The White Rose Curse ~ by Snape's Cat

Chapter Ten: Snape's Hell
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The two sat in silence, Snape fuming, Nikie bored. Nikie was sure that boredom simply had to be a deadly disease and people should start working on finding a cure right away. She turned her head and faced Snape who was glaring at his lap. She decided to break the silence.

"So..." she started. He looked at her through the corner of his eyes, but didn't answer. "You're gonna help my parents and Draco's dad take over the world, eh?"

"What gave you that ridiculous idea?" Snape sneered.

"After my mum asked you to help her, you said yes. That sorta hinted that you might."

"Hmph. I told her that so she'd leave me alone."

"Ah. Why were you all mean and grouchy and such to her? Like you actually knew her or something?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Aye, I would."

"Well, I'm not telling you."

"Why not?" Snape gave her a very penetrating stare.

"Because I said so. Now shut your mouth before you receive another detention." Nikie did just the opposite.

"Oooooh, what happened?" she asked with great sadistic interest. "Did she leave you alone in the streets crying your eyes out for another man? Did she sleep with you and then never call you back? Uh...I can't think of anything else, it's harder to think of a way to break a man's heart through sex than a woman's..." Snape fumed.

"Then you can stop because I assure you that isn't why I refuse to be civil towards her," he said through gritted teeth.

"A-ha! So then I'm right!" Nikie said triumphantly. Snape looked at her quizzically.

"No...I just said that isn't why I refuse to be civil towards her..."

"Exactly. You're obviously lying because you'd never tell me what really happened, so if I say something you'll deny it so it must be what I just said!" Snape stared at her.

"And what if I really am telling you the truth?"

"Then I should probably call up Madam Pomfrey because you're obviously not feeling well."

"How about you just stop talking so this will be a less than painful experience for me," Snape offered.

"I want garlic," Nikie suddenly blurted.

"Isn't that just ducky for you?" Snape said bitterly.

"Ducky? What kind of word is 'ducky'?" Snape didn't answer. Nikie looked at him pensively.

"You wouldn't make a very good Michael Jackson," she concluded. Snape raised his eyebrows and looked at her.

"Why would you compare me to him?"

"You know him?" Nikie asked curiously.

"I know of him."

"Tomato tomahto. So, you're a Muggle fan too, eh?"

"I am not a Muggle fan. Just because I know what some things are in the Muggle world does not mean that I enjoy them," he said while glaring flaming daggers to the foot of his bed.

"Don't be so testy, jeez. You know, you'll probably grow an ulcer if you don't learn how to cool down. Take off the black clothes and put on a worn out of tye-dye t-shirt. Wear some comfortable, baggy jeans."

"I lived through the seventies, don't make me do it again." Nikie shrugged.

"You've got the greasy hair bit down for a hippy, all you need is a smile and comfy clothes!" He glared at her. Nikie twiddled her thumbs in more silence.

"You know who you remind me of?"

"Someone evil and ruthless who will kill you in the slowest and most painful way possible if you don't stop this mindless chatter?" Snape offered helpfully.

"Close. Ever see The Lion King?"

"No, nor do I wish to."

"Well, you remind me of Scar. Sort of. In your own special way. He's a lion and the brother of the king and he's very bitter because he's not king and he has hyenas as his henchmen. But then he kills his brother and makes his nephew think that he killed his daddy and then he runs away and the hyena henchmen have to go kill the little lion cub, but they fail. So Scar is running the joint and everything is all sad and bad and there's no food or water or anything like that."

"I'm so flattered to know you think so highly of me, Miss Victrix," Snape said dryly.

"Oh, no! I don't think of you like that. Scar is fun! Scar is great! I love Scar! He's irresistibly charming to Simba and Mufasa and he sings a very groovy song! And he has a very nice voice. I think Jeremy Irons does his voice...or Alan Rickman. Either one of them. They were both in some Die Hard flick. I'm pretty sure it was Jeremy Irons...I love bad guys. They're so fun!"

"So you're comparing me to a singing lion who kills his brother and nephew to be king?" Snape asked with a bored voice. Nikie pondered for a second.

"I guess so." Snape shook his head and looked away. Nikie started humming. The humming turned into a few mumbled words to a tune. The few mumbled words to a tune became a soft singing.

