A/N: Hey, this is me again!!! I was sort of wondering what kind of family
could the teachers at Hogwarts have (as you can see, I have a lot of free
time in my hands) and this story presented itself to me... blame my
Slytherin muse!!! Oh, so you know, English is my second language, and I'm
not so sure with the pronunciation to risk it writing foreign accents, so
the accent is indicated in the text.
Disclaimer: as you have probably guessed by now, I am not JK Rowling, and the HarryPotter-verse does not belong to me (thank goodness!, I hear you say); I am using the characters and settings for my pleasure, and hopefully for yours, and I certainly don't deserve to be sued.
Summary: In Harry's seventh year, Voldemort issues a threat to the families of the Hogwarts staff, and they are forced to seek refuge in the school. This uncomfortable situation will allow us some insight into the family life of everybody's favourite Potions Master.
Rating: PG or PG-13, just to be on the safe side.
Review this story as you would like yours to be reviewed! (I hope that will take all flames off my back; if it doesn't, I'll use them to save on the electricity bill)
FAMILY MATTERS
PART I
"Goodbye, Uncle Vernon" called Harry over his shoulder as he pushed casually through the barrier separating platforms 9 and 10 of the King's Cross Station. The older man only huffed and turned away, hoping that no- one would relate him to the boy who had just disappeared into a wall.
Once on Platform 9 and ¾, Harry looked around to see if any of his friends had arrived yet; they hadn't, it was early and there were only a few families already waiting, none of which were the easily-recognisable Weasleys. Harry sat on his trunk, placing Hedwig's cage by his side, and his eyes wondered of their own accord to the group closer to him. A young mother was having trouble controlling her exuberant youngest offspring, a girl about one-year-old, while the older boy, with a strangely serious face for someone who was only eleven, regarded his mother and sister with expressionless black eyes.
"Siena, calm down already" said the young witch sternly, with a slight foreign accent seeping through her correct English. "How are you feeling, Seriozsha?" she asked to the boy, who was now frowning at the Hogwarts Express.
"I'm fine, mom" answered the boy, more composed that his worried mother. Harry looked at them wistfully; he would never confess it, but he could spend hours watching unsuspecting families, and wishing himself to be a part of them. The small boy went back to his occupation of biting his lower lip, interrupted by his mother's tender action of tucking a strand of his long black hair behind his ear. "Mom, I fine, really!" snapped the exasperated boy, flinching away from his parent. Harry sighed and shook his head: he would have never moved away from that kind of caring affection, if he had had it.
"Serguei, I'm just worried, all right?" snapped the young witch in return, looking around her impatiently; Harry had just time to look away before she caught him staring.
"*He*'s not coming, mother, we should just get a compartment" reasoned Serguei, looking crossly towards the train.
"Fine, then" agreed his mother "But remember, you go ahead and find yourself some friends, and I'll get the compartment and put the trunks in... I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose" she finished helplessly, as the boy smoothed his black shirt and prepared to move away; her tone apparently moved Serguei, who turned back with a rare smile, hugged his mother and then disappeared into the growing crowd assembling round the farthest carriages of the Hogwarts Express.
"Mom, mom, Seriozhsa!" whined the little girl, from her place in her mother's arms.
"He's gone to meet some friends, Siena; we will now go and finds us a nice compartment, all right?" Harry noticed that the young witch was apparently having a hard time of leaving her son alone, and was fighting back tears. But why had she said she would see him a Hogwarts? Could it be that she was the new DADA teacher? In Harry's fifth year Dumbledore had taken care of the Defence lessons, but he was a disastrous teacher who kept handing out lemon drops and awarding points for keeping awake, so the post had been left vacant again for Harry's sixth year, when it had been taken temporarily by a young German teacher, who was fired when he got 'involved' with Millicent Bullstrode, leading to the seventh DADA teacher for Harry. But the witch seemed too young to be a teacher, looking scarcely over twenty-five. //She must be older// reasoned Harry //or she couldn't have an eleven-year-old son, could she?// His thoughts were interrupted by a squeal, a shout and the general noisy arrival of Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Mrs Weasley.
"Hey, I thought you had decided to drop out of school" joked Harry, referring to the tardiness of his usually-punctual best friend.
"Fred and George threw us a good-bye party" explained Hermione, with a slight smile "Then, some of the fireworks exploded and made a mess of the food we had ready... while they cleaned up, and Mrs Weasley prepared us some sandwiches, we began running late. I thought we wouldn't make it!"
