FIC: New Professor on the Block (PG-13)
Title: New Professor on the Block
Type: Fic
Age-Range Category: Three
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Severus Snape, Poppy Pomfrey, cameos by Hogwarts Staff members
Author: worrywart1966
Beta(s): timandsophsmom
Rating: PG-13
Click to View [Note(s)]In this story, I do see Severus wanting to be a good teacher, for Lily, as the story said. However, as time went by and he realized the son of his greatest enemy would soon be arriving at Hogwarts, the tasks Dumbledore began to ask of him, and the fear of Voldemort's return began to take its toll on him and he became the Snape of Rowling's books, and the Snape we all want to give a happier life to through our stories.
Summary: Severus Snape always thought of Poppy Pomfrey as one of his few champions, and the mother he never truly had. It was natural, therefore, for him to seek her out during his first few months as a professor for guidance.
Severus trudged the final steps to his quarters at Hogwarts, bone weary and down hearted. He had just been in the hospital wing, having Poppy fix-again-his nose. He had made up a story for the matron as to how it got broken because the real story shamed him.
He pressed his hand to his door, and it recognized his magic, opening smoothly. As soon as Severus was over the threshold, the door closed and locked behind him. He dropped his cloak on the sofa and made straight for his drinks cabinet, opening a door and pulling out a bottle. He poured two fingers -three on second thought-and threw it back in one go. With a gusty sigh, he untied his cravat, undid his waistcoat, and plopped into his well-worn leather chair. With a wave of his wand, a roaring fire soon warmed him.
He touched his nose gingerly. He knew Poppy didn't quite believe how the accident had happened. 'Really Severus? You slipped on some ice in the hall and hit the windowsill?'
Well, it certainly seemed plausible, but it was not the truth. The truth was that he was tripped using such a stupid trick, he could hardly believe he fell for it or all the other pranks he had become victim to in the first two months of the school year; his first two months of teaching.
Two fifth year Slytherins, SLYTHERINS, mind, had strung a bit of wire about four inches from the ground across the archway in the main library corridor. Knowing Snape would more than likely head that way after lunch-he really needed to vary his schedule he had concluded as he lay on the floor afterward, bleeding profusely from his now broken nose-they lay in wait.
As soon as his shin pressed against the wire, the two boys each pulled their ends, tightening the wire and sending Severus sprawling. The quills and parchments he had been holding went flying, and as he landed, the inkpots in his cloak pockets smashed, soaking into the fabric, a few bits of glass cutting his upper thigh.
Of course the perpetrators used the moments in which Severus had been falling to scamper off undetected, or nearly; Peeves just happened to round the corner at the same time and cackled madly at Snape, instantly creating an ode to the moment:
Oh Snapie, you tripsie, you fly, and you fall
McPhearson and Tracy are jokesters and all
You breaksie your nosie-
"PEEBES!" Severus shouted, blood dripping from his nose and causing him to splutter. "Get out of here!"
Peeves zoomed off, singing his horrid tune as he went. Severus looked about to see if the culprits were still about, intending to take massive points, even from his own house. Of course the imps had vanished. Severus looked around again, hoping no one else could see him so indisposed and quickly stood. Vanishing the wet ink from his cloak and cleaning up the glass, he magicked his parchments and quills to him and headed for the hospital wing, his handkerchief over his nose.
He stood from his chair and checked the battered mantel clock that stood on a shelf above his desk. It had been his mother's clock, and one of the few things he brought from his home in Spinner's End. He noted that he still had some time before dinner in the Great Hall, so he decided a warm shower would help relax his sore muscles. His nose was not the only victim of his fall; his knees and chest took the brunt of his landing on the stone floor and were tender.
He spent a good half an hour in the shower, relaxing and thinking. As he dried off and began to dress, his thoughts carried back to several other pranks he had fallen victim of and his discussions with Poppy afterward.
The first of the pranks occurred two weeks into the term. By this time, the students were comfortable with their daily schedules and first years were settling down and adjusting to be away from home. The older students preened under the admiration of those lonely and gullible firsties, and this made them a bit reckless in their behaviour. It was this recklessness that led to Severus' first encounter with pranksters.
