The New Teacher- Chapter II
Calena looked at him, and a solemn expression came over her. "What do you mean?"
"Why were you running through the hallways crying?"
"I-um...." She began to fumble with the folds of her robes.
"Tell me." His voice became a harsh whisper.
"Alright. Years ago, when I was still living with my parents, they told me a secret-"
He nodded slightly as she paused to see if he was listening.
"They said that their family was apart of the secret and that I was going to be involved in it. At first I was confused, but as they explained it to me, I slowly understood..."
"Understood what?"
"Understood the fact that I was going to ser-"
A loud banging interrupted the conversation. Afterwards Professor McGonagall burst in, and stared at the both Snape and Calena sitting by the fire. "Severus! Calena! What in heaven's name are you doing up at this hour of the night? I heard footsteps and doors opening and closing, and I was worried that something happened to one of the students! What is going on here?" She looked at both professors, intent on getting an answer from both of them.
Snape glanced over at Calena, Calena at Snape. Then she said, "I wasn't sleepy. I woke Snape up because I needed somebody to talk to. We were just discussing school and the students."
Snape gaped at her. That was untrue. But he understood why she did it. Usually McGonagall was snappy when someone woke her. But as Calena began to smooth out things for them, he started to believe that she was trying to get away from him so that she wouldn't have to tell him her secret.
"Really, Calena. You shouldn't be up at this hour. It's almost two in the morning. Get some rest, the both of you. And please don't wake me up again."
"Right!" Then McGonagall turned around and headed out the door. As soon as the door closed, Calena looked at Snape, a mischievious grin appearing on her face, and said, "I guess I'll be getting to bed. Goodnight, Severus." She started for the door.
He knew that she was leaving him because she didn't want to tell him. Quickly, he grabbed her arm. Calena whirled around to face him, shocked. "Tell me the secret!" he suddenly growled.
"I can't! It's for your own good! If you knew...." She looked towards the dimming fire and sighed as a memory came into her mind: Two people, a boy and a girl, talking in an abandoned street at night. Suddenly the girl looked behind the boy, towards the darkness, and saw a green light. It headed straight for the boy and then everything was blinded by the flash. When the girl opened her eyes, the boy was lying beside her, dead. Calena shook her head, trying to forget the memory, as she persuaded Snape to let her go. "If you know what's good for you, then you'll leave me alone." Then Professor Abalin pulled her arm out of his grasp and rushed out the door.
Severus Snape stood there, stunned. He had let a girl push him around with threats. How dare she not tell him! A sneer came to his lips. "She will tell me. If not, I will find out myself. Obviously she's trying to hide something behind her back from everyone. Even Dumbledore?" His thoughts were interrupted by an idea. What if Dumbledore didn't know? What if her secret was something so treacherous that even Dumbledore wouldn't allow her to teach? Is that why she was hiding it? Because someone would tell the headmaster? He suddenly scowled. How dare someone like her take his beloved Potions class! But he wanted his new job. He didn't want to lose his new job now. "I'll let her go for now. For now...."
********
The next day, Harry, Hermione, and Ron heard the news. "What? Snape's taking the Defense Against Dark Arts Class? That's even worse!" Hermione grumbled.
"That isn't fair! I wanted him to leave, not be promoted!" Ron banged on the table. Fred and George looked at Ron, wondering why he was in such a bad mood. Ron told them the news.
"That really sucks. Just when something fun happens, Snape's got to ruin it for everybody," Fred declared.
George nodded. "He always has to stick his beak-nose in everything."
"At least a better teacher took the Potions class," Neville popped into the conversation. Hermione glanced at him and agreed.
"Yeah, at least this teacher won't be scowling at everyone," she stated, trying to cheer everyone up.
"I guess...BUT WHAT IF SHE'S JUST LIKE SNAPE?" Everyone stared at Ron, who quickly added, "Just a thought, of course."
Harry was quiet while everyone exchanged insults towards Snape and theories as to what the new professor was like. He kept thinking about the light. "What if it was Voldemort? But his light is green, this one was bright. And cold, very cold." He suddenly shuddered.
Hermione and Ron glanced at Harry, asking him what was wrong. "Nothing," he muttered.
Hermione stared at his far-off look and asked, "Harry, what's wrong? Really, what's the matter?"
"Nothing. I was just thinking about the light."
"Oh, you mean from yesterday?"
"Yeah. It happened right before the new professor came in." Was that just coincidence? Or did something connect the two. "The light was cold, even though it was bright enough to burn. Did you feel it too?"