"BE PREPAAAAAAAAAARRREEEEDD!" Nikie suddenly sang out at the top of her lungs, causing Snape to jump and something clatter in the background. Madam Pomfrey bustled out, looking slightly worried.

"Is something wrong out here?" she inquired.

"Yes! She's still alive!" Snape shouted, pointing at Nikie. Madam Pomfrey gave them stern looks and then left back to her office.

"Meticulous planning, tenacity spanning, decades of denial is simply why I'll be king undisputed, respected, saluted, and seen for the wonder I am. Yes, my teeth and ambitions are bared. Be prepaaaaared. Yes our teeth and ambitions are bared...Be PREPAAAAAARRRREEEEEDDDD!!!!"

"Do shut up!" Snape pleaded, covering his ears. Nikie looked at him.

"How about a different song?"

"NO!"

"Why?"

"Because I despise singing, I despise Muggle music, and I definitely despise Disney. And not to mention you have a terrible singing voice," Snape added offhandedly. Nikie dropped her shoulders and sort of caved in and moped. Snape enjoyed three blissful moments of silence until a small voice floated through the infirmary, and much to Snape's dismay, it was actually a nice little voice.

"Never knew I could feel like this. Like I've never seen the sky before. I want to vanish inside your kiss. Every day I love you more and more. Listen to my heart, can you hear it sings, telling me to give you everything. Seasons may change, winter to spring. But I love you until the end of time..." It started to get louder. "Come what may. Come what may. I will love you, until my dying day..." Snape closed his eyes tightly and gritted his teeth, trying to sustain himself from attack the bed next to him. " Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place. Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace. Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste, it all revolves around you. And there's no mountain too high, No River too wide. Sing out this song I'll be there by your side. Storm clouds may gather, and stars may collide, but I love you until the end of time." Nikie took one deep breath. "Coooome what may! Cooome whaaaat maaaayaaaay! IIIIII wiiiillll loooovvveeeee yoooouuuu, until my dyyyyyyyyyyyyiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinngg daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!"

"Miss Victrix, if you are trying to tell me something, do so without the tune!" Snape said through gritted teeth. That made Nikie shut up. She snapped her mouth shut and scooted a little away from Snape, looking at him with disgust.

"No disrespect sir, but don't flatter yourself," she said. "You are the same age as my parents. That's like...falling in love with my dad. Ew. I did NOT need that mental image..." she shuddered and then straightened herself up. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by my mind, you're not my type, sir. I mean, you're nice an all...in your own twisted way, but you're just not for me. For one thing, you're too old. You're all greasy and you're all wrinkly too. The hair's cool. I can live with the hair, though that's greasy too. And the nose is a smidgeon on the large side..."

"I will have you know that my hair is NOT greasy!" Snape suddenly snapped. "It's just very fine and radiant. And my nose is NOT big! It's Roman." And he crossed his arms and stuck his 'Roman' nose in the air.

"Isn't a Roman nose just a fancy way of saying it's big?" Nikie inquired innocently.

"I am banning you from speaking! Open your mouth one more time and it will be a point off Slytherin!" Nikie grinned wickedly. She opened her mouth, and then closed it. She continued to do this. Opening and closing. Opening and closing.

"One point," Snape said threateningly. "Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen. Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty. I'm not joking Miss Victrix, if you continue this I'll start doubling it." Nikie opened her mouth.
"Forty. Eighty. Er..."

"One sixty," Nikie said helpfully.

"Thank you. Er..."

"Three twenty."

"Yes, that. Three twenty ... times two..."

"Six forty, I believe..." Nikie thought for a moment. "Yea, six forty."

"Thank you." But then Draco, Blaise, Jayanti, and Ashley came into the Hospital Wing.

"Hey, Nikie. We heard you picked a snowball fight with Snape...Oh, hi Professor Snape," Jayanti greeted. Snape narrowed his eyes down at them, and then counted them and a flicker of a relieved grin appeared.

"Coming to see how your Head of House's personal health is, that is very gracious of you. How about I award you one hundred and sixty points each, eh?" Snape offered.

"Er...We weren't coming to see you...we were coming to see Nikie..." Jayanti started, but Draco covered her mouth.

