Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I make no money from this. Everything you recognise belongs to JKR.

Author's Note: Much thanks and Halloween candy to GrammarPolice for her beta and SlytherinsHeirx for his Britpicking. Also a big thank you to the admins of this archive for allowing me to post at all.

Author's Note, the second: This will probably be the last chapter posted until sometime in December as NaNoWriMo starts November 1st. I have so many voices clamouring in my head that I don't know where to start. I suppose it will be whoever is the strongest, as Lucius was last year. At least he helped produce this fic.

Chapter Thirteen

...Monday Afternoon, 4 January...

Severus, using his stick, stumped into his seventh-year N.E.W.T.s-level Potions class expecting trouble. The class consisted of members from all four Houses...and Longbottom. After revising Slughorn's curriculum, he anticipated spending at least a week of classes making corrections to shoddy brewing methods.

"Wands away!" he barked as he sat down at the high desk. "Books out! This class is Potions, not Charms. You will have different partners this term and again next term so you learn to work with others." He opened his roll book and began to assign lab partners.

"Weasley...Lovegood, Granger...Davis, Malfoy...Longbottom, Boot...Zabini..." and so on until the class paired off to his satisfaction. No student shared a desk with another student from his or her House.

"Now," Severus said, "once everyone is situated and in their seats, we will begin our review. Yes, Miss Weasley?"

"Sir, Professor Slughorn..." Ginny began.

"I am not Professor Slughorn," rebuked Severus. "Five points from Gryffindor for even comparing the two of us. Any more comments about Professor Slughorn?" He looked around at the stunned faces of the returning students. Only Hermione and Draco showed no consternation at his comments.

"Good. Now, open your textbooks to page 394..."

* * *

"Dunderheads, the lot of them," Severus muttered as he made his way to his quarters. "Only a few gems in the lot. Horace has a lot to answer for letting that lot into a N.E.W.T.s-level class."

"Professor Snape, sir?" He turned to observe Tracy Davis as she stood in the hallway, clutching her book bag tightly.

"Yes, Miss Davis?"

"I just wanted to say, sir...," she said haltingly.

"Get to the point, Miss Davis," Severus hissed. "I have things to do."

"Welcome back, sir. I'm glad you survived."

Severus bowed politely. "Thank you, Miss Davis. I am rather glad I survived as well."

He watched as the girl turned and walked off towards the Slytherin House door. "Miss Davis?"

"Yes, sir?" She turned back.

"Five points to Slytherin for your sheer audacity."

Tracy smiled. "Thank you, sir," she said and walked off with a small skip to her step.

"So easy to make them happy, isn't it?"

Severus' wand almost teleported into his hand, and he held its tip to the throat of... "Minerva!" he snarled and his wand disappeared once more. "What are you doing in the dungeons, Headmistress?"

"Checking on my new Potions professor after his first day," Minerva replied with a small chuckle. "Besides, you said you'd teach me the protection spells you had on your quarters."

"Not tonight, please," he groaned. "I found I have to shake Horace's teachings out of the heads of all the students who were intelligent enough to maintain them. It's enough to make me want to hex him into the next year. Whoever decided the man was a competent teacher after he'd been out of the classroom for twenty years?"

"What about the students who didn't maintain Horace's teachings in their heads?" Minerva asked, ignoring his question. "What are you going to do about them?"

"I have found that my teaching style is quite good at installing information I wish them to maintain," Severus purred. "Once I've removed Horace's fallacies, then I can begin to rebuild what I had in there before everything... happened."

"Don't beat yourself up over Albus buggering Dumbledore," Minerva said, touching her hand to his shoulder in a gesture of comfort. "It was his choice to die. I just don't happen to agree with his choice of instrument now I know what he had planned. And, for the record, he's the one who decided Horace was a competent teacher."

"Of course he did," Severus said and laughed ruefully. "We're talking about the man who hired Gilderoy Lockhart to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Minerva giggled as she remembered the pertinent year. "That man was an unmitigated disaster from the day he set foot in this school, although I am rather sorry Mr Weasley's wand backfired on him. I would have loved to transfigure him into a teapot and pour hot water into him every day."

