TITLE: Blood and Potions - Section One: Of Snakes and Night Skies
ABBREVIATED TITLE: BaP:S1
Part: 2/? ("I've decided to take the job")
AUTHOR: Cardinal Syn/Jamie Carlson
RATING: PG-13 for Language and Adult Themes
SPOILERS: Misc. Harry Potter spoilers
DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter and all things HP belong to JK Rowling. Not me. The characters Lilium Beryl, Liam Crescent, and Nii Nah Maxwell belong to me.

NOTES: Dhampir is one of the many spellings for a creature that is half-vampire and half-human. Also, this is a "continuation" of my first Harry Potter Fanfiction, "Searching for Acceptance", (which wasn't very good in my eyes, but I'm trying harder here!) and contains the characters Liam and Nii Nah, introduced in S4A.
WARNINGS: Language and adult themes.
PAIRINGS: Hints at Ron/Hermione, Snape/OC (original character), and a one-sided Liam/Nii Nah later on
MAIN CHARACTERS (in order of most prominent in the story): OC (original character) and Severus Snape; Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco Malfoy, Liam and Nii Nah Maxwell; Albus Dumbledore and the other teachers at Hogwarts School of Witchraft and Wizardry
FANFICTION.NET SUMMARY: Albus Dumbledore has taken it upon himself to hire a Defense Against Vampires specialist, who accepts with great hesitation - as she is a dhampir herself.
EXTENDED SUMMARY: Albus Dumbledore has decided that it is time for Hogwarts to have a fulltime Defense Against Vampires teacher, and has chosen a renowned vampire specialist. But this vampire specialist is a bit hesitant to take the offer as she, herself, is a Dhampir; half-vampire, half human. When she decides to turn down the position, something interesting happens that changes her mind, and makes her decide to stay....

A/N: Changes have been made to this chapter. Please see Story Notes below.

Story Last Updated: September 15, 2002

Story Notes (added September 15, 2002): (this is the same stuff I wrote in ch. 1's update (which consisted only of the notes and update note) I have finally finished reading all 4 of the first Harry Potter books (and it will be a while til I can get my hands on Book Five, there are over 1000 holds on it at my local library and I can't afford to buy it when it's out =.( Nuts!). And so, after reading the events in Book Four, I have decided to revise the first six chapters of my story to coincide with these events. (Good thing I'm only halfway done with chapter seven at the point of revision!!!)

r/r is appreciated. Flames will be used to burn Severus Snape hate-mail.

______________________________________________________________________________
Blood and Potions - Section One: Of Snakes and Night Skies
PART TWO -
"I've decided to take the job"
______________________________________________________________________________

Angry and annoyed at Lilium, although not showing it (just yet), Snape asked her to wait a moment so he could discuss something with her. She apologized, saying she had to speak with Dumbledore, but would get back to him as quickly as she could, and left.

Wrapping up his class, sending the children off, Snape thought back to Lilium. She had handled the children rather expertly, but her deliberate frightening of Draco Malfoy and her dismissive attitude toward Snape himself annoyed him to no end. He knew she thought of him as arrogant and cold already, having just met him - everyone did, and the thought didn't bother him. But the fact that she stood up to him in his own class and mocked his authority, even ever so slightly, angered him.

Finishing clearing up his own area, picking up his wand form his desk and locking away his grade and record-books, he left his classroom with a flaring of his cloak. Once he was in the hall, he locked the door behind him, finished with the last class of the day.

He spotted Lilium speaking with Hermione and Liam, and felt a fresh pang of anger. She had said she was to discuss something with Dumbledore, but naturally was willing to stop and chat with who were undoubtedly her two biggest fans yet. He walked over to them, stopping before the two third-years fluidly.

"Miss Crescent, go back to your dorm and get ready for the evening meal. Class is dismissed."

Liam looked up at him, her brilliantly green eyes searching his own. He had the disturbing feeling that she was reading his soul - he realized that very few people had the ability to disturb him, and that Liam was one of them didn't surprise them. She was much as Snape was himself when he was her age.

Liam turned back to Hermione and nodded. "I will speak with you later, Hermione." She then smiled at Lilium. "Good evening, Miss Beryl. It was a pleasure meeting you, and I hope that you will take the teaching position. I feel there is much for you to offer to the students here."

With a nod of acknowledgement to Professor Snape, Liam excused herself and headed for the Slytherin dormitories. Snape now turned his attention on Hermione.

"And you belong in your dorm as well, Miss Granger," he said coldly. Hermione nodded rapidly, and bid a quick farewell to Lilium before hugging her oversized book to her chest and speed walking off in the directiong of the Gryffindor dorms. Now his attention was on Lilium.

"You have some nerve," he said, his voice quiet and leaning dangerously toward menacing. "To act anything but completely polite and adult in my class."

Miss Beryl looked up at him, for even though she was tall, he was still taller than she. Her violet eyes bored into the blackness of his own, and he felt much the same feeling as he got from Liam Crescent.

