A.N. Okay since the one reviewer who said anything about it told me to go a
head with a romance (and I wanted to give it a shot anyway) I am going to
make this an S/S romance. By the way 'Astra' means star. I thought it an
appropriate name for an astronomy teacher. Okay, there will probably be a
bit of Snape talking to himself in here. A bit of a warm up for romance.
Hey, what did you think about how I (Snape: you mean I) dealt with the
dilemma? Okay for those wondering why Harry hasn't been mentioned much… he
and his friends probably won't be in here much. Sorry but that's the way it
goes. Of course if you don't like them maybe your glad they aren't here.
Okay on with the story.
Christmas
A few weeks passed. Nothing notable happened. Malvont spent half his time in potions glaring at Goldstone. Perhaps I should force them to work together. Than again I'd rather not have any deaths in my classroom. I had no more company. However perhaps I was imagining it but it seemed that Astra was smiling at me a bit more. Longbottom continued going through more cauldrons in two months than I had in my entire life. In fact few of the seventh years had learned much. Malfoy was good but was becoming more distant and withdrawn. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do about it. I suspected that his father was pressuring him to take the Dark Mark. Perhaps he had. Either way he wouldn't be talking to me about it.
It was now Christmas and I was enduring the staff Christmas party. There was food and drink and even a decorated tree with presents. I had taken some food and was hiding as far in the corner as I could. I'm not scared of open spaces it was just crowded. I knew there wouldn't be anything under the tree for me. Well, except for something from Dumbledore. He gives a gift to every teacher so that didn't count.
/So you're just going to hide in the corner/
'I am not hiding. I am…'
/Sparing everyone your miserable company/
'Shut up'
/There's Astra laughing with McGonagall. Why don't you say something to her?/
'First of all there's nothing to say. Second of all why should I? Third, Why would she want to talk to me? She seems to be enjoying herself.'
/ You should because you like her./
'Do not'
/You do. You even had a crush on her in school/
'I was a student then. I am now a teacher.'
/Just because you're a teacher doesn't mean you're just a mean old ogre to frighten students./
'I happen to enjoy frightening students'
/That's not the point/
'There's a point?'
However my internal dialogue was cut short when none other but Astra Sinistra came and sat down next to me.
"You look depressed, what's wrong?" she asked.
I stared at her in shock for a moment.
/Say something/
"I'm not depressed. I'm merely losing an argument with myself"
'I did not just say that.'
/Yes you did/
'Stop gloating'
"Yes, inner arguments are the hardest to win." She stated sagely. Okay any second now she was going to crack up laughing and announce to the entire staff that I had lost whatever sanity I still possessed. But she didn't. Instead she merely said, "Did you know you have some presents under the tree?"
"Well, naturally there's the one from Dumbledore…"
"No, Severus, I mean plural."
I look at her, trying to figure out if she was joking. She didn't appear to be so I headed over to the tree. She was right. I had three. I stared in shock. Not one of them said on the outside who they were from but I could tell that the purple with shapes on it was from Dumbledore. He likes things colorful like that. The other two were in slightly more conservative or at least traditional Christmas wrapping paper. I caught Astra smiling at me while I walked back to my seat presents in hand. I opened Dumbledore's first. It was a new set of unbreakable vials for my potions. They were also guaranteed not to affect the effectiveness of the potion. Also they managed to fit however much liquid there was without changing shape. They were definitely a Very Nice set.
The next present was wrapped in green paper with sprigs of holly on it. I opened it to find a hand-knitted scarf in green and silver. It was from Sophia Goldstone. As I mentioned my surprise to this Astra laughed.
"You haven't been paying much attention, have you! The girl knitted a scarf for everyone. Mine is mostly black with some white spots," She showed me hers, "All the heads of houses got their house colors. Dumbledore got one that had every houses colors on it. Professor Bins even got one in bright orange. She also did a brown one for Filch and a variegated one for Hagrid. Oh, and Dumbledore also got some knitted wool socks."
We both had to laugh at this. Dumbledore's semi-obsession with socks was legendary.
"Where did the girl find time to knit a scarf for each of her teachers and some socks and study?"
It was about then the entire staff began discussing said student. That was how I learned that she wasn't too bad a student in most classes but definitely slow. Transfiguration she was okay at. Charms she was usually one of the last to get it right. Herbology wasn't too bad but then again it is almost impossible to fail that class. I wasn't sure what they were learning in DADA so didn't even bother to see how she did. As far as flying went she still was barely getting off the ground. She would probably master it as transportation by the end of the year, but she certainly wasn't going to be in Qudditch. Definitely more of the bookworm type than the athlete type.
