Disclaimer: Me? Owning anything to do with Harry Potter? You lot are off your rockers…….

A/N: I know that the bulk of this is about Peta and Severus, but there's a hell of a lot of Albus and Minerva (yay) so deal with it. And for the purposes of this story, Severus is about 34.

Embrace…enjoy…

Breanna Senese: I know, I can't wait to write the later chapters where they really get going, but I won't give away too much otherwise it will spoil the story, and besides, I haven't quite decided what's going to happen...

TabbyMin: Be patient! There's going to be a lot more ignorance on both of their parts before we get anything juicy, but rest assured, it will come in due time. Poppy, Rolanda and Peta need a bit of fun first!

Quill of Minerva: I wanted them to just come out with it, and I've always imagined Madam Hooch being really blunt about it. She and Poppy have been trying to work them out for ages and Rolanda is getting a tad annoyed now, because she can't see any action between them. We all know what she's like!

Chapter 3: I Get A Kick Out Of You/Anything Goes

I get no kick from champagne.
Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all;
So, tell me why should it be true
That I get a kick out of you?

Some get a kick from cocaine.
I'm sure that if I took even one sniff
That would bore me terrifically too
Yet I get a kick out of you.

I get a kick every time I see
You standing there before me.
I get a kick though it's clear to me
You obviously don't adore me.

I get no kick in a plane,
Flying too high with some guy in the sky
Is my idea of nothing to do,
Yet I get a kick out of you.

The world has gone mad today
And good's bad today,
And black's white today,
And day's night today,
When most guys today
That women prize today
Are just silly gigolos
And though I'm not a great romancer
I know that I'm bound to answer
When you propose,
Anything goes...
Anything goes!

(Anything Goes)

It had taken Peta longer to straighten out her rooms than she had first thought. After Minerva had left her at the door, having told her the password, Peta had spent ages exploring her rooms. They consisted of a living area, which she entered as soon as she came through the door, a bedroom, complete with fireplace and four poster bed, a bathroom with a nice large bath and separate shower, and a small study that doubled up as a library. All of the rooms were decorated in a deep purple, except the bathroom, which was lilac. Although the walls were dark, the windows in all of the rooms let in lots of light. Peta's feet sunk into the carpet as she took her shoes off. She had finished unpacking and had changed from her travelling robes into some pale blue robes. Surveying the room around her, Peta decided that she was going to be very happy here. The only question was, what was she going to do now? Curling up and the sofa with a good book sounded like a very good idea, but Peta had too much energy in her. Her eye caught the sun shining in at the window; a complete contrast from the earlier weather. Grabbing her summer cloak off the back of the door, Peta made her way through the halls, with the intention of having a wander about the grounds and perhaps taking a look at the Quidditch pitch, being an avid fan herself. With her gaze constantly out of a window, she barely noticed the man walking towards her...
Severus Snape was not pleased. Not only had he been denied the Defence post again (although he had seen that coming), and by a woman no less, a woman who had only had one years experience (and so in his eye knew nothing about teaching), he had to put up with another year of Potter, Granger and Weasley. If that was not bad enough, hardly any Slytherins had made it into his NEWT level class last year, although Malfoy had tried all of last year to get back into it, but to his dismay, he was stuck with Transfiguration. To make matters worse, Minerva found this a very fitting time to gloat at how well her Gryffindors had done in their exams. There was one upside: the Dream Team would be leaving at the end of the year; definitely a time for celebration. At this point in time, he was marching towards Minerva's office, having found problems with the Slytherin Quidditch timetable. This was a yearly occurrence and no doubt Minerva was expecting it, so there was no need to keep her waiting. With his nose buried in the timetable, he didn't notice the witch walking towards him…
Peta wasn't sure what quite happened, but all of sudden she was lying on the floor looking up at the ceiling.

"Why don't you watch where you're going?"

Peta sat up at this comment, her eyes searching for the source of the voice. Standing beside her was a man completely dressed in black. He didn't even offer a hand to help Peta up, and this annoyed her greatly; obviously this was the potions teacher.

"You could have at least helped me up," Peta replied, as she stood up and brushed her robes down.

"If you had watched where you were going you wouldn't have ended up on the floor in the first place."

Peta eyed him coolly, deciding that now was as good as ever to introduce herself.

