Chapter 1

Kang Yun Soo had never been one to play by the rules, and how could she with the lot she had gotten? Therefore, it was of no surprise when the young aspiring Potioneer announced to her dearest friends Remus Lupin (a former teacher at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry), Sirius Black (infamous escapee from Azkaban), Margret Müller (the famous "M" of the German quidditch team), and Elle Thatcher (the sweetest person she had ever known) that she had finally snagged an apprenticeship, but one in which the master would only accept a male. The surprise in the entire matter came not from the fact that she would be pretending to be a man, but from the knowledge that the one teaching her would be none other than the infamous Severus Snape.

The shock on her friends' faces was quickly evident when she answered after an inquiry as to who would be teaching her. Yun Soo, having never met the man herself, was quizzical as to the dread the others had felt; on the contrary, she was rather excited that after two years of searching, she would finally be able to finish her schooling. These opportunities were rather difficult to come across. Fortunately, the Headmaster of the school, Albus Dumbledore, also knew this and allowed her to enter the apprenticeship behind the back of his employee. The others, however, were of a different mind.

"Snivellus? You're being taught by Snivellus?" Margie choked, hardly able to contain her amusement.

"Really, Snivellus? And I thought I came up with bad nicknames," Yun Soo laughed.

"Yeah, you're laughing now. Just wait 'till you actually have to work for the git," Sirius grinned.

"He's not that bad," Elle asserted. Margie and Sirius snickered.

"Oh, get off it, Elle. He's a bloody nightmare," Margie smirked.

"He's not exactly everyone's favorite person," Lupin said. Yun Soo scoffed.

"Well, it's taken me two years to get an opportunity like this. I'll be damned if I let anyone stop me."

Yun Soo stood before a mirror, lips pursed, running her slender fingers through her black hair, each time passing from strand to air regretfully quickly. Her hair, having once cascaded down her back, was now cut into a short Asian boy style. Not only that, but (somewhat uncomfortably) wrapped around her torso was a vest of sorts (ingeniously engineered by Ellie), whose purpose was to flatten her chest. This was concealed underneath a crisp white button up shirt and a comfortable black sweater: the Hogwarts uniform. Her uniform was very similar to those worn by the students, except that instead of the symbol of her "house" (as she had been told existed in the school) knitted onto the upper part of the torso, there was the emblem of the school itself. Another perk of being an apprentice: she was not obliged to ride the school train.

Still tugging at the ends of her hair, she walked out of the upstairs bathroom and down the stairs where her roommates were waiting for her. She entered the living room.

"Bloody hell, I think Ellie's mum's gonna have a heart attack if she sees that bloke livin' with us," Margie grinned, looking up at her arrival.

"Ellie's mum is gonna have a heart attack? What about my parents? I haven't told them a thing," Yun Soo snorted, plopping down into an armchair and continued messing with her hair. Ellie said in exasperation, smiling, "Would you leave that hair of yours alone? It looks great on you, dear."

"I don't know whether to take that as an insult or a compliment," Yun Soo laughed, as did the rest of them. The clock stroked ten. It was time to go.

"You take care of yourself, you hear me?" Ellie murmured, as she pulled her friend into a hug.

"Don't get those girls sexually confused," Margie joked, roughing up Yun Soo's hair. She stepped into the fireplace, said the name of her destination, and watched as her friends faces whirled away in a green haze.

No matter how many time she traveled by Floo Powder, she could never seem to land quite right. In all of the dizziness, Yun Soo lost her balanced and found herself stumbling out of the fireplace in professor Dumbledore's office. She reached out and clung to the first thing she could find. This "thing" turned out to not be a thing at all; it turned out to be the very man who would be teaching her Potions.

"Sorry," she breathed and quickly stepped back. Severus Snape glared down his hooked nose at her.

"I'd suggest you do not let such carelessness transition into your potion-making, Mr. Kang, if you dare even hope of gaining my recommendation," he declaimed, dusting the soot off of his robes. Her jaw hardened, but she did not reply. Dumbledore stepped forward to ease the tension.

