After dinner, news of the new Professor spread to those that didn't bother showing up to supper, many not believing a word people were telling them. Even the students that had been there were finding it hard to believe still, many speculating that this had been some form a fever dream or mass hallucination...They would believe anything other than the news that 'Professor Severus Snape' had a wife?!

A wife...

Harry, Ron and Hermione continued this discussion in the common room, plopping together on the couch near the fireplace. Crookshanks jumping from Hermione's hands to the arm rest of the couch, enjoying the warmth of the fireplace, laying in a relaxed loaf position.

"He has a wife...A wife...A living...breathing...human wife..." Ron kept repeating to himself. Hermione sighed, rolling her eyes. "You know at some point you have realize you're just being rude now..." The girl said, clearly wanting to to be done with this as the initial shock had already worn off, unlike her two companions who were both so baffled by this news still.

"You don't get it do you, Hermione..."

"What on earth am I not getting exactly here, Ron?"

"Someone actually went out of their way...to marry this man...On purpose...Till death do they part...Till death Hermione!"

"Okay now you're just being unnecessary. Yes, its a surprise...But its not impossible. I'm sure Professor Snape must have some...I dunno...qualities that Mrs. Snape must fancy...I suppose.."

Ron cringed in his seat hearing Hermione's explanation. It honestly wasn't sounding any better.

"Well...I agree with Hermione...Its technically not...impossible...for..him to be um...married..." Harry stated. "I suppose...its each to their own...somebody for everybody out there I guess...Even if that somebody is Professor Snape."

"Wait...Wait..." Ron started and sat upright, his face pulling in disgust at a thought that had just occurred to him. "What if...Its not by choice..."

"What are you getting at exactly...that he forced her to be his wife?" Harry questioned. That idea hadn't been outside the realm of possibilities but as far as Harry was concerned Mrs. Snape looked quite content around Professor Snape and seemed quite happy. It reminded him of his aunt and uncle that sat together enjoying a meal together. didn't appear to be in distress other than being mildly shy at the environment she had found herself in which was quite interesting to witness, especially for someone that's meant to be an educator.

"Look think of it this way...Snape is a potions professor...he could have been tainting her drinks and food with love potion. We all saw him feeding her at supper..." Ron pointed out. Hermione's nose crinkled in disgust at the idea of anyone love potioning someone into loving them, stripping some poor individual of choice.

"Yes...we all saw him feeding her a pie...But if that's the case I doubt he would of eaten the rest of it...Not to mention I'm pretty sure the other professors would have noticed if Mrs. Snape was love potioned. She would have been in a state of obsession and none responsive to many things."

"Pretty sure Hermione is right again. Professor Snape er...Mrs...Professor Snape seemed fine...I guess..." Harry said.

"Maybe that's what he wants everyone to think...if he's so great at what he does maybe he made one where she'd be in love with him and still act like a regular human being." Ron seemed dead set on proving their potions teacher was up to something extremely nefarious regarding their new magic arts professor. Hermione was beginning to feel as though she was talking to a brick wall at this point. Sensing the tension, Harry decided to slide off the couch.

"I'm gonna go check on Hedwig before curfew hits..." Harry announced and quickly shuffled out of the room. Ron was still running off his theory to which Hermione was trying to breakdown why a potion like that wouldn't be possible to make.

Harry didn't believe Snape potioned this woman that was claimed to be his wife...but he would definitely admit that he'd have an easier time believing that tiny aliens are living in muggle TV box sets, moving the picture via a tiny crank to distract humanity from realizing they're planning a tiny invasion than to believe Snape had a wife.

On the boy's way to the Owlry he had noticed a few portraits along the wall were pitch black. Not as if they were painted over or anything but blacked out for some reason. These were portraits he'd walk past on the daily when heading to class or just idly walking around. He never really paid them any mind, or checked or even bothered asking the painting themselves about who they were painted after but seeing as though these frames were glazed over in...some form of black he almost wished he had. Harry found himself leaning closer and closer to the portrait...It was almost as if he could see...

" ?"

Harry spun around, surprised to see Professor Snape...The other Professor Snape, Mrs. Snape...Boy this was going to be problematic. The boy could see she had been carrying quite a large box in her hand, several larger boxers and trunks hovering behind her in the air, obviously charmed for convenience.

"What are you doing, child?" She asked him. Her head tilting curiously at his actions.

Harry didn't know how to reply to that one. He couldn't exactly explain audibly that he felt drawn to the blacked out paintings for some reason without maybe getting strange looks from the new teacher. "Oh...um...I just noticed these portraits. They're not the same as they normally were. I...um...I Promise I didn't vandalize them or anything."

The woman chuckled. "I never said or thought you did, hun...Um...by any chance could you be a lamb and just help me with these boxes..? I have quite the lot of unpacking to do. That's...if you don't mind that is..."

The boy was surprised at the young woman for a second. She was nothing like his potions professor. Harry was certain if this was her husband in her place, Snape wouldn't even ask, it would have been demanded...Snape probably would have even purposely dropped the boxes on Harry and take away house points for letting it crush him on top of it all. Then again...he'd only just seen this new professor on the surface. For all he knew she could have been just as cruel or just as strict as her husband was, or maybe even worst than him. Harry decided to chance it and approach her taking the large box from her hands.

