Author's Note: Though it was just earlier tonight that I posted the first
part of my story, I've got a terrible urge to continue! Keep reviewing,
though! It makes me feel special! :) Also, there may be several flips
between character POV in this... I wrote something earlier from each of
their points of view, and Snape's came out so good that I want to put parts
of it in here. :)
Disclaimer: Nope, the usual Harry Potter cast still don't belong to me... maybe one day, though... when I enact my eeeevil plan! Mwaha-ha-ha! Mwahahaha! They will be mine! (But for now, they're J.K. Rowling's, and Leda is mine. I'll be happy to trade! :))
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first-years had been initiated and sorted, introductions had been made, and the first day of classes had begun.
Leda had set her wand to shriek at exactly six AM with an "alarmus titanicus" spell she cast the night before. The moment it began to bounce across the desk, emitting a high-pitched wail, she stumbled out of bed. Still half-awake, but determined to make a more timely impression this morning than she had last night, she felt her way to the bathroom and pulled her sleeping robe off, stepping into the shower. The cold water sent a chill through her bones, and she awoke fully, suddenly. My god, she thought in a near state of shock. I'm inside of Hogwarts. This simple phrase rang through her mind wildly, and she lifted her face to the icy splashes of water showering down on her. But where do I start? Who do I talk to, where do I look to find out what they asked? She grabbed a bottle of Welton's Extremely Elderberry shampoo and dumped a thick dollop into her hand. Could they have been any more ambiguous?, she sneered to herself, scrubbing the shampoo roughly into her hair. "We need you to find out an easy point of access to the school. A weakness in the system," they said. Right. I think I'll just wander about and prod at the walls for a bit.
Turning off the showerhead, she grabbed her towels- each marked in the corner with an embroidered emblem of the school- and wrapped them around herself. First things first, Leda thought. Get to breakfast. Talk with the teachers. Go to your class and teach. That's all you need to worry about right now.
Leda was half-way into her robes and proper uniform when she cursed sharply to herself. She hadn't bothered to ask that stupid House Elf where her classroom is. She flopped back onto the bed, damp curly hair wrapped in one of the dark navy towels. An exasperated sigh escaped her lips.
"Damn."
She made it to breakfast with time to spare, finding the seat she took last night and smoothing her robes. The hall was empty, thankfully, and it gave her time to merely reflect. Stay away from the Potions teacher. Keep close to McGonagall. Keep even closer to Dumbledore. They are much more trusting, and all the more unlikely to suspect. She repeated the instructions she had been given over and over again, reaching up and finger combing her still damp waves of red-brown hair.
Just as she remembered the drying spell she had been taught by one of her peers in school, and drew her wand to perform it, the door from behind the teacher's table creaked open. Leda startled violently, wand clattering to the floor and hand grasping her chest over where her heart pounded furiously.
Snape. Why him?, she thought as the raven-haired, sallow-skinned professor let the door fall closed behind him. She groaned inwardly. Why couldn't Flitwick be early, or even Trelawney? Damn!
Falling back into character, as it were, she let loose a tense laugh, reaching down for her wand. "I-... I'm sorry. I didn't think a-..."
He cut her off with an abrupt grunt, thin white lips turned up into a sneer. "I don't think there's any need to go further than that, Sloane." With a brush of robes, he took his seat several spaces down from her as students began to filter into the hall for breakfast. Leda made no attempt to hide her stern frown in his direction.
"I said, I didn't think anyone else would be here this early," she continued, putting her wand away and looking out over the hall. I should've known better, she thought with a snort. As if this sweet Peggy-Sue act could fool an ex-Death Eater...
"Oh, Sloane," he purred menacingly, dark eyes holding on hers. "This isn't early. This is 'on time', which seems to be an alien concept to you," he trailed off, pulling a skeletal finger through a strand of greasy black hair and returning to watching the hall.
She cast another sidelong glance to the potions professor as Flitwick and a few of the other teachers took their places at the table. She found her lips pursing even more tightly as her eyes were met with his.
She looks just like her, Snape thought. The auburn waves. Those earth- shattering green eyes. That fair skin. This cannot be real- a trick of the eyes, nothing more. You're being foolish, he told himself. Snape forced himself to cast his hollow black gaze out over the hall. Ignore her, Severus. She is nothing but an underage tart thrust into your job by that aging fool Dumbledore. Finding comfort in his bitter thoughts, he settled easily back in his chair.
