Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does - but it would be nice though (Princess-Perfect suddenly starts daydreaming about playing in money).
Author's Note: Yes, another fanfic story! I decided to write this one because of the compliments about the Snape/Hooche relationship in Neville's Apparation Test (a part of that story is in this, so it'd be a good idea to read that - so r & r it!), and I got A LOT of hint-hints in the reviews. I looked up an online HP encyclopaedia for the ages of Snape and Hooche and when they started teaching. I know Snape's age but I'm not exactly sure about Hooche and when they started teaching, so I made a lot of stuff up to fit the story line. Read, enjoy and review!
Severus could recall the first time he met her, it was his first day back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to teach Potions. He had wanted very badly to become the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, but unfortunately, Professor Dumbledore gave him the Potions job instead. Severus was glad to move away from his past of Death Eater duties and spying, though he still had the Dark Mark on his arm to remember it.
It was the year 1983 he went back to Hogwarts. As his former teacher Professor Filius Flitwick gave him a warm welcome and showed him to his new room and office, he walked depressingly down the old school halls where miserable memories still triggered visions of the past in his head. He walked out onto the lush green grounds of the school after unpacking so that he could get away from those terrifying memoirs laying in its interior.
And that's when he saw her. Snape stared at the womanly figure a few feet away on the terrain, sitting on a broom. Her short and silvery hair was wild and flared up, which shaped a face with sharp features and a pair of yellow eyes like that of a hawk's. She seemed to have an essence of power and strength built inside her that flamed through her, which made Severus feel weak and powerless. With a kick of her broom, she flew up into the air and sped around with accuracy and speed. He stared attentively at her, that ferocious silver hawk of female pride and confidence.
"Hem hem," coughed a little voice below Severus. He looked down and noticed tiny Professor Flitwick looking up at him curiously.
"I see you came out onto the field," stated Flitwick.
"Yes, I wanted to... breathe in the fresh air," explained Severus. "Uh... Professor - "
"Please, call me Filius. I'm not your Professor anymore."
"Well... Filius... who is that woman flying on the broom?"
"That's Rolanda Hooche, she teaches first-year students how to fly on broomsticks and referees the Quidditch matches. She came a while after you graduated from Hogwarts, after doing some work in the Department of Games and Sports at the Ministry and some professional work in the Quidditch World Cup. Very skilled woman, there... Which reminds me, the other professors want to meet you. Will you follow me to the staff room?"
"Of course," mumbled Severus, as he looked back at this "Rolanda Hooche" flying about on her broomstick.
Since then he had always looked back at her with butterflies in his stomach, and that being that he never got the courage to ask her out. For 13 years he kept his crush for her a secret, never really talking to her and never picking up his opportunity at love. And even if he tried, it would be so subtle that Rolanda would barely notice it. He went to every Slytherin Quidditch game to see his home team (and to annoy Minerva McGonagoll who was a devout Gryffindor fan), but secretly, he was watching Hooche refereeing.
He was thinking about the past years of his infatuation for Rolanda after dismissing his 6th year Potions class of Gryffindors and Slytherins (which during the class he was yelling at Harry Potter for minor errors and mocking Hermione Granger on her perfectionist ways to soothe his frustration). It was the end of the school day, and Severus sat at his desk, sighing and flipping through the Potions curriculum for his 6th year-students.
As he went through the course book, he came across a certain love potion. 'A love potion?' he thought to himself, and quickly started to read it. 'This could be my chance at getting Rolanda!' It was then that he decided he'd try it out.
The next day, a Saturday in late May, he went down to Diagon Alley to his favourite and most trustworthy cauldron shop. He entered the small store where he saw John McLayer, the owner, at the front desk who was cleaning out a cauldron. McLayer was a tubby and balding man, though very friendly no matter who walked in.
"Ah Severus, one of my best customers at the shop," greeted John McLayer warmly. "How may I help you today?"
"I need a specific cauldron for a potion, McLayer," he stated. "I need a double-coated copper cauldron."
"Hmm... a double-coated copper cauldron, those are for love potions," said the McLayer suspiciously. "Are you making a love potion, Severus?"
"I have to admit, I am making one," sighed Snape, and then said in a harsh whisper, "Tell no one of this. I've been meaning to woo Rolanda Hooche for quite a while now, yet she still hasn't taken any notice to my liking. I thought a certain love potion might help that."
"Madam Hooche, the broom flying instructor and referee at Hogwarts?" questioned McLayer. "You've got quite a taste for women."
"I would rather not discuss my preference in women," implied Snape.
"Sorry, Severus," said McLayer following a cough. "I'll show you to the storage room."
