Minds of Fury

Chapter 2: Cassie, the Fun Professor

"Albus," Severus hissed as they watched the last of the students file out of the Great Hall after the welcoming dinner that evening. "What were you thinking hiring a Defense teacher at so young an age?"

"She wasn't much younger than you when you started," Albus pointed out, a twinkle in his eyes.

"These are different times!" Albus raised an eyebrow at that.

"Really?"

"It doesn't matter! She's still barely twenty!"

"I'm nineteen if you want to be exact," a sly female voice said from behind them. Cascada slipped into view in front of both Albus and Severus as the last student disappeared. The other professors had long since gone. Cascada added on reluctantly, "And a half."

"See?" Albus said with a grin. "She's plenty old enough!"

"How do we even know she graduated? She bloody left this school before doing just that!" Severus hissed, scowling at Cascada. She sighed and rolled her eyes. She had a feeling that question might come up eventually.

"I went to America after leaving here, if you must know, and they let me in at The Salem Witches' Institute in Massachusetts," Cascada replied, considering the question had been directed at Albus. Severus scowled and narrowed his eyes at Cascada.

"I'll just let you two chat," Albus said as he began to inch his way away from the two people now having a glaring contest. "When you're done with your glaring contest, Severus, will you please lead Miss Delaney to her chambers?"

Both Severus and Cascada simultaneously turned their glares to Albus. Cascada would rather become the manager to Burger King than let Severus lead her to her chambers, which she didn't know where they were because she had gotten to Hogwarts later than planned. And Severus would rather fall into an endless pit than lead Cascada to her chambers.

"I will-" Severus sneered, but Albus cut him off with his own words.

"Excellent!" Albus interrupted before Severus could say the word not. With that, Albus turned on his heel and disappeared down one of the many hallways, humming a merry tune.

"Bloody old man," Cascada hissed under breath the exact words Severus was thinking. He turned down the opposite hall in the direction of the dungeons and Cascada had no choice but to follow.

"You have some nerve to come back here," Severus hissed after they had already gone down one flight of stairs.

"Well at least I actually have nerve," Cascada hissed in reply. "Unlike you, who's so spineless they have to mentally torcher weak, vulnerable students to get some sort of sick, twisted pleasure out of it!" Severus smirked as they walked down another flight of stairs.

"Are you referring to yourself or the countless other students you say I 'mentally torcher?'" Severus asked slyly and Cascada scowled. His smirk just got bigger at the fact that her smirk could rival his. "You really are a Slytherin…" Cascada looked confused now. Severus just shook his head and scowled. Cascada rolled her eyes and glared hard at his back, as he was now currently walking in front of her.

"Bloody git," Severus heard Cascada murmur under her breath. He smirked at how much she hated him. It had been the complete opposite last time he had seen her…

XOXOXOXO

She sat on her closed trunk on the empty platform, staring at where the train would be if it was there as it let them off to catch the carriages to Hogwarts. Her eyes were glazed over with a distant look as she looked at the empty tracks. Her mind was completely elsewhere, that she didn't even hear a pair of footsteps approach.

A cheerful old man sat down next to her on her trunk. She was slightly surprised to see him as she looked up into his penetrating blue eyes. They were so friendly and so sympathetic, but she didn't want that. She turned her gaze back to the train tracks and scowled. She didn't need anyone's sympathy.

"I'm not sure if you'll learn as much from staring at train tracks all day than as you would if you were in class right now," the old man asked. The girl thought about how she should be in Potions then. Fighting back tears at just the thought of and what done, she glared at the tracks.

"I'm not going back, Professor Dumbledore," she finally whispered and the old man nodded with understanding. He'd heard about what had happened, knowing nothing was worse than a broken heart. Not even the humiliation that came with it. He patted her back comfortingly, but it didn't seem to help her at all.

"Where are you going to go then, child?" Albus asked the student. She looked up at him, her bright blue eyes rimmed with unshed tears.

"I don't know. Maybe I'll go somewhere else, like Spain or America maybe. Finish my schooling there." She turned her gaze back to the tracks and stood up at the distant sound of a train whistle. Her eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't known the train would actually come.

"It comes if you truly want to leave," Albus said, understanding her surprise as he stood up.

