"It's useless. You're fighting a losing battle."
And there he sat, looking at Severus with those twinkling blue eyes and that annoyingly polite smile. The old professor put down his teacup and leaned back, but never stopped smiling.
"I think it's an excellent idea. The class is in disarray. We need somebody who is competent at potions—and you must admit, you are more than so—somebody who is able to instruct others. And most of all, somebody who won't be frightened off."
"Frightened?" Severus snapped.
"We've gone through six so far," Dumbledore said, a slight sadness in his voice. "It's become like a game, how fast they can scare off a teacher. They're terribly behind."
"After six years, I'd say that's probably true," he sneered. "But if you think there is any way you're going to get me back there, you've got another thing coming."
Blue eyes sparkled.
Severus was grudgingly packing his case. Dumbledore had wheedled, and prodded, and smiled politely, and drank more tea than Severus even thought he had (it was odd, he didn't really drink tea, so where had it come from?), but he finally gave in, just to shut the old man up.
And when, during his whole school career—and afterward—did he ever imagine he'd become a teacher?
A week. He had a week before school started to get himself settled into the dungeons.
To his surprise, his quarters where rather nice. There was a decent sized main room, with a large fireplace, armchairs, and even a rug. He had a private bathroom complete with a full length mirror—he might have to do something about that—bathtub, separate shower. There was a study, which surprised him, as he had been used to working in his kitchen or main room, and a large bedroom. The bed wasn't even the standard, double sized bed that the students got; the thing could have fit three people with plenty of breathing room.
He looked around at the knock on the door. If they were smart, they'd let themselves in, this time. It opened slowly, and Dumbledore poked his head in.
"Well?" He said, in a voice far too cheery for Severus' taste. "What do you think."
"It's fine."
"You'll notice when you get into the classroom, you'll have a private storeroom."
He knew he had a private storeroom. The potions teacher always had a private storeroom.
"It's already fully stocked."
Severus gave a nod. Hopefully, Dumbledore would get the idea and leave him the hell alone. After a few moments of silence, Dumbledore nodded, and exited the room, with a small smile on his face.
He really pissed Severus off.
Notes: This came from me just thinking what it was like when Snape first decided to become a teacher. He didn't always have such an easy time, right? And he certainly wasn't always head of Slytherin, straight off the bat. Anyway, so that was my idea……
Anyway, I've never written a Snape story, and I thought it might be fun to try.