It had happened at dinner. The staff had been late to the meal as Dumbledore had called an impromptu staff meeting just prior to deliver the sad news of the death of a student's mother. They discussed the preparations for the student to go home for a week, which resulted in the staff arriving late to dinner. This tardiness had given a couple of fourth year Gryffindors a chance to replace Snape's teacup with a biting teacup.
Biting teacups didn't just nip at your lips, they bit, hence the name. Often times, because the bitee was stunned into inaction in the first moments after the bite, the cup took advantage and bit harder. Poor Severus' first reaction was to pull hard at the cup, but the cup simply held on. He then attempted to dislodge it by whipping his head around, but again, the cup held on. By this time, his lip had begun to swell, making it harder to dislodge the cup. Worse still, the entire student body had begun to laugh as Severus' frantic motions caught their attention and then the whisper of 'it's a biting teacup!' made its way around the hall.
"Oh, my boy," chuckled Dumbledore, "hold still and I'll get this taken care of. Finite!" he incanted, and the cup fell to the table. "Oh, dear," he mused. "I think perhaps Poppy and you should head to the hospital wing."
Severus stood angrily. "I want thoo know whith of the crethins thid this!" He exclaimed through his swollen lip. He finished with a swipe at his mouth, smearing blood across his cheek and hand.
A motherly hand pressed against his arm. "Come along, Severus; let's get you cleaned up before you stain your cravat even further." Poppy steered the young man out of the hall as he muttered on about the things he would do to the students, all the while Poppy hushing him. "It's part and parcel of being a new teacher, Severus. It's happened to all of us." She also provided a few hints about how to spot a biting teacup so Severus wouldn't fall victim again.
One of the other things Severus had had to deal with in his first term of teaching was the fact as the youngest on the staff, he piqued the interest of some of the female professors and the eldest of the female students.
At first he felt flattered, giddy even, but then felt uncomfortable. After all, most, if not all of the female staff had been in residence since he was a first year. Hooch, Vector, and Sinistra had come along in the last two years of his schooling, so although they were closer to him in age, he couldn't see them in any other light than that of teacher and student.
The first encounter was at the Three Broomsticks, during the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year...
Severus had drawn the short end of the stick, or simply because he was the newest staff member, but he was made to chaperone, along with Madam Hooch. Once the children had been released to their pursuits, Hooch disappeared into the pub, and Severus went to the stationer's for ink and quills and then to the bookshop to peruse the new arrivals.
About an hour later, his belly began to protest its being empty, so he headed to the Broomsticks for a meal. Hooch waved him over, and he walked through the noisy throng of students to take a seat next to her at a table near the back.
They chatted amiably, each nursing a drink; well, Severus nursing a drink, Hooch's idea of nursing a drink involved acting as though it was a STAT delivery of medication via IV push. It was about twenty minutes into their discussion when he first felt her hand.
He'd felt a rubbing sensation along his thigh and dismissed it as perhaps just a muscle tremor. The second time, he thought that perhaps Hooch's hand simply landed on his thigh accidentally; she had been describing a rather acrobatic Quidditch move after all. It was the third time when he noticed her hand on his thigh, stroking upward toward his most favourite part of his body that Snape realised it was not an accident.
He choked a bit on his drink, dribbling it down his chin and then stood suddenly, banging his knees on the table and squeaked, "I really must be going. I've got something brewing that needs my attention."
Hooch's howls of laughter followed him and verified for certain to him that she had, indeed, been making advances.
The next incident of the overly eager female variety had been on the Astronomy Tower with Professor Sinistra. Severus had snuck up to the tower to have a cigarette, smoking not being allowed in the castle in the first place. He was most surprised to find the rampart of the tower already occupied and smelling of fresh cigarette smoke.
Hoping not to startle the occupant, he cleared his throat and stepped out onto the rampart.
"Oh, Severus!" a female voice cried.
"Professor Sinistra," he said, nodding his head in greeting. The light was dim, but he could tell from the way she ducked her head, she was blushing at having been caught.
"I, erm…" she trailed off.
"It's all right, Sinistra. I won't tell if you won't," he said companionably as he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
With a breathy laugh, she nodded and agreed. Taking a drag, she asked, "How are you finding your first weeks of teaching?"
