He stopped in front of the entrance to the Headmasters office.
"Lemon Drop." he said. The gargoyles jumped aside. When he reached the door he knocked.
"Enter." he heard Dumbledore say from the other side. He opened the door and walked inside, stopping as he reached Dumbledore's desk. Not noticing the woman sitting in the arm chair behind him.
"You wished to see me, sir?" Snape asked, with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Yes, Severus. I would like to introduce you to Hogwarts new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." he said, raising a hand to point to the chair on Snape's left. He already hated whoever it was. He deserved that job. Stupid git, he thought. He turned around.
"I would like you to meet Ms. Avalon Philips." Dumbledore said. Snape looked at her for a moment before realizing who it was.
"You." he whispered.
Flashback
He was nervous. It was his first day at Hogwarts. He had been waiting for this day ever since he got his letter, anxious to get away from home. Not that here was much better. He had already been given a nickname by James Potter: Snivellus. He sat in his train compartment alone looking out the window at the passing scenery, until someone opened the door. It was a girl. Also a first year.
"Do you mind if I sit with you? Everywhere else is full." she asked.
"Uh, sure, go ahead." he answered. After she had gotten all her luggage in place she sat down and looked at Severus, who was now reading a book. She stuck out her hand.
"Hi. I'm Avalon. Avalon Philips."
"Avalon. Hm, interesting name. I'm Snape. Severus Snape." he said shaking her hand. He mentally beat himself up for making a comment on this girls name.
"Very nice to meet you Severus, and thank you." she smiled. She had perfectly straight teeth, he noticed.
"Whatever." he said and went back to his book. She just smiled at him and pulled out a book of her own. They rode in silence until the food trolley went by.
"No thanks." Severus said half-heartedly.
"Hey, you can pick anything you want. My treat." she said.
"I don't want anything. Thanks anyway." he said forcefully. Though he really was hungry, he would never accept charity.
"Fine. Um..." she picked out a trunk load of candy and thanked the witch. Severus stared at her in awe.
"Here." she said handing him a chocolate frog. He set his book down, which he hadn't really been reading for the past hour, and resentfully took the candy.
"What is this?" he asked her.
"It's a chocolate frog. Oh, be careful!" Severus opened it and the frog jumped out the window.
"Oops." he said quietly. She laughed.
"Its okay. Here have mine and be careful this time." she handed him another chocolate frog. He got it into his mouth this time. She smiled again. Severus found that he enjoyed watching her smile. She was very beautiful, but he would never say so out loud. She opened the box of Bertie Botts.
"What are those?" Severus asked curiously.
"These are Bertie Botts every flavor beans. Here, hold out your hand." He cautiously put his hand out in front of her. She took a handful of beans out of the box and carefully tipped them into his hand. Severus looked at her and she gave his a nod of reassurance. He chose a spotted one.
"Wait!", Avalon said as he was bringing the candy up to his mouth. He froze.
"What!?" he asked annoyed.
"Don't eat that one." she said.
"Why not?" he asked eyeing it suspiciously.
"Because those spotted ones," she pointed at the bean, "are vomit flavored." He looked at her in disbelief.
"Well, they are called every flavor beans." she smiled weakly. Snape tossed the bean out the window.
"Is this one okay?" he asked picking up a red one.
"Yeah, I think that's cherry." she said giggling. They spent a good while eating Bertie Botts. Severus pitched more vomit flavored beans, while Avalon laughed at his sarcastic remarks. Once she even said "Your so funny Severus.". He had never really liked how his name sounded until she said it. Another thing that he liked about her was her hair. It was waist-length, dark brown, and wavy. She was wearing it in a braid with a flower decorating the bottom of it. He thought about how it would look if she wore it down. His pleasant train ride soon became a train wreck when none other than James Potter entered their compartment. He waved at Snape then looked to Avalon.
"Who do we have here?" James said taking her hand.
"Oh, I'm Avalon." she said pulling her hand back.
"Pleased to meet you Avalon. I'm James Potter. Now, what's a pretty girl like you doing hanging out with this greasy git?" he asked. Snape was trying very hard to refrain from hitting Potter.
"Excuse me?" she said, "How dare you! I'll hang out with who ever I want!" Severus gaped at her. She stood up for him. Well, sort of.
"Ah, got yourself a girlfriend here to stand up for you, do you Snivellus?" James said trying to provoke him.
"She's not my girlfriend." Severus said through clenched teeth. James was about to talk when someone called him name.
"I'm being summoned." he said smiling. "Nice meeting you Avalon. See you 'round, Snivellus." and he left, closing the door behind him.
