MERLIN | Severus Snape

05| Children

As the Great Hall of Hogwarts School slowly filled with children, Caledonia Merlin watched on with intrigued eyes... And Severus Snape watched her. Of course, the beautiful brunette noticed this, how could she not? The sorting was a spectacular occurrence for Caledonia Merlin as she watched on with eager eyes for the very first time, amused easily by the talking hat. She didn't know what a 'Ravenclaw' was but she clapped happily along with those around her as 'Penelope Clearwater' was sorted there, her small cheeks glowing red from the attention. Under Caledonia's eager gaze, many children went through the sorting process, 'Percy Weasley' and 'Oliver Wood' being two boys who joined Gryffindor, grinning at one another in pride as 'Marcus Flint' joined the Slytherins.

Eventually with the sorting of the first years finished, and the children settled, they finally began to eat from the brilliant platter spread out before them. Caledonia ate delicately, like a posh princess and it amused the man beside her. Having been introduced to the hall at large, Caledonia was officially 'professor Merlin' and had a lot of children staring her way to prove it.

"Aren't they positively delightful Severus?" she turned to him, gesturing to the hall at large. "All eager and annoying." she hummed as if charmed, despite the words she spoke.

"Like you then" he scoffed, taking a sip from his goblet and she rested her chin in her palm, staring at him with wide innocent eyes.

"You haven't seen eager yet, Severus" she informed him calmly, innocently and his gaze swished around her, the man nearly choking on his pumpkin juice when she winked. This just made her giggle cheekily and go back to eating. Snape glanced around in horror, looking at Professor Dumbledore to check if he had heard. The man on Severus' other side just stared back at him calmly, though his blue eyes glittered happily.

"Where did you come from?" Severus asked and she looked at him in confusion, as if she was freaked out by his words. "Before this. Where were you before this?" he scoffed, irritated and he took another sip from his goblet. From her intense observation of him, she found that he did this every time he spoke to her as if to distract himself.

"Merlin manor" she hummed and then frowned. "Although, it was more of a castle really... I'm being held hostage" she whispered the last bit, giggling softly and he turned to her with a frown, trying his best to seem uncaring. "My parents gave me away... Rude really, I was enjoying myself, chasing cats and irritating the stable boy" she hummed dreamily.

"What an interesting life you led" he stated, voice like a void.

"You have no idea" she winked and he shook his head in exasperation, rolling his eyes.

"I would not advise speaking to the children this way, you may get sacked." Snape returned, stabbing his chicken angrily to distract his mind for a second from the woman in the tight black dress beside him.

"In what way?" she wondered, blinking innocently and he turned to her with a raised eyebrow, an expression of 'seriously?' being written all across his face. After a moment of staring at one another's expressions, she giggled and leant in closer to him. Shocked, the man leant back and she giggled as she leant in further and whispered into his ear. "That's only you" before going back to her food, chatting politely to the woman on her other side. Aurora Sinistra, the astronomy teacher, seemed absolutely charmed and enthralled by every word that left the pretty woman's mouth, questioning eagerly and Severus was left frowning in confusion.

"I hardly see the problem Severus" Dumbledore retaliated in his office later that night when Severus Snape had confronted him about the actions of the new teacher.

"The problem? She's incredibly irritating. I am at my wit's end and I believe that she is inappropriate for this school environment." Snape accused and Dumbledore sat calmly, fingers linked together on the desk as he watched the young potion master pace.

"I truly believe you are overreacting, Severus. The other teachers have nothing but good words to say about her. They call her gentle, polite, they all believe that she will excellent for the children." Dumbledore informed, though he knew that Caledonia was not all sweet and innocent, their shouting match at the Black Lake had proved it.

"The things she says" Severus tsked in disgust.

"Such as?... If you would like to make a formal complaint Servus, I will be needing evidence." the man returned, knowing full well that the man didn't have any. Severus said no more on that particular topic, knowing that everything she said could be taken perfectly innocently from an outside perspective. And maybe it was true, as he thought about it, maybe he was reading it all wrong. Perhaps Caledonia Merlin was being nothing but polite but his desire to be flirted with by a gorgeous woman was causing him to read the situation incorrectly... He doubted that.

"What about the way she dresses? That surely is against code!" he tried a different tactic and Dumbledore smiled, sitting back as he sipped his tea, watching Servus fume. Intrigued by how much attention the man had paid to the woman.

"The way she dresses? Severus...The dress she wore today was borrowed from the wardrobe of Minera McGonagall. Would you like me to get them both in here so you can tell them that their dress sense is inappropriate?" the headmaster wondered and Severus turned to him, eyes slightly wide with horror, cheeks beginning to become aflame. Caledonia dressed perfectly modestly unless of course, you looked at her with desire. Only then would you notice the way the fabric clung to her curves and the tanned flesh of her chest and neck...

"I suppose I will just have to deal with it" Severus hissed in annoyance to cover his embarrassment, turning on his heel to exit the room with a swish of his cloak as Dumbledore chuckled cheekily from his desk...