"I present to you, Professor Sophia Roe. She will be taking the position of Care of Magical Creatures professor while Hagrid is away," Dumbledore stated. "She will also be an apprentice to Professor Sprout this term."

Sophia, Sophie, stood before the Hogwarts staff hoping for their approval with a timid smile on her face. She was excited to be starting her career at the most famous wizarding school in the world, but also nervous that maybe she wouldn't fit in. Never in her life had she met someone who she didn't get along with, but that didn't make her any less afraid.

A sigh of relief left her when Dumbledore announced her name to the rest of the staff and their faces broke out into smiles, warm and welcoming. The pleasantries began, introducing themselves to her and telling her that she would fit in wonderfully.

Sophie remembered a lot of these faces from her days at school, many of them having been her teachers. She looked at the faces of McGonagall and Dumbledore, who had definitely been there, and then a few of the younger faces, who she recognized from the Prophet and other such things.

"And I present, Professor Delores Umbridge who will be taking the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor," Dumbledore said.

There was a twinkle in the eyes of the old man as he announced this and just then the toad-like woman made a noise to call attention to herself.

"Hm-hm," she called.

All eyes turned towards her, dressed in all pink with an almost sadistic smile on her face. There was something underneath the smile that had an air of awfulness.

"I would just like to say that I am very happy to be working here, amongst you fine professors. Even though I have been appointed this position by the Minister himself, I would just like to say that I want each and every one of you to feel as if I am your equal. We must all get along to be working together here," she stated in the most unpleasant voice imaginable.

Sophie found herself cringing against the sickly sweet sound of Umbridge's announcement.

Umbridge smiled at all of the other professors as they regarded her with a sudden feeling of contempt. Who was this woman? Why did she think she held all the power in the world? How could Dumbledore have hired such an awful person to teach their students?

As the awkward silence continued passed a comfortable amount of time, Dumbledore intervened.

"Thank you, Professor Umbridge, for those wonderful words of encouragement," he told her. "I think that is all. Dinner will be served in promptly two minutes and I, for one, would immensely enjoy a slice of lemon tart."

The room slowly erupted into soft murmuring and the teachers dispersed into groups to quietly talk amongst themselves. Sophie was immediately pulled into Professor Sprout's group, having much to talk about with her new mentor. The only person left alone in the room was Professor Severus Snape. Even Umbridge had branched off and decided to talk with McGonagall about her plans for the upcoming year as Dumbledore discussed the idea of opening a choir class to the younger students with Professor Flitwick.

Snape stood in a corner by himself, his arms folded across his chest as he observed the rest of the room. He stared at the new woman, Professor Roe. She was smiling as she talked among the other professors who had already seemed to take a liking to her. Immediately he felt the opposite feelings. Disgust, dislike, and disdain for her were already there. Who was she to get such a reaction from these people? Surely not everyone could like her, and Snape instantly knew that he wouldn't be one of the people that did.

When the start of term feast came around, Professor Sophia Roe found herself nearly shaking with nerves. After all, this was her first year as a professor and what if she did something wrong? What if the students hated her and she failed Dumbledore? What if she was no good?

The weight of it all had her shivering, so afraid of going out there and seeing the waves of students that would be there. They would be waiting for her to teach them. Then she thought of the first years, the newest kids to the school. They had no expectations of her at all. Surely it could not be so bad to experiment with them.

Sophie took a deep breath and banished all thoughts of inadequacy. She put on a smile and got ready to see the faces of the students she would be teaching. Another experience for her, something that would surely be enjoyable and rewarding as all of the other professors had told her it was.

"Nervous, Ms. Roe?" a deep voice asked from behind her.

Sophie turned to find that Severus Snape stood there, staring her down with his cold, dark eyes.

"Just a little," she replied to him honestly, the smile still planted firmly on her face.

Snape's eyebrow rose high on his forehead as he watched her coolly, "A little? You seem to have forgotten that this is the entrance for the rest of us in your 'little' bout of nerves. Surely even you could remember that other professors must use this door."

The young professor flushed red as she stuttered an apology, jumping out of the way.

"I'm so sorry, Professor Snape. I didn't realize-" she said quickly.

His eyes held no sympathy, "Of course you didn't realize, foolish woman."

With that said, he swooped through the door and up to the professor's table for the beginning of term feast, a sour look on his face. Of course Dumbledore would hire a dimwitted woman to replace the half-giant.

Snape sat at the Head Table in his usual spot at the end, glancing around at the empty hall. He savored the silence as it resonated about the room. This would be the last time this place saw quiet in quite a long time, he knew.

