Nobody ever asked my birthday

Chapter 286

Slowly, Harry turned around, trying to make it look like he was just looking at the Ravenclawish folks vying for an answer. Even Susan Bones was chiming in. Snape just leaned back, smirking, letting the class have it as a discussion. Well, it certainly was lively.

There was something Harry was missing... that was what his senses were telling him. He'd turned completely around, surveyed the entire room, and yet, there wasn't anything! Closing his eyes, he concentrated on hearing, albeit with the additional difficulty of three different shrill arguments going on at once. Now that was an odd thought - Snape, perhaps the quietest teacher in the school, the grim Potions Master who demanded perfect silence so as to not interrupt others' brewing... Liked the conflicting, tussling arguments that were raging through his classroom. Blinking, Harry realized that, as a teacher, he'd have liked it too. The kids were not just participating, they were enjoying developing ideas. All wrong of course, Harry thought with an inner smile that he didn't let show.

"That is enough, class." Snape said, his soft low voice cutting through Hermione's hollering and Draco's curt barks. "Nine out of ten conversationalists completely missed t he idea that the spells didn't have to come from the Dummy." The Ravenclaws were showing signs of distress, and Harry swore he saw Theo Nott nearly break a quill. "I stood behind, casting the spells as needed." Snape didn't smile, so much as his lips thinned. "Your attention was on your classmate, anyway. Part of the point of a critique." Snape paused, for a moment and then asked offhandedly, as if he didn't know the answer, "Now who were you watching?"

[a/n: taking a break to think about answers to this. Have you guessed yet? Leave a review! Why was Snape staging these fights?]