McLayer led Severus into the storage room at the back of the shop. Once they entered the cluttered stalk room, McLayer's jaw dropped and Snape's eyes widened as they saw both Neville Longbottom, a student of Severus', and an old woman with a clipboard both stuffed inside a broken cauldron.
"I - what - who are you?" questioned McLayer, looking extremely confused at them both.
"I am Madam Lucy Wiggenhart," the woman said to introduce herself, "and I am an Apparating instructor. My student Neville Longbottom was doing an exam and we ended up here accidentally."
"I recognized you, Neville, the second I had a glance," uttered Snape as he looked at him angrily. "I knew Apparation examinations were today, I should have known I would have seen Longbottom appearing in unsuspected areas. I'm sure he's failing this exam, isn't he, Madam Wiggenhart?"
"Well - "
Before Madam Wiggenhart could answer, the two had Apparated out of the shop. Both wizards stood there, Severus ticked and McLayer scratching his head.
"I... uh... what were we doing?" questioned McLayer.
"The double-coated copper cauldron?" implied Severus.
"Ah yes!" said McLayer as he searched through the piles and shelves of cauldrons. "Which size did you want?"
"Small."
"Here it is!" stated McLayer, picking up a small copper cauldron. After finding the cauldron, they went to the cash register where Severus paid for it and left (before stopping by the Apothecary for some ingredients).
That night, Severus read the recipe for the love potion and brewed the tonic that included a snip of his hair so that Rolanda would fall in love with him and no other man. By midnight, he had made a watery, crimson red liquid.
It was the next day during dinner in the Great Hall that he'd put his plan into action. Before anyone came into the Great Hall, Severus went over to the seat where Rolanda Hooche usually sat and poured 2 drops of the love potion into her pumpkin juice, which disappeared into the orange drink quickly. He left the banquet hall and came back in with everyone to sit with the staff at the head table, carefully watching Rolanda's movements. It was just a little bit after the food appeared on their tables that the unthinkable happened. Severus watched Rolanda as she looked frustratingly at her goblet. Professor Sibyll Trelawney, who was seated right next to Madam Hooche, noticed this and questioned her.
"Rolanda, I do not need my Inner Eye to see that you are troubled," said Sibyll in a dreamy and misty voice. "Have you seen shapes in your pumpkin juice that foretell a horrible future?"
"Nothing of the sort!" spoke Rolanda as she eyed Sibyll oddly. "I was just frustrated that even when I told the house-elves that I do not like pumpkin juice, they still give it to me."
"Then let me drink it," suggested Sibyll. "I'm quite thirsty; palm-reading can get you tired quickly."
"Oh no!" muttered Severus under his breath as he saw Sibyll consume the pumpkin juice in one gulp. By the time she put the goblet down, she started to twitch a couple of time and opened her eyes wide, then turned to him.
"Severus, you sexy beast!" she shouted to him.
Every single pair of eyes turned to the head table, along with every jaw dropping at what Professor Trelawney said. Severus' pale face became red with embarrassment, as he looked at her in fright.
"Sibyll, calm down..." he muttered.
"I've never seen you look as gorgeous as you do this evening!" she proclaimed out loud. "Come here and give me some sugar!"
At this moment, Sibyll got out of her seat with her arms wide open. Severus sat up quickly to escape, but Sibyll ended up chasing him around the Great Hall. All the students and staff members hollered in laughter as they saw Professor Trelawney, love-struck and quite mad, run after Professor Snape around the tables until he escaped the Great Hall to get to his office. The Divinations teacher scurried clumsily after him, yelling love comments. He took in a deep breath once he entered his office, locked it and collapsed onto the floor to lean back onto the door. On the other side, Sibyll was pounding at the door.
"Sevvie-pooh, you know you love me!" she howled. "Come out!"
'I'm never going to make that love potion ever again!' thought Snape to himself, letting out a long and desperate sigh. It was a while until some of the professors pulled Sibyll away from the door and someone else knocked.
"Who is it?" questioned Severus.
"Albus Dumbledore," replied the Headmaster.
Severus got up, brushed himself off and opened the door for Professor Dumbledore. The old Headmaster entered gracefully into the room, and once he had entered, turned his eyes to Severus.
"That was quite a scene Professor Trelawney made in the Great Hall, wasn't it?" enquired Dumbledore.
"Quite so," he sighed.
"I'm sorry that happened," said Dumbledore, "especially because our student body will be talking about it for ages. But that's not what I came here to talk about. I have a feeling that you weren't expecting the... event... with Sibyll to occur this evening, did you?"
"No, sir."
