DISCLAIMER: Rowling is the master… she owns it all….
The leaves began to fall that autumn morning just outside the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A new school year was about to begin as a weary old Headmaster paced back and forth in his office. As he stared at the portraits of those who came before him, he hoped they would offer him some sort of solstice in times like these. The war would be inevitable. He knew this the moment Voldemort returned in Harry's fourth year. He knew that, even after faking his death last year, the Dark Lord would rise again.
However, with the Dark Lord currently in hiding after the untimely death of his savior Wormtail, the Dark Lord's strength began to dwindle once more as he fled Europe. Dumbledore massaged his temples while he contemplated the worst and yet the most realistic conclusion, that there would always be another way that the Dark Lord would rise again. This moment was merely the calm before the storm.
He stirred to see his winding staircase turn to let out a rather thin and dark-haired man dressed in deep velvet ropes holding was appeared to be a porcelain white mask in his leather-clad hands. His beaten and bruised face were the only tell-tale signs of what the man had endured the night prior.
"Ah," Dumbledore beamed as he immediately changed his visage to that of a more optimistic man, "Severus. I see you have finally returned to us. How did the meeting go?"
Severus Snape looked exhaustedly into the eyes of the old man, yet keeping his face as stone as the walls of the room. He stood his ground as he passed his white porcelain mask to his other hand. Knowing that Dumbledore was always cheerful only seemed to try his patience with each passing moment. His eyebrows wrinkled and his faced seemed to pinch as he replied to his old friend.
"Albus. As you can see, the meeting went as any other. I do, however, think that you would benefit from knowing that the Dark Lord is severely weakened due to the fortunate passing of Mr. Pettigrew. It seems the Dark Lord wishes the Death Eaters to partake, if you will, in spontaneous raids in order to keep up appearances. At the moment, I daresay, Longbottom is more of a threat to our safety," Snape said as he turned to walk back down the staircase.
"Thank you, Severus. However, might I impress on you that we should never underestimate Voldemort. I fear that he will obtain his strength sooner than we expect."
"Which is why, Albus, we all should be ready," Snape replied as he nodded to Dumbledore and began his decent down the stairs and to the dungeons.
Later that day, Dumbledore called a staff meeting for all members of the staff who had returned early to Hogwarts that year. With school still a week or so away, Dumbledore was hoping to allow the staff, new and old, to get to know each other better in hopes of forming powerful liaisons for the upcoming war. Dumbledore, thinking it one of his more brilliant ideas, never explicitly mentioned his ulterior motive to the rest of the staff.
One by one the professors began to enter the rather large staff room. As they gathered around the magnificent mahogany table and pulled up their large red velvet chairs, Dumbledore stood at the front of the room listening to the idle chit chat and the rustling of clothing and papers. Dumbledore's eyes lit up when the ebony-haired woman entered the room with Filch and walked towards him.
Snape immediately sat up in his chair as the sight of her once she entered the room. It cannot be… Before he could finish his thought, he heard Dumbledore speak.
"Cordelia Regan! Hello, my dear. It has been too long…" he said as he gathered the pretty woman into his arms.
"Albus," she began as a smile crept onto her rose red lips, "you are right, it has indeed been far too long," she replied as she embraced him in the middle of the room not knowing that she had just walked passed Severus Snape who was now staring at her in shock.
"Thank you again for coming. I fear that ever since the return of the Dark Lord, our students need to be as prepared in Defense Against the Dark Arts as possible. As you can probably guess, the requests for the class are far too many for Remus to keep up with. I am sure he will be delighted to learn that you will be taking on half of the class load."
"Well, Albus. I hope I do not disappoint you."
"Believe me, darling, you won't," he said as he turned to address the faculty which all appeared to be seated in their seats.
As she sat down and adjusted her long black hair from her face, her sea blue eyes meet the black pools of Snape's from across the table. Immediately, she sucked in a deep breath and tried to keep her face emotionless. She placed her now trembling hands in her lap as she broke the momentary stare between her and Snape's eyes so he would not be inclined to attempt to read her thoughts. She thought she had prepared herself for their encounter, but she quickly realized that she has underestimated the power the man had over her. She attempted to still her breathing as she watched Dumbledore intently.
