Taranis is mine, the rest belong to JK Rowling..
Taranis tossed and turned that night and when she finally got to sleep she was awoken by a nightmare. Flashes of pain and a cruel face kept her from sleep the rest of the night.
Her first class was with the sixth year Gryffindor and Hufflepuffs. She sat quietly at her desk writing as the students came in and took their seats, scratching with her quill for several minutes before she suddenly stood up and pointed her wand, "Shande Liquidus!" The students looked at her in shock as both they and their desks began to sink into the floor. The instructor tried not to giggle at the looks on their faces, "ten points to the first one free!" At that she sat back in her chair and watched the children's futile attempts to free themselves. She was just about to give up and cast the counter curse when a girl began to rise. She cast her spell to free the rest of the class, much to the relief of the other students, "ten points to Gryffindor for miss?"
"Granger, Hermione Granger," was the reply.
"Well-done miss Granger, class you have just experienced a quick sand spell. Today I will teach you how to cast the spell and the counter spell."
The first day went well, all in all. The task of getting to know the students was daunting yet intriguing. The blond Slytherin boy, she discovered was Draco Malfoy and he was usually in the company of two slightly slobish, overweight boys. He was over confident and haughty and his continued leering unnerved her. She recalled how Snape had accused her of working with a Mr. Malfoy and she realized this must be his son.
Hermione Granger was an attractive young woman with long curly brown hair. Obviously the class know it all she was, indeed very bright and always had the right answers. Taranis was reminded of herself at that age, except she didn't flaunt the fact that 'she' knew it all. Miss Granger seemed to be a trio with a red headed boy named Ron Weasley and another boy, Harry Potter. As she passed the three in the hall, she was thinking about Harry. The name sounded familiar but she couldn't quite place it. She made a mental note to ask about him later.
The first few weeks went well she thought, although she had been somewhat short tempered from lack of sleep. Nightmares. Grateful that at least she only had to see Severus at mealtimes, and still embarrassed to think of their first encounter, she hoped he didn't notice her occasional glances his way. She had tried to ignore him altogether but found his dark presence drew her gaze more often than she'd like. One evening when she found herself seated in between Severus and Minerva she remembered to ask why Harry Potter sounded so familiar. She felt him stiffen beside her and she looked at him questioningly.
"Why professor," he drawled, "I thought everyone knew about the infamous Harry Potter, even as far away as America." He raised his eyebrows in mock innocense.
There goes that attitude again! She matched his innocent look, "well professor, since you have finally found 'one' thing that you know more about than I, why don't you enlighten me with your infinite wisdom." Perhaps the reference to the potion incident was a bit much, but he deserves to be put in his place. Minerva looked like she was trying hide a grin behind her napkin.
"Harry Potter is the boy who lived," came the terse, angry reply.
"So they all 'live' don't they," she questioned.
Minerva chose to take over the conversation at that point, "after killing his parents the Dark Lord turned on Harry. He's the only known person to survive the 'Avada Kadavra' that how he got that scar on his forehead."
Taranis suddenly felt ill, the killing curse, her body shivered with a sudden chill as memories and sharp as knives slashed through her body. She fought a wave of nausea as she sat in silence, trying to calm herself and act normal when what she really wanted was to run to her room. While Minerva got up to leave the table, she sat taking a few more deep breaths, "he was almost killed himself right? And somehow he's back,? Voldemort right?" she questioned.
"We do not speak his name!" The dark man hissed. "He is referred to as either the Dark Lord or He Who Must Not Be Named."
"That doesn't make any sense, fear of a name gives him power, more fear of the person and all. Who started that anyway the ministry?"
"I assure you the Dark Lord and his followers are a company worthy of fear," he hissed, "consider yourself lucky to have been living in a place there is no Dark Lord."
Taranis put her fork down and paused for a moment to collect her thoughts, "just because there is no self proclaimed Dark Lord Severus, doesn't mean there is no evil." Looking at him out of the corner of her eye she continued softly, "evil can be disguised as anyone and you'd never know it until it makes a mistake and reveals itself, and if you're lucky, you're still alive after it does."
"Here you are a plethora of knowledge on evil, are you teaching them the Forbidden Curses too?"
