#3 - Ingredients Galore

'Enter,' Professor Snape said, his bad mood evident in tone alone.

With a swish of his wand, the door suddenly swung open -- yet magically prevented from banging against the wall. The doorway clear, Snape awaited his company to make an entrance and explain why his peace was being intruded upon yet again.

He glanced up just enough to see who it was, and immediately glared at the sight of a Gryffindor. After all the trouble caused the night before, Snape was tempted to kick the boy out. And he almost did, but instead grit his teeth and resumed his task at hand. 

Most notable was a decent stack of leather-bound books on one side of his desk. There were titles such as An Intricate Comparison of Werewolves and Wuffsnouts, The Most Advanced Study of Counter-Poisons, Lost and Forgotten Counter-Curses, An Ancient Guide to Forbidden Magical Practices, and A Last Resort to Deadly Cures.

Professor Snape stood to inspect his ingredients once Kody showed him, deliberately taking his time. He scrutinised them carefully, looking for anything to fault him on, but the Gryffindor had unfortunately done his task as required.

The mention of Reena seemed to grant him some mercy, as well; she was one of the top students in Potions class. If she assisted and educated her brother, then perhaps there was some hope for Kody after all. Perhaps him being a Gryffindor was tolerable, for now.

'Very well.' Snape summoned glass items, hovering them to the front of his desk for Kody to retrieve. He got an empty jar and vial, which was the only indication the Professor gave that he'd been successful in his task.

'Follow me.' He left the office, leading Kody to the Potions classroom. He indicated to a bench of mucky pewter cauldrons. 'You'll require a spare cauldron to work with. If you're willing to clean it, without magic, you may take ownership of one of these. No assistance.'

Snape gave him an especially stern look.

It was a test to ensure Kody was serious about wanting to use the student laboratory in his free time, and indeed possessed the focus and due diligence to maintain such a privilege. He wasn't known to be the most attentive or competent student, in Snape's opinion.

Though Snape peered at jars along the walls, there was no mistaking that he still supervised the Gryffindor's task. He had to clean out a cauldron, without magic, and only then would Snape seriously consider his request. The Professor's expression clearly showed his irritation at being there, and general  impatience to having to tend to this after the trouble Gryffindor caused last night, but Kody had made it this far...

Professor Snape was suspicious was Kody responded... normally? Not as a Gryffindor in the presence of "the greasy git of the dungeons". He was polite, and eager to get started. Surely he was up to something? He kept a closer eye on the boy after that.

And when Kody declared that he was finished, Snape peered intently into the cauldron. He had done a reasonable job, especially seeing how many repeated rinses he had to do, but Snape was not feeling generous today.

'Do it again,' he said, then returned to the jars lining the walls.

Kody was spared from having to start over with another cauldron, but it meant at least one more round with the one he had. Snape gave the impression Kody had missed a spot or done a poor job; and he intended to keep doing it, unless he saw some serious scrubbing.

If only he could have the entire Gryffindor house in here doing this tedious work. At least he had managed to fill a decent roster of detentions for tonight, and had no intention of going easy on them either. Kody was just the precursor. 

It was tiring work. It wasn't clear how long overall he'd spent scrubbing, but his arms ached and hands were numb. Especially after having to go another round.

His declaration had startled Snape, who glanced over at the strange Gryffindor with an unreadable expression. He didn't comment, and instead returned to inspecting the jars until Kody was finally done -- hopefully, for the last time.

Professor Snape carefully inspected the cauldron with a critical eye, yet it shone and he found nothing to fault him with, despite his best efforts to do so. But he had to concede that Kody had done as he'd asked. Snape said he could keep the cauldron as a spare, to be used in the Gryffindor's own time.

'You are permitted to use the Student Laboratory at will,' he said, though gave a rather stern look. 'Do so responsibility, and clean up after yourself, or else such privileges shall be rightfully revoked. If I ever catch you there at curfew...' 

He let his sentence trail off so Kody's ever-active imagination could decide how bad things would be for him. Snape had nothing else to say, so he returned to his office. With great reluctance and dread, he left his office door unlocked -- should anyone else need to intrude upon his peace again.