The Serpent and the Star
Severus Snape rolled his eyes. He was currently weathering a tirade from Madame Pomfrey, or Poppy as she had now demanded she call him, about the state of his health. "Really Severus (she had taken to calling him his first name, as had many of his new coworkers), you should care more about the state of your health. I am going to have to fill you up with Anti-Cruciatus potion just to get your body back to the state it should be in. And really, has working for You-Know-Who affected your ability to eat as well? You're at least 20 pounds under the weight of a healthy 24 year old man." The rest of the rant was pushed to the back of his mind, though his subconscious was paying attention and listing all the potions he'd have to take on a regular basis to get the tiniest bit healthier. While he was pondering whether he should be taking the Nerve Healing potion, as he was already taking the Anti-Cruciatus potion, he felt eyes boring into the back of his potion-greasy head.
A woman was leaning against the far wall, staring at him with a puzzled look in her chocolate-brown eyes. It was strange, being stared at, not with suspicion or disdain, but with curiosity. When she saw he had noticed her, she did not drop her gaze as he expected. Brown eyes met black, and for a moment, they held each other's gaze. Then she smirked at him (SMIRKED! At HIM!) and turned away to speak to Filius Flitwick. Flitwick was shooting curious looks at him, but She (As he did not yet know her name) merely made a dismissive gesture as if she didn't really care about it. By now Severus was grinding his teeth. Nobody had ever gotten an advantage over him in snark!
Albus Dumbledore watched the entire procession with amusement. He knew there was nothing between Sinistra and Snape but a small spark of rivalry… But if he fed that spark, and watched it grow… maybe fan it once in a while… it would grow into a blazing inferno. Which way the blaze would wave, he didn't know, but one thing was for sure. It would be an interesting year!
Severus came out of his trance. He realized he had been staring at Her for the entire time, and looked around for Dumbledore. If he was seen by the meddling old fool, he would probably think Snape had… dare he think it….feelings for Her. Scanning the small group, he saw the manipulative coot in the corner, observing his and Her 'conversation'. And he was twinkling at him! That was never good.