"They wouldn't have left without their Head Girl, would they?" teased Harry, looking at the shiny badge pinned to Hermione's blouse. She laughed and shook her head, where she had mercifully braided her hair to stop it from suffocating her friends.
"Come on, mate, stop hitting on my girlfriend and get on the train!" called Ron from the carriage where he had already stowed everybody's trunk.
"I'll be in the Prefect's Carriage for a while, and then I'll come to see how your summer was, all right?" Hermione ran off towards the front of the train, and Harry, after saying good-bye to Mrs Weasley, went to sit next to Ron.
"So, what did you do during the holidays, Harry? I hope those Dursleys didn't make do all their housework again..."
"No, it was OK" lied Harry; he was already used to the house-elf-work, but he knew his friends would make a big scandal out of it, so he just glossed over that part of his summer. "I didn't do anything special, really. How about you, though?"
"We had a really good time. Mione came to stay with us the last month, and Fred and George came home from London every weekend; their shop is going really well, you know? They sent you some of their latest inventions, I'll give them to you in our dorm... Percy got engaged to Penelope, and Mum was all mushy and teary-eyed: he's the first one of us to get engaged! Bill had to stay in Egypt, but Charlie came home for a week or so, and father took some time off the office as well..." Ron stopped to breathe, and Harry took that opportunity to speak.
"Well, that was a very eventful summer... talking about news, do you know who the new DADA teacher is?"
"Yes, Mione said something about Professor Nugyens; some kind of ghoul expert or other, from the Netherlands... Bill wrote to us saying the old man was OK"
"Oh, that's good" said Harry distractedly; the young witch from the platform wasn't the DADA teacher, then.
"Siena, come here!" called a female voice from the corridor; the door to their compartment opened to let in the small girl, with one of her black pigtails loose and a contagious smile. Soon, though, an old witch came bustling in, smiling kindly.
"Well, Siena, we should go back to our compartment before your mother gets mad at us, and leave these nice young men to their talk" The old witch took the girl in her arms and started leaving.
"Siena! Oh, thank you, Mrs McGonagall, it's very nice of you to take care of Siena... I don't know what's wrong with her today, really!" The young witch from the platform appeared, her arms outstretched to receive her daughter.
"Don't worry, Svetlana, it's a pleasure, really... and call me 'Mandy'" The two witches, and the little girl, disappeared down the corridor, leaving Harry and Ron to give each other quizzical looks.
"Since when has the Hogwarts Express become the Nursery-and-Geriatric- Express?" asked Ron, cracking into a wide smile; Harry only laughed in response, and soon both boys were immersed in a game of Exploding Snap.
At dusk they arrived at Hogwarts; everybody was eager to leave the train after several hours of forceful stillness, and soon the almost three hundred students were trying to make their way to the horseless carriages, or to Hagrid and the boats, in the case of the first-years. After the students were gone, three figures remained in the Platform, watched by a fourth person in the distance.
"Well, that's Serguei taken care of" said Svetlana, looking at the small boats getting farther and farther away. She was holding Siena in her arms, because the little girl had fallen asleep during the trip, and by her side stood Mrs Mandy McGonagall.
"Minerva told me someone would come and fetch us, they shouldn't take long" reassured the older witch, looking at the trembling young woman at her side. "Are you cold, dear?"
"I'm just fine" answered Svetlana, burying her face in her daughter's black hair, to hide the tears; she was scared and tired and frightfully disappointed of not having anyone waiting for her at her destination. Suddenly, a tall black shape appeared from behind the women and spoke curtly.
"This way, please" Severus Snape hid a smirk when the two witches started at the sound of his voice. They both stood still, looking at his imposing silhouette against the cloudy sky. He turned and began walking towards a horseless carriage that had stayed behind, apparently not caring whether he was being followed or not. He was, and very closely so. They all climbed in the coach and remained silent as it made its way towards the school; finally, the older witch broke the tense silence.
"How are you, Severus? It has been a long time since the last time I saw you" she tried to keep an amicable tone, which was hard seeing the attitude of the Potions Master.
"I'm fine, Mandy" answered Snape tersely; after a moment he realised he was meant to say something else. "And how are you? I hope the trip wasn't very tiring."
"I'm just fine. Svetlana and Siena kept me company" said Professor McGonagall's mother, signalling towards the two figures sitting at her side. Snape didn't answer, in fact, he acted as if he hadn't heard the comment, and silence descended again on the carriage. After a couple of minutes they reached Hogwarts, and made their way into the Entrance Hall, where they stopped again.