Ron and Hermione exchanged glances and then Ron said, "Maybe it was all just coincidence. You know, Harry. We were in Potions. It was probably Neville or someone else trying to mess with his couldron."
Hermione nodded. "Don't worry that much about it. If Snape was there, maybe he would have told Dumbledore or the other teachers by now."
"Yeah, you're right." But he still felt something was wrong. Harry shrugged it off and continued the conversation about Snape.
Later that day, after eating lunch and hearing all about "the professor", Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurried over to Potions. They didn't even mind when the Slytherins came and Malfoy whispered an insult (about them) to the rest of the Slytherins. "I can't wait! I wonder what she'll teach us?" Hermione clutched her book of Potions as she anxiously waited for the teacher to come. Harry and Ron shrugged and waited for the teacher that Fred and George talked about, the teacher that they said "was millions of times better than Snape could ever be".
The rest of the Gryffindors waited also, whispering rumors and chatting as they all waited for Professor Abalin to come. Finally, they saw her walking down the dark dungeon corridors, hurrying ever-so-slightly. "Hello everybody. I see you guys can't wait for the class to begin." Everyone nodded. She ushered them in and closed the door.
"Okay, you may not be used to this, and it may come as somewhat of a disappointment to you, but I won't be using Snape's methods of teaching-"
The classroom was suddenly filled with the sounds of cheering and celebrating as both Gryffindors and-surprisingly, even Slytherins- applauded the professor.
"Okay, quiet down!" she blushed slightly at the sudden attention coming from the fifth-years. "I'm going to continue with what you were doing yesterday. Is that alright? Good. But first let me introduce some new potions that we'll be making today." She began to talk about the bottles of liquid on her lab table....
********
"That was the most wonderful Potions class I ever went to!" Ron breathed as he came out of the classroom.
"I even got a few potions right!" Harry grinned.
"And she didn't even pick on Neville," Hermione smiled. "She helped him, like a real teacher is supposed to do. Hopefully he understands it."
"Don't worry, miss 'I know the answer to every question'! I'm sure Neville got it. Even I got it." Ron looked at Hermione, who gave him a look that read "very funny".
"Well, don't be celebrating now, you guys. Remember, Defense Against Dark Arts next?" Dean Thomas caught up with them.
"Don't remind me." They all headed towards their next class, solemn faces replacing happy ones.
********
Dinner was the same, as usual. The three friends gathered with the rest of the Gryffindors as they ate their supper of steaks, porkchops, salads, and a variety of other dinner entrees. The students busied themselves with food after the day of schoolwork, while the teachers sat at the head of the Great Hall, eating calmly and chatting amongst each other. Calena ate silently as she thought about the first day. "I guess I did well," she thought as she amusingly watched the students laughing and joking around. "I hope I taught them well."
"Well how was it?" Professor Abalin turned to see McGonagall staring at her. "Was it okay?"
"Yeah. I think I made a good impression. Hopefully they were listening when I introduced those new potions."
"That's good. It's usually hard for a new teacher, especially since she has to continue the class with their work, like a substitute."
"I agree. It was challenging. But I think that I'll have a fun time teaching the class."
"Hopefully, because Severus didn't seem to like it that well." Professor McGonagall shot a teasing smile towards Snape, who looked at her quizzically and scowled. "Honestly, I don't know how you managed to talk to that man yesterday night."
Yesterday night.... Calena almost forgot about that incident. She looked at Snape. Did he forget about her secret? Or was he still puzzling over it? All of a sudden, Snape shot a glance at her. Quickly, Calena turned to her food. He remembered. Was he still waiting for her to tell him? Calena shyly looked towards Snape, trying to see if he was still staring. He was still gazing at her, expressionless. She gave him a weak smile and continued her eating, trying hard not to glance back.
Snape watched her eating. As she lifted the fork to her mouth and ate the food, his eyes fell to her sleeve, which fell down slightly. His eyes widened. On her arm was a black mark, nearly covered by the robes. Nearly, but still visibly shown. Severus smiled maliciously and continued his dinner. Maybe he would ask her about the secret. Dumbledore could wait. He needed to know.
********
"What is wrong with him?" Harry asked Hermione as he watched Professor Snape repeatedly looking back towards McGonagall and Abalin. "Has he gone mad?"
"He's probably trying to get their attention...I think." Hermione began to watch him. Soon, Ron joined in.
"What the heck are you looking at?"
"Look at Snape, George. He's gone completely nuts." Ron pointed at Snape, who began to scowl at Professor Abalin.
"I think that he's jealous of Professor Abalin!"
