AN* I apologize for my tardiness luckily for all of you due to my unemployment and track season being almost complete you can expect more updates from me :)

special thanks goes out to emilynoel11, for beta reading this chapter.

Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter, or any characters, settings, plot lines, or any other aspect of this story that may be affiliated with it. I do own my sister's hand-me-down ipod touch though, which means I no longer have to go down into the basement to read fan fiction, just to write it : )

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Chapter 10- shit hits the fan

"Hey, I've been trying to talk to you." Draco stated in way of greeting, taking the seat beside Pansy at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall.

"Yeah, well I don't feel much like talking." Pansy quipped, wiping the corners of her mouth on her napkin and, with unnecessary force, dropped it on her unfinished plate.

"I don't get it; just this Saturday you were all upset because I was trying to give you some space, and now you're avoiding me," Draco sighed. "I give up."

Pansy narrowed her gaze before leaving in a huff, muttering to herself as she stormed out of the Great Hall. Draco turned to Blaise for help, who just shrugged and began attacking his eggs. He still had absolutely no idea what Tracy had been on about.

Millicent took a seat at the table, resting her head in her hands with a groan.

"Same." Draco groaned, letting his head fall into his arms.

"No, not same. You don't understand how much trouble I am in." Millicent cried. "My parents are coming to speak with the Headmaster and Professor Snape next weekend." Millicent piled her plate high, as though she could replace her anxieties with the food.

"Well, that's what you get for keeping dope at school." Blaise replied smartly.

Draco lifted his head from his folded arms "Yeah, Millie, what were you doing with weed anyway? You never smoke." He took no shame in prying.

"You don't think I know that!" Millicent squawked. "It isn't mine, but I have no way to prove that, do I? And they found it in my pillow so it must be right!" Millicent yammered between mouthfuls of food. "I don't know who planted it on me or why, but when I find 'em," Millicent smashed her fist hard onto her plate, causing it to explode with bits of food and hundreds of thousands of shards of china.

"You make your point vividly." Draco commented.

"How many times do I have to ask you about your date with Blaise, Tracy?" Ollie had been begging Tracy since Saturday for the details.

"I already told you Ollie, it went well." Tracy sighed, fine was no longer cutting it but she didn't have much else to say…other than the truth of course, but that was besides the point.

"What does well mean though? 'You're going to go out again well' or 'we didn't kill each other well'?" Ollie prodded further.

It didn't really happen well, Tracy thought, pushing her food around uncomfortably. "Don't you think this has gone on long enough?"

"What are you talking about?" Ollie smiled, emptying her glass.

"Really Ollie, the two of you never talk. I think this is less about hurting feelings and more about being to afraid to throw the punch." Tracy elaborated. Ollie's smile slide right off of her face.

"I am not afraid of breaking up with him." Ollie claimed, taking a bite to drive her point.

"Oh, really, you're not? Well, he's right there." Tracy gestured further down the table, "go on ahead and break it off."

Ollie sat there, looking about the Great Hall uncomfortably. "I'm not the only one who's afraid here." Ollie argued as a way of admitting her fears.

"What are you afraid of anyway?" Tracy requested with a bite. "I mean, if he actually was into you I would get it, but you're not actually going to hurt his feelings, just maybe his ego a little."

"I just, we never talked about anything important before. I'm not exactly ready to start now with this!" Orla explained, fiddling with the hem of her napkin.

"What about when he asked you out?" Ollie stared down at her plate. "You asked him out?" Ollie began rubbing her temples with her hands. "How the hell did you become a couple exactly?" Tracy demanded.

"Well, everyone kept saying we had a thing, and then suddenly we were 'dating'." Ollie explained.

"So all this time you never even had a relationship to breakup in the first place?" Tracy exclaimed, face flushing with anger.

"I did, and still do." Ollie disputed, sitting straight in her chair, looking rather offended.

"No, Odilia, you don't. What if Theo finds out I went with Blaise to Hogsmead?" Tracy hissed.

"So what if he does? It's not like he's actually going to ask you out Tracy, he's only interested in pretty girls." Ollie divulged. Tracy's eyes narrowed into slits.

"You're terrible." Tracy declared before heading to class.

"Pansy, we need to talk." Theo called after Pansy's retreating figure.

She didn't bother to stop. "And what could we possibly need to talk about." Pansy wasn't asking, she was saying they had nothing to talk about.

"Don't pretend like you don't know." Theo hissed, grabbing her by the wrist.

