Erased

Back in the Ring
By Severely Snaped
Severely_Snaped@yahoo.com


Erased

Chapter Three: Back in the Ring

\'Trying\' turned out to be an understatement. Torture was more like it.

Severus sat at his desk the following evg tog toying with an old compass and looking over some of the homework that had been given out in his absence. In his mind, the students had a holiday as far as their academics were concerned, judging by the lessons this girl had been handing out. Apprentice, indeed!

She had came to the infirmary that morning after breakfast, and they had spent several hours going back and forth with questions, mostly. He was still adamant in quizzing her knowledge and she was trying to get him caught up on some of their work, which, up until that time, he thought he had made the progress on all by himself. He did his best to hold his tongue, although he let a few snide remarks cut in every so often and even lashed out at one point until the girl calmed him down. And the very fact that she was able to do that made him mad as well.

Every so often, she wrote things down during their talk. If an idea came to her whether regarding the potion or things to help him along, her quill would be scribbling furiously. It reminded him a lot of the way he graded papers, except his scribbles were mostly notes to the students on their judging lack of intellect before handing the paper in. By the time they were through with their discussions and she had left to go to lunch, he was convinced she was a prodigy. However, he did his best not to show too much interest in her ramblings and acted as if she was just another doddering staff member with whom he had to put up with. But the part that disturbed him the most was that he was almost bored to tears after she left.

There were no magazines or books around, and he was sick of looking at the same four walls. Poppy took a bit longer than usual since her last visit, content with leaving him in Hermione\'s care. When she did return, she had a most irritated professor on her hands. Every tiny little detail, from the bedspread to the flowers by the table, from his dressing gown to the temperature in the room, he would find something snap about. Before Poppy left, she and Severus were trading nothing but attitude. Before long, he was whining to leave, despite the sore muscles in his body and shaky movements.

\"Good Lord, Severus---how can you expect to leave in this condition? You\'re walking like an old man!\" Her arms were gesturing in a million directions and she looked as if she had swallowed something bitter.

\"It only goes to show that old men can walk, too!\" He was holding onto the bedpost after barely managing to stable himself.

\"Not all of them! And I can tell you\'re in pain by the way your eyes keep flinching up! You are not leaving this room for another week!\"

\"I CAN and I WILL! I\'ve been through worse before---\"

\"By Merlin\'s two left feet you haven\'t!\"

\"---and I\'m sure I\'ll go through much worse before it\'s all over!\"

The look in his eyes wasn\'t unfamiliar with the mediwitch as she had seen him leave the infirmary well before he was supposed to on several occasions. However, this was one time that she wished he would do as he was told. After another ten minutes of bantering, she threw her arms up in the air, slamming his charts down on the foot of the bed, and storming out---calling him several colorful names that he didn\'t know she was capable of.

She would have stayed to call him a few more if she could have heard him chuckling over the display of her \"I\'ve had enough, to hell with you!\" attitude. He respected Poppy dearly, but he loved getting her riled up most of all. Another ten minutes and she stormed right back in with all the paperwork necessary for him to sign regarding his premature release, which she made everyone sign whether coming or going, just so she would have her dates and records straight. In a flash, she was gone again, so mad she didn\'t care how he got out of the hospital wing.

He managed to make it out into the corridor, leaning against cold stone to rest for a moment and was just about to continue when he heard: \"Severus Socrates Snape, just what in THE name of all that\'s holy do you think you\'re doing?!\"

His head immediately swung in the direction of his next intended victim with his mouth open, lost for words, albeit momentarily. The tone could have easily matched his mother\'s and it threw him off. It was the Granger girl again. Just great. She was walking towards him a bit faster now, and for a moment it looked as if she were readying herself to strike him.

\"What does it LOOK like I\'m doing, Miss Granger?\" he spit out with another glare in her direction.

\"Not leaving the hospital wing, that\'s for damn sure!\" she shot back. Seeing his \"won\'t move, can\'t make me\" stance, she threw her hands up in frustration, much like Poppy had. \"Oh, for the love of...! Dammit, Severus! Can you, for once in your life, stay in the infirmary for two seconds after you\'ve been admitted?\" She looked angry, but there was worry in her eyes, too.

