Author's Notes: I plotted this along Neville's fifth year—when you actually see some changes in him—but of course I'm not following the darker side of the book.What would happen if Neville got really pissed? Here's the result… enjoy!
Chapter One: Neville's 'Gonna Get It.
"You call this the Draught of Peace?"
Professor Severus Snape sneered at Neville Longbottom's cauldron. It had turned a murky brown and closely resembled a bubbling burping mass of mud. It might have been the right consistency for a Polyjuice Potion but alas, this was not suitable for the Draught of Peace which required a bit more skill and patience.
Patience was something Severus Snape was losing fast.
He continued his seething rant over the stinking cauldron, it smelled like dirty diapers. "Pathetic…"
Severus dipped a ladle and drizzled the clumpy mixture so everyone could see it. "Absolutely worthless!" he hissed and dropped the ladle back in.
Severus turned abruptly to the Longbottom boy.
"I know it's too much to ask but could you at least get your head out of your enormous backside and pay attention in class?"
He strode to the other side of the boy, hearing the whispers from the Griffindors. No doubt they would lose points once more.
"Ten points from Griffindor for your disgusting attempt at potion making."
The boy looked beside himself and was turning red, probably from embarrassment but it wasn't Severus' concern.
Professor Snape took once last dismal look at the cauldron, holding his nose at he did so, as the Slytherins laughed out loud. None of the Griffindors said a word but Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger could see Neville balling his fists and shaking uncontrollably.
"Um, Professor?"
Hermione raised a hand but was gruffly silenced by Professor Snape.
"I don't want to hear any excuse from you Granger. Not even you could help this unfortunate case—or the potion."
Several Slytherins laughed at that, especially Draco Malfoy.
Subtlety was Severus' strong point and he noticed everything. From the smallest details of potion ingredients to their look, scent and tastes. He knew each one perfectly and nothing escaped his scrutiny. Unfortunately for Severus, what he didn't notice and what had escaped his normally acute senses was Neville Longbottom's flustered appearance.
The boy's face was going purple and he looked like he was having an apoplectic fit. His face was sweating and his knuckles had turned white from clenching them so hard. There was also a vein in his forehead that looked ready to burst.
If Harry hadn't known Neville better, he would have said Neville looked just like Uncle Vernon whenever Harry accidentally mentioned the word Magic in the household.
Hermione also knew Neville and felt especially sorry for him because he was always the brunt of Snape's scathing remarks and it really wasn't fair because Neville was a sweet, shy, chubby boy who really didn't need someone like Snape to pick on him.
Ron knew Neville but had never seen him this angry before. In fact, if Ron hadn't known Neville at all then he would have said Neville was going to punch Snape right in his big hooked honker.
It turned out they may not have known Neville as well as they thought.
A piercing scream suddenly filled the dungeon classroom and at first everyone thought it had come from Neville, who had finally lost it. But they were wrong as they saw to their horror, it was Professor Snape who had screamed.
Severus had been leaning over the cauldron after silencing the Granger girl to the amusement of the Slytherins when he felt a sudden forceful push on the back of his head. At first he thought the vein in the back of his head had exploded from stress but he was wrong.
Professor Snape's head had been dunked into the cauldron—by Neville.
Everyone let out a gasp before Professor Snape yelled through the muck covering his face,
"FIFTY POINTS FROM GRIFFINDOR!"
When he emerged from the cauldron he looked like some gory creature from a bog, a very smelly bog. The gloppy goo was running down his face and was dripping onto his robes.
It was quite a spectacle and it looked like he had mud for skin which was falling off.
For a moment no one said anything or even breathed and they could all hear the sloppy plop of the mixture falling off Professor Snape's face.
Severus whirled around to face the little bastard as the stinking potion-gone-wrong dripped all over his face. He furiously wiped it off and flicked it off his hands. It stunk so bad and now it was all over the front of his robes.
"Detention for a month Longbottom!" he snarled.
He spat out some potion that had got in his mouth and stifled a gag as he made his way to his desk.
"The rest of you finish up and bring the samples to my desk!"
