This is a self-translated fanfiction with original language Bulgarian. I used Google translate but edited the translation afterwards. Optimized for British English and tested with Grammarly. Sorry if I have made mistakes but English is not my native language. However, I think I succeeded to fix the most obvious errors. I also checked for the correct characters' and places' names online.
Enjoy!
Chapter One
An Unusual Acquaintance
Severus Snape was a seemingly ordinary middle-aged wizard. He wore black clothes and mantles, had a magic wand made of beech wood, enjoyed sleeping until late when circumstances allowed and often bought the 'Daily Prophet' newspaper. For fifteen years he had been teaching potions at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which was not exactly his childhood dream, but so far it suited him perfectly. He lived in the castle that housed the school, he admired the principal, respected his colleagues, and did not tolerate stupid and stubborn students. He spent most of his free time in his office, which was located in the school's basement, where he invented various potions, read books, or simply rested between classes.
On a particularly sunny afternoon, professor Snape decided to take a walk around the castle. As soon as he stepped out of the staircase leading to the dungeon of his house, Slytherin, he noticed the generously lit hallway and cursed softly. But since there was no other way to the cooler parts of the castle, he had no choice but to cover his face with his hand and move forward as fast as he could. That's why he didn't even notice the large pile of books approaching him, which apparently someone had enchanted to float a metre and a half above the ground. Soon the books and the professor collided head-on with a deafening crash and everything suddenly fell to the ground. With the sourest expression on his face, he stood up angrily and looked around to see what had happened. A small witch was leaning close to him, gathering the books scattered on the ground.
Soon the witch stood up, looked at him guiltily, and hurried to say anxiously, "I'm very sorry. Forgive me, I'm so distrait."
Professor Snape used the moment to examine her closely. At first, he took her for a student, but the skill she used as she reassembled the books with her wand made him change his mind. Maybe she was the mother of some student who had brought her spoiled kid's textbooks in advance or a new nurse who had just moved into the castle. After a lot of thought, he decided to ask her directly. In a sense, the school was his home, and he had the right to know who she was and what was her business there.
"It didn't hurt much," he lied. "And you are?"
"Associate professor Jane Undead, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."
Well, he definitely hadn't guessed right. Suppressing his bad mood for a moment, he even allowed himself a faint smile. He had long since decided not to ask the class for himself, although every year he couldn't help but be curious about which wretch was going to get it. He had just received the answer to his question.
"So you're the one who is supposed to sit next to me at breakfast," he said in his most polite tone. "Impressive. Every year a new teacher. Let's hope you'll stay longer. You don't look half as unbearable as some of the previous ones. Please excuse my omission. I'm professor Severus Snape, I teach potions."
"A pleasure. In fact, what you mentioned a moment ago is one of the reasons I'm here now. Miss Umbridge, as you probably know, has taught my subject before. She happened to be my teacher for a few months back then."
"Impressive," he repeated, pursing his lips in a half-smile.
At that moment, associate professor Undead felt a momentary weakness. Cursing in her mind the unpleasant sensation and the fact that it was darkening before her eyes, she fell to the ground. The books fell from her hands and scattered beside her.
Severus stood for a while in front of the whole mess with a thoughtful expression on his face, wondering what to do, then sighed, bent down, and picked up his colleague, enchanting the scattered volumes to follow him. There was no point in carrying her to the hospital wing; Madam Pomfrey would not come until the next day, and it would not be polite to dump her in the Entrance Hall. So he headed straight for the Slytherin dungeon, muttering something like "And now we'll see how good am I at my job."
Professor Snape walked fast and silently, thinking bitterly that short people weren't always light. If he knew that his new colleague weighed so much, he would probably carry her with a spell, but it was too late now. And that was definitely not the right attitude toward a lady. If he had a wife or a girlfriend, he thought, one who could stand him for more than a couple of days, he would treat her with care and carry her in his arms, even if she weighed more than associate professor Undead. Considering that his new colleague probably didn't have the habit of dieting, he decided that it would be wise to give her something sweet when she regains consciousness. As long as he found one somewhere in his dungeon. Whatever he bought recently, he either had to eat it fast, or it caught some strange purple mould.
