Chapter 1.
Disclaimer: I own none of the Harry Potter characters and am only allowed to play in their universe. The original characters are my own.
Severus Snape entered his potions classroom with a snarl and a bang of the door. The story of that idiot Longbottom's boggart was all over the castle and subsequently the staff room. The wolf Lupin had been kind enough to demonstrate what shape the boggart had taken to a cackling Minerva. The foolish boy's boggart had turned into him which after the hilarity had died down over the ridiculous dress boggart him had been wearing, it had ended in him being called before Dumbledore. He was sure that if it had been any Defense teacher other than the wolf that both teachers would be called in to explain their behaviour. After all, Lupin had blatantly embarrassed him in front of the whole school. But Dumbledore had always had a soft spot for the famous Marauders and now that Lupin was the only one left on the side of the Light, he doted on him. It was nauseating. Severus was sure that if it had been him who had encouraged such a foolish demonstration and then used the situation to play a childish prank on a fellow professor he would at the very least be forced to publicly apologize. Upon entering Dumbledore's office and spying Lupin deep in conversation with the Headmaster he felt hope that he might finally receive an apology over Lupin's treatment of him. Unfortunately, an apology was not in the cards for him. All Dumbledore wanted to discuss was why he was a thirteen year old's biggest fear. Lupin was apparently there for character witness over the big bad Snape like some sort of loyal lap dog. Ha, wasn't that image just painfully ironic.
Severus, for his part, wasn't quite sure how to mount a defense against Longbottom's fear. Not that anyone had bothered to ask, but he had been just as shocked as anyone that the Longbottom boy's biggest fear was him. And a little insulted. He had been sure that his parent's torturers' would be his biggest fear. Or even Black. After all Black was related to the crazed Bellatrix who had been the mastermind behind the Longbottom attack. He certainly still had nightmares about Bellatrix and he hadn't been an impressionable toddler as Longbottom had been. He knew the students believed he was happy that he was a student's greatest fear and Minerva had certainly thought he was. All the other professors thought so, too. He knew he wasn't well liked but he had no idea that so many of his fellow professors believed him capable of terrorizing a thirteen year old so completely.
He hadn't wanted Dumbledore to remind him of all his mistakes in front of Lupin. He hadn't wanted to believe that Dumbledore believed him capable of being that awful toward an innocent albeit an idiot. He hadn't wanted Dumbledore to look at him with those icy blue eyes and demand him to remember his vow he had made once upon a time in a moment of desperate grief. He hadn't wanted one of his childhood bullies to watch him being scolded like a naughty schoolboy. But then Severus rarely got what he wanted. And today hadn't been one of those days.
It wasn't as if he could have changed anything about his behaviour. The Death Eater's children were crawling all over the castle eager to write letters to their parents about anything to use against Dumbledore. And Dumbledore's pet teacher who walked a fine line between good and evil was a hot topic of interest between the Death Eater families. So he harshly judged every muggleborn to come through his door. If it hurt him inside every time he saw the eager light in their eyes dim with each causal dismissal of their talents, he repeated that it would only teach them the hard realities of life faster. He cruelly chose the Death Eater children over those few Slytherins who wanted to be a good example to their house. He was cruel to Potter and his gaggle of friends as that's what was expected of him. Potter was a copy of his arrogant father so treating Potter as every other student was easier, but he couldn't help the twinge of pain every time he saw those eyes. Ah, Lily's eyes on his hated enemy's son. What a twisted punishment for him to endure. But then his life was nothing but a series of punishments rather for real or imagined mistakes. He had no choice in how he treated the little brats. And even if he had been allowed to teach how he wanted, he still would have been a harsh teacher. Potions was a tough subject and someone might be seriously hurt if he allowed any students to relax too much.
The worst part of the whole embarrassing affair was that Dumbledore knew this. Dumbledore knew he couldn't change his teaching style or there would be accidents. He knew that Severus couldn't treat the students any differently than he did. Yet, he still judged Severus for every necessary decision that he forced Severus to make. He still saw nothing more than a grubby Death Eater who had allowed himself to be led astray and now pined away after a dead woman. But what choice did he have? He couldn't very well leave the school as he had only been freed from his trial as a Death Eater under the conditions that Dumbledore set for him-one of which was to work at the school. He couldn't stop spying even with the Dark Lord out of commission. After all, he had made a vow to Dumbledore to work for him as a spy. To break it would mean his death. So he steadied himself and allowed Dumbledore to scold him like a first year. He buried his real feelings and kept up the act of being a petty man determined to hurt children for the sake of Lupin. Lupin's suggestion that he publicly apologize to Neville Longbottom was shot down quickly by Dumbledore. Severus could have predicted that. There was no need to have his pet professor apologize when all Dumbledore was doing was making sure appearances were kept up. He couldn't let Lupin think that Severus had changed any from the angsty teenager he had once been. Lupin was apparently pacified by Dumbledore's reassurances that Severus would make a private apology to Longbottom.