"Well, now that you two have established an acquaintance, perhaps you would care to take a tour of the castle, Mr. Kang," he lilted, blue eyes glistening cheerfully behind a pair of half-moon spectacles. She expressed delight in such a thing, and the three of them (She and Dumbledore in the lead while Snape followed behind) transversed its corridors and principal places. They met a few teachers along the way: Minerva McGonagall, professor of Transfiguration, and Madam Hooch, flying teacher; however, most were in their classrooms preparing for the new school year.

During her entire tour of the school, she never heard the man who she would have to be most intimate with speak to her. What purpose did it serve for him to follow them about in that manner? While she and Dumbledore talked pleasantly on school matters, he brooded behind them, never once sharing any input. To his defense, he didn't seem to be enjoying his involvement in their little escapade anymore than she did and she suspected this may have been Dumbledore's doing.

In half an hour's time, they reached the mouth of the dungeons where Dumbledore stopped to bid them adieu.

"I hope I haven't bored you too much, Mr. Kang," he smiled, shaking her hand. "I expect you both in the Great Hall before six in order to greet the students. You'll be joining us at the faculty table-" He glanced toward Yun Soo—"since you are not a student here."

"Thank you so much—for everything," she said, hinting at the fact that he had agreed to go behind the back of his employee.

"It is my pleasure," he winked and she was assured he had obtained the message.

Dumbledore retraced their steps up the grand staircase and disappeared at the turn of a corner. Yun Soo heard a voice growl from behind, "Come on." She obeyed but not without resentment. The two of them traveled down the insubstantially lit corridors of the Hogwarts Dungeons and passed by what she gathered to be the Slytherin dormitories. They turned a corner and appeared before a rather long hallway. Here they stopped and Snape indicated a black door on the far right.

"That is my classroom. And this—" He abruptly began walking again and she was forced to jog to catch up. "—is your room." They had turned another corner and appeared before another black door. He glared down at her once again and insinuated, "I expect you to be in my classroom ready to brew by the time the clock strikes seven. Lateness will not be tolerated."

She nodded and watched as he turned away without another word and disappeared around a corner, yet could not help but feel a little miffed. In less than an hour, he had already accused her of laziness and clumsiness and questioned her abilities as a potioneer. It was irritating, really.

Yun Soo entered her room and was delighted to find that the door was not the color she had thought it to be, but rather a dark mahogany rendered black in the shadows. It was also a relief to find her private quarters were not gloomily adorned—plain, yes, but not gloomy, which was something that could easily be fixed. However, there was no time to think about that now or even to unpack the suitcase that had arrived hours before her. It was only too clear that he would waste no time in her education and would undoubtly start that very evening. Potions was the one thing Yun Soo could potentially excel in and therefore had no choice but to do her best.

She left the single room and traveled up to the Library—or at least, where she thought the Library was. The door she opened instead led to an airy room, lined with tables of strange symbols on the counters encircling three of its walls. A man, most likely in his late twenties and reclining in a brown leather chair with his legs crossed onto his desk, looked up from the book he was reading with curiosity lacing his handsome features.

"There aren't supposed to be any students here yet or I've completely lost track of time," he chuckled goodheartedly and glanced towards a grandfather clock in the corner.

"Oh, I'm not a student. I'm Professor Snape's new apprentice," she corrected.

"Ah, really? I thought he was only accepting males." Her heart stopped.

"I am a guy," she retorted, slipping her hands in her pockets in an attempt to look manlier. She hoped the turmoil she felt within was not present in her expression.

"Ha ha, sorry about that, but you have to admit you've got a feminine look."

"Hey! Do you know how many girls would kill to be with someone as cute as me?"

The two quickly became friends; yet, no matter how hard Professor Hugh Norewood tried, he could not seem to wrap his mind around the idea that such a soft featured person could be a boy. His voice was too high pitched…. The more and more he thought about it, the more curious he became. Would the headmaster do something like this? Go behind an employee's back for some shrewd motive only he could be clever enough to devise?

He wouldn't put it past him.