\"For your information, girl, I\'ve been there for over two weeks!\" He was still holding himself up with one arm and shielding his ribs with the other.

\"I know! And barely conscious, at that! You\'re going to kill yourself at this rate!\" She was starting to sound like Poppy, too. He didn\'t know whether to laugh or cry.

\"Good!\" he growled. \"So all of the people who have taken a number to do so can\'t have the pleasure of finishing me off!\"

\"Not if I don\'t do it, first!\" she hissed. Severus was quite taken back by her own glare.

Before he realized what she was doing, she had his arm over her neck, supporting him and threatening to drag his stubborn arse straight back to Poppy if he didn\'t move his legs.
\"Watch it, girl! I\'m still sore!\" She stopped, and turned to him with an evil smirk, as if to say, \"It\'s your own bloody fault!\" He said nothing in return and continued to lean on her as they made their way towards a shortcut that led into the dungeons.

\"To be quite honest, Miss Granger, it\'s been only a little more than twenty-four hours and I don\'t like you, already.\" He didn\'t yell, but he did wince and growl a few times due to the pain.

\"Really? You must be softening up on me, Severus!\" she replied coolly. \"It usually only takes you five minutes with someone to come to that conclusion.\"

\"It will take me lesser time, even, to decide that I don\'t need an apprentice! And if you\'re smart, you\'ll do well to watch what you say to me, girl!\" He was REALLY leaning hard on her now, his feet doing their best to keep up with her. When she laughed at his words, it only agitated him more.

\"I don\'t have to watch my tongue to KNOW that I\'m smart, my dear Professor Snape.\" The sickeningly-sweet way she said this put butterflies in his stomach just as much as it teed him off.

\"And as far as my apprenticeship goes, I\'m under contract, remember? No wait...you probably don\'t...\" She said the last line on purpose just to rile him up! Oooh, the nerve of her!

He stopped abruptly this time, jerking her back despite the agony it caused him in about eight different places. She looked up at him, and before she could spit out, \"Are you insane?!\" at him, he cut her off.

\"Dumbledore made the both of us sign a bloody contract? It\'s bad enough that he probably badgered me into taking you on after graduation!\" he sniped, and her expression changed. Her eyes were dark and furious now, and he knew he was in for it. He gave her a smirk of his own. Come on, girl! he thought. Try and throw THAT back in my face, huh?

When she spoke, she proved that she had quite the talent that he had for manipulating even the slightest phrase with a mere whisper.

\"Dumbledore knew nothing about the offer until I told him upon my return the following September, as a surprise. The contract, Sev-er-us, was your idea. I pu wit with your bad attitude for seven years before gradun, an, and if you think for the life of me that I\'m going to waste my time cowering behind a desk like a frightened first-year, then you have another thing coming, Mr. Man. If you push me down, I\'ll push you back twice as hard. Yell at me, and I\'ll yell so damn loud that you\'ll have blood trickling out of your ears. Try and pull one over on me, and all I can say is: watch your back.\"

Was he hot under the collar now! He could almost feel the imaginary steam shooting out of his ears.

\"Just...get...me...to...my...rooms...NOW, Miss Granger!\"

She sounded just like him when she answered. \"With pleasure, Professor Snape! The sooner I rid myself of you, the better!\" She reverted back to his self-praised title and he took notice, unbeknownst to her.

They said nothing more to each other for the rest of the way, with her stopping every now and then so he could rest for a minute, for which he was grateful. However, Severus being who he was at the moment wasn\'t going to tell her that, of course, as we all know. He was just going to merely nod his head when ready to continue and after a grueling, tedious hour since stepping foot outside the door of the infirmary, he was standing outside his own, exhausted and wishing for a split second that he would have taken their advice to remain in Poppy\'s care for at least another day.

He was surprised that shen\'tn\'t just deposit him roughly on the sofa in his study, but instead proceeded to take him straight into his rooms. The fact that she even knew the password made him nervous, but he wasn\'t ready to question it just yet. She helped him carefully into his bed, even when he protested that he could take it on his own from there, and silently watched her make him a cup of tea.

He could tell that she was probably still pissed with him by the way her eyes were focused on her task and the edges of her mouth turned downwards. She didn\'t say anything, and she didn\'t head for the door until she made sure he ate a handful of oyster crackers followed by a strong dose of pain medication.

