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professorsnape394 · 4 years

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The Potions Master’s Apprentice

Chapter Eleven: A Pining Professor

A/N: This is the eleventh part to my fanfiction ‘The Potions Master’s Apprentice (Severus Snape x OC)’. Chapters 1-16 can be found already uploaded on Wattpad under the same name. Feel free to leave requests in my inbox for anything Snape related you want me to write. Leave a comment below if you wish to be added to my tag list.

Pairing: Severus Snape x OC (Dumbledore’s Granddaughter)

Summary: A talented young witch is employed as an apprentice professor at Hogwarts, but who will she be working under? Severus Snape is not best pleased with his new responsibility of taking on an apprentice, however she is relentless to create a friendship between them. Will she be successful? Or might the friendship just go a little two far? With the eyes of her grandfather constantly watching over them, an attempt at a relationship might not be in the cards for Aria Dumbledore and Severus Snape.

Word Count: 1913

Warnings: n/a

Credits to Gif Creator

"Very well done, Miss Granger." Aria commended as the young Hermione Granger brandished her perfectly completed potion to the class. "Now, who's next?" The professor questioned looking around the room for another student to choose. Her eyes quickly landed on an awkward looking fourth year Gryffindor boy. "How about you, Mr. Longbottom. Care to show us your final potion?"

The boy looked around nervously, attempting to straighten out his disheveled robes, hoping someone would save him from this inevitable embarrassment.

"Erm... I... I don't think I've done it right, Professor Dumbledore." Neville shot a quick, terrified glance in the direction of Severus Snape, who was, as usual hunched over his desk, paying little attention to the classroom full of students.

"Don't look so worried, Neville." Aria replied softly, beckoning the boy to test out his shrinking solution. "Professor Snape and I are not here to judge your abilities, but to guide you in the right direction, allowing you to flourish to your highest potential."

Professor Snape let out a low grunt, looking up from his desk for a brief second, unimpressed by the encouraging words of his apprentice.

Neville Longbottom took a step up to the front of the classroom, a small vial of his potion shaking slightly in his hand. Aria snatched a spare quill from the Potion Masters desk and laid it down in front of Neville waiting to see the results of his concoction. The acid green liquid dripped down onto the feathers, small droplets of the potion pooling together, quickly drowning the quill. The students stood around in silence, waiting for the quill to shrink down into practically nothing. However, instead of shrinking, the potion began to bubble and fizz. Within seconds the bubbles turned into a rabid foaming substance. After a few moments of watching the foam expand, it disappeared completely, the feathers of the quill melting away with it.

Almost as if the whole class had been holding their breath, a large number of students exhaled simultaneously. Neville's face dropped, disheartened by his efforts. "Not to worry, Longbottom, we'll walk you through it one more time, and show you what went wrong."

"I don't think so, Miss Dumbledore." Professor Snape piped up, appearing at the side of the young woman. "Mr. Longbottom, I want you to write an essay at least 1500 words detailing exactly what went wrong, and how you will re-mediate your efforts in the future. I want this on my desk by tomorrow morning." His sudden appearance dulled the mood Aria had worked to built within the class, instantaneously.

"Yes Sir." The boy retorted, cowering away back to the crowd of students.

Aria stared at the Professor, stunned at his interference. The pair had come to an agreement where Severus took on the theoretical aspect of the job, teaching the students his methods, while Aria took on the practical aspect, helping the students as they brewed. Severus often stayed quiet during her teaching time, taking nothing to do with the students after he taught them the correct brewing process. He trusted her to lead them in the right direction, after all. However, today Snape was persistent in making himself known, he felt the need to remind them all of his intimidating, dominant presence, determined to scare the students, into obedience.

"Class dismissed." Snape ordered, the children fleeing from the room before the words had even completely left his mouth.

Just as fast as the room had cleared, Severus made a move to gather the papers from his desk, appearing to be getting ready to leave the classroom, something he never usually done until it was time for the great feast.

"Where are you going?" Aria questioned, closing the gap between herself and the Potions Master, stopping him from wandering off without an explanation.

"To my office to mark the remainder of these essays... in peace." He stated, his tone full of venom. Again, Aria was taken aback by the way the man spoke to her. He had gradually been warming up to her these past few weeks and it had been a long time since he spoke to her with such anger. Considering how the previous evening had panned out, it bothered Aria that he had become so frosty again so quickly, they had made so much progress since their first meeting. And for what? For Severus to just immediately go back to his old ways. Aria wasn't about to let that happen anytime soon.

