Severus walked into the headmaster's office. What the senile old man had gotten into his head this time around, only Merlin could guess. Dumbledore was always having some sort of strange arrangement or job for him to do ever since that one fateful day he came to him for help. In his time of devastated desperation, Severus had become vulnerable and weak and Dumbledore had taken advantage of that. And despite the Dark Lord being dead, he still took advantage of him when he saw fit, always reminding him of the promise he had made to him.
Walking up the steps to main office floor, the giant Griffin gargoyle's closing silently behind him, Severus became anxious as he had always been. He rounded the last corner on the stairs and was motioned to sit down in front of Dumbledore's grand desk, cluttered with strange odds and ends he had collected, with McGonagall sitting in the open seat next to the one Dumbledore had motioned him towards. Severus sat down wondering what on earth Minerva had to do with this meeting.
"Severus," started the old wizard ,"Minerva and I have decided that as a new teacher, and being under so much stress as you will be, that perhaps you should sign on an assistant."
Severus immediately replied with a simple, "No."
"We understand you not wanting one, considering you being who you are," Severus arched an eyebrow ,"but we simply think it would be for the best. We all know what your past was like, Severus. Don't you think it would make your job much easier?" The thing was, only Severus, Dumbledore, and a dead couple knew what his past was like and why he was even sitting here today in the first place.
Severus made a heavy sigh before replying. He glanced at Dumbledore to see the old man looking at him over his half-moon spectacles. He could tell Dumbledore knew that he didn't feel like arguing, that Severus was already drained, but would persist to be stubborn about the situation nonetheless. Dumbledore couldn't have been more right. "I do not need an apprentice. Might I remind you that it is only my first year teaching, and that to have an apprentice one typically must have had some experience?"
"You and I both know that your potions scores on all your tests show that you were a master before being a qualified master, Severus. You cannot say that you have no experience. You were born to be a potioneer."
"And yet instead here I sit accepting a position to teach potions to a group of dunderheads that will not bother to pay attention, as they will not care," Severus said, just wanting this ridiculous meeting to be over already. He knew it wouldn't be, that both of the old bags sitting in front of and beside him would just keep badgering as they always did until they got what they wanted out of him.
"Well, you paid attention, Severus. Someone is bound to be just as intrigued by potions as you were," Minerva interjected.
"Perhaps that someone could be your assistant," Dumbledore added. He was then fixed with the most sardonic sneer to have ever been donned by Severus Snape in his entire life. Dumbledore was the only person Severus knew of that could get under his skin so quickly, other than Potter and the Prats. "Come now, Severus, consider it," he said, smiling, knowing that he already won the argument before it had even begun.
"I will not take on an assistant, I refuse. It is just one more imbecile to teach. I don't even know who it is, why would I consider such a thing? What have I done to you to make me deserve to suffer the teenage angst of yet another student, but on a more private and personal level?"
Dumbledore was not smiling any longer, and neither was Minerva. "What have you done?" replied Minerva. "What have you done? Merlin's beard, Severus Snape, you were a Death Eater for Christ's sake! How dare you question what you've done. The things that Dumbledore has done for you should be some incentive for you to just do what he thinks is best for-"
Minerva's ranting was cut short by a non-verbal silencing charm from Dumbledore. She looked agitated at this, but she had said what Dumbledore had intended to say but had not yet said. Once seeing that Minerva was resigned enough upon her scolding of Severus, Dumbledore took the charm off of her and turned to face Severus once more. "Severus, do forget what you promised to me on the night that you came to me. I want you take on an apprentice and show them everything that you know. I understand why you do not wish to take one on, but I am no longer proposing the idea to you, but rather demanding it."
Severus hung his head as Minerva peered at them both questioningly. He could not bring himself to lift his head as he muttered a barely audible, "Anything."
"Thank you, Severus. You will sign the official papers once your apprentice has arrived. You may leave now," Dumbledore said softly. Severus stood and walked out of the office feeling even more drained than when he had entered. He paused by in the door way for a moment, as if he were going to say something, then walked on out of sight. Minerva listened to for the gargoyle's to make the usually small 'clap' of one rock hitting the other before she turned to Dumbledore.
"I do not expect to know what connection you have with Severus, Albus. But why are you so adamant on him having an apprentice?"
"Why, Minerva, you were on my side just a few moments ago. Why the sudden change of heart?" Dumbledore smiled at her, in the most knowing of ways.
"You know I'll support any decision you make, whether I agree with you or not. Severus does have a point, and you must admit it," Minerva quipped.
"What might that point be, my dear?"
"It is only his first year teaching, Albus. Just because he was able to brew every potion to absolute perfection does not mean that he is qualified to possibly become a mentor."
"Minerva, you and me both know that that makes him more than qualified. Hardy ever is there a student that comes along with the born knowledge of potions in the way that Severus has been gifted with."
"Severus still has so much time to take on apprentice, Albus. Tell me the real reason you want him to have one so badly." Minerva could only take so much of Dumbledore's sneaking his way around a conversation. She would go to hell and back for him, but she'd be damned before she let him sneak his way out of a conversation.
Dumbledore's demeanor became more serious. "Do you remember the night that Severus came to me?" Minerva nodded. "He told me something I must never tell anyone, even though it would reveal the best of him. He wants for no one to know. One thing I can let you know is that he promised to me to do anything in return for the favor he asked of me. Severus, despite me knowing his reasons for being here, I feel must be watched."
Minerva took all this information in, wondering what could have made her old pupil promise such a thing to Albus. She wondered what he could have done, seen, or heard to make him act the way he did upon leaving them just moments before this conversation. She knew she could not know, and yet it was all she was concerned with. She knew about his past family life, in the dreadful environment in which he was 'raised.' "Are you saying that you do not trust him?"
"He must be watched to keep him safe." Minerva arched an eyebrow at Albus, prompting him to go on. "I trust Severus with my life, Minerva. Thought you may doubt his intentions, he is one of the best men I know. I fear he must be watched and that to force him into constant interaction with someone who will talk to him is the best thing for him. That is why I have chosen the apprentice I have for him."
Minerva simply shook her head quietly before leaving.
Severus now sat with a bottle of Ogden's Finest Firewhiskey in one hand, a book on potions in the other. He was trying to decide between which two potions he should first have his first year students brew. Slughorn was a fool to think that children as young as year one should be learning about the properties of Lacewing Flies, commonly found in more advanced potions than the average first year should be brewing, let alone studying. Severus wanted to start his students on the very most basics. He wasn't testing to see who should be in his stupid club, for he did not and would not ever have a ridiculous club.
Severus took another swig from his flask, embracing the slight burning sensation that crept down his throat. He had not anticipated for his meeting with Dumbledore to be so short lived. Perhaps he was just that beat and tired by the past few months that he simply could not bear it any longer. He should have known also that Dumbledore would bring up the one and only promise Severus would ever make to him, as Dumbledore was now his master. Severus had promised everything and anything that he was capable of doing. Severus had jumped straight from being the servant of man, if he could be called that, to being the slave of another.
