Sunset

Snape wasn’t in class for the next two days.

I tried to pretend that it didn’t bother me, but it did.

On the day that he finally came back, I could tell something was totally different in his demeanor. He seemed much more relaxed. I entered class like usual, following Ron and Hermione to our table in the back. When I noticed Snape sitting at his desk, butterflies flew around my stomach. I almost smiled, but managed to suppress it before anyone noticed.

After everyone was seated, class started. Snape sent us back into the lab after he briefly explained what to do. I was absorbed into Ron’s group since everyone else was already a pair. I managed to spill hydrochloric acid all over the table, break a beaker, and nearly trip Neville. Snape had to clean up both messes, and pretty much bitched me out about wasting his materials. When he turned to glare at me, I almost gasped in surprise. His eyes had changed from a coal black to an amber yellow. As he walked off, Ron snickered at my clumsiness and we finished the lab before any more harm was done.

After the bell rang and we were packing up our bags, I heard Snape say, “Potter, stay after class.”

Hermione shot me an apologetic look before leaving, and then it was just Snape and I in the room. Worried that I might be getting a detention, I rushed to explain, “Sir, I’m really sorry for breaking that beaker. I didn’t do it intentionally, it-“

“This isn’t about the beaker. I need to talk to you about Monday’s classwork,” Snape cut me off.

“Oh,” was all I could say.

“You scored very low on the assignment,” Snape continued, “and I was wondering if you had not properly covered the material already in Phoenix.”

“Oh,” I said again, like an idiot. “Well, my old teacher didn’t go over the chapters very thoroughly. I might be missing some points, but honestly, chemistry isn’t my best subject…”

“I will not have students earning poor grades in my class, Mr. Potter,” Snape said. “If you need extra help, I will be here after school, and I expect you to take advantage of such an opportunity. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my next class will be arriving shortly and it would not bode well for you to be late to yours.”

Nodding and trying to reduce my imbecilic appearance, I quickly turned and left his room.

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In history, Hermione drilled me about what Snape had to say. I explained that I wasn’t in any trouble about the lab, but that he was concerned about my grades. She nodded knowingly.

“Snape always tries to get his students to succeed,” she explained. “He assigns a lot of work, but the thing he wants most is for everyone to understand the concepts. You should go after school today.”

I raised my eyebrows, “Really? I’m afraid he’s going to just bite my head off or something.”

Hermione laughed and reassured me, “Don’t be so silly, Harry!”

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The final bell rang just as Mr. Binns started on the subject of the role of the South in the Civil War. Everyone jumped up in excitement, partly because it was the end of the day, but mostly because they wouldn’t have to hear his monotone voice any longer.

I put on my jacket for the umpteenth time and slung my bag over one shoulder, then walked out into the rain, trying to keep the drizzle out of my face. Ron honked at me from his rusty pickup and I waved while walking to Snape’s. Some kids were still leaving, so I waited underneath the awning until everyone was gone.

I stepped inside and closed the door behind me, then looked around for Snape. He was in the back of the room arranging some chemicals in a cabinet. I cleared my throat to get his attention, and he looked around the wooden door with a look of surprise.

“Oh, Mr. Potter. I didn’t notice you came in.” Snape said. “Please have a seat. I will be with you shortly.”

I dropped my bag on the floor and took a chair at one of the front desks. A moment later, he walked through the center aisle and turned in front of his desk. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned back against the top of the desk, somehow managing not to knock over any papers or disturb any of the office supplies.

“Well, Mr. Potter, let’s start with the basics,” Snape began. “Have you had any experience with mole to mole conversions?”

“Yes.” I replied, trying to look at anything but the slight bulge in his pants.

“Mole to gram?”

“Yes, we’ve covered those too. Organic chemistry was when I started having trouble keeping up.”

“I see,” Snape said, looking thoughtfully at my face. He exhaled, and turned his face towards the windows to take in a deep breath. I noticed that the window was open. “We should most likely review organic chemistry first, then move to what we’re learning now – ionic bonding and types of nuclear decay. How long can you stay today?”

“I can stay for a few hours, my dad won’t be worried,” I replied.

“Alright, then, get out your book and turn to chapter six. I’ll get some worksheets,” Snape instructed.

As I fished around for my book in my bag, Snape turned around and opened his filing cabinet. I cast a few covert glances at his delicious butt underneath the table, and finally straightened up when he turned around with a few papers.

Snape pulled a chair around the front of my desk so that we could work more comfortably. I noticed that he seemed tenser the closer our proximity was, but tried not to take notice. After half an hour of listening to him explain the different aspects of ions and electron clouds, I understood everything much more clearly. We moved on to nuclear decay, and that’s when things stopped making sense.

“I just don’t understand why beta decay is any different from alpha decay,” I said in frustration.

“Harry…” he said, exasperated, “They’re totally opposite from one another. Alpha decay is due to excessive repulsion in the nucleus, and beta is caused by imbalanced neutron to proton ratios.”

I just sighed and rubbed my temple with the palm of my hand. Everything was getting too confusing.

“Perhaps we should just wait and go over this more tomorrow?” Snape offered.

“Yeah… that might be a good idea. I’m just not getting it right now.” I replied with an apologetic face.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” Snape said, “And by the way, thank you for coming. I’m glad you took some initiative, not many students take their grades seriously.”

“No problem,” I said, blushing. I threw my things in my bag and said, “See you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Harry,” Snape replied.

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Later that night, lying in bed, Snape wouldn’t leave my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about the way he said my first name… it seemed so… there wasn’t even a word for it. He seemed to care when he said it, not throw it around like it didn’t mean anything. How a person says your name can say a lot about them, I decided.

I rolled over and pulled my covers up to ward off the chill. The weather forecast predicted snow. If it actually did snow, it would be the first time in my life that I’d ever get to see it in person. I wondered what it would be like…

I looked out my window at the night sky, thankful that Forks was so much more tolerable than I had expected it to be. As I watched the trees and few visible stars through the cloud cover, I thought I noticed some strange movement in the tree closest to the house. Rubbing my eyes, I stared harder. Nothing happened, so I attributed it to lack of sleep and it just being a squirrel or something.

“Yeah, Harry,” I murmured, “Real healthy, imagining things…” and a few moments later, I had drifted off to sleep.