Snape

"These classes will be hard. We're force feeding you five years of learning into six months. Can you handle that?" Snape introduced his lesson with a harsh truth.

The group was stunned. They had realised that they were playing catch-up but not by how much. Kanda seemed less surprised and raised his hand,

"Five? I thought we needed seven?" he asked. The others stared - how was he so calm? Snape smirked and folded his arms,

"Your apprenticeship will boost you to year 7 as well as boosting your assigned subjects. But the actual apprenticeship will only begin once you pass your NEWTs."

"How long will that take us?" Alma asked.

"A year for those two years of study and however long you take for your assigned curriculum" Snape answered and the group tensed slightly at the amount of learning.

"What happens if we fail?" Timothy asked. Snape shrugged,

"You keep resitting until you pass" he answered before turning and writing a list of ingredients on the board.

"Now let us begin the lesson. Potions is a delicate and precise art that requires a steady hand and patience" he fixed his eyes on Timothy and Allen who sweated and Kanda held in a snort. Good luck getting those two to sit still, he thought.

Snape watched the group work with intrigue. Hearst and Walker were struggling, which he had expected, and Karma and the Lee girl were holding their own whilst helping the others. But the thing that surprised him most was Kanda. The man seemed to be a natural, filled with patience and a steady hand. Even though it was too early to decide, Snape wondered if Kanda would be picked as his apprentice - somewhere deep down he hoped he would be. Once the group had finished, Snape was not surprised that only Kanda created a perfect potion. Though the others would definitely work for their intended use.

Timothy collapsed onto the sofa once the class had been dismissed,

"That was stressful. I was convinced it would explode" he whined. Alma rolled his eyes and set next to him, pointing out the steps that the boy nearly missed and held in a chuckle at Tim's horrified face at the possible outcome of his potion. Lenalee looked towards the classroom door.

"Is Kanda still with the Professor?" she asked. Allen looked over at her,

"Yeah he said something about cleaning up" Lenalee looked surprised. That was new. She shrugged - if anything was wrong he'd tell them. And he had changed in recent months; they all had.

Snape watched surprised as Kanda helped to clean up the classroom without prompt.

"Do you know the real reason why Dumbledore wanted us here?" The question caught Snape off guard and he met the other man's teal gaze. Kanda leaned back against a table and crossed his arms.

"The others may have bought the whole 'we are sorry for avoiding the war' story, but I don't. So what is it?" Snape sighed - the man may not be book smart but he was anything but stupid. Maybe this was the real reason he was a Slytherin. Or he was just a brilliant military tactician - that would also work.

"I'm not 100% sure. But I think Albus knows that something is brewing in the near future and wants as many allies as we can get" He moved to collect his papers so to avoid Kanda's eyes. He didn't know what the headmaster was thinking - dragging soldiers from one war straight into another. Probably for 'the greater good' or something ridiculous.

"So he has some bad guys to clean up after, and called in seasoned professionals" Snape could hear the malice in Kanda's words. And he didn't blame him.

"Probably to do with the Harry Potter kid as well?" Kanda continued and Snape finally looked up at him.

"How did you -?"

"I did some research. Surprising I know" Kanda moved closer and Snape had to repress the urge to step back, "But I don't like being kept in the dark". They both jumped slightly at the sound of laughter from the adjoining living room and Kanda took a step back.

"This was your last lesson of the day right?" Snape asked him. He nodded.

"Then come with me" and he headed out of the classroom, Kanda on his heels.

Snape's office was plain but messy, covered in research notes and old text books - all filled with the same sharp handwriting. Kanda entered the room and dropped the papers on the already cluttered desk before turning towards the man who had closed the door behind them and folding his arms.

"So? What's this Potter issue? And what's it got to do with war?"

Snape sighed and moved over to Kanda and the desk, standing next to him.

"Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. He's been in this school for three years and has been attacked by old haunts for two. You-Know-Who. An evil that Potter accidentally 'defeated' at only one year old. But something remained."

Kanda just stared. He remembered Lavi mentioning it but he thought it was gone. Maybe he would need the man to look into it more. How could he contact him? But there were more pressing issues.

"So this You-Know-Who guy is trying to come back? And some kid is supposed to defeat him alone? This seems eerily familiar, Professor" the last word was hissed and, though his face remained stony, Snape internally cringed.

"Which of you was it?" he asked, thinking he already knew the answer.

"Allen. That boy went through Hell to defeat the Earl. But the rest of us danced with death too many times"

Snape kept quiet. War was messy, and nobody came out unscathed from the battles. That he understood. And it was always the Gryffindor type. Rash with good intentions. They were the ones given the biggest burden.

"So what's he like, this kid?" Kanda asked and Snape grumbled slightly.

"A pain in the neck like most kids. He's a rash rule-breaker with no trust in authority. I've lost count of the amount of times I've had to save his hide just because he didn't tell any of the teachers first. The only thing I'm grateful for his that he never became a brute like his father"

Kanda could hear the resentment and summerised that the boy's father was a bit more than unkind to the man, but he didn't press the subject. He hadn't exactly been an angel himself.

"And how did this all come about anyway?" Kanda raised an eyebrow.

"There was a prophecy" Snape started. Kanda groaned,

"Great. Prophecies. Why is it always down to Divine intervention?"

"The Holy War had prophecies?" Snape asked, raising an eyebrow. The Church usually wanted to distance themselves from anything magical, divination included. Kanda snorted,

"The whole damn war started because of a prophecy from thousands of years ago. And then there was Moyashi being named the whole 'Destroyer of time' so everyone just left it up to him assuming that he was destined to conquer the enemy" the man spat, making his opinion on the assumption clear.

"Neither can live while the other survives" Snape continued and Kanda stared at him.

"This prophecy. It ended up with him going after Potter didn't it" Kanda said softly. Snape nodded.

"In the beginning, it could have meant anyone born at the end of July. But The Dar- You-Know-Who picked the Potters. And Harry survived." The professor explained. Kanda's eyes darkened as pieces clicked into place.

"But so did the bad guy" he concluded. Snape sighed, the man was definitely a Slytherin.

"In a way. His body died but his soul survived somehow."

"Dark magic then?" Kanda guessed, having read enough to know the difference. Snape nodded,

"The question is how specifically he survived - that we haven't quite figured out yet," he added.

"So are we supposed to help with that or just fight when he finally figures out how to come back properly?" Kanda asked. Snape threw his arms up slightly.

"Nobody can ever know for certain why the headmaster does what he does. We just have to go along with it and hope it works out in the end" he admitted. Kanda nodded, he knew people like that - most of the order generals seemed to work in the same way. Especially Cross. Nobody ever knew what that womanizer was thinking. Kanda turned to leave,

"I'm going to tell the others about this" it wasn't a question and Snape nodded in understanding,

"They deserve to know" he said as Kanda left the office.