Scarlet Rose
By Midnight Moonchild
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the harry potter characters in this story they belong to J.K Rowling. I make no profit from this story it is for entertainment only.
The air was cold today. Jack Frost had begun to creep his cold fingers across the city and Frost was ever present as the days grew colder and winter finally set in. Victoria hated winter it reminded her of things she hoped to forget. She frowned in irritation as someone brushed past her rudely and crossed the road in front her without so much as an excuse me or apology it was then that she noticed the amount of People running around the streets ladled with bags upon bags of gifts. She shook her head what did she expect it was nearly Christmas after all.
She made her way across the street and around the corner hoping to escape the crowds she hated crowds. In fact there where allot of things she hated in the world of muggles. That seemed to make her more determined as she picked up her pace rounding another corner and onto another busy street keeping her eyes downcast so she could ignore the people staring at her.
With Eyes a striking shade of violet and a scar shaped like a lazy S across her left eye Victoria had always stood out in a crowd but never in a good way. Parents would always guide there children across the street and away from her when they noticed her scar or her eyes.
She frowned in annoyance they knew nothing of her past, They didn't know the story behind her scar. You would think they had never seen one before the way they stared at her. Her brow furrowed even more when she began to feel guilty for getting angry at them, they where muggles they didn't understand much of anything and muggles were known to hate that which they didn't understand, they didn't know any better and she had no right to judge them for it. She cursed under her breath feeling stupid for feeling guilty when she had no reason to. She could blame her mother for that one she supposed.
She had always thought her mother was to forgiving on people. Victoria sometimes wandered if she was her real mother after all she was nothing like her mother, she wasn't as forgiving. she had always thought that people who where to forgiving got taken for granted and she disliked being taken advantage of.
She gave the road she was now standing in a cautious once over not wanted to be seen as she made her way into the leaky cauldron and out the back to the alley behind it and after another few cautious glances around she withdrew her wand and began to tap along the brick wall before levelling her wand at her side to watch the bricks rearrange themselves into an archway opening a hidden pathway.
She stepped through the new opening and made her way into the bustling streets of diagon alley to the floo port across the way. The unpleasant smell of burning floo powder assaulted her senses as she entered the port and stepped into one of the fireplaces taking a handful of floo powder in one hand as she did so.
"Hogsmead" she said clearly throwing the powder to the floor and disappearing in a puff of green fire as she did so.
When she arrived she began strolling the less crowded streets of hogsmead at her leisure like she had walked this path a hundred times before letting her thoughts wonder.
She had always been an awkward child or at least that would of been your impression of her if you were unaware she was a witch. Her parents had noticed she was different from an early age and had immediately arranged for her to change schools like they had been expecting it. She had been so angry when she found out they had been lying to her for the first 14 years of her life. That they had forced her to go to a muggle school and suffer the bullying she had suffered for being different.
But after a few years at Hogwarts she had settled in and the bullying stopped after all the students there were just as different as she was. She smiled at the memories and with a sigh she entered the coffee shop she had been standing in front of and ordered her usual before taking a seat by the window to watch the shoppers passing by. She liked it here people didn't stair at her here nobody shoved past her rudely and most importantly no rude children asking her rude questions and bugging her on the streets.
ever since she had graduated she had felt bored with her life until she began to work as an aura for the ministry, but that hadn't lasted she still couldn't understand the ministry's decision to let her go she had captured almost as many dark wizards as mad eye moody but he had retired before that idiot fudge could sack him. The paranoid idiot seemed to fear any witch or wizard that became more powerful than him and that wasn't a hard thing to achieve, fudge would sack anyone he thought of as a threat to the ministry as if anyone would want to control a bunch of snot nosed wizard to set in the old ways accept him anyway. She snickered to herself taking a sip of her coffee.
The bell to the coffee shop rang as another customer entered however this customer was different there was an air of authority to this one; the shop went silent like some old muggle western before the patrons continued their paused conversations. Victoria looked up a moment later and was surprised to find albus Dumbledore standing before her.
"Well, well what a pleasant surprise miss Scarlet." Said Dumbledore making himself at home in the chair opposite her. She could ignore him but her years at Hogwarts had taught her Dumbledore would not be ignored, he had his ways. She rolled her eyes at the familiar twinkle in his eyes like he had planned them meeting from the beginning.
"Professor so nice to see you again" she said her voice had a slight huskiness to it like she had smoked one too many cigarettes. It wasn't an unpleasant voice. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" she said taking a sip of her coffee a moment later.
"Well you see Hogwarts has a teaching vacancy. And if I remember correctly you where exceptional at charms and potions." He said in his usual cheerful Voice Victoria frowned "how convenient that should happen upon me then but I'm only one women so why mention two subjects " She said her voice taking on an icy quality that most would find off putting Dumbledore however seemed UN affected.
