A/N: Unsure of whether or not this is going to be Snape/OC yet. I'll probably ask readers (If I actually get any) what they think soon enough.
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter. But I DO own Akasha Fai and all of her counterparts.
The death of Horace Slughorn came as quite a shock to everyone, it seemed as if he had only just returned to Hogwarts, and now he was gone again. Luckily for Horace, he passed away in his sleep, a bottle of fire whisky clutched in his right hand. The funeral was held soon enough, and when that was done and over with the students waited in apprehension to discover who would take the position of Potions Master. A good majority of them had expected Severus Snape – Who had once taught potions and was now teaching Defence Against The Dark Arts – to return to his old post. But he did not. The headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore had postponed any potions lessons for one week whilst he searched for a new teacher. It was decidedly easier than he had presumed, and in the cold air of a Friday evening he walked slowly down to Hogsmeade and there he apparated to London. Spells had been cast over Hogwarts and its grounds so that nobody to apparate in or out of it, this was for the students protection against enemies. However, it did appear to be something of a nuisance at times.
Albus Dumbledore had closed his eyes, and only opened them again when the tight, squeezing feeling had left his body. He stood in front of a small house, it was rather late at night and so nobody was likely to notice his peculiar appearance; the billowing purple and silver robes, the long, white beard and half moon spectacles, even the wand which he held in his hand. Just in case. Dumbledore walked up three tiny steps and then rapped at the door with his wand-less hand. Some would have said that it probably would have made more sense just to apparate right into the house he was visiting. But that certainly wasn't good manners….not to mention he knew how the owner of this house often acted when shocked.
Albus smiled to himself as he heard the light sounds of banging around upstairs, and the occasional profanity accompanied by an aggravated sigh. He blinked, and when his eyes reopened they were gazing into a pair of green eyes. The owner of such intriguing, emerald orbs was a tall woman with long, black hair that reached her lower back. She wore a red, silk dressing gown and her wand was pointed firmly in his direction.
"Akasha," He nodded his head in greeting.
The woman whom he had addressed blinked a few times before lowering her wand and smiling in a way that reminded him very much of Nymphadora Tonks. However, Akasha did not say 'Wotcher Dumbledore' as Tonks would probably have done, and instead greeted him with a slightly guarded hello.
"I suppose you are wondering why I am here," Dumbledore said, as she led him into her living room. Switching on the light and grimacing slightly as her eyes adjusted to it.
"Of course I am," Akasha Fai replied. "After all, it's not normal for me to get visited by the Headmaster of Hogwarts in the middle of the night,"
Dumbledore chuckled slightly. "Yes, you must forgive my late disturbance, but I have a proposition of utmost importance to consign to you,"
They took seats in two large armchairs situated by a large fireplace, Dumbledore conjured up to glasses of fire whisky and the two of them looked at each other for a moment. Akasha downed her drink.
"And what would that be?"
Dumbledore's eyes sparkled. "I would like to offer you the position of Potions Mistress at Hogwarts,"
Akasha seemed somewhat taken a back, blinking several times and staring at him in wonderment. "You can't be serious!"
"I assure you I am, you were perhaps one of the brightest witches of your age, most especially in Potions. I see no reason why you are not more than capable of the job," He smiled.
"But me? Teaching children potions?" Akasha raised her eyebrows,
"That is the general idea, yes," Dumbledore said, nodding.
Akasha seemed to be considering his offer with interest. "When would I have to start?" She asked.
"Well," Dumbledore began. "It would be best if you could be at the school, with all of the belongings you will need on Sunday. That will give you enough time to get reacquainted with your old school,"
Akasha nodded. "I'll do it!"
Dumbledore smiled, raising his glass to her and drinking it slowly. He waved his wand and the two empty cups disappeared, his eyes sparkling, he stood up.
"I'll show myself out," He said, winking, before disappearing with a 'Pop!'.
Akasha Fai smiled to herself.
"Potions mistress of Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry," She repeated Dumbledore's words. "Now there's a title and no mistake!"
OOOOOOOOSeverus Snape scowled to himself as he marked Second-Year essays on the Cruciatus curse. None of them got anything better than 'Acceptable' it was all nonsense really. They had basically just copied from 'Advanced Potions Making', changing the order of a few words and phrases here and there as they went along. He sneered.
