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“This is horrific,” Severus hisses, pinching the bridge of his nose. You look up at him from your desk in amusement. Your office is a bit messy, you have to admit. However, you’ve seen far worse. Now that you think about it, Minerva’s office is messier than yours. She has knick-knacks and trinkets everywhere.
“Nonsense, Severus,” you remark, shaking your head in exasperation. For his benefit, you wave your wand quickly, letting the messy papers strewn across your desk fall into a neat pile. “One can never be too messy.” You pause for a moment, contemplating why he is in your office. As far as you can recall, Severus has never stepped foot in it.
“Did you need me for something?” you squint at him, clasping your hands on your desk. The Potions professor lets out a weird sounding exhale, sort of like a huff.
“No,” Severus shakes his head, his eyebrows furrowed. His gaze flits about the room, taking in the several books and texts thrown about in disgust. You resist a laugh. “I was walking by and wanted to inquire about the state of your office.”
“Don’t worry, Severus, it’s an organized chaos,” you smile at him, crossing your legs and placing your feet on your desk. The dark-haired man looks entirely unimpressed, both by your placating smile and your shoes on the desk. For a painful moment, silence descends upon the room. You’re not quite sure what to say, so instead you decide to go back to looking at the text you had been reading. Severus leaves a few seconds later, the door slipping shut behind him.
You muse about this office encounter at breakfast the next morning. In fact, you’re so distracted that you end up sitting in Minerva’s seat. You don’t even notice this until she politely coughs at you. You immediately apologize and move to your seat, pretending not to notice Severus’s eyes gleaming with amusement. Instead, you focus on the food on your plate. It’s about the same as it always is, yet there’s an uncertain feeling brewing in your chest. You don’t quite realize that there is someone sitting to your left, in a seat that had been unoccupied, until they speak.
“It looks beautiful,” a voice remarks lightly. The statement is rather vague, but you can only assume they are referring to the castle around you.
“Yes, the castle is quite magnificent this time of year,” you reply, offering the person a small smile as you turn to face them. To your surprise, you have never seen them before. Your confusion must be obvious, because the man smiles and explains himself.
“I’m Gilderoy Lockhart, the new Defense instructor,” he says, extending his hand. You introduce yourself in return and hesitantly grasp his hand. His grip is rather tight, and you wring your wrist when he releases you. You take the lull in conversation as an opportunity to inspect him. The man has messy blond hair and blue eyes. He looks relatively ordinary, yet he's clearly pompous. “Surely, you've heard of me. Now, what do you teach?” Lockhart asks, placing a hand under his chin.
“Ancient Runes,” you respond, poking at your food with the fork in your hand. You suddenly feel a tingle down your spine, as if someone is watching you. You glance around the room, but no one appears to be staring at you. Severus’s head turns to the side as he looks off somewhere in the distance. Shaking the feeling off, you turn back to your food.
The rest of breakfast passes without incident, save for the new Defense professor, Lockhart, talking your ear off. You try to respond to his questions the best you can, but you can quickly feel your energy wearing out. The moment you finish your meal, you murmur an excuse about having papers to grade and leave the hall.
Lockhart’s behavior remains the same throughout his first week, to your annoyance. Your meal breaks become shorter and shorter, as you eat quickly and leave before he can talk too much. Sometimes, you feel a bit guilty at that—after all, the man seems to be nice enough. You just don’t have the patience to deal with an overenthusiastic coworker on top of all your other responsibilities.
You’re musing about this in your office one night when a knock sounds on your door. Expecting a student, you allow them to enter. To your surprise, the new arrival is not a guest, but Professor Lockhart.
“Professor Lockhart,” you greet him, glancing up from the stack of essays you’re grading. To your surprise, you’re actually quite enjoying reading the students’ responses this week. The one you’re currently grading happens to be from one of the Hufflepuff students you tutored in the past. You’re pleasantly surprised at how far they have come in their work. You almost don’t want to tear your gaze from the paper to look up at Lockhart, but you do so anyways. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Would you like to get dinner with me sometime?” your coworker asks, taking a step forward and placing his hands on your desk. You’re completely thrown by his forwardness. Fiddling with your robe sleeves, you suddenly feel incredibly uncomfortable. You haven’t even known this guy for more than a few weeks, and he’s already asking you on a date?