"What's your problem, Severus?" Aria snapped, getting in between the door and her mentor. "You've been acting like a dick all day. We finally had a nice evening together, both of us doing our own thing, it was nice! But then you ran out suddenly and without reason. And now you're acting even worse than you did before. Did I do something to piss you off? Please tell me!" She ranted, desperate for an answer.

"I'm not quite sure what you think went on last night, but whatever it is, I advise you get it out of your head immediately." He snapped, gradually nearing the exit.

"What are you talking about?" Aria questioned, sincerely confused. "Nothing did happen last night Severus and I'm not acting like it did. What's going on with you, is there something wrong?"

"Don't patronise me, Miss Dumbeldore, I don't need your pity." He seethed, clutching his stack of papers tightly to his chest. "I want to make it abundantly clear to you that we are to maintain a strictly professional relationship from here on out. We are not friends. And we never will be."

Seeing the enraged look grow on his face, Aria gave in, not willing to argue with her mentor any longer. Stepping away from the door, she allowed Severus to take his leave. The whole conversation had thoroughly confused her, she had thought last night had been nice for the both of them but clearly she was wrong and it just wasn't worth aggravating Severus even more.

From the moment Severus left Aria's room to the minute she walked through his classroom door the next morning Severus had not stopped thinking about the woman he tried so hard to despise. He had not slept, therefore he was even more unpleasant than usual. He was irritable with his coworkers, terrifying to his students, and just flat out mean to Aria. Although his body could not deny that he was attracted to her, a night of constant angry thoughts aimed at himself, quickly formed into a hatred for the woman in a desperate attempt to hide the embarrassment he was feeling not so deep down.

Determined to distance himself from his apprentice, he 'gave her the night off', if you could phrase it that way. Severus shut himself in his office, banning her from joining him while he marked as she so often did. Distracting himself from thoughts of her seemed to be working for him, and in no less than a few hours he was feeling back to his usual self. No thoughts of Aria entering his mind, whether it be thoughts of anger, lust or... Well, lets just say Aria was successfully no longer on his mind.

That was, of course, until a familiar rumble was heard from his stomach and he knew he could not avoid the great feast, though he so wanted to.

Seeing the young woman walk into the Great Hall amongst a crowd of students sent an instant pang into Severus' gut. It was then he knew that no matter how hard he tried to get this woman off his mind and no matter how 'temporarily' successful he was at doing so, there was no way he was ever going to escape how he felt. He could pick her out amongst a crowded room, and the beating of his heart became instantly deafening. This was not an attraction he saw himself being able to easily escape from.

Taking her regular seat at the table in between Severus and Minerva, the two woman got to chatting immediately. Aria kept herself turned away from the potions master, knowing he would not be in the mood to have any type of interaction with her. Snape found himself hurt that Aria kept her back to him, he hated the fact she wasn't trying harder to break him from the mood he had got himself into. Though if she had tried he would not be willing to be broken out of it quite yet.

As the whole hall began to fill with chatter and laughter Severus found himself the only miserable man in the place. He sat through the meal in silence, not talking to anyone, and no one speaking to him. It was on this rare occasion he found himself lonely in the situation he had created to protect himself from emotions exactly like this.

As the feast came to an end Professor Snape was ready to flee from the room, uninterested in anything else it had to offer him.

That was, until, a plump little owl found its way over to Aria Dumbledore and a gasp of glee escaped the two women beside him. His interest piqued, Severus settled back into his chair, focusing in on the conversation of his colleagues.

"Who's it from?" Minerva queried, her eyes having already scanned the contents of the letter.

"Oh it's just some guy I met at the Three Broomsticks. Pretty much saved me from being touched up by an old creep." The witch replied, a small chuckle escaping her lips.

"And he's asked you on a date?" Mcgonagall questioned further.

"No not at all." Aria scoffed. "Its just a few drinks see." She said passing over the parchment to the older woman.

"Sounds like a date to me." Professor McGonagall grinned.

"Its not a date!" Aria screeched in return, though Severus noted a hint of excitement in her voice.

The Potions Master felt his face burn with jealousy, a fiery hot ball growing inside him just waiting to burst out his chest. He hated the thought of seeing Aria out with another man, though he knew he could not be with her either. He was jealous for sure, but there was no way he would ever be willing to commit to her. Not that she could ever feel the same about him, if he did. He did not want her himself, but he also did not want anyone else to have her.

It was then the memory of another letter crossed his mind. Someone else already did have her. According to the letter he came across in her quarters she was in a relationship. And now, as much as she wanted to deny it, this new letter stated she would be going on a date with someone else.