Do it, she dared herself. Keep up the act. You must not let his ill- temper affect your persona. She cast a gentle, amicable smile to the professor, voice still strong as she spoke to him. "How are you this morning, Professor?"
The voice! Even the voice matches!- these words exploded into his mind, much to his chagrin. A grimace tightened his mouth. "Oh, wonderful, Sloane. Thank you so much for deigning to ask," he murmured, rapidly rising from his seat and descending to scold an overly happy Gryffindor boy. Leda merely smiled. Bastard.
Small talk over breakfast led her to find out that one of the two students she dreaded having- Malfoy- was in her class first period. She found Draco and his flunkies after breakfast was cleared and followed them, several steps behind, to her classroom. My classroom, she thought. What a strange thing to consider.
"Class?", she asked once the seats were filled, unsure entirely of what she expected as a response. Nothing was said. I suppose that's fine, she sighed, taking a deeply empowering breath before considering.
She cleared her throat, and continued, "I am Miss Sloane- Professor Sloane- whichever you wish- and I am your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
"Oh, so that's what this class is? That's who you are? I was so confused- I couldn't tell! Thank you so much for clearing that up!" A bout of laughter erupted along one side of the room.
Leda needn't even look to have recognized Draco's voice. The Malfoy men, she thought, letting out a brief, curt sigh. Sharply, she glanced in their direction, glimmering green eyes narrowed sharply. Something dangerous connected with Draco as his eyes met hers- something familiar, and the look of recognition was clear in his face. The smarmy smirk vanished instantly.
"If I may continue, Mr. Malfoy," she said, clearing her throat before continuing. "I understand that there have been many unfortunate accidents with your previous teachers. I assure you that you will not be so lucky with me."
She paused to cast a glance over the classroom. Students of both houses this period- Slytherin and Ravenclaw- were sitting with their jaws agape.
"I plan to be around for quite some time, and so, I suggest you all start pandering to get on my good side. I've already had a few-" and here, she paused to cast a glance over the Slytherins, " -be less than welcoming to me, and so I'm not feeling too generous right now. You all would do well to change that, should you have any hope of passing."
The silence in the classroom was deafening, and to Leda's ears, infinitely comforting. Maybe I should have gone into teaching earlier, she thought, smiling coolly before beginning the day's lesson.
Disclaimer: Nope, the usual Harry Potter cast still don't belong to me... maybe one day, though... when I enact my eeeevil plan! Mwaha-ha-ha! Mwahahaha! They will be mine! (But for now, they're J.K. Rowling's, and Leda is mine. I'll be happy to trade! :))
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first-years had been initiated and sorted, introductions had been made, and the first day of classes had begun.
Leda had set her wand to shriek at exactly six AM with an "alarmus titanicus" spell she cast the night before. The moment it began to bounce across the desk, emitting a high-pitched wail, she stumbled out of bed. Still half-awake, but determined to make a more timely impression this morning than she had last night, she felt her way to the bathroom and pulled her sleeping robe off, stepping into the shower. The cold water sent a chill through her bones, and she awoke fully, suddenly. My god, she thought in a near state of shock. I'm inside of Hogwarts. This simple phrase rang through her mind wildly, and she lifted her face to the icy splashes of water showering down on her. But where do I start? Who do I talk to, where do I look to find out what they asked? She grabbed a bottle of Welton's Extremely Elderberry shampoo and dumped a thick dollop into her hand. Could they have been any more ambiguous?, she sneered to herself, scrubbing the shampoo roughly into her hair. "We need you to find out an easy point of access to the school. A weakness in the system," they said. Right. I think I'll just wander about and prod at the walls for a bit.
Turning off the showerhead, she grabbed her towels- each marked in the corner with an embroidered emblem of the school- and wrapped them around herself. First things first, Leda thought. Get to breakfast. Talk with the teachers. Go to your class and teach. That's all you need to worry about right now.
Leda was half-way into her robes and proper uniform when she cursed sharply to herself. She hadn't bothered to ask that stupid House Elf where her classroom is. She flopped back onto the bed, damp curly hair wrapped in one of the dark navy towels. An exasperated sigh escaped her lips.
"Damn."