"I thought so, but I'm also pondering something else. I saw you looking in her direction attentively before the accident happened, and what seems quite peculiar was that Sibyll didn't drink her own goblet of pumpkin juice before she collapsed into a sudden and VERY strong infatuation with you. It was Madam Hooche's goblet. Severus, did you happen to put a love potion in Madam Hooche's drink?"
Severus dropped his head and sighed.
"Yes, this is true."
"How long have you liked Rolanda?"
"Since I started teaching at Hogwarts."
"And how many times have you approached her about this?"
"This is the first time I've actually done anything for her to get my attention."
"I see," stated Dumbledore. "Severus, one must not use magic to toy with the heart. Love is something that cannot be created with a simple potion, it takes much more. Do you still wish to win the heart of Madam Hooche?"
"I'm not sure if I'll try to do anything to get her attention after this, but I'd still like her to like me."
"I suggest, Severus, that you do something else to get her attention. Maybe play the secret admirer?"
"I'll try that, Headmaster. But Professor Dumbledore, are you going to tell anyone about the truth to the love potion incident?"
"Severus, am I the kind of person who would not keep a secret?" questioned Dumbledore, after leaving Professor Snape's office.
Severus didn't try anything to get Rolanda's attention for two weeks, but when he did eventually get to it he took Dumbledore's advise to become the secret admirer. His plan was to send a bouquet of roses to Rolanda's office with a note stating that it was from her secret admirer. Dumbledore gave Severus the skeleton key to all the rooms in Hogwarts so he could enter Madam Hooche's office and lay out the bouquet. However, Severus was hit by a stroke of bad luck when he found out the next day that Rolanda was leaving Hogwarts for a few days to visit her sick mother. By the time she came back, the roses were dead and rotting and Argus Filch had already thrown the bouquet out (while muttering how silly googly-eyed kids were these days).
Snape got up the courage another time to impress Rolanda secretly by sending her a love poem by owl post. It was too bad for Severus that before the owl could leave to get to Madam Hooche, it passed by Peeves the Poltergeist. Severus found out he had gotten a hold of it when he saw the poem in shreds and spat on (with a form of ghost spit) as he heard Peeves in the distance cackle and sarcastically sing the poem Severus wrote.
Poor Severus, but he had more guts than he thought he did when he tried an additional time to get Rolanda's attention, but this time it would be direct. Severus decided to have an owl send a letter to Rolanda for a blind date. Severus looked out the window as he saw the owl swoop down near Madam Hooche on the field while she was supervising Gryffindor Quidditch practice. He saw her take and open the letter inquiringly until she had a grin on her bold face as she read the letter. Success!
The date would take place the Friday of that week. Severus had arranged the date to be in the Room of Requirement for dinner. The magical room automatically turned into a romantic setting with a decorated table with candles lit, a bouquet of roses in the middle of the decorated table and a pair of fine dinner sets laid out. A house-elf came in to lay out the wine and food (rotisserie chicken with sautéed vegetables, potato purée, garlic shrimp, cheesecake and more). Severus had written in the letter that the date would be at 6 o'clock. He was wearing his best robe (which wasn't that different from his other robes; it was black) and he made an effort to wash his hair very well to make it look less oily.
Severus looked up at the clock: 6:02. Was she coming? Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
"Come in!" he called out.
The door opened and there came in Rolanda Hooche looking absolutely beautiful with a scarlet dressrobe and long ruby earrings. She looked around the room and was surprised to see Severus there.
"My, my... Severus!" she exclaimed. "You're the one who sent me that letter?"
"Indeed, I am."
"I would never have thought you had a liking for me. I was almost certain that the Arithmancy teacher Professor Vector liked me in particular, he always gave me funny looks. Then again, he is slightly cross-eyed..."
"Would you like to sit down?" enquired Severus as he pulled out Rolanda's chair.
"Of course, Severus," said Rolanda with a smile as she sat on the chair after Severus pushed it in. He went back to his chair and sat down. There, Severus pulled out a box of chocolates and a bouquet of roses.
"These are for you," said Severus, handing them to her.
"This is wonderful," she said as she took them and laid them on the table. "Thank you so much!"
"So, you were surprised it was me?" questioned Severus.
"Absolutely," responded Rolanda. "I never would have guessed it. Severus, not to be rude or anything, but..."
"Don't worry, ask away."
"How long have you liked me?"
"I fell in love with you the first day I came to Hogwarts as the Potions Master."
"Really?" said Rolanda, wide-eyed in amazement. "That long ago?"
"Yes, it's true. It's been 13 years since I've had this secret love for you."
"And you're in love with me even with our age difference? You know I'm a lot older than you are, right?"
"Love is ageless, Rolanda."