"And how was I impolite? Oh, that's right - I returned your less-than-sweet gestures, looks, and various body language that conveyed your own personal thoughts of me to be less than pleasant to the whole class." Lilium's eyes glittered angrily. "Whereas, if I can recall, nothing I said or did would be undermining you or your authority, and if it was, I did it in such a fashion that your students didn't catch it."

"The fact that you used such gestures at all -"

"The fact is, Professor Snape," Lilium interrupted, "unlike the children, I have every prerogative to return the favor to you. When they do it, on the other hand, points are taken away from their house and they can be punished. And how, exactly, would you see to punishing me, Professor?" She was veritably purring, confident in her immunity to his scathing looks and powers of punishment and point-taking. "I'm not afraid of you, Professor Snape."

Inwardly raging now, Snape stepped closed to Lilium, stooping his head down to glare balefully down at her.

"I am not seeking for you to be afraid of me, Miss Beryl. But I want you to understand one thing - in my class, no one undermines my authority." His voice was tight and controlled, but the silkiness was gone and replaced with boiling anger. "Do. You. Understand?"

Lilium leaned closer to him, her own eyes glowing with contempt. "And I suggest you do the same. If you want respect from me, Severus, show that you can respect me. If you feel you can't, if you feel I don't deserve it, you don't deserve mine."

She spun away quickly and stormed down the corridor, her black robes billowing about her, riding the winds of her anger.

Snape stood silently in the hall, collecting himself. And waiting for his heart to slow down.

/*\

Lilium walked purposefully, angry at herself for allowing Snape to get under her skin, as well as at him for being such an arrogant pig. She smiled stiffly at the various passersby who greeted her, but her anger was still palpable.

She reached the gargoyle that hid the passage to Dumbledore's office, and muttered the password. It jumped to the side, and she began the long ascent.

As she neared Dumbledore's office, her anger had all but dissipated. She couldn't help but wonder why she had changed her mind. But then again, she knew why....

~Why would I even want to work here in the first place?~ she asked herself worriedly. ~Weird things happen here every year... The whole thing with the Sorcerer's Stone two years ago... That whole Chamber of Secrets escapade.. Professor Lockhart still doesn't have all of his memory back, I hear.... Oh well, he was pretty stupid anyway... I never did like him....~ She frowned again. ~And now.... Sirius Black escaping... his coming to Hogwarts... having to watch my back while I'm here now,~

She frowned to herself. ~But why don't I sense anything particularly vicious out there in the Forest, or anywhere in this castle, at least where my senses can breach?~ Lilium sighed. ~But I know the answer to my own stupid question already.. I know why I'm going to work here...~ Her mind returned to the present, and to the task at hand, and of course, to her argument moments earlier.

She knew that her chat with Hermione and Liam angered Snape even more, but she wanted to speak to the two again before she left - at least, she thought she was leaving. But now, she wasn't so sure.

~Maybe he isn't in,~ she thought. ~Then I can just leave and not worry about it -~

But even as this last desperate thought entered her mind, the door swung open. Dumbledore smiled at Lilium pleasantly.

"I was just on my way to dinner," he said, stepping out into the hall with her. "Care to walk with me?"

"Er, of course," Lilium replied, flustered. "But Sir, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"And what may that be, my dear?"

"Well..." Lilium crossed her arms, and began walking next to the Headmaster. "I've decided to take the job, at least for a year. If it doesn't work out, though, you will have to replace me with someone else." She frowned a little at Albus' knowing smile.

"I figured that the Potions class would change your mind. How do you like Liam and Hermione? And I believe you have finally met Professor Snape?" His eyebrows arched at her expression of disgust. "What's wrong, my dear? You look ill."

"Professor Snape," she started, her voice conveying her dislike of the man, "and I got off to a very rough start. And I find myself disliking most of the Slytherin students, except for Liam. Hermione is very bright, and I'll enjoy teaching them, I think." Albus chuckled.

"Weren't you placed in Slytherin ten years ago, before your father angrily pulled you out of Hogwarts?"

Lilium smiled bemusedly, having hoped he would not have remembered that. "Yes."

When she was eleven, Lilium had gotten the chance to go to Hogwarts - but shortly after the Sorting and Welcoming Dinner, her father had arrived and dragged her back home, being in a very bad mood and wishing to take it out on her. He couldn't since she was at Hogwarts, so removed her from the school.

"At any rate, I'm glad you've decided to take the job. I don't think I'll announce it until next year's Welcoming Dinner, along with everything else planned for next year...." he added, his eyes twinkling. Lilium looked at him curiously, but he changed the subject before she could ask. "So will you be leaving tonight, as planned?"

"Only to go and prepare for my new position here - pick up supplies, books, clothes, and so on. I'll probably be back within a week after the school year's end to plan everything out." Lilium and Dumbledore had reached the banquet hall. She sighed. "I just hope I'm making the right decision."