Severus sat down, not remembering ever standing up. He went back to his book, not taking in a word of it.
"I'm sorry." Avalon whispered after a long awkward silence. Severus looked up from his book, still angry that Potter had embarrassed him in front of Avalon.
"For what?" he said, a little harsher than he had meant to.
"For embarrassing you." she said still whispering, "I didn't mean to, I was just..."
"Just forget it." he cut her off. "Potters an ass." he said, more to himself than her. A prefect opened the door.
"You lot better change into your robes, we'll be arriving soon." Severus nodded, no longer excited about going to school.
When they arrived at Hogsmeade station. Avalon left without waiting for Severus.
"First years this way please." someone called over the students. Severus followed the other students toward the boats that would be taking them over to the castle. He looked around for Avalon and found her sitting in a boat alone, looking down into the water. Making circles in the lake with her finger. Her long braid was dangerously close to the water. He started to walk over to her, but two girls made it to her before him.
"Damn it." he swore under his breath. He looked around and sat in a boat that already had two boys in it. They didn't seem to notice him, they were to deep in conversation about something called Quidditch.
When they reached the castle, Severus tried to find Avalon and when he did, she was still talking to the girls from the boat. They entered the Great hall to be sorted. P came before S alphabetically, so he would be able to see which house she would be sorted into.
"Philips, Avalon." said the teacher holding the hat. Avalon made her way gracefully up to the stool and sat down. The hat was placed on her head. It thought for a minute considering placing her Ravenclaw, then yelled out,
"GRYFFINDOR!". Everyone at the Gryffindor table clapped. She smiled and joined them. Some time later, his own name was called.
"Snape, Severus." Potter and some of his friends laughed. He made his way up to the front and sat down. He knew he wouldn't be in Gryffindor.
"SLYTHERIN!" The Slytherin table clapped as he sat down. He looked over at the Gryffindor table. She was talking and laughing with some Gryffindor boy. With the tip of a hat, their friendship had ended.
End Flashback
"Yes, its me Severus." she said.
"Oh, you two have met?" Dumbledore asked. Snape looked at him. He was smiling for he knew perfectly well that Snape and Avalon had gone to school together. He had been their headmaster.
"Yes, well. Is that all you wanted, headmaster?" Snape asked, eager to get away.
"Yes, that's all Severus. You may go." Dumbledore answered.
"Thank you, sir." He turned to leave. When he got back to his office he poured himself a glass of brandy and fell into an armchair in front of the fire. He took a swig of his drink. With a sigh he stood up and took a piece of parchment off the mantle piece, then fell back into his chair. He read the parchment like he had so many times before:
Its okay to be angry and never let go
It only gets harder the more that you know
When you get lonely and no ones around
You know that I'll catch you when you're falling down
We came together but you left alone
And I know how it feels to walk out on your own
Maybe someday I will see you again
And you'll look me in my eyes and call me your friend
It wasn't signed but he had always thought it was her who sent it to him. He had received the owl on the very last day of school, 7th year. It was after dinner. He was sitting in the Slytherin common room, reading, when a school owl flew in the window and delivered the letter. When he read it, it reminded him of her. Even though they had never talked again after the train ride, he had still thought about her often. Sometimes when they had classes together he would try to sit by her but couldn't. Even if he had sat by her, he knew Avalon wouldn't talk to him. She would never make fun of him like all the other Gryffindors did, yet she would never stick up for him either. Someone knocked on his door.
"Enter." he said and downed the rest of the glass. He threw the parchment back onto the mantle and stood up. He turned around and she was standing there. He blinked to make sure it wasn't the brandy causing him to be delusional.
"Yes, I'm really here, Severus." she said.
"Oh goody." he replied sarcastically, and went to his desk to finish correcting papers. She stood there for a moment then sat down in the chair in front of his desk.
"What do you want?" he asked, looking up from his papers to meet her gaze. She looked exactly like her remembered her. Except her once waist-length hair was now even longer. Falling at her calves. She smiled at him.
"I came to see you." she said finally. "And, I see you did receive my letter." she pointed to the mantle piece.
"So it was you." he said.
"Yes, it was me." she said. He looked down at his papers again.
"Yes," she paused, apparently waiting for him to reply, "Well, it's getting late. I should probably go. It looks like you have a lot of work to do anyway." she got up and let herself out. Her pony tail trailing behind her. I drove her away again, he thought. He sighed and went to bed.
A/N: Avalon borrowed the lyrics in her note from Yellowcard.