Hermione observed him more closely. "You know what? I think that Professor Snape has a crush on her!"
Ron, Harry, George, and Fred looked at Hermione. "Are you completely mad?" Harry asked her while the other three tried to stifle their laughter.
"Well, it's logical, really. He keeps looking at her. Why else would he be doing that?"
Ron banged on the table to keep himself from laughing so hard. "Snape's too evil to have a crush on anyone!"
Hermione thought for a moment. "I guess you're right," she said finally.
"Yeah. He's probably in a bad mood." Then they finished their supper and walked upstairs to the Gryffindor common room.
After dinner, the teachers headed towards their rooms, some to their classrooms to grade papers, others to the teacher's lounge. Professor Abalin stood up and headed towards her office. As she headed towards the hallway leading to the dungeons, she saw Snape there, waiting for her.
"Oh no," she thought mildly as she flashed a smile at him and hurried to the dungeons.
Snape followed her. "I would like a word with you Professor."
She kept walking. "Don't stop, Calena. He's going to ask you about it again," she kept thinking.
Soon Calena came to the door of her office. The hallway was dark and damp, but her ears picked up Snape's footsteps. He rushed to her and held the door shut before she could rush inside. "You're going to tell me," he said.
"Tell you what?" she asked.
"You know very well what you're supposed to tell me," Snape growled.
She looked frightened, but she glared at him defiantly. "I won't tell. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll-"
"No you don't!" he grabbed her arm again, and squeezed it tightly. She began to struggle against him. Then, without warning, Calena slapped him across his pale face with her free hand. Snape let her go. He lifted a hand towarrds the cheek that had been slapped and felt the hurt skin. Glaring at Calena with the utmost loathing, he slithered away, his robes swished against the stone walls.
Calena watched him go, her face flushed and frightened. Why had she done that? She leaned against the wall, suddenly feeling sick. All of a sudden, she felt her arm begin to sting. She quickly rushed inside the office and pulled her sleeve down, revealing a bare arm with a black mark. A dark mark. Professor Abalin cringed as she watched the burn cover the mark like a disease. "He's calling me...." she thought as he stomach lurched. Then, all of a sudden, she felt it again. The nauseating feeling that made her dizzy and sick. Professor Abalin collapsed to the floor, hugging her burning arm as the feeling rushed through her. Then, everything went black.
Calena looked at him, and a solemn expression came over her. "What do you mean?"
"Why were you running through the hallways crying?"
"I-um...." She began to fumble with the folds of her robes.
"Tell me." His voice became a harsh whisper.
"Alright. Years ago, when I was still living with my parents, they told me a secret-"
He nodded slightly as she paused to see if he was listening.
"They said that their family was apart of the secret and that I was going to be involved in it. At first I was confused, but as they explained it to me, I slowly understood..."
"Understood what?"
"Understood the fact that I was going to ser-"
A loud banging interrupted the conversation. Afterwards Professor McGonagall burst in, and stared at the both Snape and Calena sitting by the fire. "Severus! Calena! What in heaven's name are you doing up at this hour of the night? I heard footsteps and doors opening and closing, and I was worried that something happened to one of the students! What is going on here?" She looked at both professors, intent on getting an answer from both of them.
Snape glanced over at Calena, Calena at Snape. Then she said, "I wasn't sleepy. I woke Snape up because I needed somebody to talk to. We were just discussing school and the students."
Snape gaped at her. That was untrue. But he understood why she did it. Usually McGonagall was snappy when someone woke her. But as Calena began to smooth out things for them, he started to believe that she was trying to get away from him so that she wouldn't have to tell him her secret.
"Really, Calena. You shouldn't be up at this hour. It's almost two in the morning. Get some rest, the both of you. And please don't wake me up again."
"Right!" Then McGonagall turned around and headed out the door. As soon as the door closed, Calena looked at Snape, a mischievious grin appearing on her face, and said, "I guess I'll be getting to bed. Goodnight, Severus." She started for the door.
He knew that she was leaving him because she didn't want to tell him. Quickly, he grabbed her arm. Calena whirled around to face him, shocked. "Tell me the secret!" he suddenly growled.
"I can't! It's for your own good! If you knew...." She looked towards the dimming fire and sighed as a memory came into her mind: Two people, a boy and a girl, talking in an abandoned street at night. Suddenly the girl looked behind the boy, towards the darkness, and saw a green light. It headed straight for the boy and then everything was blinded by the flash. When the girl opened her eyes, the boy was lying beside her, dead. Calena shook her head, trying to forget the memory, as she persuaded Snape to let her go. "If you know what's good for you, then you'll leave me alone." Then Professor Abalin pulled her arm out of his grasp and rushed out the door.