"I want to come back," the girl promised herself. Albus smiled weakly, somehow knowing she would be back. "And if I do, I swear I'll show what it's like!" She spat the word 'him' like it was dirty. She would show him too. She'd just made a vow, though she hadn't really sealed that promise. She'd still do it. If she ever did come back…BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Cascada groaned as her alarm screamed at her. She sleepily rubbed her eyes and crawled out of her warm bed. The floor was ice cold and sent a shiver throughout her entire body. Figures Albus would give her dorms in the dungeons, because she had been a Slytherin at some point in time. It was like waking up in the student dorms all over again. Only this time, there were no curtains around her large queen-sized bed and there were no other people sharing the large cold bedroom with her.

"Bloody Christ," Cascada cursed as she wandered into the bathroom to get ready for school. She turned the water on and stripped her clothes off as she waited for the water to heat up. Stepping into the hot water, she closed her eyes and let it run down her body, relaxing her tense muscles. Her hair got heavy and slightly darker as it soaked up the water. A scuffle pulled Cascada out of the calm, relaxed mood she was in. Her eyes snapped open and she stuck her head out of the shower curtains, looking out the open bathroom door.

"Hello?" Cascada called into the empty chambers, but there was no one there. Looking at the bathroom floor, Cascada noticed her clothes were gone. She turned the hot water off and grabbed one of the dark, fluffy, black towels that hung on the rack and wrapped it around her body as she stepped out of the shower. The black coloring made her already pale skin look paler, though it looked quite nice. She slowly left the bedroom, ignoring the fact that she was still dripping wet. "Hello?" Cascada called again. "Is anyone there?"

She turned back to the bathroom and was about to go back in, thinking she had imagined it, when she heard more scuffling from downstairs. She flew to the living room of her chambers, where the noise had come from, but there was no one there. Carefully checking all her rooms, she decided that if someone been there, they had left. She heard the portrait leading into her chambers open and then close. They had just left obviously. Cascada made a run for the portrait and jumped out the opening. She looked down the hall, but there was no one in either direction running away from her portrait. She didn't realize the portrait had swung closed behind her or the fact that she was still in her towel. Not until Severus Snape swooped around the corner and strode in her direction, his robes billowing out behind him.

Her eyes widened slightly as she stared at him, unblinking. Her mouth opened and closed several times as, even from a distance, her eyes met his. The moment he stood just a few feet away from her was when she realized she was still in her towel. Severus smirked at her as she felt the blush creep up her neck and onto her face, quickly tearing her gaze away from his. Damn his penetrating look.

"Any particular reason why you're standing in the halls of the dungeon in a towel?" Severus asked, bringing attention to the fact that she was still standing there in just a towel. She felt her entire face flush as she stared down at her bare feet, her fingers playing with a few stray threads on the towel.

"Just out for a walk," Cascada lied as she looked back up at Severus's face. His smirk grew bigger. She knew she had never been a good liar. She always had the urge to fight back a smile and bit her bottom lip while she lied. And she knew Severus knew she was lying as he raised an eyebrow.

"In a towel?"

"Yes in a towel!" Cascada snapped, crossing her arms and glaring at him. Severus smirked and as Cascada stared him, she saw his gaze travel downwards. She blinked in surprise and blushed slightly, suddenly wishing there was a way to cover herself up more. Severus's gaze settled on her thighs (still with water slowly dripping down them), as the towel stopped just above mid-thigh, but they quickly shot right back up to her face as Cascada brought her hands down to cover her smallish thighs.

Severus didn't have anything else to say so he swept past Cascada, not failing to graze her bare shoulder with his clothes one. Cascada ground her teeth together as her eyes fluttered shut at the contact. A sudden urge to slap that man hit her like a rock, but she fought it. So instead she just hurried back into her dorms, finished her shower, got dressed, and practically ran to the Great Hall before she missed breakfast. She reminded herself to set her alarm clock for earlier.

Cascada pulled her black cloak over her shoulders as she entered the hall, but left it open to reveal her silk, dark green, halter-top style shirt that laced up in the back. Along with the shirt she wore another pair of hip-hugging, bell-bottom, jean pants that hugged her curves and had silver leaves going up the sides of the pants, stopping mid-calf. For shoes she wore black, leather, stiletto boots, whose top stopped just above the ankle. Cascada had had the urge to grab a matching pocket book before coming to the Hall, but decided against it.

A lot of the male students (and a few female students) smiled suggestively up at her as she passed. She just rolled her eyes and smiled politely in return. Only one man, a dark-haired one sitting at the staff table, caught the eye roll. He raised an eyebrow in thought as she took a seat at the end of the table, thankfully not next to him this time. It seemed she had seen this behavior towards her before…but he never remembered fancying her at Hogwarts. What had happened at her American school that had changed her so much?

