Chapter 1
It was the beginning of another school year. However this was not your average school, this was Hogwarts, the renowned school for wizards and witches. If you were a Muggle, you wouldn't have heard of the place, but if you were a Wizard or a Witch, then an invitation to attend this prestigious school would be better than a visit from Merlin himself. After all you would be going to the school the Mighty Harry Potter went to.
The Great Hall was abuzz with gossip and stories of summer adventures, and anticipation of who would be sorted to join the close knit fellowship of house members. Most new students wanted to be sorted into Harry Potter's house of Gryffindor, the house of the Brave and Noble. The Lion as its mascot, most members of that house exhibited lion-esque characteristics. The scholars were most often than not sorted into Ravenclaw, whose members excelled in academics, Hufflepuff members were a friendly lot who worked hard and were loyal almost to a fault. Those houses were all favoured over Slytherin. The members of Slytherin house were cunning and ambitious just like their Housemaster, most of the parents of the children sorted into Slytherin were followers of the Dark Lord, and had contacts with the dark forces of the Wizarding world. No, this was not the friendliest house to be in my no stretch of the imagination.
As the returning students took their places at their house's tables the teachers also took theirs at the high table. The middle seat was reserved for the Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore a tall thin and very old man, with silvery hair and beard down to his knees. His tenure at Hogwarts went back well over fifty years. The seats on either side of him were reserved for the best teachers of the Magical Ways that England had to offer. Including Professor's Sprout, Snape and McGonagall, all of whom have been teaching at Hogwarts for over 40 years combined. There was one seat that it was joked, was a revolving door. That was the only seat that hadn't had the same person in it for more than one school year. That seat reserved for the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. It seemed the chair was doomed never to have a permanent owner. There was one man who hungered for that chair but for reasons unknown to him and the students, and only known to the Headmaster himself, he never got the position even though he was more than qualified to do the job. That man was Professor Severus Snape; Potions Master, Head of Slytherin house and, former Hogwarts honour graduate, and former Deatheater, but that's a minor technicality, isn't it?
Anyway, the excited buzz died down almost instantaneously to a whispered murmur, as a woman of thirtysomething dressed in a bright ensemble, ascended the stairs to the High Table. She made her way to the Headmaster who smiled warmly at her and motioned to the vacant 'revolving door'. She nodded thankfully to Professor Dumbledore and walked over to her place. She was a pretty woman, tall 5' 8", long wavy light brown hair and perfect facial features. She smiled warmly as she passed Professor Sprout revealing some laugh lines around her dark brown eyes. As she found her seat next to Professor Snape, who rose reluctantly to greet her, she looked and studied him. He was her opposite, dressed all in black, unkempt hair, hooked nose, cold black eyes and sallow skin. She smiled warmly and greeted him by name "Hello Severus, feels like old times doesn't it?" she said and took a deep breath and smiled as she moved her gaze from the Potions Master, who did not reply, to the students in the hall in front of her.
Headmaster Dumbledore looked to the double doors at the end of the Hall which swung open magically, he smiled and leaned back on his chair, this was his favourite part of the first day of school, the Sorting Ceremony. Professor McGonagall entered first through the doors followed by forty or so nervous and amazed first years, they were going to find out which house they would be a part of for their stay at Hogwarts. They group gathered in front of the High table and watched and listened in awe as a beat up hat sang a song explaining the virtues of the four different houses. I was now time to be sorted; one by one they sat on the stool and let Professor McGonagall place the hat on their heads. The hat shouted out the house name one after the other to each new student, who for the most part seemed happy with the decision and hurried to their new table ready and eager to meet some new friends.
After the ceremony Albus Dumbledore stood up; the room became silent, even the ghosts sat down (on chandeliers of course), everyone wanted to hear what the Headmaster had to say they especially wanted to know who the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was. "Hem-Hem" he cleared his throat "As you may or may not know we had to replace your Dark Arts teacher of late due to conflicting schedules, I am however pleased to welcome and introduce to you, a former Hogwarts graduate, who studied teaching at…well let me have her tell you a bit about herself, I give you Professor Jaclyn Paige Garret" he smiled at her and clapped which was copied enthusiastically by all the occupants of the room except for the members of Slytherin house who collectively went through the motions grudgingly because their Head of House Professor Snape was clapping politely and gave a glance that they all interpreted as 'if you don't clap you will all be banned from the dungeons for one month'.
Jaclyn stood up, blushed slightly as the applause began to stop, she did notice that the Slytherin table stopped clapping first, looked at Severus, and shook her head slightly and smiled. Her timid voice quivered as she started to speak to the captivated audience. As she went on she became more and more confident. She spoke of her education, her job as an Auror, how she could use her former job to teach the students some very useful skills. When Professor Garret mentioned she was a former Auror Professor Snape was seen rolling his eyes which caused a few snickers from the Slytherin table, Snape glared at them and they quickly stopped. Jaclyn ended her monologue with "…and in conclusion I believe this year will be an exciting and enjoyable year, and I look forward to teaching each and everyone of you this year." She smiled as the hall erupted with thunderous applause.
Professor Dumbledore stood up and raised his hands as Ms. Garret sat down. "Now Students, the school elves have worked hard for our feast tonight, I think you will enjoy it. So without further ado, I welcome most of you back to Hogwarts and to the new comers I welcome you to Hogwarts, Lets stops the chit chat and let the Feast begin!" in mere seconds food appeared on the tables magically. Turkeys, roasts, soups, salads, pies, everything you could imagine. The occupants started piling food on their plates and the hall buzzed with conversations about the new teacher and summer vacation stories, and of course lots of compliments on the food.