Rolanda gave a girlish giggle, and Severus smiled. His date was going perfectly well. They ate their delicious dinner and conversed deeply. Severus told the whole story of how he tried to get her attention, from the love potion to the preparation for their date. Rolanda was incredibly fascinated through the entire story, and enjoyed listening to it.
An hour later, both Severus and Rolanda finished their dinner.
"Severus, that was a wonderful meal," spoke Rolanda.
"Thank you, I really did hope you'd like it," said Severus. "I wish this date didn't have to end so soon."
"It doesn't have to, you know," implied Rolanda. "Do you want to go on a broom ride?"
Severus looked at her with a large joyful smile, something he never did (other than in a spiteful way). "Yes, I do."
Both Rolanda and Severus left the Room of Requirement to go out for a broom ride. First, they went to Hooche's room so she could put the gifts away and get her broom, a new extendable Comet 270 she had gotten on a trip a week ago to Diagon Alley.
Once she had gotten her broom, her and Severus went out into the grounds to go for their ride. The moon was at its fullest and brightest, the sky was a blanket of black velvet heavily sprinkled with sparkling stars. The air was cool and fresh, and so was the grass. The two walked out farther away from the castle, almost exactly where Severus had first seen Rolanda.
Rolanda pushed the trigger on the broom to extend it so it seated two. Once it was ready, she got onto the broom and then Severus hopped on. He put his arms tightly around her for safety and affection.
"Rolanda, I think you're the only witch who'd go out for a broom ride with a dress robe and ruby earrings."
"You think this is too fancy to be riding on a broom? I once had to go 250/mph on a broom wearing a 300 galleon dress robe and a full set of diamond jewellery."
Severus chuckled at the comment as they flew off the ground and into the night sky. The view from up above was spectacular; they swept over the Forbidden Forest, the castle, the hills and even past the lake where they saw the squid peeping up from the water's surface. When they got down, Severus' heart was racing with thrill.
After their ride was done, Severus walked Rolanda to her rooms as the end of their date. Before Rolanda opened the door, she turned to Severus to say one last thing.
"Severus, this has been the best date of my life. I never thought I'd find true love, but after this night, I think I might have."
"I think so too," commented Severus with red cheeks.
"You're not as bad as everyone says," said Rolanda. Then slowly afterwards, they leaned closer and closer to one another to share a sweet kiss. Rolanda's face became the colour of her dress, and then disappeared into her rooms. While Severus walked back to his chambers, he did a little jump and kicked his heels merrily.
"Can you believe it?" stated Ronald Weasley at the Gryffindor table the next morning for breakfast. "Professor Snape and Madam Hooche - a couple!"
"I would have never thought them a match," spoke Harry Potter. "Madam Hooche is too nice to be going out with him."
"Yeah, maybe a banshee would be great for Snape!" commented Seamus Finnigan with a hardy chuckle.
"I remember hearing about Snape liking Hooche when I accidentally Apparated into a cauldron shop," said Neville. "I never thought they'd actually go out!"
"You are all so cruel!" huffed Hermione Granger after looking up from her Transfiguration textbook. "It's rude enough going through other people's business, but you mock them for their love for each other too? I think you should all be ashamed of yourselves."
"I agree with Hermione," said Lavendar Brown. "Snape and Hooche DO look a lot happier this morning. How did everyone find out they went out last night anyway?"
"I'm not sure, but however it happened, the whole entire school knows already," stated Dean Thomas. "Gossip, it's one of the mysteries of the universe."
"Maybe Snape will be nicer now," mentioned Harry, looking over at the Head Table where Professor Snape was sitting. "He's already looking quite jolly, and he's - this is unbelievable - he's smiling, and not in a malicious way!"
Everyone looked over to where Harry was looking, and they all understood what he was talking about. Professor Snape was indeed smiling, and not only that, he looked to be in a good mood and his hair seemed to be less oily. They almost couldn't recognize him he seemed so different. This could be the beginning of a new Snape: a happier, kinder and less evil Snape. They saw him look at Madam Hooche lovingly, and thought to themselves that Madam Hooche and Professor Snape going out maybe wasn't as ridiculous as it seemed.
Author's Note: Did you like it? PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is my first romance story, so I REALLY want to know how I did. Now, here are the rules: I like to hear suggestions and constructive criticism is absolutely welcome, but what I DO NOT appreciate is flames, nor vulgar language. AS WELL, if you are going to review, I would like it if you actually state your opinion and not just write anything. Some people write anything that doesn't even relate to my story and after looking through it, I'm always asking myself, "Well, what did they think about the story?" Sorry for the long author's note, but I felt I had to explain some things.