Yeah this chap is short and nothing big happens... took me a while to make myself write it lol. Though I am a bit disappointed that no one got my Twilight reference in the last chapter. Or if they did they didn't comment on it (Harry Potter is tons better, IMO).
Excuse any small mistakes! Thanks for reading!
*edit* Fixed a mistake o_0
Chapter 11:
The New Teacher
"I took your friend's advice," said Lily. She was sitting aboard the Hogwarts Express with Snape, Kendra, and Mary in a compartment to themselves. "I decided to name him 'Zeus.' I think it suits him."
"Have you tried to send any letters?" asked Snape.
Lily blushed. "Yeah, I tried. I don't think he trusts me yet."
Zeus swiveled his head around and hooted loudly at her.
"Same to you," she said, frowning.
Just then their compartment door slid open and Remus popped his head in. "Oh, hello," he said in embarrassment. "I was looking for the others..."
"You can sit with us, Remus," said Mary. "We won't bite."
"Well, Zeus might," Lily mumbled.
Remus smiled and closed the door behind him, sitting hesitantly next to Snape. "How are you, Severus?"
"Fine, thank you," said Snape. Remus was the only other Gryffindor boy who showed any respect for Snape, though Snape wondered if it was only for the fact that he was keeping Remus's secret.
"Did you have a good summer, Remus?" asked Lily politely.
"Oh, it was fine. Good to be back, though," he replied.
"I feel sorry for Muggles," said Mary. "We get all excited about going back to school. They hate it."
"What do they teach in Muggle schools?" Kendra asked, taking out her wand and twirling it in her fingers.
"Well, science, mathematics, literature, physical education..."
Kendra snorted. "I didn't understand a word of that."
The food trolley appeared at the compartment door at that moment, and the five of them bought Cauldron Cakes to snack on. Lily tried feeding some to her owl, who just glared at her with his large, amber eyes.
"I should have gotten a cat," said Lily.
By the time they arrived at Hogsmeade the weather had completely changed. Rain drizzled in the darkness of the train station, and the students had to draw their cloaks up over their heads in order to keep from getting wet. Lily was forced to take a blanket from her trunk and throw it over Zeus's cage to keep him dry, which made the owl flustered and panicky.
"Shut up," Lily spat at him under her breath, for he had started to hoot incessantly. Snape, holding his cloak above his head with one hand and juggling his battered suitcase with the other, pointed his wand at the cage and muttered, "Silencio!" and the noise from the cage ceased at once.
"Firs' years!" came a booming voice from the darkness. "This way, Firs' years!" An enormous hairy man with a soaking beard and mane was calling over the heads of the students.
"Hey, Hagrid!" said James, suddenly appearing next to Remus, who was wiping raindrops from his eyes. Sirius and Peter appeared a moment later and greeted the other Gryffindors.
Hagrid spotted James among the wet, black mass and waved congenially before turning and bellowing orders for the first years to follow him once more. "I like him," said Sirius loudly over the rain. "Like a big, furry teddy bear, he is."
The Great Hall was just as magnificent as always: the floating candles created a warm, welcoming glow as they entered the doors, which contrasted with the rainy cold they had just left. The teachers were sitting as they always did at the High Table, smiling as the students scrambled into their seats at the four long house tables. Snape didn't pay much attention to much of it; he was very hungry and thought nothing but the food that awaited him as Dumbledore stood and greeted them and McGonagall entered the hall with the Sorting Hat. He only looked up when the first name to be Sorted was called.
"Black, Regulus!" said McGonagall. A skinny boy with black haired stepped forward.
"Oy... that's my brother," said Sirius wearily. "Bet you anything he gets into-"
"Slytherin!" the Sorting Hat cried.
The Slytherin table erupted in applause, and Regulus Black joined the table looking very pleased with himself. "Stupid git," mumbled Sirius.
Snape saw Regulus sit next to Lucius, who shook the young boy's hand, and knew their little club of future Death Eaters would be growing this year.
"Looks like they replaced Billingsley," said James. He was eyeing the staff table. "Figures. I hear there hasn't been a Dark Arts teacher that lasts more than a year for some time now."
Snape swiveled his head to look at the staff table with the others. When he spotted the new face, his mouth opened slightly. It was Arnold Hastings, wearing the same dark blue robes and pointed silver hat that he had worn in the junk shop.
"Who is he?" Peter asked.
"Dunno. Real looker, though," replied James.
Kendra giggled and whispered something in Lily's ear, who said, "Ugh, Kendra! He's like, forty!"