"Minerva is in there, with the first years" explained Snape to Mandy, motioning towards the Great Hall. "She asked me to take you to your quarters, in Gryffindor Tower" The teacher began to walk again, but he was stopped by Mandy, who this time wasn't even trying to hide the anger in her voice.
"I recommend you take Svetlana to her quarters first, Severus. She's tired and she's been carrying the baby for a long while now" The young witch looked at her feet, ashamed of being the subject of conversation, and Severus gave her a contemptuous look.
"I will take you to your quarters first, Mandy" he insisted, his voice not accepting disagreements. He began walking again, and Svetlana motioned the older witch to follow him.
"I'll be all right" she mouthed, and watched as both figures disappeared down a long corridor; Svetlana adjusted the position of the little girl in her arms, and looked at her surroundings. Seeing that the door to the Great Hall hadn't been closed properly, she went towards it and peered inside.
The Sorting of first years was already taking place. Roswell, Rhiannon stumbled forwards to try the old hat and get sorted into Ravenclaw; then, it was the turn for Gryffindor's Serby, William, and finally, for whom Svetlana was waiting for.
"Snape, Serguei" called Professor McGonagall, and the little boy, with his long, black hair and serious expression walked towards the stool and the hat, ignoring the excited murmurs that spread between the students. "Slytherin!" cried the Sorting Hat, after a very brief pause. Applause broke on the green-and-silver table, and Serguei went to sit with his new house-mates, apparently unfazed by the whole situation. Svetlana retired from the door, just in time to see Professor Snape coming towards her, his face expressionless.
"He's in Slytherin" announced Svetlana timidly; the teacher arched an eyebrow and motioned her to follow him as he descended into the dungeons.
"Another Snape, will you believe that!" sputtered Ron, ignoring the Sorting of Trundy, Terence. "Do you think he's really related to Snape? I don't think that slimy git has any sort of family!"
"The boy's sister was the little girl that went into our carriage this afternoon" explained Harry, "and his mother was the young witch that was looking for her, but I don't know if they're really Snapes..." Hermione turned to them with a reconvening look on her face.
"If you two shut up and listen to Professor Dumbledore, you might know what's happening" The Head Girl turned back to the High Table, and so did her friends.
"First of all, a hearty welcome to the students that join us today, and also to the teacher that comes to form part of the Hogwarts family: a great round of applause to Professor Naplius Nugyens!" Harry clapped politely, wondering if the Headmaster had been watching too much Muggle entertainment television during his summer. "Now, I have a few announcements to make. First of all, specially for the newcomers, need I explain that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden for a reason?" At this moment, Professor Snape entered quietly and took his usual place in the teacher's table, without sparing a look to the Slytherin table; Serguei did look at him, and something resembling the shadow of a expression crossed his black eyes fleetingly. "Second, Madam Hooch decided that this year's Quidditch trials will be held next week, so for more information about times, please contact her. Finally, a happy note: due to the external circumstances," delicate euphemism for the war that raged in the wizarding world since Voldemort's return "the families of many of our staff have come to live here at Hogwarts. I trust all out students will give them a warm welcome, and be prepared to be helpful as the situation demand. Mrs McGonagall, Mr Hooch, Mr and Mrs Flitwick, Mrs Vector and her two little babies, Mrs Nugyens and her daughter and Mrs Snape and her two children, will be very grateful. Now, let's dig into the food!"
The promised food effectively appeared on the plates, but very few people wanted to eat after that last piece of news.
"Mrs McGonagall?!"
"Her *mother*, you idiot!"
"So, the Nugyens girl was that blonde that got sorted into Ravenclaw?"
"Does it mean that if one gets to date her, there's an instant A in DADA?"
"Mrs Snape!? Who on Earth would marry *Snape*, of all people?!" That last comment effectively left everyone at the Gryffindor table deep in thought.
"Snape and... oh, that's disgusting!" Ron pushed his plate away, pale under his freckles, obviously left hungerless by his mental image. Harry grimaced at the thought.
"It must have been an arranged marriage" said Hermione mournfully, not succeeding in finding an argument to defend a Hogwarts teacher, a first for her. After a while, the Gryffindors started picking at their food, albeit hesitantly, except for Ron, who had been made definitively sick by whatever he had imagined.
"See? That's what you get for fantasising about the teachers' sex lives" joked Harry, observing his friend intact meal.
"Oh! I'm going to be sick!" exclaimed the red-head, drawing farther away from the table, and looking at Snape, who wasn't eating either.
