The Third Task - Part Two

The following afternoon, inside Snape's cramped Potions office, Penelope stared blankly at an unrecognisable amphibian, pickled inside one of the myriad jars on the Potions master's dusty shelves.

She'd hardly slept the night before, worrying how Snape might respond to the discovery of two Prefects arguing like cat and dog in the corridor, setting a bad example to other students, as well as her own subsequent slip of the tongue.

Sitting quietly in the chair opposite Snape's writing desk, she felt overcome with anxiety, torn between winning detention for the final task of the tournament and keeping her slate as clean as possible for her future career.

Penelope realised her mind had wandered when Snape impatiently uttered her name.

"Miss Clearwater."

"Yes, sir?"

"What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Nothing, sir."

"Nothing?"

Snape didn't continue. Not immediately. His gleaming black eyes bored through Penelope, and a pernicious tension, putting Penelope's nerves on edge, took over.

"Starting a fight in the corridors is one thing." Snape's onyx orbs gleamed dangerously as he meticulously clipped out his next words. "However, you should also be aware... I have observed the bracelets."

"The bracelets?" replied Penelope innocently.

He sharply whispered, "Yes... The gemstone bracelets which you four wear."

"'You four,' sir?"

"I advise you to stop parroting my words, Miss Clearwater," warned Snape softly. Noting Penelope's terror, he slowly listed, "Miss Spinnet of Gryffindor, Mr Caruso of Hufflepuff, even Miss Smyth of my own House of Slytherin..." His grimace caused his voice to break, but only momentarily, as the sharp contortion helped further express his contempt. "And then, there is you, Miss Clearwater, a Ravenclaw."

Snape inhaled slowly, deliberately, and then revealed, "All of you have the same gemstone bracelets. Why is that, one wonders?" His facial muscles flinched as he constrained his anger.

Striving against her growing queasiness, Penelope decided, The partial truth might appease him. "Percy, um, my ex-boyfriend, gave the original to me... Everyone liked the bracelet so much, so we... we had it duplicated."

"I doubt that very much, Miss Clearwater." An eerie, crooked smile crept around the corners of his mouth. "Percy Weasley giving you a cheap trinket of affection is no surprise to me. But a highly-charmed bracelet... that raises my curiosity. Again, Miss Clearwater, how could that be?"

Penelope's heart started racing, and she felt her forehead break out in perspiration, her palms turning clammy. He knows! Oh, God, he knows they're Charmed! Penelope struggled, her thoughts darting to-and-fro, trying to find a way to divert Snape away from the truth. She laboured to no avail and steadfastly refused to look him in the eye.

Snape enjoyed her deepening scarlet blush, no doubt a reaction to his dig at Crouch's pretentious sidekick, as well as her well-deserved squirming, and he pushed, "Why would Mr Weasley present his girlfriend with a Charmed bracelet? In particular, why should that Charm respond to me?"

Snape's eyes smouldered with slow, burning malice, accentuated by his smug smile, rendering Penelope utterly disorientated. Visions of being stripped of her Prefect privileges flashed through her mind, blemishing the honours she'd accumulated during her pristine record at Hogwarts. The Potions master's unflinching gaze prevented her from constructing any form of defence.

However, she realised she needed to say something, so she squeaked out a jumble of humiliated words.

"It wasn't, sir; it was just a stupid, cheap... We Charmed it, we..."

Abruptly, Penelope faltered and had to stop to control her trembling voice. Softly gasping, and unable to look Snape in the eye, she realised the jig was up and bowed her head. Her fingernails dug into the wood of the chair which she'd grasped tensely to steady herself.

Snape pulled out his wand and then he smiled slowly. Cruelly. He'd heard what he needed to hear. Now he only had to extract the sordid details. He would be nobody's fool. Least of all to this callow youth, the girl whom he'd foolishly perceived as different.

