Meddling

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Snape had been in an especially nasty mood all day. He had woken at half two that morning, wet and shivering in the bathtub where he had obviously fallen asleep early that afternoon. He appeared to have caught a head cold from the damp dungeons and was feeling incredibly miserable as he had given the last of his Pepper-Up potion supply to Poppy earlier in the week and the new batch he had started brewing would not be ready for another hour. There was no way he was going to the Hospital Wing to let that maddening woman fuss over him like a child. He checked his pocketwatch.

[Time to check it now and start stirring] He glared at some second-years who were standing in the hall and gossiping. Making sure they were all Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors he deducted 10 points for obstruction and made his way back to his labs feeling slightly brighter. Pausing, he ducked inside the Slytherin common room to check that the students were approximating correct behavior. Standing in the shadows he observed silently, having learned long ago that if his presence was noticed then all natural behavior went out the window. Figuratively of course, considering that they were in a dungeon after all. It didn’t matter whether they were students, colleagues or peers, and consequently he was very good at blending into scenery for the most part.

‘I’m telling you, I’ve seen him give me the eye during class!’ the nasal whine was accompanied by it’s owner flicking her bleached blonde hair over her shoulder in studied nonchalance. BreeAnne Miller, an arrogant and utterly hopeless 6th year. And if she was over there, her Siamese twin Katrina Lachlan must be…

‘Oh c’mon Bree, you’re his student. He’s hardly going to marry you if you lose him his job. And you’re still underage, you couldn’t get married for another year unless you had both your parenppropproval. And daddy dearest would NOT approve.’

‘Daddy would so once he knew the kind of money this is worth! And Snape wouldn’t care about this stupid job once we had that kind of cash. I’m surprised he’s lasted here as long as he has the way he seems to hate teaching. And I swear, if you’d seen how he watches me in class… he wants me bad Kat.’ The voices had turned to surreptitious whispers now.

[Merciful fucking Zeus, the students know? And some of them want in?!! Sweet Circe, if anyone finds out that STUDENTS are plotting to get me into bed… I’m never going to be able to live any of this down] It was true, he did watch her closely in class, but only because he was afraid of her accidentally injuring or killing someone. She was one of the worst students he’d ever had, certainly the worst Slytherin to pass through his classes, mainly because not only did her potions always go wrong, she was the most annoying in her attempts to blame others for her mistakes and her lack of understanding about anything no matter how small the words used to explain.

‘Besides, he’s not too bad looking, if only he’d get a little sun and wore his hair tied back more often. I saw him without the robes one day, he certainly hasn’t let himself go like most guys his age. Just a dash of woman’s touch and he’d be prime meat.’ Bree grinned at her friend, her horribly expensive smile looking far too much like a sharks. ‘Well, if you could give him a personality transplant anyway.’ Both girls wandered off tittering scandalously.

Severus backed further into the shadows and exited the common room. [Prime meat…?] he repeated silently to himself. [It’s official, the world has gone mad]. Wonderingly he reached up to touch his hair, slightly self-conscious although no one was there. He liked his hair loose and down to his collar because it gave his face some camouflage, acted as a shield from accusing eyes and offered a limited screen for his emotions for the odd occasion he lost control and expressed any. He pushed several errant strands behind his ear and ran a finger over his nose and cheek-bone before tracing his jaw, pulling his hand away quickly when he disturbed one of the livid bruises still there from the day before. He hadn’t been able to take a healingughtught that morning as it would had an adverse affect when combined with Pepper Up potion when taken within a 15 hour period of each other, and decided that ridding himself of the cold as soon as possible was worth living with the bruises for an extra night. After all, a glamour wouldn’t unblock his sinuses or get rid of the sore throat and headache. The cuts covering his hand had stopped stinging and now merely ached if he broke open the scabs flexing the joints. No lasting damage there, there wouldn\'t even be a single scar once he took the draught tomorrow morning.

Checking his watch again he hurried to his private lab to check his brews. [Almost ready thank the gods, I’ll be able to breath properly again] Not having a sense of smell would normally be quite dangerous even for a Potions Master, but luckily Pepper Up was simple despite being slightly time consuming, and he had performed it enough times to be able to do so again now.

[Five turns counter clockwise, let settle, one more then three back the other way. Simmer over low heat for another half hour and all done] he sighed happily and set a timer so he could close his eyes as he settled into the battered plush velvet couch he kept in the corner for this very purpose.

[Just close my eyes for a minute, get well-rested so I can read that new article on using dragon-fire to quicken brewing times, I won’t fall asleep though…] a low rumble echoed in his throat, blending with the sounds of gently-boiling potions and the spitting of the burners under them in the otherwise quiet room.

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