Journey to Passion

Chapter Eleven - Neville's Misfortune

Jessica gently tapped the tip of her fingernail against one of the glass jars that lined the front wall of the empty Potions classroom. The sight of some of the pickled specimens nearly made her sick. Some were so vulgar looking she didn't bother asking Snape to tell her what it was she was looking at.

One jar's contents had a family of white mice floating around inside. Jessica reached her finger up to the jar and tapped it three times.

"Why do you do that?" Snape asked her contemptuously.

Jessica shrugged. "I don't know."

"They're dead," he assured. "They will not start jumping out at you if you keep doing that. I can take you back to my office if that's really what you would like to see."

"Another time perhaps."

Snape's footsteps sounded behind her. When he stopped, Jessica could feel the front of his robes brush up against her backside. Jessica leaned forward until her face was no less than two inches away from a particularly peculiar jar of something extremely...

"Boomslang skin," he murmured from behind her. Snape took one step to her right and put his hands over his knees to tuck himself down to her level. "A vital ingredient for a number of concoctions, one being the common Polyjuice Potion."

With her eyes widened in curiosity, Jessica moved her gaze along from one jar of specimens to the next. Beside the Boomslang skin was a jar full of pickled tarantulas. They were so still, completely submerged in the cloud of green liquid.

"Have you ever been fooled by someone's use of the Polyjuice Potion?" Jessica asked curiously. For the first time since he had brought her into his classroom, Jessica took her eyes away from the abundance of trinkets and specimens and turned toward him.

"I have," he told her. Snape stood up straight and took Jessica's hands in his to pull her up with him. "I don't suppose you have."

Her head shook almost unnoticeably. "No, I haven't, I don't think. Physically one can use magic to temporarily appear as another, but no magic in the world can alter what's in here." Jessica lightly tapped her fingers against his temples and then soothingly began to massage him. "This is what I feel."

His eyes drifted close and a shallow moan somehow escaped his closed mouth. Snape reached up and took Jessica's hands down from his head. His lips touched her hands and dotted her skin with kisses as he brought their hands down together.

"You had better go now," Snape told her. "My students will be arriving soon. I have the first years and ironically enough I will be showing them how to properly brew an anti-venom serum today, so I'm sure you and the Madam will have some work to do within the hour."

Snape put his hand over Jessica's shoulder as he ushered her out of the classroom. As soon as they were out in the open area Snape let his hand slipped down the centre of Jessica's back and then folded his hands together behind his back.

"Will I see you again today?" Jessica asked and smiled courteously. Her shoulders swung back and forth and she twisted a lock of hair around her finger. "Before dinner perhaps?"

"Perhaps," he said. "If my schedule permits it."

"Good." Jessica smiled again and reached her hand up to his face so she could kiss him goodbye. Before she could touch her lips to him, the sound of parading footsteps had Snape pushing her away from him. Jessica took a step away and watched as the students came down the spiral staircase.

The tiny shadows of the Potions Master's first year students coming down the stone stairs were the first to catch Jessica's eye. Then, as Snape let out a miserable sigh, the renowned Gryffindor trio appeared with their books in hand.

Harry was the first to look up and see Jessica standing only a foot or two away from his livid Potions professor. Snape crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at Harry just as he always did when the eleven-year-old boy came into his view. Jessica didn't share the professor's exasperated expression. When she caught Harry's eye she smiled politely and opened her mouth slightly as if to silently utter a 'hello.' Harry retorted with a nod and then steps aside as his friends tailed behind him.

Ron followed immediately afterward and came to an abrupt stop as soon as his feet stepped off of the staircase and touched the stone floor. The moment he saw Jessica his eyes widened and his jaw fell open.

She could feel his shock and the flood of lovesick emotions that consumed him. At the very same time that Ron was drowning in infatuation, Snape was turning into the jealous man she knew he was capable of becoming. Although she knew Snape would never admit that a child was capable of invoking jealousy, there was no doubt in Jessica's mind that if Ron ever tore his gaze away from Jessica long enough to see the murderous stare in Snape's eyes, he'd probably turn as white as a ghost and melt right into the floor.

Hermione trailed right behind Ron. She stopped behind him for a moment and peeked over his shoulder to see what was keeping him from clearing the path. Her eyes turned to Snape and Jessica and she immediately knew that his boyish fantasies were taking a toll right now. Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head as she walked around him and went straight into the classroom.

"Come on Ron, let's go." Harry tugged at the sleeve of Ron's second hand robe and tried to lead him over to the classroom. He wouldn't budge. Ron hugged his books to his chest and gulped before he slowly started putting one foot in front of the other and stepped towards the classroom with Harry. His eyes remained fixed on Jessica and she could feel how badly he wanted to say something to her.

Jessica looked up at the irate expression on Snape's face and whispered softly in his direction. "I think you may just have a volunteer to send to the Hospital Wing this morning."

