A/N: Hello my pretties! I'm terribly sorry for the delay in updates; we all know how finiky my muses are, and this chapter has been giving me a lot of trouble. But perhaps my update will inspire certain other people (coughFreyacoughcough) into updating. Anywho, here's the Potions mischief I promised. Enjoy!
Chapter 5: Mortals Shouldn't Be So Serious
Robin shifted in her seat uncomfortably, rolling her shoulders in the school robe. She wasn't accustomed to wearing such odd clothing; her own faerie guise was certainly much more comfortable, and the clothes she'd worn the past few times into the mortal realms hadn't been nearly so awkward. The sprite casually observed the hushed conversations of the students around her, interested to find that many of the children appeared downright frightened. Though the dankness of the dungeon classroom did nothing for Robin's mood, she found it odd that the mysterious Snape inspired such fear in his students. As the doors to the classroom burst open, the students fell silent, and a stern-looking Snape strode into the room. Taking in the wizard's sour expression as he faced the room, the trickster smiled inwardly. Oh yes, this would be fun…
Snape looked his class over with a look of disdain, before saying "Quills out." He turned and began writing on the chalkboard. The students began frantically copying the information that he was writing on the chalkboard. Hermione noticed Robin just sitting there and elbowed her in the side. Robin looked at her and the girl gestured to the chalkboard, then to the blank parchment in front of the disguised sprite. Robin jumped slightly, then nodded to Hermione, slowly withdrawing her quill and 'copying' the notes that Snape was writing on the board.
Of course, she was really doing nothing of the sort. Robin smiled to herself as she wrote down various ideas on how to torment the serious Potions teacher. If anyone were to look at her parchment, however, they would have seen an exact copy of the information that was being written on the board. Robin paused in her writing as an idea popped into her head just as Snape was speaking.
"I am expecting each of you to be able to recount all of these ingredients from memory next class," he said, still writing on the board.
"But you should in fact ignore that I still sleep with a teddy bear," answered a very Snape-like voice from the back corner of the classroom. The students looked at each other with looks that ranged from amazement to shock to amusement as an enraged Snape whirled around to face the class. The snickers of laughter silenced as he glared at the class.
"Who did that?" he asked in a low, menacing voice. Silence. "I see. Someone thought that it would be funny to try out an imitation spell their first day back in my classroom. That person obviously desires to be serving detention for the next six months." Still nothing. After a few more moments of silence, Snape slowly turned back to the chalkboard and began writing again. A full thirty seconds after he had turned his back, the same fake-Snape voice spoke up again, this time from the front corner of the classroom.
"But I still live happily with my mummy when I'm not at school." This time the snickers of laughter exploded even as the students tried to stifle them. Snape's ordinarily pale face was bright red. He glared at the class furiously, and his gaze seemed to settle where most of the Gryffindor students were sitting.
"Quiet!" He snapped, and most of the children immediately stifled their laughter. Harry and Ron, however, were not quite so quick in hiding their amusement, and Snape's wrath honed in on them instantly.
"Mr. Potter, perhaps you would like to explain to the class what is so amusing," Snape said, crossing his arms across his chest.
Harry rubbed his hand over his mouth as though to wipe the grin from his face. "N-no sir," he answered, just barely able to keep from laughing again.
"Then perhaps you could share with the class just where you managed to find such a spell so quickly after returning from break. Perhaps the Weasley twins had something to do with it?" Snape asked giving Ron a glare as well. Both boys sobered when they realized that Snape was well on his way to blaming them for the prank, even though they'd had nothing to do with it.
Robin quickly realized that what she'd been told about Snape having a special dislike for Harry was true. And she couldn't really let them get in trouble for something that she'd done…that was just rude. Looking around the room, inspiration suddenly dawned on the sprite, and she smiled to herself. This was going to be good.