"Gable, Wilson!" called McGonagall. A short, chubby boy waddled forward and placed the Sorting Hat on his head.
"Ravenclaw!" screamed the hat.
No longer paying any mind to the Sorting, Snape was racking his brain, but could not for the life of him remember who the DADA teacher was in his second year, but he was sure it wasn't Hastings. Was this another consequence of his new life? Dumbledore had said that events would play out differently, but how drastic could such changes be?
"Harper, Jessica!"
The Sorting Hat took a long time on Jessica, who was a skinny girl with long, dirty blonde hair. In the end she was placed in Gryffindor, and stumbled to sit next to Peter, her face flushed.
By the end of the ceremony, many more first years had joined the Gryffindor table, including Sylvester Marlow, Sabina Shirazi, and Daniel Walters, all looking very embarrassed and still soaking wet from the rain.
Then Dumbledore stood from his chair and the hall fell silent. "Welcome, students, to another year at Hogwarts! If you could all be so kind as to wait for dinner a little longer, I'd like to make a few announcements before the feast begins.
"This is Professor Hastings, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," he said, waving towards the man in the dark blue robes, who smiled at the crowd. "It will be a real treat to have him here, though I know we will all miss Professor Billingsley now that she's gone."
"Good riddance," whispered James. "I'm still not finished with all those essays she assigned."
Dumbledore continued with the evening's announcements, which were the usual: the Forbidden Forest was still forbidden, no students were to be out after hours, and Quidditch tryouts would take place the following week. The only additional bit of news was left until the end of the speech.
"Finally," said Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eye. "I am very excited to announce that Hogwarts will be having its very own Winter Ball this year in January! If any of you are as thrilled about this as I am, let us give a nice round of applause to Miss Dergen and Miss Miller, whose tireless efforts and innumerable letters over the summer finally convinced the Board of Governors to allow us to hold one." He clapped his thin hands together and looked happily at a couple of Hufflepuff girls, who exchanged smiles. A lot of students clapped; apparently the event was more exciting to them than it had been to Snape. Kendra and Mary were putting their heads together and whispering excitedly.
When Dumbledore sat in his chair, the food appeared on the tables, and a lot of the first years gasped in amazement. "You'll get used to it," said Peter to Jessica Harper.
Lily dug her fork into a stuffed potato. "Hey," she said to Snape. "Wasn't that guy from the junk shop named Hastings, too?"
"Yes, it's the same man," said Snape, looking once more at the staff table. "He told me he'd see me again, but it didn't occur to me that he would be the new teacher..."
"He's handsome," said Kendra, her eyes locked on the staff table. "And fit. Wonder what he did before this?"
"Apparently de-vampiring America," said Lily. "That's what Sev says."
Sirius, who had been eavesdropping, leaned over. "You know him?" he said, eyeing Snape curiously. "What's his first name?"
Snape gave Sirius a contemptuous look. "Arnold."
Sirius leaned back and tapped his forehead with his knuckle. "Ah, I knew I've heard that name before! Arnold Hastings won a Special Service Award for the school ages ago."
"How do you know that?" Peter said through a mouthful of meat pie.
"I polished his shield in the trophy room for detention, once," said Sirius. "It didn't say what he did, though."
"I bet his class will be excellent," said James. "He's got to be better than Billingsley."
Snape didn't think about Hastings again until he entered his dormitory that night. James and Remus were playing a game of Exploding Snap on Sirius's four-poster, whose usual occupant was busy digging for something in his trunk. They didn't pay him any attention as Snape walked to his own trunk and extracted his pajamas. In fact, James had completely avoided eye contact with Snape since they arrived at Hogwarts, nor had James made any attempt to insult him. But Snape was not in the least bit concerned for this behavior.
With a sudden thought, Snape reached back into his suitcase and pulled out the book Hastings had given him. He closed the curtains of his four-poster, sat up on his pillows, lit his wand for light and began to read it intently. It was all about the history and use of Dark magic from across the world, dating back all the way to the BC period. It was a very interesting read, and Snape finished it long after the other four boys had fallen asleep. He finished the last chapter, which focused on the shaman of South America, sometime past midnight, and settled down to sleep. He half-hoped that he would have Defense Against the Dark Arts tomorrow, though he wondered if Hastings would show the same amiability towards Snape as he had expressed at their first meeting in Diagon Alley. He seemed more like the type who would have James or Sirius as favorite students. Not that it would matter, thought Snape. He'll only last a year anyway.