Snape's mumbles were drowned out by the fresh sound of more footsteps thundering down the staircase. Laughter accompanied their loud parade and then the notorious Slytherin trio appeared. Draco Malfoy watched both of his friends punch their shoulders into Ron and Harry's backs as they pushed on by. Curious as to why the red head barely budged when Crabbe and Goyle tried to knock him over, Malfoy stopped next to Ron and eyed him curiously.

His gaze was still hypnotically fixed on Jessica and his jaw looked as if it was nearly ready to fall off. Malfoy made a disgusting face at Ron. "What's the matter with you, Weasley?"

Ron didn't answer. He just stood in his fixed position and gasped as he watched Jessica making small talk with the professor.

"Leave him alone, Malfoy." Harry gave Ron's sleeve another tug and desperately tried to make him get a move on.

Malfoy looked at Jessica and then sniggered to himself as he realized what had Ron so intrigued. "Ha ha," he chuckled. "Don't flatter yourself too much, Weasley. What makes you think you could ever afford a dame like her?" he whispered.

Malfoy lifted an eyebrow as he assessed Jessica. She had dressed in a creamy coloured robe with an abundance of gold trimming to match the accessories she had around her neck and on her fingers. The dress she wore beneath the thin robe glistened in gold as well. It exposed a tiny measure of clevage and fit tightly around her stomach before flowing down to her ankles.

"Even if your family sold everything they owned, you still wouldn't be able to afford a single link on that necklace she's wearing," Malfoy supposed.

Ron finally broke his gaze from Jessica and glared at his rival. "Shut up, Malfoy." Ron looked back at Jessica and watched her spread her lips into the sweetest smile he'd ever seen. It nearly crushed his heart to see that it was Snape she was smiling at. "A girl as charming as she is would never fancy the likes of you."

Malfoy laughed again. "Are you kidding me Weasley? That's Professor Snape she's smiling at. Obviously she does fancy they Slytherin type." A sly smile crept onto Malfoy's face. He bounced his head up and down as he plotted and then glared once more at Ron. "Watch this."

Malfoy walked up to Professor Snape and Jessica. Ron watched from the base of the staircase and nearly started fuming when he saw what Malfoy was trying to do.

"Good morning Professor Snape," Malfoy greeted with a nod.

Snape eyed his favorite student curiously and then nodded his head once very slowly. "Mr. Malfoy," was his calm reply.

Malfoy turned towards Jessica and smiled. She returned his smile and then watched him extend a hand to her. "I don't believe we have met," Malfoy began. "My name is Draco Malfoy."

Jessica reached her own hand out and shook with the young boy. Another sweet smile spread across her face and she looked at the Slytherin symbol on his black robe. "Well Draco Malfoy, my name is Jessica Van Eden. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine my lovely lady," Malfoy assured and turned Jessica's hand up before gently dotting her with a kiss.

Once Malfoy's lips touched her hand, Jessica felt a surge of rage building up in the professor standing next to her. He opened his mouth, readying to explode in disapproving anger until Jessica interrupted him by letting out a delicate laugh.

"What a sweet young man," Jessica complimented as she ran her hand down the side of Malfoy's face. "Tell me something Draco, are you always this charming or has your Head of House been rubbing off on you?"

"That's enough," Snape implied. "Off with you, Malfoy."

Malfoy obeyed his professor and nodded in understanding. He smiled proudly at Jessica and then turned his head over his shoulder to sneer at Ron. The young boy's face was as red as his hair and the pure heartbroken frown withered away his pleasure.

"Come on Ron," Harry said and started to push his friend towards the classroom. "Let's go before he has time to dock us for dawdling."

Several more students came down the stairs and followed behind Ron and Harry into the Potions classroom. They were all quiet. No of them dared make too much noise while their professor stood between the classroom door and the spiral staircase.

"Try to enjoy yourself," Jessica encouraged as she gave Snape's hand a little squeeze. "I'll see you later, Love."

The term of endearment she chose wrought a tiny shiver. Snape turned the corner of his mouth up into a minuscule smile and he nodded her off. "You will," was his reply.

Snape watched as Jessica began walking towards the stairs, one more pair of footsteps came sounding from the staircase. Heaving in short breaths, Neville Longbottom came down with a pile of books in one arm and his wand in the other.

The professor glared at the boy when their eyes met and the sudden shock of being greeted so foully made Neville lose his concentration. He thought he'd reached the bottom of the staircase when he in fact had one stair left to descend.

He tripped over the last step and fell flat onto his stomach. The books in his hands scattered across the stone floor and his wand ignited a yellow bolt that went straight up towards the ceiling.

There was a large, black iron chandelier holding twelve large wax candles hanging directly above Jessica. The bolt from Neville's wand struck the chandelier and sent it into a mad swing. In a split second a downfall of liquid-hot candle wax showered over Jessica like a spell of rain.

Snape heard her scream and immediately raced towards her. Before he could reach Jessica, the mass of iron hanging from the ceiling broke free from the chains supporting it and came crashing down.

