I\'ll Forget You

Chapter One: The New Professor


Severus watched the flickering flames in theeplaeplace, enjoying how the fire played with the shadows in the room. It was a dangerous battle between the light and dark, a battle he knew well - not that he had to worry about that battle anymore. He was no longer bound by a master - Dumbledore not withstanding. Meddling old man!

It had been eleven years since the summer that freed the wizarding world completely of Lord Voldemort. Harry Potter had seen to Voldemort’s complete demise by the aid of the Order, and for once, he had not involved his meddling friends. He was especially thankful that Granger had not been there. He had never wanted to see her hurt, despite being angry with her over the events eleven summers ago. He had supposed that there was a time when he had perhaps cared for the girl. Damn it! He was not really fooling anyone. He loved her. He had opened up his world to her, his heart, his soul. What did he get in return? It’s. Been. Fun. His eyes narrowed as those words had haunted him for eleven years.

A disembodied head suddenly floated in the flames. “Severus?”

He inwardly sighed. “Yes, Albus?”

“Are you going to join us for dinner tonight?” It was phrased as a question, though his tone suggested that Severus had no choice.

“I guess I am, Albus,” he stated blandly.

“Good, good. The new Muggle Studies professor is going to be here with her husband.”

“Are you going to tell me who it is?” Severus inquired.

Albus smiled, having a twinkle in his blue eyes. “You’ll see. They are former students. I will see you this evening at dinner.”

Severus sighed as Albus’ head disappeared from the flames. He hated all of this mystery, although Albus seemed to get great pleasure from his enigmas. Well, he guessed it would be worth going to dinner just to see who the new professor would be.

Sighing, he finally stood up and walked to the bathroom. Where had the summer gone? It seemed that it had flown by, but then again, it was hard to distinguish one day from the next when all you did was stay at home in your dark dungeon. He hadn’t even finished the potions research he wanted to do. He fingered the beard that had grown over the summer. His black hair had grown past his shoulders as well.

“Time for a change,” he said to himself. Using magic, he shaved off the beard and cut his hair to its normal shoulder length.

Gods, I need a shower, he thought, grimacing as he stripped off the black silk pajama pants and the white t-shirt. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time he had a decent shower. The life of the bachelor, he guessed. He stepped into the shower and turned the water on hot. He enjoyed letting the water run over his body, relaxing his normal, everyday tensions.

After his shower, he decided to work on some of his lesson plans. He ly hly had slacked off during this summer. He just hadn’t felt up to doing much of anything he usually enjoyed. Albus had tried to draw him out, but Severus would not hear of it. He was pretty sick of Albus trying to run his life. If he wanted to sit in his quarters and brood, then, by god, he was going to do just that! It was only that he was curious to see which of his former students was taking over the Muggle Studies position that he would not be doing that tonight. There was only one student that he hoped that it wouldn’t be: Hermione Granger. He would quit if that were the case. He wasn’t going to stay around while she flaunted her happy little marriage in front of him. He had heard four years ago from Albus that she had married Ron Weasley. He shuddered at the thought. Anyone but her. If there truly was a god, then he owed him at least this.

Dinner time finally came around, and he closed up his lecture notes and left his quarters, warding the door securely before heading upstairs. He walked with a sense of purpose, entered through a side door to the Great Hall, and sat down in his normal seat towards the end of the table. Luckily, his presence had not been acknowledged. He quickly scanned the table to find the two new faces. He sighed inwardly. It looked like there was a god out there. At least, it wasn’t as bad as he thought when he spotted the witch with the long red hair.

“Nice of you to join us, Severus. You know Professor Malfoy and, of course, her husband Draco,” Albus said.

“Of course.” He nodded to Draco and Ginny.

Draco returned the gesture with a curt nod and lightly placed his arm around his wife of two years. Ginny smiled at Severus. “Good eveniProfProfessor Snape.”

He was still at times trying to wrap his mind around the fact that a Malfoy and a Weasley got married. He was pretty sure that it had to do with the fact that Lucius was serving a life sentence in Azkaban for his many crimes against the wizardingld. ld. Personally, Severus was glad that Lucius was out of Draco’s life. Despite how hard the boy d tod to be his father, he just couldn’t cut it.

They fell into silence as they began eating, but it was perfectly fine with
Severus. He could become the normal listener but never the conversationalist - unless he had something important to add, of course.

“How is the Weasley clan, Ginny?” McGonagall inquired.

“Quite well. Dad was thrilled that I took the Muggle Studies job. You know how he’s completely fascinated with Muggles. Mum’s been busy in Romania helping Charlie and Tonks with the twins. Bill’s still working in Egypt as a cursebreaker for Gringotts, and George and Fred are still working at their joke shop. They have three stores open now in England and a mailing list. Ron is off playing Quidditch with the Chudley Cannons, and of course, Hermione is still doing all can can to help out the poor and defenseless.”

“How is her law business doing?” Albus inquired.

“Quite well. She remains very busy. I don’t see how she and Ron do it. They both rarely see each other,” she said, knowing that there was no way she could leave Draco that much.

Severus listened to Ginny talk about her family. He did not mind hearing about them and was quite surprised to hear about Charlie and Tonks’ set of twins. He was not pleased about George and Fred, knowing how their jokes tend to still infiltrate the halls of Hogwarts, and he found a sense of sick enjoyment that Hermione and Ron did not get to spend too much time together. What a shame- NOT! He remembered the one Weasley she did not mention.

Percy. He had become a victim of the Dark Lord. Stupid boy had become disillusioned with the Ministry, so instead, decided to play out his ambitions with the Death Eaters. At least he had had some sense of family loyalty and had refused his orders to kill Molly and Arthur. The Dark Lord had Percy killed by Lestrange for his insubordination.

“Have you heard from Harry?” McGonagall asked.

“Yes. He and Remus were over at the house last weekend to help us sort through what we would need here. He’s still working as an auror,” she said.

“And if Gin doesn’t stop trying to set him up with her friends, then he’s going to stop coming to see us all together,” Draco piped up. He and Harry had settled their difference with a fistfight a few years back and had actually become friends.

Ginny turned red and laughed as she hit Draco on the arm. “I see nothing wrong with trying to make someone happy.” Draco shook his head and lightly rubbed his arm.

Albus chuckled, “Nothing wrong with that at all.”

“That’s because you like to meddle as much as you can, Albus,” said Severus dryly.

Albus grinned, knowing that it was true, and whispered something in Ginny’s tha that Severus did not catch. Ginny gave him a mischievous grin.

Great, he thought sarcastically, not even wanting to know what that was about.

“You better run now,” Draco whispered to Severus while receiving a glare from his wife.

Ginny then turned and began to talk to Albus about her duties.

Severus decided to take his former student’s advice and leave. The last thing he needed was for a Weasley to start meddling in his personal affairs. He was finally managing to get Albus to leave him alone and that had taken more years than he cared to count.

He finished eating and slipped off, quickly going back down to the dungeons. He had mixed feelings about Professor Malfoy. He was actually glad that Draco would be here. Sometimes it was nice to have a fellow adult Slytherin around to talk with. He didn’t mind Ginny, but he did not like the link to Hermione. His gaze hardened at thoughought of her. It’s been fun. Yeah, right! Eleven miserable years of ‘fun.’


A/N: Please review!