The Great Hall was just as Nora Springer remembered it to be. Not that she had been away from Hogwarts long, but once you graduate from a place you spent your entire childhood, any time apart from that place feels like an eternity.

She had just barely made it before the mounds of piled up food disappeared for the night. Grabbing a pewter plate, she wandering up and down the house tables, picking and choosing the desserts that looked the most appetizing to her. Nora did not necessarily want to end her night with a dinner made up of sugar and syrups, but Severus' demands had kept her well after she initially intended to complete them.

Realizing she had run out of room on her plate, she stuffed a chocolate eclair into her mouth and started for the staircases. She would continue to eat in peace, where she wasn't bombarded with confused stares and whispers from the smattering of students still lingering in their seats.

Carefully watching her plate to make sure nothing was going to topple off and onto the flagstone floors, she ran into a solid black figure standing within the entrance to the Great Hall. Lamenting the loss of a pumpkin pasty and a cup of pudding, she looked up and into the face of Severus Snape, who was wiping a smear of said pudding off his dark robes.

"Oopff…" she apologized through the eclair still residing in her mouth. The young woman removed the dessert and licked up the remaining frosting around her lips. "Sorry about that, Professor."

"You realize, you now have access to the kitchens, don't you?" he sneered. "One of the more pleasant perks of working at this school. Though I would hardly call what you do 'working.'"

"Actually, no, I didn't. It's my second night as an assistant, sir," she replied, sass dripping from her tongue. Severus scoffed, and brushed past her.

"Get a good night's rest, Springer. Wouldn't want you late again, now would we?" he said derisively, looking back at her. "Dalton! Untangle yourself from Miss Healy!"

Nora shot a nasty look at Severus' back as he swooped upon a couple of frightened looking teenagers locked in a rather intimate embrace, and continued on her way back down into the dungeons. "'Get a good night's rest, Springer,'" she imitated in a deep voice. "What a git."

She had to admit though, that was fairly decent of him to pass on that handy bit of information about the kitchens. She would have to remember that, seeing as she doubted she would ever finish up her duties before dinner ended.

Nora kicked open the solid door to her chambers, as her hands were full. After swinging her leg back to kick the door closed again, she laid the metal plate down on her desk and began stuffing the remaining pastries into her face.

With her mini feast completed, she looked over her fingers and flexed her arm up and down. Her hands were developing blisters already, and her elbow creaked. Severus had instructed her to clean every shelf and cauldron in the classroom until they were spotless and he could "feel confident enough to eat a three course meal off of them." She complied without whining, feeling that in the end, this would all benefit her in some way. "Without pain, there is no gain," her Muggle father would say. Soon the blisters would turn into callouses and her hands would be back into the shape they were in during her last years. Her hands were so tough, her friends spun tales about how she could dunk them into the most potent potion without feeling its effects at all.

Shaking her head and pushing fond memories aside, Nora instead focused on how she could outsmart the Potions Master. He had a point, as cruel as it was; those kids really did have a better chance of meeting the Dark Lord than learning her name. Showing up on time was really just too impossible for someone like her. She had tried looking up enchantments in the past as a way to remedy her problem, but to no avail. She would cast a quickening spell to hurry through her morning routine, but she would forget that her robes were being cleaned or that the class had already begun ten minutes prior to her waking up. Once, she kidnapped a rooster from Hagrid the Gamekeeper to crow at sunrise, only to find that she had kidnapped the only mute rooster in over a hundred kilometers. She would later return the rooster to the half-giant, apologizing profusely while explaining herself, but he was unable to hear her over his roars of laughter. Apparently he had taken the rooster in, feeling sorry for it, and found it rather hilarious that someone would think of kidnapping it in order to wake up on time. She had finally resorted to trying to invent her own spells, but all of them backfired in some way. One such unfortunate miscalculation caused her to show up to Transfiguration with clock hands tick-tocking around her nose. Professor McGonagall applauded her for practicing her transfiguration spells in her spare time, but chastised her for reading too far ahead in the textbook. Nora felt that if she had told her the truth, the speech she received would be about ten times longer.

No, trying to find yet another way to get from her room to the Potions room on time was pointless.

Still rattling her brain trying to find a solution, the former Ravenclaw gathered up her toiletries and exited her room to find the staff baths. Immersed in her thoughts, she found herself lost twice, passing the classroom she spent the day in both times.

Then it hit her. She knew what to do. She would need to be very careful, but boy, was Severus Snape going to have the shock of his life in the morning.

Somewhere in castle, Severus sneezed.

Severus narrowed his eyes. Something, or someone was sneaking around.

He was patrolling the second floor corridors as a way to clear his mind. Three years was still not enough time to get over the losses he incurred from the war. Occasionally, during the late hours of night while grading or formulating new ways to torment his students, flashes of lifeless green eyes would plague his mind, signalling that it was time for a walk.