Severus was aware that he wouldn't have to apologize to Longbottom, publicly or privately. It was only said as a platitude for the useless wolf. Soon after Lupin left, he was released from Dumbledore's lair having once more refused one of his ridiculous lemon drops. He had to hurry down to the dungeons as he came to the realization that he was late. It was little wonder that by the time he arrived, he was in a foul mood. With a bang of the door, he stormed into his classroom only to find it filled with, unfortunately, his third year Slytherins and their Gryffindor counterparts. The object of all of his trouble these past couple days, Neville Longbottom, was cowering behind his partner the know it all Granger. Pathetic. Moving his eyes away from Longbottom as he swept over to the blackboard, he caught the eyes of Potter. His green eyes were glaring at Severus with a look of hatred and arrogance. Typical. His dunderheaded friend Weasley was attempting a look of distaste toward Malfoy. It only succeeded in Severus's opinion in making him look stupider and more constipated than he normally did. Ronald was an excellent example of why Gryffindors should be despised. It wasn't that he minded the Weasleys. He quite liked the twins, red-headed menaces that they were. And Percy was somewhat bearable as at least he treated the Slytherin first years with fairness. Bill and Charlie hadn't been too bad either. He could grow to actually like Bill as he had more than a bit of cunning in him. You had to have some cunning to work for the goblins and live past sunset. But the youngest two were beyond help in his eyes. The long awaited baby girl of the Weasley family had caused quite a stir as she was the seventh child. Seven was the most magical of numbers in the Wizarding World. She was sure to have a tremendous amount of power when she reached her magical maturity. But her power now was below average and she had a look in her eyes sometimes that Severus frankly didn't like. Dumbledore had cautioned all the professors to be understanding of the little girl after the Chamber of Secrets fiasco last year.
He was less inclined to be nice to the little girl not because he didn't feel for her as having the Dark Lord in your head was difficult. Impossible he was sure for such a little girl. It didn't make him any less weary of her. She had had the Dark Lord in her head and her body over the past year. Surely, remnants of her possession remained. Dumbledore had forbidden him from talking to her parents, Arthur and Molly, over the matter. When she had come back to school, he noticed just how calculating her eyes had grown whenever she was in his presence. And sometimes he could swear he could hear her hissing. It was certainly no surprise to him that every time she made eye contact with him his Dark Mark flared. Of course, taking his concerns to Dumbledore did no good. He was merely patted on the hand like a good little pet and sent on his way with a scolding for being too eager to jump back to the darkness. Severus was sure that a partial impression of the Dark Lord remained in her head but he wasn't about to go looking for it. He could be discovered as a spy if he did that. His talent at Legilimency was far greater than Dumbledore's but no one was better than the Dark Lord. The trick at protecting his secret of being a spy was easy as the Dark Lord only saw what he expected to see in Severus. And he wouldn't expect Severus to care that much about one little girl. So Severus stayed well away from the Weasley girl. As for Ronald, Severus had never been so tempted as to give a student detention every time they opened their mouths as he had with Ronald. The boy was an idiot and he didn't even have the decency to be inbred as Crabbe and Goyle did. Or Black. No, Ronald was just an imbecile who rode off the coattails of Potter's fame and fortune. And Severus liked to think dragged Potter into dangerous ideas. It was nice to think that maybe Lily's son was not a complete idiot.
As for the other third of their little trio, Severus couldn't get away from the incessantly annoying know it all Granger. She was incredibly intelligent and was attractive enough that Severus had caught Draco looking at her with interest now and again. She had many faults and it was clear that no one had taught her how to act in the Wizarding World. He found it odd that none of the purebloods had talked to her about how to integrate into the customs and traditions of the Wizarding World. On occasion, he agreed with the dark and grey faction of purebloods. Their traditions and customs were pure and precious to their families. They were also being ignored. Dumbledore was no small part of helping that along. He had gotten rid of the muggleborn integration program shortly after becoming headmaster and he had striven for allowing the muggleborns free reign in the Wizarding World. Severus had little problem with muggles or non-magicals but even he could see how ridiculous it was to expect the Wizarding World to merely accept that their world would soon become a copy of the muggle one. Granger was an excellent example of a muggleborn who was completely ignorant of the traditions that students such as Malfoy, Greengrass, or even Longbottom treasured. Instead, she expected the Wizarding World to bend to her. As a result, she was bullied and often mistreated. She needed a mentor and Severus knew that he could never do such a thing.
He swirled around to the class again. Having magiced the potion on the blackboard, he snapped, "Turn to page 298 and gather your ingredients for the potion. Supplies are in the cupboard. You have forty-five minutes. Begin."
