-1Immediately following the dismissal of the Welcoming Feast, Audrey made her way up to her room as quickly as possible. Three minutes and an almost-broken femur later, she was safe, with a warm fire awaiting her. She collapsed onto her bed, both tired and slightly confused.

Thoughts began to floor her mind as she listened to the rain beginning to beat steadily against the glass of a stained glass window. Closing her eyes, she witnessed many unwelcoming thoughts starting to invade her mind.

Why is Severus teaching here? I thought this would be the least likely of his career choices. It's not like the salary is the best there is, though it is better than most. But he's been here for almost ten years? That means he began teaching after the summer of my graduation. Why am I still dwelling on this?

Audrey rolled over, staring out of a stain glass window. The rain was beginning to get even more violent; the cracking and rumbling of the thunder and lightening was beginning to get a bit eerie.

Oh, I'll just get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day, after all…

She slipped on a pair of warm, pajama bottoms and a gray wife beater. Yawning, Audrey closed her eyes, trying to block unpleasant thoughts from entering her mind. A few minutes later, she had fallen asleep, but not without the trace of tears coming from her eyes.

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Audrey awoke the next morning, more refreshed than usual. She took a hot shower in her bathroom and later slipped on a midnight blue gown. As she pulled her robe on her robe over her gown, she had noticed that a House Elf had already come in and made the bed, most likely during her shower.

Seeing as she didn't have to prepare for a morning class, Audrey decided to make her way down to breakfast in the Great Hall. Feeling a bit nervous than usual, she walked at a bit of a slower pace, so that maybe she wouldn't have to spend so much time at breakfast. When she entered the Great Hall, she entered from the front entrance, so that maybe should could catch a glimpse of her future students.

As she walked in between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff table, a young Gryffindor approached her. She had rather bushy hair and a rather interesting air about her.

"Hello, Professor Burke! I just wanted to say that I cannot wait until my first Ancient Runes class, I'm in your first class!"

Audrey felt a bit uneasy. "Oh, um, that's great!"

"I'm Hermione Granger by the way," the girl said, giving Audrey a big smile.

"Oh, come off it, Hermione, no one wants to see you sucking up to the new professor!" a red-headed boy who was sitting at the Gryffindor table said. Across from him was another boy, but he had messy black hair and was stirring his spoon around in his bowl of porridge. He seemed to be a bit preoccupied.

"Oh, Ron, you're such a bother!" Hermione turned back to Audrey.

"Well then, I guess I'll see you soon, Miss Granger," Audrey said, trying to drag herself away from the enthusiastic girl.

Hoping not to be run over once more by an overly-excited student, Audrey quickened her pace. She rapidly scanned the staff table. To her luck, she did not see Severus Snape. Seating herself in the seat beside Professor Sinistra, the forty-something Astronomy teacher, she took a bite of toast that was topped with marmalade. Washing it down with a cup of hot cider, she heard the bell ring.

The students immediately made their way out of the Great Hall, as did the professors. She made her way up to her classroom. When she had reached it, she found (not much to her surprise) that Hermione was the first one at the door. A few students were behind her, mostly thoughts of other houses. A boy with pale blonde hair was whispering something at a tall black boy, both in Slytherin, pointing at Hermione. They both sniggered.

Audrey dismissed this and opened the door to the classroom, motioning for the students to enter. She walked to the front of the room and grabbed a piece of chalk that sat on the tray. On the board, she wrote, Professor Audrey Burke. She then turned toward the class. On her desk was a piece of parchment, with the names of all the students who were supposed to be in that class. She began to call roll.

"Hannah Abbot?" A blonde girl with pigtails raised her hand. She seemed rather shy.

"Susan Bones?" She had recognized her surname, because her aunt worked with the Ministry. Susan was a round-faced girl with dark brown hair that was worn in a plait. Susan raised her hand. She and Abbott were both in Hufflepuff.

A few names later, she had reached, "Hermione Granger?" In the front row sat the very same bushy-haired girl, grinning. Instead of just raising her hand like everyone else, she said, "Present!"

Soon, she had reached, "Draco Malfoy?" and the pale blonde boy nodded at her. He seemed to her to be rather arrogant.

A Slytherin. Of course.

She had also learned that the black boy who he had been talking to was Blaise Zabini. She wanted to keep an eye on them, because to her, they seemed like the type to cause a bit of trouble. She had also noticed that Theodore Nott and Daphne Greengrass seemed a bit more than comfortable in each other's presence. She wanted to keep an eye on those two also.

"Hello, my name is Professor Burke. Of course, you might already know that…anyways, it seems that Professor Babbling had to retire due to personal reasons. You all being third years is a positive aspect, of course, meaning we can all start on a clean slate. Now," Audrey said, drawing out her wand, "first, I want you all to start up on this warm-up. You may use your copy of Ancient Runes Made Easy, of course, to translate these ancient Norse runes into old proverbs," she then flicked her want and on the board had appeared a couple of lines in ancient Norse symbols, not unlike those she had previously found on her key.

The sound that followed was the scribbling of quill tips against parchment and the turning of pages. Audrey had noticed that Hermione didn't even need to use her textbook. After almost ten minutes, everyone had finished and Audrey had revealed the translation onto the board. The runes had automatically translated into English.

He that learns naught will never know how one

is the fool of another, for if one be rich another is

poor and for that should bear no blame.

The rest of the class had gone rather smoothly, despite the occasionally scoffing from Zabini and Malfoy. She had even threatened detention if they were to continue their rude behavior. By the time lunchtime had arrived, Audrey had finished up teaching her second class, a group of Fifth Years.

When Audrey was walking to lunch, she saw that Lupin was a bit ahead of her in the corridor. She sped up to catch up with him. He greeted her with his usual weary smile. "So how was your first two classes?" he asked.

"Oh, they were pretty great. What about yours?"

"Fine, fine. We were discussing boggarts in the last class."

When they had reached the first floor, they saw Severus was coming out of the dungeons entrance and walking towards the Great Hall. Much to Audrey's disdain, Remus had called out to him. "Hello there, Severus! How was your first day back?"

Severus had replied with no words, but instead of a scowl. He continued on his way to the Great Hall, as did Remus and Audrey. Sitting together on the opposite side of the table to where Severus was, Remus said, "It's strange, you know? I never pictured him taking up work here."

Audrey looked over at Severus, who was in conversation with McGonagall.

"Yeah…yeah, me neither."

A/N - Is it me, or is this going a bit slow? I think this chapter was a bit of a time-passer. I mean, I want to get Severus and Audrey talking to each other, but every time I do, I chicken out for some odd reason. In your reviews, leave me some suggestions, because I could very much use some!