Snape stood beside Slughorn's desk and scrutinized the class, his gaze resting on Harry a bit longer than on the others. The silence in the classroom was absolute until Snape began to speak in a quiet voice.

‘As most of you have attended my Defence class as well, I have decided to further our discussion. You will be brewing a healing potion today. Though it is one of the easier healing potions, you may find it a bit complicated, as healing potions are among the most difficult to brew. However, as this is supposed to be a NEWT level class, you all should be able to do it, unless you managed to scrape by with a barely legitimized Exceeds Expectations, that is.'

He smirked and Harry felt his teacher's eyes burning into him once more.  Why had Snape been almost decent to him during his last detention but now was treating him just as bad as ever?

‘Open your books to page 315 and begin,' Snape commanded.

Harry hesitated. Should he dare to use his book? He longed to show Snape that indeed he belonged into this class and that he was well up to the task. He looked over to Hermione who met his eyes and quietly shook her head. Maybe he really shouldn't risk it.

‘Can I share your book?' he whispered deperately to Ron, who was sitting next to him.

Giving Harry a sympathetic half-smile, Ron seemed understanding. ‘Sure, mate', he whispered back and shoved his book into the middle of the desk. Both bent their heads down to read the instructions.

‘What's this over here?' Snape walked over to their table, smirking cruelly. ‘Can't afford your own book, Weasley?'

Ron blushed angrily. His fury was nothing compared to Harry's though, who glared at Snape hotly. ‘This is Ron's book... I forgot mine!' he said irritably.

‘Is that so, Potter?' Snape sneered at Harry. ‘Five points from Gryffindor, for not even being able to come to class prepared.' The man went to the cupboard and fetched a battered-looking copy of Advanced Potion Making. To Harry it looked horribly familiar. Snape flipped quickly through the pages and violently dropped it on the desk in front of Harry.

‘Here Potter, use this. It looks despicable from the outside but amazingly clean on the inside.'

The black eyes bore into Harry's.  The boy gulped. He knows! Harry thought desperately.

‘Thanks,' he muttered.

He quickly opened the book to the right page and started on his potion. Snape had been right: it was rather complicated. And this time, Harry didn't have the Prince's useful tips.  Having Snape's eyes constantly on him didn't help matters either.

Everything quickly began to bubble out of control. His potion, that was supposed to be a light blue liquid, had turned acid-green and was the consistency of thick glue.

‘Shit,' Harry muttered under his breath.

‘Language, Potter.' Snape's voice was waspish. ‘I wonder... how exactly did you make it into this NEWT class? It's shocking that you have managed to remain in here without Professor Slughorn throwing you out due to incompetence.'

The class was silent; one could have heard a feather fall. All eyes were peering uncomfortably into cauldrons, but it was obvious that everybody was listening intensely. Harry felt the heat rise inside of him.

‘Maybe I display more competence with Professor Slughorn, since he actually tries to teach me instead of just offending me.'

The absolute silence in the room became even more intense. Harry could have sworn that his classmates now had even stopped breathing. Snape's face contorted in anger, but he kept silent for a few highly unpleasant seconds.

‘Potter, I don't know if you think that just because you have already been assigned as many detentions with me as as you can possibly receive, you can be as insolent as you wish,' Snape finally said in a dangerous whisper that was just loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, ‘but be assured that I can find numerous ways to punish you, especially one of them you will not like at all. Do I make myself absolutely clear?'

Harry bit his lip, swallowing an angry remark. He refused to answer and heard a snicker from Malfoy. He was deeply embarrassed, knowing that every single one of his classmates was aware of what kind of punishment Snape was referring to.

Snape emitted a snort before sweeping over to Malfoy to inspect his potion. Harry glanced at Ron who rolled his eyes.

‘I knew there was something truly enjoyable missing in Potions class this year...' Harry muttered sarcastically to his friend, unfortunately a bit too loud, because ...

‘Stay after class, Potter.'

Harry paled. He caught Hermione's eye.  She appeared shocked, but her brow was furrowed anxiously. Harry scribbled a note on a piece of parchment Do you think he can do that? (feeling no need to specify what ‘that' meant). He hastily passed the note to Ron and Hermione who, after reading it, just shrugged and looked at him with helpless and worried expressions.

Harry cleaned out his cauldron and tidied up his desk. He was dreading the end of the lesson, and it seemed to him that the bell rang all too soon. Most pupils left the classroom hurriedly. Hermione and Ron, however, lingered a bit longer, obviously reluctant to leave Harry alone with Snape.

‘Granger, Weasley, out! Now!' Snape barked, and after a last pitiful glance at Harry, they fled.

Harry slowly got up from his chair and hesitantly walked towards Snape's desk where his teacher was still sitting.

