly.
"Why you little—" Snape seemed unable to finish what he wanted to say because he was so angry.
"So either you be nicer to Neville—and the other students—or we continue this little strike until it becomes a big problem, it's your choice." Hermione stayed calm the whole time Snape glared at her. It was a while before he could answer without swearing aloud.
"I suppose you'll be asking for breaks and tea time in between Potions next!" he hissed at her.
"Actually, we're not asking for much, just some respect from you instead of your outrageous insults and demeaning behavior." Hermione marched over to Neville who shrank down on his chair to avoid Snape's murderous stare.
"Miss Granger, you know I only do that because the whole lot of you are worthless when it comes to Potions!"
Hermione only crossed her arms and stood resolutely with the other Griffindors until one of the Slytherins raised their hands. It was surprisingly Draco Malfoy.
"Sir, we're not worthless are we?" his tone sounded hurt.
"No, of course not!" Snape spat out, "Don't be stupid…" Draco hunched back onto his chair with a sullen look on his face.
"Um, Professor?" It was Pansy Parkinson who raised her hand next. "I think you're kind of mean too, I mean just when you yell at us that we have to be better than anyone else—I mean I understand why, because we're Slytherins and all—but it really hurts my feelings when you talk to me in that tone of voice."
"Oh you've got to be kidding me… Of all the absurd things to pop out of your mouth Parkinson, that beats all!" Snape gave an incredulous stare as the rest of the Slytherins shook their heads and put the same hurt look on their face as Draco.
---
It seemed the mutiny had spread and Severus was beside himself with no way to stop it. It wasn't his thing to be nice, especially to his students who were mostly a pack of drooling idiots who wouldn't know how to mix vinegar and sodium bicarbonate properly.
There was nothing he could do. If he continued to be himself and insult the students, he would have Umbridge to deal with, on the other hand if he was (heaven forbid) polite to the little monsters then they wouldn't create a disturbance. But weren't they supposed to be obedient in the first place? What the hell was he doing trying to bargain with them on how to behave in class? It was all the Granger girl's fault, her and that stupid Longbottom boy…
Severus was getting a headache and his vision was going blank like it did when he was getting a migraine and it was only going to get worse. Either he had to answer to the girl and her motley crew or—what? The last resort he had left was unthinkable. He didn't want to think just now, not when his head was pounding and his stomach was trying to upchuck.
---
Snape stared around the dungeon room, he looked livid and pale, almost paler than usual but Hermione stood her ground and Neville sheepishly looked out from behind her back at his Potions Professor. He looked as if he were swaying in thought with his eyes closed until he groped behind him for something that wasn't there. It only took a second before Neville realized what was happening and then it was too late.
Snape was on the floor unconscious while everyone in the class let out gasps and shrieks and crowded all around him.
"Oh no! He fell on the floor!" Pansy shrilly screamed. "He's poisoned!"
"What happened to him?" Every one of the Slytherins gathered in a circle near the Professor.
"He's not poisoned, step back everyone!" Hermione made her way through the crowd and bent down toward the Professor, he was still breathing but not responding to her voice. She even tried to slap him but that didn't work.
Neville was behind her and looked absolutely terrified. "Is he dead?"
"No, of course he isn't! He's passed out. Quick, somebody run to Madam Pomfrey… she'll need to come over and revive him."
"Why can't you do it?" Ron kept his distance from Snape as he expected him to suddenly jump up like an angry Dracula from the grave at any moment.
"Students aren't authorized to perform any magic on a teacher, even if they know how to."
"I guess I'll go…" Harry started but Draco interrupted, "No, I don't think so, Potter. I'm his student, I'll go."
"Fine with me then, you go on."
"You do know it's all your fault, all of you Griffindors just couldn't behave and now you've knocked out the Professor."
"We didn't knock him out, he knocked himself out!" Ron argued back at Draco who started arguing back at how stupid their little strike was.
"We just wanted to be treated with respect, it wasn't supposed to be like this at all." Hermione defended.
It was suddenly the Griffindors against the Slytherins and poor Professor Snape was left on the floor, completely forgotten.
"I'll go!" Neville tried to shout over the students voices but it was no use so he just left and went for Madam Pomfrey by himself.
---
It took a while to revive the Professor, mostly because the students had gotten into a near riot amongst themselves and Madame Pomfrey had shouted at the top of her lungs until she shot a loud BANG into the air with her wand. Most of the students had stopped after that.
"Weasley, Malfoy! That's enough!" The two finally separated and Madame Pomfrey stepped over to Professor Snape who looked as though he had been trampled on in the middle of the riot.
