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Dianthus Stories	By : icewomin Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 3134 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Anything you
recognize belongs to someone else, namely, JK Rowling. Specifically, elements of
the HP universe, characters from same.
Sadly, I have no hope of publishing this story outside the fan fiction base, although I hope you enjoy the plot and the original
characters I�ve created. Feel free to
give me critical feedback, including flames and harsh criticism. I may delete it afterward, so as to reduce my
personal embarrassment, but I do promise to read it and incorporate it if I
feel it improves the story.

*****

This is Chapter
Fourteen. Smut begins in Chapter Twenty
Six, so if you�re only looking for that, feel free to skip ahead. Be warned that you may be confused about some
of the stuff in those later chapters if you don�t stick it out.

*****

Chapter Fourteen �
Theories

�Tell me you are
joking,� said Erin in a disbelieving voice. Dianthus had just told them some of what had
happened in Dumbledore�s office � Martine had sent
Grant to sit with his roommates further down the row. �Tell me you didn�t forgive him for breaking
your heart.�

�Erin,
he didn�t break my heart,� Dianthus began, exasperated.

To her surprise,
Melanie broke in. �Di, he did. Why won�t you just admit it? You loved him. Not in the icky way the kids were talking
about, but you did love him. He was a
fiend to you, and I do think you�re letting him off pretty easy.�

Dianthus rolled
her eyes. �Okay, I loved him and he
broke my heart. But, I repeat, that was
a long time ago, alright? I was a little
kid. Don�t you think people deserve a
second chance?�

�No,�
hissed Erin immediately. �You
being a little kid doesn�t make it better, it makes it
worse. He knew what he was doing,
letting you get close to him while you played chess all those times. He knew all along he would never write
you. He should have taken a little
responsibility, Di, and you�re just letting yourself be reeled right back in.�

�Listen,� Dianthus
said angrily. �I love it that you guys
are upset for me, really I do, but you�ve got it all wrong. Snape and I aren�t going to be hanging
out. I just don�t think I need to hate
him, that�s all.�

Martine said,
thoughtfully, �Did he say he was going to stop being mean
to you in class? Keeping you after and
all that?�

Dianthus
shrugged. �Well, I don�t think he�ll be
keeping me after class, no. He really
did seem worried that people might get the wrong idea again. But as for how he treats me in class�well, he was usually pretty
cruel to me when we played chess. I
don�t think that�s going to change.�

Her roommates gazed
at her, identical expressions of horror on each of their faces. �You mean to say, he was mean to you back
then � and you kept going back?� said Melanie, real concern in her voice. �Di, what is wrong with you?�

Dianthus laughed,
remembering how rude Snape actually had been to her in those days. �I don�t know, Mel. He wasn�t like anyone I�d ever met. It was so weird to me, that he could be so
callous with me when he didn�t even know who I was. I dunno, maybe I
was determined to see if that was really him, or maybe I was determined to show
him it didn�t bother me, so that�s why I kept going back. I don�t think he expected me to keep
coming. And then I got to know him, and
he was still rude to me, but by then�maybe I tried to give as good as I got. Maybe
I could stand up to him better. It
stopped bothering me after a while.� She
shook her head. �I�m not saying that
very well. I don�t know what I�m
saying.�

�You � are �
sick,� stated Erin, but Melanie shushed her, looking at Dianthus with a thoughtful
expression. pan>pan>They fell to eating in
silence, and eventually Martine signaled the all-clear to Grant. He rushed over to wrap his arm around her
protectively, and Dianthus turned her back on the couple to share a cringe with
the other roommates. Erin
gave her a small, exasperated smile, and whispered, �You are sick, you
know. But we still love you.�

After lunch, she
hurried a reluctant Martine from the great hall and into the dungeons, feeling
as eager as she had in years past about going to her favorite class. Once again, Snape gave them gentle and
not-so-gentle criticism regarding their essays when he handed them back. �I would have expected to see more
information regarding vervain, Mister Hawthorne,
given that we are coming up on the Christmas holidays. Miss Evariste, I
commend your improved letter sizing, but you are still showing evidence of
lackluster research. Miss Winter, I beg
of you, have a fellow student review your work prior
to submitting it. Your grammar is
atrocious, as is your punctuation. This
is the last essay in which I will simply mark your mistakes � next time I will
mark you down for them.� He handed
Dianthus back her parchment and looked her directly in the eye, saying blandly,
�Your vocabulary is quite impressive, Miss Brandywine, but I am afraid that
even your essay was not perfect.�

She glanced at her
paper � he had graded her at �Exceeds Expectations�. �Thank you, Professor,� she murmured as he
glided to the next student.

