Learning to Cope

Learning to Cope

Chapter 1

Severus Snape

The quill scratched delicately over the parchment, pausing to dip into a black inkwell. Beneath the name, the quill made a quick sketch, a quite accurate picture of the Potions Master taking form.

Straight black hair, minus the grease because ink couldn't convey the same shininess, framed an unpleasant face. The dark brows were furrowed over hawk-like eyes, glaring over a mountain of a nose, pointing haughtily skyward. The slash of a mouth was curved in a characteristic sneer. Billowing black robes and black boots combined to form the appearance of a bat. A looming bat. A sadistic, looming, annoying bat.

Setting the quill aside, a pair of slim, but strong hands held the parchment up. Then pressed downwards in one satisfying, long rip. Right down the middle of that sneering face. The hands proceeded to methodically shred the picture into infinite little bits, which fluttered in the air before settling on some unfortunate individuals.

A certain boy, in the middle of a book on Quidditch, looked up, adjusting his crooked glasses over his green eyes. He swiped his messy black hair away, finding in the process that his hair had acquired some very large, paper-like dandruff. "Hermione," he said mildly, "I believe voodoo has been outlawed for oh, say, a hundred years?"

"Exactly one hundred and seventy-six years, my dear Harry," Hermione said sweetly, continuing her littering, "or else, that's exactly what I would be doing."

"You mean you don't count drawing a picture of someone and then destroying it some form of voodoo?"

"Of course not. I'm not actually hurting anyone...so let's call it anger management therapy."

"Oh bugger off," Ron muttered. "If she wants to waste perfectly good paper and her own precious time drawing that slimy git and cutting, ripping, picking holes, or burning it up, I have no objections."

They were in the Gryffindor common room, a suffocating mix of red and gold, and thankfully alone. Hermione was writing on a desk piled high with books. Only the top of her bent head could be seen. That, and the shower of paper still bursting upward like fireworks. Harry was lounging on the squashy red couch and continued to read his book. Ron was seated in front of the chessboard, playing against himself. He sat back and looked at the battlefield. Currently, the blacks were winning. He took the black queen. Not anymore.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning. The sun was shining brightly, without a cloud in the sky. Ron looked mournfully out the window then sneaked a glance at Hermione. The only thing souring the mood, his mood, was Hermione's insistence that they finish their Potions project.

"I'm not," she had said with flashing eyes, "going to get another eighty just because some--some stupid, pig-headed snake finds some invisible flaws!"

Translation: I'm going to work my butt off to make sure it's so perfect that a microscope (some sort of Muggle technology) can't find a stray molecule and until it reaches my impossible standard, you and Harry aren't going to have any fun either.

He heard Hermione's mumbling start again and caught a wisp of, "...and afterward I'll feed his dead, rotting corpse to the harpies..."

Ron rolled his eyes. Hermione was absolutely obsessed. He sighed. This was going to be a long day.

~~~

Harry and Ron just didn't understand, Hermione thought irritably. It's not just about some stupid project, or even grades! It's the principle of it. It's about this unfair, two-headed snake deliberately marking me down when I know I didn't do anything wrong. Oh, and let's not forget the hair trigger lectures and insults he hands you, not to mention detention, a small voice added sourly.

All right, she could admit the detention might have been slightly her fault. Fine, so she had provoked him. He wouldn't even tell her what she had done to deserve an eighty. An eighty! No one had ever given Hermione anything less than a hundred percent because she always turned in a hundred and ten percent.

Her vision hazed red as she remembered their meeting...

~~~

"Yes, is there anything I can do for you, Miss Granger?" A faint smirk on his lips. That bastard. He knew exactly what she wanted.

She curbed the fury coursing through her. "I was just wondering, sir," she said carefully, "why you felt compelled to give me an eighty on my report." She held the twenty-page report out.

He took his time flipping through the pages, even pretending to read parts of it, just to annoy her, she was sure. Finally, he looked up. His face was calm and considering. He put the report down and folded his hands in his lap as he leaned back, the picture of relaxation. "It's very simple really," he said dryly. "Your report is...adequate. But lacking in depth or true thinking."

Fire blazed in her eyes. "Are you saying I copied from a book?"

"No, of course not, Miss Granger." The condescending voice grated on her nerves. "I was merely suggesting that next time you think before you write instead of gathering a bunch of resources and then compiling a long, impressive essay which shows nothing besides a gift for researching. That is what you did, am I right?"

She felt herself blushing but refused to back down. "I don't see why that deserves an eighty. My answers were right and my report complete and on time. I also know for a fact that Malfoy received a perfect mark on his report." That still burned in her gut. The Slytherin spoiled brat actually beating her?

Now he was exasperated. "Miss Granger, did you not hear anything I said? When you turn in a report that actually shows some thinking then I will reconsider." He stood up. "And now, I will ask you to leave. I have work to do."

Hermione stared at him in disbelief. He was dismissing her just like that? "Wait," she said determinedly, "I'm not done yet."

"I am." He brushed past her as he entered the lab.

But Hermione was not giving in without a fight. She grabbed his robe and gave a gasp as it tore in her grasp.

He glared at her. She glared back. "How dare you..." he whispered in a silky voice.

"Well, if you had only stopped when--"

"I told you to leave! But apparently you will not take no for an answer!" A sudden malicious smile spread over his lips. Hermione shivered. It did not make him look any less menacing. "Since that is the case, I'm sure you will enjoy your week of detention. Report here tomorrow at eight. Go now."

Hermione didn't need to be told twice. She had reached the doorway when another silky whisper made her turn to face him. "And Miss Granger? Fifty points from Gryffindor."

~~~

It still stung when she thought of his words. And her own stupid actions. Without depth or thinking? Ha! She would bet that Malfoy didn't have either. Malfoy with his thugs and arrogance, with his Death Eater father and his perfect mark! She was not stupid enough to think that Snape was stupid though. No one who became a Potions Master and a spy against Voldemort was stupid. But they could be as pig-headed and bastard-like as the best of people. Or in this case, the worst.

"Hermionneeeeeee!" Ron whined, breaking into her thoughts. She blinked at the freckled and pale face, topped with red hair, which suddenly registered in her brain. And the hand that was waving in her face.

"What?" she snapped.

"Just thought you might want to know it's time for dinner."

"Okay, I'm coming." She slammed her book shut.

Adequate, my arse!

~~~

The clock struck eight. Harry glanced up startled. "Hermione!" he called across the common room. "You're going to be late!"

Hermione's head snapped up and her face paled. She snarled at him, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Hey! You should be glad I even--" The loud crash as the door closed interrupted his indignant speech. "I even told you." He finished lamely.

"Don't mind her," Ron said cheerfully. "She's just PMSy."

He stared at Ron incredulously. "Who wouldn't be if they had detention with Snape?"

Ron made a face. "Oh yeah...I remember the time he made us scrub the dungeon floor with toothbrushes. After the accidental spill Malfoy had. That was what...in fifth year?"

"Last year, Ron, last year."

"Oh yes. How could I ever forget?"

~~~