She lit a fire and nox\'ed the lighting spell that had been over the room, still without saying a word. When she reached the door, she heard him call out to her.

\"Miss Granger...\"

She stopped. She didn\'t turn around, and she remained silent.

\"Thank you...for not dropping me down the stairs,\" he said quietly, in a bitter tone, almost jokingly perhaps.

She didn\'t move an inch, and her anger was quite evident. \"Funny that the one thing you thank me for not doing is the very one thing that I just berated myself for not doing, also.\" He snorted and watched with amusement as she left on that note, still managing to prove herself in the verbal boxing match. It was without question in his mind that she would return---unannounced---before long to check in on him, and it was almost like clockwork six hours later when she did.

He hadn\'t been awake ten minutes when she brought in a tray of soup and toast, along with a tall glass of some fizzy muggle drink that was familiar to him---which seemed to settle his stomach. She threw another log into the grate and asked him how he was feeling. She then picked up the small pot of coffee that was also on the tray and put it on the table.

\"Better,\" he mumbled. She fixed herself a cup of java and sat down, to his annoyance, by the fireplace.

\"Good. At least I know I can get Poppy off my back now,\" she said, taking a sip.

\"And mine,\" he added dryly, and she scowled at him, before eyeing him thoughtfully.

\"Maybe I should have taken that vitamin-filled syringe she wanted me to give to you, after all. However, one is supposed to administer the swift puncture of the needle only ONCE and IN the arm, and I can think of far too many places where I could repeatedly find a spot for it,\" she mused, ignoring the look he was giving her. It never failed to amaze her that he could look surprised and mad at the same time.

\"You know, I was just thinking...\" he started calmly, before she cut in.

\"...of why you\'re such a bastard?\" she offered just as smoothly.

\"No, no..\" he said softly, humoring her, \"more along the lines that I left the infirmary just for this,\" he intoned, referring to their pained match of wits.

\"I know, and I\'m not even getting paid to do this! Lucky you, eh?\" she finished, and he snorted again.

\"Don\'t put me off of my food before I even toit, it, Miss Granger.\"

\"Hermione.\"

At this he cringed again, and he finally voiced his reason why. \"Miss Granger,\" he said, emphasizing the fact that he would rather call her by her anything but, \"in the years that you were fortunate enough to be under my tutelage, have I ever told you how much I hate your name?\"

There was that sickly-sweet smile again. \"Only just about every other day,\" she hummed.

Why the little...! She had known all along and she was still insisting that he call her that!

\"Well, you\'re in for another wait if you think that I\'m going to call you by your first name. Besides, you\'re used to me calling you \'Miss Granger.\"

\"Back in school, yes. But not for the last three years.\"

\"You mean I willingly called you that hindrance your parents stuck you with?\" he threw back to her, breaking off a piece of toast and dipping it into his soup.

\"You didn\'t call me that, either.\" At this she grinned, and more alarms went off in his head. Now he was really nervous, because this could mean just about anything. He chose his next words carefully after barely being able to swallow down a bite.

\"Oh? And what, pray tell, did I call you, Miss Know-It-All?\" he asked.

She made a buzzing noise. \"Sorry! Wrong answer, but good guess!\"

He glared at her. \"That was a question, Miss Granger. Unless you want to be overcome by a bowl of soup flying across the room at one-hundred miles per hour, I suggest you try and curb your playful attitude.\"

\"You\'re right,\" she hissed. \"I should be tactless and dull and boring, just like my mentor.\"

\"Just answer the question.\" he stated dryly, not giving i her her challenge. He took another sip of the oddly-comforting fizzed beverage and ate another bite of his toast.

\"Hades,\" she sighed.

\"Well, it\'s not like I asked you to re-build the Roman Empire, Miss Granger. I only asked you...\"

\"No...that\'s just it. You called me \'Hades.\"

One brow shot up. Across the room, another brow imitated it.

