Today was already the second day of school. Yesterday had gone by extremely quickly. I hope the rest of my time spent here won't go by too fast. I've been having a great time so far.

Everyone was currently gathered in the Great Hall for breakfast. On top of that, classes would be starting in 20 minutes. I didn't know what I would be assigned to help with today, being that Callaghan just told me he was fine on his own for the day. And as if Professor Dumbledore could read my mind, he walked up to me and told me what it is I'd be doing today.

"(Y/N). Today you'll be assisting Severus' with his classes. It is the first day that First Years will be attempting to make a potion, so it would be best to have another Professor there to make sure everything goes smoothly." Professor Dumbledore explained to me as students and Professors began to leave the Hall.

"Oh. I thought Severus has no problem handling rowdy First Years. Are there more students than usual this year?" I asked him.

"Well, if you truly would like to know the reason, Severus came to me asking whether you would be able to assist with his classes today. So if you want to make it to the Dungeons in time for the first class, I suggest you hurry on down now." Professor Dumbledore gave me a wink before heading off towards his office.

I smiled to myself and made my way towards the spiral staircase that lead to the Dungeons.

There were many students in the corridors walking in different directions to get to their classes, some of which gave me odd looks. It was mostly the 6th and 7th Years. They must have been some of the students who recognized me. I mean, what can I expect. After Quidditch and the Triwizard Tournament, who wouldn't recognize me after 3 months?

I entered the Potions Classroom along with three other students who were rushing to their seats. I'm guessing Severus gave them his famous lecture at the beginning of class yesterday. Speaking of Severus, he was currently sitting at his desk jotting down some hasty notes on a bit of parchment. I walked up to him, to which he lifted his head and stood up once he realized it was me. As soon as everyone was in their seats, he began speaking.

"First Years. Today you will, for the first time, attempt to brew an extremely simple potion known as the Cure for Boils. I expect no slip ups to occur during the brewing process. And if there were to be any, I guarantee you that house points will be deducted. Now. Before we begin, I'd like to introduce you to Professor (Y/L/N). She will be aiding you all in today's lesson." Severus explained while pacing the room.

The lesson began and Severus gave quick but detailed instructions that the students took notes on in their notebooks. Soon after, each student prepared their cauldron and ingredients. I helped make sure students were using the correct ingredients and weren't putting themselves in harm's way. Once it seemed that each student had the correct ingredients, they began brewing.

The usual talking amongst students resumed, but at a quieter level than in D.A.D.A. for sure. Severus is good at keeping order in his class, although he can be a bit over the top at times. Especially towards Gryffindors. Speaking of Gryffindors, one of them seemed a bit distraught and wasn't adding anything to his cauldron. I walked up to him to see what was wrong,

"Is everything alright?" I asked as I leaned forward a bit with my hands clasped behind my back.

"I don't know.. this whole thing with magic and potions is new to me and I feel like I don't know anything.. I'm a muggle-born or whatever it is the other kids call me.." The boy explained.

"I understand it may not be easy learning these things all of a sudden, but it definitely isn't impossible." I told him.

"What makes you say that?" He asked, still looking very sad at his untouched potions ingredients.

"Well.. one of my greatest friends was muggle-born. But she never let that get the best of her. She became one of the most talented and respected witches at Hogwarts. And the reason behind that is because she had a passion to learn as much as she could about this world. So you see.. with the right motives, you can accomplish anything you put your mind to." I explained to the boy, who seemed very invested in my story.

"I never thought about it that way before.. Thank you Professor (Y/L/N)." The boy gave me a smile and decided to look through his notes again to see what he might have missed.

Not a second later a somewhat loud, explosive sound resonated from one of the desks. I looked up and saw a child with her hair sticking straight up. Some children laughed, but it ceased when Severus walked up to her,

"10 points from Hufflepuff Ms. Renelle. Clean this mess up and start over."

Although Severus didn't seem as harsh as last year, this was no way to teach First Year's how to correctly brew potions.

"Professor? I have a question for you." I told him.

Severus sighed and responded,

"Yes Professor?"

"How does merely deducting house points teach anyone the correct way to brew a potion?" I asked him with my arms folded over one another.

"Deducting house points is how students know they need to correct something they have done. What is it you are implying?" Severus asked, somewhat intrigued to hear my answer.

"And how would the student know what they did wrong? Effective teaching derives from guidance, not punishment for miniscule accidents." I explained, causing multiple students to stare at me in shock.

Severus let a smirk form for nearly 5 seconds until he realized he was letting his stoic impression fade in front of students.

