The year had gone by and it was now September once again. Snape found himself sitting at the staff table, searching the large crowd of first years just as he had done the previous year.
Someone cleared her throat expectantly, and Snape snapped at her. "Poppy, I've told you before that if the students are hiding outside the Great Hall and playing exploding snap again, then I'm not the person to go to if you need someone to tell them to stop at once and come in here. Must I remind you that the last time this occurred, James Potter nearly killed me with his whining about how unfair I was being and Fred Weasley threw a card at me while it was in the process of exploding to defend Potter-"
"Actually, I'm just surprised you didn't notice that James has been staring at you very curiously for several minutes now."
Snape immediately looked to where Madam Pomfrey was pointing. James was looking from Snape to the crowd of first years, but when he noticed Snape's gaze, he jumped and looked away. He and Molly were having some sort of heated argument, and in the end, she turned away from him with her arms crossed. James remained unfazed by this, and instead he began speaking with the others excitedly.
Snape shook his head. It was always difficult to figure out exactly what James was up to, but he was bound to let something slip throughout the course of the year, just as he'd done numerous times the previous year.
McGonagall was calling out names. "Malfoy, Scorpius!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
James and Fred smirked together, and many students looked at Scorpius disgustedly.
Then…
"Potter, Albus!"
He emerged from the crowd, and unfortunately, he was a living replica of Harry Potter. He had unruly black hair just like James's, and - Snape held in his breath as he realized this - he had almond-shaped, emerald green eyes.
Flashbacks of a small red-headed girl playing with him on a playground a long way away from Spinner's End came to mind. The eyes she had possessed symbolized her contagious laughter, her bravery, her utter kindness…
Snape shook himself out of his thoughts and was brought back to the present. He could see that Dumbledore looked especially interested as Albus walked up to the sorting hat, James sticking his tongue out at him and Albus rolling his eyes as a response.
Whispering had begun, with several students looking from Albus to Dumbledore to Snape.
Albus looked reassured about something as he hopped onto the stool, but some uneasiness peeked through his features.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Albus looked relieved as ever, but he looked back at the crowd of first years and gave an encouraging look to a girl with straight flaming red hair.
The girl walked up to the stool when her name was called.
"Weasley, Rose!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Of course. Now the trouble was really going to start. Now Hogwarts was home to children of each member of the golden trio and the son of the trio's school rival, Draco Malfoy. The past was going to repeat itself and Snape wasn't looking forward to breaking up even more squabbles than before.
James patted Rose on the back and Albus gave her a hug. Albus said something to James, and in the middle of the feast he got up and went directly to where Dumbledore was sitting.
Snape hoped to dear Merlin that Albus wasn't about to ask for a tea session like James had.
"Hey, Professor!" Albus exclaimed to Dumbledore.
"Hello, Albus. Why, I must say I've never had the pleasure of meeting a student with the same name as me."
Albus looked a bit embarrassed at this. He looked at both Dumbledore and Snape as though blown away simply by their presence.
"How are you doing? My dad's told me all about you and how you helped him out with, well, everything."
"I'm doing well, my boy. And I'm flattered by the stories I hear Harry's been telling his children about me. How about if tomorrow after classes you come up to my office and get to know your namesakes?"
Snape froze in his seat and Albus turned to look at him curiously. He broke into a genuinely innocent smile, which was quite unlike the mischievous smiles James often wore.
How dare Dumbledore force him to comply with something like this? It was bad enough that he had to endure a long list of troublemakers in class, but outside of class as well?
Intending to give Dumbledore a piece of his mind, he started off with, "Albus -" but then saw that Albus Potter had looked up, most likely wondering whether he was being spoken to or not.
Dumbledore, noticing the confusion, chimed in with, "Ah, I should have remembered what Harry told me! You go by Al, isn't that right? There we go, now we can take away some of the confusion. Severus, you had something to say to one of us?"
"Yes. I was going to say that you can't honestly expect me to converse with -"
Before Snape could finish his sentence, Sinistra, who had been observing this conversation with interest, gripped his arm in a threatening manner and jerked her head in the direction of young Albus.
"Give him a chance, for goodness' sake! How dare you go around demeaning a little boy who shares your name and wants to be just like you!" she hissed furiously.
"Aurora, how could you possibly know what goes on in a first year's thick skull?" he hissed back.
To this, she shook her head and mumbled, "How clueless."
"Professor Snape?" It was Albus.
"Potter? What is it?"
"It's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you, too." When Albus realized he wasn't about to get a reply, he said bye to Dumbledore and went back to his table, James and Rose questioning him before he even got a chance to sit down.
Albus Severus Potter paused in the middle of his conversation with his brother and cousin to look at the head table. He gave Snape a smile and then looked away from him so quickly that Snape wasn't sure if he had been imagining it or not.