By the time she managed to magically lift him onto a stretcher that was headed for the hospital wing, class had long since been over and it was in the middle of lunch time.
---
Although it was lunchtime Neville felt too sick with guilt to eat anything.
It was because of him that Hermione had started the strike and it was because of him that Professor Snape had fallen unconscious in the middle of Potions. He didn't even get to start his task of making the Calming Draught, though he would have failed at that for sure with or without Snape's mean comments constantly thrown at him.
Still, it didn't help Neville's conscience to know that he was the cause of Snape's literal collapse during Hermione's uprising.
"If only there was something I could do…" he thought out loud.
"Neville, for the hundredth time, it wasn't your fault!" Ron admonished him while nursing his black eye that Draco had given him. "Honestly, I never thought that prissy little ponce would know how to throw a punch…"
"I've got to do something." Neville stubbornly said.
"I think we've done enough already." Harry shook his head. Now that Snape was out of teaching temporarily, it was up to Umbridge to oversee the Potions class and she wasn't much better than Snape when it came to 'respecting' students. He was just lucky he didn't get detention in her other class of Potions, yet.
"Hey mate, at least you don't have to face detention during the last week. I figure Snape should be out at least until Friday." Ron's injury hadn't affected his appetite for food and he was already shoving another sandwich in his mouth before his next class.
Nothing they could say would take away Neville's guilt and so he kept it to himself until dinner time when he finally thought of a way to make it better.
It was when Harry had called the rest of the students over to the Griffindor table, making up some excuse so as not to arouse Umbridge's suspicion, that Neville got the idea to smooth things over with Snape. Students from the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff table came over, including Cho Chang and Luna Lovegood. While Harry was distracted by Cho, Neville had time to talk to Luna about what happened.
"I just thought I would ask you and see what you thought about it." Neville waited for her advice.
"Oh yes, it's just terrible. Umbridge wouldn't say why Professor Snape was in the hospital wing and she didn't say when he'd be out or if he was recovering or not."
The clench in Neville's stomach gave another painful squeeze until he had to stop eating his mince pie.
Luna, however, didn't seem to be bothered by the news as she helped herself to another piece of pie, followed by a helping of sweet potatoes topped by sauerkraut and ketchup.
For such a thin girl she has an enormous appetite for the strangest food, Neville thought as she shoved an almost too big forkful into her mouth.
When it was time for dessert, Neville watched her take a slice of cherry pie with whip cream on top, followed by pickles topped with cookies, more whip cream and ketchup. She took yet another big forkful into her mouth and munched rather noisily as Neville stared down at his empty plate. He didn't feel like dessert.
"So he must still be in the hospital wing then. Maybe I should go to him and say I'm sorry, or something like that so he'll forgive me." He gave a hopeful glance at Luna who only stared at him with her big eyes as she took another huge mouthful of her strange dessert combination.
"No, I know he won't forgive me—that would be crazy, but maybe I could explain what happened and that it wasn't my fault." He looked at her again but she said nothing, probably because her mouth was full.
"But I should do something instead of sitting here being sick with guilt. I'm going to go there and explain everything, including how bad I'm feeling, that should make him feel a little better. Yes, that's what I'll do, thanks Luna!"
Neville got up to leave when he heard a muffled shout from her that sounded like, 'tasemycoies'. He could only guess what she meant as he answered, "Oh no thanks, I'm not hungry."
Luna swallowed an impossible amount of food before she cleared her throat, "No, I said take him some cookies."
"Oh right, that's a good idea. Thanks Luna!"
She didn't answer but only shoved more of her odd desert into her mouth as she watched him leave the Great Hall.
---
He was in the middle of his nap after dinner when he was rudely awakened by Madame Pomfrey.
"What is it? I thought you were going to leave me alone to get some sleep! Why are you bothering me now?" he hissed at her.
"You have a guest, Severus." Poppy's tone sounded light with unbelief as she said these words and Severus thought he had misheard her until a horrifying sight met his eyes.
"Oh no, not you…" He quickly buried his face into the covers until he realized how stupid this was as he ripped them away and sat up in his bed to face the person he least wanted to see in the world—besides Umbridge. "What in the name of Merlin are you doing here?" He gave his guest the most impolite hostile stare possible but it seemed no use.
The boy stood facing him and was holding a tray of something.
Most likely a pair of adders, he thought, to finish the job…
Then Severus remembered the boy was terrified of snakes, as he was of everything else.
"What is it? Why are you disturbing my much needed rest and rehabilitation?"
"I just wanted to um… I wanted to say that… Well, really I…"
"OUT WITH IT!" Snape roared and the boy almost dropped what he was holding.