"Oh, but see, that's the problem, I have absolutely no idea." Pansy replied, pulling her hand free.

"Detention, Saturday?" Theo baited in an even tone.

In one swift step Pansy had grabbed Theodore by the collar of his robes. "Nothing happened Nott, understand?" Pansy hissed, shaking him a bit. "Good." She released his collar and made her way quickly down the corridor. Theo stood, rubbing his neck, staring after her as she disappeared behind a corner.

Astoria sat on her potions stool tapping her foot anxiously; today their tests would be handed back. Astoria needed to receive a near perfect, if not exactly that, in order to maintain her passing grade. However, she had to admit that since she had began the tutoring sessions, the practical aspect of her grade was improving dramatically. Although going from a 15 to a 47 was a 32 percent increase, it still wasn't a pass, which meant her grade was being carried by the written portion.

Snape took a neat stack of papers out of his top drawer and with a wave of his wand had them distributed to the appropriate pupil. Astoria's fluttered to settle atop her desk face down, and with a shaky, hesitant hand she flipped it over. Astoria gasped; a perfect test! She had gotten absolutely perfect, which meant that, if she wasn't mistaken, her mark would have gone up by one percent, which meant she would have gone from a Poor, to an Acceptable. She was now passing!

"This is impossible." Orla breathed with a note of hysteria. "This-this-this-" Orla stammered, flipping through the pages frantically, scanning the test from beginning to end repeatedly. "I-I-I didn't write that!"

"Miss. Quirke, I would ask that you please hold your comments until after class." Snape drawled before entering into his lecture. Orla slammed her test onto her desk, slouched in her stool, arms crossed, lips pursed and brow furrowed. Stewart leaned over in his chair and began whispering jokes to Orla in an attempt to get her to lighten up.

She pushed him away with such force that his stool teetered and tumbled over.

A persistent knocking on the door interrupted Snape mid lecture. The entire class turned in their seats to face the door. Snape's eyes narrowed in annoyance, and with a quick flick of his wand, the door flew open, banging against the wall and causing everyone to jump in their seats. The girl who had been knocking retracted her hand, clutching it to her chest and jumping, eyes widening with surprise.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Miss. Quirke?" Snape asked sardonically. Draco sunk into his stool-but not near enough for anyone to notice- checking to see if anyone was looking at him; they were all staring at Orla. Regaining her composure, fixing her hair and straightening her tie, Orla took a breath and, putting on a brave face, marched forward.

"I am here, Professor, because you have made a horrible mistake." Orla stopped right before Snape's imposing form, and stood tall as she could. "There is no way I could have answered every single question on that test wrong."

"We discussed this after class Miss. Quirke, I went over the appropriate answers with you, none of the answers on your test even partially resembled those that were correct." Snape droned, clearly haven already given the same speech multiple times

"Someone has tampered with my paper!" Orla all but screamed. "…sir." She added as an after thought, hoping to regain some composure.

"My sympathies go out to you, Miss. Quirke," Snape said, although his tone suggested otherwise, "however, you are disrupting my class-"

"My parents are here." Orla interrupted. "And they will hear about this. Now. And they will not leave until I get my O." With a stomp of her foot, Orla marched out of the room, slamming the door behind her. The entirety of the class was holding its breath, glances darting from the door, to Snape, to each other and around again.

With a quick flick of the wrist, Snape had an assignment appear on the board. "You will work with your groups to brew this potion. More detailed instructions can be found on page 94." Snape instructed, his agitation more then evident, as he and his robes billowed out of the room.

While Hermione frantically flipped through her text book to find the page, the rest of the class was still to shocked to do anything.

"That was the bravest thing I ever saw." Neville whispered. "I can't believe she's not a Gryffindor."

"That wasn't bravery, that was sheer stupidity. I agree." Draco smirked, as he turned in his seat to face the table and pulled his textbook towards him.

"Look at them," Pansy seethed, her eyes in slits, as she glared at Draco, who was explaining something to Millicent.

"Um, Pansy, they're in the same group, they have to talk." Ollie said, her worry evident.

"Can someone please explain to me what we're supposed to do?" Lavender groaned, dropping her book in frustration. Fay gave her a shrug, shaking her head, just as lost.

"Why don't we just see what Granger does and copy off of her?" Ollie suggested, gently turning Pansy to face Hermione's group, hoping to divert her attention from Millicent and Draco.

"Draco is just as good a brewer as Hermione." Pansy argued, returning her attention to Draco.

"But Hermione is much closer." Ollie reasoned.

