Hey Kids! Read this it's good!
Disclaimer: Only Samantha is mine all the rest are JK's
((Two important things to remember are:
1. This is written as though HBP didn't happen
2. Set in 6th year, but the age for that year has been changed to 17 (the wizarding year for coming of age) for reasons to be announced.))
Chapter One
I looked up at the ceiling. I felt tired still, though I'd already been awake for about an hour. I didn't know how long I had slept, and the overcast picture my window showed me didn't really tell me what time of day it was, and I didn't care. Why did I feel this way? There was nothing wrong in my life…at that current point in time. What I was feeling was not even really sadness, but more of a weight. A heaviness that, it seemed, even the strongest man could not lift. After several minutes of contemplating my unnecessary sadness I decided I needed something to do other than stare at that ugly green ceiling. I knew that with such heavy thoughts on my mind, I would not be able to go back to sleep so I rolled over and nudged Ron gently in the shoulder.
"Hey, rise and shine."
Ron looked groggily at the bedside clock.
"'Mione? It's only eight…why'd ya wake me so early?"
"I wanted to talk, that's all."
"At eight in the morning?"
"Yes, EIGHT in the morning. What's wrong with that?" Ron open his mouth in objection, but I cut him off. "Nothing, that's what. Besides, eight isn't even that early,."
"On summer break? Yes it is. One in the afternoon is early on summer break!"
"Oh hush. Summer's over in two days anyway. You had better get used to waking early again, and what's a better time to start than now? AND we need to visit Harry."
Ron just rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, well…So what is it that you wanted to talk about?"
"Anything really, I just felt like talking"
He looked at me in mock-disbelief. "You mean to tell me that I am up in these wee hours of the morning to talk about 'anything really'? One of these days 'Mione...I'll get you. Well, since someone woke me up, I might as well get dressed."
Pushing himself from the bed, Ron stretched as he yawned. I watched him scratch his head as he looked around for his clothes. I had to admit, talking to him always made me feel better. That wasn't to say that my weight-of-the-world feeling had been completely lifted, but talking to him had done a world of good. Now he was looking for his shoes. The faces he was making reminded me of first-year, when we had all barely known each other or ourselves. Thinking back, I missed the simplicity of being eleven. Going from child to emotional mess in five years was not an easy transition to make. If I really thought about it though, it was truly funny how I'd thought about how hard it was being eleven when I was eleven, and now here I was missing it. God, Ron had grown so much since I'd met him. Sometimes, his actions made me wonder whether he had only grown physically and not actually matured at all. But deep down I knew he had. Speaking of physical growth, Ron was getting pretty buff. Sometime between fourth-year and now he had done some serious quidditch training that had made him more that delicious. He caught me staring.
"Like what you see?" He chuckled. "Aren't you going to get dressed?"
I snapped out of my daze. "Oh yea!"
"Make it snappy!"
"Hush Ron!"
He laughed until I made it to the bathroom. I swept my hair back, and threw on some jeans and a t-shirt. We were getting ready to go see Harry. I had invited him to come stay with Ron and I at my house for the remainder of the break, but because he was still highly upset about Sirius, he decided to stay and wallow at Number twelve Grimmauld Place. As we were leaving I reminded Ron not to be so harsh on him this time. The last time we'd actually visited instead of owling this summer, Ron and Harry had gotten into this huge fight. Well, Ron got into a fight. Harry just kind of sat there. We both hated to see Harry like this. And we'd both had very different reactions to it…and gotten into a lot of fights ourselves about it. Maybe that's what I'd been upset about earlier. Anyway, we'd decided to get him out of that place to go school shopping.
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((Ron's POV))
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As soon we walked into Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, I knew I didn't want to be there anymore. All I could think about was turning tail and leaving. The longer I stayed in that place, the angrier I would get. The place looked as though a Norwegian Ridgeback had come flying through multiple times. It even felt dirty in here. I just couldn't understand how someone could hole-up and let their "hole" get as dirty as this one was. Harry didn't even really had to clean, he had Kreacher.
We found Harry staring at the fire place totally unawares about his surroundings. The room was completely filled with post from what could have been the beginning of the summer. Kreacher was there at Harry's feet condemning him to a terrible death.
"There is some one at the door, and Kreacher will not say who."
Harry glanced back and, seeing Hermione, got out of his chair.
"Hi 'Mione, I didn't hear you come in,"
As soon as he saw me he averted his eyes.
"Oh." He tilted his head in acknowledgement "Ron."
"Hello Harry. Nice to see that you haven't died."
"Ron, please" Hermione said.