They talked for a while more before deciding to head down to the Great Hall together. There she met the other teachers: Sprout, Hagrid, Flitwick, and numerous others whose names she would probably forget by the end of the evening. McGonagall was absent, but she had been told that she was waiting to greet the new students. A few minutes after the clock had struck six, the great oak doors swung upon and in poured hoards of whom she assumed to be the returning children. This became even more evident when she noticed them pointing at her and whispering one another.

"Stop being so nervous," Hugh grinned, noticing the blood rush to her cheeks.

"They think I'm a student," she groaned and sunk a little lower into her chair.

"Making yourself shorter isn't going to help, you know."

"Shut up—"

"Welcome," Dumbledore boomed, who had risen from an ornately decorated throne of sorts. "Once again we find these ancient halls of Hogwarts filled with smiling faces; however, before we fill ourselves with the delicious foods meticulously prepared for today's feast, let us welcome the new members of your respective houses. Professor McGonagall, if you will, please."

The doors opened once more and a pool of mixed expressions filed behind the business-like stride of McGonagall. Then began the sorting in which some enchanted hat decided which of the four houses Hogwarts' newest additions would be joining (it also sang a rather strange song beforehand). Once everyone was settled, delicious foods appeared onto the once empty platters scattered along every table and Yun Soo could not help but let her eyes grow wide at the spectacle.

"What? Haven't you ever attended a feast before?" Hugh smirked.

"Nothing even close to this scale," she confessed in blissful awe and almost immediately began piling food onto her plate. To both her pleasure and discomfort came dessert afterwards and by the time Dumbledore had had all the plates magically cleared and once again stood before the students, her stomach had been filled. He explained the rules which seemed to be customary to the ears of those returning. Then he announced, "and allow me to introduce the newest addition to our school: Mr. Kang."

To the bidding of Hugh, she stood up rather nervously to the clapping and sat down again.

"Although he shall not be teaching or attending any of the school's regular classes, he will be attaining an apprenticeship under Professor Snape and is to be treated as any of the other faculty." To her embarrassment, she watched as whispers once again filled the hall at this piece of gossip. He waited until the hall was quiet before introducing two other ladies who would be joining the teaching staff.

Dumbledore had just begun explaining something about the House Quidditch teams when he suddenly broke off mid-sentence and turned slightly to look at the small woman—Umbridge, Yun Soo believed her name was—who had stood up from the seat beside his. She said, "Hem, hem,"
and it was understood that she intended to make a speech. Although it was Yun Soo's first time at this school, she could tell by the shocked expressions on the other staff members faces that the headmaster was not one you interrupted. However, he seemed to have taken it much better than the others and sat down graciously to allow her the floor.

Her voice turned out to be just as incredibly obnoxious as the bright pink-on-pink outfit she wore. The way she addressed the students was also quite shocking and Yun Soo was forced to cover her mouth with her hand when she saw their expressions at being spoken to like toddlers. At length though, that God-awful speech ended and Yun Soo joined in with the other staff members in a round of applause. Dumbledore continued with his previous speech and then sent the students to their chambers.

She rose as the others did, but had did not move elsewhere, having begun conversing with Hugh about the school. Umbridge on the other hand had begun to walk; however, as she passed by where Yun Soo stood, she stopped and turned to face her. Yun Soo halted mid-sentence and said, "Professor Umbridge," with a nod of her head.

"Mr. Kang, you must be very happy to be the first one to do an apprenticeship at Hogwarts," she started, a Mona Lisa smile plastered onto her square face.

"I was actually unaware of that, Ma'am, but I'm happy to hear it," she said, returning a hopefully more affable grin.

"Well, it is something to be proud of. Something that should not be tainted, but, of course," she insinuated, that smile seeming to become more and more menacing with every word spoken. "you know how much of a respected position it is. I should hate to see anyone sully it. I therefore have your word then, Mr. Kang, that you shall treat it with the utmost care and never lie to me about anything?"

The smile on her face was threatening to slip away as she responded, "Of course, Professor."

"Then I shall look forward to learning more about you, Mr. Kang," Umbridge replied before leaving the room.

