§ Severus Snape | Oneshots

§ Company in Punishment §

*Platonic! Student reader!

*Word count: 1,190

------------------------------------

You pushed open the door of the Potions Classroom and your ears were immediately filled with the sharp sounds of quills scratching that circulated around the room. Which soon halted when a deep familiar voice spoke out.

"Late..." Professor Snape drawls out, his head hung down to the paperwork on his desk.

You entered and closed the door behind you.

"Pardon me, Professor Snape." You say as you make your way to your designated table.

This has been the routine for both of you and Professor Snape, saying the same thing each time for the same scenario. You knew well of the consequences of being late to the notorious Professor of Hogwarts — students always made sure they were on time albeit only one problem off the list. But as for you, you are perpetually late once every week, gaining detention for each time.

After the class concluded, the students wasted no time filing out of the room, not wanting to spend any more seconds in Snape's presence or the gloomy classroom that represents him.

However, you didn't care for both of those things. You stayed seated at your table and decided to occupy yourself by scribbling in a notebook. The entire room was silent and the only ones who remained were you and Professor Snape.

Snape remained in his desk, the entire time he had been marking papers. He was always a busy and irascible man which was often apparent as you could see how much paperwork piled up on his desk and he would occasionally get aggressive with his quills when he see an incorrect answer on a student's work.

After a while, he eventually stopped and laid down his quills, resting his forehead on his palm with his eyes closed, sighing deeply to himself, feeling stressed from the continuous workload. And then something alerted him, he heard sounds of distant scribbling. He looked up and saw you at your table, engrossed in your own world. He was so immersed in his own work that he didn't even look to see if anyone else was still there.

"What are you still doing here, L/N?" He asked as he leaned back into his chair.

"I have nothing else to do." You say without looking at him.

"Would you rather have an early detention?" he deadpanned.

"Sure," you replied almost instantly. Snape was taken aback, he intended to change your mind about staying, but instead, you boldly accepted.

"Besides, you need some fresh air, Professor." You looked up at him, and you saw a glimpse of an odd expression that was quickly masked with his usual stoicism.

He narrowed his eyes at you, contemplating your words. "To the Forbidden Forest it is," he said as he stands up and make his way out of the classroom. You quickly caught up to him, feeling thrilled with anticipation.

You and Snape strode through the hallways of the castle, you notice younger students scurrying away at the sight of the dark professor, while some stared your way. The entire school already know by now that you took detention with Snape every week.

The journey was unspoken, only accompanied by the sounds of the surroundings and footsteps. Moments later, you both finally reached the Forbidden Forest. You didn't ask the man what is the task, you simply just followed along with whatever he wanted, not out of fear but a desire for adventure.

Snape took a glance at you and noticed your zestful attitude, "You seem to be rather taking delight in detentions, L/N."

"Oh, really?" you replied, feigning obliviousness.

"It's only now that I have come to think that your tardiness may be... on purpose." he hinted.

Your eyes widened slightly at his words but conveniently, you both had just reached the destination — an opportunity to change the topic.

"What are we going to do today, Professor?" You asked without looking at him.

He narrowed his eyes, irritation sparked in him as you didn't acknowledge his words, but ultimately he let it go. For now.

"It should be obvious to the sight." He says as he walked off to start with his own task.

You felt a bit relieved as you managed to slip out of his confrontation. Shrugging to yourself, you walked off to start your own task.

As time passes by, the Professor progressed a lot in his work, which was gratifying compared to the work in his office. He sighed to himself, in disbelief that you were right but he was inwardly grateful. Albeit the reason being here was for your detention.

He sensed a presence behind him, he turned his head around to see you holding a basket filled halfway, with a slight nod of acknowledgement he gathered all of his work and poured it into your basket. He rose up to his feet, and without a word, he started retracing back out of the forest with you behind him.

Reaching his office, Snape went to sit behind his desk whilst you had gone off to the storage room and stored away the work. After you finished, you walked out of the room and headed to the exit until you were halted by the calling of the Professor.

"L/N, I believe we have something unfinished." He suggested.

You turned around and opened your mouth to speak but were cut off by his order for you to walk over to him, reluctantly you obeyed.

"I inquired other Professors and they all informed me that not once have you ever been late to their class... but mine." He stated.

You sighed, you knew that you can't keep your reason anymore.

"Because I knew how hard you worked," you said with a small smile. Though you purposely only said a part of your answer to elicit a certain reaction out of him.

He furrowed his brows at you, "As in gratitude, you are adding more work for me... is that it?"

You snickered at his reaction, causing him to slam his hand on the table though not strong enough to knock down the objects.

"Pardon me," you pursed your lip to suppress your laugh. After a short moment, you continued on explaining, "You are indeed right, I purposely arrive late knowing that you will give me detention for it. Because I knew that you would have to come with me to the forest and for that, you would have to stop with your work for a moment. I thought it would be awkward to tell you to take a break." You smiled as you finished talking.

He listened to your words attentively, he couldn't believe that you would go as far as that for him though disguised as something he thought was only trouble. He felt emotion stirring in him though he kept his mask of stoicism to not let it show.

"Thank you, L/N." He couldn't help but voice his gratitude.

You nodded, acknowledging his words. "Well, I hope from now on you would consider taking a break once in a while."

He smirked, "I hope from now on you would consider not to be late." he remarked.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Published, May 30th 2023.

*Author's Note:

I'm aware that the theme of this story is similar to the previous story, which I didn't realize until I got halfway lol, but since I've already worked on it - I can't just save it for another time.

Besides, I made an unbreakable vow that I owe someone something if I don't finish it before the month ends XD