Finally he had gotten himself the post of Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher, but the students results were basically just as abysmal as they had been when he had taught Potions. They just didn't have the knack or appreciation for either subjects, even Defence Against The Dark Arts which could possibly save their lives one day. Not that Snape really thought that the Dark Lord would want to attack a bunch of Hufflepuff's with no more magical talent than a badger with only one eye.
He sighed, shuffling the papers on his desk habitually and scanning his office quickly before pulling back one of the sleeves on his black robes. He stared down at the Dark Mark that was there - his brows furrowing at the sight of it – but with one swift movement he pushed his sleeve back and continued with the marking of essays with no enthusiasm whatsoever.
OOOOOOOO
Almost immediately after Albus Dumbledore had left her small house on that Friday night, Akasha Fai had begun packing her belongings. She had sent most of it ahead with her two House Elves – Malva and Orpheus – along with a note to Dumbledore with regards as to why it was there and she wasn't.
Late Saturday night, Akasha did one last scan of her house. All of its 'Accessories' had been sent off before her, and that left only the furniture…which she didn't plan on taking with her anyway. One trunk which she would be taking herself, and her broomstick – a Silver Arrow, which was able to reach seventy miles an hour with a tailwind – resided in the hallway by the front door.
Usually, Akasha wore velvet gowns and robes of different dark shades and patterns, but that wasn't suitable for riding a broomstick and she hated to ride 'Side Saddle' (as the Muggles put it when referring to horses). So, she had adorned a pair of black trousers, boots and a white blouse for the journey instead.
Pulling her usual black cloak over her shoulders and casting a charm so that her trunk was attacked firmly to the bottom of her broomstick she headed outside. Her broom hovering in front of her and she locked the door and placed her wand and keys in her pocket.
There was a fair wind, and it blew her black hair around wildly as she checked the area for Muggles before mounting her broom and kicking off up into the sky as quickly as possible so that her appearance would be covered by the thick masses of cloud there.
After a few hours Akasha landed in Hogsmeade, knowing well enough that apparition and flying by broom into Hogwarts had been prevented by many spells cast by Dumbledore. Glancing up at the night sky, she considered that she'd be better off not actually going into Hogwarts until late Sunday morning. That way she wouldn't disturb the school's normal pattern and cause alarm. She was certain new teachers didn't appear out of nowhere in the middle of the night. Akasha looked around Hogsmeade, she didn't want to make anyone get out of their own beds just to admit her into a hotel and so walked in the direction of a small gathering of tree's. Setting her broom and trunk on the ground, and pulling off her black cloak she waved her wand and transfigured the cloak into a large tent, shoving her belongings in it and then following, zipping it up after her.
OOOOOOO
It was pouring with rain when Akasha woke up, thankfully her tent had not leaked and she remained perfectly dry. Unfortunately, she knew that wouldn't be the case when she got outside, having sent the only umbrella she had ahead with her house elves and all of her other luggage. She pulled her trunk and broom from the tent and then cast it back into its original form: her cloak. Pulling it on and fastening the clasp, she began walking in the direction of the castle, her broom and wand hovering behind her as she did.
The students and teachers were all sat in the Great Hall for breakfast; Akasha could hear the conversations as she walked through the doors of her old school. Memories came flooding back to her of her school days, of failing horribly at Arithmancy and Ancient Runes but excelling at Potions, Transfiguration and Defence Against The Dark Arts. She smiled to herself as she recalled going into the forest to watch the Thestrals in her final year, but that was the past now. All of that had already happened. Akasha Fai was determined to look to the future instead of lingering on previous occurrences.
"Malva," Akasha summoned her two house elves. "Orpheus,"
With a poof they appeared in front of her, bowing low. Akasha had never really liked the idea of having house elves being servants. But they were passed to her in her mother's will, and they seemed to enjoy serving her, their 'Mistress' as they put it as much as she loved brewing potions.
"Please make sure my broom and trunk are placed with the rest of my belongings," She said, smiling slightly as Malva and Orpheus nodded eagerly, gathering up her things and disappearing almost instantly.
Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger sat at the Gryffindor table, it was Sunday morning and they were all hungry. However, breakfast was seemed to be delayed somewhat and Harry wasn't sure why. Albus Dumbledore, their headmaster sat at the front table of the Great Hall beaming as he always did. Nothing seemed amiss, but Harry had a strange feeling...
As if fate had known what he had been thinking, the doors of the Great Hall creaked open, and then closed again as someone walked through them and made their way up the aisle towards Dumbledore.
