The Teacher.

Sleep was hard won; she hadn't found her bedchambers yet, so she slept on the sofa in her travel chest. Conversations with Snape and the fear of meeting her new students and attempting to teach them tomorrow kept her in a never-ending state of overbearing panic. She considered a sleeping draft, but by the time she decided to use one, it was pointlessly late. When she did finally find comfort in the arms of oblivion her teeth snapped out of her mouth, exposing bloody stumps that stabbed her with pain, and she drove metal spikes through her eyes. She woke up with a stiff neck, feeling worse than she had the night before.

Six thirty was once time to go to bed, now it was a time to get up, she pulled faces in the mirror, looked over her notes for her classes, practised how she would greet the class, reviewed the names of the students. Studied her teeth. Tied her hair up, then pulled it out to have it lose. She changed her outfit three times. Put makeup on, then took it off, then put it on again. She cursed Snape for making her feel so awful, and then herself for being so churlish. She checked a picture frame to the left of the mirror that showed a painting of the room in which the trunk stood, she could see that nobody was around, so she took the stairs up and climbed out.

The staffroom moved around, and at seven twenty she managed to find it by following Mrs Norris who, like her owner, seemed to have taken a liking to her. When she was at school the staff room was on the seventh floor, now it had moved itself next to the Great Hall on the ground floor. She was one of the last teachers to arrive, and she crowded around a kettle to get her morning cup of tea. McGonagall was speaking to Dumbledore next to the fireplace, Snape was studying a piece of paper on a table with a teacher she recognised as the Arithmancy teacher professor Vector, and another that she assumed was the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. She saw Flitwick and Sprout laughing and watched how Professor Trelawney muttered to herself as she sat looking at the bottom of her cup. Professor Bins slept in his ghostly form opposite and the muggle studies professor Charity Burbage seemed to be having an animated conversation with Professor Babbling and Professor Sinastra.

She sipped her tea and smiled politely at a number of people, but she couldn't help but gather information and felt very alone amongst it all. Dumbledore broke away from McGonagall and cleared his throat. As he did the other teachers settled to give him their attention. As they did Arundel noticed how Snape's neck looked red like he had rope burn and a flash of fear racked her body. What had he done to himself?

"Good morning," Dumbledore called, holding his teacup in both his hands, he took a sip. "Delightful, there is nothing better than a cup of tea to start the day. This morning we are welcoming a new member to our staff team. Some of you will have taught her, some will have other dealings with her and some will have no idea who she is. Today she becomes our new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, so welcome Miss Granville."

The staff gave her a polite but unenthusiastic 'welcome.' Her reputation proceeded her, it seemed.

"Today I need to remind you that the dungeons remain uninhabitable, and further to moving the Slytherins out, Potions and our dear Professor Snape will also move today. This means all Potions classes have been cancelled. Heads of House, make it known that the time should be used wisely."

"Do we know what it is causing the trouble down there Headmaster?" Babbling asked.

"We have a number of theories, It's a grave matter indeed but we shall prevail."

"Is the school in danger of closing?"

"I have spoken at length to the minister and we have decided it is best if the school remains open for the moment, but we must be vigilant about the movements of the students, particularly after dark, and so I have asked Mr Filch to patrol down there. This means that we will need to step up our own patrol of the upper floors." the headmaster nodded good day and the staff started to go back to their own conversations. To Arundel's annoyance, Snape didn't even look at her. As much as she was too proud to admit it, she expected a 'good luck' at least.

She was too nervous to eat breakfast, instead, she checked and rechecked her classroom, ran to Hagrid's and checked the various creatures she wanted to show her student and the time went in leaps and jumps. Half an hour felt like five minutes that morning and before she had a chance to process what was about to happen the babble of children could be heard outside of her door.

She stood on the other side of the door with her eyes closed, steadying her breath, and realised that she felt more exposed now than she ever had facing the Darklord. These soft pathetic children who would not kill her as soon as look at her, and she was more worried about them? What did that say about her? What did that say about them? She pulled the door quickly and saw a mix of third year Slytherin and Gryffindor students who paid her very little attention.

"Good morning," she told them, but her voice was just another voice in a sea. A few of them turned and gave her a brief smile, but when nothing more happened they just kept talking. Arundel scratched the back of her head, this wouldn't do. She held up her hand, took a deep breath and with a flick of her fingers the mouths of the students disappeared. Their eyes widened, they poked at their faces and then when Arundel cleared her throat they finally turned to face her. "Do not make me wait like that ever again; I may not be inclined to give you the gift of your mouths back. You will sit Slytherin, Gryffindor in that order and you will make sure you have a quill pen and ink ready to use. Your seat is the one you will stay in for the rest of the year, and the only person who will move you is me. We will be working in dangerous and often deadly conditions, this means your listening skills and ability to follow direction must be well developed. Should you give me cause to doubt, I will not allow you to participate. Do you understand."