Sadness suddenly overcame her as she replied quietly, "No, I'm afraid that's my father's area of expertise." Taranis took a deep breath and broke away from the moment of melancholia, "I will never teach nor show the students the forbidden curses that you can be sure of Professor Snape," was the icy reply. She met his eyes and refused to back down, "if they weren't illegal I'd surely let you step in and teach that area, you seem to have a knack for torturing people. Not that 'I' would know anything about 'that' either."
"Tsk, and I wouldn't have thought you a pampered, sheltered little girl," he said drenched in bitter sarcasm.
That's it! Taranis was so ticked off it was frustrating, "Ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne," she mimicked, "uh! Severus get real! Would I be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts if I didn't have any experience? What makes you think you know so much anyway?" She threw down her napkin pushed back from the table.
Snape watched closely as the color drained from her face, it was not at all the reaction he had anticipated. He expected her to pump him for all of the juicy details about Potter. She had tried to cover it but he could see her shiver from what? Fear? Certainly not pity for Potter, he didn't believe they had become close at all. She had indicated her experience and knowledge of dark forces, even made a reference to her father being involved. Surely Dumbledore wouldn't let her teach here if she were dangerous.
Over the next few weeks Snape tried to avoid her as much as possible. Dumbledore, unfortunately required his presence at meals, so that was unavoidable. He was uneasy around her, and made it a point not to look up when he felt her eyes on him, but unfortunately he had a hard time suppressing the emotions running through his veins when he saw her. As this caused him to be in a more foul mood than normal he found himself deducting points for the most minor of offences. On the good side, Hermione Granger had stopped raising her hand in fear of losing points for Gryffindor for being an insufferable know it all. Neville Longbottom's complete incompetence grated on him so badly he could hardly stand to be in the same room with him. He was sorely tempted to take all of the remaining points from Gryffindor for the mere fact of his presence. He had of course refrained from deducting points from Slytherin, he was after all head of that particular house. Some amusement was granted him at the sight of the students grimacing and scurrying out of his way as he stalked the hallways. Most of the students seemed to like their new professor, he noted. He had heard several comments from them lately however about how her teaching methods were as strict as his as of late and one little snippet about Longbottom fearing for his life after he had caught his desk on fire for the third time that month. Suppressing a snigger, he stormed off to the dungeons.
Taranis was so weary from lack of sleep she could hardly stand it. Normally and hour or so playing her guitar lulled her to sleep, but even that hadn't been working. She realized that her incredibly short temper was affecting the students after the poor Longbottom boy had left her class in tears this morning. She recalled how she had yelled at him in front of the other students, "what depth of incompetence could possible lead you to continue to try to burn this class to the floor!", at least she only took ten points though. Her breaking point was when she overheard some students comparing her to the Potions Master, "she's become as horrible as Snape,' they'd said. A Dreamless Draught was definitely in order, but she knew she didn't have the necessary ingredients to make it. Gritting her teeth, she headed down to Snape's office to beg some from him.
"Come!" he bellowed in response to the knock. He looked up as she entered the room. "Yes Miss Aislin? What do you want?" She looked slightly ill he thought, yet still he tried to suppress a tug from his groin. She wasn't wearing robes again and he tried not to notice the swell of her breasts under her gown.
"I was just hoping I could borrow some Wormsroot. Please," she spoke softly.
"Trouble sleeping?" She nodded. "Not used to being so far away from home?" He actually tried to sound calm and soothing but it ended up with a sarcastic ring anyway.
"Thanks for your concern, I'm just having some nightmares and need to whip up some Dreamless Draught."
"I have some already made up just in case, you're welcome to it." He took a vial off the shelf and held it out to her.
Taranis moved to take the vial and then stopped, "thanks really but I can make it up in a jiff if I could just have the Wormsroot," a sudden pained look crossed her eyes and she pressed a hand to her forehead.
"Nonsense, that Draught takes several hours to prepare and you look ready to drop," he demanded as he moved toward her. She really didn't look well and Severus found himself concerned, his brows furrowed, didn't she trust him?
"Severus," came the quiet reply, "I've found that if you boil the root first instead of last the rest of the ingredients dissolve almost immediately, five ten minutes tops. Not quite as effective, but fast." She placed her hand on his arm and looked pleadingly into his eyes. "I'll bring some over this weekend and show you if you'd like?"
He nodded and stood gazing at her for a moment. She is so lovely, her blue eyes sparkling up at him hopefully. Silently he went to his stores and pulled out a jar, filling a small vial with the contents and handing it to her.
Taranis smiled up at him as she took the vial and left silently.