Brownies For Breakfast

Chapter Eleven: Detention, Debates, and Doughnuts



DISCLAIMER: You know Harry Potter and his friends and teachers and the whole world that he exists in? Yeah, they aren't ours, and more's the pity. They belong to the utterly brilliant mind of J.K. Rowling-the lucky gal! We will return everybody and everything in a mostly recognizable state when we're done playing! We promise!



Cass here! If you don't know by now that Cass is Renee (me!!!) and Lex is Sarah; you haven't been paying much attention have you?



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Four minutes thirty-five seconds later, Renee careened through the door of the Potions dungeon as the first toll of seven o’clock rang faintly from above. “Made it!” Renee exclaimed happily as she scrambled for the nearest desk. Tripping over her own feet in her haste, she let out a ‘yipe’ of surprise as she went tumbling face first onto the dungeon floor with a thump. Her books went flying across the floor, coming to rest at the tapping feet of an irritated Severus Snape. Sarah sighed and hid her face behind her hands, trying not to laugh at Renee’s clumsy entrance.



“Miss Tigris, for future reference, perhaps it would be a wise decision to arrive several minutes early, as Miss Pishon and Mr. Malfoy did, to avoid situations such as these,” he drawled, scooping up the books that landed at his feet. Glancing at the paper sticking out of the book, his eyes widened in surprise when he saw in angry script proclaiming "Death is Sweet".



Setting the book on his desk, he waited until she had risen to her feet to comment further. “My apologies, Professor,” Renee mumbled, sitting down in the nearest desk.

Professor Snape frowned but said nothing, finishing scrawling something on the board and then sweeping back to his desk with his usual dour persona. “This evening I intend on making you rebrew the potion you were supposed to create in class,” he began.



“Severus, I need your help!” Albus Dumbledore’s head appeared in the fireplace behind Professor Snape’s desk.



“Can it wait, Headmaster?” Professor Snape snapped, irritated at the interruption.



“I’m afraid it cannot,” the Headmaster’s flaming appearance sighed, disappearing a moment later.



“And so it would seem my intentions are swept under the rug,” Severus grumbled. “Change of plans. Mr. Malfoy, you recall how to brew First Level Healing Potions?”



“Yes, of course,” Draco drawled.



“Then you will do so in my absence. Miss Pishon, Miss Tigris, I assume that I can leave you with him to aid however necessary?” he asked them as he grabbed a black satchel from behind his desk.



“Yes, Professor Snape,” the two women chorused, glancing over at Draco.



“And just in case,” Professor Snape said, turning from the fireplace and flicking his wand at the board. “There are the instructions for a First Level Healing Potion. And for a second level, if you happed to get to it before I return. If I do not return before nine thirty, you three have my permission to leave as long as everything is clean,” he said, grabbing a handful of Floo powder. “If I return before then and you three are gone, the consequences will stretch the school regulations to the breaking point. Do you understand?” he growled.



“Yes, Professor,” the three students replied, sharing a nervous glance.



“Dumbledore’s office,” Severus said, stepping into the roaring green flames and disappearing with a whoosh.





“Doesn’t threaten halfway, huh?” Renee sighed, taking a deep breath.



“Scary ass man!” Sarah whimpered, clinging to Renee as the Floo smoke cleared from the room.



“He may be scary, but he’s bloody brilliant,” Draco scowled, his hand on his hips.



Sarah glanced at him and snickered. “You look so gay right now, Draco,” Sarah giggled.



“Excuse me?” Draco demanded, advancing on her after dropping his hand from his hips.



“Hey,” Renee attempted to step between them.



“I am not gay!” Draco snapped, shoving Renee to the side and stepping up to Sarah.



“Would you prefer the term flaming homosexual?” Sarah asked sweetly.



“I am not a flaming anything!” Draco snarled as Renee forced herself between them again, shoving Draco back a few feet.



“Okay fine, ice princess,” Sarah said, dipping in a mock curtsy.



Draco whipped out his wand and advanced on her.



“Put away the phallic symbol if you please,” Renee said, stepping in between them with hands raised, having run out of ideas.



“Phallic symbol?” Sarah snickered.



“What would you call it? It’s a twig!” Renee smiled at her friend.



Draco sat back down and glanced at the board, double checking the cauldron size as a distraction to ignore the two females. “Does that reflect at all upon you Draco?” Sarah asked after a moment of silence.