The panic-struck Neville watched in awe and in terror as Snape dashed under the chandelier's collision course and pulled Jessica out of danger just in time. The chandelier smashed to the floor and sent a shattering tremor through the entirety of the dungeons. Pieces of stone and ivory cement flew from the scene and left the area in a cloud of dust.

Students that had already gone into the classroom came out to see what had happened. Gasps and frightened sighs came from every direction. Neville coughed as he tried to keep from breathing in the debris.

Barely a foot away from the chandelier, Snape crouched down with his abundance of robes draped over Jessica's still body. Once it was silent again, Snape lifted his head and batted the dust away from his face. Jessica had her arms wrapped tightly around his torso and her face was buried in his chest. He could see splashes of hardened candle wax on her clothes, skin and in her hair.

"Are you all right?" he asked softly.

Jessica coughed and batted her eyes open before looking up at him. She nodded her head and loosened her grip around him. "I'm fine. Thank you for-"

"Don't say it," Snape ordered. He didn't want to hear her say that he'd saved her life, although he probably had. The weight of the iron chandelier would have crushed her like a soft-boiled egg.

Snape helped Jessica up onto her feet. When he stood up he felt himself being strangled by the tie of his cloak around his collar. The sound of threads ripping apart drew his attention to the spot where his cloak had caught between the chandelier and the distorted floor. He tried to pull it free a couple of times but only heard more ripping. After a third attempt the splitting sounds were drowned out by the furious reverberation of Snape's desperate attempt to shed himself of the torn attire. He swung his body around and became even more infuriated after each time he heard the sound of the threads splitting up the seam.

Jessica caught a corner of his cloak and freed him of it with a wave of her hand. She held the material in her hands and tucked her fists under her chin. Snape calmed himself for a moment and looked at the scatter of blistering red skin she was trying to hide. The candle wax began to crumble and flake off. The injuries she sustained weren't serious, but she'd need Madam Pomfrey's attention.

"Wait here," Snape instructed and lightly brushed pieces of debris off of Jessica's robes. "Let me deal with this and I will bring you to the Hospital Wing myself."

The anger that sounded in his voice was unmatched by any tone she had heard thus far. It had only been an accident, but Jessica knew he was going to make the poor student responsible suffer dearly for it.

Neville was still on his stomach at the foot end of the staircase when he heard Professor Snape's footsteps approaching him. His dust covered boots were the first to come into his view. With his jaw hanging open in sheer terror, Neville slowly looked up from Snape's boots to his fuming stare. If Neville knew he wasn't about to get into the worst case of trouble yet this year, he would have chuckled at the sight of Professor Snape covered from head to toe in the ivory coloured debris. His hair looked almost white and the front of his black clothes were covered in dust.

An enraged hand reached out for Neville and pulled him to his feet by the collar of his robes. Neville choked and coughed once Snape let go of him. The livid professor ground his teeth together and gave the boy a hard shove at the shoulder.

"You stupid, foolish imbecile!" Snape growled. "Give me that!" Before Neville knew what Snape was talking about, the professor tore Neville's wand out of his hand and threw it as far down the corridor as he could. "I HAVE TOLD YOU, THERE ARE NO - WANDS - IN - MY - CLASS!!!"

With his feet barely touching the floor as Snape hauled him into the classroom, Neville tried hard to utter an apology. "I'm... I'm... s-s-sorry, P-Professor."

"Sorry is not going to save you now!" Snape assured and he threw Neville down into a chair. His hands slammed down and pressed firmly into the counter. Snape leaned over until his face was less than a foot away from Neville's. The professor was so furious, Neville could feel the heat coming off of his face. "DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU COULD HAVE DONE?"

Neville's bottom lip quivered as he whimpered a reply. "It was an accident, Professor. I swear it."

"ACCIDENT OR NOT, YOU NEARLY HAD SOMEONE KILLED!" Snape closed his eyes for a moment and turned his head to the side as he drove the thought of losing Jessica out of his mind. After only knowing her for such a short time he was already terrified at the thought of losing her.

Snape's eyes turned black when he looked back at Neville. He could see the fear in the child's eyes and for the first time in a long while he hated seeing how much fear he had driven into his student. Neville's fear didn't include fear of losing Jessica. He was only afraid of the consequences Snape would have him suffer.

Although Snape knew it was necessary that Neville receive some sort of punishment, he knew in the pit of his stomach that no House deduction or detention would justify the potential loss Snape would have had to endure for the rest of his life.

"One hundred points from your House," Snape decided hastily. "And I will have you serve detention once I think of something fitting for your actions."

Slowly, Snape straightened his posture and brushed some of the filth from his pants. The cloud of dust surrounded Neville and he coughed again.

Snape made way for the door and put his hand along the wall before he left. His head turned towards Neville and he glared as he shook his head. "I will never understand how a pathetic little Squib like you ever became a Gryffindor."