Severus had just taken a deep drag and exhaled is quickly to answer. "The little shites have tripped me, and you of course saw the biting teacup incident."
She laughed again but said, "I know I shouldn't laugh, but we've all been through it in some way or another."
"So Poppy tells me."
"It'll get better as the term continues."
"I'll not hold my breath," he huffed.
A few minutes of silence passed as the pair smoked or in the case of Sinistra, lit a new cigarette. It was she who broke the silence.
"Do you get lonely?"
"Not particularly," he responded.
"You'll find it does get lonesome, especially on the long nights of winter." As she spoke, she had moved closer and reached out to touch the sleeve of his cloak.
Severus was surprised, but didn't move, choosing to see what would happen. She was a comely woman, certainly better looking than Hooch. He looked at her hand as her fingers walked up to his shoulder.
"Sometimes, it's nice to have a friend to pass the time with," she said breathily.
Severus had to agree, but he wasn't sure if this was allowed by the rules of the school. He wasn't given a chance to voice his concern before he found a pair of soft lips upon his.
As any man would, he reacted to the kiss by the simple act of participation. It wasn't until Sinistra moaned in pleasure that Severus came to his senses and pulled away.
"I'm sorry for this. I shouldn't have taken advantage."
Sinistra laughed throatily. "Oh, Severus, you naive young fool. Don't tell me you didn't like it."
"It was nice…." Anything further he wished to say was cut off by Sinistra kissing him again. This time, however, he reacted less naively and pulled away.
"Stop," he said. "I know we're teachers and this may be allowed, but I'm not interested in you that way."
"Are you gay?" she asked indignantly.
"No, I'm not. I'm just…I'm still..." he couldn't finish. Only Dumbledore knew that secret.
"I see; there's another woman in your life."
Severus didn't know what to say, so he simply agreed if only to extricate him from this increasingly uncomfortable moment. He stood, watching Sinistra stomp off and sighed.
Another time, he found a note from a seventh year student tucked into the corner of her homework. Vespasia Fettlebirch belonged to a wealthy pureblood family and was quite used to getting what she wanted, or so Severus had been informed by Poppy during one of the chat that took place directly after.
"What I am to do about this?" he asked, throwing the note down before sitting in the chair Poppy set up by her desk.
"You're mother," she said, indicating the teakettle as she opened the note. "Oh, my!" she exclaimed. "She's, erm, rather pointed in her offer."
"I didn't think girls that age knew that much about sex."
"Oh, you'd be surprised, especially with the pureblood girls. Indifferent parents and long summers spent aboard mean some of them learn things about life sooner than others."
"What should I do about it?"
"Nothing for one thing!" Poppy exclaimed emphatically.
"Obviously," Severus sneered. "Should I give her detention?"
"If you do, I would hand it off to one of the female staff, preferably not one you've spurned."
"I've spurned?" he asked curiously.
"Not Hooch or Sinistra," Poppy answered and then laughed at the look on his face. "Terrible gossips the pair of them; you'd best watch your tongue around them. Perhaps Vector or Trelawney or help you with her detention."
"Never Tralawney," Severus gasped.
"Why not?"
"Because she follows me around, spewing drivel at me. Some rot about her inner eye having seen our bodies twisting and writhing in passion." Severus shivered, and Poppy laughed.
"She doesn't!"
"She does. She's a menace."
"She's old and lonely."
"Well let her be lonely with someone else."
"Severus…."
"She needs a corrective lens for her inner eye. I've no interest in her at all."
Poppy chuckled and took up her teacup. "Just ignore her. We all do. As far as the other women on staff, there are no rules against it. In fact, there are several torrid affairs among the staff."
"Who?" Severus asked curiously.
"Sprout and Flitwick for one. Has been for years. Hooch and Vector on and off; Hooch is bisexual. Sinistra usually takes up with the Defense professor of the year."
"Why me then this year?"
"You're new, young, not bad looking; a new challenge for her."
"I'd rather not be a new challenge."
"Then give in, and you'll be an old challenge. Or I know; give in and be really bad at it," Poppy said cheekily.
"Poppy!!" Severus blurted as his face reddened. He stood and stomped out of her office, her laughter following him.
