Lizzie's POV:

After Snape announced his advancement to headmaster, a collective enraged whisper spread among the students, a large portion of which seemed to be centering around the Gryffindor table. I caught a few words here and there including, "...can't be bloody serious...", "...will be fantastic...", and "...end to us all..."

"Silence!" Snape snapped sharply, immediately stopping all of the murmurs. Many of the students were glaring daggers up at him, probably hoping he would drop dead right then and there. "We have a few additions to the staff this year. Amycus Carrow will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts and Alecto Carrow will be teaching Muggle Studies. Together, they will be in charge of discipline."

Two people, a squat, hunched, and doughy faced man, along with a stocky and sloped-shouldered woman, stood up. Beside me, Draco tensed and I knew why. Those two were on the tower the night Dumbledore died and had attended the few Death Eater meetings we had been at alongside us.

"Along with additions to the staff, there have been a few new rules added." Snape's beady, black eyes moved over the crowd, daring one of them to step out of line. I shivered as his gaze locked momentarily with mine. "The first of which will put an end to all school activities. Including quidditch, dueling clubs, and all other related activities."

"Rubbish!" Someone yelled from the Gryffindor table, drawing the eyes of everyone in the room. I snapped my head in this direction to see Seamus Finnigan's outraged face glaring up at Snape. His attendance here this year surprised me, seeing as seeing as his dad is a muggle and only children who could prove their pure magical ancestry were allowed. "You can't ban quidditch!"

"It will do you well, Mr. Finnigan, to follow these rules unless you would like to see what the Carrows are here to do," Snape sneered at Seamus with such venom that even I receded.

Seamus' angry, red face turned pink with embarrassment as he drew himself back, trying to hide behind the boy beside him.

"As I was saying, there will be absolutely no school activities and any to be found operating without my direct permission, will be severely punished. There will also be positively no trips to Hogsmeade at any time." He paused for a heartbeat to let this sink in before continuing. "The former curfew of 10 o'clock has been altered to 6 o'clock. Any student caught out of bed, will be punished.

"I recommend that you make your behavior inside of these walls your number one priority. Those of you who are foolish enough to misbehave will be punished in a manner that will ensure you never do so again."

I allowed my eyes move from Snape's greasy head and around the room and on every face my eyes landed on, I saw mouths agape and looks of disgust. A few of the teachers were practically shaking with rage, however, the Carrows were grinning.

"Owl post is being read, monitored, and approved. No other form of communication is allowed. That includes Floo, apparation, flying or any other form of transport. Dementors stand at every entrance to help enforce this rule. The purpose of this school year will be to educate. That is all for now." He waved his hand and the tables filled with the usual feast, but the houselves must not have had their hearts in the preparation. The mashed potatoes looked lumpy, the fruit looked soft in all the wrong places, and the bread had bits of mold on it. I actually resisted the urge to gag at the sight of the food.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts everyone," I heard someone mutter a few spaces down from me.

-----

When the last of the scrappy pudding and congealed juice had been cleared away, Snape told all of the students to follow our heads of house back to our house common room.

"Alright everyone," Slughorn called out over everyone once we were congregated in front of the span of wall that would reveal the door to the common room. "The password is 'magicae supra mundanam'. Can you all repeat that back to me?"

A jumbled mess of voices mumbled 'magicae supra mundanam'.

"Wonderful," he smiled as the stone wall slid open. "Everyone have a brilliant night." Slowly but steadily, the students began to funnel into the common room and to their dormitories, exhausted and wanting the day to be over. No one student hung back in the common room.

"I can't believe the ruddy password," I muttered to myself with a sneer.

"What was that?" Draco asked, having not heard what I had said.

"I said I can't believe the password," I repeated to him a bit louder. "'Magicae supra mundanam'. It's rubbish."

Draco nodded. "'Magic over mundane'."

"Wizards are not superior to muggles. Does Snape set the common room passwords? I might just have to have a word with that greasy haired, beady eyed, arsehole of a slimeball," I snapped, crossing my arms and roughly setting myself down on the sofa in front of the fire, which was burning apathetically.

"I figured that this year would be quite different from former years, but I don't think I ever imagined Snape as the Headmaster," Draco replied, sitting beside me.

"I think I'd rather have You-Know-Who himself as Headmaster," I growled. Draco raised his eyebrows and looked at me incredulously. "Okay, yeah, maybe not, but I'm not happy about Snape."

"I'm sure that he's just trying to scare everyone into obeying him," Draco said.

"He's doing a great job at it," I frowned. "He's also managing to make everyone angry with him. I mean taking quidditch away? You might as well take away our wands."

"Not his best move, I admit-"

"'Not his best move'," I scoffed. "Definitely not. Neither was setting the password as Magicae supra mundanam. That is wrong on one-hundred and one levels. I'd rather have 'Snape is awesome'. Or 'Screw that Samuels girl'. Or even 'All hail You-Know-Who'. 'Magic over mundane' is just horrible of him."

"Well, he can be-"

"You know, I think he just doesn't want us to have fun this year." I continued, cutting Draco off and continuing my rant. "That's why he's taken away quidditch and every other club. He wants us to all suffer in this castle as he plays king."

"We're not-"

"I bet you that's what his office door says. 'King Snape'. Next, he's going to make us call him that instead of 'Headmaster'."

"King Snape," Draco chuckled lightly. The noise sounded wrong as it echoed off of the dungeon walls back at us.

"Yeah. King Snape. He's gonna make himself a crown and walk around with his wand in a scepter. We're all going to have to kiss his feet before each meal and not make eye contact lest we risk being turned to stone," I huffed with pursed lips. "You know, I honestly didn't mind him all that much before today. He was just my Potions professor that could sometimes be a right pain, but now I want to curse him into next month."

"Snape is not a bad guy," Draco sighed. "I bet you he's just following orders from You-Know-Who. He's just a puppet really. Though I do think 'King Snape' would be rather entertaining."

"Good morning, King Snape!" I crowed in a faux cheery voice. "Wonderful day, isn't it? I think I'm just going to go down a cauldron of Shrinking Potion so you can squish me under your shoe like the bug you think I am!"

"Do you want to know a secret about how to get him to like you?" Draco hummed quietly, stretching his arm across my shoulders.

"Sure," I replied, leaning into his body and letting his warmth encase me.

"Be brilliant but not cocky," he whispered. "Blend into the background."

"I've done that for six years now and he still looks at me like I smell foul," I frowned, picturing the glower in the back of my mind.

"That's just his face."