"well you see professor Flitwick has decided to retire and due to the increase in death eater attacks the ministry is demanding more and more potions and while professor snape is more than capable of making the necessary potions he also has classes to teach and the infirmary's own potions stock to fill. I'm sure he would appreciate some assistance." Dumbledore said producing a sherbet lemon from his robes and unwrapping it.
"The dark lord is dead. Why are the death eaters still coursing trouble? You would think they would keep a lower profile." She said almost to herself. "It seems the fall out is worse than we expected." Dumbledore shrugged tossing the unwrapped sweet into his mouth with a smile.
"would you be interested?" he asked making her cock an eyebrow at him, she would of been lying if she said she wasn't after all she had always wanted to meet professor snape the renowned potion master and the creator of the wolfs bane potion. She just didn't like the look Dumbledore was giving her.
"I might." She stated simply as she got up from her seat and began making her way to the exit of the shop. "I took the liberty of moving your things to your new accommodations." Dumbledore called after her "I thought you might." She said a smile curling her lip despite her efforts to hide it.
Dumbledore grinned offering her his arm. She blinked in surprise not expecting such a fast movement from such an old man. The twinkle in his eye seemed to say I'm full of surprises as she accepted his arm, a dizzying moment later Victoria found herself staring at the massive front doors of Hogwarts.
Dumbledore cleared his throat to get her attention after a few moments of watching her staring up at the doors lost in nostalgia. "Sorry." She said with a little nervous laugh "Memories?" he asked softly and smiled when she nodded silently giving the doors one last look before following him inside.
"I'm afraid your rooms are in the dungeons I hope this isn't a problem." Dumbledore said leading her through a corridor. "That's fine I prefer the dark anyway." She said not missing the pointed look Dumbledore gave her, she shrugged and he smiled slightly before looking up at the tapestry that hid the secret entrance to the dungeons.
He nodded to her before stepping through it Victoria followed him and found herself in a dark stone passageway with flaming torches lighting the way down into the dungeons and the rooms bellow.
He paused mid stride Victoria nearly walking into him at his sudden halt before she noticed a tall man in billowing black robes turn around the corner up a head. He had shoulder length black hair that shone in the torch light whether from being greasy or just shinny she couldn't tell from where she stood. The thing that struck her most was his eyes they where a deep brown that could easily be mistaken for black for they were so cold she was sure those eyes would be beautiful if the man would show a slither of warmth.
"Ah Severus just the wizard." Albus said smiling warmly at the man despite the frown of suspicion the man shot him. So this was the great professor snape she thought to herself giving him a quick once over he wasn't that bad once you got over the sour expression that seemed a permanent feature on his face. His lips where slightly thin at the top but had a nice curve to them on the bottom making them almost sensual if they were not set into a thin line. His figure was mostly hidden by his robes but she was sure he was at least slightly muscular if they way he carried himself were anything to go by.
She blinked at him when snape looked at her for a moment as if he was assessing if she was a threat or not. Albus kept silent letting them assess each other before he finally spoke "Severus this is Mrs Victoria Scarlet she is to be our new Charms professor and she will also be assisting you with your potions making." Albus said giving Victoria a reassuring smile when Snape scowled at him "I assure you that won't be necessary." Snape said only to stop when Albus raised his hand to stop him.
"I must insist the ministry is asking too much of you and whether you like to admit it or not you are exhausting yourself." Snape sighed in defeat he should have known, once Albus made his mind up about something that was it "Very well." Snape growled in annoyance and looked at Victoria who had been staring at him "Will that be all Headmasters." Snape said giving Victoria a scowl for good measure.
"Yes thank you Severus." Albus said stepping aside so Snape could walk past them and down the corridor. They both watched as snape disappeared around the corner. "Pleasant fellow." Victoria said sarcastically "I would say he improves over time but." "But that would be lieing." Victoria finished for him with a grin "I think I'll get along with him just fine." She said turning to look at Albus once more. "Yes I think you will." He smiled as they continued down the corridor.
"Ah here we are, these are your rooms. I hope they are to your liking." He said opening the door for her. "I think I'll manage." She said glancing around the room before her eyes settled on her luggage.
"I shall leave you to settle in; Dinner in the great hall is at 7pm. I trust you remember the way?" Albus asked standing by the door. "I do indeed." She said walking further into the room "very well I will see you at dinner then." Albus gave her a little nod before leaving closing the door silently behind him.
Victoria looked around her room with a smile creeping across her lips, the room was fairly large with a four poster double bed already made up in her old house colours and oh how she missed Ravenclaw. So many like minded intelligent students with a thirst for knowledge so like her own. She had made many a friend in her years at Hogwarts.
This brought a sudden pain to her heart she had also lost them all in the fight against Voldamort. She turned to the door to left of her large bed and opened it to reveal a generous bathroom with a built in shower and toilet with a small sink in the corner. She smiled to herself then a large bedroom with on sweet facilities she could get used to this.