Despite how sweet and innocent this young witch may seem, Severus Snape was beginning to build a picture of who she really was. It was clear to him now that from the moment she arrived at Hogwarts she had been playing him, just like he assumed she was playing these other men. 'She flirts and charms her way into getting everything she wants. Snape thought to himself. After all, she young and extremely attractive. What exactly is stopping her from taking advantage of everyone who falls for her. Well not me.' The thought continued. 'I'm wont be taken advantage of anymore.'

And with that Severus stormed from the room, his opinion of his apprentice having changed completely.

Taglist:

@ayamenimthiriel @lizlil

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theconservativebrief · 6 years

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Michael Cohen’s confession in open court that he violated campaign finance law to cover-up an affair between Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels — and that he did so at Trump’s direction — is a stunning moment in American politics.

It’s also a reminder that while the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign and possible involvement in said meddling by Trump or members of his circle is important, it’s hardly the only line of inquiry into Trump’s conduct for which there’s a legitimate basis.

The Cohen case arose in a peripheral kind of way as a result of Robert Mueller’s investigation but he, not wanting to be seen as conducting a fishing investigation, handed it off to the regular United States Attorney’s office in New York. That office conducted an investigation that did, in fact, end up looping back onto Trump and implicating him in a crime. It just happens to be a crime that doesn’t involve Russia.

The situation arguably calls for the appointment of a second special counsel or perhaps for the sake of economy, for an expansion of Mueller’s mandate. But if we’re going to start asking Mueller to take a wider look at things, he could get very busy very quickly.

After all, the Mueller investigation exists fundamentally not because Trump/Russia is the only thing worth investigating but because it happens to be the only thing that a handful of congressional Republicans wanted to see an investigation of. They’ve been comfortable sweeping everything else under the rug — Trump’s shady business dealings, post-election financial conflicts of interest, and alleged sexual assaults.

A fluky confluence of circumstances elicited Cohen’s confession and now it’s not clear what the system can or will do with the evidence he’s provided. But what’s abundantly clear is that the essentially uniform unwillingness of House and Senate Republicans to undertake any kind of meaningful oversight of the executive branch has left the country teetering in a state of perpetual crisis.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has a broad but still finite mandate to investigate matters related to Russia’s intervention in the 2016 campaign, Trumpworld figures’ possible involvement in the meddling, and the circumstances surrounding former FBI Director James Comey’s firing.

Mueller used that mandate to successfully prosecute Paul Manafort for crimes that, though related to work for Russia, do not appear to directly relate to the 2016 campaign. The strategy, evidently, is to try to create pressure on Manafort to cooperate with the investigation and implicate others — potentially including Trump.

But unlike former Independent Counsel Ken Starr (or his former lieutenant and current Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh), Mueller is not operating as an all-purpose roving anti-Trump ombudsman who just looks under random rocks and tries to find dirt on Trump. Consequently, when he uncovered evidence that looked bad for Cohen but had nothing to do with Russia, he passed it off to ordinary prosecutors. And though those prosecutors have uncovered serious evidence that Trump himself broke the law, they also may be at a dead end.

As Vox’s Dylan Matthews explains, if anyone other than the president were implicated in this way he’d be indicted. Indeed, just to underscore the point on the very same day of Cohen’s guilty plea Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) was indicted for campaign finance law violations. But there’s a robust debate as to whether a sitting president can be indicted at all and it seems highly unlikely that a US Attorney (who, after all, Trump can fire) would try to push the envelope in this way. A special counsel would write a report to Congress with findings and recommendations, but the Southern District of New York has no mandate to do that. We are, in effect, stuck.

Or, rather, we are in a situation where the constitutional responsibility of Congress is to step up to the plate and do something — either launching its own investigation or moving for the appointment of a new special counsel or expanding Mueller’s mandate or some other step to ascertain whether or not it’s true that Trump was the architect of a criminal scheme for which his former fixer and personal attorney is headed to jail.

But congressional Republicans don’t care — just one more item in a long list of things they don’t care about.

The key thing to remember about the Russia investigation is it exists not because it’s the only aspect of Trump’s conduct worth investigating, but because it’s the only worthwhile investigation that congressional Republicans were willing to pursue.

There’s a small clutch of devoted GOP Russia hawks, and though party leadership doesn’t share their passion on the issue it does share their policy preference. And the Russia investigation has been a semi-successful way of bludgeoning the president into, against his clear personal desires, mostly following an orthodox conservative approach to the US-Russia relationship.

But there’s plenty of other stuff they could be looking into.

