Author's Notes:
This story is set in CoS between Harry and Ron's visit to the Slytherin Common room and Harry finding the diary in Myrtle's bathroom; Hermione is in the hospital wing after her Polyjuice incident.
Carefully observing the bluish elixir in his cauldron, Harry Potter slowly stirred it counter-clockwise 6 times. Glancing briefly at the blackboard to make sure he was doing it right, he paused. Was that a 6 or an 8 Snape had written in his almost illegible hand? It had to be a 6, Harry decided. If only Hermione were here. Harry sighed, remembering his friend lying in the hospital wing right now with a furry face and whiskers. Daring a quick peek at the cauldrons of his classmates next to him, Harry was relieved that their potion looked exactly like his. Following the instructions, he waited a moment and started stirring clockwise 6 times when suddenly…
"Potter, what are you doing?!" Thundered Snape's spiteful voice right next to him.
Terrified, Harry bounced up. Turning around, he found himself starring into the ugly grinning face of his potions professor. A loud clattering noise behind him made his heart freeze. When he spun around again, his eyes widened in shock. His cauldron lay in front of his desk, and the result of his hard work spread bubbling all over the floor, smoking terribly.
Somehow he must have knocked the cauldron over when he'd jumped up.
"That's a week's worth of detention, Potter!" snarled Snape with a sneer. "And 50 points from Gryffindor for intentionally soiling the Potions classroom." With a flick of his wand, Snape banished the mess, including Harry's cauldron, and added spitefully, "Your detention starts at 7 o'clock sharp on Monday evening."
*** Ginny & Harry ***
At the end of a day spent in a sulky mood, Harry trudged down the stairs to the dungeons, still angry at himself for falling for Snape's ruse. It had been a terrible weekend, and now, on top of all the hassles about supposedly being the heir of Slytherin, he had to spend two hours each night with Snape. For a whole week.
When he reached the door to the Potions classroom, Harry took a deep breath, steeling himself for the sight of Snape's ugly face.
Briefly considering knocking, Harry dismissed the thought and pushed the door open. The creaking of the hinges made him grimace as he entered the dim classroom, looking about. A forlorn lamp on the teacher's desk was the only source of light, barely illuminating the room, and there was no sign of Snape. Puzzled as to what that meant, Harry considered leaving but dismissed the idea, even though it was appealing. It could be a ruse, and Snape would show up at any moment. Unsure of what to do, Harry took a seat in the front-row and waited.
It wasn't long before the creaking of the door announced the arrival of another person. Expecting Snape to finally appear, Harry warily turned around. But it wasn't Snape. The head of Ginny Weasley hesitantly peeked through the crack in the door. When she spotted Harry, her eyes widened in shock, and the door slammed shut again.
Curious about what this was supposed to mean, Harry walked to the door. He knew Ginny always kept a little distance from him, but what was she doing here in Snape's classroom at this hour?
When Harry opened the door, Ginny stood on the other side, staring at him. Biting her lower lip, she forced herself to look into his eyes. The shock of meeting him here apparently was gone as Ginny gave him a somewhat pained smile. "Erm, hi, Harry," she muttered. "Are you waiting for Snape, too?"
"Yeah, I have detention," Harry replied, wondering why Ron's sister was sneaking around the dungeons to meet Snape. "Did you forget something in the classroom?" Harry asked, eying Ginny more closely. Her face was pale, she had deep shadows under her eyes, and her hair was tousled. Noticing several stains on her robes, Harry asked, concerned, "How are you doing? Did you fall?"
"I'm fine," Ginny replied, a bit too hasty for Harry's taste. Following his gaze down her robes, she murmured, "Oh. Bugger!" Rubbing at the dirt spots, she murmured, "I was by the greenhouses, and I slipped on the way back. Didn't even realize I got so dirty." Looking up at Harry again, she added, "Can you please let me in. I need to wait for Snape, too?"
"Sure," muttered Harry when he realized he was blocking the door. "Come in." Giving her an apologetic smile, Harry headed back to his chair.
