September 2nd. The students arrived last night to a feast in the great hall. The sorting was much different than Ilvermorny. There was a hat who decided where students belonged. I kind of wanted to put it on just to see where it would put me. I expected the students to be subdued, but it was worse than even I imagined. Our first class was the 6th year students. Professor Snape introduced me and explained that they have 1 month before their OWLS. Luckily, Professor Slughorn was quite a good teacher and they were not behind in Potions. Snape wished to do a written assessment and gave them time to brew Wit Sharpening Potion. Instructions written on the board in his neat script. I walked around checking up on them. I noticed a boy, Piers Alger, was not cutting his ginger root properly. I showed him the proper technique, which he picked up quickly. Most students did well, which was a relief. I was worried about the 1 month timeframe, but it might actually work out.
We had a free period to review the written assessments. Snape graded a few and let me review them so I could see his grading. He was about as harsh as I expected, but the points taken were fair. I took a stack and got through them fairly quickly. As he reviewed my work he said nothing, but apparently it was satisfactory. I've come to realize that him saying nothing is about as good as it gets. My favorite class was the first year class. I had them brew a hiccup cure, which is super easy and fun. I had a potion to give them the hiccups and they had to cute themselves. I brewed the cure in front of the class for them to follow along. Every single student passed, which made me feel amazing. Not to mention I personally think the hiccups are hilarious so I was giggling the whole class.
When the last class was dismissed, I cleaned up the classroom and brought the ungraded papers to Snape's office to work on.
"Well that was a fun first day!"
"Mr Alger finally learned some knife skills I noticed"
"Yeah he was doing it all wrong. I had to correct him. It was driving me insane. You do not disrespect ginger root like that"
I thought I saw a smile cross his lips
"The OWL kids seem like they are going to be alright. Professor Slughorn did a good job all things considered" I tried to keep the conversation going.
"I only accept students who receive an Outstanding in my upper level class"
"Well that makes them more fun for us I guess. Only having to teach kids who really care about potions."
He looked up, but said nothing
"I do feel terrible that so many of the students are so glum. I mean I get it. I really do. But these are the best years of their lives. I wish there was something I could do to make it better."
I wish our conversations were so one sided. The sadness I see in the students is nothing compared to what lies behind the eyes of the man sitting in front of me. If he would just let me in, I could take some of the burden away, but he is as closed off as he was the first time I tried Legilimency. I've never been able to get anything. He's the most powerful Occlumens I have ever encountered. It made me want to figure him out even more.
Once our papers were graded, we went to the great hall for dinner. Professors were expected to make an appearance at dinner unless there were papers to grade. Snape had me take all of his shifts patrolling the corridors after curfew, which I didn't mind. I don't sleep much anyway. When I was a student I was always the one breaking the rules, especially curfew and here I am trying to enforce it. But no one seemed to be out of bed, which I found odd but maybe because of all that happened last year, students are still fearful. It was just after midnight when I went to my chambers for the night. There was a letter on my bed. It was from Myron Wagtail. The Weird Sisters were having a show in London on Friday night. Perfect timing. After my first week, I would need to blow off some steam. Tomorrow's Thursday so I better clear it with Snape. The show starts at 9 and Myron wants me to meet him at The Leaky Cauldron at 8 so he can take me to the venue.