After all, the president is openly using his hotel in downtown Washington to accept direct payments from people, corporations, and foreign states with lobbying interests before the United States government. Meanwhile, he’s doing the same thing with more secrecy at his golf clubs in New Jersey, Virginia, and Florida. And we really have no idea what’s happening with the rest of the sprawling network of shell companies he and his family control. Nor have we taken a good look at the very real possibility that his fake charitable foundation was a form of illegal tax evasion or that he bribed the attorney general of Florida to prevent scrutiny of his fake university or the women who’ve accused him of sexual assault.

And it’s not as if Trump’s track-record places him above suspicion. Very early on in his casino career he avoided bankruptcy only with the help of an illegal loan from his father. And from his empty-box tax scam to money laundering at his casinos to racial discrimination in his apartments to Federal Trade Commission violations for his stock purchases to Securities and Exchange Commission violations for his financial reporting, Trump has spent his entire career breaking various laws, getting caught, and then essentially plowing ahead unharmed. When he was caught engaging in illegal racial discrimination to please a mob boss, he paid a fine. There was no sense that this was a repeated pattern of violating racial discrimination law, and certainly no desire to take a closer look at his various personal and professional connections to the mafia.

Trump even paid out a $25 million civil settlement to make fraud claims against his fake university go away. And, remarkably, the fact that his university was fake wasn’t even the fraudulent part.

Rather than look into any of this, congressional Republicans are whistling past the graveyard and have plunged the country into a constant state of constitutional crisis.

The sophisticated thing to say about this is we are witnessing the poisonous fruit of partisan polarization.

When the founders envisioned a constitutional system based on the separation of powers in which ambition would check ambition, they failed to foresee the central role of political parties in mass democracies. The American system worked tolerably well as long as elites maintained a tight grip on party nominations and ideological incoherence left American parties weakly disciplined. Today, however, we have sharply polarized parties organized around systematic ideological conflict and so the system doesn’t work.

It’s a pretty good explanation, but I’m honestly not entirely sure I buy it. Senators like Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) are clearly willing to defy party leadership on high-profile issues like Affordable Care Act repeal when they want to. And Senators like John McCain (R-AZ), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), and Bob Corker (R-TN) aren’t running for reelection, have nothing to fear from the party, and have been very clear in their statements that they believe Trump’s presence in office is a serious problem for the country. Beyond that list of usual suspects, even orthodox conservatives like Ben Sasse (R-NE) and Mike Lee (R-UT) were able to see far enough past polarization to decline to endorse Trump during the 2016 campaign. And though primary season rivals like Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) did ultimately endorse Trump, they also pegged him correctly as “completely immoral” (Cruz) and “a con artist” (Rubio) and they’ve never recanted.

Meanwhile, having Trump in office has not exactly been a smooth ride for the GOP. From day one he’s been unpopular, and Republicans candidates have massively underperformed in special elections including one that cost them a Senate seat in Alabama and another that cost them a deep-red House seat in western Pennsylvania. They appear more likely than not to lose their House majority and a passel of midwestern governorships, and Trump’s unpopularity is the only reason Democrats have any hope of defending their vulnerable Senate seats.

It seems very plausible that both the country and the Republican Party would be in better shape today if they’d taken a stronger line against presidential misbehavior. But at this point, the congressional GOP has clearly made its bed — nobody bats an eye anymore at obviously abusive rescissions of former officials’ security clearances, tossing pardons around without a hint of process or constraint, or open slanders of Justice Department and FBI personnel.

The midterms are about three months away, and at this point, that’s really all that matters.

Original Source -> Michael Cohen’s guilty plea underscores congressional Republicans’ total abdication of responsibility

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

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love--esther · 7 years

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I’m just *not* that into you

I must admit something that I’m not proud of: I play mind games.

I’m not a fan of them nor do I choose to do it on purpose. It’s a bitchy move, and yet I find myself doing it all the time. Does that make it worse that I’m self-aware? Or better that I’m genuinely trying to be more honest?

I don’t think anyone likes to play mind games in relationships. It’s tedious and dramatic when it shouldn’t be. More than anything it’s complicating, but life is complicating. So it comes to no surprise that my life is very complicating... And my relationship with this one guy is also complex.

I met Joshua in first semester. He was the tall, friendly neighbor across the hall who always greeted me whenever we bumped into each other. At first, it was all about just being polite; however, somewhere along the line he misinterpreted my kindness for interest.

One day he asked for my Snapchat and I thought nothing of it. We were kind of friends and it’s always good to have your neighbor’s contact info in case of an emergency. Joshua hardly messaged me at all. Occasionally I’d get a random snap or he’d ask if rumors about my roommates were true or not. (A bit nosy but who isn’t?)