Neville stood there lost for words and he looked toward Harry, Ron and Hermione who were across the table from him.
Ron gave him thumbs up, so Snape couldn't see and Harry was trying desperately to stifle a laugh. Hermione was too shocked to do anything and the look upon her face mimicked Neville's own terrified state of mind.
He hadn't meant to do that to Snape. He didn't know what came over him.
Now he was going to go to detention, for a month, with Snape.
----
Neville's detention came the next night but it was too much to hope that Professor Snape's rage had cooled off any. Neville was going to be stuck with him all night and he wasn't looking forward to the task ahead of him.
"You will start with the ingredients."
Severus pointed to the shipment of toads that had come in, all were dead and ready to be gutted. He smiled a satisfactory grin as the Longbottom boy gulped.
"After that you will sort those jars," he indicated the newly pickled slimy creatures that he liked to collect just for fun before continuing, "then you will scrub the cauldrons until they are absolutely spotless. Do I make myself clear Longbottom?" Severus turned swiftly to the boy as he shyly looked up from the ground and was pleased to see he was a bit green as well.
"Yes, sir." The boy answered.
It had taken over three hours to get it done.
Neville had to carefully slice open the toads, which made him sick, then pick out the entrails and sort them into the proper containers.
"Not that way, you idiot! You'll ruin the supply I just ordered! Don't waste it!"
Professor Snape's admonishments were never far behind as Neville worked tirelessly.
Neville had dropped some of the jars of the pickled creatures and Professor Snape wouldn't bother to repair them with magic.
"That's another rare and exotic species you have lost me, boy." Snape scoffed.
It wasn't until midnight that he finally got started on the cauldrons.
Professor Snape was sitting at his desk, reading some large moldy books and was scratching on his parchment with the black quill feather. Still, he must have had eyes in the back of his head or was a really good mind reader because as soon as Neville was done with one cauldron Snape would get up and check on his work.
"That's not clean enough. I said absolutely spotless! I still see stains and crusted sediment on the bottom and the sides. Do it again!" Snape stood over him as he worked.
"Stupid boy. You can't do anything right. Does nothing penetrate that thick skull of yours? It probably runs in the family, no doubt. I wouldn't be surprised."
Severus paced around Neville as he worked and gave an amused smirk as Neville suddenly bumped his head on the cauldron he was cleaning while it was on its side.
"Shut up." Neville whispered.
The smirk immediately left Severus' face.
"What did you say?"
"Don't say anything about my family."
"I didn't." Severus hadn't realized the boy was paying that close attention.
"Yes, you did!" Neville clenched his fists.
"What did I say?" Severus sneered.
"You know what you said!" Neville shot back.
"I can't keep track of everything I say to you…" Severus walked toward his desk.
"You said my family was stupid." Neville mumbled.
"I was only stating the obvious."
"My family is not stupid." Neville started turning even redder than he had been while he was scrubbing the cauldrons.
"You must be the exception then." Severus hissed and ended the discussion right there. "Get back to work, you still have thirty more cauldrons to clean—no magic!" Severus sat in his chair. "Not that it would make any difference." he added.
It was nearly two o'clock by the time Neville got to bed and he was sore all over but he felt so riled up that he couldn't get to sleep right away. All he could think about was Snape's greasy face sneering at him with his cold black eyes as he insulted Neville over and over and over…
----
"You have to do something Neville."
Hermione was chiding him again, not that he needed it, he had had enough already.
"You should talk to Professor McGonagall. She can put a stop to this nonsense."
Neville shrank back. "No, I don't need anyone defending me."
Previously he would have welcomed the extra help but now it seemed every time someone tried to help him it made him feel—weak. He needed to do this on his own.
"As long as I don't make any more trouble, I'll be fine." He hurriedly got his books together from the common room then remembered he had left another book upstairs in his room and had to rush to get it.
When he came back Hermione was still nagging him.
"You're facing detention for a month, with Snape! There's no way you won't be in trouble somehow. You know how he loves to make everything difficult for you, especially you." Hermione had her books all ready and was stepping out of the portrait with him.
"I wonder why Snape does that to you?" she added pensively.
