Disclaimer: I love Snape, but he's not mine. I love HP, but nothing from it could be mine.

Emma Vail was dressed in a flowing purple robe with small silvery stars covering it. From every angle she looked pretty, even the anger burning inside her could not destroy her elegance.

As she strode past the corridor to the dark dungeon, she was still furious about what had happened during the feast. She had made a sensible suggestion, but the potions master obviously had no sense and denied it. How dared he?

She had graduated from Hogwarts 9 years ago, and she was a teacher in Hogwarts now. How could he treat her like she was just another little student?

Emma took a deep breath before she knocked on Snape's door. The air here was much colder than any other part of the school.

'Who is it?' came the voice of the irritated potions master.

'Stupid big nose,' thought Emma.

'It's me, Emma Vail.' But she would maintain her politeness to him anyway.

The door opened.

'What is it you want, Professor?' Snape was in his usual black robes; his eyes glittered with a coldness that Emma had never experienced before. This was the first time she had been so close to Snape and looked directly into his eyes. 

'I…' Emma tried to shake off the chill Snape was giving her. After all, she shouldn't be scared of him. They were in an equal status.

'I,' she cleared her throat before she began to talk.

'I want to talk with you about what has happened tonight.'

'I thought Dumbledore had made it clear during the staff meeting that he did not know what was going on, and suggested us to put the matter aside and concentrate on our teaching.' He threw her a 'are-you-deaf' look.

That was it. That egoistic look on Snape's face was really sickening.

'I know what the Headmaster has said. What I want to talk with you is your bloody crabby behavior, Professor Severus Snape.' Emma shouted. Then, she inhaled some cold air to calm herself down. It would do her no good to lose control in front of Snape.

'I am not your student anymore, Professor. I expect your full respect for me and my ideas.'

'So, what do you think I should do to show that?' Snape smirked.

'Should I bow and kiss your hand whenever I see you? Or should I go around and tell everyone how respectable you are? Or…'

'Stop it!'

'And by the way, would you mind telling me what have you done to earn my respect?'

'You f-'

'Behave, Emma, Behave,' commanding herself mentally, Emma was just in time to stop herself from exploding.

'Why are you so hostile towards me, Snape?'

'Don't rank yourself too high. You are not worth my hostility,' said Snape coolly, he leaned his body against the door in a casual manner. This new DADA git was an easy target to him.

'Then why did you speak against me at the feast then?' Emma was not going to be defeated. 'You know that Annabelle Yates is questionable.'

'The sorting hat was created by the co-effort of Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. I don't think a small girl can possibly break the magic of four of the greatest wizards we ever had.' Snape lied.

'Maybe she's a disguised Deatheater. Being a Potions teacher you know exactly the powerful effects of Polyjuice.'

'Do you have any proof or is this just your personal assumption, Professor Vail?' Snape hissed.

'If your answer is the latter, then please excuse me, I need to go to bed now. I do not wish to waste my time in some guessing game.' Before he closed his door, he spoke again,

'By the way, do you think it's a good idea to accuse a student so publicly when you don't have proof, professor?'

'Greasy Slytherin,' murmured Emma. She stared at the closed door for a few seconds before she turned on her heel and left.

'Nosy Ravenclaw,' mumbled Snape. 

He didn't need to explain anything to anyone. No one had ever cared for him in his life, not that he cared, why should he care about others?

Putting aside his argument with Vail, Snape soon fell asleep.

            He knew he was dreaming, for he saw his younger-self working on a fire potion in his old bedroom, a place he hadn't been to for many years.

'Ah… fireball,' whispered a female voice behind him.

'What can it do, Severus?'

Severus turned around and saw a slim figure standing in the corner.

'It can burn anything touches it within a second. A heating potion that is as dangerous as a volcano.'

'Right. Very good, Severus. You are truly gifted.' Her voice was gentle as wind and tender as silk. Severus could not see her face clearly, but he gave her a shy smile.

'Your potion is just as perfect as mine.'

'Really? Then when can I start helping you with your task?' Severus asked eagerly. He had been waited for the chance for so long, ever since he met her.