"Thus matching the hot air he spewed in the classroom." Severus chuckled. "Thank you, Minerva, I needed that after today."

"Then I shall see you in the Great Hall for supper?" she asked.

Severus sighed. "Yes, Minerva. I'll be there."

Minerva smiled as he walked off muttering, "Merlin save me from managing witches."

* * *

...Two months later...

"Longbottom, watch what you're doing!"

Draco's shout brought the attention of the entire classroom to the corner where he and Neville were attempting to brew the Draught of Living Death. Everyone held his or her breath as Neville's cauldron bubbled up to the brim and breathed out as the bubbling subsided without melting or exploding the cauldron.

"Longbottom," Severus demanded, "what are you doing?" He swept up to the worktable and eyed the cauldron cautiously while Neville cringed away from the two Slytherins. The potion, an ominous green colour and definitely pulpy, glooped and bubbled in its metal prison.

"A zero for class, Longbottom," he said as he vanished the potion. "If I were to feed that to anyone, there would be no resuscitation to be had."

He swept back to the head of the classroom, robes billowing in the prescribed manner. "Finish up! Homework due this coming Monday is three feet of parchment on the reasons for cutting potion ingredients in a prescribed manner. Three feet, Miss Granger, and not an inch more."

He sat down at the desk and pulled his grading towards him. Dipping his quill into the inkwell, he continued to grade papers as the students brought their samples up and left them on the desk. Both Hermione and Draco's samples looked perfect, just as he expected. Most looked good, but only proper testing would discover if the brewing was done correctly. Severus was vaguely pleased that this class...with the exception of Longbottom...was shaping up nicely. Not quite as many dunderheads as he'd expected.

"Sir?"

"Yes, Mr Malfoy? What is it?"

"I'm glad to see you're walking easier, sir," Draco said deferentially. "Are the exercises still helping?"

Severus sighed and set his quill down. As the class was empty of all but the two of them, he relaxed a bit. "Yes, Draco, thank you. The exercises are working quite well as you can see. I am performing them morning and night with the help of a house-elf."

Draco smirked. "I could..."

"No, Draco, you could not," Severus interrupted. "I believe you have a wager with Miss Granger, do you not?"

Draco looked shocked. "How...?"

"...did I find out?" Severus finished. "I was in the library at the Manor when you made the wager, so I heard everything. I also observed your parents' wagers about your wager. As I do not want to hear you sing in the Great Hall, I suggest you apply yourself to your studies and win. Now, I believe I assigned an essay to your class for next Monday?"

"Yes, sir. I'll get right on it."

"Good boy."

* * *

...Two months later...

"Hermione, will you calm down?" Ginny said as Hermione scurried by, muttering about revision schedules and practicals.

"I can't," Hermione muttered, running a hand through her unruly curls. "There's only six weeks left until the N.E.W.T.s and..."

"And you're driving the rest of us stark raving mad," Ginny replied, pulling her down onto a sofa in the Gryffindor common room. "Relax. You already know the material backwards and forwards."

"I have to get good scores. My university career is depending on it."

"You don't have to have a nervous breakdown, though," Ginny remonstrated. "You'll get the highest scores in the class. You always do."

"There's another reason I have to do well," confessed Hermione.

"Oh, do tell." Ginny's eyes sparkled with unsuppressed excitement.

Hermione looked around to make sure they weren't going to be overheard and, to be on the safe side, cast a Muffliato spell. "Malfoy and I have a bet going..."

"A bet!" Ginny shrieked. She lowered her voice as Hermione made shushing moves with her hands. "What kind of bet?"

"We made a bet about which one of us would have the best N.E.W.T.s results this year. If he wins, I have to kiss him at the Leaving Feast in front of everyone in the Great Hall... with tongue."

"Ewww," Ginny groaned, miming a gag.

Hermione nodded and grinned. "If I win, he sings a song of my choice in front of the entire school at the Leaving Feast."