She then answered her own question which only annoyed Neville more. "If you stood up to him, he wouldn't do that to you!"
"I know Hermione! But you saw what happened the last time I did something—He was covered in goo and then Griffindor lost fifty points and then I got detention for a month!"
"Well, I didn't mean dunk his head in the potion." Hermione finished lamely.
----
It was coming out of divination class that Neville heard his name being called.
"Hey Fatso!"
It wasn't really Neville's name but he knew that was the name he was called when it was called by Draco Malfoy. This time he didn't have time to hide because he was on his way to Magical Creatures class.
"Going to pull another stupid stunt in Potions again are you?" Draco drawled as Crabbe and Goyle snickered behind him.
"No." Neville mumbled a reply and tried to step around Draco but it was no use, his faithful bodyguards blocked the way and Neville had to give up, as usual.
"Professor Snape should have expelled you for doing something like that." Draco stepped forward and intimidated Neville back to the wall. "It's only because that fool Dumbledore needs to keep his loyal students around, all the mudbloods and squibs. You're almost a squib, aren't you Longbottom?"
Draco always used that emphasis on his last name and it really started to annoy him. More than that now, Neville realized, it was staring to anger him—a lot.
"Stop saying my name like that."
"What? Isn't that your name, Longbottom? I think it's fitting really, seeing as you have such a long bottom!" Draco laughed with glee at his own stupid joke.
"Stop it." Neville warned.
"Longbottom! HA! I bet the whole bunch of your family are a bunch of Longbottoms. Get it, long bottoms?"
Neville felt the anger rising to his face and he raised his clenched fists.
"The whole fat stupid lot of them!" Draco turned back around from snickering with his two stupid pals when he saw Neville's fists in the air in front of him. "What's this? Are you going to hit me?"
That's just what Neville did.
An anguished scream filled the hallways and a Prefect came running over.
"No fighting in the hallways!" It was a Ravenclaw girl and she did a double take at Draco lying on the floor and Neville standing with his fists still raised. "Uh, I'm going to have to report this to your head of houses."
She still seemed surprised but not as surprised as Crabbe and Goyle who stared dumbly down at Draco who was nursing his bleeding nose with his robes that were now very bloody.
"All right. Malfoy, isn't it?"
Draco groaned and nodded slowly.
"Hospital wing. One of you go with him, the other one report to his next class about what happened."
Crabbe and Goyle stood in confusion as they both tried to figure out just which one of them would stay with Draco and which one of them would go to the next class.
The Ravenclaw girl sighed and pointed to Goyle, "You, go with Malfoy." She pointed to Crabbe, "You go to the next class… you know which one it is right?"
Crabbe only looked more confused.
"It's Care of Magical Creatures next, we share the class." Neville spoke up.
"Right then. Go on." She turned to Neville and ordered, "You come with me."
Neville felt his stomach drop but nodded.
It was lucky really that the Ravenclaw Prefect had come along, if she hadn't, Neville would probably be on the floor being kicked by Crabbe and Goyle, once they figured out how to avenge their ring leader. It very well could have been Neville going to the hospital wing, instead of Malfoy.
He didn't think it could get any worse, he was already facing detention with Snape but he was wrong.
As they came to Professor McGonagall's office Neville felt an ominous foreboding and knew for sure he would probably be expelled or worse yet, his grandmother would receive an owl.
How could he have forgotten that?
----
"This is unbelievable."
Professor Minerva McGonagall was storming around her office and Severus was severely tempted to trip her just so she would stop that infernal pacing.
"I just thought I should make this clear to you, Minerva, that Longbottom boy assaulted me and my student. I don't see why it's suddenly my fault that he has lost control of himself and has gone on a destructive rampage."
"You should have seen this coming!" McGonagall finally stopped pacing but was now glaring at Severus which wasn't an improvement in the situation at all. "You've always taunted him and pushed him over the edge and his unstable mind and fragile state can't handle it!"
Severus noticed an annoying edge in Minerva's voice, as if she were, god forbid—about to cry.