She made it to breakfast with time to spare, finding the seat she took last night and smoothing her robes. The hall was empty, thankfully, and it gave her time to merely reflect. Stay away from the Potions teacher. Keep close to McGonagall. Keep even closer to Dumbledore. They are much more trusting, and all the more unlikely to suspect. She repeated the instructions she had been given over and over again, reaching up and finger combing her still damp waves of red-brown hair.
Just as she remembered the drying spell she had been taught by one of her peers in school, and drew her wand to perform it, the door from behind the teacher's table creaked open. Leda startled violently, wand clattering to the floor and hand grasping her chest over where her heart pounded furiously.
Snape. Why him?, she thought as the raven-haired, sallow-skinned professor let the door fall closed behind him. She groaned inwardly. Why couldn't Flitwick be early, or even Trelawney? Damn!
Falling back into character, as it were, she let loose a tense laugh, reaching down for her wand. "I-... I'm sorry. I didn't think a-..."
He cut her off with an abrupt grunt, thin white lips turned up into a sneer. "I don't think there's any need to go further than that, Sloane." With a brush of robes, he took his seat several spaces down from her as students began to filter into the hall for breakfast. Leda made no attempt to hide her stern frown in his direction.
"I said, I didn't think anyone else would be here this early," she continued, putting her wand away and looking out over the hall. I should've known better, she thought with a snort. As if this sweet Peggy-Sue act could fool an ex-Death Eater...
"Oh, Sloane," he purred menacingly, dark eyes holding on hers. "This isn't early. This is 'on time', which seems to be an alien concept to you," he trailed off, pulling a skeletal finger through a strand of greasy black hair and returning to watching the hall.
She cast another sidelong glance to the potions professor as Flitwick and a few of the other teachers took their places at the table. She found her lips pursing even more tightly as her eyes were met with his.
She looks just like her, Snape thought. The auburn waves. Those earth- shattering green eyes. That fair skin. This cannot be real- a trick of the eyes, nothing more. You're being foolish, he told himself. Snape forced himself to cast his hollow black gaze out over the hall. Ignore her, Severus. She is nothing but an underage tart thrust into your job by that aging fool Dumbledore. Finding comfort in his bitter thoughts, he settled easily back in his chair.
Do it, she dared herself. Keep up the act. You must not let his ill- temper affect your persona. She cast a gentle, amicable smile to the professor, voice still strong as she spoke to him. "How are you this morning, Professor?"
The voice! Even the voice matches!- these words exploded into his mind, much to his chagrin. A grimace tightened his mouth. "Oh, wonderful, Sloane. Thank you so much for deigning to ask," he murmured, rapidly rising from his seat and descending to scold an overly happy Gryffindor boy. Leda merely smiled. Bastard.
Small talk over breakfast led her to find out that one of the two students she dreaded having- Malfoy- was in her class first period. She found Draco and his flunkies after breakfast was cleared and followed them, several steps behind, to her classroom. My classroom, she thought. What a strange thing to consider.
"Class?", she asked once the seats were filled, unsure entirely of what she expected as a response. Nothing was said. I suppose that's fine, she sighed, taking a deeply empowering breath before considering.
She cleared her throat, and continued, "I am Miss Sloane- Professor Sloane- whichever you wish- and I am your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
"Oh, so that's what this class is? That's who you are? I was so confused- I couldn't tell! Thank you so much for clearing that up!" A bout of laughter erupted along one side of the room.
Leda needn't even look to have recognized Draco's voice. The Malfoy men, she thought, letting out a brief, curt sigh. Sharply, she glanced in their direction, glimmering green eyes narrowed sharply. Something dangerous connected with Draco as his eyes met hers- something familiar, and the look of recognition was clear in his face. The smarmy smirk vanished instantly.
"If I may continue, Mr. Malfoy," she said, clearing her throat before continuing. "I understand that there have been many unfortunate accidents with your previous teachers. I assure you that you will not be so lucky with me."
She paused to cast a glance over the classroom. Students of both houses this period- Slytherin and Ravenclaw- were sitting with their jaws agape.
"I plan to be around for quite some time, and so, I suggest you all start pandering to get on my good side. I've already had a few-" and here, she paused to cast a glance over the Slytherins, " -be less than welcoming to me, and so I'm not feeling too generous right now. You all would do well to change that, should you have any hope of passing."
The silence in the classroom was deafening, and to Leda's ears, infinitely comforting. Maybe I should have gone into teaching earlier, she thought, smiling coolly before beginning the day's lesson.