She may have impressive talent and keen intellect... He swallowed hard as a painful memory flitted through his mind, associated with another time, reminding him of another clever Prefect, another very gifted witch, red-haired and green-eyed... But this one's just another conniving know-it-all. I'll find out from her what she and the three others were hoping to achieve...

"Take off the bracelet, Miss Clearwater. Place it on top of my desk, at once!"

Startled, and without the willpower to protest or question his authority, Penelope acquiesced to her professor's command. But then, suddenly, as if compelled by her strained nerves, she started wildly inventing, "They're cheap, joke-bracelets... A new Zonko product... They seem to have a mind of their own, changing colours to prank the onlooker, and such...." Snape raised an eyebrow in combined disdain and disbelief, and Penny continued hopelessly, "They're... They're quite common, sir, and as you've noticed, quite inexpensive."

Snape's eyes gleamed.

"I'm going to tell you what I believe, Miss Clearwater. I think that this bracelet, along with the other ones so cleverly duplicated, is not a Zonko product at all. I believe that they are sentient objects bewitched for dubious intent."

Penelope gulped, mesmerised by his deductions.

Snape's lips curled around the corners as an odd expression crossed his face, and he swiftly pulled out his wand and snarled, "Detention, Miss Clearwater!"

Penelope's heart sank as she watched Snape, for he had not addressed her directly; his focus had been aimed at the gemstone bracelet. His shrewd gaze fixed adamantly upon its individual beads. Penelope followed his intense line of sight and groaned despairingly as the third bead changed colour, turning a dark midnight blue.

"A Protean Charm of sorts," whispered Snape softly.

Penelope docilely nodded in the affirmative.

"Instead of lying to me further, Miss Clearwater, I would advise you to tell me the detailed truth." His voice altered to a guttural sounding, "Now."

Oh God, if he were to know all the details... The real meaning, the real reason behind all this...

"It's a silly challenge... only a game... a joke... The bracelet was meant as..."

Infuriated, Snape's black eyes flashed. "A joke? The bracelets were merely for playing a practical joke on someone? For humiliating the chosen target?"

"No, no, sir," she protested meekly.

"Don't!" he cut in sharply, his jaw rigid with anger. "Don't lie to me, Miss Clearwater."

Snape's exacting gaze bore relentlessly upon Penny. "The details, Prefect! What is the full meaning of the bead turning blue?"

"It's the last stage... before..."

"Yes?"

"Before it may turn black. Or not. Tonight. At midnight."

"If it turns black, what then?

"I win."

"You win?" Snape gritted his teeth in impatience at the incongruity of it all. What the devil is the girl babbling on about?

"Well, I'll tie for the third task, at least. I've got no chance of winning the tournament at this point." Penelope sighed. The cat was out of the bag now.

"The tournament?" scowled Snape, confused. "The third task? Of the Triwizard Tournament?"

"No, sir. The Four-House Tournament." Responding to the professor's strange leer, further information lurched out of Penny's mouth. "We weren't selected to be competitors in the Triwizard Tournament, so... so we created our own. One from each of the four Houses – I represent Ravenclaw."

"Obviously." Snape blinked hard, sorting through the outlandish gibber. "The winner attains what?"

"Prestige, sir."

"Clarify, Prefect?"

Desperately concocting a story, she explained, "Whoever wins would be able to flaunt to everyone that they had won your..." Penelope faltered, dreading bending the truth in front of Snape's all-seeing, all-knowing eyes, and she steeled herself to offer up a white lie. "Your attention, sir. Your attention is what we wished to gain, Professor Snape."

Severus stared, unblinking, into Penelope's frightened blue eyes. After a painful silence, he hissed out finally, "My attention, Miss Clearwater?"

Penny nodded, panting shallowly and waiting for Professor Snape's wrath. She was unnerved to note that he had frozen, almost as if she'd hit him with a Petrificus Totalus hex.

After a couple of seconds his lips broke the illusion, and he clipped out sharply, "Wait here, Miss Clearwater."