He scanned the room as if to take attendance. He saw McGonagall sitting next to Sprout engaged in a conversation over rare plant species found in Scotland. Lupin was curtly reading a book on Vampires, while Sinestra and Trelawny Noticed that Flitwick was attempting to discuss broomstick charms to Madame Hooch, while a cleaner but obviously more agitated Snape sat with his arms folded about his chest scowling about the room.
"My fellow professors," Dumbledore began, "I welcome you all back to Hogwarts for yet another year. First off, I would like to apologize for the little scare I gave you all at the end of last year."
"Well that is an understatement if I ever heard one," Lupin piped up as the rest of the staff bellowed in laughter, with the exception of a still agitated Severus Snape.
"Thank you for that light-hearted jest, Remus," Dumbledore said as he began once more, "I am sure you all are aware of the present circumstances with regard to Voldemort, so I will not bore you with more information about that subject. However, due to the rise in interest, every dingle student in Hogwarts, from now on, no matter what their OWL or NEWT scores, will be taking Defense Against the Dark Arts. Those students who scored high on their OWLs, as well as those who scored high on their NEWTs, will be taking classes with our new professor, Cordelia Regan," Albus said as he opened his hand toward Cordelia.
"Although most of you remember Miss Regan from her student days here at Hogwarts, I am pleased to announce that, after teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts at Beauxbatons for the last twelve years, Madame Maxime has allowed her to come back to Hogwarts. She will also be teaching the sixth and seventh year Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, while Remus will be teaching the remaining years. Welcome back to Hogwarts Miss Regan."
Dumbledore clapped his hands as the room filled with applause. Cordelia nodded in thanks, and Dumbledore adjourned the meeting.
"Cordelia, please forgive me as I have some pressing matters to attend to," Dumbledore began as he scanned the room to see who was still there. He noticed Snape rising from his chair and heading towards the door when he said, "Severus, would you mind escorting Miss Regan to her chambers as they are in close proximity to your own?"
Cordelia looked at Dumbledore in shock as he spoke, while attempting to hide her emotions from Snape. She knew the moment in which they would speak would be inevitable, but she has hoped she had time to prepare.
Snape abruptly stopped in his tracks and spun around facing the old man and the ebony-haired woman. Realizing that this was no time in which to argue with the Headmaster, he gritted his teeth together and replied, "Very well, Albus," He immediately turned his heel and walked out the door as Cordelia stalked out of the room behind him.
He is still such an insufferable bastard. She thought as her long legs attempted to keep up with his even longer ones. She glared at him from behind as he obviously attempted to keep a great distance from her. Same old Severus.
She could not help but admire his stature. He had grown into a handsome man. True, he could do something about that greasy hairstyle of his, but in all, he was still as fetching as he was when they were young. She was quite impressed at the formalness of his attire. Herself, dressed in a rich dark green dress, with a black velvet robe appeared to be almost casual compared to his finely tailored jacket and form fitting trousers.
She did not notice he had stopped when she abruptly ran into him causing the two of them to fall to the floor from the fast pace she had been walking to keep up with him. As they attempted to untangle themselves, Snape quickly rose to his feet as he dusted off his jacket.
"It would do you well to watch where you are going, Professor Regan," he scowled as he tugged down his jacket.
"Well, Professor Snape," she began as she too rose and adjusted her robes, "it would do you well to stop being so much of yourself," she hissed as she glared at his sneering face.
Almost wishing to begin an argument, Snape opened his mouth and abruptly closed it once more. She knows what will anger me. I will not yield to her daft methods.
"These are your private rooms, Professor Regan. Your password is 'Polyjuice.' I trust that this is all you require," he hissed as he turned his heel and walked down the corridor to his own private rooms.
She stood in the hall and watched him as he stalked down the corridor contemplating what she was going to do about him.