Harry Potter One Shots (Vol. I)

The List (Harry Potter)

Everyone knew that one of the worst things at Hogwarts was Snape's potions lessons. But if you were a Hufflepuff in one of his lessons then you might as well have painted a target onto your back. There was nothing Professor Snape seemed to hate more than having to teach Hufflepuffs - rumour has it that in his first year of teaching at Hogwarts, a Hufflepuff student had managed to anger him to such an extent that he had held a grudge ever since.

I had found that it was better to keep your head down during his lessons in order to minimise the chance of getting picked on. That was exactly what I was doing now; keeping my head down as I took notes on what he was saying. Snape was listing off the pros and cons of two potions that appeared to do the same thing when I felt Susan nudge me in the side.

Turning my head to look at her, I went to ask what she wanted when Snape's head snapped in our direction. We both looked quickly back down at our notes.

"Hey," Susan hisses quietly, keeping her head pointed towards her notes. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye, my quill still moving across my parchment.

"What?" I asked quietly, the words barely more than a whisper. The man had the ears of a bat - he was able to hear even the quietest of whispers.

She ducked her head and nodded slightly to her left. I furrowed my eyebrows for her to see and she nodded over to her left again. Rolling my eyes I followed her gaze and tried to figure out what it was that she was trying to tell me. I leaned forward in my seat and started slightly when my eyes collided with green hues.

I kept my eyes on Potter long enough to see Weasley glance at his tablemate. Seeing Potter's attention on something else, Weasley followed Potter's gaze and saw me. Instantly a huge grin emerged on his face and he nudged Potter teasingly. Potter shoved at Weasley's arm and turned back to the front. Heat ran up Potter's neck, turning his ears a shade of red that could rival even the brightest Weasley hair. Weasley kept his eyes on me, wriggling his eyebrows. I furrowed mine in return; what in Merlin's name was going on?

My eyes picked on an all too swirling mass of black that was making its way towards Weasley. I watched as Snape crept up beside Weasley and motioned rapidly for him to turn around. He watched me in confusion. Really, being so dull was only going to get him in trouble. Finally realising what I was trying to tell him, he turned but it was too late. Weasley found himself face to face with Snape.

"Mr Weasley," Snape drawled slowly, making Weasley's eyes widen drastically. "Perhaps if it's not too much of a task you could concentrate on my lessons rather than on Mr Potter's absolutely thrilling love life?"

Weasley floundered for words to defend himself and make his punishment as low as possible, "You see Professor, I was-"

"I don't have time for your excuses Mr Weasley," Snape turned his back to Weasley and Weasley's shoulders visibly relaxed. "10 points from Gryffindor."

Before Weasley could protest, Potter's hand shot out to cover his best friend's mouth. Snape returned to the front of the classroom, sweeping his eyes across the classroom with a cold glare.

"Now if we are done speculating on the wonderful love life of our dear Mr Potter, perhaps we could return to our lesson?" A silence filled the class and I picked up my quill again, "Unless anyone has a problem with that?"

His eyes met mine and I glanced down at the parchment again. Merlin, I didn't blame Longbottom for having Snape as his boggart. The man was scary.

Thankfully Snape continued to teach the lesson and the bell tolled after five minutes to signal the end of the lesson. Five minutes might have been a short amount of time but those five minutes had been the most suffocating moments of my life. Once the bell had tolled, we had all rushed to get our things ready and go back to our common rooms.