"She's really changed, hasn't she, Severus?" Albus asked cheerfully. Severus scowled, once again stuck next to the Headmaster. He'd prefer to sit at the end of the table in the shadows than in the center of attention next to such a cheerful person.

"Who's changed?" Severus sneered, as if he didn't know what Albus was talking about. Albus grinned and raised an eyebrow.

"You really don't know, Severus?"

"I see no difference," Severus sneered his infamous line and then swept from the halls, glaring ice-cold daggers at anyone who dare look in his direction. Albus chuckled, a twinkle in his eye.

"I think it's hard for him to miss the difference, Albus," a just as cheerful voice from his other side whispered to him. Albus smiled at Minerva and nodded knowingly. "Harder for him than anyone else, anyways." Albus laughed at that, thinking at first it to be untrue. Then he got to thinking…

XOXOXOXO

The seventh year Gryffindors and Slytherins shared only two classes together, and one right after the other, DADA and Potions. DADA was their first class after a short break after lunch every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday (with Potions right after), and a double session as their last class on Friday after double Potions. And Cascada never had classes on Monday until lunch, so her first class of the new school year were the seventh year Slytherins and Gryffindors.

So that first Monday of classes, after their short break after lunch, they sat in the DADA classroom. Their professor, Cascada, was already five minutes later. The door almost flew open then as in she came, struggling with a large pile of textbooks. She almost dropped them as she set the pile down next to her desk and turned to face the class with a smile. The first thing she did was shrug off her cloak and toss it onto the back of her chair. Then she picked up a ruler and rapped at the chalkboard for silence. The entire class quieted down at once and stared at her curiously as she came to stand in front of the class, sitting down comfortingly on of her desk.

"Hello, everyone!" were Cascada's first words to the class. "Well that sounded like a really cheesy greeting…" There were a few laughs as Cascada smiled at them, her legs swinging gently back and forth. "Anyways, my name is Professor Delaney. Actually, screw that. 'Professor' and then a bloody last name is too professional for my liking. So you guys can just call me Cascada, or better yet Cassie. It's what my friends call me."

The was a murmur around the room at the fact that a teacher was letting them call her by her fist name. Then again, she was a young teacher and her warm smile was very trusting. The students, even the Slytherins, couldn't help smiling back. As it always does, Hermione's hand shot in the air as she had a question. Cascada, now dubbed Cassie, snorted and rolled her eyes.

"As long as we don't interrupt each other, I honestly don't think hands are necessary. I always felt like a five-year-old while raising my hand in the middle of class. That's rule number one right there, you guys. Well two, actually. Rule one: You call me by my first name and I'll be calling you by yours. Rule two: As long as you don't interrupt each other, unless there's a very good reason, no raising of the hands…and no waving of the hands."

Hermione's hand went down and she opened her mouth to speak instead, but Ron nudged her hard in the sides to get her to shut up so Cascada could finish her rule list. He liked her already. Greatest DADA professor he'd had yet. Then again, he didn't know she used to be a Slytherin either.

"Ok. What else do professors normally do?" Cascada asked then.

"Take attendance," Hermione volunteered and Cascada nodded in thought.

"Screw attendance. If you don't show up, that's your problem. But you won't be passing. And please, if you really don't feel like wearing that bloody uniform to class then don't. I always found my own clothes much more comfortable. And my theory is that we'll have a better learning experience if we're comfortable…bloody hell, I already sound like one of those old professor who's spent almost their whole life teaching!" A few more laughs and Cascada grinned. "So have no problem shirking your robes, just don't come to class naked or wearing close to nothing because I have no problem kicking you out. It's nice to be in charge for once. And please wear your uniforms outside of this class, because the other teachers might not like what I'm doing to change this school around. I just thought it'd be nice to actually do things the right way for once…or at least have your guys' say in things." Cascada jumped to her feet and waved her wand. The windows all opened and a light breeze filled the stuffy classroom. "Raise your hands this one time so I can get a count. How many of you guys might like to learn outside?"

A lot of Gryffindor hands slowly went up, and even a few Slytherin hands. Cascada nodded, mulling over the possibility to ask Albus if she could take her students outside. She doubted it would be a problem. She just liked the fact that there was so much more open free space outside, much more than this stuffy classroom.