'You are still too young.'

Severus protested, 'I'll be 10 years old next month.'

'I know, my dear,' the woman chuckled.

'But you can't stop me from worrying about you, can you?'

'Then when can I help?'

'When you are really prepared, Severus; when you are old enough to distinguish between right and wrong and when you are strong enough to work out your own fate.' She came out from the shadow, kneeled down, and kissed his face.

'But before that, I am afraid I can't let you help.'

'It's not fair.' Severus scowled at her trying to express his disappointment.

'Why?' the woman asked in a tone showing that she had gone through the same conversation a thousand times.

Severus thought for a while and finally decided his reason. 'You've told me that the Heir of Slytherin is already out there playing with others. Why can't I go with him too?'

'Cause I love you and I don't love the Heir of Slytherin.' She hugged him from behind. Her body was soft and warm.

'I love you…'

Snape his eyes snapped open in an instant. He could remember every single detail of his dream: the way he made the Fireball potion, the conversation he had with the woman, the feeling he had towards her and the touch of her kiss on his left cheek; but he couldn't recall the face or identity of the woman.

'Wake up, Severus Snape. It was only a dream. That woman never existed. No one ever loved you. No one ever will.' Snape touched his left arm absent-mindedly. There was something in his life that would curse him forever.

It took him awhile to gain back his consciousness. He then got up and washed his face hard with cold water. He felt much better now; his rationality was coming back to him.

'Now, dress yourself and go to breakfast.' He ordered, determined to forget about the strange dream.

By the time he got to the dining hall, it was crowded with students and teachers. He strode past the students quickly, not wanting his morning to be spoiled by the noisy kids.

However, he stopped dead when he saw Annabelle. She was sitting with the other Gryffindors, playing with her food, fork in hand, looking spiritlessly at the pancakes.

'What are you doing, Miss Yates?' Snape almost bit off his tongue when he heard himself saying this.

Annabelle looked up; a lovely rosy red blush covered her face.

'I don't like sausages and pancakes.'

Several soft cries broke out from the surrounding. How could she talk with the potion master like this? He would give her detentions through Christmas for such a remark.

'Then don't eat.' Once again, Snape's mouth went against his will.

'But I am hungry.' The girl pouted.

            'Then eat.' Merlin, his mouth was out of his control this morning. 

At that moment, some brave souls from Gryffindor could not bear to see their fellow falling into the trap of the evil teacher. 

'Anna, I have chocolate frogs in my room.' Harry pushed her dish away from her.

'You don't need to eat here.'

Amazingly, Snape regained his self-control at the sight of Harry.

'10 points from Gryffindor for interrupting a teacher, Mr. Potter.' He paused, hesitated for a second,

'A point from Gryffindor for wasting your food, Miss Yates.'

'You better be careful in front of Snape,' said Harry after watching Snape off at safe distance.

'Why?' Annabelle frowned at his statement.

'Cause he's wicked,' Ron said. 'He's the head of Slytherin so he's the enemy of all Gryffindors.'

'How do you distinguish between enemy and friend?' Annabelle was now looking intensely at Snape's back. 'What do you know about this man?'

Ron silenced. He hadn't expected such response.

'Anna, we know loads more about Snape than you,' Hermione came to help Ron.

'Don't be fooled because he stood up for you last night. It may be the only

occasion that Snape ever stood up for someone.'

'Yes. Don't mess around with Snape, for your own good. Snape can turn very nasty.' Harry added worriedly. He didn't want her to be hurt.

'I see,' but golden sparks lit up in her brown eyes when she spoke.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

            DADA class.

'With Slytherin again,' moaned Ron loudly. 'I wonder who organizes our timetable every year.'

'Shut up, Weasley. Do you think we wish to see your poor Weasley's face so early in the morning?'

Ron turned around and not surprisingly saw Draco Malfoy.

'You can go away then.'

'I think you should be the one to go. After all, you can save your parents the troubles of paying your tuition fee.'

All the Slytherins broke into laughter.

