The Day Ahead

TITLE: The Day Ahead
AUTHOR: Taran
PAIRING: SS/HP
RATING: NC-17
FEEDBACK: Yes Please!!! taran_swann@yahoo.ca
DISCLAIMER: *sigh* Not mine. Some nasty, ugly, brilliant woman by the name of J.K. Rowling owns the whole Harry Potter universe. I\'m just borrowing for a while, and then I\'ll send it all back the way I found it.
SUMMARY: Destruction in the dungeons leads to romance.
WARNINGS: There are NO spoilers!
BETA: Thanks to Sher for all the help.
ARCHIVING: Just ask!


The Day Ahead by Taran


Part 1 The Day Before


Severus Snape was dreading the day ahead of him. He didn\'t believe it could be any worse than the day before, but it wouldn\'t be much better, either.

He cringed at the memory. The day had started out normal enough. He awoke at 6:30am sharp as always, showered, washed his hair and dressed the same as he did every other day. He entered the Great Hall at precisely 7:40am and sat at his usual chair at the of of the table.

The only recent change in Severus\' routine was the addition of Fred and George Weasley, both of whom had taken up the position of Muggle Studies teachers. They had split up the work load so that they each had time with all students but could still devote time to their impossibly successful joke shop.

Severus sneered as one of the twins noisily sat next to him, greeting him pleasantly. No matter how much Severus grumbled and growled, the two red-heads refused to back down and leave him in peace. They always insisted on trying to drag him into conversation. Most days, Severus just ignored them and finished his meal as quick as possible, other days, he would simply growl and sneer at them till they finally gave in and dire the their voices the other way.

Severus peered closely at the young man, noting the slight, subtle differences and correctly judged this one to be Fred Weasley. It had taken him more than eight years, but he had finally been able to detect the differences that set the identical twins apart. He loved reminding them of the fact that he knew who was who as there dit set seem to be anyone else who could tell them apart. Even their own mother couldn\'t get it right. The twins had never been able to determine how Severus did it, and of course, he\'d never tell.

When the young man failed to attempt to engage him in conversation, Severus should have recognised it for what it was; a clear sign that something was amiss in the world. Severus, however, simply thought the man had finally learned to leave him alone. That was the first sign of disaster ahead and his first mistake of the day.

As a familiar loud voice entered the Great Hall, Severus looked up from his typical breakfast of bacon and eggs to see Harry Potter arriving with his entourage. As the handsome young man smiled shyly at him, Severus sneered. He was aware of the boys growing interest in him, but couldn\'t fathom the reason for it. He\'d never been the object of a crush before and what was more disconcerting was the fact that he had to admit to his own growing attraction to the irritating seventeen year old. It irked him to no end.

His second mistake of the day was not noticing the smile Ron Weasley gave him. The youngest Weasley boy seemed to be accepting of his best friend\'s odd crush, but that didn\'t mean that *he* liked Snape anymore than before. If Severus had seen the smile, he would have known with absolute certainty that disaster was in the air. He missed it completely, however, as he kept his eyes trained on Harry until the group was seated at the Gryffindor table.

Severus finished his meal in peace and set forth to his first class of the day. The first part of the day moved along smoothly. That was another sign that Severus failed to recognize. Nothing ever went smoothly for the Potions Master. There were no explosions, no turned over cauldrons, no toxic fumes. Severus was foolish enough to think that he just might get through the day unscathed for a change.

Entering the Great Hall at lunch, Severus noticed the absence of the Muggle Studies teachers and attributed it to his apparent lucky streak. It wasn\'t until he was half finished his lunch that he noticed the absence of the Gryffindor Trio, as well.

Severus groaned, knowing this didn\'t bode well. The Weasley twins were bad enough on their own, but were ten times worse when they had witnesses and a cheering section. Severus was suddenly nervous, certain that whatever the pranksters were up to would involve him in some way.

Since returning to Hogwarts, they seemed to have made it their mission in life to torment their former Potions professor. They used Severus as their guinea pig for new products for their joke shop. Severus had overheard the twins explaining to Minerva that they used Severus because he was most in need of a good laugh. Severus didn\'t find it the least bit amusing, however, to have his robes spontaneously change color at odd times, or have his voice raise several octaves and squeak and crack like a 13 year old boy while trying to give a lecture on the importance of maturity and safety in the potions classroom.

Severus rose nervously from his chair and headed for the dungeons. He didn\'t dare stay out in the open where he could be pranked in front of the entire school. If it had to happen, it would be in the privacy of his own rooms. He made his way down to the dungeons quickly, locking the classroom door behind him until the start of the next class.