Severus Snape stood there, stunned. He had let a girl push him around with threats. How dare she not tell him! A sneer came to his lips. "She will tell me. If not, I will find out myself. Obviously she's trying to hide something behind her back from everyone. Even Dumbledore?" His thoughts were interrupted by an idea. What if Dumbledore didn't know? What if her secret was something so treacherous that even Dumbledore wouldn't allow her to teach? Is that why she was hiding it? Because someone would tell the headmaster? He suddenly scowled. How dare someone like her take his beloved Potions class! But he wanted his new job. He didn't want to lose his new job now. "I'll let her go for now. For now...."
********
The next day, Harry, Hermione, and Ron heard the news. "What? Snape's taking the Defense Against Dark Arts Class? That's even worse!" Hermione grumbled.
"That isn't fair! I wanted him to leave, not be promoted!" Ron banged on the table. Fred and George looked at Ron, wondering why he was in such a bad mood. Ron told them the news.
"That really sucks. Just when something fun happens, Snape's got to ruin it for everybody," Fred declared.
George nodded. "He always has to stick his beak-nose in everything."
"At least a better teacher took the Potions class," Neville popped into the conversation. Hermione glanced at him and agreed.
"Yeah, at least this teacher won't be scowling at everyone," she stated, trying to cheer everyone up.
"I guess...BUT WHAT IF SHE'S JUST LIKE SNAPE?" Everyone stared at Ron, who quickly added, "Just a thought, of course."
Harry was quiet while everyone exchanged insults towards Snape and theories as to what the new professor was like. He kept thinking about the light. "What if it was Voldemort? But his light is green, this one was bright. And cold, very cold." He suddenly shuddered.
Hermione and Ron glanced at Harry, asking him what was wrong. "Nothing," he muttered.
Hermione stared at his far-off look and asked, "Harry, what's wrong? Really, what's the matter?"
"Nothing. I was just thinking about the light."
"Oh, you mean from yesterday?"
"Yeah. It happened right before the new professor came in." Was that just coincidence? Or did something connect the two. "The light was cold, even though it was bright enough to burn. Did you feel it too?"
Ron and Hermione exchanged glances and then Ron said, "Maybe it was all just coincidence. You know, Harry. We were in Potions. It was probably Neville or someone else trying to mess with his couldron."
Hermione nodded. "Don't worry that much about it. If Snape was there, maybe he would have told Dumbledore or the other teachers by now."
"Yeah, you're right." But he still felt something was wrong. Harry shrugged it off and continued the conversation about Snape.
Later that day, after eating lunch and hearing all about "the professor", Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurried over to Potions. They didn't even mind when the Slytherins came and Malfoy whispered an insult (about them) to the rest of the Slytherins. "I can't wait! I wonder what she'll teach us?" Hermione clutched her book of Potions as she anxiously waited for the teacher to come. Harry and Ron shrugged and waited for the teacher that Fred and George talked about, the teacher that they said "was millions of times better than Snape could ever be".
The rest of the Gryffindors waited also, whispering rumors and chatting as they all waited for Professor Abalin to come. Finally, they saw her walking down the dark dungeon corridors, hurrying ever-so-slightly. "Hello everybody. I see you guys can't wait for the class to begin." Everyone nodded. She ushered them in and closed the door.
"Okay, you may not be used to this, and it may come as somewhat of a disappointment to you, but I won't be using Snape's methods of teaching-"
The classroom was suddenly filled with the sounds of cheering and celebrating as both Gryffindors and-surprisingly, even Slytherins- applauded the professor.
"Okay, quiet down!" she blushed slightly at the sudden attention coming from the fifth-years. "I'm going to continue with what you were doing yesterday. Is that alright? Good. But first let me introduce some new potions that we'll be making today." She began to talk about the bottles of liquid on her lab table....
********
"That was the most wonderful Potions class I ever went to!" Ron breathed as he came out of the classroom.
"I even got a few potions right!" Harry grinned.
"And she didn't even pick on Neville," Hermione smiled. "She helped him, like a real teacher is supposed to do. Hopefully he understands it."
"Don't worry, miss 'I know the answer to every question'! I'm sure Neville got it. Even I got it." Ron looked at Hermione, who gave him a look that read "very funny".
"Well, don't be celebrating now, you guys. Remember, Defense Against Dark Arts next?" Dean Thomas caught up with them.
"Don't remind me." They all headed towards their next class, solemn faces replacing happy ones.
