scrubbing his record clean with all the readiness of a child ordered to finish chores.
lol, which is to say, not much?
"I thought you had to make eye contact…" Potter begins. "Rubbish," Severus snaps, and proceeds to prove his point by dropping his gaze to the budget report and plowing into the boy's mind.
:D *sporfle*
It's an unfortunately sensible question. "It's my eternal optimism—I'm sure your next effort will bear some fruit," Severus snaps.
"Too diffuse, Potter—where's your intent?" Severus thunders. "And now it is an unpleasant knuckle, digging away obtrusively—and now, like so much porridge—
I like these various analogies for how Legilimency feels to the recipient.
Potter falls silent with a flinch and stares up at Severus—and mutters Legilimens under his breath.
Wrong as this may be, I still gotta admire the idea!
"I live amongst children—I shall never be curse-free,"
ELL OH ELL. eeehehehehe!
I understand but you must continue it now—
No—
You must, my heart; I'll help you—
*wails* Oh, ow, and my heart...
He should've known there was cause for alarm; there always is, with Potter,
Hee! How very true, especially known by now.
"If one waits to be told, one will never hear anything of interest in this school," Severus returns. "It's a persistent topic of conversation in corridors, not to mention during detentions—the way Professor Potter has an uncanny knack for knowing what one is thinking at any given time. There are some conjectures that it's actually a dark art that you might be persuaded to teach.
Oh man. Mega sporfle here, at the references to Severus "seemingly" being able to read minds, how disconcerting this is to the students, how it might be dark magic, etc... :)
"Have you been suffering—repercussions?"
Is it bad that I find this line really hot?
I like how it ends on a just-hopeful note, that sort of thing that makes you feel "oh yes, something may come of this!" while being far from NC-17 (not that I mind pron, lol).