Don't know if I put a disclaimer up so Harry Potter belongs to JKROWLING and Btvs belongs to JOSSWHEDON.
Hermione finished her essay with only seconds before the end of fifth period. She sighed, happily placing the paper on Snape's desk. It had taken Hermione a long time to decide what to write her paper about, but she thought she had chosen well and was satisfied with the end result, though she blushed deeply when placing it on the professor's desk, wondering what he would think of her paper.
She knew that grades didn't matter anymore, that none of this would count for the future, but old habits died hard and Hermione's almost desperate want of his approval was burning deeply inside her as she placed the paper on his desk, her looping, perfect writing catching his eye, but he said nothing, keeping his head down as if he were still correcting the paper in front of him, but he wasn't marking away at it.
Hermione smiled at the professor she had come to respect so much practically itching to grab her paper and grade it, probably to grade it down mercilessly, but she didn't' care. To her, it was humorous the way he acted. He really did enjoy teaching, not as much as a lot of teachers, but she knew that deep down teaching was really one of his passions.
As she sat down at the computer, the bell ringing almost simultaneously causing a flurry of students rushing for the door, Hermione began to wonder why Professor Snape had been given the English classes not a Chemistry Class or the like. She supposed it might have had to do with the dead English Teacher and alive Chemistry teacher, but surely Albus could have pulled some strings. She frowned, wondering what kind of teacher Snape would prove to be in this class.
She looked at him, his hard, cold brown eyes, scanning the paper, his elegant hand marking away at the paper freely. She had always admired his hands. It was just one of her weird little quirks. He moved them so easily and skillfully, applying ingredients. "Idle hands are the devil's workshop," Hermione thought, chuckling to herself at the old saying.
"Something funny Miss Granger?" Snape asked. She nodded, but didn't reply. "And what is that?" he pressed.
"Nothing you would care to hear, sir," Hermione said, smiling.
"I believe that since I asked you-" Snape didn't get a chance to finish.
"Rowena!" a happy voice said. Hermione stood to greet a brunette girl, Cordy, whom Snape had not met.
"Hello, Cordelia. This is Mr. Smith. He is the new English teacher, and this is Cordelia Chase," Hermione said.
Cordy turned her sparkling smile on Snape, and her smile widened. "Hermione said you were handsome, but she did not do you justice," Cordy said. Hermione turned bright red.
"I highly doubt Miss Granger or anyone would say that about me," Snape snapped.
"What are you talking about?" Cordy asked in shock. "Hermione are you telling me he doesn't know how sexy he looks right now?"
"W-well, sir, now that you're not drowning in your black robes you do look…" Hermione trailed off, her cheeks burning redder than they ever had before. Snape was staring at her shocked.
"There, I said it, it's out there, now I'm going to go to my desk to wallow in my complete and utter embarrassment," Hermione said, her voice slightly high-pitched. She went to her desk, followed by Cordy, who was grinning like a Cheshire Cat.
"Come on, the only thing that takes away from that man's appearance is his nose. You're too shy for your own good!" Cordy exclaimed.
"Are any of the slayer's friends in this class?" Hermione changed the subject, sharply.
"All of the 'slayerettes' are in this class," Cordy said. "There's Willow, Buffy, my own Xander, and well that's all but that's them!" Cordy said.
"Great, just who I wanted to see," Hermione muttered.
"I wonder why it is that Buffy dislikes you so much. She fights all the time, but she usually doesn't form grudges against those she argues with, not that she usually leave the people she fights with alive," Cordy said. "Also, I'd like to add, she's never that horrible to humans, not even Ethan Rayne!" (Thank you Tigerfanfry, Cordy is voicing your opinion here)
"Maybe she doesn't want to admit that she stabbed a human," Hermione shrugged. "She is concerned about something that I'm no allowed to discuss either."
"Maybe, oh well, she'll get over herself… probably," Cordy said.
"Thanks a lot," Hermione said, sarcastically.
"Of course. That's what I'm here for, to show the bright side of things. Just then three laughing people came in: Buffy, Willow and the brunette boy she had seen earlier… who could only be Xander.
Xander greeted Cordy with a sweet kiss, and sat beside her. Willow and Buffy sat in front of them, Buffy acknowledging Hermione with a sneer.
"Miss Chase, I do not want to see that again," Snape scolded. Cordy just smiled back. His ever-present scowl turned into a sneer and she blew him a kiss, startling the group.
"Cordy! What the hell was that?" Xander said.
"Just trying to see if I can get a rise out of Hermione. She might want to defend her man," Cordy said.
"He's not… oh for goodness sakes!" Hermione buried her face in her arms, laying them on the desk
"He's…. quite… don't you think?" Willow asked, faintly, looking at Cordy and Hermione. Hermione looked up sharply. Cordy nodded.
Hermione felt a flash of something that felt dangerously like jealousy. She cooled it quickly, by turning her eyes to her desk and gripping her pen hard between her fingers.
"So, Rowena, right?" Xander asked, his eyes on Cordy.
"Um, yes, it- ya," Hermione stammered.
"Xander, Willow, Cordy, and Buffy right?" Hermione asked, nodding to each of them.
"Good and the other girl with us this morning was the other slayer Faith!" Xander said, loudly.
"God, Xander announce it to the whole world why don't you?" Cordy said, in an annoyed tone.
"Anything for you," Xander said, with a lopsided grin. Cordy just rolled her eyes at him.
Hermione looked directly to Snape when the bell rang and he stood from his desk, looking around at the students menacingly, his scowl resting on Buffy a bit longer than anyone else, but not noticeably so. Hermione braced herself to hear his biting, cold speech, but he didn't use the same speech as in the last two classes. This one was obviously new. She stood, however as he began it and went to the front of the class to get the list for role-call.