Checking his afternoon schedule, Severus groaned loudly and dropped his forehead hard on the old oak desk. He thumped his head a few more times before asking the fates, \"Why me?\" His last class of the day was double potions with 7th year Gryffindors and Slytherins.

Severus checked the clock and noticed that he still had 15 minutes before his next class of 3rd year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. He exited a side door that led directly to his personal chambers to retrieve a headache potion. There was no way he was going to make it through the rest of the afternoon without it.

Returning to his classroom, Severus was so distracted by rampaging thoughts of pranks, that he neglected to fully close the doors to his chambers. With a flick of his wand, he unlocked the classroom door to admit the timid students. Throughout the next couple of hours, Severus remained distracted, hardly taking points or giving detentions. The students noticed but would never bring it to the irate man\'s attention, instead thanking whatever deity was responsible for the change.

By timetime the 6th years arrived, Severus was in a near state of panic. He hated surprises and hated pranks. He was never good at covering his responses that quickly and often would lapse out of his usual calm outward appearance. Severus believed such lapses were signs of weakness. He loathed showing any sign of weakness in front of anyone, especially his students.

With his heart racing madly, Severus couldn\'t even manage a decent scowl as Potter et al arrived. Potter noticed Severus\' distress and gave him a quizzical look. Severus knew he was much paler than usual and was trembling slightly. Even when he spoke to the class, he sounded stressed and tired.

Severus tried his best to ignore the whispering that started up between Potter and Weasley. Potter looked concerned, but Weasley merely shook his head and stared straight forward. This would not be a good class.

As the class started setting up for the day\'s potion, a simple, non toxic, non explosive healing salve, Potter angrily marched over to the Slytherin side of the room and plopped him dow down next to a very confused looking Draco Malfoy. Severus knew that the animosity between the two boys had dropped significantly but not to the extent that they would work together voluntarily.

Severus assumed Potter\'s reason for sitting with his former nemesis was that it was the only available seat on that side of the room. The fact that he wanted to get away from his best friend enough to sit with the Slytherins made him very suspicious and nervous.

Severus stood behind Potter and growled, \"What are you doing, Mr. Potter?\"

\"Draco asked me to be his partner today,\" he replied in an angry tone.

\"I did-\" Malfoy was cut off with an elbow to the ribs. He glared at Potter but made no other comment, so Severus just shook his head and walked away.

As Severus approached his desk, he heard a crackling sound like logs on a fire. When he turned around he was faced with a large fire dragon hovering in the center of the room. It appeared to be composed of various fireworks as it shimmered with the steady beat of its wings. The wing span at lat least 6 feet in length and was in various shades of red. Its body was as long as its wing span but was a deep dark purple with streaks of green.

Severus\' eyes were huge as he stared at the beautiful, but deadly beast. He pulled his wand from his robe to dispel the dragon but before he could cast anything, it opened its jaws and spit fireworks straight at him. He managed to duck away from the worst of it, but his hair was singed and he could feel a burn gracing his left shoulder. The class, which had been in silent awe till now, erupted into screams of panic and began scrambling for the floor and cover of the desks.

Severus looked up in time to see the dragon bounce off the ceiling then head for the door to his private chambers. Expecting it to bounce off the closed door, Severus groaned loudly when instead, it pushed the door open and headed into his rooms. He was about to follow it when a noise attracted his attention. He looked toward the Gryffindor table and saw Weasley with his head on the table muttering.

\"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.\" When a loud crash came from the other room, Weasley cried louder, \"OH SHIT!\"

\"WEASLEY!\" Ses yes yelled. \"Report to Dumbledore NOW! The rest of you, dismissed!\" He turned and followed the sound of breaking glass, Potter and Malfoy at his heels. In the sitting room, the floors were littered with broken vials and bottles, their contents mingling and smoking. Severus stifled a cough as he moved farther into the room, eyes scanning the high ceiling for the dragon.

Blue flames suddenly shot out of the bed chambers. Ignoring the coughing of the students behind him and his own watering eyes, Severus stepped up to the door frame of his bedroom. He raised his wand but could see the fireworks dragon was already dissipating. As the fire died down Severus let loose a sound somewhere between a growl and a groan.

His entire bedchambers were reduced to ashes. The large four poster bed, which had been in his family for eight generations, was smouldering in the middle of the room. The two side tables that his grandmother had made especially for him on his eleventh birthday, were nothing more than piles of dust. Even his dressers and wardrobe were utterly destroyed.