"What on earth are you talking about?" Severus scoffed. Fragile state of mind indeed.
"Don't think I don't know what's going on in your class, Miss Granger has informed me—"
"Miss Granger?" he hissed and sat up in his chair. "Miss Granger should know that this does not concern her and she would be advised to shut her insufferable yapping mouth and mind her own business!"
"How dare you!" Minerva was frigid with indignation.
"It's not as if I insulted you." Severus crossed his arms and asked, "Anything else you wanted to tell me about Longbottom?"
"Yes, Dumbledore has told me to tell you—"
"Why couldn't he have told me himself?" Severus interrupted.
"Because he is rather busy at the moment!" Minerva did not like being interrupted and continued with a sniff, "You are to help Longbottom control himself—"
Severus barked out a derisive laugh.
"If you do not," Minerva warned, "then it may not only be Longbottom who is expelled from this school."
Severus suddenly choked on his own spit and coughed, "WHAT?"
"This is serious, Severus. Who knows what may happen? Violence is only the beginning, if something more were to happen—"
"Like what?" he interrupted once more.
Minerva gave an exasperating sigh and continued, "if Longbottom begins to assault teachers then other students may rise up and it will be a greater threat to this school to allow such disruption to continue." She looked very grave but Severus caught on to what she was saying.
Monkey see monkey do.
Longbottom wasn't a threat but more like the domino at the beginning of the line. It would only take one flick of the finger to set the others in motion as they tumbled down, one by one. It wasn't just Longbottom they had to worry about, there were other students at this school who would love the opportunity to strike back at the teachers. Severus wasn't going to let that happen.
"All right, I get it!" Severus emphasized.
"Good." Minerva's face set itself into a smug expression as if she had just settled an extremely simple transfiguration question.
----
"You're not doing it right. What did I tell you before?"
Professor Snape stood over him as Neville sorted the lizard spleens and entrails. He had to cut them carefully at just the right length and if he cut them too hard, he ended up squishing them as black goo squirted out from them.
"I'm trying," he sighed.
"That's not good enough!" Snape snatched the knife out of his hands and started to splice the spleens into perfect lengths with amazing speed. Neville kept his fingers out of the way, just in case his knife should slip—on purpose.
"Do it again and don't mess up!" Snape slammed the knife down onto the slime covered table and Neville winced.
He slowly picked up the knife again and started his work once more.
It slipped and Snape swore.
"Damn you!"
Neville started to cry, he was really tired now and was up since early this morning with Filch for his other detention. McGonagall's reputation for being fair seemed to have been a joke. He was also upset about the letter from his grandmother this morning—it had been a Howler.
Snape was running his hands through his hair and pulled some strands out, he flung the bits of hair off his fingers then stared at Neville as if he had never seen something so pathetic in his life.
"Why are you crying?"
"I'm not!" Neville brushed his robes against his face and nose as he sniffled.
"Oh for crying out loud! You're pathetic!" Snape had his hands on his hips and stared Neville down. "If everything I happen to say to you offends you so much then you're not going to last long in this world." Snape continued, "You should toughen up and grow some skin—although I'm sure you have plenty of that already—"
Neville punched him.
It took a moment for Snape to regain himself but he answered, "Another fifty points from Griffindor for assaulting a teacher!"
Snape held his black eye and to the amazement of Neville, didn't hex him to his grave.
"You need to learn to control yourself." He went to get a cloth then put it under the icy faucet. "Being out of control and taking your rage out against others is a sign of weakness—you don't want to be weak do you?"
Neville shook his head.
Snape slapped the wet cloth to his eye and winced. "Then you need to learn self-discipline. Unfortunately," Snape's lip curled, "I'll have plenty of time to teach you while you're serving your detention."
Neville nodded slowly. He counted his blessings that he wasn't dead already, though if looks could kill then Snape surely would have killed Neville by now with the look upon his face.
It was going to be another long night.
----
A/N: This story was getting long so I decided to split it into chapters. Sorry about the reposting but I thought I should clear up the time change between characters and settings.
Next chapter: Someone gets poisoned, Neville makes a mess of himself and a strange new creature appears.