A little scene in Diagon Alley. As Severus is running errands to prepare for the new term at Hogwarts, he is observed by the new Charms Mistress…
Hey Mister! Would you fix my hair? Mummy's in the fancy dress shop and I'm not 'loud in an' my braid all fell apart."
Snape seemed to study the little girl. "Turn," he ordered. The child now had her back to Snape. With a quick flick of his wrist there was a stone bench behind him. He sat down, grasped the child by the shoulders, pulled her, but gently, back to him until he locked his knees against her hips. "Stay put," he growled.
The child did not move, but she did babble on about her brothers, and a party that her mum was going to, and how boring it was going to be with all the grown up stuff. As she chattered on, Snape expertly re-braided the pigtail that had come unwoven. He then secured it with a small rubber band. Once done, he rose, and nudged the girl a few steps ahead of him.
He studied his handiwork. "An improvement. You are finished, child. Now, go find that feather-headed mother of yours and do not leave her side. Understood?" He glowered. The girl fingered her new, smooth braid, and grinned.
"Yessir! Thank you, Mister!" She ran towards the shop where he mother was just emerging.
Snape suddenly felt someone staring at him. It was Professor Granger. He levelled a supercilious smirk at her. "I have been Head of Slytherin for over twenty years, Miss Granger. Do you not believe that I braided hair, and styled ponytails once or twice in all that time?"
~Jayne d'Arcy