Ron's Assignment

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Thanks to June for all of her help and suggestions.

Ron's Assignment

After making sure he ate what could very well be his last meal on this earth, Ron made his way towards the location of the DADA class. It was fairly well known that all of the previous DADA professors had made their rooms in the loft-like space leading up from the actual classroom. But Snape had made that his office and also personal potions lab. Even though he was no longer the potions professor, he still loved making potions, and would spend his free time doing research.

Snape did, however, have a large set of rooms just up the hall from the DADA classroom. The corridor leading to his rooms was a dead-end, so students never went that way, thus giving him the privacy he so loved. Unfortunately for Ron, this fact made any escape all the more difficult. If he took too long to get one of the professor’s handkerchiefs, and Snape was on his way to his rooms, there would be no avoiding him. There wasn’t any other classroom on the way or anything remotely looking like a broom cupboard for Ron to duck into. No, it was fairly safe to say that he was pretty well fucked.

Ron looked at his watch. It was one-fifteen on the dot. Snape’s next class was in another fifteen minutes. That meant Ron had a good ten minutes to get into the man’s rooms, look for the handkerchief, and get out with several minutes to spare and not risk running into the professor. He looked around the corridor and saw no one about. Quickly he walked down the hall and found himself at the end; there was no door anywhere. He raised his wand, and hoped that as soon as he brought down the wards that a door would appear. It took him two tries before he spoke the words correctly and the door opened. Ron wiped the sweat from his brow and ran inside. He had to stop a moment to take in the shock of what he saw.

While he wasn’t quite sure if he’d truly expected whips and chains, Ron certainly wasn’t expecting the way it looked. It appeared that Snape loved comfort. His furniture was oversized and covered in something that felt like velvet to Ron, and another fabric like something he’d felt at Hermione’s parents’ home. It was called chenille. The walls were the typical castle stone, but Snape had the loveliest art hanging on them — scenes of beautiful women, and knights on their horses kissing their damsels good-bye, as well as many scenic prints of ancient Egypt and Rome. Ron’s reverie was broken by the crackling of the fire, reminding him of his task. He looked for a way that would lead him to the bedroom. He saw a small hallway and followed it; sure enough, it led to the professor’s bedroom.

Another shock to Ron’s system. The man had a huge bed. Silk curtains hung all around the bed, and large pillows were strewed all about. On the walls of this room hung all sorts of tasteful yet very erotic prints. The redhead had to admit that his former professor had good taste. Ron looked at the bed and found himself imagining Hermione and Severus doing all sorts of debauched things, then he shook himself out of his thoughts.

“What the hell am I thinking?” Ron shuddered at the thought of seeing either one naked — Hermione because she was like a sister to him, and Snape because; well, because he was Snape. Ron looked toward the far side of the room and saw a large bureau. He ran towards it and began opening drawers. He found shirts, underwear, socks and nightshirts, but no handkerchiefs.

“Bloody hell, what’s he wipe his nose with, his shirtsleeves?” Ron wondered. He knew there had to be handkerchiefs somewhere. He then looked towards the bed once more and noticed a small pile of folded linens. Upon closer inspection, he realized they were what he’d been looking for. He felt sick to his stomach.

“Why didn’t I see these before? Oh blimey, I hope I don’t have some repressed need to look at Snape’s underwear.” Ron pocketed two of the items for his friend and began to walk out of the rooms. He managed to get the wards up easier than he had gotten them down. Looking down at his watch, he noticed that he had but a few minutes to get safely out of there. Sadly, it was not to be. As he drew closer to the opening of the hallway, he came face to face with the last person he wanted to see. Professor Snape.

“Mr. Weasley, are you lost?” asked Severus as he stared at Ron menacingly.

Ron felt the blood drain from his face; he could feel his body shaking. As his former professor awaited an answer, he decided to play dumb.

“Yes,” he squeaked. “I…um…well, isn’t this the way to the kitchens?” he blurted out.

Severus arched his brow and stepped back slightly.

“After spending seven years of your life in this school, I would think you of all people would know where the kitchens are.”

“Bathroom?”

“Try again.” Severus was irritated. Not only had the young man sent him a love letter dripping with sentiment, but now the little twerp was caught coming from the direction of his rooms.

“Well, you see, Professor, I was on my way to go see Hagrid and, umm, I got distracted. I thought I saw my girlfriend go around this corner, she said she would be visiting me, so I decided to follow.” Ron hoped that the professor wouldn’t question the fact that Luna was not at the school visiting.

“Girlfriend?” asked Severus in disbelief. “You have a girlfriend?”

“Yes, sir,” said Ron.

“You mean to tell me you like women?” asked Severus.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” answered Ron, clearly offended at the unmentioned accusation. “Of course I bloody like women.”

Severus looked at him up and down. He inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that his love note had not come from the redhead.

“Very well then, go on, get out of here,” Severus said as he waved his hand and turned towards his rooms.

Ron shook his head and walked back towards Hermione’s rooms.

‘He thought I was a tosser? Does everyone think that?’ Ron wondered to himself the entire way.

Severus entered his rooms and walked to his bedroom. He remembered he hadn’t taken a handkerchief that morning. The house-elves had placed them on his bed along with the rest of his clothes after they were been cleaned. In his hurry to get to class, he’d forgotten to put the handkerchiefs away. He took one from the pile, then placed the rest in his bureau drawer, never noticing the missing two.

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Thank you to all of you who have been reading this so far. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.