It's A One Time Thing It Just Happens A Lot.

Sinking Souffle

A/N: Thank you for sticking with me. And thanks to Jennifer for beta-ing this. :) I hope you enjoy it.

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Dean Rider was sitting quietly, his hands folded in his lap. He was at the other end of the table to Snape and Meg. Well, where Meg should have been sitting, except it was halfway through breakfast and there was still no sign of her.

Snape watched Rider closely but he seemed content with just a goblet of juice and a slice of toast, which was half eaten. Madam Hooch was talking animatedly to him; Dumbledore was listening and nodding along to her conversation.

Snape picked up his goblet of juice and raised it to his lips, never taking his eyes off the new professor.

He heard the swish of wings and knew that mail had arrived. He stopped watching Rider to watch the students instead. Half of him was hoping that Neville had received another 'howler'. His eyes went to Potter and Weasley, who were pouring over a copy of the Daily Prophet, his lips curved into a sneer.

How he longed for the end of this year; he could finally see the back of that little trio.

A plop broke his thoughts as Meg's owl dropped a letter onto her empty plate. The Owl sat there, looking at him with big orange eyes. He rolled his eyes and gave it a piece of toast which it gobbled up. It hopped about and stared at him. His eyebrows went up as he held out another piece of his toast. The bird took it and finally satisfied, it flew off. He snorted, not in the least surprised it would be as greedy as its owner.

He narrowed his eyes and picked up the letter, slipping it inside his robes. He looked back at Rider, who was now watching him; Snape kept his face cold and unreadable as he held eye contact with the man. Rider looked away first.

He would take Professor Kincaid's letter to her; it would give him a chance to snoop a bit. See why she hadn't bothered to eat, something he didn't think she'd ever willingly forget to do. He'd also show her who the adult between them was. He would make no mention of what had gone before.

His curiosity was up about Rider. He seemed normal enough; although Snape found the continual smoothing back of his hair annoying. It could be a sign of nerves. Goodness knows the thought of a class full of dunderheads was enough to make any man nervous. Any man except him, of course. But he could see no reason for the look of disbelief that had rapidly turned to horror on her face yesterday.

He waited until everyone else had left the great hall for lessons before making his way to the staff quarters. He found her room and knocked firmly on her door.

There was no answer. He knocked again and tried the door handle. It was locked still, a silent spell revealed it was locked from the outside. His eyebrows went up, this wasn't right.

He wondered if perhaps her cordial had been too sweet, perhaps she was too ill for food. It would serve her right! He'd never met anyone who could eat the way she could. She was probably already in her classroom though.

He turned and went down to the dungeons; he didn't have a class till after lunch today, he would just make sure she was okay. No, not okay, he didn't mean okay; he would just make sure she was... about.

He stopped outside her classroom and stared. It was full of first year students who were enjoying the finer points of paper dart making. He slammed the door back on its hinges and glared at them. They hastily made it back to their seats and sat there.

He snorted; the ability of children to be able to look as if they had never even thought of playing up never ceased to amaze him.

"Where is, Professor Kincaid?" he demanded coldly.