Snape walked past her and left the inner chamber of his office.

Penelope remained seated, dazed and unable to move or even to think, other than to replay again and again the dreadful last ten minutes. She stared, stupefied, at the preserved, pickled specimens lining the stuffed shelves and began to count them mindlessly. Time passed excruciatingly slowly until Snape's office door swung open once more. A flushed Georgina entered. When Georgina saw Penelope sitting down, stunned and unresponsive, the Slytherin knew instantly that this was far more serious than the silly argument in the corridor last night. Before she could speak, the door opened again, and a bewildered Alicia and an apprehensive Luca entered, crossing over to their fellow Four-House champions. Penelope rose to her feet, caught somewhere between shame and panic.

Luca whispered frantically, "We were summoned by Snape! Me and Alicia, we thought he'd called us early for our detention!"

Alicia and Luca shakily pulled up chairs and sat down, sensing the enormity of what was about to happen.

Before Penelope could reveal any information to them, Snape swooped into his office, circling around the four students to stand forebodingly in front of them. Penelope slumped into her chair once more.

"What do you have to say for yourselves?"

All four were lost in a stupor of confusion and fear. They could only stare at Snape, wondering if he'd found them out, waiting for the axe to fall.

"Nothing to say? Not one of you? Perhaps this will help," suggested Snape as he whipped out his wand, pointed it at the newcomers, declaring, "Detention!"

Wide-eyed with astonishment, the three gasped, flabbergasted, as the third beads of their bracelets changed, Georgina's from white to a deep, murky green, and Luca's and Alicia's to an even darker shade of their respective House colours.

With the utmost satisfaction and an odd, ugly leer, Snape observed, "Curious reaction, isn't it? The bracelets do seem to respond when I give you detention. Why is that? Anyone?"

No-one could speak.

With a horrible smile, Snape ordered, "Take off your bracelets. One by one. Miss Spinnet, you first. Place it there beside Miss Clearwater's. Now you, Mr Caruso."

When Snape turned to address Georgina, he paused for the briefest second. "Miss Smyth."

Seeing the disdain etched on her Head of House's face, Georgina burst into a sob. Why did I ever do this? Overwhelming abjection washed over her.

Snape's biting command of "Silence!" hushed Georgina at once, and he continued to prowl behind his desk. Snape snapped his wand through the air a second time, fastidiously separating and evenly lining up the bracelets. He then gave a portentous look to the four students.

Snape took his time, reflecting over several possible reasons why these dunderheads would dare provoke and ridicule him with their preposterous games. A long time had passed since Snape had been an object of ridicule at Hogwarts. He had endured and survived the Marauders and their underhand tactics during his student years, and he was incensed to realise he had become a laughingstock once more. However, this time the mockery had been concealed, until now.

"Goading me with your pubescent stupidities for your own personal amusement?" he barked.

He scowled, taking a deep, controlling breath, and then chose Luca as the first target to be probed. "I've been told, Mr Caruso, that your reason for participating in this little game was to goad me? What should I do with the likes of you? Attacking me with a spell wasn't enough, I see." Snape snarled, remembering the embarrassing incident in the Great Hall earlier that year.

The Cheering Charm... Merlin, what was I thinking? Luca groaned as his mouth gaped open. He shot a fleeting glance of incredulity at Penelope, assuming she had fed Snape the 'goading' lie to somehow save herself from the severest repercussions of Snape's inquisition. How could she have said that to Snape about me? He looked back at his austere Potions master and spluttered incoherently. "No, sir, never... No, never..."

Snape turned and gazed starkly at Alicia. "And you, Miss Spinnet, wished to mock me? Not very original, but very Gryffindor of you."

Alicia, wide-eyed and startled, eked out, "Mock you? No, Professor Snape, never!"

"Enough!" He then paused, gritting his teeth as he turned, considering the betrayal of the next delinquent.

"Now, Miss Smyth, what have you to say for your shameful participation in this? You, of all people?"