Usually his nights were uneventful. Occasionally he would catch a student out of bed, or two students, or one student on their way to become two students. The process was the same each time; sneak up on them, Lumos, interrogate until they shook, slap a detention on them, then top it off with rubbing a personalized insult into their wounds. After an hour or so, he would return to his room and lie in bed until sleep took him by force.

But tonight...tonight felt different. This reeked of something other than just a rendezvous between two hormone-riddled teens. This felt...like a scheme.

Following his senses, he hurried towards the dungeons.

Drawing closer to his chambers, he felt a presence skulking in the shadows of the dank hallways. Putting into action his usual routine, he began to silently encroach upon the rule breaker.

"I'm just getting back from the baths, Professor."

Oh.

Severus lit his wand, illuminating the pale face of his young assistant. Well, that was a disappointment. "If you were a student, I would have given you a detention for being out of bed," he stated with a scowl.

"I clearly recall you giving me enough detentions for ten students, sir. Not to mention what you had me do today felt more like punishment than teaching."

"You practically begged for it. Do you realize what time it is?"

"Do you, sir?" Nora was getting tired of their banter. Any other time she would indulge; banter always got her adrenaline pumping and she enjoyed the rush. However, tonight she needed to get to work on her plan, and quickly, or else she would miss out on much needed rest for tomorrow's classes.

Severus' eyes flicked around her face, searching for some sign showing she was up to something, but her face remained as solid as marble. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his hooked nose. "Why must you be a thorn in my side? I would strongly suggest you find your way back to your room now and prepare for tomorrow. Seven thirty, Springer-though I should make it six thirty to make up for the hour you skipped out on this morning."

Nora remained silent and bit her lip. A comeback now would only waste more of her precious time. Severus narrowed his eyes and searched her face one last time before lowering his wand and walking past her and into his room.

Once inside, he waited until he heard the click of her own door before changing into his sleeping robes.

xxx

Nora entered her room immediately after Severus entered his, but instead of settling in for the night, she stood rooted in the middle of the living space until she felt it was safe to gather the necessary supplies needed for her plan.

Moving slowly as to remain as quiet as possible, she first grabbed her pillow, then the robes she was planning on wearing the next day. She rolled these items into her blanket, fashioning a sort of sack, which she tossed over her right shoulder. She made her way back over to the door and opened it far enough to squeeze her body and the blanket-sack through.

Out in the corridor, she stood motionless, holding her breath, waiting for the inevitable capture by her superior. After what felt like ages, she finally exhaled and pulled shut the door. Not risking lighting her wand, she crept through the hall, feeling along for the change from stone to wood. She felt the first door of four. After her bath, she had walked up and down the hall, memorizing the number of rooms between hers and her desired destination. The classroom was on the opposite side from her chambers, four doors away. She continued forward slowly, breathing as softly as possible. In the dark, deserted corridors, every sound was amplified, and the last thing she needed was to be found out.

Finally reaching the fourth door, she moved across the floor to other wall, and pointed her wand at the keyhole. She took into account that this was Severus Snape she was dealing with, and fully expected that he would place some sort of ward protecting his classroom from ne'erdowells. Thus, she placed what she hoped was a considerable amount of distance between herself and this potential shield.

"Alohomora," she whispered, and to her surprise, the keyhole clicked, and the door creaked open. Hesitantly, Nora stepped over the threshold and into the empty classroom. Perhaps Severus felt that no one would actually try to break into this room. After all, they hated it just fine during the day, enough to avoid it at all costs the rest of the time. But she would bet fifty galleons that his potions closet was jinxed from here to Beauxbatons. Nora heaved a sigh of relief and shut the door behind her, relocking it.

Part One of her plan was a success. Now for Part Two.

Nora gingerly traveled up the rows of desks towards the larger one placed at the front of the room. She did not want to ruin her hard work by knocking over a spare cauldron and creating a racket. Reaching Severus' desk, she dropped her makeshift sack, pulled out his chair and sat down. She placed her hands on top of the piece of furniture and patted the wood. So, this is what it felt like. She could almost feel the power course through her as she imagined a couple dozen witches and wizards seated at their stations, waiting with bated breath for her next instruction.

Nora twisted her face into an imitation of Severus' famous sneer, and pointed at random spots in the air. "Fifty points from Gryffindor! One thousand bajillion points to Slytherin!" Giggling, she reached down and grabbed her blanket, and unraveled it on the desk revealing her pillow and robes. Not wanting her robes to get dirty by placing them on the ground, but wanting as much space as possible on the desk's surface, she decided to place her stack of clothing in one of the drawers. Nora eeny meeny moe'd before settling on the topmost right drawer. When she opened it, she noticed a single, dried lily flower sitting on a stack of what looked to be old notes.