------------- A/N: OK, I've uploaded this again, due to some typos in the original... I'll update next Thursday, probably, or sooner!
Disclaimer: as you have probably guessed by now, I am not JK Rowling, and the HarryPotter-verse does not belong to me (thank goodness!, I hear you say); I am using the characters and settings for my pleasure, and hopefully for yours, and I certainly don't deserve to be sued.
Summary: In Harry's seventh year, Voldemort issues a threat to the families of the Hogwarts staff, and they are forced to seek refuge in the school. This uncomfortable situation will allow us some insight into the family life of everybody's favourite Potions Master.
Rating: PG or PG-13, just to be on the safe side.
Review this story as you would like yours to be reviewed! (I hope that will take all flames off my back; if it doesn't, I'll use them to save on the electricity bill)
FAMILY MATTERS
PART I
"Goodbye, Uncle Vernon" called Harry over his shoulder as he pushed casually through the barrier separating platforms 9 and 10 of the King's Cross Station. The older man only huffed and turned away, hoping that no- one would relate him to the boy who had just disappeared into a wall.
Once on Platform 9 and ¾, Harry looked around to see if any of his friends had arrived yet; they hadn't, it was early and there were only a few families already waiting, none of which were the easily-recognisable Weasleys. Harry sat on his trunk, placing Hedwig's cage by his side, and his eyes wondered of their own accord to the group closer to him. A young mother was having trouble controlling her exuberant youngest offspring, a girl about one-year-old, while the older boy, with a strangely serious face for someone who was only eleven, regarded his mother and sister with expressionless black eyes.
"Siena, calm down already" said the young witch sternly, with a slight foreign accent seeping through her correct English. "How are you feeling, Seriozsha?" she asked to the boy, who was now frowning at the Hogwarts Express.
"I'm fine, mom" answered the boy, more composed that his worried mother. Harry looked at them wistfully; he would never confess it, but he could spend hours watching unsuspecting families, and wishing himself to be a part of them. The small boy went back to his occupation of biting his lower lip, interrupted by his mother's tender action of tucking a strand of his long black hair behind his ear. "Mom, I fine, really!" snapped the exasperated boy, flinching away from his parent. Harry sighed and shook his head: he would have never moved away from that kind of caring affection, if he had had it.
"Serguei, I'm just worried, all right?" snapped the young witch in return, looking around her impatiently; Harry had just time to look away before she caught him staring.
"*He*'s not coming, mother, we should just get a compartment" reasoned Serguei, looking crossly towards the train.
"Fine, then" agreed his mother "But remember, you go ahead and find yourself some friends, and I'll get the compartment and put the trunks in... I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose" she finished helplessly, as the boy smoothed his black shirt and prepared to move away; her tone apparently moved Serguei, who turned back with a rare smile, hugged his mother and then disappeared into the growing crowd assembling round the farthest carriages of the Hogwarts Express.
"Mom, mom, Seriozhsa!" whined the little girl, from her place in her mother's arms.
"He's gone to meet some friends, Siena; we will now go and finds us a nice compartment, all right?" Harry noticed that the young witch was apparently having a hard time of leaving her son alone, and was fighting back tears. But why had she said she would see him a Hogwarts? Could it be that she was the new DADA teacher? In Harry's fifth year Dumbledore had taken care of the Defence lessons, but he was a disastrous teacher who kept handing out lemon drops and awarding points for keeping awake, so the post had been left vacant again for Harry's sixth year, when it had been taken temporarily by a young German teacher, who was fired when he got 'involved' with Millicent Bullstrode, leading to the seventh DADA teacher for Harry. But the witch seemed too young to be a teacher, looking scarcely over twenty-five. //She must be older// reasoned Harry //or she couldn't have an eleven-year-old son, could she?// His thoughts were interrupted by a squeal, a shout and the general noisy arrival of Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Mrs Weasley.
"Hey, I thought you had decided to drop out of school" joked Harry, referring to the tardiness of his usually-punctual best friend.
"Fred and George threw us a good-bye party" explained Hermione, with a slight smile "Then, some of the fireworks exploded and made a mess of the food we had ready... while they cleaned up, and Mrs Weasley prepared us some sandwiches, we began running late. I thought we wouldn't make it!"
"They wouldn't have left without their Head Girl, would they?" teased Harry, looking at the shiny badge pinned to Hermione's blouse. She laughed and shook her head, where she had mercifully braided her hair to stop it from suffocating her friends.
