Disclaimer: I do not own HP. I do not own Snape…though I'd love to.
Another year began, new and old students rushed in to study, while new and old teachers came to teach. All this and much more happened in one magical school, The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Harry Potter, now a fifth year, was sitting in the great hall with his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.
'Look at that new DADA teacher, she is a woman!' exclaimed Ron with awe.
'Snape must be furious. Dumbledore choose a woman over him.'
His remark gained two big grins from Harry and Hermione.
'Do you think we can trust this DADA teacher, Harry?' Hermione asked.
'I'm not sure,' Harry hesitated. His past experience with DADA teachers was to say 'not too well', except with Professor Lupin who was the best in the world.
'Come on, Hermione,' Ron said. 'She's beautiful.'
Their new teacher has light brown hair fixed in a bun at the back of her head, large blue eyes of the purest crystal, and a fine straight nose. She was definitely a heart breaker to men.
'Which does not guarantee she's not here to hurt Harry.' Hermione added irritably.
'But…'
'Shh! The sorting has begun.' Harry successfully stopped another fight from erupting. He didn't know why, but from last year on, his two best friends had started to argue a lot on trivial matters.
Harry shrugged slightly. The sorting ceremony had always been their favorite part in Hogwart's start-of-year feast, even though the amounts of this year's first-years were far less than usual.
'Woodman, Ivan.' Professor McGonagall called.
A large blond haired boy walked forward. He sat on the sorting hat stool and a moment later, he was sorted into Slytherin.
'Another one,' moaned Ron.
'Yates, Annabelle.'
She was the last first year Hogwarts had. She was a tiny girl with chocolate brown eyes, pale skin, and curly auburn hair that touched her shoulders softly. She walked slowly to the sorting hat, sat down, and then put the hat on.
5 minutes past.
Nothing happened.
The hall was filled with gossips now. The sorting hat had never taken this long to sort a student, not even when it sorted Harry.
10 minutes past.
Suddenly, the hat jumped away from the head of the girl.
'No, no! Not again! I am the Hogwart's Sorting Hat and my dignity will never approve me to do such thing twice! Noooo! Not in my life!' Its shriek echoed throughout the hall.
'What happened?' Professor McGonagall hurried forward.
'I… I don't know.' Harry could see the poor girl shaking as she struggled to speak.
'Am I going to be expelled?' she asked timidly. Harry was sure she was going to burst into tears in any minute.
Professor McGonagall frowned a bit, but she tried to smile to help the panicking student calmed down.
'Everything is fine, my dear. Just a small problem we need to fix. Stay here, I need to talk with the Headmaster.'
But even Dumbledore could not tell what had happened. The hat refused to say anything except: 'No, I won't do that again'.
'Checkalahatte-' Dumbledore muttered. Blue sparks flew out from his wand. The hat turned purple for a few seconds, then back to its normal blackish brown color.
'No dark magic, Minerva.' He informed the concerned professor.
'Blackmail is sometimes as useful as magic,' a soft voice joined in. It was the new DADA teacher.
'Maybe we are being visited by a dark wizard.' Her eyes fixed on the new girl.
'How horrible could you find a 11-year old be, Professor Vail?' surprisingly, it was Snape who came into Annabelle's defense. He stepped in front of Annabelle, blocking the girl from Professor Vail's view.
Every professor looked with wide-eyes and almost dropped their jaws on the floor. Severus Snape, the cruelest and nastiest teacher Hogwarts had ever had, just said something to protect a poor little girl?
'Well,' Professor Vail licked her upper lip a little bit.
'We have to be careful, especially in times as unsure as these.'
'Would you mind telling me what is so unsure, my dear new… colleague? You technically know nothing about this school.' Professor Snape snorted at her.
('How can he be that rude? She's pretty, can't he see that?' Ron mumbled in Harry's side, he dared not to let Hermione hear this. )
'I…' Professor Vail's eyes flickered fiercely. She had never expected such a public confrontation from another professor.
'I think we should deal with the hat first,' interrupted Professor Dumbledore. His voice was as calm as ever, but with a clear hint of 'no more argument'.
The two professors silenced immediately. But Professor Snape was still glaring at Professor Vail.
'What has happened?' Dumbledore turned back his attention to the sorting hat.
