"Why are you so bummed about getting stuck with Snape? Don't you have a thing for him?" My best friend Edwin asked as he piled a heaping spoonful of potatoes onto his already overflowing plate. My eyes widened "Shh! That is a secret!." I smack his arm and he chuckles. "Don't be worried, maybe you'll grow on him." I smiled at him weakly, quickly glancing at the teachers table. Snape sat quietly beside Professor Flitwick, the look of disdain that is normally plastered on his face is still present while he is eating and seemingly ignoring whatever Flitwick was saying to him.
Before I had the chance to look away, his eyes flicked up to mine and my heart flipped in my chest. I smiled awkwardly at him and quickly returned my gaze to the plate of half eaten food in front of me. "Do you want to go to the library before curfew? I need to go over some herbology notes and the common room is too bloody loud." Edwin asked and I nodded. We both stood, waving goodbye to a few of our friends before heading out of the Great Hall and to the Library.
I sat with Edwin in the library for about an hour, leaning my head on my hand as he read through his Herbology notes. "So, how are you planning to deal with Ol' Snapey? You going to just do as your told and hope for the best or are you actually going to try to make him not hate you?" Edwin asked, glancing up from his notes for a second. I rolled my eyes. "He doesn't hate me… he hates everyone." Edwin cut in "Especially Gryffindors." I sighed and folded my arms on the desk, laying my head face down into the darkness they created. "What am I going to do Eddie, he is either going to make my life miserable or come up with some excuse to get rid of me quickly." I spoke, adjusting my position so my cheek was laying on my folded arms. "Just be the best assistant you can be, don't give him a reason to sack you."
We didn't stay in the library much longer before we decided to head to the common room to get ready for bed. The castle was quite peaceful after nightfall, it has been a bit noisy the first few weeks due to the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang occupying the school in addition to the usual few hundred Hogwarts students. Edwin and I walked together, talking absentmindedly about different topics but were stopped suddenly when the dungeon bat himself swooped out from one of the side hallways. "And what do you two think you are doing out this close to curfew?" He growled and Edwin and I looked quickly at each other and then back to the looming professor blocking our way forward. "W-we were just in the library Professor Snape, we are heading back to our dormitory now." I spoke quickly, stumbling slightly over my words, his eye contact with me never wavering. "Very well, straight to Gryffindor Tower with the both of you." Snape spoke, with his usual disgust at the mere word Gryffindor. I nodded, grabbing Edwins arm, whispering a quick "Goodnight Professor." before returning on our walk to our dorms.
***THE NEXT MORNING***
Today was going to be my first day as Snape's assistant, and as the day went on I grew progressively more nervous. After history of magic, I met Edwin outside of the long spiral staircase to the dungeons and we walked into double potions together. We would be brewing Draught of Peace in our next lesson this week, which meant the first of our two hours consisted of a lecture from Snape about the dos and don'ts of brewing and the possible consequences if we were to do it wrong, and the second was writing a two rolls of parchment on the potion to be turned in before we left his classroom. I handed Edwin my essay to turn in with his before the bell rang. Edwin shot me a thumbs up before he exited the classroom, leaving me alone with the very grumpy looking potions master.
I flinched slightly when he stood up from his desk, and walked towards me. "Follow me Astrill, I need to retrieve a few things from my private stores." I nodded and followed him out of the classroom, walking beside him to the storage closet a few corridors down. We stopped at a door and he turned and glared at me. "Reveal this to anyone and I will see to it that you are expelled immediately." I nodded "Yes sir." He turned away from me and pulled his wand from his sleeve, mumbling something under his breath and the lock on the door clicked open. He pushed the door open and walked inside the tiny closet, flicking his wrist, igniting the candles on the ceiling fixture. I stood in the doorway of the little room, admiring the top to bottom shelves on all sides, filled with all types of rare and common potion ingredients. Snape climbed the ladder that rested on the back wall of shelves. He grabbed a few bits and bobs from the shelves handing them out to me to hold. Once he had gathered everything he needed he stepped down from the ladder, motioning for me to leave the closet as he closed and locked the door.
As we began the walk to the classroom Snape finally spoke up, "You are rather… quiet for a Gryffindor." I gave him a tight lipped smile "My Grandfather believes that children should be seen and not heard. I guess even here the rules of his house are ingrained." Snape glanced over at me, he looked a bit taken aback by my honesty. "Ah yes, Iferous Rosbell, Head of Magical Law Enforcement. He seems to be a… charming man." His voice dripped with sarcasm and I chucked quietly. "He is a bit prickly. But when my parents died, he took me in and has cared for me ever since."
As we arrived at the classroom I placed my arm full of ingredients on Snape's desk. We still had about thirty minutes until class started so we spent that time placing cauldrons and the ingredients we gathered on each workbench for the cure for boils they would be brewing. We finished just in time for the mixture of first years from every house filed cautiously into the classroom. Snape pulled a chair up to the side of his desk for me to sit in while he instructed the students on what they would be doing, informing them if they had any questions we would both be available.
The class went smoothly, aside from a young Hufflepuff girl almost blowing up her potion by switching the order of her stewed horned slugs with her flobberworm mucus. After I caught the mistake and corrected her, Snape of course called her a dunderhead in front of the whole class, making the poor girl sink into her chair from embarrassment. Once Snape walked away, I patted her shoulder and told her "Everyone makes mistakes on this one, my first year, I actually ruined the whole potion by stirring counterclockwise instead of clockwise and he called me an imbecile." She thanked me for being kind just before the bell rang to end class.
"Do you need any help with anything before I leave Professor?" I asked as I placed the last cauldron in its cabinet. He looked over at me as he cleaned his chalkboard, "After dinner I require assistance grading the essays from your class. You will meet me here at precisely 8:15." I grabbed my bag, slinging it over my shoulder and giving him a nod "Yes sir." I said before exiting the classroom and making my way to my last class of the day, transfiguration.