Title: Demolition
The Houses Competition
Round: Practice round
House: Gryffindor
Class: Alchemy
Category: Practice round 500-3000 words
Prompts: [word] demolition; [object] cauldron
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Gotta Catch 'Em All: number 902, Basculegion, Ghost
Prompt: [character] Severus Snape
Jurassic Park: velociraptor
Prompt: [word] incandescent
Fandom Frenzy: Game of Thrones, number 2
Prompt: [setting] dungeon
Stay Gold: number 3
Prompt: [emotion] fury
Writing club
Fandom Fun: number 23, Indominus Rex
Prompt: write about someone full of rage
Showtime: number 7, Just Our Luck
Prompt: [word] disaster
Word count: 605
Betas: Ash V, nub, Glowstar826
Warnings/Trigger warnings: N/A
Severus watched in horror at the chaos and disaster that was unfolding in his dungeon classroom. How was it actually possible for someone to be this inept at potions? The ever-thickening cloud of neon green smoke was drifting across the dungeon, causing the other students to cough violently as they attempted to flee through the maze of cauldrons. There was the sound of Longbottom retching in the midst of the smoke, and the putrid smell that reached his nostrils as he moved closer to the source of the disaster told him the useless lump had vomited.
Before he could take another step to mitigate the disaster the room was filled with the shrieks of several students, a cry of pain and sobs from Longbottom as he melted yet another cauldron. The thick, sludge-like potion – could it even be called a potion? – seeped across the floor like an eruption from a volcano, melting the other cauldrons it came in contact with, sending waves of shrinking potions, in varying degrees of completeness, flooding across the dungeon. Unable to see the tidal wave of demolition heading their way through the thick, choking smoke, several students were drenched in potion. Severus was simultaneously incandescent with rage and uncharacteristically proud as several students shrunk to the size of dormice. It seemed as though one student at least had managed to brew a perfect shrinking solution. An ugly grimace washed over his features as he realised that it was most likely Granger's work that was the cause of the newly unfolding chaos in his classroom.
"Ten points from Gryffindor for that working shrinking potion!" he snapped as he waved his wand to clear the smoke and survey the damage. "And another fifty from Longbottom for the demolition he's caused with his ineptitude."
As the smoke cleared, Severus was able to access the full extent of the damage. The front of his classroom was flooded with potions from at least four cauldrons. In the middle of the classroom, acting like a blockade or peninsula of land was the sludge that was Longbottom's 'potion', and the back of the classroom was flooded with the Shrinking Solution from Granger's now-melted blob of a cauldron. Tables, stools and students, all shrunken, were scattered around in the flood at the back. Several other cauldrons had been completely engulfed in the still slow-moving sludge. The front of the classroom looked no better. The potions from the other students' cauldrons had combined, causing a bizarre effect. Tables and stools were warped and twisted with some parts enlarged and others shrunken. It looked as though someone had mashed together furniture for giants with furniture for elves. Fortunately, there were no students harmed in the wake of that mixture of potions.
He vanished the potions with a few waves of his wand, crossed the classroom in two strides and bent over to examine the shrunken students. An irate Finnegan was cursing Longbottom like an angry little leprechaun. Potter and Weasley were also in miniature, and Severus was briefly tempted to 'not notice them'. He instructed Granger to gather up the shrunken students and take them up to Madam Pomfrey along with Longbottom, who was still whimpering in pain and seemed to be sprouting weird mushroom-like growths out of his ears.
He dismissed the rest of the students and set about restoring the room to its former glory. Even with magic, it still took him until the bell rang for the end of class until the dungeon looked like it had pre-Longbottom's demolition derby. Severus was in a foul mood by the time he went to the Great Hall for dinner.