"Come on, mate, stop hitting on my girlfriend and get on the train!" called Ron from the carriage where he had already stowed everybody's trunk.
"I'll be in the Prefect's Carriage for a while, and then I'll come to see how your summer was, all right?" Hermione ran off towards the front of the train, and Harry, after saying good-bye to Mrs Weasley, went to sit next to Ron.
"So, what did you do during the holidays, Harry? I hope those Dursleys didn't make do all their housework again..."
"No, it was OK" lied Harry; he was already used to the house-elf-work, but he knew his friends would make a big scandal out of it, so he just glossed over that part of his summer. "I didn't do anything special, really. How about you, though?"
"We had a really good time. Mione came to stay with us the last month, and Fred and George came home from London every weekend; their shop is going really well, you know? They sent you some of their latest inventions, I'll give them to you in our dorm... Percy got engaged to Penelope, and Mum was all mushy and teary-eyed: he's the first one of us to get engaged! Bill had to stay in Egypt, but Charlie came home for a week or so, and father took some time off the office as well..." Ron stopped to breathe, and Harry took that opportunity to speak.
"Well, that was a very eventful summer... talking about news, do you know who the new DADA teacher is?"
"Yes, Mione said something about Professor Nugyens; some kind of ghoul expert or other, from the Netherlands... Bill wrote to us saying the old man was OK"
"Oh, that's good" said Harry distractedly; the young witch from the platform wasn't the DADA teacher, then.
"Siena, come here!" called a female voice from the corridor; the door to their compartment opened to let in the small girl, with one of her black pigtails loose and a contagious smile. Soon, though, an old witch came bustling in, smiling kindly.
"Well, Siena, we should go back to our compartment before your mother gets mad at us, and leave these nice young men to their talk" The old witch took the girl in her arms and started leaving.
"Siena! Oh, thank you, Mrs McGonagall, it's very nice of you to take care of Siena... I don't know what's wrong with her today, really!" The young witch from the platform appeared, her arms outstretched to receive her daughter.
"Don't worry, Svetlana, it's a pleasure, really... and call me 'Mandy'" The two witches, and the little girl, disappeared down the corridor, leaving Harry and Ron to give each other quizzical looks.
"Since when has the Hogwarts Express become the Nursery-and-Geriatric- Express?" asked Ron, cracking into a wide smile; Harry only laughed in response, and soon both boys were immersed in a game of Exploding Snap.
At dusk they arrived at Hogwarts; everybody was eager to leave the train after several hours of forceful stillness, and soon the almost three hundred students were trying to make their way to the horseless carriages, or to Hagrid and the boats, in the case of the first-years. After the students were gone, three figures remained in the Platform, watched by a fourth person in the distance.
"Well, that's Serguei taken care of" said Svetlana, looking at the small boats getting farther and farther away. She was holding Siena in her arms, because the little girl had fallen asleep during the trip, and by her side stood Mrs Mandy McGonagall.
"Minerva told me someone would come and fetch us, they shouldn't take long" reassured the older witch, looking at the trembling young woman at her side. "Are you cold, dear?"
"I'm just fine" answered Svetlana, burying her face in her daughter's black hair, to hide the tears; she was scared and tired and frightfully disappointed of not having anyone waiting for her at her destination. Suddenly, a tall black shape appeared from behind the women and spoke curtly.
"This way, please" Severus Snape hid a smirk when the two witches started at the sound of his voice. They both stood still, looking at his imposing silhouette against the cloudy sky. He turned and began walking towards a horseless carriage that had stayed behind, apparently not caring whether he was being followed or not. He was, and very closely so. They all climbed in the coach and remained silent as it made its way towards the school; finally, the older witch broke the tense silence.
"How are you, Severus? It has been a long time since the last time I saw you" she tried to keep an amicable tone, which was hard seeing the attitude of the Potions Master.
"I'm fine, Mandy" answered Snape tersely; after a moment he realised he was meant to say something else. "And how are you? I hope the trip wasn't very tiring."
"I'm just fine. Svetlana and Siena kept me company" said Professor McGonagall's mother, signalling towards the two figures sitting at her side. Snape didn't answer, in fact, he acted as if he hadn't heard the comment, and silence descended again on the carriage. After a couple of minutes they reached Hogwarts, and made their way into the Entrance Hall, where they stopped again.