As he opened the door, he glanced briefly at his colleague to see if she had improved at least a little, but there was no change. Apparently, she had gone too far in exposing herself to the sun that day, as she did not regain consciousness and was still as pale as a corpse. For a moment he regretted having to let her lie on his own bed, as there was no other suitable furniture. But he quickly forgot about it when he rolled up his sleeves and began preparing the quick decoction that should help her regain consciousness.
Once the decoction was ready, he poured it into a teacup, tapped the cup with his wand, and when the steam stopped rising, carefully placed it at his colleague's lips. She swallowed, which was good. After drinking somehow half of the decoction, the colour of her face started returning. She soon regained consciousness.
"Where am I?" The witch opened her eyes, looked around, and tried to stand up.
"Stay like that," the professor ordered. "You fainted, and I brought you to my quarters. There's no one in the hospital wing yet, so that was the only thing I could do for you."
"Thank you," she said gratefully. "Can I sit up now?"
"Yes," he replied. He went to rummage in one of the closets in the next room. Soon he shouted from there, "I think it'd be good for you to eat something sweet. The only thing I have, though, is pumpkin pie. Is it all right or should I go out to look for something else?"
"I think I would eat a little of that, thank you."
"Tell me, associate professor Undead," professor Snape continued as the witch chewed on a piece of pie, "how did you manage to arrange yourself like that? It's related to the sun, I guess. The weather today turned out to be unusually sunny. Personally, I avoid going out when it's so hot. One can easily get a heat stroke in weather like that."
"You're right," Undead nodded, sprinkling a few crumbs on the bed cover. "It so happened that in the last few days I was helping my aunt in her garden. It was very tiring and I did not sleep enough. I just started feeling how tired I am." She shrugged. "And the books you crashed into were given to me by the librarian to help me with the material I'm supposed to teach. It's a bit heavy, don't you think?" She paused, waiting for an answer, but when no answer followed, she decided to change the subject. "By the way, do you like magic duels?"
"Yes, I like duelling", professor Snape replied. Then he added, "A few years ago the duels had spread around the school like a wildfire. I had to fight the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor then. In front of the whole school."
"I like duelling, too," Undead nodded, suppressing a smile. Although she had long since finished school, she still found it amusing to think about teachers duelling in the corridors of Hogwarts. "And I even got into something called fencing. This is also duelling, only with swords. I was amazed to find out that in the Middle Ages, wizards wielded their swords as skilfully as they used their wands. The muggles were quite militant and ignorant then and constantly rushed to fight. This is a forgotten art, which, believe me, is not to be neglected."
"It looks like something muggle to me," he said suspiciously, and tapped on the now-empty glass, from which started escaping soap bubbles.
"Not at all," Undead smiled, bursting a bubble with her index finger. "The muggles have long since stopped using swords to kill each other. It's too complicated for them. But the art itself is great. I have to show you some time. I had some friends with whom we loved duelling with swords."
As the professor said nothing more, Jane decided to give up trying to talk for a moment and stared dreamily at the opposite stone wall, remembering something. Severus sat calmly and silently in the chair next to her. At one point she looked away from the wall and asked, "Do you go home for the holidays?"
"Usually not," the professor replied. "It's nice here during the winter. There are no students, we go to Hogsmeade more often. And if you only knew what celebrations have taken place in the castle. No one could find the way to their room after them. Last year, professor Flitwick fell asleep under a table, and when I woke up, the floor around me was full of extinguished candles. We didn't even have the strength to enchant sleeping bags."
"I've been to more immemorable binges." Undead looked at him as an accomplice and winked. "There was one time when a certain wizard had turned the table forty-five degrees to the ground and was walking on its upper edge. He was so drunk that the magic with which he supported it shook with him. I and the other boys gathered in the bathroom, poured a whole bottle of foam into the tub, and then lifted the soapy water into the air. The whole bathroom was layered with water and soap bubbles, and we were throwing everything we could reach at each other. Sobering up, we were completely smitten. The print of my favourite T-shirt had leaked. And it was an original, the 'Weird Sisters'. Then I started chasing the boys. They hid themselves in such a manner that I had to search for them for a few hours after that to ask them to help me clean the bathroom."