‘All right, Potter,' Snape said, as he slowly stood up. ‘I will be back in 15 minutes, and I will deal with you then. Meanwhile I want you to clean out the classroom cupboard. Take everything out, clean the shelves and the inside of cupboard, and put everything back inside in nice order. Those are all things I need, and I won't waste my time looking for them simply because you produced a mess. Understood?' He conjured a bucket with soapy water and some rags out of thin air. ‘Begin now.  I want everything finished when I come back.'

‘Yes, sir.' Harry replied. Snape nodded and left. Harry flinched when he heard Snape's voice echo from the corridor, ‘Granger and Weasley! I will not tolerate your lurking in front of my door. That's ten points from Gryffindor!'

Harry went to the cupboard and opened it. Inside he could see books, rolls of parchment and boxes with chalk. He started on the top shelf and worked his way down methodically. He emptied always one shelf at a time, cleaned and dried it and put everything in again neatly. The work progressed quickly and Harry thought it woould be too good to be true if this was all of his punishment.

As he kneeled down to attack the last shelf, he drew in his breath. The bottom shelf was almost empty except for the cane lying visibly in the middle. He couldn't help thinking about Snape's words from just a few minutes ago ...   Those are all things I need ... and swallowed.

Snape, you bastard, he thought, you definitely wanted me to find this. He took it out, quickly wiped the last shelf and picked up the cane again from the floor. He couldn't help feeling a certain curiosity as he held it in his hands. He wondered whether he shouldn't be able to detect the charm placed on it but didn't know how. Sighing, he thought that his magical education was far from finished. When he heard steps in front of the door, he hastily threw the cane into the cupboard, stood up and closed the door. He had no interest in Snape finding him playing around with the cane.

When Snape entered the room, Harry approached the front desk choking out in a polite tone, ‘I've just finished, sir.'

The teacher nodded and silently picked up the book he had lent Harry that still lay on Harry's desk.

‘Do you have anything to say to me, Potter?' he asked.

‘No, sir.' Harry's insides squirmed uncomfortably.

‘Potter, there are many things that I will not tolerate; insolence is one of them.  Another is lying. Now... what do you have to say to me?'

Harry just looked at him. He felt paralyzed and couldn't think of anything to say. So he silently shook his head.

Snape's eyes flashed. ‘Hand over your school bag.'

Harry flinched but could see no way out of it now. He dragged his feet over to his bag, but instead of bringing the whole satchel over to Snape, Harry simply unpacked his Potions text, walked back over to his professor and held the book out to him.

‘I think this is what you're looking for, isn't it?' he offered quietly, not meeting Snape's eyes.

‘Indeed it is, Potter,' Snape said slowly, taking the book and flipping through the pages. He placed both books close to each other and exchanged the book covers in just the way Harry had done at the beginning of the term. He shoved the new book towards Harry. ‘This is yours, I believe.'

Harry nodded and looked at it miserably.

Snape's voice was a dangerous whisper: ‘I cannot believe, Potter, that you still wanted to use the other book. You tried to convince the headmaster and me that you were oh so sorry about using an unknown spell. Now had you been honest about that, wouldn't it have been the normal reaction to come clean and hand the book over immediately? No, you not only lied to me in the bathroom but also just a minute ago.'

‘But I only wanted to use the book for Potions! I didn't want to try out any other unkown spells!' Harry protested.

‘Your arrogance is almost offensive, Potter. Do you take me for an idiot? Did you think I would not find out, even if you had had class today with Professor Slughorn?' Snape's voice gradually increased in volume.

Harry shook his head vehemently. There were various offensive names that he would call his professor, but idiot certainly wasn't among them.

‘I want to become an auror, and I need a good Potions mark, sir,' Harry mumbled, staring at his feet. ‘And it was so easy with the potions tips inside. I guess I just thought it was worth the risk...' His voice faded.

‘Worth the risk...' Snape repeated, his face expressionless. ‘Well Potter, you are certainly going to find out if it was worth the risk, for you are going to be punished for it, as well as for your insolence in today's class.'

Harry felt his stomach contract and unconsciously cast a glance over to the cupboard.

Snape continued, ‘But not today. You may go to lunch now.'

Harry stood, rooted to the spot, staring at Snape.

‘Potter, what part of "go to lunch now" confused you? Go. I clearly stated I would punish you another day.'

‘Yes sir,' Harry muttered, hating Snape for his cruelty. He collected his things and left the classroom in haste, plodding gloomily toward the Great Hall. Though his appetite had lessened considerably he was anxious to find Ron and Hermione and tell them what had happened. Deep down, Harry hoped that Hermione could convince him that he needn't worry and that Snape would never be allowed to wallop him ever again.

But somehow he doubted that.