You’re about to stumble your way through an excuse to miss it when the door to your office swings open. You flinch at the impact it makes with the wall. The new arrival takes a step into the doorway and you smile.
“Ah, Severus,” you say, not quite able to hide your relief at being interrupted. The Potions professor’s gaze quickly flits from you to your coworker, a strange expression on his face. He’s wearing his typical black robes, but his hair is tied back in a low ponytail. A few strands escape from the tie and fall to cover his forehead. You’ve never seen him tie his hair up before, and you can’t help but think that it looks quite good. You quickly attempt to refocus your thoughts. “What can I do for you?”
“I am in need of your assistance,” Severus says, not moving from his position in the doorway. You raise an eyebrow at that. The man hardly ever asks you for help. What kind of situation would warrant him asking for your help, of all people? Regardless, you can’t help but think that his timing is impeccable. You’re certain you would’ve floundered around in awkward conversation for several more minutes with the Defense Professor. Despite your confusion, you agree and turn to said professor, only to find him practically leaning over you.
“I’m so sorry, Lockhart,” you say, putting a placating smile on your face. “It appears I am needed elsewhere. We can continue this discussion later?” You truly don’t want to stumble through another awkward conversation with the professor, but you know that the promise of a future discussion is the only way that he will leave. Sure enough, he nods and walks out the door. To your surprise, Severus doesn’t move from his position in the doorway. The two bump shoulders. It isn’t until he’s gone that Severus steps into your office. “What do you need?”
Severus’s eyebrows are knitted together. He seems to be contemplating something. For a moment, you’re sure he hasn’t heard your question. That notion is quickly proven wrong, however, as he walks closer to your desk and his lips part to speak. “What did he want?” You blink at him in surprise, not expecting the question.
“Um,” you remark intelligently, suddenly feeling flustered. “He wanted to go on a date with me, I think. Luckily, you entered the room before I could respond.”
“I see,” the Potions professor breathes, clasping his hands behind his back. His gaze has yet to leave your face, and the sheer intensity of it makes you nervous. You scramble to find something to say—anything that will break the strange tension that seems to have settled in the room.
“So, what did you need from me?” you eventually ask, walking around your desk and leaning against the front of it.
“Right,” Severus mutters, as if he had forgotten. It’s an entirely unusual gesture for him. You’re certain the man genuinely needed your assistance with something, but he seemed to have forgotten the moment he entered your office. Shrugging to yourself, you brush past him and walk into the hallway. He takes a step backwards, allowing you to close your office door, before leading you through the halls. “There’s been an issue between a few of the Slytherin third years. It’s quickly escalating into… drama.” He says the word with so much disdain that you raise an eyebrow. You’re not surprised, however. Severus isn’t exactly the type of person to enjoy being a mediator. Even if he’s the Slytherin Head of House, you recognize that the situation might need multiple people dealing with it. Besides, you’re not affiliated with any particular house, thus you’re a good choice for a neutral third-party. You’re still a bit doubtful, however.
“Why did you ask me?” you blurt out before you can help it. Severus is entirely silent in front of you, and for a moment you wish you could see his face. The only thing you’re able to see is the minute stiffening of his shoulders. “Minerva would be the best choice for something like this.”
“You are… one of the more competent professors here,” Severus admits, his eyebrows knitted together and his nose scrunched as if the acknowledgement feels unsavory. The compliment is rather lackluster, but you can’t control the strange fuzzy feeling that erupts in your chest. “Minerva is busy with her duties as Gryffindor’s Head of House. Besides, you’re the youngest here besides me. Speaking with someone closer to their age should prove to be more effective.”