Snape heard Hermione's girlish giggle and frowned at her. She was lost in her own thoughts, what startled him however was that her eyes were on him, not his face, but, oddly, his hand.
He was used to young girls laughing at his face, but what was so interesting about his hand?
"Something funny, Miss Granger?" he asked, smoothly, covering his confusion with practiced ease. She looked up at him quickly. He got annoyed when she nodded and said nothing.
"And what is that?" he continued, not known for his patience.
She replied with a smile, saying, "Nothing you would care to hear, sir."
Snape scoffed at the idiocy of the statement. He had asked her, hadn't he? "I believe that since I asked you-" Snape was cut off in mid-sentence by a loud young woman hurrying in. She was thin and had make-up covering her face. She wore tight-fitting clothes and had dark hair and eyes. She greeted Hermione warmly, using Hermione's adopted name, "Rowena!"
He scowled at Hermione's reaction. She had seemed slightly depressed the morning before then again throughout the afternoon, excluding her fainting spell, but she had a genuinely happy smile on her face, one he hadn't seen since he had last seen her with Harry and Ron, the three of them together again.
"Hello, Cordelia. This is Mr. Smith. He is the new English teacher, and this is Cordelia Chase," Hermione introduced them. Snape just inclined his head, stiffly, partially angry that Cordy was the one to make Hermione smile not him. He inwardly cringed at that thought. What was coming over him? Was he ill? Certainly he was suffering something for such a thought to come to him especially about Hermione Granger, the bane of the past six years and a half of his life! She was only unbearable for the past six, because she was partially bearable the first half of her first year, before Harry and Ron… actually, make that seven years.
Cordy's bright young vibrant smile fell on Snape and he felt like moving away from her, almost as if on impulse. She was so much the opposite of him, obviously in personality. He already knew that she was frivolous and young from just her appearance, but also now that she was carefree to a point and happier than he had ever felt.
"Hermione said you were handsome, but she did not do you justice," Cordy's light voice said and Snape thought he would have a heart attack right there. He managed to mask most of that initial reaction with much difficulty.
" I highly doubt Miss Granger or anyone would say that about me," he bit out thinking it a cruel joke.
"What are you talking about?" Cordy stunned at his words, though he had no idea why.. "Hermione are you telling me he doesn't know how sexy he looks right now?"
Snape was about to reprimand Cordy for her insolence but his eyes turned to Hermione instead, who seemed to be trying to form the correct words.
"W-well, sir, now that you're not drowning in your black robes you do look…" Hermione said in a faint, almost scared voice. Snape's eyes almost bugged out of his head. There was no way. She must be joking. No one had ever… It was impossible. He was at a loss for words. She had admitted to thinking him handsome. He wasn't handsome and he never had been. Did muggle clothes really change how he looked that much?
"There, I said it, it's out there, now I'm going to go to my desk to wallow in my complete and utter embarrassment," he barely registered Hermione's mortified voice that had taken on a higher note than usual. She looked completely and utterly mortified at admitting it. Had she been dared to say that? Was she under a spell?
He looked back down at his paper, but couldn't focus. He looked up again at Hermione whose face was beet red, just in time to hear Cordy say, "You're too shy for your own good!" to Hermione.
He ducked his head back down on his paper and forced himself to look at it, though the horrible pull to take her paper and read it was almost overwhelming.
He finished the paper he was grading, finally and snatched hers, glancing to make sure she wasn't watching.
"Magic," was written at the top of the paper in a graceful scrawl. He began to read it, his heart tightening at her words. What defined her was her need to be better to feel accepted a need that Snape himself was subject to every single second of every day.
"The needs we have and the wants are separated only in the world around us, but in our minds the words melt together and consume us," he read to himself, looking up at her again. Buffy, a red-head, and a brunette boy where all going to sit by her and her new friend Cordy.
She saw the boy offer Cordy a soft kiss and looked at Hermione, who looked slightly jealous, of her friend's boyfriend or of what they had, Snape didn't know.
He had to stop himself once when he had almost said he was detracting points, but he stopped and said instead, "Miss Chase, I do not want to see that again," he snapped, in a chiding tone. The vexing young woman had the nerve to smile at him. He sneered at her in return, then she kissed her hand and blew him the kiss. His eyes nearly bugged out.
"Cordy! What the hell was that?" the brunette said, loudly. Snape had to agree with that question, but not the answer given.
"Just trying to see if I can get a rise out of Hermione. She might want to defend her man," that Cordy girl had the audacity to say.
Snape was way past shocked until Hermione groaned, blushing scarlet again saying, "He's not! Oh for goodness sakes!" Hermione sighed in defeat, placing her arms on the desk and burying her face in them.
Snape shook those thoughts off with difficulty and turned his eyes back to her paper. He continued reading, stopping again when another thing in her paper caught his attention. "There are many people who just thought I was a wonderfully brilliant student just because I acted the part, but I suppose I'll never know how intelligent I truly am where it counts. Only one person has ever judged me harshly and I respect him more than any teacher I've ever had because he sought out my faults and by pointing them out to me every class told me where to fix them. I'll never be perfect to him, but I think that being a know-it-all who annoys him to no end is close enough."
Snape gaped at the paper, but just as he finished reading, the bell rang. He stood quickly, ready to start this class with something completely new to him, filling him and making him stronger, a feeling that at least someone appreciated him to some extent. That was enough for him.
I'm not answering but one review this chapter, but thank you to all who did review. I'll get another update up as soon as I finish writing it.
Someone asked what OC means and as far as my usage and the usage I see frequently of it, it means Original Character. Therefore my story Chosen for Darkness is Severus Snape/Original Character