The mouthless students nodded.

"Let's see who's followed so far." She stepped back from the door and watched them file in silently. Everybody did as they were asked, and her time with the Dark Lord had taught her something at least.

Halfway through the lesson she gave them back their mouths and introduced them to their first creature; A flesh-eating slug. The class listened to her safety briefing regarding the juices of the slug and its properties for melting flesh, they made notes on how the slime could be used and what potions it was crucial for. Ten minutes in she had to levitate all the slugs into the air because one of the Slytherins thought it would be funny to throw his at a Gryffindor he didn't like. The Slytherin was given detention, she took fifteen points away from his house, and took his mouth off him again. He sulked for the rest of the lesson but he did as he was told. One of the Gryffindors seemed incapable of following instructions and got the slime on his wrist, she had to use her personal antidote to stop the slime slowly melting through his skin and made a mental note to brew up some more. Next week, she told them, they would feed their slug, study its habitat and start to collect its slime. Completing the write up of the lesson would be done as homework and a thinly veiled threat of detentions followed. When they left she was exhausted and unsure if she had done anything right but to her dismay, the next class was arriving and she'd had no time to prepare for them. She felt sick and expected to have the same struggles with the next group, but the Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff group were so quiet it was depressing. Teaching them was like pulling teeth. They didn't ask questions or show any kind of flair or excitement, they got nothing wrong either, and they all completed their write up in the lesson which meant she now had marking.

The evening lessons were more fun, especially the seventh years in the forest. The levitation potions worked well and they were able to silently float through the trees to try and track the unicorn and mooncalf. They found the calf, but of the unicorn, they only found a few hairs. These lessons were longer and the students were older and more interested. They asked relevant questions and were happy to speak to her about their past teachers, assessments and curriculums. She liked the seventh years, but that put pressure on too because now she felt she owed it to them not to mess up. The fifth years were a similar story, obsessed with the OWL curriculum and what would come up, demanding to know what creatures they would work with and if there would be any trips away from the school.

By teatime she realised she had worked through the day without a break, lunch had been taken up with the afternoon set up, and the break had been taken up with the flesh-eating slug clean away. She was light-headed, dehydrated, exhausted, and the idea of going in search for the Grants Artifacts was the last thing she wanted to do. Eight pints of water and a night of long sleep was first on her agenda, but tomorrow she had classes all day too. The Levitation potion was still wearing off, not that she needed it because she could fly unassisted, and her feet dragged across the ground as she made her way back to the castle. Once in the great hall she sunk into a chair and pulled the water jug across to herself. Ate a lonely meal in a standoffish fashion, ignoring the well-meaning smiles of the other teachers and went back to her room.

Her trunk was open. She paused by her classroom door and studied it, knowing that she had locked it earlier in the day. It was pretty obvious who had come to call and for a moment she thought about turning around and going elsewhere. She was too tired to fight but too exhausted to be diplomatic. She descended down the stairs and smelled cooking. Snape turned from the kitchen and seemed pretty smug, "That's the easy bit over you know," he told her, perhaps he wanted to carry on as nothing had happened. It would be nice to just speak to her friend without all the history getting in the way.

She lay down on her sofa and closed her eyes, letting out a groan as she did.

"Can you refrain from taking fifteen points away from my house at a time?"

"The little shit chucked a flesh-eating slug at some other annoying child. What are you doing in my kitchen?"

"I'm making you a cup of tea. I know how much you love your tea. Oh, and lunch for tomorrow."

Arundel grumbled and he came around the sofa with two mugs. She pulled herself from horizontal and took the cup from him. "Thanks." She watched as Snape sipped his and studied the inside of her travel box, his eyes settled on a picture that showed the classroom outside, and then to a large floor to ceiling mirror next to it. She remembered he didn't really like looking at his reflection, the mirror must have been a challenge. "How did you find teaching?"

"It's…" Arun sipped the brown liquid as she thought how to describe it, "It's like being a performer on a stage where the audience hates you. I didn't get break, or lunch, and I had to hex the first group to get them quiet."

"I wouldn't make a habit of that, angry owl's from parents are frustrating to say the least." Severus fell quiet for a moment, then he looked at her very seriously. "Arun," he said. "I need to talk to you, and I need you to listen without interrupting, however much you want to."

