Teacher's Pet | Severus Snape

Chapter 16 - Royal Literature

"Remarkable potion", he said, his eyes still on the parchment that had by now more crossed out bits than untouched ones.
"Why the hell did you punish me, then?", I asked him daringly.
His head flew up and he glared at me menacingly.
"...Sir", I sheepishly added.
"By following your gut feeling, you put all of us in mortal danger. You are lucky it was just five points", he said indifferently, his eyes back on the parchments.
I defiantly looked over my shoulder. Then I heard him sighing and standing up.
"Wait here", he commanded and vanished into his office.
After a short while he came back.
"Now, follow me", he ordered me, and I did, but as he left the classroom and made his way through the Dungeons, I made sure to always stay behind him a couple of steps. Right now, I had no wish being too close to him. After a couple of corners, we stood in front of a door, I had never noticed before. he took an old key out of one of his cloak's pockets and opened the door. He held the door open and gestured me to enter the room. Curiously I went in, throwing an unyielding glare at him as I passed him. He backed up slightly and raised his eyebrow, seemingly bemused.

We were standing in a room that reminded me a good deal of our classroom. Although it was rather smaller, there were only four desks and each was propped with a set of brewing kid, including a cauldron, knife set and different kinds of stirring tools. But each set was distinctively put together for particular requirements. One cauldron was made from brass, another one was a tin one, the third was copper and the last was a dark heavy looking metal, I couldn't define. The walls were covered with bookshelves. Every bookshelf seemed to be neatly organized and holding a diversity of props for brewing potions. There was a shelf that was filled with measuring tools and cups. Scales and weights were neatly stacked. Another seemed to hold a variety of ingredients such as herbs, roots and Fwooper feathers, but also nastier stuff like frog eyes or dried toad warts. My eye got caught on a phial filled to the brim and sealed tightly with a slightly glowing silvery fluid.
"Unicorn blood", Snape explained, "Rather rare stuff. Difficult to get your hands on without... breaking the law."
A third bookshelf was filled with books, some of them looking ancient. And next to that bookshelf stood an old, spacious, dark green velvet Manchester sofa.
"What is this room and why are we here?", I asked, still looking around curiously.
"This is a room I specifically designed for students that showed a high amount off skill and natural feeling for the subtle science and exact art of potion-making during my classes – which is why it is basically untouched to this day. It is intended as an additional room, giving you the opportunity to work on your own behalf on your brewing skills. Handing you all the necessities to go beyond what is curricular in Hogwarts."
He let his gaze swiftly wander to the unicorn blood.
"You will have to do this in your free time, and you are under no circumstances allowed to bring in any other person, Miss Yaeger, for this room is only to be known between you and me. No one must know about its existence. Not even the headmaster knows about it. I made sure for it to be protected from uninvolved peasants by strong magic.
"I see a lot of potential in you and therefore I want to give you the key to this room", he concluded.
I was unsure.
"Why do you give me such an advantage towards my classmates?", I asked him. I didn't want to be treated differently by him during class. I didn't want to owe him anything when it came to my education. I wanted to stay independent.
"This is not an advantage. You already are more advanced in your skills than any of your classmates or any of my students I have taught in the last couple of years. I am certain, you will reach perfect N.E.W.T. in Potions effortlessly and you reached this point of knowledge and understanding without any external help from me. It is merely an opportunity I offer you, to expand your knowledge beyond what Hogwarts offers you. Leave it or take it."
With that he held out his hand with the key in it. I watched it for a moment, thinking about all the possibilities, before I took it.
"Thank you, Professor. I truly appreciate this."
"However, if you happen to struggle or have any questions. I give you permission to ask me after classes", he added and there was a satisfied look on his stern face.
I put the key into my school bag and was already thinking about potions on my mental list, that I would like to brew.
"Also", he went on, "there's something else I would like to hand you."
He grabbed into his pocket and took out an old book. He gave it to me. I examined the book. It looked rather used and worn.
"Another Advanced Potion-Making copy?", I asked him uncertainly, eyeing the cover of the book, handling it with care.
"Open it at page 10."
I did and examined the same page, I already had today in class. But this copy contained a lot of handwritten notes and scribbles. Some text parts had been crossed out. I read some of the notes and my eyes widened.
"Crush with flat side of silver dagger, releases juice better than cutting", was scribbled over the part, where the book had instructed to cut the Sopophorous Bean.
A little further down next to the stirring part, there was a note "7 times clockwise – 1 time counter- clockwise"
I looked at Snape puzzled, while he almost victoriously smiled at me.
"It happens to be my old copy that I used back in the days", he explained. "As you see, I had my go with it and improved some of the potions here and there. I can not let you use it during class, but I would like to give it to you for your extracurricular studies."
I beamed up.
His look went stern again: "But please be careful. There might be one or two of my own spells in there, that you should not try out lightly. I was a troubled young man back then."
"I promise, Professor!", I cheered at him and as I eagerly pressed the book onto my chest, I stood on my tiptoes and planted a smooch onto his cheek.
His stern expression went almost soft as he said the following line:
"I think we must expect great things from you, Miss Yaeger."
And then he grabbed my arm and pulled me into his embrace, kissing me softly onto my lips. After overcoming the initial shock of his quick actions and change of events, I softened into his arms and returned the kiss. In a matter of seconds, the soft kiss had turned into a demanding one, both of us yearning for more. The book fell out of my hands and landed on the floor between us.