"Yes, but that stupid mudblood is more likely to tell if she catches us peeking." Pansy countered.

"Is there something we should know about?" Fay asked concerned. Lavender leaned forward now, intrigued.

"I'm going to catch him." Pansy muttered. Lavender and Fay looked at each other confusedly.

"Pansy, are you feeling okay? Maybe you should go to the hospital wing." Ollie suggested, laying the back of her hand against Pansy's forehead to check her temperature.

"Longbottom, stop before you blow us all to bits." Draco barked just as Neville was about to put the rat tail into the cauldron. Neville shrunk into his seat mumbling some sort of apology. "Fairy wings go in first."

Millicent scooped the fairy wings that she had crushed into a fine powder, as instructed by Draco who was the only one who had any idea what they were doing, into her cupped hand and went to pour them into the bubbling cauldron.

"Wait for it to reach a simmer." Draco ordered, grabbing Millicent's hand and pulling it away from the cauldron, lest she spoil it.

"Aha!" Pansy exclaimed, jumping out of her seat and pointing an accusing finger at Draco. "I caught you." Draco, as well as the rest of the class, appeared thoroughly confused.

"Pansy, are you sure you're alright?" Ollie whispered.

"Caught me doing what, exactly?" Draco asked, dropping Millicent's hand so he could cross his arms.

"I knew there was something going on between you two!" Pansy asserted, gesturing between Millicent and Draco. Daphne could feel her face heating up, not that anyone was paying attention. Those who weren't watching the scene unfold were attempting to keep up with four peoples' worth of work; this second category consisted solely of Hermione.

"Wait, wait, wait. You think that there is something between us?" Draco quirked an eyebrow.

"Pansy, that's ridiculous!" Millicent stated.

"Oh, is it Bulstrode?" Pansy questioned, eyes narrowed into slits.

"Um. Yeah." Draco nodded.

"Yes it is, Draco would never cheat on you, and I'm your friend, I couldn't do that to you." Millicent replied with sympathetic tones, thinking, what brought all this on?

"I thought those things too, but here we are." Pansy said with a hollow laugh.

"Why do you think I'm cheating on you?" Draco demanded, becoming annoyed with both Pansy and the audience they'd attracted.

"Why are you cheating on me?" Pansy countered, standing her ground; clearly believing that she was in the right.

Draco was clearly getting frustrated. "I'm not!"

"That's what a cheater would say!" Pansy accused.

"And someone who's not cheating." Draco rationalized. The audience began to whisper amongst each other.

Do you think he's telling the truth?

Of course not, it's Malfoy!

You're a Slytherin, is he cheating?

If he is, I never heard about it

Oh come on, it's Parkinson, she's always overreacting.

This is better than my soaps!

Lavender, have some class, ... but I know right?

"I can't believe after everything I did to her hair you were still interested." Pansy wailed.

Millicent titled her head. "Everything you did to my hair… you're the one who put colour changing ink in my shampoo!"

The crowd gasped. "Oh yes, much better than my soaps." Lavender exclaimed.

Millicent began whirling her head about the way one does when their anger is building. "It took over a week for it to completely wash out!"

"I didn't know that it'd last a week!" Pansy confessed. "I thought it would last forever, or at least until you cut it out." Millicent's nostrils flared, her hands clenched into fists. Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other, trying to decide whether they should let Millie kill Pansy or not. Daphne, feeling extremely guilty at this point, gestured for Crabbe and Goyle to stop her.

"Still interested in her? Pansy, I'm not interested in anyone like that except for you!"

A couple of the girls awed. "Whipped!" Seamus laughed, with Dean smirking beside them. Draco sent them a glare which efficiently shut them up.

"Then where do you keep disappearing off to at lunch? Hmm, didn't think I would notice?" The same girls who awed now gasped.

"I was pretty sure you would notice actually; I wasn't exactly hiding the fact that I was gone. I just didn't think it would turn into some ridiculous accusation." Draco retorted.

"Well, if it's no secret, what were you doing then?" Pansy pointed her chin up to the ceiling, arms crossed awaiting his answer.

"I was tutoring." Draco explained.

"What subject." Pansy interrogated.

"Potions." Draco answered easily.

"Who!" Pansy demanded.

"Astoria Greengrass." A few heads turned to Daphne, wondering if there was some relation.

"You're my sister's miracle tutor!" Daphne gasped, clarifying that there was in fact a relation. "What are you doing, tutoring her? It's not as though you volunteered." The entirety of the class nodded in agreement.