As she sat down two seats away from him, Harry glanced over at Ginny and noticed her slipping a slightly familiar-looking small black object into her pocket. He hesitated briefly but couldn't remember where he'd seen it before. Deciding that it probably wasn't that important, Harry raised an eyebrow, giving Ginny a crooked smile. "You're not here voluntarily, are you? What does Snape want from you?"
Grimacing, Ginny crossed her arms and shot Harry a brief glance. Staring uncomfortably at the desk in front of her, she began, "He caught me..." but was cut off by a creaking noise.
"The cosy part of the evening is over." Snape's acid voice sounding from the door made the two to jump up, alarmed. "Potter, Weasley, you should be expected to know the school rules. But obviously, one can't ask that of arrogant Gryffindor's like you. Even if it will prove futile, I'll teach you the importance of following the rules."
With a flick of his wand, Snap opened the door to his lab, and a seemingly endless row of cauldrons, bowls, and mortars floated into the classroom and spread out across the desks.
"I expect these things to be scrupulously clean and back in their place in the lab when I get back. And don't forget to clean the desks afterwards. Understood?"
When Harry and Ginny nodded, murmuring, "Yes, Professor," Snape sneered at them. "What did you say? I didn't hear you."
"Yes, Professor," they both repeated loudly and clearly, giving their professor a hateful look.
Obviously satisfied with himself, Snape sneered with relish, "Everything you need for your detention can be found in the lab. And Potter, don't you dare to snoop around in my private Potions Lab. I'll be back in three hours, and I expect you to be finished by then. Otherwise, there'll be another week of detention."
With billowing robes, Snape strode towards the door to his chamber and turned around briefly. "Accio wands," he called with a malicious grin and disappeared through the door.
"Damned!" Ginny cursed under her breath, barely suppressing her anger, and defiantly grumbled a little louder. "He could have left us our wands."
"Unlikely," Harry replied darkly. "There's a reason I call him a git. Come on. Let's see if we can find any cleaning supplies in Snape's lab. I don't want to scrape the cauldrons with my fingers. You never know what shit he's been brewing."
Harry noticed Ginny's mouth twitch in a suppressed smile as she followed him into the lab, and they began searching the drawers and cupboards. Only moments later, her slightly amused expression was gone, and Ginny looked as drained again as before. Harry wondered if she was getting enough sleep but refrained from asking her again how she was doing. After all, they had a week's detention together, and he didn't want Ginny to draw back into her shell, wordlessly staring at him, as she'd done so often in the past. Then the week would certainly turn out to be long and boring.
"Look!" Ginny pointed to a corner. "There're the brushes, the soap and other things we need."
As Harry took a step closer, he discovered a large chest filled with all sorts of cleaning supplies. "Well, that's not much," Harry growled, frustrated. "We better get started, so we'll be done when Snape returns. I don't know about you, but one week's detention with that greasy git is more than enough."
"I could live without him," Ginny grumbled, rummaging around in the chest.
"Wait. Let me pull the chest a little further into the light. I can't see anything," said Harry, grabbing the handle and giving the large box a sharp tug. As some light shone into the bucket, Harry took a closer look at the contents and snorted in disgust. "Most of this stuff belongs in the bin," he muttered angrily, scratching the back of his head.
Picking up a brush, Ginny muttered, "That's the only one that's usable." She sorted out a few metal scouring pads and a half-full can of scouring powder.
"That's not enough for both of us. There's not even a brush for each of us," Harry noted. "Let me give the cauldrons a rough cleaning with scouring sand and a scouring pad, and then you do the finishing touches with the brush and a rag with soapy water. What do you think?"
Biting her lower lip, Ginny shrugged, "Yeah, let's get started then." As her eyes wandered over the utensils on the desks, Ginny suggested, "But let me begin with the mortars. There aren't that many, and they're easy to clean. In the meantime, you can get a head start with the cauldrons."
Harry agreed, and they began to work in silence. While he scrubbed the cauldrons with the scouring sand and a metal scouring pad, Ginny made good progress brushing out the mortars and bowls and cleaning them with washing-up liquid and a cloth.
They'd been occupied for almost an hour when Ginny threw Harry a shyly smile and said, blushing a little, "If it wasn't for detention, it would almost feel like home with Mum. Whenever I did something to upset her, I had to do my chores the Muggle way. Washing dishes or chopping vegetables." Chuckling, she added, "But I always got a few of my favorites afterwards."
