Disclaimer: NOT MINE! NOT MINE! NOT MINE!

Unbeta-ed so ignore my grammar mistakes.

Spoilers: Books 1-4, ignore Book 5

Pairings: NONE

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10. Classes

(Posted 06/02/05 – Thursday)

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The stampede of Gryffindors, focused on reaching the Great Hall in breaking record, resembled a herd of centaurs on a hunt. The 'herd' was mostly made up of redheads born into the Weasley family. Ron was in the lead, his longer legs covering more ground than the twins, who were stockier built and shorter, while Harry, and the girls, Ginny and Hermione, were in the back. Loitering students jumped aside to avoid being run over and then wondering what was the rush, followed the Golden Trio and Weasleys. By the time the group reached the Great Hall, there was a massive gathering of curious bystanders creating a loud commotion.

"What is this?" questioned Dumbledore. "I daresay this is the earliest I have seen such a large group of students entering the Great Hall for breakfast."

"Headmaster!" exclaimed Ron, wheezing from exhaustion. "Severus…he….he's…"

The twins decided to help their brother out. "He's disappeared, sir."

Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick gasped.

"Not the little tyke," Hagrid sobbed.

Draco snorted. "So the pauper lost his charge. Or did you sold him to buy yourself enough food to get through this year's winter?"

Pansy attached herself to his arm and giggled. As her sharpened nails dug into his skin and her giggle sounded like a hyena high on something definitely illegal, Draco pushed her away. Crabbe and Goyle were barely awake so upon hearing Draco's voice, they nodded and grunted on autopilot. Ron didn't even spare him a glance.

Dumbledore only poured himself a cup of tea in agonizing slowness and then said mildly, "Really?"

Ginny fought the urge to roll her eyes at the Headmaster. "Yes, sir. We've searched everywhere in the Gryffindor Tower for him, even the girls' dormitories."

"And we tried using other ways to locate his whereabouts," said Hermione, carefully wording her statement to keep the Marauders Map a secret from outsiders.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled madly, knowing exactly what kind of WAY she was referring to.

"The professors and students should form search teams to look for him," suggested Harry. "Hogwarts is a big, complex castle so it wouldn't be surprising if Severus had gotten lost in a lesser-known hallway."

"Excellent idea, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said, buttering his croissant. "And I plan to do just that…if someone was truly missing."

Not for the first time, the eccentric Headmaster managed to silence everyone.

Ginny narrowed her eyes and asked, "Headmaster, do YOU know where Severus is?"

"Why I do Ms. Weasley," answered Dumbledore. "I am an early-riser as my colleagues are aware of. The morning sunset is a beautiful sight and one should enjoy what nature gives freely."

McGonagall cleared her throat impatiently. Ron was making grabbing motions like he wanted to strangle something, or rather someone. In fact, his first choice would be someone taking his sweet time telling them where Severus was.

Dumbledore was obvious, or he pretended to be, and continued his rambling, "The grass always looked greener and moist with morning dew as the sun rises. The surface of the Lake shone like light passing through a prism. Every color ever imagined right there in front of you. The Giant Squid would lazily wave at anyone walking on the bank. Wonderful creature, that one."

"Headmaster…" warned more than a few people.

"Hmm…where was I," said Dumbledore.

"Severus and where he is," McGonagall said, eyes daring her employer to try and not answer. Good thing the Headmaster was a smart man.

"Severus is perfectly safe," said Dumbledore. "I saw him taking a morning stroll with our new Potions Master."

That was apparently the last straw that broke the camel's back.

"WHAT! THAT FU –"

The twins clamped Ron's mouth after his initial enraged shout. Ginny rubbed her ears to lessen the ringing from the yell. She swore she went deaf for a second.

McGonagall and Hermione were shocked. "Mr. Weasley!" "Ron!"

"One point from Gryffindor for disturbing the peace," came a familiar voice from the Great Hall's entrance way. "Is being children how you want to portrait yourselves to the new first-years as their upper classmen? Well…I asked a question."

Almost everyone in the room turned their heads. Standing there, in decent black robes, Percy was returning their stares with a stern look. Severus, holding his hand and standing next to him, was smiling with his hair windswept but overall not too untidy.

"Forge, does that mean we're in the negative?" said George.

"I think so Gred," said Fred. "That has never happened before."

Their hands covering their younger brother's mouth became slack. Ron took the opportunity to shove his brothers away.

"Come here Severus," barked Ron.

Severus flinched and pressed closer to Percy.