"Ok, since I have no clue who any of you guys are I think we should go around the room saying something about ourselves. And if you choose to poke fun of someone else, since your two houses rival the most, please try not to make anyone cry." A lot of the students were surprised. Her words had actually just allowed them to challenge each other, as long as they didn't make someone else cry. "That's just low for anyone. Now, does anyone want to start?" No one volunteered. Not even Hermione. "Ok then. I will. Um…I'm Cassie. I went to Hogwarts till about the middle of my sixth year where I switched to a school in America."

"What house were you in?" Harry asked from his seat on Ron's other side. The seating had been aligned much like an auditorium with rows of benches with backs to them and then a long table-like desk in front of each row. So people could sit as close or as far as they wanted from each other, as there was plenty of seating.

"Slytherin," Cascada said matter-of-factly. Some smug smiles came to the faces of a few of the Slytherins and Harry caught Ron scowling out of the corner of his eye. And Ron had liked her so much…he had whispered to Harry just before Cascada had first spoken about how attractive she was, though she looked so simple at the same time. Harry had just smiled in reply. Cascada turned around then so her back was to the classroom. "I got a tattoo one summer before my third year, which was the year before you all started Hogwarts actually."

Cascada pulled up the back of her shirt slightly to reveal the fact that she really had gotten the Slytherin symbol tattooed on her lower back, which Cascada had later come to realize was considered in America "skanky." She had just laughed her head off when she first heard that, for everyone had always told her she was modest. Not anymore…then again, she wasn't skanky (sluttish) either.

"Cool tattoo," Draco commented aloud, though he really hadn't meant to. Cascada laughed and pushed her shirt back down, facing the class again. The students looked more comfortable than they had when she first called for attention using the ruler. God only knows why there was a ruler in a DADA classroom anyways. Cascada got the idea that they liked her rule of "don't bother raising your hand, just speak your mind" and she liked that they liked it. At least it meant they didn't hate her yet. Which was a good sign. First impressions were always the most important thing in someone's life.

"Anyways, I graduated in America, sort of lived with my dad back here in England in the past two years since I couldn't really find a job, and now here I am. Nineteen and already a professor. Quite an accomplishment I think," Cascada finished her little part and waited for someone to say something, anything, as she sat back down on her desk. One of the students in the back corner of the Gryffindor side of the room stood up then.

"I'm Neville Longbottom," he introduced himself boldly. Cascada smiled at him, urging him to go on. She had never minded letting the Gryffindors go first with their supposed 'boldness.' "I want to be an Auror after I graduate this summer, like my parents were." Cascada nodded and smiled as he sat down. She looked around, waiting for someone else. The next person was a Slytherin, surprisingly.

"I'm Blaise," the dark-skinned boy said. His poise was graceful, but the slant of his eyes sort of reminded Cascada of a close Asian friend of hers she had made in America. Her friend was a complete klutz most of the time though. "Blaise Zabini. I plan to enjoy my father's large fortune after school." Cascada couldn't help the laughter she let escape. A great belly-roaring laughter. She almost cried and her sides came close to hurting. She finally managed to pull herself together as Blaise glared at her. "As I was saying, I was hoping of doing something useful for the Ministry, maybe become the Minister some day."

"Ah, politics," Cascada said with a grin. She knew first-hand how rough that could get from watching the Presidential campaigns in muggle America and wizarding America, both similar. "Good luck." That was all she could say to him as he sat back down. She didn't want him to think twice about it by going into detail about the strains of being a politician.

Slowly, but surely, the other students stood up and introduced themselves. There was a little banter in the rivalry between the Gryffindors and Slytherins, but it was actually light for once thanks to the interesting comments Cascada always added to them. The introductions took up almost the entire class, and the rest of the class was Cascada poking fun at different people while she told them about America. Just before the bell rang, Cascada only had one last final thing to say.

"No homework. I never liked homework on the first day, so I don't think you guys should have any. Besides, what class do you guys have next?"

"Potions," rang a chorus of voices throughout the entire room on both the Gryffindor and Slytherin sides. Cascada gave them an eye-roll.

