Snape-In-The-Box by madamsnape

Snape-In-The-Box by madamsnape/JTBJAB

Jessica, I would die a painful, badly written death without you!

Disclaimer: Canon characters not mine. Canon world not mine. OC's – only Jemima is mine.

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Jemima waved her wand, eyes narrowed in concentration. The jack-in-the-box in front of her bounced on and on, which was fine and a bit of a laugh... the first few times.

But now, now it was perfect.

The scowling face of Severus Snape stared back at her, his eyebrow raised in disdain. The eyes narrowed in return and glared with the threat of detention. Laughing, she quickly closed the box and settled it under her bed, placing a few concealment charms on it. She didn't want any of the girls in her dorm to discover it by accident.

Lying back on the bed, she pulled her duvet around her. The next day's Potions lesson was going to be an interesting one to be sure. Though she wasn't looking forward to even more detention either she or the whole class were going to get. Their sleepover dares game had caused a record number of detentions, and she was beginning to feel a little persecuted against. Not all the girls had Potions as a subject and so only had to suffer the one detention. Placing a glamour over her second yellow flashing card, she settled in to sleep. I can't wait until it's all over!

***** *****

Glancing nervously around her, she sighed in relief as not a single student in the Great Hall turned to look at her. Her bulging bag felt as suspicious to her as it must have looked, and she had been dreading this part of the day more than any other. Sitting down next to Carlie, stroking her bag, she placed it on the floor next to her and started loading up her plate.

Carlie grinned at her. "What's in the bag?"

"You know very well what's in the bag. So I would appreciate if you would let me eat my breakfast in peace without you nattering on about it."

"Can I see it?"

Not sparing her even a fleeting look, Jemima continued to prepare her breakfast. "No, you'll have to wait until class, like everyone else."

"Jemima!" Carlie whined, doing her best 'puppy-eyed expression'.

"No." Glancing up and down the table, making sure no-one appeared to be listening, she started eating her scrambled eggs. "Now shut up before you draw too much attention. You know what Professor Snape is like! Just stick to the plan."

Ignoring her friend as she sulked, Jemima finished her breakfast quickly and left the table; she had to get down to the dungeons before anyone else did and prepare her dare.

***** *****

Standing quietly outside the Potions classroom, she sighed in relief when Carlie showed up.

"Where have you been? You know that I asked you to get here quickly. I didn't want to look like I came down here early for a purpose."

"Calm down, Jemima, the common room is just down there, everyone else will just think you forgot something. If, that is, they think you had a reason to leave early, anyway."

"You're right. I'm just nervous, that's all. The last dare really set me up, and if it hadn't have been for him being so embarrassed, I think I would have been dead! I can't believe I knocked the stupid dice and ended up with another card. Just my luck!"

"I told you to send it back with your wand."

Jemima nervously brushed her hair behind her ears. "I was in a rush. I wasn't thinking." Looking up the corridor, she listened out for the footsteps of the rest of their classmates.

***** *****

Snape was due any minute, when Margarite came bounding down the corridor grinning like a madman. Coming to a stop in front of Jemima, she looked at her eagerly. "He'll be here any minute. I started running when I saw his foul mood. I double, no, triple dare you to tell him you'll give him a cookie if he smiles and his face doesn't break."

"What!?"

"Come on! I'll... um... I'll owe you one, and Carlie can be your witness. Whatever you want, I'll find a way of doing it for you."

Jemima smiled sweetly. "How about you ask him?"

"Obviously, my owing you would start after you've asked him." Margarite smirked back, gave a nod, folded her arms and started tapping her foot. "Go on! It will be a laugh."

"For you, maybe. But not for me. I'm going to die a very painful death."

"Not, Miss Wilkinson, if you have completed your homework to a satisfactory level." Jemima spun round slowly and gulped at the glaring eyes of Severus Snape. She dropped her gaze and waited for him to take in the prattle of the rest of the class. "Silence! Today's lesson is up on the board, I expect you to write it all down, and get to work immediately." He paused, waiting for everyone to move from the stunned rigor. "Now!"

Jemima couldn't help but look at the box sitting on his desk. Twice she had been saved from putting the wrong ingredients in her cauldron, and twice Snape's waspish words had cut at her. But nothing could distract her from imagining the explosion that would really happen when he finally noticed the box on his desk.

It was only when she had finished putting in the initial ingredients and the noxious smell filled her senses that she calmed down. He was obviously not going to notice it this lesson. Grabbing her quill, she settled down to write down her observations thus far.

She was so engrossed in her writing that she didn't notice Snape sliding behind his desk. Or him looking suspiciously at the box sitting quite innocently there. Or even him tapping it gently with his wand and starting to cast a few spells to see if it contained a hex of some sort.

Jemima was so into her writing that when he released the latch, her first notion was his silky smooth voice echoing around the classroom from the miniature bouncing head of Professor Snape.

"...bewitch the mind... ensnare the senses..."

Jemima froze, her quill leaving a quickly expanding pool of black ink on her parchment.

A loud bang, an explosion and screaming filtering through the now smoke-filled room brought Jemima to her senses. "Shit."

"I'll say." Margarite was by her side, her wand lit with the Lumos Spell. "Wasn't quite expecting that!"

Shaking her head at her grinning friend, Jemima waved her back to her seat. "Quickly, before everyone recovers."

"It was brilliant, Jemima, didn't get more than a couple of bounces in though."

The smoke slowly cleared, and a disheveled Potions master stood at the front of the room, his wand hanging limply from his side. "Who. Put. This. Here?" Each word was slow, deliberate, and filled with poison. Nobody said a word. "Detention for all of you. For a week!" He looked around with a mad look in his eye.

Lifting her wand slowly, she flicked it first at her throat and then at the door before moving her lips. The two second delay should be enough to keep her from being targeted, but she gripped onto the table till her knuckles turned white as she started to whisper. "I'll give you a cookie if you smile and your face doesn't break."

Shooting a glance at Margarite as the high-pitched squeaky voice filled the room, Jemima grinned. Oh, she knew what she'd ask all right. Margarite was going to regret that.

"Get out!" His normally smooth voice was thick with anger, and Jemima grimaced as she walked towards his desk to fulfill the rest of her dare. "Sir, can I have what's left of it? I might be able to figure out who left it."

"Thank you, Miss Wilkinson, but I'm sure I can figure it out for myself. I'm quite capable. Now were you deaf when I asked everyone to leave?"

Shaking her head, Jemima quickly returned to her desk. "No, sir." The charred remains that lay on his desk had shocked her slightly, having known he wouldn't react well to the prank, she hadn't quite expected that, and she almost felt sorry for him. Grabbing her bag, she ran out of the room, her robes just managing to clear the door as it slammed closed behind her. "Thank Merlin that's over!" Rushing up the stairs, she grinned; her card had stopped flashing, and the letters were now green signaling the end of her dare... and it hadn't really turned out as bad as she thought it might have. At least I didn't have to call him Daddy... She cringed. Poor Marianne!

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And the fun continues...

Author's Notes: I added #59 in as a bonus, so it technically wasn't part of the game, but I couldn't resist after I was dared to! ;p

#59. Tell him you'll give him a cookie if he smiles and his face doesn't break.