"Is the possibility of me doing something because it's a good thing so hard to believe?" Draco exclaimed, the class broke into a fit of laughter, those involved in the argument attempting to stifle theirs seeing as this was rather serious.

"It's his punishment for rigging Longbottom's cauldron." Millicent explained, freeing herself from Crabbe and Goyle, fists still clenched but much calmer.

"Oh, so it's just a coincidence that Millicent's been missing at lunch as well?" Pansy protested, looking for support among the girls, some of which schooled suspicious expressions towards Malfoy. Hermione just rolled her eyes and demanded that Ron "get his arse over here and help."

"Yes, actually it is." Draco snapped, challenging Pansy's little posse with a glare.

"I've been doing extra credit. Ask any professor." Millicent mentioned in Draco's defense.

"Why didn't you just tell me you were tutoring? I would have understood." Pansy proclaimed.

"No, you wouldn't have. You would have made a big deal over nothing like you are now." Draco argued.

"You cheating isn't nothing!" Pansy rest a hand on her chest, aghast.

"You are such a hypocrite!" Theo hissed, the class turned to examine this new development. "How can you rag on Malfoy about cheating when just last Saturday you were snogging me?" A whole new front of whispering appeared.

Pansy seemed more likely to cheat!

Nott got with that?

How?

I'm starting to think Draco didn't cheat at all!

Pansy's probably just paranoid.

So much better than a soap!

"You snogged my girlfriend?" Draco breathed, completely caught off guard. Theo paled, realizing his mistake.

Tracy gasped. "So what was all the flirting then? Just some sick joke?"

"I thought you were supposed to be my friend!" Draco yelled, throwing his text book with the intent of hitting his head. Nott dove under the table. "You slick git, you bloody bastard!"

"She came onto me!" Theo said in his defense, his gaze darting from Draco to Tracy from his hiding spot under the table.

"I wouldn't have done it if you hadn't started it!" Pansy explained to Draco, eyes frantic.

"I didn't start anything! Why on earth do you think I've been cheating on you?" There was an air of desperation in Draco's voice.

"Well Daphne said-" Pansy stopped mid rant and turned to her friend. Draco, as well as the class; even Granger now, turned to look at her. "Daphne… you…you meant for this to happen didn't you?" Daphne shrank beneath Pansy's scrutiny. "You-you wanted me to think that Draco was cheating on me! You-you, ahhhhhhhhh!" Pansy gave a long, shrill shriek of rage before stumbling after Daphne, hands balled into fists with every intent of smashing Daphne's traitorous face in.

Daphne flew out of her seat, Pansy chasing after her screaming, "You traitor! You bitch! I thought you were my friend!" Daphne repeatedly shouting, "Pansy, let me explain," over her shoulder as she ran for her life.

Amongst the ruckus of Pansy and Daphne's wild chase another argument had sprouted. Those uninvolved were much more interested in the chase, shouting encouragements such as "grab her by the hair!", "bash her face in!", and "head for the door Daphne, use your wand!"

"I'm not the one going on dates to Hogsmead with other men…or women if it were in my case." Theo hissed, poking his head out from his hiding place, in case Draco takes this opportunity to attack him. However, Malfoy seemed far too preoccupied with keeping his girlfriend from killing her best friend. Although he wasn't sure if either of those terms still held true.

"You idiot, I walked with him for like ten minutes! That hardly qualifies as a date." Tracy argued. Theodore slunk back into the shadow under the table, he felt stupid and slightly ashamed.

"You didn't go?" Ollie seethed, "I ask you one favour as a friend-"

"It was a selfish and stupid favour." Tracy retorted, nearly avoiding a head on collision with Daphne. Lucky for her, Malfoy had managed to grab Pansy's wand before she could cause any real damage.

"Then you shouldn't have agreed to it." Ollie rationalized resolutely.

"You shouldn't have expected me to still do it when I had a thing of my own going on." Tracy explained.

"Yeah, well, maybe it would have been better if you had just followed through with your promise, seeing as your thing with Nott was just a huge joke to him!" Odilia spat, hurt that her friendship wasn't worth more to Tracy than some boy hiding under a table.

"It wasn't a joke!" Theo mumbled, his comment falling on deaf ears as Tracy angrily sat in her chair, grumbling to herself about stupid boys and lousy friends.

Seemingly out of nowhere came Millicent's arm, clothes-lining Daphne. The class winced at the loud thump of Daphne meeting the unforgiving stone floor.

