#7 Dealing with Snakes

The door snapped open, revealing Professor Snape glaring down at them.

'Yes?' he asked, though his gaze made it seem like he was demanding to know why they had chosen his office door as a place for idle chit-chat. He'd heard the knock of course, but that was just another point of interruption to his morning.

The door was opened quickly as Professor Snape appeared. Clara made a small noise of surprise, her eyes widening as she took half a step back. Swallowing the lump in her throat she looked at Jamie,who seemed to have been equally surprised by his appearance. Willing her now racing heart to calm before she moved forward again, forcing a small smile onto her face.

As Jamie spoke she nodded her head and looked at the Professor, tightening her grip on the strap of her bag. "Yes." she agreed, before wincing and adding a small, "Please, Professor."

Jamie looked at the Professor and than over at Clara, his heart beating in his chest as he stood there and swallowed. As his eyes set back on Professor Snape, he tried to pull himself together before he spoke.

"Well... I think practicing more will help me better myself... and with the right instruction from you, I can... Um... excell." He said, his voice cracking as he tried to calm himself.

Professor Snape supposed those were sufficient enough answers, though narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Jamie when the boy didn't seem too confident in his own words. Unable to detect deception though, he had no choice than to allow them the chance.

'Very well,' he said. 'If you truly wish to be granted access to the student laboratory and put it to good use during your free time, it would be impractical of me to disagree. However, first you must prove you're willing to dedicate yourself to the task at hand.'

Snape summoned two scrolls with ingredients and locations listed, levitating it to the edge of his desk for them to retrieve one each.

'Bring me five different ingredients each that you've collected yourself from this list, and I shall consider your request,' he told them.

Clutching her bag, Clara felt herself relax a little bit more when Professor Snape agreed to their request but put forward his own requirements for them to get their kits. Ingredients, he wanted them to gather ingredients. 'Well that should be easy.' she thought to herself.

Stepping forward she retrieved her own list, after Jamie and immediately looked down at what was required to complete it. "Yeah, thanks Professor." she said with a smile, feeling a little bit excited to be going on what she could only imagine was something like a scavenger hunt.