Ginny nudged him sharply and whispered furiously, "You idiot. Are you trying to make Severus regress? He has somewhat gotten over his fear of strangers and I am NOT going to let you ruin our work. We spent the whole summer reaching this stage of trust."

"Sorry," he whispered back.

Harry and Hermione exchanged looks. They were so going to have a long talk with their friends about what occurred during summer. They expected it to be a talk filled with every tiny detail.

"Why is everyone standing for?" said Percy, walking to the staff table. "Breakfast has already begun. Prefects, hand out the class schedules for your House."

There was a little bit of chaos as people hurried to their table. Breakfast was magically appearing while the prefects handed out schedules. Since Hermione was a prefect, she handled the Gryffindors. The twins sat apart from the younger students, choosing instead to complain about the lost point and their older brother to their longtime friend, Lee Jordan. Neville, Dean, and Seamus arrived at this time, upset at missing the drama. Harry and Ginny had to force Ron to sit, going as far as to sandwich him.

Percy stopped in front of the Gryffindor table. "Severus, go to Ginny. She's your sitter for today."

Severus pouted. "Can't I stay with you?"

"Don't whine," Percy said, lifting and depositing the child in the seat next to Ginny. "At least I didn't ask Professor Lupin and his dog to look after you."

"Fine," Severus said, slouching in the chair.

"Good boy," Percy said, patting and briefly squeezing his shoulder affectionately.

Ron got back on Severus' good side by promising to play chess with him tonight. After breakfast, Severus and Ginny headed outside for Herbology while Ron, Harry, and Hermione had Transfiguration.

"If those snakes do anything to Severus, I swore I'll kill them," Ron said, sitting down at their table by the window. He directed his eyes to the Greenhouse Sprout led the fourth-year Gryffindors and Slytherins into. Severus appeared even smaller and more vulnerable from a distance.

"I don't think they would intentionally hurt their former Head of House," reasoned Hermione. "No matter how much WE didn't like Professor Snape, we have no idea how the Slytherins feel about him."

"Just relaxed Ron," said Harry. "Snuffles should be patrolling the grounds and I had a talk with him. I asked him to keep an eye on Severus when he's not with us or Percy and he can't say no to me."

"Welcome back students," greeted McGonagall as she entered the room. "Ms. Granger, would you mind writing this year's curriculum on the board while I called roll."

"I would love to, Professor," said Hermione.

She hurried to McGonagall's desk and was giving a long parchment. Severus leaving their mind temporarily, Ron and Harry stifled their laughter at their best friend's eagerness to please the professor. Hermione then, in her neatest handwriting, started listing the different areas of transfiguration that they would be learning this year. Since they had to take their OWLS this year, there was a lot of reviewing sessions as well as a few surprises. At a particular subject, Hermione looked back at Ron and Harry, and gave them a Look. They only grinned in response. To an outsider it was as if they were communicating telepathically but Hermione knew exactly what her male friends were thinking of when she wrote out Animagus.

She mentally sighed, returning the parchment to McGonagall when she was done, and thought, "And here I was hoping for a quiet year."

Outside, Ginny was thinking the same thing.

"Hello! Are you paying attention?" Severus planted his small hands on his hips and tried to look menacing at Ginny. The effect was dampened with his hair tied back in a messy ponytail by Professor Sprout, him wearing a shortened apron, protecting his robes, and oversized dragon-hide gloves.

"Hmm…" Ginny said, eyes shifting to the Slytherins. One can never be too careful when around them. But in reality, she probably trusted them over her own Gryffindor classmates. She flicked dirt in Colin's direction when he raised his camera in her direction.

"I said you have to be extra careful," repeated Severus. "The pus of a bubotuber reacts badly to human skin. Put on some gloves before pus touches your skin. You'll grow painful boils."

"I would if I had another pair," said Ginny.

Severus frowned. "You want yours back? Because I don't have to participate in the lessons you know. I'm not really a student."

"No, you have fun," Ginny said firmly. "Ron would murder me if you get hurt. Plus I don't want you bored. I'll be careful not to let any pus get on me."

"If you're sure," Severus said hesitantly.

"I'm very, very, very sure," Ginny said smiling.

"Okay," said Severus, relieved that his sitter was not annoyed with him. He gave her one of his rare but genuine smiles. It wasn't a grin, smirk, or even a large smile. It was really his lips curving slightly up but his eyes practically sparkled with happiness. Ginny couldn't help but smile back.