Echoing Ginnys's chuckles, Harry almost choked when he suddenly remembered the chores he'd had to do for the Dursleys. He sighed. "Yeah, I always had to do my chores the Muggle way. I didn't even had to do anything to upset someone." A short sarcastic laugh escaped him. "It was like now, with Snape. And there wasn't a reward either."
Noticing Ginny's scrutiny, Harry quickly shifted his gaze back to his task and murmured, "Never mind. It's not that important."
Sighing, Ginny turned her attention back to her work, too, and they both continued in silence.
Later, Harry had already scrubbed most of the cauldrons, and his fingers were already bleeding in several places from the scouring pads whose metal shavings had chafed his skin when his right hand slipped, and he cut his hand, causing a stinging pain.
"Ouch," Harry cried, his face contorted in pain, throwing away the almost dissolved pad. The large cut on the back of his hand began to bleed profusely.
"What happened?" Ginny asked, concerned, looking up from the cauldron she was wiping with a cloth.
Pressing his lips together until the pain slowly subsided, Harry took a deep breath and growled, "Nothing. My hand is just bleeding a little.
"Nothing?" Ginny replied, frowning. "That didn't sound like nothing." Eyeing the injury, she muttered, "Wait a moment. I'll get you a reasonably clean cloth we can wrap around your hand to stop the bleeding. You should go and let Madam Pomfrey have a look at it later, though."
"It's not that bad," Harry replied, slightly annoyed.
"You don't know what shit he's been brewing in that cauldron," Ginny replied gravely, shaking out a piece of cloth before wrapping it around Harry's hand and tying a knot on it.
Looking around, Ginny said, "There are only three cauldrons left. I'm going to scrub them now. Can you clean up the rest with your left hand using the brush? We'll have to hurry if we want to finish before Snape returns."
The prospect of the potions professor returning before they'd finished their chores made Harry swallow his pride. Glancing briefly at his right hand, he nodded. "Okay, let's hurry."
They had just put the last items back in the lab and cleaned the desks when the door to Snape's chambers opened, and their potions professor stepped out.
Harry hid his injured hand as Snape inspected his classroom with a sour expression and marched into the lab to check if everything was tidy. When Snape couldn't fault anything, he eyed Harry and Ginny with displeasure and dismissed them both with a snarl, "You were lucky! I'll see you both tomorrow night at 7 sharp."
Before Snape could say another word, they rushed to the door when Harry suddenly stopped and turned around. "Our wands," he said lowly but firmly.
Giving Harry a glare, the Snape placed the two wands on a desk and disappeared into his chamber.
Relieved, Harry retrieved the wands and handed Ginny hers.
"Let's go back," Harry said, nodding towards the door.
"But first, we're heading to the infirmary," Ginny replied firmly.
Rolling his eyes, Harry started walking. On the stairs up to the Great Hall, he suddenly remembered something. Frowning, he gave Ginny a scrutinizing look. "You didn't tell me why you got in detention with Snape, did you?"
Grimacing, Ginny stared ahead. The tiny smile he'd occasionally seen her flashing in the past few hours disappeared. The subject seemed to make her uncomfortable, Harry noticed.
"You said Snape caught you doing something," Harry said, wondering why she didn't want to talk about it. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he offered.
Sighing, Ginny reluctantly admitted, "Snape caught me after curfew."
Harry raised his eyebrows. "He gave you a week's detention for being a few minutes late? One day would've been enough. Where have you been? In the library?"
"It was more than a few minutes," Ginny admitted.
Giving Ginny an inquisitive glance, Harry waited for her to elaborate.
It took a while, and they were already reaching the hallway to the infirmary when she finally growled, "Well. If you really need to know. It was 2 o'clock in the morning."
"What?" Harry exclaimed, wide eyed. "What were you doing alone in the castle at this hour?"
"I..." Ginny began, slightly shuddering. "I can't remember," she finally replied, her face frozen and tears in her eyes. Turning around, she bolted off towards Gryffindor Tower.