Life as I Knew It

Chapter 20--Remedial Potions

Pansy could not help but be nervous as she walked the dungeon halls to Professor Snape's office. She had had a couple more classes with Professor d'Homme, and in that short time, she had experienced the lechery and inappropriateness of which the man was capable. According to Zahara, Professor Snape was worse. This perception could have been skewed, as the Runes professor did not like Zahara at all, and she had to meet with Snape alone in his office. When Pansy told Zahara she would leave if the professor tried to touch her, Zahara had responded that it would be a short lesson then. She then proceeded to regale Pansy with the list of creepy things Snape had said or done over the last year. It was a truly frightening list.

The fact of the matter was that no matter how much Pansy wanted to "fix" Snape, she did not really know what she was doing. It was still at the point where things were happening around her rather than because of any action on her part. As happy as she was to see Sally-Anne acting normally, she had not done anything to cause that. Yet there were many people who spent time talking to her and never even flickered back to their old selves. Pansy just had no control over these things.

She really wanted to hesitated at the door to Professor Snape's office, but Zahara opened it and pushed her into the office. Pansy had been in that office many times before. Things looked much the same, and it took Pansy several moments to notice the subtle differences. It took her even longer to notice the one major difference.

Where there used to be a wall, there was now a curtain. When Professor Snape emerged from behind that curtain, Pansy saw that it hid a small room containing a bed. It was a four poster bed covered in black silk or satin, and there was a scarf tied to one of the posts. Pansy did not know where Snape's quarters were. It was possible they had always been behind that wall; after all, the Slytherin common room was hidden behind one. And it was possible that Snape had always had a bed like that, but Pansy shuddered to think what that scarf implied.

"Good evening, Professor," Zahara said very pleasantly. "If it is all right, I brought along Pansy Parkinson for our lesson. She would like to learn more about Potions as well."

Snape smiled. "That's fine. Although, I must admit that I got the impression you had no interest in Potions, Pansy."

Miss Parkinson, Pansy wanted to correct. Her head of house had never called her by her first name, and this did not seem like a good time for him to start. Pansy also wanted to slap the smile off his face. That man never smiled; he smirked and gloated, but he did not go about grinning like an idiot. Just for a second, Pansy entertained the idea of doing these things and hoping that it would make him revert to the man she wanted him to be. She realized that treating people normally was not something she had tried up to this point. Unfortunately, it would be very rude to tell a professor not to call her by her first name, and she would never normally slap one, so these things were not options at this time.

She settled on saying, "Zahara spoke so highly of her lessons, I wanted to see what the fuss was about." Her companion glared at her, but Pansy ignored her. "In fact, all the students seem to respect you so much. I thought maybe it wasn't that Potions were dull, but that I'd had a bad professor at my other school." Every word she had said was a lie, and Pansy was not sure from where it had come.

Professor Snape, still smiling, took Pansy by the arm. She remembered her earlier vow to leave under such circumstances, but she decided to let this one thing pass. She really did want to fix him. He led her to his workspace. There were only two stools there initially, but with a wave of his wand, a third appeared.

Professor Snape took a seat on one of the stools. "Now, I believe you told me that you received an E on you Potion O.W.L., is that correct?"

Pansy nodded.

"Then I am afraid you are far above Zahara's level. She is absolutely hopeless at Potions. Isn't that right, dear?"

"Yes, sir." Behind the professor's back, Zahara wrinkled her nose and made a face. Pansy was not sure if it was because of the "dear" or the insult.

"Well," Pansy said, "I thought I would just observe today, and then later I could decide if it would be worth my taking private lessons." There was no way in hell Pansy would be alone with this version of her professor, but she forced herself to smile sweetly.

He was still smiling. "All right, then. We'll discuss that later."

After this, he beckoned Zahara forward and began the lesson. It was rather boring for Pansy. Professor Snape watched as Zahara made a simple potion and corrected her at every wrong turn. Nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary. It was not until later, when Zahara thanked her, that Pansy realized what she perceived as ordinary was good.