Well that's certainly a strange thing to have. With a shrug, she closed the drawer and picked the next one down, which only contained extra glass test tubes. She placed the stack on top of them and slid it shut. She then wrapped the blanket around herself, wiggled in the chair to find a more comfortable spot, and let her head fall onto her pillow on top of the desk.

Part Two complete. She had successfully infiltrated the Potions classroom, where she would sleep until her professor showed up at seven thirty in the morning.

She couldn't wait to see his face when he found that not only was she on time, but she was early. Suck on that, Professor Sourpuss, Nora thought sleepily, before slipping into a deep slumber, where she dreamt of bubbling cauldrons, black eyes, and lilies.

"What. Are. You. Doing?"

There was a loud thud of a heavy textbook being slammed on the wooden desk right next to Nora's face.

Snorting, she literally jumped out of her slumber, toppling out of the chair and onto the solid, cold floor. Rubbing her eyes, she looked up and her gaze made contact with one very furious Severus Snape.

Nora eased herself up off the ground, yawned, and stretched. Lowering her arms, she shot Severus a self-satisfied grin. "Well, I was thinking that you were right. That I would never make it to class on time. So instead I," Nora gestured to her makeshift sleeping arrangements, "brought myself to the classroom ahead of time as a preventative measure."

Severus was speechless. Nora suspected it was because he was so impressed with her clever antics, but really he was amazed she had the gall to even think of doing such a thing.

He placed both of his hands on the top of the desk and leaned forward, never breaking eye contact with the young woman opposite him. "Were you a student," he began, menace dripping with every word, "I would do everything within my power to have you expelled from this school. You were sneaking around after hours. You broke into my classroom. Merlin knows what you have been rummaging through and rearranged in the room, and...you drooled all over my desk," he finished with a look of disgust.

Nora glanced down and saw that she had, in fact, drooled all over his desk. She casually reached over and wiped up the small puddle with her sleeve.

"However," Severus continued, pulling back, "you are not a student. You are, technically, staff of the castle, and as such, I cannot punish you as severely." He looked thoroughly disappointed at the fact.

"So...what does that mean, then?" Nora questioned nervously. In retrospect, if someone had broken into her classroom and drooled all over her stuff, she would probably have been a bit peeved as well. Because of this, she held back from arguing and remained humble.

Severus paced back in forth in front of the desk, mulling over how to deal with this situation. He had to admit, it was indeed clever. He had underestimated the girl, and now she was standing before him, not only on time, but was in the room before he was even awake. He would have loved to have her driven out of the castle and out of his way, but she outsmarted him. The revelation of this made him angry, but bubbling beneath that was amusement, and he was perhaps even a tiny bit...proud. He shook his head; what a gross emotion.

Finally stopping, he turned and looked Nora up and down, making her cheeks pink.

"You look awful."

Nora huffed and placed her hands on her hips. "Well gee, Professor, thanks. I did just wake up after all."

"Go clean yourself up. You need to look at least somewhat presentable for the classes today. Not at all the way you showed up yesterday."

Nora was stunned and gaped at Severus. Was he actually letting her off the hook? Had she finally gotten through to her old professor that she was worth more than he thought? She could have hugged him if he didn't look at her as if she was something he had to scrape off the underside of the work tables.

She nodded and bent down to retrieve her robes she prepared to wear for the day. The contents of the drawer clattered and clinked as she slid it open, and again as she slid it closed after lifting her robes out. Her eyes briefly flickered towards Severus and away, but quickly flicked back when she saw his expression.

His face, already pale as it was, had completely drained of what remaining color he had. His jaw was clenched and his hands were balled into fists and shaking, white-knuckled. His eyes looked wild with fury, but she saw deep down something else. Something that looked almost like fear.

She had seen her superior express a wide spectrum of emotions plenty of times. She had seen him at his most infuriated, but nothing had scared her quite as much as the way he looked now. It resonated within her in a way she knew she would never be able to relate, yet at the same time she had no idea what about her actions made him react as such.

Finally he spoke, his voice strained. "What were you doing just now?" he asked softly.

"I- I was grabbing my robes, sir. I d- didn't want them getting dirty, so I thought, maybe, putting them in the desk was a good idea." Nora kept her eyes trained on him, preparing for him to suddenly lash out at her.

"I see. And did you find anything...interesting?"

Nora's thoughts drifted to the lily she had found in the top right drawer. Was this what was causing him to have what appeared to be a breakdown of sorts? If it was, perhaps it was best if she played dumb.

"No, sir. It was dark. Hard to see anything, really."

"I see. Well then, Springer, I suggest you get ready now. I still need to review your task list with you before the first years arrive."

Nora nodded, and finally breaking their gaze, she hurriedly gathered her robes and trotted out of the classroom towards the baths, her eyes fixed on the ground now.

Turning out and into the corridor, she heard what sounded like a chair being kicked in the room behind her.