Silently, tears had begun streaming down Georgina's proud face.

"One of my Slytherins intended to humiliate their very own Head of House?"

Under Professor Snape's harsh stare, her exterior crumbled completely and Georgina started blubbering. Pressing her lips together while wiping her face, she gave Penny a spiteful glance. "Your attention, sir," Georgina whispered. "I wished to gain your attention."

Snape's face twisted into a sneer. "I see. Being in Slytherin for seven years has not been enough for you." Suddenly, his eyes seemed to shoot hexes. "You dare accuse me of not giving you enough attention? The care and attention afforded to you this year alone has been more than most of my charges receive over seven whole years; are you oblivious to my intervention following the Durmstrang incident?" Snape winced as another thought occurred to him. Looking at Georgina as if for the first time, he quietly enquired, "You're not even seriously contemplating a career as a Potioneer, are you, Miss Smyth?"

With wide eyes, Georgina gazed up into his burning coal ones and pleaded, "Yes, sir. Please believe me, more than ever before! I love..." She jerked her head away from his gaze, catching herself in time. More controlled, she reassured him, "I love Potions, sir. There's nothing more in the world I'd rather do than commit myself to that noble and high profession."

Snape's eyes narrowed with intense suspicion before giving them all a contemptuous scowl.

"It seems you four not only require special detention, but also a life-lesson. One to be learned the hard way. One that you'll never forget... I believe a little manual labour is in order." Snape bared his yellowish, uneven teeth with satisfaction. "You can thank your Ravenclaw cohort for divulging the truth about your imbecilic game and for winning a fitting detention for all of you."

The three simultaneously cast looks full of gall and wormwood at Penny.

"Tomorrow morning, at six o'clock sharp, the four of you shall meet me by the entrance to the hedgerow maze, grown for the final task of the Triwizard Tournament. You'll be told exactly what you're to do then."

As an afterthought, he reassured, "You need not worry; I shall indeed grant a detention worthy of your Four-House Tournament, and you may flaunt the success of your endeavours to all your peers. The entire student body will bear witness and enjoy the fruits of your labour." Abruptly, Snape growled, "Now, get out of my sight before I change my mind and turn you over to Hagrid or Filch for extra detention duties!"

As the four stood up, they couldn't help but give impulsive glances to the bracelets on the desktop.

Menacingly, Snape confirmed, "The bracelets stay with me."

The defeated foursome shuffled one-by-one through the office door.

Once outside and out of earshot, Georgina was the first to lash out at Penelope, threatening, "Don't you dare speak to me ever again! You traitorous, lying... How could you?"

Luca could only stare through tearful eyes at Penny. Completely drained and too hurt to vent his deep anger, he simply said, "I've been loyal to you through and through. How could you have told Snape such lies about us?"

Penelope snapped out of her despondency when the pained timbre of Luca's voice struck her in the heart. "I didn't, Luca! I swear. Snape was just manipulating you to believe..."

"What?" attacked Alicia. "To believe that you'd betrayed us? Well, he succeeded, didn't he? Just as you've succeeded in turning us all in!"

"You don't understand – somehow, Professor Snape already knew! I don't know how, but he'd already figured it out!"

Her explanation seemed to fall on deaf ears; Georgina, Luca and Alicia stalked away, ignoring Penny's plea.

"Not a very nice feeling, is it, Penelope?" jibed a familiar voice from behind one of the dungeon's ceiling arches.

The Four-House champions froze in place when they saw Moaning Myrtle floating midair with a reproachful, bespectacled stare. She addressed Penelope again.

"Did you 'hope to die', sitting there under Severus's nasty inquisition? Did you cross your heart, hoping you'd be dead soon?" The squat ghost glared through her thick, whitish glasses, demanding an answer.

Penelope stared at the ghost with horror. She had almost forgotten that she'd broken her promise not to disclose anything Myrtle had told her in the Prefect's bathroom, including the details of Potter's clandestine visit with his Golden Egg. Her contrition felt like a block of ice in her stomach.

