A new professor at Hogwarts: a Severus Snape story

Florean Fortescue's

One week passed by and the summer days felt warmer than ever. I was at the Ministry, just a few minutes away from lunch break, when I heard a murmur spread through the Department. I looked up to find, with a jolt of jealousy, that the commotion had been about the witch coming towards my desk. She was wearing a light summer dress – and looking stunning on it – along with the most beautiful smile in the whole world. It was painful to watch necks turning to get a better glimpse of her.

'Hey' she sat on my desk, only centimeters away, grinning at me. My heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest.

'Jaz. What are you doing here?'

'I came to have lunch with Eileen and our aunt. I'm heading to their Department now. Do you want to join us?'

'Thank you, but I need to finish this report.'

'Alright. But we can go for ice cream after that, if you're not too busy'.

We often popped into Diagon Alley for ice cream during breaks. I was pretty busy actually, as we were planning an important mission that would take place in two weeks, but in that moment that suddenly felt unimportant.

'Yeah, sure' and I tried to stop myself, but I couldn't 'so... are you meeting Dante there?'

'What?' she turned to look at me 'oh, right, he's working there too now. Well, then I reckon I probably will' she shrugged. I swallowed. 'I'll be back here in an hour, then. Finish that report, will you, I want my raspberry cone' she beamed at me and I felt a wave of warmth spread through my body.

Oh, damn.

...

One hour later, she came back and, once more, sat on my desk. 'Ready?'

'Sure' I stood up 'how is your aunt?'

'She's great. Bossing everyone around and cursing under her breath in French. The usual. Just what makes her happy.' We both laughed.

'So... how is Dante going?' I tried to keep my voice casual.

'Oh, he wasn't there, he had some negotiation to attend.'

I did my best to muffle the smile trying to appear on my lips, but she scowled at me. 'Why are you smiling?'

'Oh, you know, I reckon it's better like that. He could've started trying it on you again...'

'He has a boyfriend!' she gasped.

'So? It doesn't mean his not into women anymore...'

'Since when do you care if people try it on me?'

Well, there was the opportunity I was waiting for.

Slowly, I placed my hands on the desk, one on each side of her thighs, so that our faces were level and one palm apart. I looked deep into those wide brown eyes.

'Since I can't stop thinking about you, Jaz.'

At first, she just blinked at me, bemused, her mouth slightly opened. As the words sank in, however, she clenched her jaw and flared her nostrils.

'You-stupid-arse!' she hammered her fists on my chest 'one week ago you didn't even consider this! You just want it because you can't have it! Why would you make things more difficult, Ted? You know that was a real prophecy. You know we can't.'

'I tried, Jaz, I swear I tried not to think about you like that... But these past few days, I...' she frowned at me, but I carried on 'I keep thinking about how I love the way you laugh... the way you do everything, really... about your lips...'