"Minerva is in there, with the first years" explained Snape to Mandy, motioning towards the Great Hall. "She asked me to take you to your quarters, in Gryffindor Tower" The teacher began to walk again, but he was stopped by Mandy, who this time wasn't even trying to hide the anger in her voice.
"I recommend you take Svetlana to her quarters first, Severus. She's tired and she's been carrying the baby for a long while now" The young witch looked at her feet, ashamed of being the subject of conversation, and Severus gave her a contemptuous look.
"I will take you to your quarters first, Mandy" he insisted, his voice not accepting disagreements. He began walking again, and Svetlana motioned the older witch to follow him.
"I'll be all right" she mouthed, and watched as both figures disappeared down a long corridor; Svetlana adjusted the position of the little girl in her arms, and looked at her surroundings. Seeing that the door to the Great Hall hadn't been closed properly, she went towards it and peered inside.
The Sorting of first years was already taking place. Roswell, Rhiannon stumbled forwards to try the old hat and get sorted into Ravenclaw; then, it was the turn for Gryffindor's Serby, William, and finally, for whom Svetlana was waiting for.
"Snape, Serguei" called Professor McGonagall, and the little boy, with his long, black hair and serious expression walked towards the stool and the hat, ignoring the excited murmurs that spread between the students. "Slytherin!" cried the Sorting Hat, after a very brief pause. Applause broke on the green-and-silver table, and Serguei went to sit with his new house-mates, apparently unfazed by the whole situation. Svetlana retired from the door, just in time to see Professor Snape coming towards her, his face expressionless.
"He's in Slytherin" announced Svetlana timidly; the teacher arched an eyebrow and motioned her to follow him as he descended into the dungeons.
"Another Snape, will you believe that!" sputtered Ron, ignoring the Sorting of Trundy, Terence. "Do you think he's really related to Snape? I don't think that slimy git has any sort of family!"
"The boy's sister was the little girl that went into our carriage this afternoon" explained Harry, "and his mother was the young witch that was looking for her, but I don't know if they're really Snapes..." Hermione turned to them with a reconvening look on her face.
"If you two shut up and listen to Professor Dumbledore, you might know what's happening" The Head Girl turned back to the High Table, and so did her friends.
"First of all, a hearty welcome to the students that join us today, and also to the teacher that comes to form part of the Hogwarts family: a great round of applause to Professor Naplius Nugyens!" Harry clapped politely, wondering if the Headmaster had been watching too much Muggle entertainment television during his summer. "Now, I have a few announcements to make. First of all, specially for the newcomers, need I explain that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden for a reason?" At this moment, Professor Snape entered quietly and took his usual place in the teacher's table, without sparing a look to the Slytherin table; Serguei did look at him, and something resembling the shadow of a expression crossed his black eyes fleetingly. "Second, Madam Hooch decided that this year's Quidditch trials will be held next week, so for more information about times, please contact her. Finally, a happy note: due to the external circumstances," delicate euphemism for the war that raged in the wizarding world since Voldemort's return "the families of many of our staff have come to live here at Hogwarts. I trust all out students will give them a warm welcome, and be prepared to be helpful as the situation demand. Mrs McGonagall, Mr Hooch, Mr and Mrs Flitwick, Mrs Vector and her two little babies, Mrs Nugyens and her daughter and Mrs Snape and her two children, will be very grateful. Now, let's dig into the food!"
The promised food effectively appeared on the plates, but very few people wanted to eat after that last piece of news.
"Mrs McGonagall?!"
"Her *mother*, you idiot!"
"So, the Nugyens girl was that blonde that got sorted into Ravenclaw?"
"Does it mean that if one gets to date her, there's an instant A in DADA?"
"Mrs Snape!? Who on Earth would marry *Snape*, of all people?!" That last comment effectively left everyone at the Gryffindor table deep in thought.
"Snape and... oh, that's disgusting!" Ron pushed his plate away, pale under his freckles, obviously left hungerless by his mental image. Harry grimaced at the thought.
"It must have been an arranged marriage" said Hermione mournfully, not succeeding in finding an argument to defend a Hogwarts teacher, a first for her. After a while, the Gryffindors started picking at their food, albeit hesitantly, except for Ron, who had been made definitively sick by whatever he had imagined.
"See? That's what you get for fantasising about the teachers' sex lives" joked Harry, observing his friend intact meal.
"Oh! I'm going to be sick!" exclaimed the red-head, drawing farther away from the table, and looking at Snape, who wasn't eating either.
------------- A/N: OK, I've uploaded this again, due to some typos in the original... I'll update next Thursday, probably, or sooner!