"Believe me," professor Snape said, "you won't miss any of that at Hogwarts. Except maybe the cleaning. The house elves are dealing with it here."
"Sounds good," Undead said politely. She stared into the air, and when her gaze fell on the clock on the wall, she was startled. Only now did she realize how long she had spent in the dungeon. "I have to go now," she said hurriedly. "It's late."
He nodded slightly and replied, "I'd better walk you at least to the Entrance Hall. You can easily get lost somewhere. Besides, it's probably already dark, you can easily get mistaken."
They started carefully up the narrow staircase lit by torches. Professor Snape was the first to walk, looking over his shoulder for his colleague, warning her about disappearing steps. In that manner, they reached the Entrance Hall, where it was pitch black.
"I forgot to ask you which house you are in. And also where you were accommodated", he said, stopping hesitantly at the beginning of the hall.
"I used to study in Ravenclaw, my room is right next to the entrance to the tower," said associate professor Undead.
"It's not close at all. And I hoped we had climbed the stairs in vain. You would fit well in Slytherin house."
Jane decided he was trying to compliment her.
"Maybe," she laughed.
"Better than the other two, that's for sure."
"You're absolutely right. Well, I guess I'll have to take care of myself from here." She was just saying goodbye to the professor when a witch passed by. Her dark hair was lifted in a bun and illuminated by the light coming from her magic wand. She also noticed them and approached them.
"Severus," the witch said to the professor, "who is your friend whom I obviously do not know?"
"This is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Minerva."
Undead held out her left hand to the newcomer since her other hand was occupied.
"Jane Undead, madam, I'm delighted."
"Minerva McGonagall," the woman said automatically, shaking their left hands. "Professor Dumbledore told me about you, but I'm only now honoured to meet you. I see you've already met professor Snape. I will take her to the tower, Severus. She will probably get lost in this darkness. And if we don't fix these torches by tomorrow, all the freshmen will get lost before the Sorting ceremony."
"Thank you, professor McGonagall. Call me if you need any help with the torches. Professor Snape, it was nice to meet you. See you tomorrow!" She transferred the wand with which she guided the books to her left hand and held out her right hand since the professor was at her right side. She did so without thinking, but it wasn't until she saw his raised eyebrows when she realized it. In the wizarding world, the same hand was traditionally used for the wand, and the shift, although not taboo, was very rare, mainly during duelling. Unaccustomed to performing spells in front of an observing audience and too accustomed to fencing, for her the movement was like transferring a sword to her left hand. This usually made experienced opponents angry and completely confused beginners.
Well, there was no going back. She had already shown herself to be an oddity, and the professor surely had some peculiarities as well. She couldn't understand why he was so surprised, though. As a duellist, he probably also knew how to use his left hand for the wand, but something told her he hadn't done it recently.
The situation had become a game of nerves. A game she didn't want to lose. So she just smiled at him and kept her right hand in the air. In the middle of the scene stood the female professor, apparently unaware of what the whole delay was about.
Professor Snape sighed, raised his hand very slowly, and said in a calm tone, "See you tomorrow, associate professor Undead!"
They shook hands, then Severus Snape turned quickly and hid in the shadows.
The two women walked in silence for a while, and finally, professor McGonagall exclaimed, "I wonder, why an 'associate professor'? We've never had an associate professor at Hogwarts."
"That's not quite true, professor. 'Hogwarts: A History' states that three generations after Rowena Ravenclaw there was a Charms teacher with the title of 'associate professor' who even ran the house for several years. Professor Dumbledore and I decided that this unambitious title could turn my office's luck around. We discussed it in the summer when the headmaster reviewed my application.
"Yes, I see. I had to give my opinion on the matter, too. But then I was preoccupied with personal things so I left professor Dumbledore to fend for himself. I think he did well." Professor McGonagall looked at Jane approvingly. "Ah, here we are. This is the door to your house."
The two women said goodnight, and Jane hurried into her room. Suddenly tired, she decided not to unpack her suitcases yet, left her textbooks on the desk, changed into a nightgown, and went to bed. But there was already something in the wide four-poster bed. Murray the cat, who had settled there, stirred unhappily, pushed away by her owner. Jane reached out to caress her as an apology, and soon the cat started purring like a fan.