"You are an angel..." She smiled in appreciation and led him to her new classroom. It was quite the distance away, almost near the Ravenclaw dorms. The charmed boxes and trunks still trailing behind her. The new professor opened the doors, allowing Harry through first and walking in behind him. The boxes and trunks neatly stacked themselves in the center of the room. The room was still fairly bare, aside from a singular large desk in front of a large beautiful stained glass window. The windows blue and almost mosaic like patterning, with glittering star shapes that were charmed to not only move but shimmer as well. Harry dropped the large box carefully onto the desk, he could hear what sounded like liquid and glass bottles moving around.

"Do be careful with that one, hun...That's quite expensive to replace if anything happens to it..." The woman warned him. Harry headed this well, still having the idea that this woman's personality could snap at any point playing at the back of his head. Knowing who her husband was and experiencing first hand what he was capable of didn't help the poor boy's mind.

"Right..now that everything is here could you help me shelf it please? I'd ask my husband but he's in a meeting with Dumbledore right now and...I don't personally want to go out and look for another Professor's aid..."

Harry wanted to almost laugh at hearing the word 'please' or 'thank you' coming from this professor. Words he'd never hear from her husband, not unless another teacher, i.e Dumbledore and occasionally Professor McGonagall would make him do so. "I um...honestly don't mind professor but..wouldn't it be easy to just use magic to pack these things away? Just a thought...Not that I don't want to help or anything. It's just that I wanted to check on my owl before lights out and..um..."

This Professor Snape tilted her head again to the other side now, seeming to be thinking. "Oh um...That's not a problem, hun. If you must be off, you must be off I suppose. Also no..no no...Magic wouldn't be a good idea when packing these things. Far too risky for me. I wouldn't want anything happening to the supplies you see. I also had bad experiences levitating things to shelves only for the lot of them to drop all over the floor. Boy was that man not impressed with me that night...Oh well..." Harry immediately assumed she was referring to his potions teacher. She seemed more embarrassed about that story than uncomfortable so it was hard to tell if she was implying that Snape was merely cross with her or he was actually abusive toward her in any sense. And knowing Snape...well...Harry hated the image of a man like that laying a hand on gentle woman like this. It made him almost queasy to think about. Maybe Ron's theories weren't entirely far off...Harry felt almost bad for telling her that he couldn't stay to help. So far she seemed very nice, unlike the man she chose to marry...He would have loved to know the story behind that but he for sure wasn't going to come right out and ask her about it, especially not now of all times.

Right as Harry was about to leave someone else walked in, an all too familiar face...however Harry was utterly surprised to see them here to begin with.

"Leaving your poor new professor to tend to her classroom all on her own. I assumed you were a gentleman, Harry." Remus Lupin joked.

"Lupin? Er...what are you doing here I thought...you had to leave the school because of...um.." Harry stopped and looked to the other professor in the room before turning back to Lupin. "Conditions..." he finished, not wanting to out him as werewolf in front the new professor.

Lupin laughed awkwardly, trying to shuffle past Harry. "Yes, well lets just say, Dumbledore requested for my presence. He turned his attention to the only other person in the room. "Lovely to see you again, Charlene..." Lupin approached almost cautiously. Mrs. Snape frowned, turning on her heels, not wanting to look at him. Her arms crossed over her chest as she scoffed. "I knew I smelt a mutt..." She muttered out.

Harry's eyes widened at this...so they knew each other? Also this may have been a small window into seeing the Professor's other emotions that would hopefully tell him a bit more about the type of person she was. Just like his potions teacher, she didn't seem all too thrilled to see Lupin. Was her kind nature too good to be true? Then again...She married Severus Snape of all people. Lupin, didn't seem to take much offense to the woman's comment, he merely looked mildly sad, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"You can't still be blaming me for that incident...Can you?" Lupin asked her.

"No...I would never blame you for that and you know it. I blame the other fool you chose to associate yourself with that almost got my husband killed!"

Harry stood near the doorway. He knew he should leave but he would be lying if he said he wasn't intrigued by the situation that had suddenly transpired, that was keeping him from setting foot out the door. With this bit of knowledge the boy would assume that this professor was well aware of what had transpired between her husband and the Marauders. She had no qualms with Lupin personally but possibly with Sirius for getting Severus into a situation where he could have been ripped apart by Lupin when he was in his werewolf form.

Lupin looked as though he winced at her words. "I know...I know...And I can't even begin to tell you how sor-"

"No."

"Pardon?"

"No no and no I do not accept your apology. Because you have nothing to apologies for. That apology needs to come from that other idiot, not you. You need to stop apologizing on his behalf." Mrs. Snape snapped.

Remus chuckled at this. "You first..." He replied, causing her to go silent. Her face now scrunched into a pout, her cheeks rosy.

"That's different..."

"Is it really..? I mean...You do the exact same thing for him, don't you."

"You know...you can be a real..." She stopped and looked at Harry, not wanting to curse in front of a student, especially not on her first day. "...A real jerk sometimes..." The woman sighed and uncrossed her arms, seeming more relaxed now.

"So...do you two know each other from your school days?" Harry questioned.

"Well um...yes and no..." Lupin replied awkwardly. "Its hard to explain...Also didn't you have an owl to check on, Harry?"

"But I-"

Lupin cut him off with a raised hand. "I can take over helping Professor Snape here set up her new classroom. You go on ahead."

"But-"

"Harry..." Lupin gave him a stern insistent look. "We can catch up later..."

Harry finally gave in and quickly left to go check on Hedwig again. Lupin shut the door as Harry made his exit. The man turned to look at the woman who was now opening box after box.

"He looks just like his father..."

"He has his mother's eyes..." Lupin added.

"I noticed...So does he know about...you know?"

"I'd rather keep that one to myself if you don't mind."

"I'm not a monster you know..."

"Nor am I..."