Disclaimer: JK Rowling is the master of the universe and I bow down before her infinite wisdom. She and her various publishers and Warner Bros. own everything. All I own is my pride (and that's open to negotiation.)

Pairings: Harry/Severus and some others are mentioned

Rating: R (for future chapters)

Spoilers: All five books

Warning: This is a Snarry fan fic and is therefore, SLASH. If you don't like slash, feel free not to read any further.

A/N: Anything in italics denotes thought.

Chapter 2  Sunday, Bloody Sunday

Severus was sitting at his desk in his office, making a few last minute changes to his lesson plans. He had been teaching for so many years now that he could re-use a lot of his lessons, but he liked to change them a little every year to keep up with improvements in the field, and also to prevent students with older siblings from cheating.

It was Sunday September 1st. Sunday, bloody Sunday, he thought wearily. The students would be arriving on the Hogwarts Express later this evening, and classes would begin tomorrow.

He grimaced at the thought. Another year of snot-nosed brats blowing up his laboratory, pulling pranks on one another, trying to break into his personal stores for their pathetic attempts at love potions, and generally annoying the hell out of him. Another year of grading the pathetic essays of the Hufflepuffs, and of having to sit through the detentions he was forced to hand out. Many students believed he liked giving out detentions, but they didn't realize that it was just as much of a punishment for him.

He thought back to his first few years at Hogwarts, when he had eagerly anticipated the start of each year. It has been another chance for him to change the world. When did I become so jaded about teaching? he mused. Just as well, his mind argued, Such hopes and dreams never caused anyone anything but disillusionment.

"I wonder how long it will take Potter to figure it out?" he whispered under his breath.

Now where did that come from? Really, the younger man had the most annoying habit of popping into his head, unbidden, at the most unexpected times.

Oh, come now, Snape. You can't really blame Potter for the fact that you are thinking about him, a small voice in his mind whispered.

"Quiet, you." Snape muttered.

"Talking to yourself now, Severus?" Minerva McGonagall asked from the doorway. "That's never a good sign," she quipped, peering at him with one eyebrow raised.

"Oh! Minerva, I didn't hear you come in."

"No, I imagine your conversation with yourself was just too intriguing to be paying attention to anything as trivial as what's happening around you," she smirked.

The two professors were always going at each other like this. They both enjoyed the banter, and both had learned long ago not to take the other's jabs too seriously.

"How long have you been standing there?" he asked, feeling a trifle foolish.

"Just long enough to hear you tell yourself to be quiet. And I must say, many are the students who would have wished to hear anyone tell you to be quiet, let alone hear you say it to yourself."

"And I know just as many who would wish the same of you. In any event, please, have a seat," he offered, indicating the chair opposite his desk, "I'd rather not strain my neck looking up at you from where I'm sitting."

"Thank you Severus," she replied as she sat down, "I'm here on behalf of the staff."

"Oh?" He could tell where this was going, but decided to play it dumb.

"It seems I have been elected to speak to you about our newest addition."

"Now Miner-"

"Please," she cut him off, holding up her hand. "We know you two have had differences in the past. We don't expect you to become friends. You don't even have to talk to him. All we ask is that when you are forced to be around each other, you behave civilly. Or at the very least, don't show any open hostility towards him. This is for the peace of mind of the staff, and for the good of the children. It wouldn't do for them to see dissent in the ranks."

"Dissent in the ranks?" he echoed, incredulously. "You know, the war ended five years ago. Is you memory really getting that bad, Minerva?"

"You know what I mean."

"Very well," he sighed. "I suppose Potter is receiving the same lecture from either Hermione or Hagrid?"

"Both," she replied with a smile. "But I'm not sure that we needed to send both. 5 years ago, it would have been another story, but he seems to have matured a lot since his time here as a student. He's not the boy he once was."

"You could say that again" he replied. What the hell? Where did that come from? Did I just say that out loud? Shite!

Minerva's eyebrows shot up, but before she could respond, the bell rang. The students would be arriving soon.

"I suppose we'd best get up to the Great Hall and meet the newest lot of them," he said resignedly.

"Come now Severus, you and I both know that scaring the wits out of the first years tonight and tomorrow morning in class is the most fun you'll have all week."

They walked in companionable silence to the Great Hall. When the got there, most of the staff was already assembled. Hagrid was down at the train, meeting the students, but everyone else was there. Severus took his place at the table, while Minerva left to greet the first years before they entered the Hall. He gave a small sigh of relief at seeing that Potter had been seated at the other end of the table beside Hermione and Hagrid. Or was that a sigh of regret? What? No. Of course not, he dismissed the thought.

He looked at the raven-haired man. Outwardly, he looked cool and collected. The only hint of nervousness was in his emerald green eyes, which kept darting over everything, trying to take everything in, not wanting to miss a single detail. His hair was still in complete disarray, but he had grown it longer over the years, and now it looked like the messiness was done on purpose, as if it was a style of some sort.

Why am I looking at Harry Potter, anyway? he admonished himself. He had better things to do than stand there gawking at Harry Bloody Potter.

The second to seventh years were filing into the Great Hall, chatting excitedly. Upon spotting Harry at the Head Table, the students invariably took one of two courses of action. Some fell silent and stopped dead in their tracks, staring in awe of the new professor, effectively blocking the entrance way for the rest of the students.

The more common response, however, was for the students to gasp and then chatter away even louder, causing to noise level in the Hall to rise dramatically. It wasn't surprising really. It wasn't everyday that the hero of the wizarding world became your teacher. Most of them knew from the tabloids that he was now qualified as a teacher, but like Hermione, the tabloids had been told that he had accepted a position at Beauxbaton.

Most of the students only recognized him from the pictures in the tabloids and in their History textbooks. The oldest of them had only been in second year when Harry had first defeated Lord Voldemort. In the five years since, he had become something of a legend.

Not many people knew the exact details of what had happened that night. Everyone had their own theories, but only Severus and Harry were the only ones still alive that knew everything that had happened that night. Dumbledore, Hermione and the Weasleys were told almost everything, and the rest of the Order was given a summary. The rest of the world knew next to nothing.

"Isn't he gorgeous?" one rather exuberant 3 year Hufflepuff squealed.

The entire Hall burst into laughter and the girl blushed beet red. Snape had had enough. It wasn't that he was feeling protective of Harry, (No, of course not!) but it simply wouldn't do to have the students worshipping a professor. He donned his most menacing glare (usually reserved for 1st years) and glowered at the girl. This is going to be a long evening. No, this is going to be a long year.

End Chapter 2

A/N1: I do not own U2 or the song Sunday, Bloody Sunday.

A/N2: Sorry I took so long to put his up. I've been going a little crazy with school. It's also really short, but it was either post a short chapter now, or wait another month.