Once the relationship with the cat was fixed, the witch hurried to make herself comfortable. She took off her glasses and set them on the nightstand by her wand. Before going to sleep, she reflected on the past day – she was very happy to have met two professors at the very beginning of her stay. With the strange professor Snape and the friendly professor McGonagall around, she wouldn't be bored at Hogwarts at all. She had created a lot of trouble for the poor professor Snape today: first showering him with books, then fainting at his feet, and him having to bring her round. In the end, she had shown herself an oddity. She laughed softly as she imagined what the professor's face looked like as she slumped in front of him. She'll have to apologize to him for the inconvenience tomorrow, maybe even bake him some biscuits. But she'll have to find out where is the school kitchen first.
"Both professors look so serious," Jane told herself with admiration, "Not like my hammerheads." She stirred feverishly to drive away a sudden memory and then stroked Murray. After rolling around in bed for a little while, she finally managed to calm down and soon fell into a deep sleep.
Associate professor Undead spent the following day mostly in her room. After returning from breakfast, where she had met professor Flitwick, her favourite teacher from when she was a student at Hogwarts and apologized once again to professor Snape for yesterday's disturbance, she locked herself in her office and began studying the various books and textbooks she would use in her teaching this year.
"Very interesting, Janie," she thought as she flipped through a thick, leather-bound volume, "how would you react if someone had told you five years ago that you would be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts?!"
Since she had missed lunch, in the late afternoon Jane was already looking forward to dinner. Half an hour before the allotted time, she left all the books on her desk and began wandering absently around the room. Murray watched her with one eye while pretending to be asleep. Murray was a beautiful cat – she had long white fur covered with black and orange spots. She was a descendant of the cat family her aunt raised, and Jane really liked her. In addition, the animal was quite intelligent and was a pleasant company on the lonely winter nights.
"Well, Murray, I'm leaving," Jane told her after changing into her formal purple robe. "I'll steal some fish for you if I don't forget."
The cat stretched out silently on the bed, hooking one of the curtains with its claw, then curled up in a bun and continued to sleep. Her mistress stroked her fur and left the room. She hurried down the stairs to arrive just in time for the Sorting ceremony.
"Did I miss anything?" She asked professor Snape, who was sitting next to her.
"No, Minerva just brought them in."
"Great," Jane said happily and took her place. Although she had no acquaintances or close relatives among the freshmen, she watched the new students with curiosity. The little ones looked quite frightened as if a monster would pop up from the nearest corner at any given moment. Jane counted thirteen students who were sorted in Ravenclaw this year.
The spree was relatively peaceful for the next few hours. The teachers sat quietly in their seats and talked to each other, and some were only now noticing Jane and introducing themselves. Professor Flitwick, inspired by the almost identical colours of Undead and McGonagall's robes, told an anecdote about three witches in purple robes.
After the students left the hall, the teachers relaxed a bit. Professor Dumbledore smiled knowingly and pulled out a bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhisky from under the table.
"Now let's treat ourselves to the beginning of the school year properly," he said cheerfully and began opening the bottle. "Come on, colleagues, pass the glasses."
By the time Jane realized what was happening, her goblet was full to the brim with the strong whiskey. She tried to protest, but professor Dumbledore smilingly assured her that there should be no problem in drinking what he thought to be a very small quantity of liquor.
First, everyone raised a toast to Hogwarts, then to the new school year, and so on until the bottle ran out. Then Dumbledore tapped it lightly with the tip of his wand, it filled up, and the teachers began toasting again. After the second bottle of whiskey, the headmaster enchanted some music, moved the four tables of the houses to the wall, and, quite amused, invited professor McGonagall to dance. Professor Flitwick was quickly invited by professor Sprout, the other teachers also went down to dance, and the teacher's table was soon empty. Associate professor Undead rose with a light staggering, and after giving a generous smile to her only remaining neighbour at the table, asked him:
"Professor Snape, would you dance with me?"
"Of course. If you're not worried I might step on your toes," said professor Snape and led associate professor Undead by the hand to the makeshift dance floor. "You can call me Severus," he added, gibbering a little. "Everyone here does it anyway."
