Chapter 2! Year 2. Snape's patience has always been a little thin. Amazing he gave her a year and half isn't it? XD

Also amazing, there's two people following this story already. Thankies to PandaWong and SandyLovesKittens. Hope you don't mind the shout out, and if you do just let me know and I'll remove it. =3 Thought I'd say thanks though. Anyway, enjoy everyone!

Disclaimer: Only things I own here are Lauren and my idea for the plot. Everything else is property of its respective owners, mostly the wonderful J.K. Rowling unless otherwise stated.

Chapter 2- Little Miss Disappointment

Lauren had not gotten any better with her potion brewing through the course of her first year. Things still exploded, boiled over, burned, and generally failed when she put ingredients to the cauldron.

Now, in the middle of her second year, Severus found his already stretched patience wearing thin. Today he was sure would end in the same way as every other class did for her. Perhaps it would be devoid of a trip to see Madam Pomfrey though, as she'd gotten good at dodging the splash back and runoff from her failures.

The class worked in silence and he was just waiting for it to break, waiting for that sound, that affirming sound.

"A-Ah!"

There it was, that shrill little gasp that grated on his nerves, the sound of her chair scraping against the stone floor as she pushed back quickly from the table. There was no additional noise so she'd not injured herself, but he couldn't say he much cared.

"Another failure Ms. Dari?" he asked in casual contempt, sliding up from his seat. He was soon in front of her, towering over her small form as he spelled away the mess as he did every time something like this happened.

He ought to let her clean her own messes. If she was as wonderful at Charms as Flitwick raved she should have no problem with this. Next time. Next time he would leave this for her. Maybe then she could do something right.

"A sure disappointment" he said. "Sit down, open your book, and take further notes on the properties and uses of this potion and its ingredients. I will speak with you after class."

His eyes met hers, onyx to ivy and as per usual she held his gaze and gave a nod. In the sea of green he could see transparent tears starting to gather, brimming there. She did not usually cry when he reprimanded her, usually only when she injured herself. Perhaps the prospect of punishment for this last botched potion frightened her?

Good, she needed a good scaring in his opinion. She was too self-sure and a part of him wanted to see her conform to the coward that the rest of his students were. Even the bravest bowed to him, looked away, but she had yet to do so. Why?

She kept his gaze as she sat and pulled in her chair. "Yes professor" she spoke, in a small and wavering voice.

He turned to his desk and left her to her notes.

As his back turned she felt a few tears slip and rubbed furiously at her face, hoping they would stop and go unnoticed by him.

"Stupid… stupid" she muttered softly, flipping her book open violently. She was used to the extra notes but, after class…

Her heart jumped into her throat while her stomach dropped to her toes and she felt more tears try to bubble up.

No. Nope, no, not at all she was not going to cry, no! She put a stopper on her feelings as best she could, taking a deep breath, and dove into her writing. There wasn't much she could take notes on that she didn't have down already but she didn't want to get into extra trouble for just sitting around.

She was just thankful that it kept her distracted till the bell rang and everyone else packed up.

She did too, much more slowly, and then stood with shaky hands and jelly legs. The short walk from her front row seat to his desk felt like an eternity and he sat there waiting for her with a scowl fit to scare a gargoyle back to stone.

His hands were folded and resting on the top of his neatly organized desk, his eyes cold but for a spark of hot annoyance.

She met those eyes and felt her shakes intensify. Always look a person in the eyes when speaking. That was a rule the Dari's as a family held close and she worked not to break it but, but he…

"Do you plan to continue in this way Ms. Dari?" he asked, voice surprisingly level, as it always was.

"W-What?" the question caught her off guard and she stuttered a question in return.

He stood abruptly, towering over her again. "Do you plan to continue in this way, botching potions, wasting ingredients, wasting my time, being a disruption? Do your follies know no end? I have tried to be gracious Ms. Dari. You test well and write decent papers so I have tried to spare you, to see if you would improve but you are going nowhere. I can only conclude that you are either doing this on purpose to gather some sort of attention or are truly hopeless. So, which one is it?"

He had started out calm but his voice rose steadily as he continued. He leaned forward as he fell into the last sentences, hands planted firmly on the desktop, body hunched forward to lean over her small, shaking form.

"I-I" she looked up at him, meeting his eyes for just a moment and then, then she looked away.

He felt a slight triumph at that but it was soured when he heard her sniffle and saw the tears begin to fall.

He'd had plenty of children cry in front of him and he was not at all moved by her crocodile tears , if anything he was more put off by them and scowled deeper. "Oh stop that." He practically snarled his words and she shook, tears falling faster. "You think a few tears will get you out of this situation? Crying gets you nowhere in the real world little girl."

She gave a sob, and he saw her knees knock together. She was truly cowering now and he pulled his palms off the desktop to lean back and watch her. How he had ever thought she would be worth much was beyond him. He shook his head, eyes disapproving and then, just a fraction larger as she looked up at him.