The conversation started to die down and I remembered that I still had one more present left in my lap. Astra had disappeared by then. It was in black wrapping paper with small Christmas trees on it. I opened it up and found a fairly large white crystal. There was a note in the box telling me to hold the crystal in front of a candle with a wall in front of that. There was no mention in the note about who sent it. I decided to leave the party (it was about to end any way) and try out the crystal. I went down to the dungeons. As I got there I realized I was starting to get a bit cold. So I put on the scarf. It was pretty warm too. A little scratchy but nice and warm. I got down to my room and decided to test the crystal. Holding it in front of the candle, I turned my head to look at the wall. The Northern Lights. Astra. I put it down and found myself smiling for a minute. Now I had to give something to her…
A. N. Any suggestions folks? Please review! I beg of you!
Christmas
A few weeks passed. Nothing notable happened. Malvont spent half his time in potions glaring at Goldstone. Perhaps I should force them to work together. Than again I'd rather not have any deaths in my classroom. I had no more company. However perhaps I was imagining it but it seemed that Astra was smiling at me a bit more. Longbottom continued going through more cauldrons in two months than I had in my entire life. In fact few of the seventh years had learned much. Malfoy was good but was becoming more distant and withdrawn. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do about it. I suspected that his father was pressuring him to take the Dark Mark. Perhaps he had. Either way he wouldn't be talking to me about it.
It was now Christmas and I was enduring the staff Christmas party. There was food and drink and even a decorated tree with presents. I had taken some food and was hiding as far in the corner as I could. I'm not scared of open spaces it was just crowded. I knew there wouldn't be anything under the tree for me. Well, except for something from Dumbledore. He gives a gift to every teacher so that didn't count.
/So you're just going to hide in the corner/
'I am not hiding. I am…'
/Sparing everyone your miserable company/
'Shut up'
/There's Astra laughing with McGonagall. Why don't you say something to her?/
'First of all there's nothing to say. Second of all why should I? Third, Why would she want to talk to me? She seems to be enjoying herself.'
/ You should because you like her./
'Do not'
/You do. You even had a crush on her in school/
'I was a student then. I am now a teacher.'
/Just because you're a teacher doesn't mean you're just a mean old ogre to frighten students./
'I happen to enjoy frightening students'
/That's not the point/
'There's a point?'
However my internal dialogue was cut short when none other but Astra Sinistra came and sat down next to me.
"You look depressed, what's wrong?" she asked.
I stared at her in shock for a moment.
/Say something/
"I'm not depressed. I'm merely losing an argument with myself"
'I did not just say that.'
/Yes you did/
'Stop gloating'
"Yes, inner arguments are the hardest to win." She stated sagely. Okay any second now she was going to crack up laughing and announce to the entire staff that I had lost whatever sanity I still possessed. But she didn't. Instead she merely said, "Did you know you have some presents under the tree?"
"Well, naturally there's the one from Dumbledore…"
"No, Severus, I mean plural."
I look at her, trying to figure out if she was joking. She didn't appear to be so I headed over to the tree. She was right. I had three. I stared in shock. Not one of them said on the outside who they were from but I could tell that the purple with shapes on it was from Dumbledore. He likes things colorful like that. The other two were in slightly more conservative or at least traditional Christmas wrapping paper. I caught Astra smiling at me while I walked back to my seat presents in hand. I opened Dumbledore's first. It was a new set of unbreakable vials for my potions. They were also guaranteed not to affect the effectiveness of the potion. Also they managed to fit however much liquid there was without changing shape. They were definitely a Very Nice set.
The next present was wrapped in green paper with sprigs of holly on it. I opened it to find a hand-knitted scarf in green and silver. It was from Sophia Goldstone. As I mentioned my surprise to this Astra laughed.
"You haven't been paying much attention, have you! The girl knitted a scarf for everyone. Mine is mostly black with some white spots," She showed me hers, "All the heads of houses got their house colors. Dumbledore got one that had every houses colors on it. Professor Bins even got one in bright orange. She also did a brown one for Filch and a variegated one for Hagrid. Oh, and Dumbledore also got some knitted wool socks."
We both had to laugh at this. Dumbledore's semi-obsession with socks was legendary.
"Where did the girl find time to knit a scarf for each of her teachers and some socks and study?"
It was about then the entire staff began discussing said student. That was how I learned that she wasn't too bad a student in most classes but definitely slow. Transfiguration she was okay at. Charms she was usually one of the last to get it right. Herbology wasn't too bad but then again it is almost impossible to fail that class. I wasn't sure what they were learning in DADA so didn't even bother to see how she did. As far as flying went she still was barely getting off the ground. She would probably master it as transportation by the end of the year, but she certainly wasn't going to be in Qudditch. Definitely more of the bookworm type than the athlete type.
The conversation started to die down and I remembered that I still had one more present left in my lap. Astra had disappeared by then. It was in black wrapping paper with small Christmas trees on it. I opened it up and found a fairly large white crystal. There was a note in the box telling me to hold the crystal in front of a candle with a wall in front of that. There was no mention in the note about who sent it. I decided to leave the party (it was about to end any way) and try out the crystal. I went down to the dungeons. As I got there I realized I was starting to get a bit cold. So I put on the scarf. It was pretty warm too. A little scratchy but nice and warm. I got down to my room and decided to test the crystal. Holding it in front of the candle, I turned my head to look at the wall. The Northern Lights. Astra. I put it down and found myself smiling for a minute. Now I had to give something to her…
A. N. Any suggestions folks? Please review! I beg of you!