"And I'm Jane," she said cheerfully, toppling at the same moment.
Snape could barely keep her from falling to the floor and grabbed her by the waist for safety. She realized that she probably wouldn't be able to tango or even waltz tonight, but she might be able to cope with a ballad. Luckily, the next song turned out to be just that, and Jane, leaning generously on Snape's shoulder, closed her eyes and tried not to think. Still, the professor was very handsome, she realized. He smelled pretty well, maybe of a decoction here and there, but a man should smell just like that, she thought. After a while, unable to determine exactly how much, she moved her head off the professor's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. There, instead of the previous cold, she noticed light flames that puzzled her. Maybe she was hallucinating, she thought at first, which must have been the whiskey, so she began regretting drinking so much. She looked at professor Snape with undisguised curiosity, which he had, of course, already noticed. When she sensed that he was trying to penetrate her mind, Jane hurried to look away and leaned again on his shoulder. She was unable to oppose him at the moment. He hadn't seen much anyway. Nothing more than a concert hall full of people and a few musicians with uncombed hairstyles. During the next dance, Jane looked up again, but the professor's expression was impenetrable. She couldn't help but stare curiously into his eyes and saw, if only for a moment, a boy and a woman arguing about something in a rather dingy-looking room. It was Snape's turn to look away. The couple danced the next five dances, during which they occasionally tried to learn something about each other with varying degrees of success. Eventually, associate professor Undead had to surrender. The whole game of Legilimency and Occlumency, as they were called in the textbooks, was a lot of fun, but one had to know where to stop. Already falling asleep, she decided that this moment had come, suppressed a yawn, and then announced to her gentleman that she had decided to return to her room.
"I'll walk you," Snape said politely.
"Please, Severus, there must be at least a thousand steps to the tower. How are you going to get down after that?"
However, he proved to be adamant, so eventually, Jane was forced to back down. They said goodnight to the others and left the Great Hall, leaning against each other. Severus kept his word and walked her to the very door of her room on the fifth floor.
"Do you want to come in?", Jane asked, smiling broadly.
Professor Snape studied her carefully.
"No, thank you," he said after a moment's thought. "Perhaps another time. Goodnight and sweet dreams."
"Thank you," she said, trying to hide her disappointment. "But I don't dream. However, I hope the night really goes smoothly."
"You seem to have drunk a lot," Snape said thoughtfully, rummaging through his pockets. "You'd better have a few sips of that. I took it in case someone got too drunk."
He handed her a small opaque bottle with some liquid in it.
"Thanks." She hesitated briefly but made her decision. If the professor had intended to poison her, he would have done so yesterday while she was unconscious. She also doubted that he was trying to give her a slow-acting poison. He had to give her the dose constantly, and she looked after her cup and plate very carefully. There could be no question of a love potion – she had just invited him in and he had refused. So she had to forcefully stop this flow of thoughts and pour some of the bottle's content into her mouth. After swallowing, she reached out and handed it back to him. Then she said hurriedly, "I have to go in now because my feet hurt. Goodnight and pleasant dreams to you, too!"
Jane opened the door, entered the room, and quickly went to bed without looking back. It would be nice for professor Snape to stay, she thought. She had never felt so lonely before.
The next morning she almost overslept the breakfast. She felt so tired she could stay in bed until the evening, she thought in her drowse. However, her alarm clock had a different opinion. Shouting "Get up, Jane!", he managed to get her out of bed to arrive practically in time in the Great Hall. Despite the slight dizziness, she managed to get there almost unhindered and even without getting lost on the stairs. Her sense of orientation was never that good, and after a binge, it practically disappeared.
By the time she went downstairs, the hall was almost full. There was only one seat left at the High Table between the professors Snape and Flitwick. When she got there, Jane greeted them politely, professor Dumbledore and professor McGonagall, too, and sat down. Still not awakened completely, she grabbed the plate closest to her, which turned out to be full of bacon and began eating. Professor Snape politely handed her a cup of strong coffee, which she gratefully accepted. It probably wasn't poisoned, she thought, and immediately scolded herself. She didn't have to think bad things about her colleagues who were so polite to her. Then she started eating. It had been so long since her last year at Hogwarts that she had almost forgotten how delicious the food here could be. After eating her portion with pleasure, she started to take an interest in the school news as she discreetly supported her head with her hand.
