Dreadfully Gone

Chapter 48

Snape's Point of View

"Severus I can walk down the stairs by myself you know. I don't need any help.", Jasmine said softly once they had gotten to the bottom of the stairs.

"I know that you can, but that doesn't mean that you are going to be able to soon. I just want to help..", I said and frowned.

She sighed, "I know you want to help. But for now I can still do it, and I want to be able to do it myself. Not like you help all that much sometimes, you tend to just get in the way."

Her words stung as they bounced around inside of my head. No matter what I did to help, it didn't seem to me like Jasmine appreciated it all that much. And that hurt.. It took a lot for me to get to the point where I am now, and she of all people should know that.

"I'll ask permission to help you from now on mother.", I nodded and said harshly before I walked off leaving her standing at the base of the staircase alone.

I heard her call my name after me, but I didn't stop. I didn't want to face whatever excuse she was going to throw at me this time at the moment. I needed to get to class and actually get to grading papers instead of putting it off. I had to start making the realization that Jasmine didn't want or need my help all the time.

I sighed as I walked down the stairs and into the dungeon, the air grew colder each step I took closer to the lowest floor in the castle. It probably would have made the hair on my arms stand up if I didn't have my usual clothes and robes on, and I sometimes wonder how some of the children survived down here. It was getting so cold outside that the water that sometimes dripped from the ceiling was starting to freeze and make little icicles.

"I wonder how long it will be before they start breaking them off of the ceiling and throwing them at each other this year.", I whispered to myself as I walked towards my classroom.

I had about an hour before my next class actually started. That means I had an hour to make sure I had the front tables set for the first years to make their Hiccoughing Potion, I needed to make sure I had enough ingredients for the potions next week, I needed to start and finish grading a class worth of papers to be handed back to them, and I needed to clean my desk off since it was piled a foot high with nothing but papers that needed to be graded. I sighed as I started to move some of the stacks of paper onto the floor next to my desk so I would have space enough to start grading papers.

After I had finished clearing off part of my desk I moved onto getting the ingredients needed for the Hiccoughing Potions, making sure I counted enough for the whole class and extras in case one of the dunder heads messed up a potion. It was bound to happen, it always did in this class. By the time that I had started grading papers, some of the students started to slowly trickle into the class. Some of them with ginormous smiles planted on their chapped lips and some of them looking as if they wished they didn't have to be in this class at all. They sat in their seats and got their books out along with their cauldrons as they chattered amoungst themselves.

The door closed itself behind the last Ravenclaw group that walked in and I huffed as I stood up, "Find the Hiccoughing Potion in your books and get your ingredients. This potions should be easy compared to what we have been in doing in here. So I am expecting that there should be no mistakes made. It should be done by the end of the class, if it isn't you should expect to have a detention."