"That's for putting me through hell Greengrass!" Millicent hissed, Pansy accosted her in seconds. Before Pansy could land the first punch however, Draco grabbed her raised fist from behind her.

"Come on Pansy, this won't resolve anything." Draco said, still panting.

"It'll resolve my rage!" Pansy screamed, attempting to yank her wrist from Draco's grasp.

"Pansy, I'm sorry, you weren't supposed to find out." Daphne apologized, scrambling from underneath Pansy who was kneeling with her legs on either side of Daphne's waist.

"Why did you do it? What could you have possibly gained?" Pansy demanded, fighting against Draco's attempts to restrain her. Daphne sat on the floor wide-eyed and stuttering.

"Just tell her Daphne." Blaise laughed hollowly, "Tell her that you wanted her and Draco to break up because you wanted to date him."

They always throw in a twist!

Lavender, this isn't a damned soap, cut it out already.

Pansy's eyes nearly popped out of her skull at this new information. Draco's grip went slack allowing Pansy to slip free and land a left hook straight to Daphne's jaw, sending her back onto the floor. The class ohh'd, Daphne held her face for a second, mouth open in a perfect O, blood dripping from the creases between her fingers and onto the floor in slow steady drops, Pansy shaking her hand as though she could shake off the pain in her cracked knuckles, before she sprang upon Pansy. The male spectators, most of them anyway, cheered and shouted encouragements. Hermione was reprimanding both Ron and Harry for doing so, saying such remarks were those of mindless pigs. Millicent rolled her eyes, and pulled the two apart from each other rather roughly, each still gripping onto a fist full of the others' hair.

"What I want to know is how Blaise knows what Daphne's intent was." Millicent said, turning to face Blaise, Pansy quickly becoming interested.

Daphne, more than ready to be rid of part of the blame squealed. "He knows because he helped me! He betrayed Draco!" The Gryffindor's held their breath.

Millicent shook her head in a sort of disapproving manner.

"I don't think Malfoy's worth all this trouble." Ron snickered, to which Harry nodded in agreement.

Hermione gave him a disapproving shove. "Ron, that isn't appropriate."

"Draco, I can explain." Blaise said slowly.

"I don't want to hear about how my friend was conspiring against me." Draco hissed, handing Millicent his wand lest he should do something he'll regret.

"She tricked me!" Blaise proclaimed adamantly "If she wasn't so god damned gorgeous-"

"You think I'm gorgeous?" Daphne's cheeks flushed.

"Blaise, you have a girlfriend!" Millicent was incredulous.

"Ollie and Blaise aren't dating." Crabbe remarked. Goyle nodded in a manner that said, didn't you know? Apparently the class hadn't.

"We're not?" The two asked in unison, and with a quick glance at the other, they both smiled in relief. "Good, because I wasn't sure how I was going to tell you," both stated in their own variation.

"Glad things are working out for you, Blaise." Theodore called from beneath the table, his sarcasm evident.

"That's the dumbest excuse I ever heard! What, did you think she was going to date you if you helped her? By helping her, you were ruining your own chances." Draco explained, unable to keep the notes of annoyance, anger, and pity due to Blaise's sheer stupidity from his voice.

Blaise's original expression suggested he was going to argue that point, until his smirk slid into a frown "…Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! I'm an idiot!" Blaise confessed.

"Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery Blaise." Theodore couldn't help but comment, feeling brave in his hiding place.

"Well I could have told you that." Daphne muttered.

"Shut up. You're just upset that the reason Pansy and Nott snogged was because of the advice you gave him." Blaise gave his desperate-sounding retort, however it seemed to rattle Draco; he knew it was true.

"What was that advice?" Tracy inquired.

"That he should hit on a girl that wasn't pretty to make the girls that are jealous! ...Shit!" Blaise cursed himself for his sheer stupidity again. Dean and Seamus snickered.

"Oh, so I'm just some ugly stepping stone to you!" Tracy exclaimed, trying to keep the tears out of her voice. The female members of the audience looked about ready to pound Nott into the ground; he cowered further into his hiding place.

"You're not ugly."

"But I'm not pretty right?" Tracy wailed, Theo moved out of his hiding place, grabbing Tracy's hand in an attempt to comfort her. "Don't touch me." she snapped, retracting her hand.

"Then let me explain." Theo begged.

"Explain what? How it isn't your fault, that it was Malfoy's bad advice, or Pansy coming on to you? Maybe it was partially those things, but you had a part in it too." Tracy fumed. Theo stood there at a lose for words. "That's what I thought."

