A/N: None of these characters are mine except the obvious. The Harry potter characters belong to the amazing J.K Rowling. Please R&R.

Chapter 11: First Class

Snape sat at his desk with his face buried in his hands. A little after midnight, he decided he would retire to his rooms. He knew sleep would evade him yet again -as it always did. No sleeping draught he concocted because nothing he perfected would let help him escape into a blissful sleep..So he would take the Ogden's route instead.

"Please no! NO!"

Laura suddenly bolted straight up in her bed. She was covered in a cold sweat that made her tremble as she pulled her covers tightly around her. The hooded men still, after all these years, haunted her dreams. They mocked her for not being there to protect her family when they needed her most. Instead, she was at school learning to protect herself. 'How selfish of me,' she thought bitterly.

Laura stood from her bed and took the green robe she had put on the chair earlier over her nightgown. She had to go see Poppy about a dreamless sleeping potion. Even though Laura was the potion mistress, she had yet to find the time to prepare her own stock - she would do that first thing today.

When she reached the infirmary, Madame Poppy regretfully informed her that she was out of the dreamless sleep and would have to be restocked, but that she could see Snape for the potion. Poppy assured her that even at 2 AM, Snape rarely slept and that he wouldn't mind her coming down to the dungeons to ask for a potion.

Laura walked down the long dark corridors of the dungeon and stood in front of a large, familiar wooden door. She knocked softly and waited but there was no answer. When she went to knock again, the door was yanked open and she was greeted by a very drunk man.

"What do you want?" Snape hissed before the door was open wide enough to see who his visitor was.

"Pop-Poppy said I could see you about a dreamless sleep potion," Laura said timidly when his bloodshot eyes fixed open her face.

After a moment, Snape turned around and strolled away with the door left open behind him. Laura thought it appropriate to stay in the hallway until he returned.

"Well, don't just stand there! Do you want the potion or not?" he yelled from inside the office.

Laura cautiously walked inside and closed the door behind her. She looked around and suddenly saw him waiting for her with his arms crossed over his chest in what was probably his private storage room. She assumed correctly upon arrival seeing vials and bottles lining the walls of the small rectangular room. The ingredients and potions were all elegantly labeled and in alphabetical order.

"Why have you not prepared your own?" he asked while reaching up to an opened box that contained vials of prepared potions. He swore as he almost knocked the box from the shelf, and then carefully pulled a murky gray-green vial and handed it to her.

"I've just been too terribly busy with lesson plans and making potions for Poppy to get around to it," she told him after taking the vial and placing it into a deep pocket in her robe.

"Hmm."

"Look, I should have talked to you yesterday when we were on the subject that I was sorry for my behavior as well. It was very unprofessional and childish of me. I've just had so much on my mind that-" Laura never got to finish her statement. Snape took it upon himself stop her rambling the only way a drunk man knows how - with his mouth.

While Remus was gentle and unsure, Snape was the complete opposite. He was demanding and possessive and his kiss was like nothing Laura had experienced. His tongue skimmed over her bottom lip while his hand wrapped around her waist. The voice inside her head told her to pull free and run like hell while her body told her otherwise. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer while she opened her mouth to him. He groaned almost silently in response as he caressed her mouth with his lips while dueling with her tongue. She could taste the whiskey on him and thought, 'Ogden's, good choice.' She pulled away, out of breath as he moved to her neck, biting the soft flesh that caused her to yelp in surprise. He then soothed the offended flesh with feather-like kisses as his hands explored her silky locks. His mouth returned to hers and his hands began to remove her robe from her shoulders when Laura pulled away from him.

"I'm sorry," she said with an uneven breath as she rearranged her attire and jogged to the office door.

"For what?" Snape asked, following closely behind her.

"I think I should go. Thank you for the potion."

When Laura got back to her rooms, her mind was completely on Snape and the kiss they shared. She knew his actions had to be caused by his drunkenness, but she felt something - something she had never felt before. She took the vial from her robe pocket and took a sip. Her mind was still racing as she climbed back into bed until sleep overtook her.

When Laura woke up hours later, she decided to skip breakfast. She rushed to get dressed so she could get down to her class and prepare for her first class - 6th year Gryffindor and Slytherin.

Since most of the students were still at breakfast, Laura had about an hour to get the ingredients ready for her lesson ready. She could skip lunch later and prepare the dreamless sleep for Poppy and herself then - she had a feeling she would need it.