'Is anyone forcing you to do anything?'
'Of course there is someone forcing me to…' the hat stopped suddenly.
Snape felt Annabelle's body leaning on his now. She peeped out tentatively.
'No one could possibly hurt you here,' assured Dumbledore.
'What have you been asked to do?' His eyes turned to a color of stormy blue. Who in the wizard world would be powerful enough to scare the sorting hat? Not even Voldemont could do this.
'To sort her into a house she does not belong to,' said the hat weakly.
Every eye in the hall now turned to Annabelle Yates.
Timidly, Annabelle hid herself further behind Snape, her hands griped on his robe.
'I… I don't know…I…What house… should I be in?' she barely showed her eyes from behind Snape's black robe.
Snape looked down to the little girl whose body had literally attached to his. Normally, he would resist, or even hate, such physical contact, but he found himself quite relaxed with her touch.
Like she could feel his stare, Annabelle looked up; her watery eyes met his cold ones. She smiled at him immediately.
A strangely familiar feeling swirled through Snape; he remembered vaguely that he had seen such a sweet and bright face somewhere in the past. But before he could ask her whether they had met, she shifted her attention to the sorting hat again.
When Snape finally put aside the memories he was stirring up, he was just in time to hear the sorting hat announcing the girl's house- 'Gryffindor!'
The Gryffindor table broke out a round of loud applause. Snape didn't know what he was feeling now. This girl should not be in that damn house; she could not be a Gryffindor. She should be in…
'Are you sure?' he questioned the hat coolly.
But, no response was heard.
'Albus?' Professor McGonagall spoke, her voice shook. She had a strange feeling that the hat had lost all its magical power.
'Checkalahatte-' Dumbledore used the checking spell again.
But, nothing happened this time. The hat remained utmost silent.
Dumbledore contemplated for a moment. He didn't want to scare the students.
'We will discuss this later.' Dumbledore gestured to the professors to go to their own seats.
'For now, Miss Yates, please find your seat at your house table. The feast will begin in a second.'
'Sit here. Everything is fine.' Hermione said once Annabelle reached the Gryffindor table.
'My name is Hermione Granger. These are my friends Ron Weasley and Harry Potter.'
She paused a bit when mentioning Harry's name, but Annabelle seemed to have no special feelings about the-boy-who-lived. She just nodded and said, 'My name is Annabelle Yates.'
'Are you a muggle-born?' This would be the only explanation for her to react the way she had.
Annabelle did not answer because at that moment the Headmaster had started his speech.
'Another year. Though something did happen in the sorting ceremony, I can assure you that your choice of coming or coming back to Hogwarts is a wise one. My staff and I will try to the best of our abilities to equip you for the challenges of the wizarding world. Now,' Dumbledore motioned to Professor Vail. 'Allow me to introduce our new DADA teacher to you, Professor Emma Vail.'
Snape was sitting in his own room, thinking about the events of the evening. What happened to him? Vail was right, that Annabelle girl was obviously suspicious. Why did he stand up for her? The usual him would probably persuade the Headmaster to expel such a potential danger. But… he just couldn't let anyone accuse her of anything. She was innocent, sweet, and good.
'Damn! What are you thinking now, Severus Snape? What are you talking about now?' Snape couldn't stop himself from recalling the face of Annabelle. He knew he hadn't seen her anywhere, anytime before, or he would have remembered. Yet, every line on her face was so familiar. Her every movement seemed to influence him deeply.
'You are disgusting. She's only 11 and she's OUR student. And…and…' His face twisted in the acknowledgement that he had a special feeling towards his new student.
'Maybe that Vail woman is right. She is a dark witch. I should tell Dumbledore to expel her.' Before Snape could think of a defense for Annabelle, he ordered himself to go to bed.
He would have to deal with a bunch of idiots like Longbottom tomorrow, he shouldn't waste his precious time debating with himself and thinking of something he should not be thinking.
At this moment, someone knocked on his door.
Snape felt being interrupted. It was midnight and he didn't feel like he wanted to have any interaction with whosoever.
The knocks outside continued.
'Who is it?' Snape asked, not even trying to hide his annoyance.
'It's me, Emma Vail.'
Snape opened the door in a second. 'What is it you want, Professor?'