His Fascination with Oliver Evans (Preview, Full Release Dec 25 2023)

Chapter One

The reddish-yellow hues of the sun broke over the rolling hillside outside of the castle grounds. Yet another long summer had passed, and the day that students would arrive came around again. Some professors enjoyed taking the opportunity to journey to the castle early, giving them more time to set up their accommodations and classrooms. This is what Severus found himself doing this year, as his assignment was changing from the current norm. He had been told that he had been chosen as the yearly-rotating staff member who would spend their free time in the hospital wing, assisting Madame Pomfrey. This is something he had been dreading for some time now, as this specific position means that the professor would have almost no time to himself. And how he did appreciate his solitude.

As a distant train bellowed, the sound rattled against the silence of the morning inside the Great Hall. Severus flinched as the whistle broke his focus on his crumpled copy of the Daily Prophet. He scrunched his nose before reaching for a mug off of the table in front of him. With a tilt of his head, he drank a slow sip of coffee while reading the headline, "Mysterious Illness Wreaks Havoc on Wizard Cities". The story had been floating around the Daily Prophet for a few weeks now, and it appeared to be just some sort of media hype. No one at the castle had heard of anyone they knew getting the illness, and all of them had felt fine since arriving.

"I'll believe it when I see it." he sighed, letting the paper fall next to his breakfast plate. His half-eaten toast stared up at him as he stood, taking one last swig from his cup before walking down from the high table and out of the hall. A long, black cloak flowed behind him as he traveled down the brightly lit corridors. He kept a steady pace, for it wasn't long now before these halls would be filled shoulder-to-shoulder with students fresh off of the train. His strides took him to the Hospital Tower, where he was finishing setting up his new chambers.

At the end of a narrow hall lined with rooms off of the main stretch, was his door. A thick, dark-wood door that was extraordinarily heavy. The iron handle was cold in his hands as he latched onto it, slowly opening and exposing the interior of the room. Inside, there were three smaller rooms. The main sitting room had a desk pushed up against the wall, a bed-chamber off to the left, and a dressing room off to the right. There was a long window looking out over the Quad, which let the sunshine pour into the room, dousing even the corners with daylight.

He had already added a few touches from his quarters in the dungeon, such as his cauldrons and his collection of study materials. A few extra cloaks and robes hung on the walls, alongside shelves of controlled ingredients placed in small locked chests. His bed was covered with an open trunk, which inside held all of his clothes. The dresser across from the bed was half-opened from where he had stopped unpacking before breakfast.

Hanging his cloak onto a hook, he kicked off his burgundy loafers and took a seat at his desk, looking at the files that he had laid out. It appeared that he would have a lot more work to do every day than he expected. So far, twenty-six students had registered that they had medical necessities past that of what could be done alone daily. Taking the top file, he opened and read the student information: "Savannah Henry, daily blood monitoring and daily medication administration." he shuffled through the papers and shook his head, "That's rather irritating, isn't it?"

He read through the remaining files, taking in the information for the upcoming year, not entirely certain as to what the next months would look like. Deep in thought and many hours later, he realized he had lost track of time.

"Bullocks..." he said under his breath before tossing the files aside, jumping up from his desk, and racing out the door.

The sounds of students conversing grew louder as Severus walked up back through the castle and towards the Great Hall. He had missed the sorting ceremonies, and the feast had already begun. A glare came from the face of Professor McGonagall, who was seated next to his empty chair at the high table. Shaking his head, he walked along the outside of the hall, passing the Slytherin house table. Many students stopped and looked up from their meals, sending greetings to the professor as he passed by. A few Slytherin students watched as Severus pushed the hair out from in front of his face, and took his seat. McGonagall immediately turned to him.