Beyond The Veil「 The Veil Trilogy Part Ⅲ 」

[07] Encountering Snape

I got Rem's reply and he too was as shocked as I was upon Snape being selected to teach Defense. But he had mentioned that Snape was the best at the subject during their school years so it kinda made sense that Dumbledore was allowing him to teach.

Of course, he also had the same thoughts regarding the curse on the post. None of us thought that Snape would last as the Defense Professor for more than a year, history had proved that a lot of times before as well.

Even though Remus had been very optimistic in his letter about Snape being a good choice as the Defense Professor, I found out that the students strongly disagreed with it.

It had not even been a week and most of the students I knew dreaded the Defense class.

Ginny and Luna came up to me one day, and Gin was in quite a mood, all worked up about Snape continuing to favor Slytherin while deducting points from Gryffindor incessantly. Luna also didn't like the lessons as she said Professor Snape was too harsh on the students and it scared her sometimes.

No wonder Neville's boggart takes Snape's form...

Snape scares the hell out of me sometimes too, and I have even more reason to be wary of him as I think he remembers the time travel incident as well as the fact that I punched him in the face back then. A conversation with Snape would honestly be the last thing I wanted to happen anytime soon but for some reason, each thing I dread has a habit of happening regardless.

However, the unexpected new Potionsmaster had quite the opposite effect on the students. Harry and Ron had rejoined their potions class and it was surprising but Harry seemed to be taking an interest in potions finally.

I learned from Ginny that he had aced on the first potion brewed in the class and it was even better than Hermione's which is quite unbelievable. Professor Slughorn had awarded him with a phial of Felix Felicis as a result.

Good for him.

Since I am no longer here as a student and don't use the common room often, the only source of information I have to everything that's going on with the Golden Trio is Ginny.

Ginny does visit me quite often and I enjoy her company as my schedule isn't that booked in the starting of the term.

Currently, the Quidditch tryouts are going on so all I have to do is to allocate the grounds to each House separately so that they can hold tryouts before the Quidditch season starts. I bet I will get a lot more busy when the Quidditch matches begin because all the schedule making and supervision would fall on me.

I guess people don't realize how much work goes on behind the scenes of these matches. 

Ginny had told me that the Professor Horace Slughorn had founded a Slug Club comprised of his favorite students and he would hold parties or rather academic gatherings regularly. There was a Slug Club gathering being held later next week too and Slughorn had invited only a select few students who were allowed to bring a plus one.

Unsurprisingly, Harry and Hermione were both invited but poor little Pumpkin did not stand much of a chance at going to the gathering.

Apparently, Ron and Hermione were not on good terms for some reason that Gin either didn't know or chose not to tell me. So Hermione was taking Cormac McLaggen to the first Slug club gathering while Harry had asked Luna to go with him. Gin was already going with Michael Corner.

Sometimes, I feel like something has happened between Gin and Harry because both of them seem to avoid each other unnecessarily. 

Ginny is still dating other boys but is never in a serious relationship with any of them and Harry, well... Harry is going about with his life as usual too. 

But of course, I won't interfere in their personal lives. They are at a tender age and will eventually sort through the complications themselves.

Harry did get promoted to Quidditch Captain for Gryffindor so that's an achievement. As for Ginny, she is hoping to play as Beater this year because after Fred and George, the position of Beater lies vacant.

They will also need to select new Chasers as Angelina and I are both not on the team anymore.

I was lost in thought as I was going back to my room as working hours had ended. But I heard some voices coming from the corridors that made me stop.

Much to my surprise, Professor Snape was following Draco and the two seemed to be having a heated argument.

"You don't have to make things hard enough as it is," Snape's eerie voice chastised him and I was surprised why he was scolding him in the first place. "If you keep acting foolishly, you will put all of us in danger."

Draco was possibly Snape's favorite student and he had never ever scolded him before. According to Ron, Snape favored Draco and never punished him even if he did something wrong.

So the current situation was quite unexpected.

"Miss Weasley, falling into your brothers' habits, I see," Snape must have spotted me there as he stopped rebuking Draco and fixed me with a hostile glare.

"Good to see you too, Professor," I managed a smile that would probably have looked like a grimace.

"A shame I can't even reprimand you with a curfew warning," he remarked in his cold tone. Then turning to Draco, he added, "you, however, are out after curfew. Go to the common room immediately."

"Yes, Professor," Draco nodded and without even looking at me, he left in a haste.

Strange.

"Do you perhaps wish to talk to me about something, Miss Weasley?" Snape's jeering voice brought me back to the present.

"Of course not," I took a step back instinctively.

"Then leave."

Yikes. He really is hella terrifying.

So before he could be more hostile, I quickly left the corridor and took the turn towards the teachers' accommodations. Soon as I got to my room, I stepped inside and locked the door, my heart beating like crazy due to the encounter.

Snape was up to something and Draco was somehow involved. That thought kept repeating in my head no matter how much I tried to ignore it.

As expected after such an encounter, sleep was nowhere within my reach as I twisted and turned in bed for hours.

I had to talk to Draco. I just simply had to.

***