"You must be Professor Snape. I'm Peta Staytaugn, the new Defence teacher," she said, not bothering to hold out her hand, as she felt he wouldn't take it, judging by the sneer on his face. "And what do you mean? Minding where I'm going? If you had been paying attention as well, you wouldn't have knocked me over. Without as much as a sorry I might add."

"I don't see you apologising any time soon."

"I would have, but your attitude towards me stopped me."

Severus' eyes narrowed, but before he could think of a come back, the witch had turned on her heels and resumed her walk down the corridor. Severus watched her retreating back, enraged at her disrespect and obvious dislike. She didn't even know him. He continued to watch as she came to the end of the corridor, turning to shoot one last glare at him, before disappearing from his sight. Having been aggravated, Severus guessed that Minerva was in for quite a battle, and with that last thought, he continued on his was to her office.

Peta's hands were still clenched and her face like thunder as she stepped out into the sunlight. How dare he talk to her like that! She could tell he was jealous of her position as the Defence professor, it was written all over his face and she could see it in his eyes. But the fact that he was just plain rude to her, with no respect at all, well, it unnerved her.

"Let me guess, you've met our dear potions master." Peta blinked a few times before registering that someone was speaking to her. That someone was Rolanda, who had just returned from the broom shed to make sure that the school brooms were in good condition, if not a little temperamental.

Peta smiled, completely changing how she looked, "How did you guess?"

"Because your hands were clenched and you looked like you needed to slap someone."

"You're right, I did, but I left before I could harm him."

The flying mistress giggled mischievously. "The best way to deal with Severus is to act like nothing happened. Be really polite to him, don't apologise, because then he would be smug, and just be really cheerful because that really gets his goat." Rolanda winked at Peta and told her she would see her at dinner, before heading into the castle. Peta continued to walk across the lawns towards the Quidditch pitch, but not before turning towards the castle, and although she wasn't one to cause problems, declared, "Well then Professor Snape, let the games begin."

The Sorting Ceremony had finally finished, the Headmaster had given the usual start of year speech, and the students were now tucking into their dinner as though they hadn't eaten for a year. Peta, to her dismay, had been stuck sitting next to Severus, who, although she didn't like him, rudely kept his back turned to her throughout the whole evening. On the upside, Rolanda was sitting on her other side, making comments about the Potions Master, causing Peta to giggle, sometimes uncontrollably. Minerva raised her eyebrows in amusement as the Defence teacher almost choked herself.

"Are you okay Professor Staytaugn?"

"Oh yes Professor, something went down the wrong way, that's all," Peta replied between coughs. Not wanting to look at Severus, and unable to look at Rolanda for fear of laughing again, Peta used this time to look around at the pupils. It was easy to spot who the new first years were; they were the ones who looked as though they might explode with all the sights in the Great Hall. 'Just wait until they see the rest off the castle,' thought Peta. She looked at the Head Boy and Head Girl, having met them earlier. Hermione Granger was a very confident girl, and from what Minerva had told her, very bright. Knowing that the girl was in her class, Peta looked forward to teaching her, especially since the 7th year NEWT class was her first class the next morning. Ernie Macmillan, at the Hufflepuff table looked as though he was enjoying his role immensely, as the students began to leave the hall. It was obvious as to who Harry Potter was, and the boy beside him was obviously a Weasley. Although Peta had never met the family, she had taught at a school where people did know them, and they always commented on the vivid colour of her hair. So the girl standing not far away from him must be his sister. Her eyes drifted towards the Slytherin table, where the number of pupils had depleted dramatically. Only three first years had been sorted into the house this year. Unsurprisingly, there were no Slytherins in her NEWT class either. Peta felt the potions master's eyes on her.

"Yes Professor?"

"Finally seen which house has the real talent?"

"Definitely not Severus. I was just a little disappointed in the lack of Slytherins. It doesn't promote much school unity. I guess the missing pupils priorities lie elsewhere." And with that, Peta promptly bid good evening to the other professors and left the table.

A/N: hey ppl...I've finally finished the chapter, although I was at home over the weekend, and my laptop wasn't with me, so i had to wait till today to finish and post it. Chapter 4 may take a little bit longer to post, as I haven't started to write it yet, whereas this chapter was already underway when I posted chapter 2. I hope you're all enjoying it and I really appreciate all your reviews.