One particular incident brought Severus around to the fact a firmer, more stern hand was paramount in the classroom. It happened on the last day of classes before the Christmas holidays.
The sixth year Gryffindor Slytherin class was not Severus' favourite class. Most of them had experienced puberty the year before, and so hormones flowed and inattention was rife as the boys and girls attempted to flirt. Severus spent a great deal of time trying not to laugh at their feeble attempts, until he remembered his own singular pursuit and became subdued.
The result of the attempts flirting had caused a slew of incorrectly brewed potions and to Severus' dismay, an explosion of epic proportions on the day the students were to leave.
Frank Stewart and Ebenezer Dietrich were attached at the hip and often got into trouble at the same time, each having egged on the other. Every class with them carried an atmosphere of tension for Severus as he was unsure what the pair might do. Today, however, they seemed to be behaving quite well, and he should have been suspicious.
Severus began the class as usual by giving notes about the potion they would be brewing. It was a simple one so that even the most holiday-distracted student would be able to complete it without mishap.
Once the notes had been given, the few questions asked answered, he set them to brewing. Things were going along quietly. He kept a gimlet eye on the class as he sat as his desk, marking papers, and making adjustments to next terms' syllabus. After half an hour, he stood and began to move among the students to see how they were progressing.
He was near Stewart and Dietrich's potion, which he noted was bubbling a bit to briskly, when he saw a frantic hand began to wave.
"What is so important, Grigsby, that you must impersonate a flag on a windy day?"
"Please, sir, I think I've added to much cat spittle to my potion!"
"Why wouldn't that surprise me," he murmured as he moved to Grigsby's desk. When he arrived however, he noted the potion was as it should be, but unfortunately, that realization was just milliseconds too late.
BOOM!
In the next few seconds, pandemonium reigned. A geyser of liquid shot up from the cauldron on a Stewart's desk and in the stunned silence following, only the splatter of the liquid landing on other surfaces and the student's bodies could be heard. As Snape and the students realised their clothing was disappearing, screams filled the room, desks were overturned, cauldrons went flying and a stampede of students-mostly the girls-headed toward the door.
"Do not move!" Severus bellowed as he began to place Stasis charms on all the overturned cauldrons. He also shouted instructions to the students to cast a Clothing Covering Charm on themselves and then get out of the room.
He turned to cast Stasis charms over another portion of the room when he tumbled over backwards and landed, flat on his back, into a puddle of potion.
The effect was stunning, and the remaining students, Stewart and Dietrich among them, stood watching.
Severus' hair was the first affected…it was turquoise, no, it was chartreuse, no, now it turned puce. As his hair flashed through some of the less popular colourways, his skin was busy becoming polka-dotted in colours that matched his hair. One wouldn't think that black cloth could be dyed into a light shade so perfectly, but alas, whatever mixture of potions the other potions had combined into was doing so admirably. At least before it made his clothes disappear again.
"Should we get the headmaster?" Severus heard a female ask.
"Erm, yeah, I guess," another voice answered, this time male.
As Severus turned over to lift himself out of the goopy mess, he saw the rest of the class make themselves scarce. He stood, completely starkers with potion dripping off of him when the headmaster himself entered.
"Severus, my boy. I had heard there may be a problem. Oh, my; let me get you a robe!" The headmaster waved his wand, and a black robe covered his Potions master.
"Thank you, Headmaster," Severus said. "And thank you for the black robe."
Dumbledore chuckled. "I had thought about a gold one to match the current colour of your hair, but I sensed that you might be a bit upset."
"To say the least," Severus snarled.
"What happened?"
Severus gingerly stepped out of the puddle he was standing in while he explained to the headmaster what had happened.
Dumbledore walked in a circle around Severus. "Oh, say, that's quite a knot on the back of your head. You'd better let Poppy take a look at that. I'll clean up this mess. What do you think happened?"
"Stewart and Dietrich happened," Severus growled. I suspect they tossed a few ingredients into their potion as a prank and well, you can see the result."
"Yes, I saw a few unusually dressed and undressed students running through the halls as I made my way down here. I suggest a detention when they return to class in January."
"If I have my way, they'll be in detention until graduation!"
