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Professor Snape regarded his students cooly before beginning his lesson for the day. Luckily he didn't have to warn remind them yet again about the importance of being prepared before the class started. They were certainly old enough to understand such a point, although there were a few dunderheads in this class that may need reminding in other areas as well. Why did he have to be stuck with the Gryffindors this morning? Severus certainly didn't have the patience for them, and he never would.
"Today you will be brewing a cure for boils," he drawled, sweeping a quick glance over his students. "The instructions are on the board. You may begin now."
He stood behind his desk for the first few minutes whilst the mix of Gryffindors and Slytherins weaved around each other to collect the needed ingredients for the potion. They almost resembled bees in a swarm; there was no real logical pattern to the way they moved around the room.
Snape began his usual rounds after things had settled down, although the relative peace never lasted long. As usual, there was some Gryffindor messing up an important step that he had to point out. He wasn't surprised to find Longbottom at the center of the problem, the half-melted cauldron was a dead giveaway.
"Ten points from Gryffindor for destroying your cauldron, Mr Longbottom," Snape said, eyeing the boy with disdain.
"I'm sorry, sir," he replied. "I'm not sure what happened, it just..."
Snape flicked his wand and vanished the mess. "You're done for today," he told him, tucking his wand back into his sleeve. "Instead, you will write me an two foot essay explaining how you managed ruining such a simple task. Is that understood, Mr Longbootom?"
The boy lowered his head dejectedly. "Yes sir."
The professor nodded in satisfaction and moved on. Draco at least knew to stir it the correct number of times while simmering, and Snape made sure to tell him that. Five points was a fair reward for that, he thought.
Unfortunately he had no real reason to deduct any points from the Granger girl, no matter how much her overall attitude irked him in his classroom. It was the exact shade the instructions required and her concentration might have been admirable if he were honest with himself.
The lesson continued in this way until the end of the session. He could still hear the rustle of parchment over the simmering cauldrons, so at least Longbottom was attempting his new task. However, its effectiveness had yet to be discerned.
As the students left Snape was finally allowed the chance to relax for a brief moment before the next onslaught of senseless children entered the room. Sometimes he found himself wondering why he even put up with all of this. None of them truly understood potions, and he never really thought they would either. It was too bad that the lot of them were stuck here with him until the end of their OWLS, although he wished that most of them could leave the subject sooner.
But what he thought about them didn't matter anyway; they were only going to come in and act in the exact same fashion tomorrow...