The next chapter is up! Whee! This is a little longer... so you better not complain! Just kidding! Same disclaimer!
Who's Teaching?
The sorting and feast had been relatively uneventful. There were some new Slytherins that did not look half as snobby as Malfoy. So there is hope for this house, after all, she thought to herself as she took a seat at the end of the table. She ignored the glares from the other Slytherins as she opened her "Magical Amazing Creatures" magazine.
"She's turning into that oaf of a teacher. Next she will be growing a beard and trying to attack students with random animals." Draco and his group of small friends laughed loudly. Courtney rolled her eyes at their immature insults. It was true. Over the years she had become more interested in the magical creatures of the wizarding world. She had always loved animals but she knew she would never match the passion that Hagrid had.
With a satisfied smile she circled a promising looking creature with her quill and shut the magazine. Grabbing the closest plate of eggs and bacon she served herself. She was just in the middle of forking the good-looking food to her mouth when a hand laid on her shoulder. She jumped, the fork clanked on her plate.
"Why don't you at least try to talk to them?" Severus whispered in her ear as he handed her her schedule.
"I've already tried that. Seems that they are too thick to comprehend my amazing Gryffindor intelligence."
He raised his eyebrows at her. "Is that so? Well, I could always arrange for you to be put back in Gryffindor. Of course that would mean you would no longer be on the quidditch team, or your-" He held back a smirk as she frantically shook her head, eyes the size of quaffles. "Good, then try to make friends other than..." he peered at the Gryffindor table with a scowl.
"Alright, I got it. Play nice with the dunderheads." She looked at her schedule as he continued down the table handing out the other student's.
"Ain't that fancy?" she moaned to herself. She had Divination after Muggle Studies. Severus had discouraged her from taking the class but she insisted. She was interested to see how the teacher thought the muggle world worked. Professor Grundy, the old teacher, had usually given her side glances to see if he had her approval. She loved helping teach the students. But to her disappointment the professor had left to teach at a different school in America. The new teacher was, hopefully, suppose to arrive today. There were many classes with Gryffindor, she noticed. Yes, her schedule was very full.
"Eugh, we have Care of Magical Creatures with Gryffindor both times." Draco was scowling over his list of classes.
Courtney checked her watch. She had twenty minutes until she had to be to Muggle Studies. After packing her things away she sat staring up at the head table. Remus looked exceptionally pleased about something while Severus looked like he had just swallowed a rather nasty tasting potion. A seat still remained empty were the new teacher would have been sitting.
Severus looked up from his plate. Courtney smiled and gave a small wave, he nodded to her. Throwing her bag over her shoulder she walked over to the Gryffindor table. "I bet you guys have Muggle studies and then Charms."
"Wow, did you see my scheduale or something?" Ron asked as he looked at his schedule again.
"No, I have Muggle Studies with you and the second one was a guess."
"Oh. What do you have second?" Ron asked turning a bit red.
"I have Divination and then History of Magic then...Potion. You know there is suppose to be a new Muggle Studies teacher?"
"I hope they are good. I find the class very interesting but if they assign a bad teacher it takes away from the class." Hermione shrugged.
"So, how are you holding up so far with Malfoy this year?" Harry asked. He started to pack his schedule away in his 'Quidditch Champions of the Century' book. Hermione gave him a look. "I hope you are not taking that to your classes, Harry. This is a very important year and you need to pay full attention."
Courtney smirked, "Why do they need to do that when they have you, Hermione?"
Hermione furrowed her brow at them as they laughed. "I will not be taken advantage of like past years. You will do your own work this time."
A rustle from above signaled the entrance of many owls. Several swooped down to the Gryffindor table. Hermione gave a bit of bacon as well as a few sickles to a large brown and white owl. She unwrapped the paper and started scanning the front page diligently.
"Hmm, I was hopping to get a letter from Sirius. Perhaps it is too early to be expecting it yet. I mean it's only the first day, right?" Harry said in a hushed voice. He looked at his plate forlornly.
"Harry, don't worry! Sirius has not forgotten about you! My gods, boy! He will be in touch a lot this year, just not the first day."
Courtney glanced at the Slytherin table. Draco's eagle owl had landed by his breakfast and was eating his toast. The blonde boy had a parcel from home no doubt and a letter to go along with it. Though he did not seem too pleased with the contents of the letter.
The four of them left the Great Hall. Hermione still seem livid at their comments. She walked slightly ahead of them, holding her book to her chest with a frown.
"Oh, come on, Hermione! You know we didn't actually mean it in a bad way." Courtney ran to catch up with her. She turned to walk backwards as she tried to convince Hermione. "We mean it in a way... that means..." she bit her lower lip in thought. "It means that you are caring and considerate of others." Hermione's frown evened out into a hint of a smile. "Also that people can manipulate you into doing their homework and what not." Courtney stopped walking and doubled over laughing.
Hermione picked up her pace with a frown back on. "You are incredibly rude! You are so..." She spun around to face her, hesitating to find the right word. Courtney stopped laughing and cocked her eyebrow. Looking quite like her father would to an incompetent student. "You are so Slytherin-ish!" she shouted in furry.
Courtney smiled mischievously. "Why, thank you. That has got to be the best comment I've received all year." Hermione shrieked in frustration.