“Alright,” you shrug, shoving your hands in the pockets of your robes. The halls grow colder as you get closer to the dungeon. You shiver slightly as Severus begins to explain the situation. Before you know it, you have the background of what happened. Despite the briefing Severus has given you, you’re still quite nervous. Your heart races in your chest as you walk into one of the meeting rooms in the dormitories. To your surprise, he follows you inside. He’s staying here? You gulp, taking a deep breath before turning to the three students sitting before you.
“Hello,” you greet them, taking a moment to look at each of them. They all seem to fit the descriptions of what Severus had explained to you. The three students mutter out replies to you, clearly nervous. You sigh and ask them for a quick explanation of the events that occurred. They recount what happened and you match it to what Severus told you. They seem to be telling the truth, which is a good start. You say as much to them. “I appreciate you being honest with me.” You then delve into their stories for a little longer before coming to a decision.
“While I will say you are young, Professor Snape and I still expect better behavior from you,” you admonish them, including Severus’s name despite your initial hesitance to do so. “You’re all thirteen or fourteen, far too old to be playing such immature pranks on each other.” The boys glance at one another guiltily.
“The three of you will be serving detention with me for one week,” you say, gazing about the group. The boys seem to completely stunned, evidently having expected to be let off the hook. “I understand you are remorseful for your actions. However, the damage to school property and subsequent harm to your peers simply cannot be ignored. I know this seems harsh, and if your behavior is acceptable enough, I may shorten it. For now, expect to be in my office after dinner for an hour each day. Dismissed."
At the last statement, the boys immediately nodded and quickly got to their feet. To your surprise, they walked out together, whispering under their breath. Likely complaining, you think to yourself. Oh well. At least they made up.
Severus pointedly clears his throat and you turn around to face him. You had completely forgotten he was there. He hadn’t spoken throughout the entire meeting, you realize. You glance over at him, only to find an unreadable expression on his face. Suddenly, you’re hit with a realization. His silence throughout the entirety of the conversation begins to make sense.
“That was a test, wasn’t it?” you ask, squinting at him.
Severus doesn’t reply right away, but his lips pull up at the corners. “Pomona plans on stepping down from her Head of House position next year to focus on redesigning the Herbology coursework,” Severus explains. “Minerva asked if I would be willing to find a replacement.”
You’re certain your jaw is on the floor. Severus must sense your awe, because he lets out a strange huffing noise and stares at you. “Minerva will likely be meeting with you within the next few days.” With that, he returns to his office and leaves you in your awed state.
True to Severus’s word, Minerva enters your office the afternoon of the next day. You offer her a seat, and she asks for your description of the meeting with the three Slytherin boys. You describe it to her and she nods along. Eventually, when you’re done speaking, she nods.
“Severus seems to like you,” Minerva eventually says. There’s a smirk worming its way onto her face, to your surprise. You just shake your head, not trusting yourself to say anything. She senses your hesitation and smiles. It’s not her typical friendly smile—there’s an undercurrent of knowledge hidden there, as if she knows something you don’t. Her eyes gleam with amusement.
“He spoke very highly of you,” Minerva continues, crossing her arms over her chest. She sends a small smile at you. “I’m happy to know Severus’s faith is not misplaced. You performed admirably. Congratulations.”
You feel a grin bursting onto your face, tugging at the corners of your mouth. You’re unable to hide it. Minerva doesn’t seem to mind, if the answering smile on her face is anything to go by. She promises to debrief you on the responsibilities of the position on a later date. With that, she gets to her feet and leaves the room. You watch her shut the door behind her with a click, before you find yourself staring off into space. You’re still comprehending what just happened. You’re going to be the Hufflepuff Head of House. You’re going to be the Hufflepuff Head of House...!
When you finally manage to accept the events that occurred in the past few days, you revisit your conversation with Minerva. Her words had sounded strange at the time, but you were too overjoyed to notice. Now, you can’t help but scrutinize them.
“Severus spoke very highly of you.”
“He seems to like you.”