"Are you insulting my teaching ethics Professor?" Severus asked with a raised brow.

He seemed amused at my straight forwardness with him.

"No. I merely believe you can tweak your teaching style a bit to make learning easier rather than harder for your students." I told him.

Severus seemed reluctant to give in, but eventually he agreed to try it out. He gave the girl pointers on what it is she needed to fix and sure enough, she finished brewing her potion first.

"Ms. Renelle." I said, a few desks away from her.

She looked up at me with an accomplished expression.

"15 points to Hufflepuff." I smiled at her.

Some other hufflepuff's gave her a pat on the back and complimented her on the potion she had made. It made me happy that she felt proud of herself.

I had zoned out in thought until I felt Severus' hand gently place itself on my shoulder. The classroom was empty and the next class would be there shortly. I turned around and grinned at Severus.

"You nearly took over the entirety of my lesson. Are you attempting to steal my position out from under my nose?" Severus jokingly asked.

"Of course not Severus! And that's pretty ironic coming from you. I mean, you did ask Professor Dumbledore for me to assist in today's lesson." I smirked at him.

"Of course he told you that.." Severus sighed and walked towards his desk.

"I understand why you did. You miss me and can't stand being without me for more than a couple hours." I grinned.

Severus spun around toward me and gave me a look. It was clearly one that meant, 'I know you're right but I don't want to say you're right.'

The door suddenly opened and the next students began to walk into the classroom. I turned to said door and noticed that these were all 7th Years. Great. they must all recognize me based on their stares.

Class began roughly 3 minutes later. And by what Severus was explaining, it seemed they would just be reading and taking notes in their books today.

It was silent for a while, aside from the occasional flip of a page or shuffle of a chair. After their note-taking, I decided for the last 10 minutes that I would answer any remaining questions that some of them may have. It was all going swimmingly until the last question.

"So how does it feel teaching your peers now (Y/N)?" Some boy I didn't know the name of asked.

This seemed to catch Severus' attention as well.

"You may not address me by my First Name. I am your Professor, so you will treat me as such. As I treat you my student." I explained sternly.

"Wow, so you become a teacher and suddenly you get all offended by me calling you (Y/N)? Jeez." The 7th year scoffed.

"You will not address her as one of your peers Mr. Bancroft, as she is no longer one of them. Detention tonight for your disrespect and 20 points from Slytherin for your incapability to correct yourself." Severus glared at the student and got right up in his face while telling him this.

Everyone, including myself looked at Severus with shock. No one had ever expected Severus to be so hard on a student from his own house. It made me wonder if some of them might become a bit skeptical of me from this incident.

"Thank you, Professor Snape.. Now, before you all leave, are there anymore on topic questions remaining?" I asked, trying to break this uncomfortable silence.

No one moved a muscle.

"Alright then. Prepare your notes for next week's class. You'll be brewing Shrinking Potions for the first time." I explained as the scraping of chairs started to become louder.

I sighed with relief as the last 7th Year left and turned back toward Severus.

"I sort of expected something like that to happen. I mean, I was sort of the same.. don't you think? I didn't like calling you Professor, but I had to get used to it last year." I told Severus.

"No, I would never compare you to such an insufferable, childish student." Severus reassured me with his hands placed gently on my shoulders.

I smiled at him and backed away as soon as I heard the echoing voices of students in the hallway. Luckily, we would have the 2nd Years now.

After the final class of the day had ended, I sighed and sat down at one of the desks and rested my head on my hands. Severus was currently grading the paragraphs on Strengthening Solution that the 5th Years had just turned in.

"This was quite a day wasn't it?" I asked him.

Severus hummed in agreement and continued scribbling notes on the pages.

"When does Bancroft have detention tonight?" I inquired curiously.

"After dinner." Severus responded curtly.

"Will we still have time to complete tonight's crossword after that?" I asked hopefully.

"You may start it without me after dinner if you'd like. I will attempt to arrive at around 10 tonight." Severus replied.

"Oh, alright then. Well, dinner is starting soon. Will you be done with grading in time? I can help if you'd like." I offered and made my why over to his desk.

"That isn't necessary. Oftentimes, I eat my dinner here. I prefer it over the Great Hall and how noisy it always seems to be." Severus explained.

"Oh, well, we can both eat here if that's alright with you." I said while sitting down on the corner of his desk.

Severus looked up at me and responded,

"Alright."

Severus and I ate our dinner in a comfortable silence in the Potions Classroom. I had pulled up a chair to sit at his desk and helped him grade some of the papers. I joked with him about random things everyone once in a while and occasionally got a chuckled out of him. It was great.

