Chapter 13 :
"Did you have to ?" Asked Harry, frowning as he looked at the moon through the Library's windows.
"Are you unhappy with having him as your elf ?" Confusedly queried Theodore. "I can understand that he is a little eccentric-"
"No, of course not ! I am very happy to have Dobby in my family, but..."
"But ?"
"The way he calls me is worse than before..." Grumbled the young Potter.
"... ?"
"He used to call me The Great Harry Potter. Now he calls me The Great Harry Potter Sir !"
The Slytherin chuckled a little, taking advantage of the fact that Harry was the only person with him to express his amusement externally. It felt good to be able to laugh -actually laugh!- without anyone dying of fright at the sight.
Harry sighed in exasperation :
"Why did you even do that by the way ? I'm thankful for it but, you're not the kind of guy who'd help an elf for the heck of it."
"I needed to replace my spy network and the House Elves are perfect for the job."
"And they accepted ?" Exclaimed the Gryffindor. "Just like that ?"
"Freedom is really shameful for Elves" explained Theodore, "it's a Taboo. Finding masters for two Free Elves might seems like nothing for us but for them it's a big deal. Plus... They actually tricked me."
Harry raised a surprised brow at that. Now knowing more about the famous Shadow King of Slytherin, he knew that tricking him wasn't easy, especially without consequences. Nott gloomily pouted under his stare :
"They made me forget to ask them to spy on the professors too. And now they refuse to do it."
Some would say that denial is the panacea of the weak, but they were undoubtedly dunderheads. The professor Snape knew his worth, he knew himself to be strong, and denial was his favorite way to stay sane.
In polite company when lunacy itself intruded on the conversation, it was only common sense to ignore it with all you have. Even in the dark privacy of his lair it was simply easier to side-step absurdity whenever he saw it. Alas somedays, Reality had a way to undo even the strongest alcohol induced obliviate...
And indeed, as soon as Snape opened the door of his classroom to welcome another two hours of infuriating fourth year ignoramuses shenanigans and saw Potter and Nott innocently standing side by side... He promptly closed the door and threw up on his shoes. He immediately vanished the mess -with a little more flair than usual to maintain what was left of his dignity- took a deep breath and reasserted that his occlumency shields weren't utterly obliterated.
Merlin, his head was killing him. The breaking of an obliviate was never painless, especially when it was so sudden. He had no choice but to endure however, as taking a potion for his headache would only undermine his shields and the very organisation of his mind. He thought about obliviating himself anew but knew it to be a bad idea. If the spell was broken once it could be broken again, it just wasn't worth it. It seemed that Snape would have to do this the hard way...
Breathing deeply, he put his hand on the doorknob to open his classsroom and- He was trembling. He, Severus Snape, the proudly called Bat of the Dungeon, was trembling. Shit, he wasn't nearly drunk enough for this !
He gritted his teeth in frustration. Objectively he knew that Potter and Nott were only harmless teenagers. They were 14 years old for Merlin's sake ! They wouldn't know how to hurt a fly if they tried to ! And yet... Snape remembered all too well the way too numerous messes Potter got involved into the previous years. He remembered all too well how hazardous the Potter Luck could be and still bore the scars. And the less said about Nott, the better. He still had PTSD from that night where Nott Sr got so stoned he started wailing about his son. Never had he fled the « Old-timers meeting » so quickly.
Unable to deny his obvious fear of these demon spawns, Snape was overtaken by rage. Why... Why did these atrocious children have to be in his class together ?! What kind of punishement game was that ?! Snape wasn't an innocent man by far -Merlin forbid!- but he didn't deserve that ! Nobody deserved that- Hell, even Dumbledore didn't deserve it ! And yet he had to endure it... How fucking unfair ! But so be it : since Snape had to suffer, he would. And so would everyone else !
He brutally opened the door with a wave of his wand and yelled out :
"Potter, ten points from Gryffindor for breathing too loudly !"
The murder in the young Nott's eyes at his words popped the professor's rage like a balloon. Terror was all that was left.
AN: To be honest, I wasn't supposed to post this chapter anytime soon but... I just couldn't wait to share it with you! Snape is so much fun, I didn't want to keep him to myself any longer!