"That breed over there is our house." Professor Flitwick pointed to the long table at the end of the hall.
Associate professor Undead nodded, then shook her head and took a closer look at the children who were just finishing their breakfast at the Ravenclaw table.
"They're quiet," she said hesitantly, adjusting her glasses on her nose. She could hardly forget the noise that Ravenclaws usually raised when sitting down to eat.
"Yes, they're quiet now," Flitwick confirmed. "They are preparing for school. Just look at them in the afternoon and we'll talk again. After writing their homework, they go really wild."
"After writing it – that's the important thing," she said calmly, reaching out for a mint with her free hand.
"I advise you to pay attention to the second part of professor Flitwick's sentence," professor Snape said. "Mine are quite violent, but they are so constantly. While yours… Well, watch them carefully today and you will understand."
"Maybe we should come up with something for them," the Charms professor suggested. "A new magic club or something."
"Good idea, professor," Undead said. "I'll think about it."
At that moment, professor Dumbledore had risen from his seat and approached them without being noticed.
"Colleagues," he cleared his throat to get their attention, "it's time to go hand out the programmes to our wards."
The three of them stopped their conversation immediately and turned to him. The principal handed professors Snape and Flitwick two large armfuls of curricula and then walked to the other end of the table to give the rest to Sprout and McGonagall. At this time professor Flitwick spoke to associate professor Undead:
"Jane, would you be so kind as to give them the programmes? My arthritis is calling today and I will be happy if you can deputize me."
"Of course, professor Flitwick," she replied, picking up the pile of parchments and hurrying after professor Snape."
As she approached the Ravenclaw table, the students began whispering excitedly.
"Do we have a new Head?", a blond boy wondered.
"But Flitwick is here, why do we need a new one?"
Jane approached them and, pretending not to hear, began handing out the programmes. When she finally returned to the High Table, she had only two parchments left in her hands, entitled 'Associate professor Undead' and 'Professor Flitwick'. The other teachers were involved in a conversation about the goblin rebellion and the village of Hogsmeade, so she sat down quietly and handed one of them to the Charms professor. As she looked absently at her programme, listening to the conversation, she suddenly saw a square marked 'Tuesday, first lesson: Sixth grade, Ravenclaw'. But that was in a few minutes! It could have already begun, she thought and got on her feet, but when she looked around and found out that no one had left the Great Hall, she thought with relief that there must be some more time. Indeed, it was at least a few minutes before one of the teachers, professor Sprout, went to class.
"Well, colleagues, I have to go," she said and left the table.
"See you at lunch, Pomona!", several of the teachers answered, after which the discussion continued.
Undead hurriedly smoothed her clothes with her hands and, after glancing at her pocket watch, she also got up. Her head was already clear. Hogwarts coffee certainly worked wonders, she thought with interest.
"Where to, Jane?", asked professor Snape, suddenly forgetting about his conversation with professor Flitwick, who was sitting at her other side. At the seat next to him, a small teacher was just finishing her portion of fried fish.
"I have to be in class in fifteen minutes. Later!", associate professor Undead replied and hurried out of the Great Hall. On the way, she overtook several students who were apparently also going to class and headed straight for the teacher's restroom. Jane was suddenly excited about the lesson ahead, and she realized she couldn't go to her classroom until she had calmed down enough. And since her time was extremely limited, she had no choice but to take off her glasses with one hand and splash her face profusely with the other.
"Calm down, Janie," she thought, "it isn't any different than a concert." Having regained some of her composure, Undead rose to her full one-hundred-and-sixty-centimetres height in front of the sink and looked in the mirror. "A real goblin," she told herself, half terrified, half amused. "You shouldn't be surprised that professor Snape was so frightened yesterday. I would be startled, too, if we hadn't known each other too well for the better part of the last thirty years."
Her reflection winked cheerfully, and Jane anxiously began smoothing her hair, which was protruding in every direction, with water. When she was done, she looked at her watch and quickly realized that she was about to be late for class. She stepped out of the restroom and, after making sure there was no one else in the hallway, tucked the skirts of her robe and ran toward the stairs.