"Now Severus, you're not supposed to shout! That's how you got into this mess by being so upset. Honestly, it's enough I have to care for all the students of Hogwarts, I'd expect you would know how to take care of yourself and not put unneeded stress on your body."
"Enough already! I'm fine." He shooed away her attempts to lay him down. "Leave me alone, if I want to sit up, I'll sit up."
"Young man, you'd better hurry up. He has to take his medicine before bed and then he needs to get some sleep." Poppy ushered the Longbottom boy over to Severus' bedside before she left.
He faced Severus then gulped and took another breath before he stopped himself.
"Do take your time, I have all night in this blasted hell-hole of a hospital unless I give myself another migraine attack…" Severus savagely shot at him.
The boy only stood there and just as Severus was about to lie himself down in a temper fit he shoved the plate toward him, right under his nose. It smelled like chocolate chip cookies.
"What is this? Are you trying to poison me now?" Severus sat up and snatched the tray and uncovered the cookies. "I suppose I should count myself grateful that you wouldn't know how to poison me, even if you tried. Are these even edible?" He took a tentative bite before he swallowed.
Not bad, he reluctantly thought. I just hope they don't kill me in the end…
He took another bite and then shoved the whole thing in his mouth. He whipped his head around to the boy.
"You say nothing of this!" He accidentally spewed some crumbs as he said this but 'waste not want not' he took some more cookies and they disappeared within seconds.
"Don't worry, sir. They don't have milk in them. They're made with soy and almond substitutes." The Longbottom boy finally spoke up.
"How would you know that I'm lactose intolerant?" Severus gripped the now empty tray and was preparing to raise it over his head to strike.
"I didn't, Dobby just said—I mean…" Apparently the boy had already slipped and tried to correct his blunder which only made it worse, "When I made these I was trying to—"
"Wait, what did you say?" Severus momentarily lowered the tray. "Did you actually make these yourself?"
The boy nodded.
"You mixed the flour, chocolate chips, almond and soy substitutes—with the yeast and baking soda and powder—without screwing it up?" he asked incredulously.
He redundantly nodded.
"And yet you fail miserably in potions…" Severus gave a snort to himself.
"Yes about that—" Severus shot him a dirty look before the boy continued, "I didn't mean for that to happen. Hermione didn't even tell me she was going to do that. I'm really sorry you fainted in class."
"For your information, I did not faint! It was a bad migraine attack brought on by you lot and it never would have happened in the first place if I was not constantly under the strain of all the pressures of teaching, being Head of House and other things which you have no idea of…" Severus closed his eyes. Poppy had always told him it was bad to internalize his stress and that was why he was always having the migraine, upset stomach, insomnia and irritability symptoms that plagued him during the school year and that other woman, Umbridge, was only making it worse. It was only a matter of time before he collapsed from the exhaustion his body was being put through.
"Never mind. Just leave me alone and get out." Severus lay back down. "Here take this!" He shoved the tray at the boy then closed his eyes. He was almost to sleep when he sensed someone standing beside him, the boy was still there. "What is it?"
"If you hate teaching and it only puts stress on you, why do you do it?" he asked nervously.
"Because I have no choice." Severus hissed.
"Oh."
The Longbottom brat was still standing by his side and he gave a sigh of impatience.
"I'm good at Potions, that's why. It requires a sharp skill and mind with the determination only I can possess. There are few wizards who are as good as I am at Potions and I'm not bragging, it's the simple truth. Dumbledore gave me this position because I was the most qualified for it and thank heaven he did because with all of the nonsense I've had to put up with during these years as Potions Master, anyone else would've screwed up and poisoned the lot of you either from negligence or from the sheer insanity of going out of their minds." Severus quickly looked at Neville who looked down. "I didn't mean that, I just meant… Potions is really hard."
Blast it anyway, he thought to himself.
"Right. Well, goodnight Professor." The boy was about to leave when Severus stopped him.
"Wait…" They looked at each other for a moment. "You'd better re-read your assignment for today. The rest of you will do it again tomorrow, after dinner—with no interruptions. I will be teaching again and I will not tolerate any distractions or I will personally have Umbridge give you all detentions and from what I've heard they can be pretty nasty."
"Yes, sir." He nodded then Severus dismissed him.
He thought he should make it clear that just because the boy had given him some cookies, didn't mean Severus was about to get soft.
Though he would always be open to bribes, particularly chocolate chip cookies made with soy and almond substitutes.
----
Author Notes: After coming back from Thailand I'm getting back to writing. Also, my power went out and so I'm stuck in a hotel with nothing better to do…
I've found Neville's outlet—baking!
Next Chapter: Snape shares a story from his past and Neville rescues Snape!