Snape Quote of the Week #31

  "You wanted to see me, Headmistress?" said Snape, looking around at all the pairs of struggling students with an expression of complete indifference.
  "Ah, Professor Snape," said Umbridge, smiling widely and standing up again. "Yes, I would like another bottle of Veritaserum, as quick as you can, please."
  "You took my last bottle to interrogete Potter," he said, observing her coolly through his greasy curtains of black hair. "Surely you did not use it all? I told you that three drops would be sufficient."
  Umbridge flushed.
  "You can make some more, can't you?" she said, her voice becoming more sweetly girlish as it always did when she was furious.
  "Certainly," said Snape, his lip curling. "It takes a full moon cycle to mature, so I should have it ready for you in about a month."
  "A month?" squawked Umbridge, swelling toadishly. "A month? But I need it this evening, Snape! I have just found Potter using my fire to communicate with a person or persons unknown!"
  "Really?" said Snape, showing his first, faint sign of interest as he looked around at Harry. "Well, it doesn't surprise me. Potter has never shown much inclination to follow school rules."
  His cold, dark eyes were boring into Harry's, who met his gaze unflinchingly, concentrating hard on what he had seen in his dream, willing Snape to read it in his mind, to understand...
  "I wish to interrogate him!" shouted Umbridge angrily, and Snape looked away from Harry back into her furiously quivering face. "I wish you to provide me with a potion that will force him to tell the truth!"
  "I have already told you," said Snape smoothly, "that I have no further stocks of Veritaserum. Unless you wish to poison Potter--and I assure you I would have the greatest sympathy with you if you did--I cannot help you. The only trouble is that most venoms act too fast to give the victim much time for truth-telling...."
~Order of the Phoenix, Ch. 32 "Out of the Fire"

I love how, even in the most serious of situations, Snape can still make sarcastic remarks like that. If it weren't for the whole 'not wanting to get on Umbridge's bad side' thing, he'd have been pwning her the entire book. God, Umbridge, don't you know tha Veritaserum is rare? It's not like you can just order it like it's a toy that comes with a Happy Meal...

But he does really stick it to her several times here. It's scenes like this that, while I'm reading it, make me squee and want to kiss the page (which I'll do if I'm not reading in public). Snape is just the embodiment of badassery.