Harry heaved an inaudible sigh and turned his head back to the cauldron. The stinging sensation in his hand was already beginning to ease. The black color had to his relief faded back into a shade of  dark grey.  They sat in silence for a while as they both regarded Harry's cursed  hand. Similar expressions of fascination mingled with disgust washed over their faces. It was the blond girl that finally broke the silence.

 

"You don't think there is any way of convincing him of teaching you again?" she tried stubbornly.

 

"That's as likely as me becoming a Slytherin." Harry muttered, his words laced with bitterness.

 

 "Right." She gave him a last frigid glare and started to bottle the now completely transparent potion.

 

Slughorn would without a doubt have given an that potion an O. Harry's thoughts were interrupted by  a dark shadow looming over him. He spun around in his seat and found Snape holding a vial of bright green potion. The narrowed black eyes bore into Harry's for a fraction of a second before he abruptly shifted his gaze to the perfectly brewed draught of the living death.  

 

"Miss Carrow I think it's time for you to clean up and head for you dormitory."  Snape spoke with the same kind of forced politeness he only saved for certain "worthy" members of his own house. He didn't even comment the perfect potion before him.  That didn't however seem to bother the girl who obeyed without hesitation.

 

"Yes Sir." With that she rose and started to gather her things.

 

"Potter, my office now." Snape quirked his head toward the door to his office.

 

Slowly he got to his feet, worried about what would be waiting for him the minute they were behind the heavy wooden door.  Snape was holding it up for Harry while tapping his wand impatiently on his hip. When they got inside the door swung shut and sealed itself with a click.

 

All the dread he had been feeling was however swept away as he looked up and saw the state of the office. With widening eyes Harry took in the demolished surroundings. It looked like a struggle between two lions had taken place. The floor was covered in papers, most of them drenched in sticky potions. Shattered glass was spread out on every surface. Harry turned to his professor with a surprised expression, only to be met by the eyes of an almost equally surprised potions master. As Snape noted the Gryffindor's bewildered expression his features rapidly changed back into the usual coldness. Harry was just about to open his mouth to say something, but Snape beat him to it.

 

"One word of anything you've seen or heard tonight Potter and your hand shall not be the only part of you suffering a curse. Is that understood?" The black robes rustled softly as the greasy haired man advanced on Harry. The green potion vial was loosely held between two fingers as to further prove his point.

 

"Yes sir." Harry answered, relieved that Snape let the embarrassing conversation with Miss Carrow slip past unpunished.

 

With a curt nod Snape held out the green potion for Harry.

 

"One dose of this tonight and one more tomorrow afternoon." The black  eyes regarded Harry carefully as he drowned the potion in one gulp. The taste was indescribable, nothing that he had ever expected. It kept changing from sweet to bitter and the temperature went from cold to hot and back again.

 

"Should you suffer any ah..." an artistic pause was taken before he continued dramatically"..unpleasant side effects it's neither uncommon nor unexpected, considering the limited time in which this concoction was made." An evil smirk spread across his face.

 

An ominous silence followed when the Slytherin and the Gryffindor challenged each other with antagonistic glares.

 

"Well, how did I do Potter?" the sentence was spoken with dripping sarcasm.

 

"Brilliant professor" came Harry's automatic reply. He didn't know how he could have been so naive as to think that Snape wouldn't expect payback for the little potions farce earlier.

 

Looking atrocious as ever he took a step closer to Harry. "Sure you don't have any ingenious tip you would like to share?" annoyance was subtly hinted in the silky voice as he continued.

 

"Perhaps next time Potter you brew your own antidote and we will see exactly how much suffering you spare yourself from."

 

Harry knew it was no use to argue against the potions master anymore so he quickly changed the subject.

 

"Sir, I was wondering, back in the graveyard,  what happened? How did you find me and why was there a dementor?" at least hundred more questions rushed through Harry's head. If he even would get half an answer for one of them he could consider himself lucky.

 

"It's not any of your concern why I was there, and as for the dementor, surely not even you are as foolishly naive as to think that it just happened to be there?" Snape raved on.

