Severus looked at the essay and then lifted his head to look at the boy in front of him. He was waiting expectantly for what was coming next. Severus nodded his head at the essay and picked up his red ink and quill to correct it. He got up from his table and made his way towards a door at the corner of the room. He would check it there, in his small, comfortable sitting area, and delight at every error and mistake the boy had made.
Before opening the door, he looked back at the young Gryffindor and snarled, "There are dirty cauldrons in the cupboard. Clean them by eight. Then you may leave. And no magic." He closed the door behind him.
Harry started for some time at the door behind which his professor had disappeared. He had always wondered what was in there. Guess he would never know. He sighed and made his way towards the cupboard. He was not surprised at the lack of cleaning materials. He would have to find them himself.
An empty old metal bucket was found behind the cupboard, the sponge was in one of the cauldrons, dish soap was near the sink and gloves were not found. Five minutes passed and finally, Harry had all the things he needed.
He leaned against the table for a few minutes, breaking into a cold sweat and shivering due to his rising temperature. His headache had only worsened in the past hour and the only thing making him function coherently till now was the thought of his bed waiting for him in the dormitory.
He had looked enough for the rubber gloves to figure out that they were not going to show up. He picked up the bucket and filled it with water from the sink. To his dismay, it was freezing cold. He somehow managed to drag it to where the cauldrons were with his tired arms and proceeded to dip his hands in the cold, soapy water, hoping the best for his already infected hand. Like burning acid, the water touched the wound and took all he had for Harry to not scream out.
Time moved faster when his old reflexes took over. He had plenty of experience in cleaning dishes before and cauldrons weren't much different. Except for the searing pain in his body, it was pretty much the same. Soon, he had come down to the second last cauldron.
PS: I had taken a day off from school today, that's why I am posting chapters like it is the end of the world. don't expect this every day, though. I will post once in a while.