Arun raised an eyebrow, here we go, she thought. "Fine."

"Lily-"

"Oh god,"

"I said don't interrupt."

Arun frowned, and ran her bottom lip through her teeth, despite the warmth of the tea, she felt cold.

"I loved her. I still do and I always will. She was my best friend when I was a child. She was kind to me throughout my life even though I never deserved it. I thought if I was as popular as the Potter boy was she would feel the same for me as I did for her, but it drove us further apart, and then the Death Eaters became such a big part of my life, such an encouraging influence, that I was too far gone for her and morally repugnant. We continued to be friends, but that friendship was strained. I didn't go to her wedding thought I was invited, I didn't respond when she wrote. I tried to move on. I met you. I was happy and I felt very much the same about you as I did for her, better even in some respects because you seemed happy with me too. I finally put some distance between myself and what was really an unhealthy relationship. And then I heard the prophecy and I told it to the Dark Lord. Only later did I realise that it was about her, and I was the reason she would die. I begged him to spare her, but I knew him so well by this point that I was certain he would not. It's not an obsession Arun, but her death is my biggest regret. She died and I am the reason for it. I killed her; I loved her deeply and I did the worst thing imaginable. I did that, and for what? The approval of a tyrant?"

Arundel stroked the rim of her cup with her thumb. She felt tears sting at the corner of her eyes and she hung her head. She wanted to shout at him, she wanted to shout at herself.

"It was never a matter of Lily or you, I'd made my choice already. But as soon as you found out about her you left. As if you could not wait to be rid of me." He sat forward, "And I find out from the newspapers that you are in Egypt curse breaking for Gringotts with another man. So tell me, why did I mean so little to you?" That last sentence was said with a dangerous wobble in his tone.

Arundel's lips grew thin as her jaw tensed.

"You simply assumed," he sipped his tea and leant forward, "And you left me when I needed you most." Arun felt a warm tear break away from her eye and roll down her cheek. She would not say sorry. He saw she was crying and he sneered, "I expected better."

Arun sniffed, she downed the cup of tea and she walked away from him. "I was angry, I felt like I was a convenience and I do not like being second best. Yes, I went to Egypt, to get away from you and everything else going on here. I was exhausted and Faro was..." she threw her hands into the air. "He was easy. Easy to work with, easy to be with, easy. He died when we cracked a vault open, and you know what? Mourning him was easy too." She pinched the bridge of her nose and leant back against the cabinets. "I hated you for that. I wanted to feel as awful over his loss as I did for leaving you and I couldn't."

Severus sat with his head bowed, his hands linked together, "Why did you come to Hogwarts?" he asked.

"Why do you think?"

He looked up, his black eyes boring into her, and she noticed again the rope mark around his neck. "Did you have any intention of seeking me out when you came back to England?" He asked.

"I didn't dare to hope for a warm reception, I was quite angry with the Malfoys for trying to set us up but I'm glad they did. You're the reason I'm at Hogwarts Sev."

Snape hung his head again, he took a deep breath and he stood up. Slowly he walked over to her and he took her hands. He opened his mouth to speak but couldn't seem to find the words. Arun closed her eyes her heart was racing in her chest, she wished it would stop. She felt her cheeks flush and cursed how her body was reacting to his touch. He pulled her into his arms, she rested her cheek on his shoulder. He smelled so familiar, his skin gave a comforting heat.

"Can we try again?" he asked.

"We can try," she whispered and enjoyed the sensation of his hand running across her hair and over her back. Severus kissed her, it was a long desperate kiss but so gentle she wondered when he pulled away if it had ever happened.

"What are they doing in your classroom?"

Arundel staggered back, "hum?" she asked.

Snape nodded to the painting on the wall, she could see a familiar looking girl and boy standing in her classroom looking in her cupboards.

"That's Griffin, and the boy who threw the flesh-eating slug, he's called Jacob."

"I know," Snape muttered, his eyes narrowing. "Did you leave the lid of the travel trunk open?"

"No, they won't find us down here."

"They've been snooping around for weeks, searching the dungeons for whatever is creating the hauntings. Jacob is the child who got hurt, Griffin is his friend. She's got the brains and he has a nose for trouble." Arun lent into Snape but he was engrossed in watching the children snooping, "I wouldn't be surprised if they are the reason behind the hauntings." She pulled him back to the sofa, "They can search up there all they want, they won't find anything. We have better things to do than worry about them."