********
Dinner was the same, as usual. The three friends gathered with the rest of the Gryffindors as they ate their supper of steaks, porkchops, salads, and a variety of other dinner entrees. The students busied themselves with food after the day of schoolwork, while the teachers sat at the head of the Great Hall, eating calmly and chatting amongst each other. Calena ate silently as she thought about the first day. "I guess I did well," she thought as she amusingly watched the students laughing and joking around. "I hope I taught them well."
"Well how was it?" Professor Abalin turned to see McGonagall staring at her. "Was it okay?"
"Yeah. I think I made a good impression. Hopefully they were listening when I introduced those new potions."
"That's good. It's usually hard for a new teacher, especially since she has to continue the class with their work, like a substitute."
"I agree. It was challenging. But I think that I'll have a fun time teaching the class."
"Hopefully, because Severus didn't seem to like it that well." Professor McGonagall shot a teasing smile towards Snape, who looked at her quizzically and scowled. "Honestly, I don't know how you managed to talk to that man yesterday night."
Yesterday night.... Calena almost forgot about that incident. She looked at Snape. Did he forget about her secret? Or was he still puzzling over it? All of a sudden, Snape shot a glance at her. Quickly, Calena turned to her food. He remembered. Was he still waiting for her to tell him? Calena shyly looked towards Snape, trying to see if he was still staring. He was still gazing at her, expressionless. She gave him a weak smile and continued her eating, trying hard not to glance back.
Snape watched her eating. As she lifted the fork to her mouth and ate the food, his eyes fell to her sleeve, which fell down slightly. His eyes widened. On her arm was a black mark, nearly covered by the robes. Nearly, but still visibly shown. Severus smiled maliciously and continued his dinner. Maybe he would ask her about the secret. Dumbledore could wait. He needed to know.
********
"What is wrong with him?" Harry asked Hermione as he watched Professor Snape repeatedly looking back towards McGonagall and Abalin. "Has he gone mad?"
"He's probably trying to get their attention...I think." Hermione began to watch him. Soon, Ron joined in.
"What the heck are you looking at?"
"Look at Snape, George. He's gone completely nuts." Ron pointed at Snape, who began to scowl at Professor Abalin.
"I think that he's jealous of Professor Abalin!"
Hermione observed him more closely. "You know what? I think that Professor Snape has a crush on her!"
Ron, Harry, George, and Fred looked at Hermione. "Are you completely mad?" Harry asked her while the other three tried to stifle their laughter.
"Well, it's logical, really. He keeps looking at her. Why else would he be doing that?"
Ron banged on the table to keep himself from laughing so hard. "Snape's too evil to have a crush on anyone!"
Hermione thought for a moment. "I guess you're right," she said finally.
"Yeah. He's probably in a bad mood." Then they finished their supper and walked upstairs to the Gryffindor common room.
After dinner, the teachers headed towards their rooms, some to their classrooms to grade papers, others to the teacher's lounge. Professor Abalin stood up and headed towards her office. As she headed towards the hallway leading to the dungeons, she saw Snape there, waiting for her.
"Oh no," she thought mildly as she flashed a smile at him and hurried to the dungeons.
Snape followed her. "I would like a word with you Professor."
She kept walking. "Don't stop, Calena. He's going to ask you about it again," she kept thinking.
Soon Calena came to the door of her office. The hallway was dark and damp, but her ears picked up Snape's footsteps. He rushed to her and held the door shut before she could rush inside. "You're going to tell me," he said.
"Tell you what?" she asked.
"You know very well what you're supposed to tell me," Snape growled.
She looked frightened, but she glared at him defiantly. "I won't tell. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll-"
"No you don't!" he grabbed her arm again, and squeezed it tightly. She began to struggle against him. Then, without warning, Calena slapped him across his pale face with her free hand. Snape let her go. He lifted a hand towarrds the cheek that had been slapped and felt the hurt skin. Glaring at Calena with the utmost loathing, he slithered away, his robes swished against the stone walls.
Calena watched him go, her face flushed and frightened. Why had she done that? She leaned against the wall, suddenly feeling sick. All of a sudden, she felt her arm begin to sting. She quickly rushed inside the office and pulled her sleeve down, revealing a bare arm with a black mark. A dark mark. Professor Abalin cringed as she watched the burn cover the mark like a disease. "He's calling me...." she thought as he stomach lurched. Then, all of a sudden, she felt it again. The nauseating feeling that made her dizzy and sick. Professor Abalin collapsed to the floor, hugging her burning arm as the feeling rushed through her. Then, everything went black.