"Why did you believe her over me?" Draco asked sullenly.

"She was my best friend." Pansy explained, as though the answer were obvious.

Draco turned to Pansy, looking displeased. "So you trusted her more than you trusted me? She didn't have any evidence, she just told you some bullshit story about me and-"

"Actually she just sort of alluded to the possibility of you liking Millie more than her." Blaise interjected.

"Great, so she didn't even tell you I was cheating and you just assumed that I was!" Draco exclaimed, his hurt evident.

"Are you saying that this is in any way my fault?" Pansy's voice was shaky "I'm a victim here!"

"This wouldn't have happened if you had just trusted me, or at least used some common sense!" Draco accused.

"Any one with a little common sense would know better than to trust a Malfoy!" Pansy roared, leaning into her words. Draco began packing his bag. "Where are you going? Class isn't over yet, you can't just leave." Although her words were certain, Pansy didn't sound nor look so sure in her attempt to keep him from leaving.

Draco just shouldered past her. "Whatever."

"Great! If Malfoy doesn't come back, we're going to fail this class." Sophie murmured. Neville looked at her, shaking his head to show that, although it was true, now was not the time.

Pansy fell onto her stool with an air of defeat, fanning her face with her hands, her eyes already filled with tears, and began to sob. The Slytherin's were all either too upset or confused to do anything.

"Oh, honey." Lavender sighed, scooting her stool over to give her a lopsided hug.

Pansy kept uttering phrases such as "I ruined everything,", "I'm such an idiot,", and "It's all over" between sobs. Fay charmed some parchment into a handkerchief which she passed over to Pansy.

Harry offered Tracy his seat. Taking up her old one beside Theo, he allowed them to be as far away from each other as possible. "Tracy, I-" Tracy put her hand up to stop him, refusing to face him as she glared at the corner.

"Leave her alone Nott." Parvati advised.

"Yeah, just give her some space." Harry agreed.

"Wow that was-" Blaise began before Daphne turned so her back was facing him. "Oh come on, you can't be mad at me. This is all your fault!" Ron hunched over so his face was hidden by his book. Hermione was in a whirlwind, trying to salvage the potion they had left to boil over due to the previous commotion.

Daphne whipped around to face him. "I didn't mean for it to happen like this."

"Well, this is how it happened." Blaise shrugged. Daphne looked about the class and with a groan slammed her head against the table top.

Snape walked down the hall messaging his temples. He had thought the Quirke girl was a nightmare, but apparently she had learned her insufferable stubbornness from her father, and the idea that she was deserving of high grades merely due to the fact that she was a Ravenclaw, from her mother, who was sure to bring up that fact far more than was necessary. No matter how unusual a test without a single correct answer was, that's what Snape had been handed in, and no amount of complaining, whining, and disrupting of his free time; nor his class time, would change that.

As Snape descended the stairs to the dungeons, he saw Draco Malfoy ascending them, his head downcast. "And where do you think you are going, Mr. Malfoy?" Draco didn't stop; didn't even look at Snape. He just put up his hand as though to silence him, and continued on his way. Sass-ey. Snape rolled his eyes and continued on his way to the dungeons. He'd deal with Malfoy later, if at all. He didn't much care, the Greengrass girl was improving drastically and that was enough for him.

Snape wished he had gone after Malfoy the moment he entered his classroom. Parkinson was bawling her eyes out, Malfoy was obviously missing, small squabbles had broken out all over the room, and there wasn't a single potion which wasn't spoiled. Just as he was wondering how things could possibly get any worse, Granger's cauldron erupted due to her attempts to savage it. Snape was in a foul mood, and there was only one thing that could be done for it.

"What, may I ask, is going on here?" Snape waited for all heads to turn, register his arrival, and what it meant, before continuing. "I leave this room with one, simple task, and I come back to see that not one of you was capable of performing it. It is in my jurisdiction, and my right, to fail you all." Hermione appeared to be on the brink of tears. "However, being that I am in a more lenient mood, you will all have the opportunity to brew the potion again." Snape paused to allow the children to build their hopes back up. "In detention tonight." Snape finished, trying not to smirk at the crestfallen faces around him. "I expect all of you to be present."

"Would you like me to tell Malfoy?" Millicent inquired.

"Do you see him in this room?" Snape inquired, unable to help the smirk at Weasley and Potter's outrage. Sure it was unfair, but wasn't everything he'd been put through today as well?

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