"Figures you'd have that dreadful class after such a fun class," Cascada said and a few laughs escaped people. "Knowing Snape will pile homework on, considering that always was his favorite hobby on the first day of school, I might consider never giving you guys homework. It's not like anyone actually learns stuff from it, am I right?" The class cheered and the bell rang, but strangely enough no one left their seats. They knew Cascada had more to say and they wanted to hear it. She was a rather cool teacher, but then again she was two (and a half) years older than them. "It's just repeating the lessons, which teachers normally do at the beginning of the next lesson. I think I'm actually going to think about this! I mean seriously think about this. I think I may have to talk to Professor Dumbledore about it, but I'm sure he won't argue against it. I promise you there be a party if he agrees!" The class roared with whistling and cheers at the aspect of having homework in DADA .

"Now you guys better get along before you're all late," Cascada said and the students reluctantly began to pack their books. "And make sure you don't start calling Snape Sev or something! He might take away points and give detentions. And I'd rather be the victim of twelve different things of Weasley Wizarding Wheezes at once than serve a detention with that old bat." A majority of the students, even the Slytherins, laughed as they filed out of the classroom. It was really quite nice hearing their potions master made fun of like that by one of their professors. Quite cool actually.

"See ya later, Cassie!" one of the students called back and a few others called back in agreement. Cascada smiled at the fact that the students were calling her by her first name, and a nickname no less! It sounded a whole lot better and a whole lot less formal than…than…

XOXOXOXO

Harry hated Severus Snape with a strong passion. He hated every little thing about that man, straight through his missing soul and right down to his evil core. And because he couldn't take his hatred out on the man himself, he took it out on his quill as he broke the tip off pressing it hard into the parchment on a desk in the Gryffindor common room. The reason for why he hated Snape so much? Because he had made them do a very difficult potion on their first day, had told Harry how wrong his was, had given him zero marks, and then had given the class extra homework because of this.

"Harry, why are you up so late?" Ginny asked as she crept down the stairs into the common room. Harry looked over at her and visibly relaxed, forcing a smile onto his face.

"I could ask you the same question," Harry replied slyly as he walked over to her. Ginny blushed slightly and looked down at her feet.

"I couldn't sleep," she said softly. "I was just going for a drink of water…" Harry leaned against the wall and watched as she played with her hands, refusing to meet his gaze.

"Just finishing Snape's bloody homework," Harry said angrily then. Ginny looked up at him with a sympathetic look.

"He always gives out a lot of homework the first day, as if he's trying to make up for not having any over the summer."

"Cassie said it was a hobby of his, to give out so much homework on the first day." Harry laughed as he said her words aloud.

"Cassie?" Ginny was confused, but there was a slightly jealous tone to her voice. She hadn't had DADA yet, so she wouldn't know. She probably thought Cassie was some girl Harry knew and talked to, possibly liked. And she knew she wasn't Cassie.

"That new professor. She just has her students call her Cassie, short for her first name Cascada," Harry explained and Ginny smiled.

"That's pretty cool of her."

"She's actually a really awesome teacher. Did you know she's only two years older than us? Same age as Fred and George."

"Really? Did she ever go to Hogwarts? I think they might have mentioned her, but I didn't hear them call out her name ever at the graduating ceremony that they never went to…"

"She didn't graduate here. She graduated in America. She'll probably explain it all to you when you have her class. Tomorrow, right?"

"Yep. With the Slytherins…" Ginny pulled a disgusted face and Harry just laughed. "You should get some sleep and just finish up Snape's homework after lunch tomorrow or something. It's late." Ginny moved towards the portrait door while Harry scowled at the mention of Snape. "I'm just gonna grab that glass of water and head back to bed." He nodded, even though her back was to him. "'Night, Harry!"

"Night, Gin," Harry said and turned to go up the stairs to the boys' dormitory. As he climbed the stairs he couldn't help thinking of all the things he wish he could do to Snape for revenge for all the nasty thing he'd done to Harry and his friends in the past six years. As he lay in his bed later that night, he decided that this year was going to be different. The year he'd really remember, a good once since Voldemort had plagued his other years at Hogwarts. This year was going to be a good year, his real year to shine as a real kid and not just as The-Boy-Who-Lived. Maybe, if he talked it over with Hermione and Ron, he would be able to get his revenge on Snape…just maybe…

End chapter two! I know I updated pretty quick, but I hope you guys still like my story! Anyways, I hope this was longer than the first chapter and sort of gave things a little twist. It's gonna get so much better as the story goes on. You know how sometimes the first chapters, while they're interesting, kind of suck. I'm trying my best! I have lots of plans for next chapter and it's going to be longer than this, if you think this is long at all. Anyways, review and tell me your thoughts!