 

"When it comes to you Potter nothing just happens. Mere coincidences are out of the question"  he snarled. "None of this need to have happened if it weren't for your amazingly minuscule, close to none-existing brain capacity!" He closed in on Harry, his teeth bared.

 

" Do you honestly believe that just because the dark lord is gone there aren't death eaters out there just as dangerous?!" Snape was now livid. He had begun to pace back and forth in a very uncharacteristic way.

 

Harry glued his eyes to the floor, not daring to meet his teachers eyes at the moment. The Slytherin was right. He knew that. What Harry had done had been highly irresponsible and as usual only a stroke of sheer luck that they both had survived.

 

"I know okay, and I'm sorry alright?!" Harry sighed in frustration as he tried to come up with something in his own defense.

 

"No matter what I say it's still never good enough to satisfy you. You don't even want to hear what I've got to say." In his desperate attempt for Snape to hear him out he continued.

 

"You  never tell me anything you just expect me to understand everything!"

 

"You are partly correct." With a swish of his robes Snape turned around to face Harry. "I won't listen to your endless blabbering, one excuse lamer than the other, however you're foolish if you for one second believe that I'm through with you."

 

The black robes swished dramatically as ever as Snape spun around and headed for the door. He took out his wand and the loud click sounded again.

 

"We will continue this discussion tomorrow as none of my previous warnings seem to have gone through that thick skull of yours." The door opened with force and he motioned for Harry to get out.

 

Immediately when he had stepped out of the room the door slammed shut. How typical of Snape to think that he would be satisfied with not knowing anything about what was going on. Someone was trying to kill him and the greasy bat didn't consider it Harry's business. He kicked at the carpet as he strolled down the dark corridor. So much had happened in such a short time. There was simply too much to comprehend. Harry felt overloaded. None of this seemed to make any sense. Why hadn't Snape been able to produce a patronus? Who was the Carrow girl? Why had they been attacked by that dementor?

 

There were too many questions and Harry was determined to get answers out of Snape to at least some of them. Although he would probably never answer why he wasn't able to produce the patronus. That was probably the question that intrigued Harry the most. Clearly there had been nothing wrong with Snape's wand seeing as Harry had been able to produce the same spell with ease.

 

Suddenly as he passed the gargoyle to McGonagalls office he got an idea. Why hadn't he thought of it before? He would go to ask Dumbledore's portrait. Harry's spirits lifted until he with horror remembered that he had left both his wand and his invisibility cloak in the graveyard.

 

Panicked started to run back towards the dungeons, praying that Snape had brought both of the items with him. Catching his breath he stopped right outside the office and was just about to knock when he heard voices coming from inside. He discerned Snape's voice first.

 

"...incredibly risky for you to even be here. You don't  need to draw any extra attention to yourself as I'm sure you understand. People are already suspicious enough as it is."

 

"You are being unfair and excessively careful. I was just making a potion." a girls voice sounded.

 

"With those ingredients?" Snape sounded disbelieving. "I can't remember myself handing out any assignments containing those ingrediets."

 

"I was just organising my stores."

 

"Is that so? Well in that case it can wait until tomorrow as I already said, it's late. Return to you dormitory."

 

"On my way sir."

 

"And Miss Carrow remember what I said about Potter? Let me impress upon you once more the importance of not raising his suspicions." The slytherin sounded serious.

 

"I understood the first time." The girl's voice hinted impatience.

 

"Good." Snape replied, apparently satisfied with the answer.

 

"Would you roll up our sleeve and let me take a look at it?" the low, silky tones sounded again.

 

"What for? I already showed you once. What's so special about it?"

 

Snape heaved a deep sigh and gave up. " Alright, dismissed. We'll continue this discussion another day."

 

"Goodnight professor." Harry heard footsteps heading for the door and quickly hid behind a green velvet curtain. The door opened and then closed again and he heard waited until the brisk footsteps faded in the distance.

 In an instant Harry forgot all the worries about his missing wand. What had all that been about? What was it that Snape was so eager to hid from him, and what was it that he wanted to see on Miss Carrow's arm? More questions. Deciding that the wand could wait until tomorrow he started to walk away silently. He didn't want to risk Snape finding out that he overheard the conversation. If he did Harry was sure he would never hear the end of it.