�Alright,� he said
briskly, when he had handed the last paper back and was once again perched on
the edge of his desk. �Who would like to
tell us about their research plans for the year?� He looked around at the students. Dianthus could tell that like her, everyone
was avoiding his eye, in a fine display of standard student-teacher
interaction.

Snape drummed his
fingers on the side of the desk, eyebrows raised, waiting. No one moved.
�Well, perhaps I should put the question to you another way,� he purred. Dianthus felt an almost uncontrollable urge to
raise her hand immediately. �Any student who does not wish to submit a sixty inch essay detailing their plans for the
research and experimentation portion of our class will have their hand in the
air before I have completed this sentence.�

To no one�s surprise,
eight hands were waving high by the time he finished speaking. �Ah!� he exclaimed, smiling and clapping his
hands together in an utterly false show of delight. �Mister Kingfellow,
how gracious of you to volunteer!� The
smile faded, and he motioned for the pudgy Hufflepuff to stand.

�Please stand when addressing the class, Miss
Brandywine,� he interrupted her.

�Yes, sir,� she said, standing quic not not
sure why she was suddenly acting like a bumbling idiot. �As I was saying, sir, I�ve got a theory
regarding the healing properties of miribilis multiflora,
especially in dealing with open wounds.
I�ve been experimenting with a potion that can be taken internally to
heal multiple or more serious wounds, without repeated topical application.�

As she spoke,
Snape strolled back to the front of the class and lounged against the board,
crossing his arms over his chest. �Miribilis
multiflora cannot be ingested,� he said when she was
finished. Surely you are aware of this fact,� he added, snidely.

�I believe that
achieving a balance between the miribilis and aconite will allow the body to
process the miribilis without being affected by its toxicity,� Dianthus argued,
trying to ignore his taunting gaze.

Snape stared at
her. �I do not believe I can allow you
to deliberately cultivate a potion designed for human consumption, involving a
known poison, Miss Brandywine.�

�Many potions
involve known poisons, Professor,� she said coolly. �Someone had to experiment to discover their
usefulness. Surely that is the point of
this class � experimentation?�

�Certainly it is,�
he said, just as coolly. �However, the
Ministry generally frowns on courses of study which lead to the death of one or
more persons.�

�The study itself
need not involve any persons. Only the final test, sir,� she reminded him.

�You seem quite
confident, Miss Brandywine � much more confident than you should be � that you
would even get to that phase,� Snape said silkily.

Dianthus flushed,
but said nothing. �How would you propose
to test this concoction?� he demanded.
He gave Martine a derisive glance.
�Will Miss Evariste be sharing her test
subject with you?�

�No, sir,� said
Dianthus through clenched teeth, her temper rising. �We would need to model the potion�s
scientific structure and develop a hypothesis regarding what physical
attributes would signal potability.� She didn�t add that she had spent most of the
summer developing just such a hypothesis.
He was deliberately trying to provoke her, but it wasn�t going to work.

He stood up
straight, looking faintly interested for the first time that class. �I see,� he said slowly. �So you would dep a p a working hypothesis,
and focus your efforts toward proving or disproving it? Like a real
potions developer would?�

�Of course,
Professor,� she replied, just a bit smugly.
�Just like a real potions
developer would.�

The other students
� who had been swiveling between Dianthus and Snape in turn like spectators at
a tennis match � stared at Snape, everyone waiting with bated breath for his
next volley. It seemed as though most of
them had lost the thread of their conversation, but they could certainly pick
up the tension that Dianthus felt strumming between them.

Dianthus could
tell his mind was working full tilt, trying to discover ways to poke holes in
what she�d said, and she couldn�t resist raising her eyebrows slightly in an
unspoken invitation for him to do his best.
He glared at her and then up at the ceiling, running one finger slowly
over his upper.
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