Returning to her bed she opened her luggage and began putting her folded muggle clothes and wizard robes into the draws provided and moved her toiletries into the bathroom before hanging up a few of her paintings and photo's from her time at Hogwarts as a student.
Once this was done she gave her room another look and smiled now it looked like home. With that settled she looked at her watch, it was nearly time for dinner.
She decided she would finish her UN packing after dinner and left her rooms and nearly bumped into someone on her way out of the door. "Oh excuse me." she said in apology while dusting off her robes. "That's quite all right Mrs Scarlet." said Snape also straitening his robes. "On your way to dinner?" He asked "I was indeed." She said glad he wasn't looking as angry as he had been when Dumbledore introduced her he must have had time to think it over.
"May I escort you?" He said gesturing up the hall. "Thank you." She raised an eyebrow in suspicion for a moment he was being unusually polite. Snape then proceeded to walk down the hall beside her "Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot earlier." He said Victoria looked at him strangely for a moment was that an apology from Snape not that she was going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He must of realised it would be easier for them both if he was at least polite to her. "Perhaps." She said finally following him up the stairs to the doors of the great hall.
"I trust you will be eating with us at the head table." He said as they walked between the student tables she simply nodded in affirmation and followed him to the head table where Dumbledore looked up with a familiar twinkle in his eyes, both Snape and Victoria rolled their eyes at this making the twinkle even brighter.
"Yes I think they will get along quite nicely" Dumbledore muttered to himself "what was that Albus?" Said Professor McGonagall looking up from her meal at Dumbledore. "Nothing Minerva just thinking out loud." He said returning to his meal McGonagall gave him a funny look but said nothing.
Snape sat down in his usual place and said nothing when Victoria sat between himself and Dumbledore. "I trust you're all settled in now." Said Dumbledore watching Victoria as she put some food on her plate she nodded with a smile. "Yes I'm mostly unpacked now; I thought I would finish up after Dinner once I take a look at my classroom." She said taking a bite of chicken from her fork.
"Perhaps Snape can show you to your classroom after dinner?" Dumbledore smiled when Snape looked up hearing his name being mentioned "If you wish." He said irritably Dumbledore just wasn't happy unless he was telling snape what to do it seemed, much to Snape's annoyance but he was used to it by now and sometimes he almost took comfort in doing what Dumbledore wished it took his mind away from other things.
"Wonderful." Said Dumbledore who remained silent for the rest of their meal. Victoria pushed her plate away from herself then having eaten her fill, it seemed Snape had eaten his fill as well.
After dinner Snape showed Victoria to her classroom and stayed by the door as she entered and looked around. "well this won't do." Victoria said pulling out her wand she noticed out of the corner of her eye that snape had tensed for a second when he noticed her going for her wand. She paid him no mind however it was a habit allot of witches and wizard had picked up from the war and old habits die hard.
"Hmmmmm what to do." She thought out loud for a moment before raising her wand and getting to work, with a few flicks of her wrist the books rearranged themselves on the shelves in alphabetical order and all the chairs and tables neaten up. "Much better, A cluttered classroom is no place for learning." She nodded to herself and returned her wand to her robe pocket.
"I'm done here, Care to escort me back to my rooms." She said strolling over to Snape who had been lounging against the doorframe waiting for her. "Of course." He said in his deep voice Victoria smiled inwardly another thing to add to her observations, Snape had a lovely voice and his mannerisms when talking had you hanging on his every word especially when he drew out every word making sure to annunciate every syllable.
They walked in companionable silence on their way down to the dungeons and her rooms before stopping at her door "Thank you Snape." She said her hand going to the door handle "Please call me Severus." He said turning to leave "Severus?" she called after him and smiled when he turned round to look at her. "Please call me Victoria." She noticed a small smile at the corner of his lips when she said that. "Very well Victoria." He said before carrying on down the corridor his robes billowing behind him.
"Goodnight Severus." She said to herself as the corners of his robes disappeared around the corner. She turned back to her door and opened it before going inside. "Better have an early night, Ill want a fresh start for classes tomorrow." She made her way into the bathroom where her sleeping things where laid out on a small chair in the opposite corner of the shower by the door and the towel rack.
She hurriedly slipped out of her robes and turned on the shower before stepping under the torrent of water letting the hot water wash over her.
After a few moments she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower water dripping on the floor as she reached for her towel and dried off before getting into her night things and leaving the bathroom. She turning back the covers to her bed to slip under them then pulled the covers up to her chin and stared at the ceiling for a moment before rolling over to turn off the light.
Auther Note: Ok here is my latest for this is set in the harry potter universe but in an alternative universe where voldamort has been defeated and Dumbledore and Snape are alive and well Yay
Let me know what you think. I apologise if ive missed any gramatical errors I have been through it several times and even had a friend read over it aswell but alas sometimes things are still missed.
R & R please xx x