"Doesn't feel very nice, does it? Having your secrets revealed? Being betrayed?" pushed Myrtle plaintively. Then, after a moment's contemplation, the apparition cackled and swooped to their eye-level. "Especially to him. He's very touchy about secrets and lies, that one." She motioned knowingly towards Snape's office. A malicious smile spread over her translucent face, and she crooned, "He's always been very sensitive, even when he was a student here... But as a Professor, he really has no tolerance for naughty nitwits such as you. I understand this about him; only I." Myrtle had a dreamy far-away look shining through her silvery orbs.

Luca was the first to utter, "What has Penny got to do with you, Myrtle?"

Smirking at Luca, Myrtle replied, "What, indeed?"

Abruptly, Moaning Myrtle whipped around to face Penny, frowned sulkily and then complained, "In all his time at Hogwarts, I've never been able to interest Severus in anything; he's always ignored me, just like the other boys." Her wistful expression face changed to smugness as she purred, "But he was very interested in the bracelets – and in you, Prefect Clearwater. He was quite curious, seemed to think that you were involved in some covert, stupid little game; I bet he thought you were different from other witches... You've been quite clever, up until now, that is," teased Myrtle, and then she burst into hysterical laughter only to abruptly stop and eerily whisper, "But you broke your promise to me...

"So, just imagine the look on Severus's face when I suggested he question you about the gemstone bracelets. He was peeved; I could just tell! Yes, he became deathly pale when I told him the Ravenclaw Prefect would know the little secret about why the sparkling trinkets involved him. Oh, his face was a death-mask." Myrtle swooped backward, gently swinging in the air, gushing, "I do appreciate a pale-skinned man... He was so deathlike... just like Tom was. Except Tom was more handsome!"

Myrtle giggled and then swooped even higher, humming dreamily to herself.

Penelope was dumbstruck, but soon Alicia bounded forward, saying what Penny could not. "It was you, Myrtle? You told Professor Snape about us?"

"Not about you – who cares about you or the pretty boy over there." Myrtle snorted.

Luca raised his eyebrows.

"I told him about his Slytherin Prefect and the one from Ravenclaw." Myrtle wrinkled her nose in disapproval. "And the bracelets – oh yes, Severus seemed to care a great deal about those."

"But how did you know?" enquired Georgina suspiciously.

Belligerently, the squat ghost tutted loudly. "I do have eyes, you know." She glared at Georgina. "I saw the way you took off your bracelet and didn't let it out of your sight when you stepped into the bath last night. Oh yes, and the Ravenclaw Prefect is always oh-so-careful with her bracelet, too. You didn't like me asking questions about your matching bracelets, did you, Georgie-Porgie?"

Penelope swallowed hard. Georgina added fuel to Myrtle's fire, giving her the perfect ammunition.

Myrtle suddenly shrieked triumphantly. "But Severus won't ignore me again! I've never managed to tempt him before with something juicy enough for his particular taste, even when he was a student being bullied and teased. Oh, how lonely he was – just like me – we have so much in common."

She looked hopefully towards the Potions master's office, and then, with a sulky shrug, Myrtle squinted nastily at Penelope. "You didn't realise it, but I'd heard you and the Slytherin girl wailing like banshees at one another in the corridor, and I visited the Prefect's bathroom to find out why. I could see how upset my poor, brooding Severus truly was, having to endure your pitiful tirade, so I seized the opportunity to make you pay... I spent the night composing a riddle to entice him – I know how he appreciates intelligence and a good mental challenge – and I went to visit him earlier today, hoping to rouse his interest.

"In secrets and trickery let bewitchment resound

Where four identical sparkling bracelets are found.

Four different House members are bound,

There too shall lurid mischief abound!"