“Hmm?” he asked, his attention elsewhere.



“Your wand. Is it crafted to scale or enlarged for viewing pleasure?” Sarah inquired.



Draco scowled, but attempted to ignore her, focusing instead on his work. “What’s wrong, Wombat? Ruler got your tongue?” Sarah said, digging her notebook from her bag.



“Sod off you bloody Mudblood!” he snapped.



“Go to hell,” Sarah retorted, trying to reach him around Renee.



“Only if you come with,” Draco said, standing from the desk again.



“Sit down, please, Draco,” Renee sighed, standing in direct path of his wand the second time.



“So defensive. Does someone have a crush on our Dear Potions Master?” Sarah giggled. Draco sputtered in anger and Renee snorted in laughter. “Draco, are you a little too friendly with the dear Professor?” Sarah asked in a sympathetic tone, resting her hand on his shoulder for a brief moment before skirting around her desk.



“Do you like Professor Snape?” Renee asked after a moment of silence, morbidly curious despite herself.





Wheeling on her, he grabbed Renee by the throat, pulling her close. “He is my godfather. Even the suggestion of such a disgusting thing is not acceptable in any social circle! Suggest something like that again, either of you, and you will be spending a large part of your time in the Hospital Wing,” he snapped, thrusting Renee backward and stomping away to gather potion ingredients.



“I still say you’re queer.”



“Sarah Alexandria Pishon!” Renee snapped, turning on her friend before Draco could respond. “What exactly is wrong with being queer? Do you not recall that I have dated nothing but females for the past several months...er...years..er...whatever?” Renee scowled.



“It’s different,” Sarah pouted, flopping down at her desk.



“Why, because I don’t have penis?” Renee asked darkly, going to sit by Draco.



“NO!” Sarah objected, pissed that Renee deserted her.



“It is not any different, Sarah. And as funny as it is to say jokingly, I do believe you are hurting Dra-I mean, Mr. Malfoy’s feelings,” Renee said icily.



Draco snorted and looked over at her. “Please, Tigris. As if an insinuation or outright accusation of being homosexual would bother me,” Draco said, his gaze flicking over to Sarah. “If you would prefer, Miss Pishon, I can give you direct substantial proof that I am anything but a poof,” Draco grinned darkly, his eyes darkening to smoky silver.



“Can you say ‘eww’? Why would I want to be propositioned by the likes of you?” Sarah asked with a mock shudder.



Renee sighed and went to interject again.



“Bugger off, Tigris! This is between your dear Lex and I,” Draco spat, trying to aim around her.



“Precisely, she is MY dear Lex and you are the one threatening her. This is why I choose to intervene. Though I do not approve of her…taunts,” Renee glared at Sarah. “I do not think that you two attacking one another will get any potion we are supposed to brew anywhere near completion, correct?”



Stony silence met her question and Renee sighed at both fierce expressions.



“Shall we then before our illustrious Potions Master decides to grace us with his sunny presence once again,” Renee inquired to the silent pair.



“Sunny presence?” Draco snorted, snickering slightly.



“Sunny presence,” Renee smiled over at him.



Draco giggled; slightly mortified that such an undignified noise came from him but said nothing, adding the next ingredient and stirring seven times.



“By the way, call me Renee. I hate my surname,” she said after a moment of silence.



“Doesn’t mean I like you, got it?” Draco snapped.



“Got it,” Renee smiled as Sarah chucked a piece of walnut shell at her.





“Hey, Pishon,” Draco said as he passed Sarah’s desk to get more ingredients from the cabinet.



“Yes, Malfoy?” Sarah frowned.



Renee looked over from the ingredient cabinet and nearly dropped the bottle she was holding. “Hey, no Frenching in the Potions Dungeon!” Renee snapped, shaking herself from the shock after a moment.



Draco released a very flustered, pissed and confused Sarah, letting her stumble backward into her seat. Whistling innocently as he went past, he calmly sat down and added another ingredient to the cauldron. “Hand me the powdered plum leaf, Pishon,” Draco instructed calmly without looking at her. A still shell-shocked Sarah complied without comment, still blinking and trying to process what had just occurred.



“What the fuck?” Sarah demanded as Renee sat back down.