Christmas morning still found Severus as a patient in the teacher's wing of the hospital wing, the knot on the back of his head was just the foretelling of his concussion. It was quite early when Poppy knocked on his door to announce breakfast.
"Good morning, Severus. I brought you a special Christmas breakfast."
Severus, still sleep tousled with a gravelly voice, thanked the woman as he sat up in bed.
"Here you go," she said as she sat the tray on the bed table and pulled it up to his chest.
"What's that?" Severus asked, pointing to a small box on the tray. It was sombrely wrapped in black with white reindeer stencilled on it and a silver ribbon perched on a corner.
"Just a little something for Christmas. Thank you for my gift. How did you know I collected that series of books?"
Severus reddened a bit before answering, "I may have snooped a bit the last time I was here."
"But I know how costly those books can be, and a first edition as well!" she scolded.
Quietly Severus answered, "You've been more than a friend to me, Poppy. I'd have paid twice as much to make you happy."
Poppy wiped a tear and leant over to hug him. "My dear heart. You mean as much to me, too." She straightened back up and put back on her matron persona. "Now, eat up, and perhaps you can leave after breakfast."
"Won't you eat with me? There's enough for ten people on here!"
"Well, of course, if you wish."
The pair sat chatting amiably and eating the warm porridge and fluffy eggs provided. Each reminisced about past Christmases and then brought the subject around to Severus' accident and his relationship with the students.
"Why must they pester me, Poppy?" Severus asked.
Poppy put her teacup down and picked up a piece of toast, smearing on some jam before taking a bit. She chewed a bit and then answered, "Because you're new. The little brats are testing your limits. I suggest you begin taking more points. It's a sure way to get them to stop. And you must be firmer in class. Not only do you need to ensure they know that their tomfoolery could cause explosions, injuries and even death, they need to know you won't stand for it. I know you can growl, Severus, you do it often enough to me."
"And how do I do that?"
"Obviously, you need to instil the idea of safety and caution, but I think you need to, erm, keep them on their toes. Make it so they can never be sure that you aren't lurking around the next corner. Perhaps you could try being 'late' to class on occasion. Bang the door open and begin speaking as soon as you enter. Modulate your voice to make sure they listen….whisper when your angry, be sarcastic when answering a question. Hand out detentions for Merlin's sake!"
"Do you really think that would work?"
"When I was in school here, there was a matron that also taught a special class for those interested in healing. Quite a few of the students took it, thinking it was an easy class option, but it was far more than easy, I can tell you. She used to sneak into class after the start time to try to catch us doing what we shouldn't. If she did…oh the detentions! I got caught once-"
"You got detention?"
"I was just a girl. I was trying to hand a note to a boy I liked. Matron had snuck up behind me and snatched it out of my hand. I thought it was Ethel Kettleburn who also liked the same boy so I turned around to give her a piece of my mind, and well, it wasn't Ethel. My hand was sore for days afterward because I had to write lines in detention."
Severus laughed, and Poppy joined in.
After a moment, Severus said, quietly, "I wanted to be a good teacher, in honour of Lily. To show her, even in her afterlife, that I am a good man, regardless of what she may have thought."
"What did she think?"
"That I was going to be a Death Eater. That James and his gang were right about me."
"But you are, well, were, a Death Eater."
'I know," Severus sighed. "And I may have to act as such again someday. But someday isn't something I want to think about now." He sipped his tea and sat still for a while. "So you really think I should take more points and sneak up on the brats?" Severus asked.
Poppy chuckled. "Yes, I do. Begin at the start of the new term; they won't know what's hit them!"
"I believe I shall," Severus said with determination.
"Good. Now, finish your coffee and you may leave. I'll see you at the feast later?"
"Yes. I'll save the seat next to me for you."
"You're such a good boy, Severus." Poppy kissed him on the forehead and left the room.
Severus reached to open the gift she had left and gasped as he removed the lid of a lovely brass pocket watch. Normally the traditional gift given to a young wizard when he turns seventeen, he had not received one. He remembered he had told Poppy this earlier in the year during one of their conversations. He pulled it out and opened the front, and then put it to his ear to hear it tick. He would treasure the gift for always.