Myrtle sniffed. "He didn't care much for my poetry. So I simply named names!" She smiled wickedly at Penelope. "I singled you out as the ringleader. Oooh, I feel quite nice knowing he was so brutal with you. Now you know how it feels to be utterly humiliated and rejected!"

With a hysterical sob and wail, Myrtle shot straight up in the air and then flung herself through the stone wall, giving a horrid moan and disappearing from sight.

Exhausted and numb, Penelope reflected on her broken promise and the price they had all paid for her indiscretion. If I hadn't run into Potter, if Georgina and I hadn't quarrelled... The memory of Snape's words 'life is indeed unfair' came back to her. Yes, life is unfair... but I won't settle for that; I won't give in!

Penelope turned and looked to Georgina, Alicia and Luca for absolution. "I don't care about Snape – I care about you!" she blurted.

Her emotional outburst snapped the three others out of their stupor. Myrtle's revelation had shaken them like a whirlwind, blowing everything out of place, leaving shock and astonishment in its path.

Penny continued to explain. "We said we were friends... A friend would at least listen to my side of the story before walking away."

Alicia was the first to challenge Penny. "Well? What promise did you break...?"

"Don't ask – not unless you want Myrtle to haunt each of us for all eternity."

"Merlin, no," interjected Luca. "She's always given me the creeps, in more ways than one."

Still irked, Georgina finally spoke. "I can't believe Moaning Myrtle was pumping me for information!" She looked at her oldest friend, Luca, and then made eye contact with Alicia and Penelope. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, casting her gaze to the floor. "I'm as much to blame for this debacle as Penny is."

Luca moved to Georgina's side and gently touched her arm.

Penelope continued to process the sequence of events. "So that's how Professor Snape knew we were up to something before he called me into his office. Before he summoned the rest of you. Myrtle had whispered in his ear, and he made his own deductions. And then he played dumb, lied to each of you, manipulated you, to see how you'd respond."

"But why would he immediately assume we'd wanted to mock or humiliate him?" asked Alicia naively, still shaken by Snape's cross-examination.

Luca turned to Alicia. "Because he's Snape, Ciccia. A man like that – it's his first line of protection – to always be on the defence, from attacks at any time on any level... even from dunderheads like us. I mean, have you ever met a Slytherin who wasn't defensive?"

"We're not defensive!" Georgina rejoined. "We're just protective and sensitive to criticism... Slytherins are very much misunderstood. Snape just hasn't been appreciated enough his whole life!""

"Can't argue with that," Alicia said, smirking.

Luca laughed, and the tension seemed to ease a little bit.

"Did you really mean what you just said, Penny?" asked Luca carefully. "About not caring about Snape?"

Flooded with relief that her comrades had not rejected her, Penelope replied, "How can any of us not care about Snape? It's beyond our control." She smiled warmly. Looking steadily at her three peers, Penny confessed, "But I care very much about you three; your support and friendship have come to mean a lot to me. Even Professor Snape can't change that. Not ever."

Almost in a hush, Alicia commented, "What would any of us have done in your place, in the same situation, being interrogated alone like that by Snape? It must have been awful."

"Terrifying," admitted Penelope, shuddering.

Luca put his arm around Penny's shoulder and gave it a friendly squeeze. "Look, I'm famished. Why don't we all go down to the Great Hall and see if there are any leftovers? You can tell us in detail what happened."

"Sounds good," agreed Georgina. "Let's hope there're some desserts left; we'll need the comfort food."

As they all sauntered along the corridor and out of the dungeons, Penny gave Georgina a shy grin, and teasingly asked, "So... a Potioneer, eh? Surprise, surprise."

Georgina tossed her hair back and smiled demurely, "Yes, well, what'd you expect?"

"You almost slipped up there," reminded Alicia, amused. "I was going to die if you'd confessed that you loved him right in front of his face."

The recollection of the harrowing escape of revealing her feelings for the Potions master sent the four of them into a fit of giggles.