They waited outside the classroom door. Students slowly began to make their way to the classroom in small groups. Draco and his little butt-buddies walked in, in an incredibly loud fashion, almost late. Draco took a seat at the desk next to Courtney's. A sense of dread filled her stomach. Draco was a rude kid but he was exceptionally rude to new teachers he thought he could make look stupid. Looking at the book on her desk she hoped that the new teacher knew what they were doing.
The door opened and the sound of footsteps came in. "Good morning class." Courtney's head snapped up from its resting spot on the desk. That voice was so familiar. Looking over her shoulder she joined her classmates in gaping. Walking down the classroom aisle was none other than-
"Sirius!" Harry shouted with glee. "That is Professor Black to you sonny," he smiled and winked at Harry. Courtney smiled at the thought of having Sirius at school and as a teacher. Draco looked like he was about to explode. He had his arms crossed over his chest, slumped down in his seat, and turning red in the face.
"Today, we will be looking at simple muggle devices. We will start with a camera." Sirius produced a relatively modern camera from a white box on his desk. Sirius sat down on his desk. "Now, does anyone think they know how it works?" The class was completely silent. Sirius' eyes got a little bigger as they searched the class. His blue eyes landed on her. They seemed almost pleading. Courtney raised her hand in the air slowly. Sirius smiled, "Yes, little Snape." The class laughed at her nickname. She felt her cheeks going warm as she smiled sheepishly.
"Well, you have to buy film for it first. Then you open the compartment in the-" Sirius held out the camera to her with a smile. "Why don't you demonstrate? Here," he handed her some film that he had obviously bought at a muggle store, or had it owled to him.
"Uh..." She stood up in front of the class camera in one hand the film in the other. "Go on," Sirius urged in a whisper. "Alright, you take the film, push this button here. Then you put the film in like this, close the little door. Turn it on, and push this button." The camera gave a bright flash. Many students moaned and began to blink rapidly. "Oh, yeah, sorry. It is rather bright."
"Thank you, little Snape for the lovely demonstration. You may return to your seat." The class went by fast. Siurius, to Courtney's surprise, was actually quite knowledgeable about muggle things. The class ended with Sirius snapping his finger in a crappy mousetrap, allowing the class to laugh. The bell rang and the student began to file out.
"Little Snape, could I have a word with you?" Sirius sat on his desk again, his hands folded in his lap.
Courtney nodded to the others that she would catch up later. Swinging her bag over her shoulder she approached the front of the room.
"I'm awfully sorry to put you on the spot like that. I knew you would know how to run the thing though," he nodded in the direction of the camera.
"Oh, that's no problem Sir-...er... Professor. I actually like helping teach this class. The last teacher was sort of... not completely educated in the field. I helped him after classes, too."
Sirius' eyes lit up. "Did you really? I don't suppose you would be able to help me would you? I am accustom to some things but not all."
Her stomach felt like it did a flip. She was going to be able to help teach the class still! "Yeah! I'd love to help. You give me a time and I'll be here."
Sirius chuckled at her eagerness. "Alright, tonight after dinner. Around seven?" She nodded her head, "sounds good." He jumped down from the desk and walked her to the door. "Thank you so much, it means a lot to me. Now, you better get to your class."
Divination went by fast. Professor Trelawney gave them each a chance to review past lessons. Courtney had partnered up with Maggie Winston from Ravenclaw. Neither of them were able to gaze clearly into the crystal ball or make a good life outcome prediction by palm reading. They did, however, make a decent prediction with tea leaves. Before class was finished, which was only a half period to her relief, Professor Trelawney had successfully made the predicting death of her pet cat. She was not too worried though. Considering she had never had a pet cat.
"I should have done what Granger did," Maggie mumbled pitifully as they walked out of the classroom. "I mean I stink at this. If she can't see anything in a stupid glass ball, how am I suppose to? She is smarter than I am, my word."
"I'm thinking about dropping it but I don't think dad will let me." Courtney did not notice the side-glance she had just got from her friend. "Your father really is Snape?" Courtney nodded. Maggie almost seemed repulsed by the idea. Her face contorted into something of a grimace. "Who's your mom then? I didn't know Snape was married." "He's not. My real parents died when I was only two. He is my godfather... father after we signed some papers." There was an unusual silence that made her have an ache in her stomach. Maggie was looking straight ahead concentrating on the hallway's many occupants.
"I have to go to History of Magic, I will see you later." Maggie gave her a last look before joining up with her other Ravenclaw friends. They all stared at her as she passed, whispering when they thought she would not notice.
"Looks like you are quite the conversation piece." She jumped slightly as someone hissed in her ear. Draco Malfoy moved to her right side with a playful smile.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" she spat at him venously.
"Now, is that any way to talk to a fellow Slytherin?" he said with mock hurt. For some reason Crabbe and Goyle were not being his shadow at the moment. "You are drawing a lot of attention, you know." Courtney looked around the corridor and for the first time she noticed that a fair amount of students glanced at her as she passed. She flushed, wrapping her arms around her books tighter. She wondered if this was a new thing or she had just never noticed it before Malfoy mentioned it.
"You are blushing," he teased as they walked to the fifth floor nearing their next class.
"Shove off, Malfoy! I am not!" To her dismay he continued to follow her. "What do you want? I'm a mudblood lover remember? Or have you forgotten so quickly?" They stopped outside the closed classroom door.
"Actually, I was-" The door opened interrupting him. Courtney quickly strode in and took a seat on the opposite side of the room. Draco cursed. This was going to be harder than he thought.
Hope you liked. Is it getting more interesting? I have several more chapters done but am going to post them later. Please review! Thanks!