Carefully, she reached into one of her inner pockets hidden under the folds of her robe. Sliding her hands into her lap, she cupped a sprig in her palms, and placed a small Glamour over it. In the blink of an eye, she crossed the room and placed it in front of Malfoy, and was back in her seat. Snape never even noticed she was gone; even Hermione sitting next to her only felt a brief breeze as the sprite accomplished her goal. Robin allowed herself a bemused smile at the mortals' expense; what was quick to them was achingly slow to her. She could, after all, girdle the world in forty minutes (though on a good day it was less); the puck had no problem taking a few steps without being notice.
Snape's glare was still fixed on Harry and Ron, determined to punish the boys even though he had no proof they had done anything wrong. Only Robin's small hand rising meekly into the air caught his attention, and his head snapped to the side to acknowledge the new student. He'd barely given the girl a glance when he'd entered the classroom, seeing her as only another Gryffindor; now he turned his glare towards her wondering what she could possibly deem important enough to interrupt him. "What?" he snapped.
Everyone's attention was suddenly on Robin. Harry and Ron, though grateful that Snape's attention was no longer on them, exchanged a brief glance of confusion and worry at what the new girl was about to do. They switched their attention to the girls sitting in front of them as Robin started to answer Snape.
"Pardon me, sir, but I think that perhaps Draco could offer you some explanation of the outbursts," she answered shyly, pointing behind the teacher to where the blond boy sat confused. Malfoy had been laughing so hard with his friends over Harry's plight that he'd failed to notice the brightly colored box on his desk. The box caught Snape's attention and he crossed the room in broad strokes, swooping up the mysterious item. Malfoy was too confused and shocked to offer much protest.
Holding the box up to eye-level, Snape read the cover angrily. Sermimtor's Mimic Machine; Confuse Your Friends, Annoy Your Enemies! Snape looked from the box to Malfoy in anger. "Some new-fangled device from Zonko's, no doubt," the Potions teacher said. Malfoy only stuttered in confusion.
"But I didn't…I don't know…that's not…" Malfoy seemed unable to settle on any one explanation. Robin carefully bit back a grin as she watched the mortal's confusion. Oh, she was enjoying this game already!
Snape appeared unimpressed. "Twenty points from Slytherin," he said, before turning and walking back towards the front of the classroom, placing the box on his desk as he went. Robin watched it carefully as class continued; the glamour would fade within a day or two, and by then Snape would have "misplaced" it. The sprite decided that she'd risked enough mischief for one class; Oberon had warned her to be subtle. But she was determined to make more fun with this overly serious teacher. It was always the stern ones that were the most fun to crack…
"I can't believe he let Malfoy get off so light!" Ron complained as the children headed to their next class. "If that had been one of us, we'd been in detention till graduation!"
"I just can't believe he actually had the guts to do it," Harry answered. "Especially in Snape's class."
"It does seem a bit odd," Hermione mused. "I mean, Malfoy is one of Snape's favorites, and vice versa. Why on earth would he prank one of his favorite teachers?"
"Oh, who knows!" Ron exclaimed, clearly not wanting to get wrapped up in another one of Hermione's mysteries. After a moment's silence he added, "It was brilliant though."
"Hilarious," Harry said. "I didn't think Malfoy had that much of a sense of humor." Then he paused, as though remembering something important. He turned to where Robin was following the gang quietly.
"Thanks for pointing that thing out to Snape, by the way. I don't think anyone else would have had the courage to interrupt him." Robin smiled shyly, ducking her head at the praise.
"Oh, it was nothing," she answered, blushing ever so slightly. "I couldn't just let him punish the two of you when that thing was in plain sight on Malfoy's desk."
Harry smiled his approval at the new girl before Hermione pointed out that if they didn't hurry they'd be late for Transfiguration. Robin smiled as they rushed down the hallways; it would seem she had succeeded in earning the children's trust.
There you are, kiddies! Now leave a review so that my muses will not abandon me again. Remember: save a muse, send a review!