A Potion Master's Perspective- 2
They had arrived months ago.
He had told Albus in no uncertain terms that this event was not, by a far cry, a good idea. Not at all.
Yet the meddling old coot had coaxed (confounded, Severus insisted) the ministry into rejuvenating that blasted 'competition'. Albus had said that he had managed to make that word sound like a curse. The resounding slam of the door had reached the dungeons.
Severus had stalked the hallways, deducting points and snarling at anyone who dared to even appear in his line of sight. By the time he had calmed down, almost a hundred points had been lost by all the houses.
All houses but Slytherin.
He mumbled out the words that would return the points to the houses, under his breath, half hoping that the castle would ignore him. He was a bastard, but he was not an irrational bastard, for the most part. But when it came to Gryffindor, he shook his head. Gryffindors deserved to lose points for being such dimwitted creatures.
He sighed and thought of the day when he would happily be able to call Malfoy the sniveling little ferret he really was. That always made him feel better.
He smirked at the memory of Moody "teaching" Malfoy a lesson. Malfoy did make a nice little ferret. Had Minerva not intervened, Hogwarts would have been witness to a very rare sight, of one Severus Snape laughing. Apart from the shocked faces and fainting spells, he would have probably compromised his cover. He still had former Death Eaters' children around.
There were warnings, signs everywhere. Albus had seen them, and so had the centaurs. Severus had felt them. The Dark Mark had started to prickle, after fourteen blessed years of relative peace, far too often to write it off as co-incidences.
Severus did not believe in co-incidences.
He rolled back his left sleeve and looked at his Mark. His one mistake.
He could not stop the disgust that overwhelmed him. Severus cast his teaching robes aside and slumped heavily into his favorite armchair in front of the hearth. The weather had grown cooler off late, and contrary to popular belief, Severus did prefer the sun. He just was not at liberty to spend his spare time basking like a cat in the sunshine. Severus rarely had any spare time.
He smiled, mentally ticking off all the names that the students had conjured for him: Greasy Git, Giant Bat, and Vampire (?), among the more popular ones. A cup of tea appeared at his side, and he picked it up.
He loved magic.
The elves made sure that he had his tea; it was as if they sensed his needs. He had been quite amused at the appearance of a mug of hot chocolate, marshmallows and all, one evening after a particularly nasty day. "If I didn't know better, I'd be led to think that those infernal elves cared for me," he said to no one in particular.
House elves were always falling over with the need to please, no matter how terrified they were of a person they served. It was an anomaly actually.
The room filled with bitter laughter. "No one cares for you, Severus," he assured himself. No one but Albus and Minerva. The rest of the staff were friendly enough, though he never did any more than be courteous and civil to them. He thought they were too terrified to complain at his assumed callousness. Only the Headmaster and Minerva took the trouble to bear and breakdown his prickly exterior. All carefully crafted walls.
"Are you keeping people out, or yourself in?" he was asked one day, a year into his teaching at Hogwarts, by a very annoyed/amused Transfiguration teacher. Severus had been momentarily at a loss for words, and a small smile had bloomed on her face. She actually had the gall to chuckle when Severus had stalked out of the Great Hall, muttering about "insufferable Gryffindors."
Minerva and Severus had shared an evening of chess, once a week, ever since. Also contrary to popular belief, Severus did have a life, however limited, outside of Potions and terrorizing students. Sure he loved Potions, but even he had to admit a difference between loving and obsessing. That reminded him of his promise to replenish Lupin's Wolfsbane stocks.
Thoughts of the Werewolf brought back the memory of how Albus had been annoyed with Severus for "letting slip" Lupin's condition to the student population, though in the end, Albus did grudgingly agree that it had been somewhat necessary.
"I have not worked this hard to keep that idiotic brat alive, only to be turned werewolf Albus!" Severus had thundered, "have you lost your mind, you doddering old fool?"
Needless to say, Albus had been shocked into silence. Once he had realized he had just insulted the Headmaster, Severus' temper had deflated and he had tried to look contrite.
A very difficult task when one felt no remorse, whatsoever.
"I agree Severus," the Headmaster had spoken softly, while said person had found a piece of lint on his robes suddenly very interesting. After a moment, the Headmaster had continued into the silence, "You look like a schoolboy sorry for having been caught eating sugar quills in class, though I suspect no guilt for actually eating them." Severus had jerked his head up and scowled; only causing Albus to laugh.
"Lemon Drop?"
"Bah!" Severus brought himself to the present, hoisting himself out of the chair, to retreat to his bed chambers. "Tomorrow," he promised himself; he would talk to Albus. There were some very important things to be discussed.