Please Pass the Story

Severus stormed into his lab and slammed the door shut with such force, the small potions bottles on the shelves shuddered and seemed to cower under his gaze. In two strides he reached the shelf he needed, and his dark, glittering eyes scanned the potions labels quickly. Thin, deft fingers plucked up three small vials and slid them into a discreet pocket inside his robe, and he turned and left the lab, slamming the door again.



\'Ridiculous girl,\' Severus muttered under his breath, \'of all the stupid, careless things to do!\'



He grit his teeth to prevent himself venting forth at a higher volume, but it didn\'t stop the pupils of Hogwarts from stepping smartly out of his path. Any one of them could see he was in a towering temper.



As he arrived at the hospital wing, Severus paused and took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself before having to deal with Poppy Pomfrey and her flustered mollycoddling of Miss Granger. It didn\'t cool his temper any, but it did give him back the power of speech at normal volume. He stepped into the ward and walked briskly over to the bed, where Poppy was attempting to calm Miss Granger with soothing words. Severus snorted.



\'Ah, Professor Snape,\' Poppy eyed him gratefully an glanced down at the sobbing girl with sympathy, \'poor Miss Granger is most distress. I hope you can put her out of her misery?\'



\'I have the necessary potions, if that is what are refering to? Her misery, however, is her own doing, although I doubt she will learn from it.\'



Severus stared at Hermione with a sneer, taking in the large, purple boils that had erupted on her face. His attention was caught by a particularly spectacular one on the end of her nose and for a moment, he was quite distracted and found himself wondering if he could reformulate the potion for more nefarious uses.



\'Professor?\' Madame Pomfrey almost barked at him, and Severus shook his head and brought his thoughts back to the task in hand.



\'I will require a glass of water,\' he said softly, a smirk twitching around his lips.



Poppy narrowed her eyes at Severus and withdrew her wand. She knew too well that Professor Snape was more than capable of providing the water himself, but he enjoyed exerting some sort of power over her in front of the pupils. She wouldn\'t let it lie, however, oh no. He would be on the sharp end of her tongue in the staff room later, and it wouldn\'t be the first time.



Severus raised his eyebrow at Poppy as if he was reading her thoughts, and she stared back at him as a glass flew into her hand from Hermione\'s bedstand.



\'Aguamenti,\' Poppy said, and a stream of water flew into the glass from her wand tip.



As soon as the glass was full, Severus took it smoothly from Poppy\'s hand and tipped the contents of the vials into it quickly. The water turned a murky brown, and soft tendrils of a smoke-like substance curled from the surface.



\'Severus,\' Poppy hissed at him under her breath,\' couldn\'t you have just given the poor girl the potions from their bottles?\'



\'I could have done so, indeed. However, you know as well as I do, Poppy, that they take effect more quickly when dissolved in water.\' Severus\'s eyes flashed at her and Poppy could see a gleam of evil amusement in his eyes.



\'But the taste, Severus,\' she pleaded.



Severus nodded sagely, \'ahh yes. Unfortunatley the addition of all three potions along with the water does taste unpleasant. I am sure, however, that Miss Granger is willing to swallow her pride, and her medicine, for a quiker recovery?\'



Severus looked down at Hermione, who had been watching the exchange between her professor and the medi witch with widening eyes. Realising that Professor Snape had actually been addressing the comment to her, she nodded mutely. The boils were throbbing and painful, and she wanted rid of them as soon as possible.



\'Very well. Drink this in one go, Miss Granger.\' Severus handed the glass to Hermione, who took in gingerly. It looked disgusting as she raised it to her mouth, she caught a pungent odour that made her want to gag.



\'I would suggest you hold you nose, Miss Granger. But in this case, it would seem quite impossible.\' Severus stared pointedly at the boil on the end of Hermione\'s nose, which to his suprise and gleeful amusement had grown even larger.



Hermione glared at him and sat straighter in the bed. There was no way the professor was going to take any more pleasure in her discomfort. With a deep breath, Hermione brought the glass to her lips, opened her mouth and tipped the contents back in one go, swallowing as fast as she could. It realy did taste as bad as it smelled, and Hermione covered her mouth with her hand to stop herself throwing up. Within moments,however, the nausea subsided and the boils disappeared, and hermione ran her hands over her face gratefully, her face splitting into a wide grin.



"Oh thank you, Professor Snape, thank you so much!\' She leapt from the bed and ran to the nearest mirror, not noticing Severus\'s glare darken at her happiness.



Poppy smiled at Hermione and then back at Severus. \'You have made someone very happy, it would seem.\' Madame Pomfrey had never been as proud of a pupil as she was right now. Keeping the potions down, not spitting the mixture out and thanking the profesor, were all guaranteed to really get his goat. Poppy couldn\'t have done it better herself.



Severus grunted and started to walk from the ward, then paused to speak to Hermione under his breath.



\'Miss Granger,\' he said silkily.



Hermione turned her shining eyes on him and smiled warmly at him. \'Yes Professor?\'



\'I trust you haven\'t forgotten your detention? Seven p.m. sharp.\' He flicked his head away from hers, his long, lank hair almost hitting her in the face, then stomped from the ward.



Hermione\'s face fell.





****************





This was a bit of fun... good challenge! neelix