"Oh, God, what was I thinking?" wondered Georgina aloud.

"You weren't thinking... You were under pressure. Snape's pressure." The two seventh-year NEWT students gave each other smiles of true understanding.

Georgina genuinely burned to know something. "So, if not a Potioneer, then what are your career plans, Penny?"

Penelope gave a long deep sigh. "Well, if I survive tomorrow's detention, I think a career in Spell Damage at St Mungo's would be a very worthy profession. Although, I might have to be accepted there as a patient tomorrow morning, along with you three."

The foursome arrived at the Great Hall in better spirits, and found to their delight that there were still morsels of various dishes left of the evening's meal as well as a bountiful variety of desserts in which to indulge themselves. As the hall was largely empty of students, they huddled together and shared a meal.

"What do you think Snape'll do with our bracelets?" asked Alicia.

"Not wear them, that's for sure." Luca smirked.

"Incendio them, probably, if he hasn't already," commented Georgina.

Penelope blinked hard, frowning. "Watch them."

The other three looked at her for an explanation.

"I reckon Snape will stay up until midnight to see what the Protean Charm reveals."

Sure enough, once the foursome had departed his office, Snape was left to ponder the bracelets displayed in a neat line on his desk.

Miss Clearwater had told him that the Protean Charm would activate at midnight, and it was now past eight o'clock. He had plenty of time to mark some OWL examination papers and ruminate on the detention all four would be receiving tomorrow for their ridiculous, childish tournament. The punishment should fit the crime, in his opinion, and he'd devised a beautiful detention. Just thinking about it made his lips quirk. Oh, they would certainly get the attention they craved.

He could visualise the punishment in his mind's eye: the four challengers, tired and apprehensive after a sleepless night, waiting for him in front of the box-hedge on the Quidditch field at six o'clock on the dot. And he, Professor Severus Snape, gliding towards them in the early morning light, his footsteps making soft imprints on the dew-laden grass.

"Your wands," he would order, holding out his hand. Once he had confiscated each wand, he would then present the four small items held in his other hand and inform them, "I've also had an original Muggle object duplicated, one for each of you."

There, in the middle of his large palm, would be four ordinary pairs of fingernail scissors.

"Take one each," he'd command. They would do as they were told, naturally. "Now, turn around." He would observe their confusion when they stared, perplexed, at the mist-covered box hedgerows spreading endlessly before them, not knowing what Snape had in mind.

"In front of you is the maze for the third Triwizard task, which takes place this very evening," he'd explain. "The privet is in need of a meticulous trim, as Headmaster Dumbledore wishes to show Hogwarts at its best. You will begin now. Start clipping."

He imagined their eyelids blinking rapidly as they processed the information, and he could almost hear their thoughts of disbelief. Surely, he's joking? At any moment filthy, rancid cauldrons might require cleaning, or rotting specimens dissecting, or something equally disgusting – even something unthinkable involving Filch? Anything but this!

He could picture them turning around for briefest second, incredulous, only to see his frozen glare confirming he was indeed sincere. The absurdity of their predicament would, for a short time, threaten to spill over into outrage, but the increasingly malicious glower of the Potions master's visage would fill them with fear so severe that it would halt any protestations.

Giving over to the inevitable, he envisaged Penelope would be the first one to step forward to the nearest hedge, feeling guilty about being the one to confess, and initiate the first 'pinch and clip' of the nail scissors. The others would follow one by one.

As the sounds of soft, unsynchronised snips would punctuate the still morning air, Snape's countenance would flicker momentarily, threatening to burst into an outright chuckle of mirth, but at the last second his control would prevail, and he'd allow himself the release of a sardonic grin as he relished the delicious punishment.

Snape felt sure that within the first hour, and definitely by the time the whole student body had finished breakfast, sporadic groups – having seen and spread the news of the hideous detention awarded by Snape to two seventh-year Prefects and two six-year students – would gather randomly throughout the morning to gawk and jibe at the miserable foursome, adding to their humiliation. Their fingers would be stiff, bloody and sore and their spirits broken. And they would have achieved the attention they'd so desperately craved.