A few moments later, Sophia Roe stepped through the teacher's entrance and walked along the table until she found an empty seat, the only one being the spot directly next to him. Snape knew that the other professors did not get on with him well and he didn't find them particularly pleasant either and so he'd done his best to keep his distance, but now he found himself sitting beside their new young professor and wished he would have found some better company. Perhaps she would learn her place quickly, but he didn't think so.

Sophia smiled at him warmly, but Snape simply sneered. Smiling at Severus Snape? This new girl was something else.

"Good evening, Professor Snape," she greeted, as though he had not just been insulting her in the hallway moments before.

Snape considered not replying, but decided that he must at least say something.

"Ms. Roe," he answered curtly.

She continued to smile at him and then turned to greet the professor who sat to her left. Snape rolled his eyes at the woman and stared coldly out at the Great Hall as he waited for the feast to begin.

Sophie was talking to Professor Flitwick animatedly about his new choir classes and what he wanted to do for Christmas and Halloween decorations, but secretly she was thinking about Snape. She had seen him a few times before in the halls and at mealtimes, though they weren't required to eat together during the summer. All of the teachers had arrived a week early to prepare for their classes and Sophie had spent the time working diligently, but also silently wondering about Hogwart's most secretive professor.

Obviously she knew a little about him, everyone knew who Professor Severus Snape was, but she wanted to know about him. He didn't seem thrilled about working here, not like the other teachers did, and he seemed to dread the moment when the students arrived. So what was he doing here? What did he want out of all of this? Why was he so miserable?

These thoughts plagued her mind for a few moments, but she was not able to ponder on them long, for the doors had opened and in came the mass of students she would be teaching this coming semester.

Young witches and wizards of every age came pouring into the hall and Sophie felt her fears wash away as their noise filled the room. A smile lit her face as they took their seats. Professor McGonagall led in the first years then.

The stool and hat sat before the rest of the school as the sorting began. McGonagall unrolled her scroll and started to read off the names. Down the list, each student was placed into their own house. Sophie clapped for each and every one of them, finding that she was perhaps one of the only professors to do so genuinely besides Dumbledore.

Though she had been in Ravenclaw as a student, Sophie felt no real bond to any house. Obviously her house held her loyalty, but she didn't see any reason not to like the other houses. She'd had so many friends from every house, including Slytherin, though they had the worst rep.

Snape was surprised to find that the woman beside him seemed genuinely happy with all of the results during the sorting. She clapped just as vigorously for those sorted into Slytherin as into Gryffindor, even those in Hufflepuff were given a proud round of applause from the chipper professor.

For the life of him, just by watching her clap for the sorting, he couldn't figure out which house she had been in when she'd gone to school here. Snape guessed Hufflepuff simply because she was so nice to everyone. A woman that happy all the time had to have been a Hufflepuff and no doubt awful at nearly everything she attempted to go along with it. That was the only explanation he could come up with.

He was very nearly tempted to question her about it, his curiosity now burning, but he daren't try to make pleasant conversation with the woman. She would only take it as a sign that she could talk to him freely from now on and he certainly didn't want that. No, he'd just have to bear it and listen to see if she mentioned it while talking to one of the other professors. Snape only knew how many times house loyalties were questioned in this school, even amongst professors who were supposed to be unbiased.

So, Snape sat in silence, glowering down at the new batch of students who would certainly be a lost cause and therefore a distraction in his classroom. Hardly any of his students ever showed even a smidge of potential and he'd become discouraged trying to polish up any of those who had. He did not have time to deal with dunderheads who couldn't focus on the difference between the properties of unicorn horn and hair.

"You seem to have quite a few new students in your house, Professor Snape," came a voice to his left.

Severus looked over to find that Sophia Roe was looking up at him with a half-smile and bright eyes, waiting for his reply. He glanced over his table and took count of how many first years he had in his house. She was right; there were a lot of Slytherins in this bunch.

"Yes," he replied. "So it seems."

He glanced over the rest of the houses to tally the number of income in their houses. Yes, perhaps Slytherin had acquired a fair amount of the students coming in that year.

It seemed as if she were about to say more and Severus was bracing himself for the conversation she was bound to try and have when Dumbledore rose from his seat in the middle of the long table and called the Hall into silence.

He gave the usual warnings, rules, and greetings to the students. He then introduced the newest of his staff, calling first Sophia to stand, then the horrid Umbridge.

Immediately upon her standing, Umbridge called attention to herself, interrupting what the Headmaster had been announcing to all of the room. It was not only rude, but disrespectful and Snape found himself wanting to curse the woman for not showing the best wizard in the world a little of what he deserved.

She spoke loudly and clearly, always with a smile on her face, about how she was taking over the school with the permission of the Minister. Of course, she didn't say it in so many words, talking rather in confusing sentences mixed with baby-talk so that many of the students did not understand the meaning behind her speech.

