AN : This chapter is so short but I wanted to post it so bad.. Next one will be much longer rest assured. (•_•)ゞ

Also, since English isn't my first language I'm in need of an English speaker beta reader because I can't see when what I'm writing feels weird or even the mistakes. So if you happen to be interested DM me. (ᴗ•)

Enjoy your reading !

Severus groaned. His alarm had interrupted his too short night and he was not happy at all about having to face the students with crumbs of sleep. Not since the end of the war had he slept so well. But today a mysterious insomnia had come to disturb his precious sleep. He spent hours tossing and turning in his sheets, hoping to chase away thoughts he couldn't allow himself if he shook his blanket hard enough. Yes, it had been a long night and strangely hotter than usual.

He finally got up and a quick flick of his wand later Snape was ready. Sitting at his desk, he consulted the lists of his new classes. The onyx man hated not knowing who he was dealing with, old habits surely.

Underneath the pile of first-year classes, a sheet with the title "Options potion" caught his attention. He had indeed been informed that options would be made available to Year 8 students who wished to deepen or fill gaps in one or two subjects, but he hadn't thought enough students would volunteer to make his happen.

He read aloud the list of students.

- Anthony Goldstein, Blaise Zabini, Dean Thomas, Harry Pot- He stopped short, lips pursed.

Potter was the last person he wanted to see today. It couldn't be denied that his relationship with the young man had improved when they set up his defense at trials. But after what he'd seen yesterday, extra hours in the company of the gryffindor who haunted his night were not welcome.

He knew Harry was lacking in Potions, but not that he was conscientious enough to seek remedy. It was when he read the next name that he understood "Hermione Granger". Of course, the brilliant witch had to convince him using his weaknesses in potion as a pretext to get him to accompany her.

Severus, who had grown only slightly closer to Harry, had been able to develop his relationship with the young woman more fully. The aspiring medicomage took care of convalescents after the war was over, so Snape had had plenty of opportunity to chat with her, once his vital prognosis was safe. Nagini would have got the better of him if he had been found a few minutes too late by the group of friends, and it took many months for him to recover. To this day, the potion master bears the indelible scars of the snake's deadly blows.

Shaking these bad memories with a wipe of the hand, Snape focused instead on the potion he was going to present as an introduction to his options. Fortunately, it was only once a week, otherwise he would have had to spend his next few nights working on a whole new program, not having anticipated it...

Finally, he decided on a poison, a relatively simple concoction with certain complexities depending on the ingredients. The potion master then set off at a leisurely pace, determined to make his first-years tremble as they awaited him, already apprehending.

~~~

Later that afternoon, a plaintive tone could be heard in the corridors of Hogwarts.

-You'd better help me, you're the one who dragged me into this class! A Harry Potter well-versed in his limited potions skills had already been complaining to his exasperated friend for 10 minutes now.

-Harry, you're not going to learn anything if I give you all the answers, and I was talking about revision when I offered to help you... Besides, things have changed, Snape isn't the same since he incidentally came back from the dead, isn't a spy anymore and escaped Askaban, barely, and thanks to you. So everything's going to be fine and you're going to be able to improve your potion skills, that's great!!!

-Too much enthusiasm. It's true that we got closer during the trial, but this isn't a courtroom or a hospital, so you never know how he's going to act.

-Snape's a good man who's had a lot of bad things happen to him, and you of all people should know that from what you've seen.

-Yes, I'm just saying that the setting here is different, and what's more, this teaching assignment replaces his sentence in Askaban. I can't even imagine his mood on that first day of class, Harry pretended to shiver as he said this jokingly.

-You're such an idiot, Hermione said with a laugh.

The two 8th-years then headed to the dungeons for their first option class, with varying degrees of trepidation. Harry had really enjoyed getting to know his Potion's teacher but was happrehensive about the reunion. The friendship forged in the days of the trials might be lost in the strict confines of school, and returning to his original relationship with Snape was the last thing he wanted.

He'd seen too much of the man in the pensive to manage to regain his hatred and disgust. Snape was the person who had sacrificed the most for this war, and even his childhood had been anything but tender. So the young griffindor hoped to maintain even the most trivial of friendships with his teacher, maybe even making up for his father's mistakes in the process.