First Year Jitters
Severus Snape frowned down upon the action in the Great Hall with disdain. Another year beginning at Hogwarts, more young children to scare. All in all he wasn't happy at all when he 'woke up' in his old Potions classroom. He knew for a fact that he had died. He had seen Lily's smiling eyes and heard Black's snide comments, and could have sworn he heard Potter in the background yelling something about still wearing gray pants. The next thing he knew they were gone, and he was in his empty classroom that looked like it had gone through a battle.
'Oh wait, it had.'
The first person he had dared to try to scare was Minerva, who wasn't ruffled in any means and just wanted to know what on earth he was doing back. Of course he had no explanation as to why he was a ghost. He felt he had completed his mission on earth, protecting Harry to the best of his ability, down to being controlled by two old coots who fancied themselves God. Regardless, he was back and very irate. Minerva didn't help any when she laughed at him and told him that she couldn't ever imagine him anywhere else but his classroom, dead or not.
He decided to make his appearance known and found The Bloody Baron, who was standing by the head of the Slytherin table. "Another batch of dunderheads arriving, I see."
The Baron nodded. "Let's hope that the newest additions to Slytherin are worth a damn this year. Last year's additions were simply pathetic."
"I believe that Miss. Worthington is giving Neville Longbottom a run for his money in terms of cauldron melting."
"And that Goyle boy is making Draco Malfoy look like a pansy."
Severus snorted. "Malfoy was a pansy, just like his dear old dad. Do you have any idea how long they used to spend in the bathroom in the mornings?"
The Baron rolled his eyes, which was an unusual sight from the usual stoic ghost. "Much too long for a male."
Severus smiled. "At least this new Goyle was blessed with his mother's looks." His eyes wandered over to where Vincent Goyle sat, a spitting image of his mother Pansy Parkinson. In all honesty he had expected the Parkinson girl to trot after Draco long after their Hogwarts years, but apparently Goyle had offered her something that Draco couldn't. Everyone knew that the Parkinson family was after anything that could raise their ranks in society.
He turned his attention to Minerva up at her podium. She had cleared her throat in such a manner that some of the first years looked like they were going to wet themselves.
"I welcome you all here to a new year at Hogwarts. This year we have some new additions to the staff...."
Severus tuned her out as she went over the speech that she had practiced for the last month. She had recruited him to listen to her, which he patiently did. One wouldn't think that the cool, calm, and collected Headmistress was actually as shy as a kitten when it came to public speaking. She hated it with every bone in her body, and for the past twenty odd years she had cornered anyone she could find so she could practice.
"First years, please line up in an orderly fashion so that the sorting may begin." She pulled the stool with the sorting hat from behind the podium and moved it out for the children to be sorted. Severus didn't pay much attention to the names, though he began to categorize them as they were sorted, offering comments like 'that one is going to be pure trouble' to the Baron every few students.
"Potter, Albus."
Severus looked up to see a young boy, a spitting image of both father and grandfather, scaling the steps up to the sorting hat. He looked extremely nervous as he kept shooting glances over at the Gryffindor table where his older brother sat. Of course James smiled and gave him the thumbs up. That seemed to put the younger Potter's mind at ease as he jumped up onto the stool.
The older Potter boy was nothing but trouble, but he could see that this one would be different. He looked a little whiney, as first years tended to do, but there was a slight gleam in the boys eyes that said he was behind his fair share of mischief. Severus was willing to bet that the boy, with his combined Weasley and Potter blood, would run everyone ragged.
"Well, well, well! What do we have here? Another Potter. I bet you are going to beg for Gryffindor just like your older brother and your father. You have Gryffindor courage through and through, that's for sure. But there is something else there! I see it, yes! As the middle child you have developed a sense of cunning. No, no, son. Don't beg. I cannot be persuaded, no, no. I think that you would be best suited in..."
Severus tuned the hat out. He could hear it murmuring to the boy like it did to every student, and he was almost positive that he would be sorted into Gryffindor like every Potter and Weasley before him. It was inevitable.