There were tears still falling from her ivy eyes and a little bit of snot running out of her nose that she tried to wipe away with one of her overly large sleeves.

"I…I" she started in a broken tone, rubbing at her eyes too, and looking down. "I-I'm sorry" she cried. "I'm sorry, really. I…I don't wanna disappoint you."

He furrowed his brow. What? That was not something that had ever come up among his students.

"I'm not c-crying cause I-I'm in trouble" she tried to force her voice to calm and heard it crack. She almost fell down. "You… I'm crying cause you're disappointed in me and… and I don't want that."

She wondered how futile it was to tell him all of this. She wasn't doing it to try and get out of whatever punishment he was going to give but she wanted to explain herself, wanted him to know that she would never, ever purposefully disrespect him.

"I admire you" she said, and this was the clearest of anything that had come out of her mouth. "I wanna do good in potions." She sniffled. "B-But every time… every time I try it just… i-it won't go." The tears came back and she rubbed furiously at her eyes and nose, dirtying her sleeves.

"I-I wanna make d-daddy proud. I-I wanna make you proud… I-I just don't know how."

And he jolted when her legs gave under her and the little twelve- year-old went crashing to the floor onto her knees.

"I-I am hopeless" she sobbed into her hands, glasses pushed away and onto the floor as she had her little breakdown.

If this was acting she had a future as a wonderful actress, but he couldn't bring himself to believe it was.

His sour mood deflated into something closer to pity, a feeling he hadn't experienced for years, and he walked around the desk to stand at her side.

She looked up when his polished black shoes clicked to a halt beside her and blinked at the white cloth hanging in her line of vision. "W-Wha?"

"Your sleeves are absolutely filthy Ms. Dari, as is your face. This will remedy one of those two problems… Must I tell you which?"

Another moment of hesitation and she sniffled again, giving him a small smile as she shook her head and took the handkerchief from his hand. She wiped her eyes and cheeks, hesitating at her nose before he commanded "blow" in a soft voice and she did.

He pointed his wand at her in the meantime and set his cleaning charm on her instead of a cauldron and desk, her sleeves and the kerchief clean in just moments.

She handed it back and he stowed it away somewhere that she did not see while she gathered up her glasses and bag and pulled herself up slowly, leaning on his desk for support. Her legs, and herself in general, were still pretty shaky but she was sure she'd be okay. "Thank you"

"Do not thank me yet" he said, folding his arms smartly behind him. "There is still the matter of your punishment at hand."

She nodded, not contesting him. She didn't want to be punished but she figured it would happen eventually. She couldn't really complain… Well she could but it wouldn't help anything. She met his eyes, the silence telling him to go on and he took a step back from her, back towards the other side of his desk.

"A paper based on your additional notes about the brewing of today's potion, minimum two pages, due Friday." He shifted pointlessly through a stack of papers to take a pause. "I believe this will be the task given to you each time a potion is improperly made."

"Yes sir" she nodded obediently. He looked back at her, it didn't seem to upset her very much, if at all. At least she was reasonable.

"Additionally" and he wondered how reasonable she would feel about this "you will report here for detention tomorrow evening at six o' clock sharp. Do not be late."

Her mouth twitched down into a frown but she replied "yes sir."

He pulled out a piece of parchment and grabbed up his quill, scrawling a quick note as silence fell upon them. This he handed to her and then gave a small wave. "Dismissed."

She nodded one more time, trying a soft smile his way, and repositioned her bag before turning and walking off.

He watched after her till she was out the door and then dropped into his seat. That was… oddly emotionally taxing, and he found it disconcerting that he saw a bit of himself in her, and not in anything positive. He saw it in her eyes, the despair of someone who truly did feel hopeless… someone who felt worthless.

What an odd little girl. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Down the hall she walked, feeling just as drained, heart just slowing to its usual rhythm. That had been terrifying, but now it was over. She looked around the corridor and smiled to see herself out of the dungeon. Feeling far enough away she glanced at the note.

Professor Flitwick

Please excuse Ms. Dari for her tardiness. Also, please teach her Scourgify, Tergeo, and Aguamenti as soon as possible. If you must have a reason, question me.

-S. Snape

She blinked. Not comprehending why she would need to learn two cleaning charms, one more specialized to blood, and a water casting charm. Her brow furrowed and she tapped her cheek, sleeve in her peripheral vision. Her sleeve… She began to laugh. Did the professor have a sense of humor? How funny.

It seemed she'd be cleaning her own messes from now on.

I feel like the transition from Snape to Lauren POV, even though it's third person omniscient, is a little jumpy here, especially near the end. Gotta work on that XD Any tips, throw em my way =3 Think it was good? Let me know. Think it was bad, help me improve. Wanna pronounce your love for cookies... that would be a little random but go ahead! Or you could just go on your merry way, which is just as well. Have a good day/night/other!