Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, except Christine Thorn which is inspired by a dear friend (I hope she isn't too angry that I "misused" her in that way...^^°). The rest belongs to the goddess Joanne K. Rowling.

a/n: I just thought you should know, that English isn't my first language, it's German. So if you find any mistake, you may keep it! ^^ This is also my first HP fic and the first one in English, so please be gentle...^^

Chapter one: Those eyes, never forgotten

"No, Christine, don't go!" he yelled. The girl he spoke to turned around and looked at him

with sad eyes.

"Why do you leave me? Why do you want to leave me alone?" he asked desperately, feeling the tears gathering in his eyes.

"Oh, I don't want to leave you, but I have no other choice" her eyes, as deep and blue as the ocean on a stormy night, looked into his full of grief. He opened his mouth to say something, but she put her fingers gently on his lips to stop him from talking. "I can't tell you where and why I have to go, and I don't know if we will ever meet again, but one thing I know for sure: I will never forget you." With these last words she kissed him so soft and gentle it felt like he was touched by a feather.

Then she walked away, slowly, turning her head and looking at him for a last time, her brown hair blown across her face by a soft wind that turned out form nowhere.

Now he couldn't hold back the tears, seeing the only person that ever cared for him leaving him for no reason, and wept helplessly kneeling on the ground with his face in his hands. Then suddenly a low voice began to speak. "You will never see her again, at least not alive!" A cruel laughter, that he seemed to know, but couldn't recall it's owner, sounded through the place, echoing from unseen walls.

"No..." he stuttered in disbelief. "NOOOO!"

Severus Snape woke with a start, his whole body covered in sweat and tears still running down his face. Still panting, he sat up and rubbed his eyes. This wasn't the first time he dreamed that dream, but still he wondered why, after so long time. He had nearly forgotten - no, not forgotten, he would never be able to forget her - suppressed these memories of his past, but since the last month, he had again started to dream about her although he never allowed himself to think about her again.

He looked at his watch, nearly 6.30 in the morning. He decided to get up and went to the bathroom. Today was the feast to welcome the new first- years and he decided he could do with a hot shower - to get on the ball and to forget that weird dream.

About half an hour later he stood in front of the tiny mirror in his room, but barely looking at it. He dried and combed his hair listlessly and didn't feel the slightest notion to go to that foolish celebration. After he got properly dressed he left his chamber in the dungeon in a very bad mood to head for the Great Hall.

On his way he heard some noise that annoyed him that much, that he decided to stop it by taking some points even from Slytherin because he knew it would make him feel better. As he found the source of that racked he wasn't surprised seeing that Potter boy chatting loudly with his friends and running along the passage. "Potter!" he growled and the boy and his two Gryffindor friends immediately stopped running as well as talking. "Potter, you know you aren't allowed to run in the passages. Why aren't you and your friends in the Great Hall?"

"Umm..." the boy stuttered. "We got a little late and didn't want to miss the feast." He said softly, nearly inaudible, trying to avoid any punishment.

"So you were late and running in the passages." Snape said angrily. "That will be ten points from each of you!" he pointed at Potter and his friends, that know-it-all Granger and the redhead Weasley and felt better in an instant. There was no better cure from bad mood than taking points from students, especially Gryffindors. Potter looked angry, but that didn't matter to him now. He turned around glancing a last time coldly at the Potter-gang and continued his way to the hall.

When he entered the ceremony hall, nearly every student was present and all his teacher colleagues, too, except one, who was missing at each start of term since four years now - the new teacher in Defence Against The Dark Arts. He took his seat and waited for McGonagall to place the Sorting Hat on each new students head to sort them into their houses. It was over quite fast as there weren't too many first-years this year and Dumbledore rose from his seat to welcome the student and to tell them what was forbidden in Hogwarts, like the Forbidden Forest. Then he clapped his hands twice and delicious food appeared on every plate and the feast began.

Still the seat for the new teacher was empty and Snape wondered if he could have been chosen to do the job, but he dropped that thought immediately for he would have been informed before.

After about an hour, as everyone was satisfied, Dumbledore rose again.

"I'm sorry to bother you again, but as some of you may have noticed, one person is still missing." He pointed to the empty seat next to him. "Of course we have a new teacher to introduce and I'm very proud to say that this time a woman will teach Defence Against The Dark Arts." He paused and astonished murmurs rose in the Great Hall. There has never been any female DADA teacher before! Slowly the Hall became silent again, because everyone wanted to get to know the woman that would teach DADA now.

As the silence was restored completely Dumbledore rose his voice a third time.

"I am very pleased to introduce our new Hogwarts professor. Please welcome Miss Christine Thorn!"

The great door opened suddenly and a tall woman entered the room. Her shape was very slender, but well proportioned. She smiled happily as the student began clapping their hands euphoric. Snape was completely stunned and horrified. That name...he had hoped so long to hear it again, but he wasn't sure, if it belonged to the person he longed and feared to see again.

She looked at the stuff table where everybody except Severus Snape was clapping his hands and suddenly their eyes locked and he knew as sure as he knew his own name that it was her . How could he forget those eyes, as deep and blue as the ocean in a stormy night?