"Yes, of course, Professor Snape. How are you doing?" he said in concern.

"Well, I am fine now that I've had my pepper-up potion, thank you for asking, Draco. But you might have not noticed, but your friend is here also. I'm sure she'd appreciate your attention more than I would." But then Snape remembered the five points he had taken from Slytherin from before. "And, Mr. Malfoy, how about an extra five points for your concern, hm?"

"Thank you very much, sir," Draco said with a grin matching Snape's.

"That's a good boy. Run along to your friend, now." Draco nodded and turned to Nikie. Snape could have sworn Jayanti called Draco a suck up.

"So!" Draco suddenly snapped at Nikie. "Got yourself into trouble again, I see. If you keep this us you'll make yourself, not to mention Slytherin, a laughing stock!"

"Yes, Mother, I'm sorry," Nikie said in false guilt. Draco glowered.

"No need to be sorry, Nikie, I'm proud of you!" Jayanti said, clutching her friend's head under her chin into what would be an embrace.

"Jay, you're sort of strangling me..." Nikie choked.

"Then hug her tighter," Snape mumbled, causing Ashley and Blaise to eye him funnily.

"We got you something yummy and scrumptious," Ashley said, pulling out a basket of sugars.

"Ooooh! Sugar!" Nikie said excitedly. But then she examined it. "Hey, this is my Halloween candy! I thought I lost it..."

"Actually, Draco sort of...stole it," Blaise said.

"I borrowed it," Draco corrected. "I just never got around to giving it back."

"How can you borrow candy without eating it?" Jayanti questioned. "Because you're most likely going to eat it, and then you can't return it, unless you're bulimic...But anyway, you can't borrow candy because you'll eat it..."

"You could buy new candy," Blaise offered.

"Well, then that's just taking the candy and then replacing it, it's not borrowing," Jayanti replied. Blaise shrugged.

"Okay, I got your point," Draco drawled. "But I did give it back."

"This is only a plate of my candy, I still had most of my bag left," Nikie said. Draco grumbled.

"I'll give you the rest when you get out of this place," Draco said, waving his hand dismissively. Then, Hermione, Harry Potter, and Ron Weasley entered the Infirmary.

"Hi, Hermione!" Nikie said cheerily.

"Hi, Nikie. I couldn't help but notice you've managed to get yourself into a small spot of trouble by forgetting to read the bulletin board."

"Eh, just a small spot," Nikie said with a shrug. "Nothing too bad. A few death threats, I got hit upside the head, pushed in the snow. All that fun stuff."

"Sounds exhilarating."

"What are you doing in here?" Draco snarled. Harry and Ron glared at him.

"Hermione is here because she is my friend," Nikie said. "So be civil." Draco snorted.

"What are Potty and the Weasel doing here, then?"

"They're here with me," Hermione answered coldly. Draco's eyes suddenly snapped to Hermione.

"The two of you can fight and glare all you want," Nikie said before Draco could say anything, "but not around me, got it? I am God and thou must obey me, and I say no brawling." Draco and Hermione continued to glare at one another, but said nothing.

"That's a good, Draco. Have a chocolate," Nikie offered him a piece of chocolate. He glared at Harry and Ron who looked like they were going to laugh at him, and with as much dignity he could muster, he took it. Ron and Harry snorted, causing Hermione to throw them both a silencing glare.

Though they weren't saying anything or doing anything, Hermione could still sense the tension between Draco and her two friends and said that she would come back later and led the two out of the infirmary.

"Gryffindor scum," Draco mumbled.

"Be nice, Draco," Nikie said warningly. Draco crossed his arms.

The Slytherins chatted away happily, eating Nikie's candies and laughing at the inside jokes that made absolutely no sense to the outside world. Though Nikie was perfectly fine and felt much better, Madam Pomfrey insisted that she and Snape stay in the Hospital Wing over night and shooed Draco, Jayanti, Blaise, and Ashley out when it was time for Nikie to 'rest'.

The next morning, Nikie woke up at almost the exact same time Hermione walked into the room, only this time she didn't bring Harry and Ron with her. Madam Pomfrey dismissed the professor and the pupil, so Hermione waited as Nikie dressed herself and they left the Hospital Wing, chattering away.

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