The young assistant lathered shampoo into her hair, lost in thought. She was curious to know what all that flower business was about. Dunking her head into the warm water of the large bath, she had settled on the theory that the lily was, in fact, the whole reason behind her professor's strange mood swing.

Sighing she relaxed back against the wall of the swimming pool sized tub, lowering her face into the water enough to blow tiny bubbles. Should she apologize? No, then it would give her away. She didn't want him to know that she saw it, and while lying to her boss felt unethical and left her with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, she figured it best to pretend like nothing happened. Whatever Severus was going through, Nora imagined it was painful.

Her inner turmoil was interrupted by a sudden flash and fizzle of red sparks on the opposite side of the tub. From the sparks came Severus' voice, deep and loud, reverberating throughout the near empty chamber.

"NORA SPRINGER, YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES TO GET BACK TO MY CLASSROOM."

"Oh dear," tutted a voice from over by the sinks. Nora swung her head towards the voice and saw Minerva McGonagall brushing her long hair in front of the mirror. Nora had only ever seen her former Transfiguration professor's locks up in a tight bun, so the sight came as quite a shock.

"Having a hard time adjusting, dear?" the older woman asked, turning to look at Nora over her square glasses.

Nora fidgeted in the water slightly - having her former professor seeing her in the buff made the young woman slightly uncomfortable. McGonagall herself was standing with a fluffy towel wrapped around her body.

"I guess you could say that…" Nora replied.

"Well, I have high hopes for you. You may have had a problem with punctuality, but you were one of the brightest students I ever taught. Your determination and wit will help you get through whatever Severus throws at you. Hopefully not literally," she ended with a smile.

Nora smiled back. Professor McGonagall was always stern, but away from her duties as a professor and Head of Gryffindor, she was rather pleasant.

"Thank you, Professor. He may be scary at times, but he is only another human, just like you and I."

"I agree. However, I do believe you should hurry, before he sends something a bit more...threatening...in here." McGonagall turned back to the mirror and waved her wand above her head - in an instant, her long hair began twisting back into its famous bun.

Nora heaved herself out of the water, dried herself off, and changed into her midnight blue robes. She waltzed over to the door, casting a quick drying spell on her bob, and made her way back to the Potions classroom.

Severus was waiting for her, seated at his desk, where she had been sleeping just a half hour prior. Stacked in front of him was a pile of papers, which Nora only assumed was the outlines of her assistant duties.

She grabbed a chair from one of the work tables and dragged it over to Severus, dropping into it when she finally reached him.

"Took you long enough," he remarked. He had apparently recovered from earlier; his skin was still pale, but no longer a sickly grey, and his eyes were back to their cold, black pools. "I want you to look these papers over. They outline instructions for how to prepare the classroom for the students, relative to their years. Safety protocols, rules for classroom behavior, what to do in an emergency, etc. I clearly do not expect you to memorize all of this by the end of today, but by next Monday you should be able to handle these tasks without having to refer back to these papers. Understood?" He slid the stack across the desk over to her.

Nora lifted the stack and flipped through the pages. Leave it to Severus to be as thorough as possible. The first half covered what Severus had just told her; the second half covered what she should do during and after the classes in regards to answering questions students may have, instructing them on how to brew their potions, and proper cleanup procedures. After reviewing everything, Nora recognized these outlines as the same ones Severus had applied to her own classes with him for her last two years at Hogwarts. This made it seem less daunting to the young woman, and she felt that despite what Severus claimed, she could probably have these tasks memorized and ready in only a day.

"I understand, sir. Shall we begin to prepare for the first years? We have ten minutes until they arrive." As she said this, Nora heard the first couple of students lining up outside of the classroom, waiting for the okay to enter.

Both adults stood, and Severus barked orders at her, telling her to grab a bottle of this, or a jar of that. With all of the required materials gathered for the professor's demonstration, Nora made her way over to the door, where she swung it open and ushered in the eleven year old witches and wizards. After some hesitation, and quite a few quizzical looks, the students began to file one by one into the classroom, taking their seats at their assigned tables, chattering amongst themselves; Hufflepuff on one side, Ravenclaw on the other.

The young assistant closed the door, and was suddenly struck by a wave of nausea. She was finally going to introduce herself and begin the steps towards learning how to teach. The excited feeling she had felt while prepping with Severus, was now replaced with nerves. Swallowing, she slowly made her way back to the front of the room to stand next to Severus.

He gave her a sideways glance, then turned his attention to his students.

"We will begin this class with an announcement."

A/N: So, Nora finally gets to prove herself! This story is coming easier to me than I had thought. Unfortunately, my new semester begins tomorrow, so I may be delayed with chapter updates. Never fear though, they will come out! I feel very attached to this fic now ~ Thank you for the kind reviews and follows!