When the students began entering into the potion classroom, they didn't see Professor Jones, they saw an old hag with tattered robes and dirty gray hair standing over a boiling cauldron.

"Excuse me, but where is Professor Jones?" a Gryffindor asked when the class was supposed to begin.

"Silence! That is none of your concern," she croaked in a dry, high-pitched voice.

As the old woman began to speak, she threw in ingredients as they were called for.

"Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd. Thrice; and once the hedge-pig when'd. Harpier cries: - 'tis time, 'tis time. Round about the cauldron go; In the poison'd entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone, day and nights hast thirty-one swelter'd venom sleeping got, boil thou first i' the charmed pot!

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn; and cauldron, bubble. Fillet of a fenny snake, in the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog; adder's fork, and howlet's wing, for a charm of powerful trouble, like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn; and cauldron, bubble. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, witches mummy, maw and gulf of the ravin'd salt-sea shark, root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark, liver of blaspheming Jew, gall of goat, and slip of yew sliver'd in the moon's eclipse, nose of Turk; and Tartar's lips, finger of birth-strangled babe, ditch-delivered by a drab, make the gruel thick and slab: Add thereto a tiger's chaudron. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn; and cauldron, bubble. Cool it with baboon's blood, then the charm is firm and good." With the final ingredient added, a dark cloud of smoke shot from the cauldron, the potion turned black, and the old hag turned into Professor Jones.

"Now, class, can anyone tell me where this passage comes from?"

Hermione Granger's hand waved madly in the air.

Laura chuckled softly, "Yes, Miss Granger?"

"The passage you recited comes from William Shakespeare's Macbeth, probably composed in late 1606 or early 1607. Macbeth is the last of Shakespeare's four great tragedies."

"Very good, Miss Granger, 20 points to Gryffindor."

Knock Knock Knock

"Come in," Laura called from her desk.

"Hi, Laura."

"Oh, hello, Sam! How was your day?" she asked, putting her quill down.

"It was fun," Sam said while swinging her legs over the side of the chair across from Laura's desk. "What about yours?"

"It went really well, I think, but I can't believe how many of the students didn't know who Shakespeare was. Only six students out of the four classes that I taught today knew who he was."

"What did you read to them?"

"Macbeth."

"Ah, 'Double, double toil and trouble' how original," Sam said sarcastically.

"Well, I couldn't think of anything else. What else was I supposed to do?"

Sam didn't answer. Clearly she had something else on her mind.

"Laura?"

"Yes?"

"Do you- Do you think Mum and Dad wo-would be proud of me? Being in Slytherin and all?"

"I'm not quite sure. When I was put into Slytherin, they were pretty upset" Laura stopped when she saw the fear in Sam's eyes. "But I think they would be proud of you no matter what house you're in."

"What happened that night? The night they died?" Sam asked quietly after waiting a minute or two.

"I- I don't want to talk about it," Laura said, picking up her quill again.

"Why won't you tell me?" Sam asked angrily, "I'm not a little girl anymore. I'm 11 years old. I can handle it!"

"Well, I can't, ok!" Tears began rolling down her face, but Laura tried to wipe them away quickly. "I can't handle reliving that moment, Sam! You don't understand that I was only 16 when they died and you had just turned 4. We lived with the Grey's for a year and then I had to go to university and take you with me. I wasn't ready to live by myself! I wasn't ready to raise a child! Sam, I loved you so much and you know I still do," she reached out and took Sam's hand, "but I wasn't ready to give up my life."

"I HATE YOU!" Sam screamed, pulling her hand away from Laura. Laura stood and tried to stop her sister, but Sam continued screaming as she ran from the room and slammed the door.

Laura fell to her hands and knees and sobbed. Her entire world was crashing down on her and she couldn't do a thing about it. After her eyes no longer could produce anymore tears, Laura picked herself up and walked over to her desk. Her head was pounding as she picked up a large jar of Moonseeds and threw it at a nearby wall. The jar easily shattered on contact and sent the seeds flying in all directions. Not feeling that that was enough, Laura ran to the wall mirror and slammed her fist into it, causing pieces of glass to embed into her hands.

"Why?" she screamed with a hoarse voice, "Why did you have to leave me?" Laura sank to the floor, welcoming the pain of glass cutting through robes to her flesh as she waited for the answer that wouldn't come.

Hey everyone. Here was a little romance, but not a whole lot. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Thanks to my reviewers!! You're the best

And to my beta, Kim!! I couldn't do this without your help.