Yun Soo found herself extremely bothered with the way Umbridge had spoken to her, as if she knew that this Mr. Kang was not the person he claimed to be. She became even more agitated as the clock in her room neared seven, knowing she would probably not be able to do whatever professor Snape had in store for her. It didn't help that a single question continuously intruded upon her thoughts: did this Umbridge woman know who she really was?

At around 6:57, Yun Soo rapped her knuckle against the hard mahogany door leading to the Potions classroom and then walked inside once invited. Nearest to her were three rows of wooden tables, each of which had a black cauldron placed beside it. Near the front of the class room was the teacher's desk where Snape sat scribbling on a piece of parchment.

"Brew a Draught of Living Death. The storage closet is behind the door on the right," he ordered without looking up. Hello to you too, she thought darkly and made her way over to the storage closet. A couple of candles magically lighted themselves at her entrance, but it was still quite dark in the room. Nonetheless, it was obvious there were no books to be found there, which she needed in order to know the instructions. She poked her head into the classroom and broke in, "Professor Snape."

He looked up irritated as she inquired, "Where do you keep your books?"

"You will use no books. Use your memory," he retorted, returning to what he was doing. Her expression hardened.

"I don't know it by heart," she avowed. His hand stopped quivering along the parchment and his cold, unsympathetic eyes met her own.

"Use your memory," he repeated and then began writing again. She knew that there was no hope in further argument and furiously returned to storage room trying to recall the instructions to a Draught of Living Death. When she placed the various ingredients she had gathered onto one of the tables, she was sure she was missing some things. At this point, she didn't even care. It was obvious that from the start she had been set up for failure, but her competitive side was still bugged by this show of weakness.

She set about to lighting a fire beneath her cauldron with a box of matches she had slipped into her cloak before leaving her room. Snape had noticed this and mocked, "Can't even remember simple magic, Mr. Kang?"

"Situations could arise when you won't have your wand to rely on." It was the same response she gave to every inquirer, even if it did sound a little paranoid.

"Oh, but you'll have a book," he said, words dripping with sarcasm. The blood rushed to her cheeks as she wordlessly continued on.

Neither spoke to the other again until thirty minutes later when Snape had risen from his desk to check on her progress. She had only just begun stirring and braced herself for the censure she would undoubtly receive. One thing she had remembered was that by this time, the potion should be a smooth, dark purple. What Snape looked upon was a gurgling bluish mess.

"Pathetic," He sneered and with a flick of his wand, the monstrosity disappeared from sight. Yun Soo glared at her shoes as he swept passed her and towards the chalkboard in the front of the classroom. He tapped in several different places whereupon words appeared in a neat fashion.

"The ingredients are asphodel with an infusion of wormwood, valerian roots, and sopophorous beans. First you evenly cut up the roots and add it to the potion, causing it to give off a bluish smoke. The ideal halfway stage is when your it resembles a smooth, black current-colored liquid. You then crush the beans with the flat side of the silver dagger and pour it into the potion. It will turn a lilac color. Stir it once clockwise after every seventh counterclockwise stroke. You continue this until it turns clear as water," Snape rattled off effortlessly and irritably, never once glancing at the words gleaming from the chalkboard. "That, Mr. Kang, is how you brew a Draught of Living Death."

"Yes sir," she seethed through clamped teeth, her narrowed eyes boring into his. He turned away, fluently tapping the board again whereupon the names of five different potions appeared.

"You will write a report on each of these, including the Draught of Living Death. I expect not only the instructions to making the potions, but an introduction on its origins, uses, counter-effects when brewed incorrectly, and examples of such mishaps by tomorrow. You will also memorize this information for today's potion and this one." He pointed at the words 'SLEEPING DRAUGHT'— "Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes sir," she hissed. With that, he dismissed her and Yun Soo no longer wondered why it was Sirius and Margie hated the arrogant prick.


Thanks so much for reading! ^^ I thought I'd just go ahead and clear this up: this is a story that I also post on under the username Fumika. Just thought I'd try out using this site as well. I hope you guys enjoy this one ^^