'Duel, Malfoy,' yelled Ron with a burning red face.

'I am afraid I can't allow you to fight in my classroom, mister…' Professor Vail was standing beside the door.

'Ron Weasley, is it? Sit down, gentlemen.' She waved Ron and Draco to their seats.

'Sorry for a bit late, class. My name is Professor Emma Vail.' She glanced around the classroom.

'This is my first teaching job but I am positive that I can handle it very well. After all, I am a graduate from Hogwarts, I should have no problems in managing in my mother school.' She looked around again, and spoke slower this time,

'I won't teach in this lesson. Instead, I want to use the class period as a time to know where your level is and to let you know me more. So, I will do the roll call in this way: when I call you name, I will ask you one question about the dark art; after you answered, you can ask me any question in return and I will try my best to answer you. Is that clear?'

'What does that woman think she's doing?' Harry heard Malfoy saying this to Vincent.

'Is that your question for me,' Professor Vail looked into her name list for a second, and then called out, 'Mr. Malfoy? If so, then my answer is I am trying to build a bond between my students and I.' She stared into Malfoy's eyes and he glared back. After a good few minutes, Malfoy lost his staring contest and turned away. A cunning smile found its way to Professor Vail's lips.

'Isn't she beautiful?' Ron punched Harry with his elbow.

'Wait for your turn, Mr.Weasley. Let me ask Mr. Malfoy my question first.' Ron's face turned red the second time in this class.

'Mr. Malfoy, can you tell me how can you distinguish a werewolf from human?'

'I… I don't know.' Stuttered Malfoy.

'Yea,' cheered Ron in Malfoy's defeat.

'Mr. Weasley, I don't think I am beautiful. What is the most effective way to ward off a Boggart?'

'Well,' Ron didn't expect Professor Vail to turn to him that suddenly.

'Well, laughter?' He saw Hermione mouthing the answer to him.

'I saw that, Miss…'

'Granger, Professor.' Hermione's voice was a bit lower than usual, since she was caught cheating by a teacher.

'Miss Granger, what is your question?'

'Professor, I have read about you in 'Witches of this Century' and 'The 1000 most powerful wizards from Ravenclaw', why are you teaching DADA? Ravenclaws are not renowned for their ability in this subject.'

'Good question, Miss Granger. But I am afraid I can't award you any points for asking such a good personal question.' Professor Vail replied in a light tone. She seemed to be pleased with the question.

'First, Rowena Ravenclaw was a very clever witch; her knowledge did not stop at what she knew well. She was only more famous in other aspects, like potion, if you ask me. Second, how can you distinguish a person from which house he or she is from? No offense means, but a Gryffindor may give in for the dark side too.' Harry thought about Peter Pettigrew immediately. 

'What I mean is- class, remember, judge a person by who he is, not who he should be.'

There was a ten-second silence before Harry raised his hand.

'Then what do you think about Professor Snape?' asked Harry, remembering the conversation he had with Annabelle earlier in the morning.

'You are Mr. Potter, am I right?' said Professor Vail, spotting Harry's scar.

'Yes, Professor, I am.'

'Well, I am afraid your question is the very question that I don't really know how to answer. Professor Snape came to teach in Hogwarts in my seventh year. This means I was only his student for one short year. That's certainly not enough for me to judge him, especially accounting to the fact that he has changed quite a lot in these 9 years.'

'How old is Snape?' asked Millicent Bulstrode.

'How old are you?' asked Vincent at the same time.

Harry rolled his eyes upward.

'Snape is about 31 or 32, and I am 27.' Professor Vail answered fairly quickly.

'And, now it's time for me to ask you four questions.' She turned to Hermione first.

'What is a dementor, Miss Granger?'

Hermione replied with a whole 5-minute speech.

The class went by quickly. Harry started to think this year's DADA might not be as bad as he thought until Professor Vail's announcement.

'Before you leave, class. Please note that you have to hand in 3 rolls of parchment on the question I asked you. For those who cannot answer my question, or those who need help from others,' she eyed Ron and Neville briefly, 'write an extra roll please. You may leave now.'