"No 'Mione…He's right. I have been really stand-offish lately"
I snorted. "Stand-offish? Might that be a bit of an understatement?"
"RON!"
"Look," He looked down at his slippers "I really apologize for being so distant lately. There's no reason for me to have been. I just wanted to know if we could put that behind us. I've gotten better…Really I did."
I looked around the wreck of a parlor. Better was not the word he would use, but I decided to accept Harry's pathetic plea for friendship for Hermione's sake. I kept getting the feeling my and Harry's spats were making her upset. More than the fighting I mean. Not just upset, but more like depressed.
"I accept your apology. But you have GOT to clean this dump up."
Harry smiled. "Okay, but let's just have Kreacher do it instead."
I patted him on the back. "Great! Well, the whole reason we came was to take you school shopping. So grab your schedule, and your supply list and we'll get going.
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((Harry's POV))
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As we walked to the last stop of the day, I felt numb. Even though I had apologized to Ron, I felt like our friendship was forced now.
"Oh man you've got Snape twice in one day?" Ron scoffed " That's going to be dreadful"
"What?!" I asked.
"Yea , It says here Defense Against the Dark Arts-Snape, AND Potions-Snape. I am so glad that I didn't pass the O.W.L. for potions. I will still have to see him for Defense Against the Dark Arts, but that's only once a day."
"What am I going to do now? I have to see him constantly."
"It's probably not even gonna be that bad, you two are just making things out to seem much worse than they are"
"Easy for you to say ''Mione! You're practically a genius."
We walked into Flourish and Blott's to pick up the last of our items on the list. When I opened the door, I saw the most beautiful woman I had seen in a long time. She was standing in a corner near the register laughing and talking to someone. Everything about her was so bright and lively. The exact thing I had felt I was missing in my own life. She was about an five inches shorter than my six feet and had beautiful waist length hair that resembled a rippling black river, skin like porcelain, and the kind of face you would never think any average could have. Ron snapped me out of my thoughts as he announced he and Hermione were going to go over to the Charms section of the store. I waved them off and headed slowly for whatever section was nearest that woman. I tried not to make it obvious I just wanted to get closest to her. When I finally reached the section I picked up the first book I saw and pretended to read.
'He was one of the greatest men alive, dashing, daring , and handsome…'
Oh god. What was I reading? I flipped the book over onto it's cover.
The Fall Of Gilderoy Lockhart: A Biography
I closed the book and moved to a different section. Potions. Not great, but better than a slew of books about washed out losers. I watched her over the top of Potion Making for Dummies , and strained to hear.
"Well it has been quite a summer' she said 'Lots of goings on you know"
The lady she was with chuckled and added, "That I do, Samantha, That I do."
"Oh I am so excited to have it end though! I will be at Hogwarts all year this year"
"Really? Why haven't I heard about thi-"
Before I could hear the rest of the conversation Ron came to tell me we needed to go. So I reluctantly pulled away. By the time I grabbed the books I needed, she was already away from the register and presumably long gone from the store. I paid for my books and we left the store.
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((3DaysLater))
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The train pulled to a stop in front of Hogwarts. I was so glad to be back. For two reasons. One being that Hogwarts was my home; and the other was that I desperately wanted to see Samantha again. As Ron, Hermione and I walked up to the castle, I decided that I'd look around for her during the Sorting. We all chatted until we finally reached the castle and were seated. Dumbledore stood to make his beginning of the year announcement as usual, but I wasn't paying any attention I was looking for Samantha.
"Before we start the sorting I just wanted to announce the arrival of the new potions teacher,"
This got the entire Great Hall's attention, including mine. There was widespread chatter amongst the students.
"Isn't Snape doing both potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Ron asked.
All I could do was shrug my shoulders.
"Now I know you're all wondering why there is a new teacher if Professor Snape here is doing both Defense against the Dark Arts and Potions," More chatter. I scanned the professors table as Dumbledore spoke.
"Well…"
I looked past a dark-haired woman and then did a double-take. There! There was Samantha!
"…There is a new Snape in town who also shares the former potions teacher's love for potion-making."
Then I realized who she was sitting next to. Snape. It couldn't be. They were probably just brother and sister. I shrugged it off.
"So without further ado, may I introduce to you Mrs. Samantha Severus Snape, your new Potions teacher!"
Samantha?
"Hello everyone!" Samantha stood and smiled as she spoke "it will be my pleasure to teach all of you this year."
Hello everyone! I hope you guys liked the first chapter! If you did, you should review! Even if you didn't, you should review! Just review! And don't be lazy. It's not like your even doing anything right? Just sitting there and looking at this screen until you slowly go blind. So exercise those fingers and get to reviewing.