\"I called you...\'Hades.\" he said, as if to say, \"yeaaah, riiiight.\"

She nodded. \"Yes you did, and no, I\'m not making that up. Don\'t look at me like that---you\'re the one who gave me the nickname. Well, you still used \'Miss Granger\' at staff meetings. But everyone knew.\"

If this wasn\'t getting stranger, he thought. He turned his thoughts back towards his soup, muttering. \"I had a cat named \'Hades,\" as if the whole situation was silly.

\"I know,\" she said pointedly. \"That\'s what brought the name up at the time.\"

He was confused and she saw it on his face, if only for a second. \"I don\'t see the connection,\" he stated quietly, taking another bite.

At this, she flushed and looked nervous, something he wasn\'t expecting. The girl looked rather, well, uncomfortable, and he noticed her hesitance. It didn\'t take him long to turn the tables back on her.

\"Cat got your tongue?\" he mused, and she turned even redder, much to his delight. Oh, he was enjoying this! He couldn\'t wait to hear the story behind this one. \"I\'m waiting, Miss Granger. And since I know what your nickname is, I won\'t have any trouble getting the story from Albus if you refuse to tell me.\"

She was shooting daggers at him now. He laughed. \"Hate the nickname that much, do you?\"

\"The nickname never bothered me, you git!\" She took another sip of her coffee and scowled.

\"But the story behind it does, I take it?\" he said, a twisted smile growing with each word.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. \"Okay, okay! Shortly after I became your apprentice you reminded me of an incident that happened during my second year here that I wasn\'t even aware that you knew about.\"

\"As you should know by now, not much gets past me,\" he smirked.

\"Only because it doesn\'t want to go anywhere near you,\" she shot back, before steeling herself to finish the story. She took another breath. \"I had...um...transformed myself into a cat...\"

\"You studied to become an Animagi in your second year?\" he asked in disbelief.

\"Um...no...It was due to a slight mishap...and I was only partly um...feline. I didn\'t shrink down, you see, I was mostly the same size I am now.\"

Oh, he was trying not to laugh now, a few snorts cutting through here and there. She glared back at him again.

\"Excuse me,\" he said with mock sincerity. \"Please continue.\"

\"Anyway,\" she went on, \"I had mistaken this one piece of cat hair for human hair, it was supposed to be for this potion I was making...\"

Severus\' mind was now zipping through everything he knew of his second-year curriculum. And none of the potions or drafts involved anything \'human\' whatsoever. He quickly cut her off in mid-sentence.

\"What were you making?\" he asked, giving her a hard look.

Nervous laughter. \"Uh...it was Polyjuice.\" She cleared her throat, noting his expression. \"Polyjuice Potion. And yes, I made that in my second year.\"

He was wide-eyed for another brief second, before resuming back into his usual demeanor. \"But, you didn\'t get it right,\" he drawled out, baiting her.

\"Actually, I did. I was making it for three people, myself included.\" she countered.
\"Theirs’ worked,\" she continued, \"because I had the right type of human hair. Mine was a strand which came from Millicent Bulstrode...and I thought it was hers instead of her familiar\'s.\"

His face remained impassive. \"The other two in question were Potter and Weasley, no doubt?\"

\"Who else?\" she smiled. \"I take it that Albus told you about the three of us?\"
At the mere indication of Harry being involved, he grew cold again, but kept up with the conversation. \"Of course.\"

\"At any rate, I was in the infirmary for two weeks, myself. You happened to be bringing Poppy some more stock one day and almost died laughing when you saw me. I was asleep at the time so I was unaware that you were even there. Nor was I awake for the other visits. You told me that you came two other times that week with the excuse of supplies again, but I was pretty sure it was just to make fun of me.\"

\"That\'s what Snapes do best,\" he said, taking another sip of his carbonated drink. The halfway jovial mood that seemed to envelope them moments before was gone, and there was an awkward silence. After finishing her coffee, she looked up at him, wondering if he needed more medication.

\"Severus, is there anything else I can get?\"

\"Only out of my hair,\" he spit back. She knew that once he was in a mood, there was no snapping out of it, just like in her school days. When he opened his mouth again, he dismissed her as if she were a house-elf. Her eyes bore into his, and she told him not to choke on the last bit of his meal before making a hasty exit, so she missed the smirk that passed over his lips as she slammed the door.

Will have to tie a bell around her neck, he joked to himself, before slowly getting up and heading towards his study.