Severus was livid. He had been the butt of pranks before, but never had his private chambers been violated. Not only had they now been violated, but they were in total ruins. Someone was going to pay dearly for this and Severus knew exactly who that someone would be.

\"Mr. Malfoy, kindly ensure the fires are out completely, then leave.\" Severus stormed out of the room and headed for Dumbledore\'s office.

Severus was trembling with anger by the time he reached the gargoyle guarding the staircase to the headmaster\'s office. The gargoyle didn\'t even wait for Severus to give the password before moving aside to let the wrathful Potions Master pass. Reaching the door, he didn\'t bother to knock, slamming the door shut behind him.

\"Severus,\" Dumbledore started quietly. He had seen the many shades of Severus\' anger before, but didn\'t quite know how to handle this one. Severus merely stared at the young Weasley. Severus could see that the young man was practically in tears but that didn\'t diminish his anger in the least. It took a full two minutes for Severus to notice Fred Weasley standing off to the side, looking panicked. Then Severus ed aed another full minute before dragging his glare to the older Weasley.

\"Oh, professor,\" Ron Weasley started, \"I\'m so sorry. It wasn\'t supposed to do that!\" He continued to apologise over and over, the tears finally falling. \"I\'m so sorry. I\'ll go pack. It\'ll never happen again.\" He seemed to wait a moment, then looked to Dumbledore, who merely looked sad. Weasley rose from his chair shaking, tears rolling down his cheeks, but still Severus didn\'t say anything. Only when the door closed behind him did Severus move.

Stepping up to Fred, who took a step back in fear, Severus straightened up to his full height, which was only an inch or so more than Fred, and glared the man down.

\"If you or George ever, and I mean EVER, pull another prank of any sort in this school again,\" Severus said in a deadly soft voice, \"I\'ll personally hex you both into oblivion.\" With a swirl of his tattered robes, Severus exited the office and followed the path that the teen took.

Severus caught up to Weasley near the Great Hall. He called him to a halt and when Weasley turned around, Severus saw that he was still crying.

\"I\'m so sorry, professor. I really am.\" Severus could see and hear the sincerity in the young man\'s face and voice. \"It was just supposed to flare up, hover a moment, then dissipate. It wasn\'t supposed to fly around or spit fireworks or anything. I\'m so sorry about your rooms and everything.\"

Severus could feel his anger finally fading to a mild simmer, however, he was not ready to let Weasley off the hook just yet. He stepped up to the trembling teen and leaned in until their faces were only inches apart. He was surprised to note that Weasley was now just as tall as he was.

\"Mr. Weasley,\" Severus said in his most quiet and deadly voice, \"grow a FUCKING BACK-BONE! If you EVER let your brothers talk you into doing something stupid again, then you WILL be expelled. For now, you will have two weeks detention with Filch, then two weeks with me. Your Hogsmeade privileges are revoked until I say otherwise. If you are a good boy, I may give you one day before Christmas to do your shopping, but do NOT ask about it! Now, go clean yourself ud red report to Filch.\"

The young man looked relieved and scared all at once. Severus ignored the stuttered \"Yes, sir,\" and swept past him towards his ruined dungeons. The burn on his arm, which he had managed to ignore thus far, was beginning to really hurt and the smell of his own singed hair was making him nauseas. He hadn\'t quite made it to the staircase before he was called to a halt by Albus Dumbledore.

\"Severus, a word please.\" The old man\'s eyes were twinkling and shining with mirth and pride and a hint of mischief. Severus was sure he had over-heard Severus\' \"discussion\" with Weasley and was being fatherly proud of him for not expelling the man when he had the opportunity and right to do so. It made Severus sneer.

\"Yes, headmaster?\" Severus said with feigned patience.

\"Remus is taking Harry to Diagon Alley tomorrow. Since you are in need of new furnishings, I would like you to go with them.\"

\"Albus, I\'m perfectly capable of shopping on my own,\" he responded indignantly.

\"I\'m sure you are, but as you are also aware, there are several Death-Eaters still free who would very much like to do you and Harry harm. Just because Voldemort was defeated, does not mean your life is no longer in danger. I will not allow you to go into Diagon Alley alone. Besides, I would feel safer about Harry in Diagon Alley with you escorting as well as Remus. It\'s the best solution for everyone.\"

Severus growled and sneered at the man\'s smile. \"Fine.\"