But then it changed drastically.

Shortly after I moved halls, he began to message me more frequently. What first seemed like concern and sympathy quickly turned into casual chats. We talked about trivial things like movies and shows. He’d vent to me about his marketing classes and I’d try my best to relate. (I’m a social sciences major, so I can’t relate since most of my classes aren’t difficult.) During winter break, he asked me out.

I was skeptical, but said I wouldn’t mind hanging out platonically. I mentioned that I’d invite him to a group hangout. I assumed he got the hint, because he stopped contacting me for a while. A few weeks went by with no presence of Joshua. I assumed I was in the clear.

I assumed wrong.

Out of nowhere, he started messaging me again. This time even more frequently than before. I didn’t want to be rude, so I continued talking to him. He was kind of my friend and he must’ve known I wasn’t interested. It would be fine. And that was my first mistake. Never assume anything. Especially when it comes to people’s feelings.

My friends begged me to ask him for the address to a frat party. It just so happened that Joshua was a member of one of the most selective and “top dog” fraternities on campus. They might not throw the best parties, BUT if you want a relationship these guys are the ones to want. They’re usually nice, smart, and very good-looking guys.

Joshua was by no means handsome, but he was tall, tan, and had kind eyes. I could see the appeal. He just wasn’t my type.

Reluctantly, I asked him for the address and he was more than enthusiastic to give it to me. I was nervous about the whole ordeal, but tried to brush it off. I could just flirt with a guy there and make it abundantly clear. Maybe even kiss someone if I liked someone enough. Although there were plenty of attractive guys, none appeared to be too interested in me.

I’m not going to lie; my ego took a blow.

So when Joshua showered with me affection and compliments...it was hard for me to deny him. I never told him that I was interested, but I also never told him that I *wasn’t* interested either. In my defense, I was drunk and lonely. Lame excuses but it happens.

He asked me out, and this time I said yes.

We were going to have lunch together and I dreaded every moment leading to it. I was mad at my drunk self for agreeing to a date, but I was too embarrassed to cancel. My friend reassured me that it was fine. All I needed to do was keep it strictly casual and platonic. He would get the message. However, the idea of spending any time with him made me anxious. I didn’t want to lead him, but there was something nice about feeling wanted again.

I haven’t been in a relationship with someone in almost two years, and the last time I had a crush (note: this is before I started liking the guy I’ve mentioned in my earlier posts) was on my boss from my summer school job. And that short lived romance was very one-sided. Joshua was sweet and kind. He told me I was beautiful and amazing--he couldn’t stop complimenting me and I appreciated the sentiment.

He rebuilt my confidence.

But at what cost? Luckily, we wound up cancelling on each other. He had some frat event to go to and I fell asleep by accident. I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity for us to fade into oblivion. I thought very wrong again. He still messages me every day, sending countless snapchats even when I don’t respond back.

Ironically, it was on St. Patrick’s Day that he revealed his feelings for me.

Before I went to the other party where I would have my *moment* with my crush; I went to Joshua’s day time party. Or dayger. I was very drunk when Joshua pulled me aside to talk. He asked me, “Esther, what are we?”

I remember smiling at him like a fool and shrugging. I didn’t know what we were either. Friends was not the right word, because I didn’t even enjoy spending time with him. I wouldn’t mind being friends with Joshua if I didn’t know he had an ulterior motive. And Joshua doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who can get past being friend-zoned. He took my lack of an answer as a good sign and continued, “I don’t know if were friends or more than that, but I’ve been wanting to spend time with you outside of campus. I want to see you more and I always find myself thinking of you.”

Stupidly I decided to reveal to him that I had thought about seeing him too. And I seriously did consider it. My thought process was that if we hung out once than he would see that I’m boring and more importantly I don’t like him like that. I failed to mention how I wanted to just hang out as friends INSTEAD of going out.

He asked me out again and I nodded because I was clueless and drunk.

Now he won’t stop messaging me about when we’re going to go out and what we’re going to do. I hate how irresponsible my actions have been. I should just be honest with him and reveal that I don’t have feelings for him. And yet here I am, just opening his messages and avoiding eye contact whenever I see him. I’m an awful person, but why can’t he see that?

Sometimes we ignore what we don’t to see and hear. Sometimes we hurt others without wanting to, and yet we make no motions to stop. I wish I could tell you that I’ll be clear with him, but I don’t know. I guess a part of me is hoping that if I avoid the situation; it’ll go away on its own.

Why is that we’re always running away from our problems?

Love, Esther

#my diary #life #love #college #young #not that into you #mind games #apology #drama #party #honest #its complicated

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