Snape hated her. She was a vile person and though he knew he wasn't anyone to talk, he couldn't help but be thoroughly disgusted by the toad-like woman.

When she sat back in her chair, Severus was relieved, letting Dumbledore's words soothe over him. Of course, the Headmaster took everything in stride and simply smiled at the woman, his eyes twinkling. Albus Dumbledore knew everything that happened within the walls of Hogwarts and he certainly knew what was going on with Umbridge. He also was too kind to do anything yet. He always had a plan up his sleeve.

"What a foul woman," he heard from beside him.

Snape looked down, startled to find that Sophia Roe was glowering at the tablecloth.

"Excuse me?" he asked, startled by what he'd heard.

The new professor looked up and met his eyes, hers burning angrily. "Who does she think she is? Coming in here like that and trying to make Dumbledore look like a fool? Obviously the eyes of the Ministry, she keeps saying it!"

Snape raised his eyebrows, of course he agreed with her, but he was surprised that she had such strong feelings toward the woman. He'd only ever seen Sophia Roe smiling and happy, with the exception of her nerves when he'd last seen her outside the teacher's entrance to the Great Hall earlier that evening.

Then she sighed and shook her head, as if shaking out the negative thoughts, for the next moment her bright smile was planted back on her face as she looked out over the students.

"Other than that, I think I'm going to enjoy this school year," she said happily.

Severus did not reply, but started to pile food onto his plate. They did not say another word until dinner was over, though he could hear her speaking with Flitwick to her left. He was not too interested, though, they spoke of nothing of importance.

At the end of the feast, the students filed out of the Hall, prefects shouting over the noise to direct their first years where to go and how to navigate the school. Everyone would be getting their schedules the following morning, the first day of school.

Snape stood, finding that he wanted nothing more than to retire for the night and mentally prepare himself for the day ahead. First thing in the morning he would be dealing with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw third years and he wanted to be ready for the dimwits and know-it-alls together in the same room.

Ahead of him, Sophia Roe was sweeping out of the room, a laugh escaping her lips. He had a fleeting thought that she might be beautiful, but he quickly pushed it away before it could gain any real hold. No. She was just a silly woman who was much too naïve and simple. He could never be attracted to a woman who couldn't hold a decent conversation, just as he knew Hufflepuffs to be.

Snape swooped out of the Hall, knowing that this was the exact reason he was often referred to as the 'dungeon bat' by his students. He had no real care for this though. His billowing robes only added that much more to his intimidation factor while in person and that was all he cared about.

Before he could escape to his dungeon rooms, though, Dumbledore called him to a stop.

"If you could come with me, Severus, I need to discuss some very important matters with you in my office," the Headmaster said.

Snape could not refuse and upon receiving the password, he made his way up into the office of the only man he held any respect for.

Their meeting was only to discuss what Voldemort was doing now and what Snape should do should he be summoned. Now that the Dark Lord was back, Snape had to be ready now more than ever to prove his loyalty to that master. He must be ready to do anything he was asked and he must be prepared to keep everything he knew safe and secret.

He already knew this. Snape left the office feeling the weight of everything he had to do fall heavily on his shoulders. This was what he'd signed on for. This was what he deserved, for killing the only woman he had ever loved.

That night as he lay in bed, Snape had fleeting thoughts of Sophia. His idea that she might be beautiful played over in his head again. Her vision flashed before his eyes. Yes, she was very beautiful, he now considered. With bright blue eyes and blonde hair, a petite woman with a very nice face to look at. Not too many angles, but not too rounded either. The only marks on her face were those that portrayed how much she loved to smile and laugh, for surely she did that enough.

Yes, Snape thought to himself, she was beautiful. But that meant nothing. A woman with beauty and no brains was useless and Snape could do nothing a woman even if she had both anyway, so he really had no business to be thinking about her like that.

Severus Snape rolled over in his bed and tried to get some sleep, thinking that the next morning might be one of the worst yet.

Meanwhile, Sophie was getting ready for bed in her own rooms, a content look upon her face, a small smile lifting her cheeks. She was excited for the next day, ready to tackle this new challenge. She lay down under the blankets of her large bed and slowly closed her eyes, the image of Professor Snape coming to mind.

Oh, how he was intriguing! She knew what everyone thought of him and she knew he was not nice, but surely there was something under that rough exterior. There had to be a reason Dumbledore was so fond of him. There had to be something more than what they were seeing. Sophie just wondered what it was. She hoped that during this school year, maybe she would figure out just what was under there.

With a smile and a sense of determination, Sophie slowly drifted off to sleep.