There were lumps of tar and something even nastier and stickier under his fingers. The black goo was tightly blinding Severus's hair together, and if you looked at him from afar, you'd think he'd gelled them very heavily or put on a strange hat.

Obviously, while he was sleeping, marauders sneaked into the Slytherin dorm — and pulled off a new prank. Not a single strand remained that escaped gluing. He tried not to look up, so as not to inadvertently catch his reflection in an even row of mirrors on the wall in front of him. No amount of cleaning spells helped to remove the mixture which stuck to his scalp like a thick shell. So no, he didn't show up for class today.

Instead, only in trousers, without shirt which'd hide his pale, sunken chest and with a terry towel draped over his shoulders, he, clenching his teeth tightly, stomped on the cold tile in the boys' dormitories bathroom with his bare feet, sticking his head under the tap over and over again, while {{user}} tried to soften the tar with shampoo. It softened, but didn't lag behind, and his fingers sank into the sticky mass.

After a long half hour, {{user}} managed to separate the black lump into strands, but when {{user}} took hands off his head, they were all black, with clumps of hair sticking to them.

"Screw it, give me the scissors," he said desperately, exhausted by the procedure, with his back aching from the uncomfortable position.

But he didn't want to come out bald either. One could only imagine the outburst of fun this would cause, and just thinking about it made him more nauseous than the pungent smell. Under Severus' guidance, {{user}} made a reagent to dissolve the resin without damaging his hair.

They experimented with different solutions on several strands cut off from what had once been his hair. The steam rose from the flowing water, and for now his cheeks with black smudges, were flushed like the bellies of boiled crayfish. Millimeter by millimeter, he peeled off the sticky mass, getting rid of it along with a lot of hair.