Her oval face was pale, almost too pale to look healthy. But perhaps that was only because of the sharp contrast to her black robes and her black, heavily soaked hair that was almost even darker than possible with water. The flickering light of the candles—they still flickered, although the doors were closed—danced over the few long strands that hadn't been restrained in a sophisticated—but now rather drenched—pile on top of her head, making it appear as though there were streaks of a very dark red in it. Her hair was very long, and since it was soaked like her cloak, it looked probably even longer than it actually was. The strands were snaking all the way down well past her hips.
Tentative whispering voices could be heard, whose content went along the lines of "Who's that?" or "Do you know…?"
As she reached the high table, Dumbledore nodded, and she walked around the table and towards him, then extended her hand in greeting. "Professor Dumbledore," she said in a voice that was quite pleasant-sounding.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief. If this was a new teacher, a voice like that would be much easier to listen to than, say, something similar to Snape's. He'd had his share of unpleasant voices.
Dumbledore smiled, and shook her hand tentatively. "Good to have you back, Professor,"
"I'm glad to be back too, Headmaster. Oh! Sorry," she said sheepishly, noticing that she had quite thoroughly drenched his beard and robes. "Those Impervius Charms really aren't what they are cracked up to be. They don't work so well on clothes; better used on inflexible objects. I shall have to investigate and try to find something of a bit more efficiency."
Dumbledore merely chuckled, as she pulled out her wand and waved it over herself, immediately she turned dry, it was like having sat in front of a warm fire for hours. Dumbledore did the same and both smiled happily, although Harry noticed that this woman's smile wasn't as genuine as Dumbledore's. Not to mention that the headmaster of Hogwarts seemed to smile most of the time anyway.
Akasha nodded politely as Albus told her who all of the teachers were, she saw an empty place right at the very end of the table and Dumbledore told her that was where she would be sitting from now on. That would have been fine, if it weren't for the fact that she was sat next to someone introduced to her as Severus Snape. He had a sneering expression and clearly wasn't the kind of person up to talking. So Akasha supposed that mealtimes would be relatively silent for her, because the other members of staff weren't likely to shout at her from the other end of the table.
Dumbledore stepped forwards and regarded his students. They fell silent. "I would like to introduce you all to your new Potions Mistress, and Slytherin Alumni: Professor Akasha Fai,"
There was a round of applause and Akasha smiled weakly, she was as nervous as hell. She had never taught before, certainly it couldn't have been that hard a task. It just felt like a large burden upon her shoulders.
"I think you will find, Professor Fai,"
A voice came from her right, and Akasha saw that Professor Snape was in fact talking to her.
"As I am the former Potions Master of Hogwarts, the students of this school are rather inept at the subject. You will find very little talent here," He continued.
Akasha merely nodded. "I shall have to discover that for myself," She replied, not likely to take his input to heart as he seemed like the kind of person who thought everybody was awful and everything.
OOO
Severus Snape stared at the woman as she walked down the aisle, even when soaking wet...he was certain he knew who she was from the moment he first gazed at her. Upon approaching Dumbledore, he got a better look at her; long black hair, bright green eyes and just a bit shorter than he himself. There was no denying it, stood there was someone he had once known rather well, only she had been a teenage girl then and they only remained acquaintances until the end of their sixth year at Hogwarts.
He frowned slightly; he did not want to think about that.
Although admittedly, despite being the same age as he, Akasha Fai looked considerably younger than Snape. Just by a few years, but her emerald eyes practically shined with wisdom and guile.
She sat next to him, and they were introduced as if it had been the first time they had ever met in their entire lives, of course it was for her. However, it certainly was not for Severus Snape; and that realization came fresh at him with a pang of desolation. He hadn't been bothered with it for quite some time, and in fact he had learned not to care about it at all. But he was furious! How could Dumbledore hire this woman when he knew all that had happened, it was like he was silently lashing out at Severus for something which he hadn't even done.
He become more sour than usual then, attempting to talk with her; but when she made no sign of actually ever truly taking in his statement. Or rather, she did, but Snape was more than a little agitated to find that she didn't seem to agree with him. Although, why would she?
Dumbledore leaned forwards in his chair and smiled kindly at Severus, he did not reciprocate the gesture and merely sat there, wearing a stone cold mask as he always did. He had a reputation to keep up in front of the students after all, not to mention he had decided he wanted nothing to do with Akasha Fai. Despite past experiences.
She was such an insolent woman.