This do in Remembrance of me

Deliverance had presented its self, but unfortunately his angel did not have wings but a forked tongue that she more than knew how to use for his pleasure. Severus was seated at the staff table taking in the children littering the Great Hall listening to Albus ramble on with morning announcements. He had a beastly hangover, and every sound was magnified and echoing inside his head. The previous night he had introduced Jocelyn to brandy, and was more than paying for it now. He took great pleasure at watching her come through the doors, stumbling over her own feet, her hand pressed firmly against her forehead trying to find her seat while squinting against the light pouring in from above. In his defense he had tried to convince her to proceed slowly, but in typical Jocelyn fashion she had not listened, insisting she could handle more. Not that he had minded at the time, the evening had turned out to be one of the more acrobatic they had spent together. Without forethought, a small smirk crept across his face and he had to drop his head to prevent others from intruding on his own silent reverie. This day was panning out quite nicely, the Ravenclaw’s were due for potions in a matter of hours, and that was going to be interesting. He winced at the thunder that was rolling through his head, he deserved that he thought. Karma dictated he shouldn’t enjoy her misfortune as much as he was after all he was sure he didn’t look any better than she did. Gathering his things, he left the hall choosing his steps carefully, blast, was the floor always this loud.

The bastard, the bloody bastard, he had known what he was doing last night, and the smug look he had worn at breakfast had only infuriated her more. Jocelyn was on her way to Potions, stopping every few steps to brace her self against the wall just to keep on her feet and moving. Granted, he had asked her to slow down, but the Brandy had been so smooth and he didn’t protest as much as he obviously should have. Internally, she refused to accept this was all her own fault, he was going to share this one with her.

She paused before entering the room, running her hands through her hair and wiping at the lack of sleep from her face. The walls had never felt so good as they were at this moment, leaning to press her forehead against the cool surface. Her stomach was churning and she wasn’t so sure the toast she had forced herself to eat was going to stay down. She willed the contents to remain where they were, the last thing she wanted was to be sick in his class, that was just insult to injury.

Finding the courage to finally enter the room, she found her seat and waited for what she was sure was going to be one of his finer moments. She was fairly certain he wasn’t going to let this go unnoticed and it was going to be a grand production.

Class started off in typical form, as one of the idiots knocked his cauldron from the table, spilling the contents across the floor. Before he could stop himself he was on a tirade and spitting vulgarities at the idiot in question, not stopping until tears swelled in the offenders eyes and he fled the room.

“Now that I have your attention,” Snape began, “I would like to point out the importance of paying attention.” He stressed his last two words.

No one spoke, if fact no one was even breathing, afraid they would be the next recipient of the wrath of Snape as it was commonly known. Jocelyn was sitting with her head dropped towards the table, hoping he wouldn’t start in with her. However, her hopes were dashed as he oiled his way around the room and perched himself directly behind her. No one dared to turn their heads to follow his form, they all knew the consequences of that action. He leaned into her, and whispered where only she could hear.

“You look a little pale this morning, Ms. Morgan. Am I to assume your evening did not go well.”

All she could do was roll her eyes, and force out the breath she was holding at this, he knew damned well how her evening went. This was practically all his fault as far as she was concerned and for that fact he didn’t look so great this morning either.

“About as well as yours Professor.” She murmured without visibly moving her mouth as she spoke.

Snape raised his eyebrow at the cheek, actually he had become quite accustomed to her always having something to say when he put her on the spot.

“Then am I to assume you will volunteer to test your potion for the class instead of individual testing today, Ms. Morgan.” His voice rose for the rest of the class to hear.

She was going to make him pay for this and pay with blood if she had her way. He knew she was in no shape to brew his little task for presentation no less, but at this point she had no recourse but to smile and be more than accommodating.

“Nothing would please me more Sir.”

He smiled silently, he had won this one, and him winning where she was concerned was few and far between. This was going to be almost pleasant, after all the required potion was designed to counteract nausea after sustaining several of the curses the children were so apt to dish out on each other. Poppy’s stores were practically depleted and this exercise would benefit him two fold. He would get out of replacing her empty shelves alone and Jocelyn would reap the benefits as well. If she didn’t screw this up, he was certain she would be most grateful for calling her on the carpet in front of the class. If, she didn’t screw this up and considering her current state, that was a big if.

The next two hours passed as they usually did in potions, everyone kept their heads down and tried to not make more noise than was absolutely necessary. Jocelyn racked her brain trying to remember every ingredient and little step needed to pull this one off. When she had finally finished, she looked around the room and most of the other potions were a dark shade of blue. Looking back at hers, the green thick liquid continued to swirl and get even thicker when she would stop stirring. This was not going to go well, of that she was dead certain.

“Time is up,” Snape announced. “Bottle your potions, place them on my desk and Ms. Morgan would you please demonstrate to the class your exquisite prowess of potion making.”

He had moved across the room and was standing in front of her cauldron, eyeing the green disaster she had created. This was not going to go well, that much he knew. Severus had silently watched her though out class as she had prepared and added each ingredient one at time. It had been all he could do not to correct her when she had added them in the wrong order, knowing then she had been doomed to failure.

Jocelyn shot her eyes to his, before finally deciding to get this over and done with. Her thoughts were already busy plotting his untimely demise and she needed to add the final touches to her plans. Reaching in with her spoon, she scooped it full and wrinkled her face at the offending odor.

Severus was forcing himself not to smirk, the room was dead silent as everyone else was more than concious she had not completed the task she had been assigned.

She was aware every set of eyes in the room were pointed in her direction, so before she began to plead leniency she took the spoon into her mouth and swallowed without inhaling a breath. For a moment she thought perhaps she had done it right, until the offending liquid hit the bottom of her stomach.

Snape was watching, unable to pull his eyes away from her. If she had been a man he would have said that she had balls. He had been certain she wouldn’t do, stop and beg him to not make her do since obviously her potion wasn’t correct. However, Jocelyn never failed to surprise him and she had swallowed the spoon full and now her face was showing distinct signs it might not stay down. Her face drained of color and a distinct shade of green washed across her features.

Turning quickly he dismissed the class. “Out, all of you.”

No one stopped to think about what was fixing to befall Jocelyn Morgan, their concern was only getting away from Snape and as quickly as possible.

Jocelyn could feel the rancid taste of the bile rising from her stomach, however this time she didn’t will it back down. Before Snape could react she had relieved her body of the horrible mess she had just attempted to digest.

Severus stood, his tunic splattered with the contents of Jocelyn’s stomach, shaking his head.

Immediately she felt better, her face no longer felt like it was on fire and her hands had quit shaking. She pulled from her pocket a tissue and wiped it across her mouth as she looked back at Severus, almost pleased at the expression on his face.

“Well now Professor, I am feeling much better.” Jocelyn slowly gathered her belongings and turned to leave the room. She paused before closing the door behind her to see him still standing as still as ever as if not believing what had just occurred was entirely of his own making.

“Have a pleasant day Sir, oh, and thank you again. You’ve helped more than you’ll ever know.” She closed the door behind her and wore a smile across her face for the rest of the day.

Severus for all his abilities could not think of one charm to clean this whole mess up, so he stood cursing as she closed the door.

****This is me begging for some feed back.....Not sure if I should keep posting or just pull the story if it is not liked...PLEASE send some little piece of yourself, so I will know what you think....Again, this is a plea for a review, all comments are appreciated..Thanks Again, Jane....***