When the marking of his stack of exam papers was complete, Snape put down his quill and stretched like a cat, stiff from being hunched over his desk for hours on end. Yes, he was very much looking forward to administering tomorrow morning's detention. Nevertheless, and much to his annoyance, he didn't quite believe the four students had simply competed for his attention; their true motive remained a mystery.

Glancing up at the old carriage clock on the mantelpiece, he realised that it was five minutes to midnight. He turned his attention to the bracelets lined up on his desk and waited patiently as the tick, tick of the clock sliced away the seconds, building his anticipation. Who would be the winner of the Four-House Tournament?

When the clock struck midnight, the bracelets began to radiate a bright white light as the Protean Charm activated for the final time. Snape stared at beads, part of him impressed at the Charms work involved. After a few moments, and with a soft hiss, the luminous light faded. All four bracelets now had a new shiny, black bead, indicating each of the students had tied for the final task. However, two of the bracelets carried a total of two black beads, signifying that two of the students had tied for first place in winning the entire tournament. And to his surprise, the bracelets belonged to none other than Alicia Spinnet and Luca Machali Caruso!

A Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor had succeeded in gaining his attention, he realised. And twice, no less! Snape's eyebrows furrowed as he tried to recall what the other instances might be. Of course, there was Mr Caruso's ridiculous stunt in the Apparition class. That certainly got him attention, although possibly not the kind he'd expected. Then there was the incident with the Durmstrang student... Had Caruso wanted him, Snape, to catch him in flagrante?

Then there was Miss Spinnet. She'd been ever so pleased with herself for educating Karkaroff on women's role in Quidditch. And that shameless behaviour of kissing Caruso in class... One could think that the pair were trying to make him jealous...

Suddenly, Snape's stomach dropped with a thrill of dread. Two years ago, Miss Spinnet had sent him a Valentine's card. Well, in truth, Snape wasn't completely certain that the card had come from her, but he would have bet his last Galleon on it at the time. And Luca was plainly homosexual... Could it be that they... they both fancied him? Snape winced at the thought, completely mystified.

But the more he considered it, the more logical his hypothesis seemed. Miss Smyth would always flick her hair in what she probably thought was an alluring manner during class. He'd always assumed this was for the benefit of her many male admirers, not for him! And Miss Clearwater... The way she'd blushed after their run-in with Potter and Weasley now seemed to hold a very different meaning...

So profound was Snape's horror, he felt as though his plummeting stomach might rip free of his body and take his heart and lungs along for the ride.

Oh, God, No! This simply could not be! How could this happen to him, of all people?

Snape placed his head in his hands, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. Never, in all his time of teaching, had he expected to be on the receiving end of one student crush, let alone four! His overt and deliberately poisonous personality should have been enough of a deterrent. And yet, despite his best efforts, four students from different Houses appeared to share an infatuation with their acerbic Potions master which had led to them to concoct a foolish competition in order to gain his notice. Snape didn't know whether to laugh or cry, or to bribe Harry Potter for the use of his Invisibility Cloak.

But one thing was certain: if his four admirers hoped for one moment that this newfound knowledge might make him go soft on them, then they had a nasty surprise awaiting them.

A painful life-lesson was in order, and he would do his damndest to squeeze out every ounce of affection from each and every one of them. Detention would go ahead tomorrow morning as planned, and he would relish every delicious moment of their torture. Perhaps even more so, now he knew the power he wielded over them.

By the time he'd finished with the foolish foursome, they would curse the ground he walked upon, forgetting that they'd ever been attracted to the Head of Slytherin.

Snape smirked with satisfaction as he locked his office. He made his way to his quarters in the depths of the dungeon, looking forward to a few hours' sleep and a taste of sweet revenge in the morning.

THE END

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Authors' Note:

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