“Just let it go, Lex. It’s not worth another month’s detention if we don’t get this shit finished,” Renee sighed, shoving Sarah back into her seat.



Sarah ruthlessly began chopping myrtle, the rapid fire clink of the knife on the table the only sound other than the simmering of the cauldrons.



"Anyone want a doughnut?" Renee asked, fishing a small plastic wrapped package of the treats from her robe pocket.



"Once we get to the first simmering stage," Draco said. "So long as they're not chocolate doughnuts."



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“God damned Minister Fudge,” Severus sighed as he stepped through the fireplace into his private rooms. With a sigh he dropped his satchel on the floor unclasping his cloak and letting it slide from his shoulders before hanging it on the cloak rack. “Bloody political crap,” he mumbled as he began to relax, rolling his shoulders to ease the stiffness.



Glancing at the clock on the wall, he saw it was five to eleven. “I wonder how big a mess those three made,” he thought aloud, grimacing and glancing at the door that led from his private chambers into his office and the classroom. “Bloody hell, I’ll deal with it in the morning,” Severus sighed, shrugging slowly out of his overcloak and starting to unbutton the many small buttons of his shirt, pulling it loose from his trousers.



As he reached the bottom buttons of the shirt, he heard a loud clatter from the classroom followed by indistinct mumbling of several voices. “What now?” he snapped, wrenching open the door to his office and stalking through, nearly kicking the door to the classroom open in irritation, but opening it silently to still have the element of surprise.



“Stupid fucking caldron,” Renee snapped, picking up the dropped caldron with difficulty as she hopped on one foot to hold her injured foot.



"Bravo, Cass," Sarah shook her head at her clumsy friend as Draco lined potions up on Snape's desk.



"Can we hurry up? He might be back soon and if he finds out we were here this late-" Draco began as he finished setting the filled potions on the desk and turned away from the tabletop.



“What in the bloody hell are you three still doing here?!” Severus demanded, startling the trio accidentally. Smirking slightly when Renee dropped the cauldron again, this time on her other foot, he stalked across the room until he stood directly in front of them as Renee hopped about clutching the foot that she dropped the cauldron on the second time. “Well?” he demanded scowling more when they shrunk back slightly.



“Um, cleaning up, sir. Like you told us to?” Renee said quietly, retreating until she bumped into the desk behind her, jumping slightly when she did so. When he said nothing, Sarah hurried on to explain blushing furiously at being caught.



“Draco wanted to go to bed a little after nine thirty. As we were only a few minutes away from completing the second-level Healing Potion, I said I would stay and clean up with Renee. Draco ended up staying for the rest of the time."



Snape turned his glare on his godson and crossed his arms over his chest. "When I was putting the first and second-level potions on your desk I saw the recipe or whatever for a third-level Healing Potion. I wanted to see if I could make it and since you need two dozen for the Hospital Wing-I saw the list on your desk as well-“ he said coolly. “I decided what’s another half hour or so. But because of the quantity in which I was making it, the potion took a little longer than I had expected,” he finished in a rush. Skirting around him quickly, the three scrambled to put away the last clean cauldron and the girls ducked around him again to scoop up the remaining ingredients and put them away in a hurry.



Severus glanced to his desk and saw more than forty different potions clearly labeled ‘first-level’, ‘second-level’ or ‘third-level’ in a neat script that could only be Sarah's. His desk was also straightened and the board cleaned off. Glancing to Renee, Sarah and Draco now standing in a row in front of his desk, he raised an eyebrow in question and pointed to the straightened areas.



“We got really bored in the second simmering stage once the doughnuts were gone,” Renee shrugged, chewing on her bottom lip nervously as she glanced to her companions. “Well....we'll just get going, then,” Renee said, grabbing her bag from the floor.



“We were just trying to help,” Draco scowled at his godfather as Renee and Sarah wove between the desks to get to the door in a hurry. As Renee went past the last row of desks she bumped into them, nearly making her fall again, pulled upright by Sarah and Draco who half dragged her towards the door. As she regained her balance with the aid of her friends she shot out of the door; the three figures racing into the shadows of the corridor. Severus smiled despite himself as they disappeared, closing the door of the classroom with a flick of his wand.



“Just trying to help indeed,” he smiled, turning back toward the office and disappearing. “Nox,” he said, extinguishing the candles before he shut the door.