The Professor's Assistant (Snape x OC)

A bad day

The preparation weeks were full of work. We met with all the professors in the morning and started to cast protective spells over the castle, set passwords for classrooms and common rooms and prepared the whole school for the arrival of the students. My evenings were usually spent in the library or Professor Snape's office where I read about different ingredients and potions to freshen up my knowledge a bit. Professor Snape tested me by having me brew different potions for him and always finding something to be disappointed about.

At first, I was still scared of him and his attitude, but over time I grew more annoyed with him and even got angry in the end. So it happened that we got into an argument on the Friday of the second preparation week.

I was busy brewing an Antidote to Common Poisons for Snape when he berated me for not adding enough unicorn hair to the mixture in a way that made my blood boil. I decided to finish my potion and talk to him afterwards. I filled my potion into a bottle and brought it to the desk where Professor Snape was sitting, putting it down with enough force to have him look up at me.

"There you go, a FLAWLESS potion for you, Professor."

"I wouldn't exactly call it flawless considering the amount of mistakes you made while brewing it." He looked back down at his book, pretending to ignore me. He probably hoped that I would just walk away, but I was furious.

"You know what, Professor? I am tired of your attitude. I am tired of you treating me like a child. If I made a mistake while brewing this potion you can just tell me in a professional manner, in a way that helps me get better. Looking disgusted with everything that I do won't help either of us. And I know for a fact that my potion is flawless, I am not stupid. I am good at what I am doing. Do you want to know what my problem is? I am new at this job so naturally I can't find every ingredient in the course of a second. I have to search for some stuff, and sometimes I take a little longer with my preparations. You wanna know what doesn't help at all? A professor that decides to not only be unhelpful as hell, but who also decides to actively look for mistakes and if he can't find any he just imagines them. I had an 'Outstanding' in all of my classes, including yours. So don't think for one second that I don't know what I am doing!"

Snape rose from his seat. "You insolent little..."

"What?!" I interrupted him. "What are you intending to say next, huh? I refuse to let you talk to me like that any further. Be professional or keep it to yourself!"

He walked around his table to stand right in front of me. He tried to intimidate me by towering over me, but I just looked up at him, furious.

"Were you a student I would put you in detention for the rest of the school year, but since you are my assistant you will stay here and work the whole weekend. You will find your instructions on the board in the classroom." With that he walked past me towards the door, but I wasn't finished yet.

"See, that's what you don't get." I turned around to face him. "You don't get that I don't mind working the whole weekend. I was going to do that anyway since I have a lesson to prepare. The only thing that I hate is being treated like a child while my only job is trying to help you and make your job easier. But you don't get that either. You don't get that I want this job, that I enjoy working with potions and that I want to learn new things while also sharing my knowledge with your students. You just try your hardest to push everyone away, to behave like you are the only one knowledgable about your subject. Not only that, but you treat everyone as if they were stupid. I am not stupid. Also, in case you didn't notice yet, I didn't choose which professor I had to work with. We both had no choice in that matter, but now we have to work together, so maybe it would be a good idea to do this in a way that benefits both of us. In a professional way."