The faculty lounge was dimly lit, a fire crackling in the stone fireplace as the professors gathered for their usual end-of-day meeting. Snape sat in his usual chair, his fingers steepled as he listened— or rather, pretended to listen— to the ongoing discussion. His dark gaze, however, kept flickering toward you.

You sat across the room, nodding attentively as McG spoke about upcoming curriculum adjustments. You were new to Hogwarts, a temporary replacement for Professor Sprout while she recovered from an unfortunate Venomous Tentacula accident. Your presence should have been insignificant to him. Another fleeting face in a long line of transient educators. And yet…

—“Severus, your thoughts?” Dumbledore’s voice pulled him from his thoughts.

Snape’s expression hardened as he straightened in his chair.

—“On what matter precisely?” he drawled, stalling for time.

McG shot him a look over her glasses.

—“On the integration of more practical elements into the students’ Herbology studies,” she clarified. “Professor {{user}} has suggested collaborating with the Potions curriculum.”

Snape’s grip on the arm of his chair tightened. Of course, you had. You were competent— annoyingly so. The students had already taken a liking to you, and even some of the more hardened staff seemed to welcome your presence.

—“A logical proposal,” he admitted coolly, masking the odd tightness in his chest. “So long as the students are competent enough to not poison themselves in the process.”

You chuckled, and he felt something uncomfortably warm stir in his chest at the sound.

Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled.

—“Then it’s settled. Professor {{user}}, you and Snape will coordinate the logistics.”