Pray For Daylight

Summer, Year Six

Severus was just entering the banquet hall when he saw Dumbledore speaking with someone new. Finally, he knew that it could and would not be the latest Dark Arts teacher. He had finally taken that position himself despite all the nay-sayers that pointed out that he knew entirely too much about the Dark Arts. A small and very lopsided grin briefly graced his features. He was well pleased with himself.

He came silently up behind the new person, apparently female, her robes were long and prudish. Dumbledore had turned his back and was gesturing to the glasses that held the house points. They were all empty now, they would not begin filling until classes started again in the fall; tour was underway it seemed.

Severus was just a few feet behind the new person when suddenly her wand was inches below his nose. He raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly down at the wand. It had been a rather smooth and practiced motion on her part. He would perhaps use her as a practice foe in one of the duels he expected his class to be having. That brought a grin to his face that could make students turn tail and run.

"Professors tend not to curse other professors, especially on their first day-" He said dryly, but his voice died off after the last word. There had been something else that he needed to say but somehow he lost his place in his tirade.

The woman looking at him was one of the coldest that he had ever seen before, and his time in the Death Eaters had shown him quite a few. Her eyes were like emeralds blazing in the candlelight, her lips painted like blood, and her skin the pale of one that had spent too much time indoors throughout life. The hair that was wrapped so tightly into a bun, would do Minerva credit, but was sleek and black as a shadow crossing on a moonless night. A collar stuck up from under her robes to frame her chin, leaving only a small 'v' of throat to be seen. Her lips were pursed in the extreme vexation that he himself knew only too well. He didn't like being snuck up on either, though he had never minded doing the sneaking.

"Do not sneak up on me." She hissed at him. This only made his eyebrow climb closer towards his hairline. Apparently he wasn't to be the only one in the school with a temper anymore. He smirked a bit over how much this was bound to annoy the other professors. Apparently the smirk was not appreciated.

"Its summer, don't you have somewhere else to be? A home maybe?" Her voice had strengthened into something much more haughty. She didn't know it, but that remark had just hit a very sore spot on her victim. He had been spending entirely too much time at home. And he was rather tired of the place. Hogwarts felt more like home to him. It always had.

He was just about to give her a truly scathing retort when Dumbledore turned back around and noticed the impending dispute.

"Ahhh, Professor Snape, let me introduce you to the new Magical Arts teacher, Professor.... I'm sorry dear, I seem to have forgotten your name already." He said and waited patiently for her to make her own introductions.

The first time his name had been mentioned her eyes had widened suddenly in obvious recognition. Though for the love of Merlin he had no idea who she was. One of his nameless victims probably. Well it was bound to happen sooner or later.

"Tines." She managed to squeak out.

"Ah, of course. Professor Tines this is Professor Severus Snape, our esteemed Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Forgive my memory it seems to be wandering the older I get." One of his most endearing smiles crossed his face as he said this.

Snape saw the smile, but knew that what Dumbledore had just said was a blatant lie. His mind was no more going than Snape's own was. He glanced at the girl wondering if she had done something. Apparently she had not, she wasn't even looking at the Headmaster.