Not waiting to see if the dunderheads actually followed his commands, he turned to the door in the left hand corner of his classroom. It led to his private lab and his own supply closet of ingredients. He had several potions that had been brewing along since early this morning. The students would be alright for a few minutes, he decided. After all, if any accidents happened while he was gone he could tell Dumbledore that he was watching over the Wolfsbane that he was now forced to make to keep the wolf safe. Personally, he could think of many more ways to keep the wolf at bay. Maybe being locked up in a cage? He would volunteer the chains but Dumbledore would never agree. Neither would Minerva. Instead Dumbledore's solution was to ask or rather demand Severus to brew the required potion and then have Lupin curl up in his office like a good little wolf. Severus thought it was either the most comical and disturbing thing he had seen when it had been his turn to rouse the wolf in the morning. Dumbledore had felt the need to redecorate the wolf's office when he had checked in with Lupin the previous evening. Lupin's office had been lime green and violet. The deformed wolf was cowering under his now polka dotted desk and when Severus shined his wand light toward him he had seen Lupin. Lupin was now a pink fluffy looking wolf with silver bows in his fur. Apparently Dumbledore believed Lupin needed to lighten up. But much like his style choices Severus was left wondering if Dumbledore was blind as a bat or just as crazy as the students believed he was.
Dumbledore was constantly trying to change his professor's styles to something more colorful and cheerful. All of them could usually fend him off (Severus was particularly good at it) but Lupin had been incapitated at the moment as a harmless but no less terrifying wolf. Severus wouldn't have wished that unfortunate makeover on anyone except for maybe Black or Bellatrix. Perhaps even Potter. But he couldn't quite wish it on Lupin. Still, he was a Slytherin so he had taken advantage of the situation and made sure to conjure a camera to take pictures of Lupin's new look. He had made sure the photos had made their way through all the staff excluding Dumbledore and Lupin. He was sure that the boggart affair was Lupin getting revenge on him. Of course, he hadn't shared those photos of Lupin with the student body so he felt it fair to say that he had been more mature out of the two. After all, Lupin had ensured that boggart Snape was known throughout the castle as a Mrs. Longbottom hybrid. Ah well, at least he had gotten a new memory to call up his Patronus.
As he reached for the crushed newt eye's, his thoughts turned to one of the banes of his existence, Harry Potter. He was an arrogant little prince who believed the whole world would wait on him on bended knees. Or at least that's what Severus believed. But once more he needed to uphold his vow and make sure Potter was taken care of. He would have an easier task of it to tame that disgusting Fluffy that Hagrid insisted on toting around now and again than caring for Potter. When he had made the vow to Dumbledore, he was grief stricken and wracked with guilt. He had pledged himself to the light already with one vow when he brought news of his role in the prophecy to Dumbledore. But on the night that he learned his beloved Lily was dead he was made to pledge another vow. This one was to protect the dratted boy-who-lived, Harry James Potter. Dumbledore had implied that he would rather Lily was alive over her son and he had told him how Harry was protected through his mother's love. Severus was well aware that Lily would have sacrificed herself a thousand times for her child. He also wasn't as coldhearted as to wish that the poor child would have died instead. He cared little for James Potter but he knew that he must have been somewhat decent otherwise Lily would never have married him. He wasn't bitter enough to think that Lily wouldn't have married Potter unless she loved him and knew him to be a good man. Besides, Potter and Lupin apologized to him when they had run into him years later. He had been baffled as to why they had apologized and was about to accept their apologies when Black had come up behind them and claimed that Snively was an evil blot on the earth and needed to be wiped out. He then had the audacity to demand that Severus leave. A group of eager sycophants gathered up around Black and Severus skulked away quickly, never looking back for fear he would be seen associating with light sided wizards by one of his fellow Death Eaters. But in his heart he had forgiven Potter and Lupin for their bullying as children. Of course, he still had taken pictures of Lupin because Lupin deserved some payback for all those years of torment. Not to mention, he definitely didn't like Lupin and his superior attitude.
Dumbledore still believed that Severus loved Lily with all his heart and Severus certainly wasn't going to disabuse him of that notion. It won him points for Dumbledore to believe that he was still deeply in love with Lily. He had loved Lily and he would never forget his first love but he was no fool. She was dead. And before she was dead she was another man's wife. He was not hideous enough to actually pine after another man's wife and later a dead woman. She was his first love and his first friend but was nothing more than that. At least not now. Now, all he had were wisps of memories of her. He was a living, breathing man after all. He was also heir and Lord to the Prince fortune, not that he believed Dumbledore to be aware of that. He certainly wasn't going to fill him in on that bit of information. He protected Potter because of the vow but he had made the vow because it was the right thing to do not because he was harboring any strange wish that the brat was his.
Crashes filled his ears and the violent boom of a breaking stone wall startled him badly enough to drop his measuring spoon. He rushed into the other room sure he would find the children broken into several pieces around the classroom but instead he found the dunderheads gathered around a pile of black satin and silver sparks. He shooed them away demanding an explanation. The insufferable Miss Granger opened her mouth to explain but he cut her off mid-word as he heard a faint groan from the pile.
"Oh, that hurt." Big green eyes blinked lazily up at him. "Hello, could you please tell me where I am? And why are they all staring at me?" Slightly unsteady legs stood, "My, is this a different world?" Her mouth curved into a smile. "My name is Queen Irene. Please take me to your leader." Giggles burst forth. "I always wanted to say that!"
What the bloody hell? He had to get her to Dumbledore. Now. Clearing his throat he called out the two favorite words of his students, "Class dismissed."