Chapter 4

"The Potionsmaster"

Severus Snape sat stiffly at his desk. He was staring down his long, hooked nose at a photograph and a piece of parchment, his chin resting pensively on his fist. "Alexandra Bane…" He said aloud as his eyes lingered on the picture of his newest student. The photo had arrived with a two letters attached, one from Dumbledore and one from the headmaster in the United States. Dumbledore wrote…

Severus,

I have just received the following photograph, transcripts and letter regarding Miss Alexandra Bane. She is a seventh year student who is transferring to Hogwarts from the United States. The letter (enclosed) states that she completed her first six years of magic school in Slytherin house. As it is likely that she will, again, be sorted into Slytherin, I thought it was only appropriate to give you, being head of her house, as much information about her as possible.

It appears that she is a stellar Potions student, top marks in every Potions class she's taken; I'm sure that you will be pleased upon reading the remarks from her last Potionsmaster.

She will arrive on the first of September, on the school train, along with the rest of the students. She will be sorted immediately, upon arrival, before the first years.

I hope this letter finds you well and that you are sincerely enjoying your holiday. I look forward to seeing you on September first.

Your friend,

Albus Dumbledore

Snape had considered responding to Dumbledore's letter out of common courtesy, but as he felt a migraine coming on at the prospect of receiving a new student, he decided to forego the letter and give himself a break. He was sitting at his desk in his dimly lit, quite small and rather modest flat in Spinners End.

Instead, he tilted his chair back on two legs and again, picked up the picture of this, Alexandra Bane. She was, frankly, stunning, he thought to himself. She had long, shiny, chocolate colored curls that stretched well below her shoulders, sharp dark brown, almost black, eyes that started out of the photo at him sharply. Also hard to miss was her beautiful, white smile… and something else… something hauntingly familiar. Snape felt sure he'd seen her somewhere before. He rubbed his eyes violently and stared back at the picture. Perhaps it was that second glass of wine he'd had… but he couldn't place her. He'd always been very good at that. He tossed the picture down in disgust and glared at it. He waited a moment, then took it and the letter in his hand before pushing his chair backward. It scraped unpleasantly on the hardwood floor.

He trudged across the room to the sink and set his wine goblet in it, face down so that the excess would run into the drain. He then returned to a high-backed arm chair next to the cold, dark, empty fireplace and sat down. He leaned over and his long black curtains of hair fell gracefully around his face as he began the tedious job of unlacing his shin-high boots. He leaned back and allowed his deep, inky black eyes, which were itching with fatigue, to fall shut. He sighed in annoyance. This was all he needed, another new student. Weren't there enough blasted kids in that school without admitting those from other countries?

When he opened his eyes, he unfolded the letter and reread it. "So… you're a wiz at Potions, are you Miss Bane?" he asked the picture. "Hm… we shall see about that."

Still… he felt as though he'd met her somewhere before. But that was impossible, he thought to himself. She'd been in school in America. Snape was a suspicious man, life had made him that way.

Looking at the picture of the smiling girl in front of him, a feeling of bitterness suddenly washed over him. Every now and again, looking at one of his students, he would flash back to his own days at Hogwarts, which he was certain, no one on the planet would call 'the best years of his life.' This new student, like so many before her, was just the sort of girl that would've made life difficult for him while he was a student. Her long, glossy hair, perfectly made-up, dark eyes, slim, athletic build and charming smile gave her a free ticket to easy street… the whole way through magic school. It also gave her the license to torture and torment anyone who wasn't as perfect as she was.

The more he looked at the picture of her, the more he disliked her. It didn't matter that he didn't have probable cause yet, now he was the teacher and he could delegate unpleasantness to whomever he chose. He looked back at the picture once more. He held it up in front of his frowning eyes, then crumpled it in his long dexterous fingers, "I look forward to meeting you Miss Bane." He would make it perfectly clear who was the student and who was the teacher. He wouldn't make life any easier for her, like, he was sure everyone else surrounding her would. And with that he tossed the photo into the fireplace, pointed his wand at it and said "Lacarnum Inflamari."