Ginny giggled. "Hermione, his voice is awful. Oh gods, that's brilliant. I hope you win."

Hermione smirked. "That's what I'm trying to do but he's not making it easy. Before this year, it was easy to get the best scores because he wasn't trying. But this year..."

"This year, he's really working at it," Ginny agreed. "Do you think it's because of the bet?"

"That... and he wants to attend university as well," Hermione said. "I've noticed, in the classes we share, that the teachers aren't letting him sit back and take it easy. They're working him almost as hard as I work myself."

"I wouldn't put it past the teachers to have a wager on about the N.E.W.T. scores," Ginny mused. "They seem to like to put up for other things. I've even seen them wager on the outcome of the Quidditch games so this would be right up their alley."

"Well, now you know why I'm stressing," Hermione murmured. "You can't tell anyone about the bet, though."

Ginny started to protest, but Hermione shut her down. "If it gets out that I made a bet with Malfoy, the entire school will try to influence the outcome. Our bet was the best scores with no cheating and no hindrance. Do you understand?"

"Yeah," Ginny said with a thoughtful look. "Somebody could make a lot of money if they bet on one of you and then did something so the other would lose." She giggled. "Besides, I want to see everyone's faces when Draco stands up and sings to you in front of the entire school."

Both girls started to laugh, rolling on the sofa with mirth. At the sudden movement, every one in the common room looked over at the two girls. Even if Hermione and Ginny couldn't be heard, they could certainly be seen. Most of the students shrugged nonchalantly, and all of them returned to their activities, figuring Hermione had finally snapped after studying too hard and that Ginny wasn't too far behind her.

* * *

...Staff room, that same evening...

"...and ten galleons to you." Slughorn's voice grated as he passed out gold coins to the winners of his ill-advised wager at the New Year. "If that's everything, Headmistress, I'll bid you all a good night."

"Good night, Horace," Minerva said with a smile. "I trust your fifth years are doing well?"

"Ah, yes, of course," Slughorn prevaricated. "But if I am to be effective in their O.W.L. reviews tomorrow, I must retire early this evening." He walked out of the room to a chorus of "thank you"s from the various teachers and barely restrained himself from slamming the heavy door.

"Well, I'll wish you all a good night as well," Filius said, pocketing his earnings. "I certainly hope I win as much if not more at the end of the term."

"What spread did you take on Granger over Malfoy?" Severus asked, stacking his ten galleons in a neat pile in front of him.

"Not too much," answered Filius. "Since we're only comparing the classes they have together, I went for Miss Granger with twelve points."

"You're not giving Miss Granger enough credit," Septima pointed out. "I said she'd beat Malfoy by at least six points per N.E.W.T."

Severus smirked. "Of course you did. You probably used Arithmancy to come up with your odds."

"Nothing wrong with using my field of Mastery to predict the outcome," Septima said petulantly. "Good night, everyone."

"Wait, I'll come too," Pomona called, walking out the door with Filius and Septima.

Poppy Pomfrey smiled serenely from her seat by the fire. "Just how much did you actually wager on Hermione, Severus?"

As she and Minerva were the only ones left in the room with him, he smirked. "Are you asking about here at Hogwarts or my wager with Lucius Malfoy?"

"Oh, heavens!" she exclaimed. "You are the sly one. So, how much?"

"Five galleons on Granger's N.E.W.T.s results being at least fifty points higher than Draco's and she exceeds all my scores in the same classes I had. That's just for my wagers here at Hogwarts."

"What did you wager with Lucius Malfoy?" Minerva asked. "You only said it would make up the shortfall on your salary, not how much."

"Mmm, yes," Severus hummed. "That's just it. If Granger does better than Draco, Lucius will pay the difference in my salary each year plus ten percent. I believe I shall be quite all right monetarily."

"You old pirate," Poppy said with a delighted laugh. "With that, I'm set for bed. Good night."

"Good night, Poppy," Minerva called as the mediwitch walked out the door. As it closed, she and Severus exchanged identical smirks.

* * *

Kudos to anyone who caught the reference to a popular fanfic challenge in this chapter.