Lord Death (a.k.a Danny Fenton and the unplanned sabbatical to magical Britain)

Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Severus couldn't help but pinch the bridge of his nose. His entire free time was going up in flames. A Dark Lord, the Order and now some brat that hadn't seen a cauldron before in his life.

He was sitting in his, office, taking a break from the Herbicide potions he'd been brewing. He sipped his tea, and was disgusted when he found it was cold. Damn, brat taking up all his time lately. To get rid of his near-constant questioning, he'd given the boy a stack of books, and pointed to a chair with the simple order of: "Read." Of course, the brat didn't latch on to the fact that it was a punishment.

As he stood in front of his kettle, having cleaned his cup with a swift evanesco, he paled. He'd been so busy with everything that he'd forgotten to pay attention to his potion. He, the Potions Master, had forgotten to add the Horklump juice. He rushed to his lab so fast that he knocked down a chair, and made the parchment around him flutter from his desk to the floor.

The potions was a highly unstable one, and if he didn't act now, it would cause an explosion to rock Hogwarts off its foundation.

He opened the door with a bang, startling his assistant, who almost dropped his book.

But his eyes weren't on his apprentice, but the perfectly stable, perfectly coloured potion in the middle of the room.

His mind was working a mile a minute. He knew that he hadn't added the Horklump juice. How was the potion still stable?

His eyes wandered over to his assistant, who had buried his nose back in his book, and was pointedly not looking at him.

"What did you do?" He snapped. Stalking towards the boy to tower over him.

"I added the Horklump juice sometime after you left," Danny said meekly, trying to hide himself in the overly plush armchair.

Severus' eyes bore into Danny's cerulean orbs, not reading his thoughts but intimidating him nonetheless.

"And why pray tell, did you do such a thing? And how did you know to add the juice?"

The boy seemed to grow some backbone and sat up straighter. "You walked away and it didn't look like you were coming back. I added it before it went volatile. As to how I know, why else would you have me reading all these books? I get that I need to know what I'm doing, so I'm not ready for the practical side of things, but I've read through them all at least twice."

Severus mind came to a screeching halt. "Twice?" He asked, incredulous.

A furious red blush tainted Danny's cheeks as he began to fiddle with the hem of his robes. "I'm a fast reader when I'm interested."

And all Severus could say was, "Hmm."

"Sir, I've seen how tired you've been these days. Going to meetings left and right must be exhausting." He stopped as he saw the Potions Master's stony face. "What I'm trying to say is. Please let me do my job. Let me be your assistant. Let me help."

Danny could see that Severus had not been prepared for such an offer. He smiled softly as he closed his book and walked over to the cauldron in the centre of the room. "Could you show me the proper stirring technique, sir?"

Severus seemed to boot up again at a Potions related question and into mechanical teacher mode. Danny was nodding along all the while and copying the other's motions.

As soon as Danny had the hang of it and Snape was about to leave the room he turned around. "You can call me, Severus."

Danny just smirked and answered. "Daniel or brat will suffice."