A little while later, we heard a knock on the classroom door. I knew it was Bancroft coming for detention so I decided I would head back to our room and wait for Severus there.

I got up from my chair and grabbed my wand off the table to get rid of the empty dishes and then made my way to the door.

"See you in a bit Severus." I said with a smile on my face before opening the door. Bancroft walked in looking livid and sat down at his desk abruptly. I gave Severus an, 'Im sorry you have to deal with him' look before turning to leave.

As soon as I had gotten back to our room, I decided to change in some more comfortable clothing. I then reached for the newspaper on the coffee table and sat down on the sofa.

An hour went by and I was nearly finished with the puzzle. I decided to wait for Severus to come back and got up to get a drink. There were some tea bags in a jar on the counter so I picked one out and heated up some water. After letting the tea bag sit for a while, I went back over to the sofa and sat down.

I looked at the clock when I finished my tea and it read 10:35. Strange, Severus was supposed to be here half an hour ago. Sighing, I lay down on the sofa and rested my head on one of the pillows. I closed my eyes and relaxed.

"You're done for tonight Mr. Bancroft. Go to your Dormitory."

Bancroft got up and left as quickly as he possibly could and closed the door somewhat abruptly. Usually, I would have stopped him and taken more house points, but I had no desire to do anything besides go to sleep.

I looked at the clock and noticed how late it had gotten.

11:04

I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose before getting up and leaving the classroom myself. As soon as I had made it to our room, I walked in and took my shoes off. I looked in the bedroom and noticed (Y/N) wasn't there. Turning back around, I stuck my head out into the hall and saw from the doorway that (Y/N) was asleep on the sofa.

"Of course." I sighed and made my way over to her.

Sitting down on the portion of the sofa (Y/N) hadn't completely covered, I looked over at her and sensed she might be faking her sleep. Her mind was far too active to be asleep. I turned back to the coffee table and saw that the crossword was missing one word. Looking over the word's description, I immediately thought of the answer and wrote it down. The crossword disappeared a couple seconds later.

I turned my attention back to (Y/N) and decided to do exactly what I knew she wouldn't like.

Standing up, I walked towards the bedroom and closed the door. After I had changed into my sleepwear, I heard light footsteps make their way toward the door. I hid behind said door and waited for her to open it.

"Severus? Where did yo-" Before she had the ability to finish her sentence, I lifted her up from under her arms and threw her over my shoulder.

"What the shit!?" She yelled.

I knew I'd made a mistake when I realized she'd kicked me in my abdomen. I let go of her and leant against one of the bed posts, keeling over while holding my stomach and hissing at the pain.

"Severus!?" (Y/N) grabbed my arm and helped me sit down on the bed.

"Why did you scare me like that!? You know I have strong reflexes!" She seemed worried and held her hand against the side of my face.

"I did not believe you would attempt to murder me." I responded while struggling to stand up again.

"No, sit. I'll get you the healing potion from the cabinet." (Y/N) left the room and walked into the kitchen.

I opened the buttons of my long sleeved night shirt to make sure no bruises were forming. To my dismay, there was in fact a large, black and blue mark. (Y/N) walked back into the room and handed me a glass of the red potion. I drank it and then set the glass down on the nightstand.

The abrasion faded slowly, but surely. As did the pain. Soon enough, it looked as though nothing had happened. I looked up at (Y/N) who had a look of relief plastered on her face. She sighed while folding her arms in front of me,

"So."

"So?" I responded, unsure about what I should say.

"You're lucky I didn't kick you any lower Sev." She grinned at me.

"Ah yes, I am extremely lucky that I only went through half the pain." I answered sarcastically.

"You know.. I have the ability to change that." (Y/N) threatened jokingly.

"No thank you." I responded while reaching for my night shirt.

"Sev. It is way too warm for a long sleeve tonight. Don't you have any t-shirts?" (Y/N) asked me while picking up my night shirt off the floor.

"Have you seen my wardrobe?" I responded with a raised brow.

"Of course you don't. Well, then just don't wear a shirt tonight." (Y/N) stated casually.

I attempted to retrieve the long sleeve, to which (Y/N) responded by pulling it out of my reach.

"You're not having a heat stroke on my watch Sev. Come on, just lay down." (Y/N) threw the long sleeve on an arm chair and pulled the covers over herself.

I sighed in defeat and got under the covers myself. She pulled me closer and buried her face in my shoulder. I shivered from the fact that I wasn't used to sleeping without a long sleeve on. I held (Y/N) closer and closed my eyes. Ironically, I feel warmer closer to her compared to if I were wearing my night shirt.