The nice atmosphere was interrupted by one of Ginny's roommates saying, "No Colin, you idiot!"

There was a flash of light. It was too close and too bright, startling Severus into letting out a cry. Ginny, protective of her charge, threw a few of the bubotuber in her section of the greenhouse at Colin on reflex. Most missed him but one hit him on the left side of his face. The swellings on the plant burst and the yellowish-green pus oozed from the openings. Colin and the surrounding Gryffindors broke into loud babbling.

Professor Sprout, who monitored Severus constantly from the corner of her eye, heard her former colleague in distress and the sudden increase in volume. She pivoted to his location and demanded, "What's going on?"

"Weasley got Creevey with a bubotuber," a thin Slytherin boy informed her dumbly. The other Slytherins were speechless but they nodded in agreement with what the boy said.

"Someone needs to accompany Mr. Creevey to the infirmary," ordered Sprout.

The same Gryffindor girl who yelled at Colin grabbed his arm and led him out of the greenhouse.

Sprout turned to Ginny. "What do you have to say?"

"Damn," Ginny murmured quietly and then said normally, "I'm sorry Professor Sprout. I didn't mean to do it. My brothers and I had already warned Colin yesterday not to take any pictures of Severus or there'd be consequences but he still did it."

"Well, hurting a fellow student cannot be justified with that" said Sprout. "That would be three points from Gryffindor for attacking Mr. Creevey and another three for making a guest of Hogwarts uncomfortable. And –"

Severus lunged himself into Sprout's arms and she caught him, bewildered. His puppy eyes made their appearance and his bottom lip trembled.

"Please don't give her a detention," he said. "It wasn't entirely her fault."

"Oh, alright," said Sprout. "I suppose a detention wouldn't be necessary in this case."

The Slytherins' jaws dropped at the blatant manipulation of their former Head.

"And you should AWARD Ginny points," Severus said, pouting. "She was PROTECTING me."

"I guess two points to Gryffindor wouldn't hurt," Sprout said, obvious. "This is the first day of classes after all."

"That's right," said Severus. "You can't be too harsh on the first day. What would the first-years think? And you should AWARD Ginny for lending me her gloves. It PROTECTED my hands from the bubotuber."

"That was very kind of you Ms. Weasley," said Sprout. "Two points to Gryffindor for your selflessness."

The Slytherins were impressed. The Gryffindors held their breath in anticipation for whatever Severus had in mind to gain back the points lost.

"Oh, you mustn't forget about the girl who went with Colin," Severus said, nodding matter-of-factly as if he truly believed every word that came from his mouth. "She tried to PROTECT my wish not to be photographed and at the same time she was trying to HELP her friend not do something stupid. She has an admirable trait."

"Yes, she does," said Sprout, who was literally pudding in Severus' hands. "I award another two points to Gryffindor."

The children from the lion house cheered and Sprout sort of snapped out her semi-trance. Severus released her and trotted back to Ginny, going as far as giving her a high-five. The Slytherins were more than impressed now. In fact, they felt rather proud that their Head of House, and graduate of Slytherin, was such a skilled manipulator at such a young age.

"Class dismissed," said Sprout.

As everyone left the greenhouse, Ginny was hit with an idea. It was good way to better Gryffindor-Slytherin relations and she was not that evil as to not let Severus develop ties with his former students from his House. Before she lost her nerve, she said to the Slytherins, "Hey, you want Severus to eat lunch at your table today? Bet he could teach you guys a few tricks."

"What do you want?" said one girl.

Severus poked his sitter.

"Nothing but there is one condition," said Ginny. "I have to sit with him."

The Slytherins huddled quickly and gave her their answer. "Sure."

The Gryffindors' eyes were wide when they heard Ginny and became wider hearing their self-proclaimed enemy's answer.

"Oh, Ron and the twins might sit with Severus a bit," said Ginny. "If they're brave enough. You wouldn't mind, right?"

Most shrugged. "Nah, it's okay." "I don't care." "Whatever."

Ginny grinned. "Great. Maybe if you're nice, I'll tell you guys how Severus got the Headmaster to dance an Irish jig on top of a picnic table a couple of weeks back."

Severus smirked in remembrance. The Slytherins couldn't wait for lunch but the poor Gryffindors. Their minds had a hard time digesting the image of their esteemed Headmaster doing something like THAT; especially after Ginny invited herself to the Slytherin table for lunch.

One dude just screamed "WHAT!" as he pulled his hair.

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