Title: In Her Image
Author: Pretend Mulling
Rating: T (mostly language)
Characters: Severus Snape, Chase Carter (OC), Rowen Snape (OC), various canon regulars.
Disclaimer: The vast majority of the characters appearing in this story belong to J. K. Rowling. Shame; if they didn't, I might be able to pay my way through college.
Summary: Severus Snape doesn't like or want children. It's his bad luck, then, that he's just been handed custody of his niece. AU, takes place in vignettes from 1983 to 1994.
Chapter One: Changes
1983
Severus Snape sat in a shabby old armchair across from his niece, Chase. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and she wore a defiant look that never sat well with him. They sat, judging each other for a moment, before he finally spoke.
"Do you know where she went?"
Chase shook her head. "She just went. What am I spozed to call you, anyway?"
"Severus." He kept studying her, his lip curling. "How long is it since you had bath?"
"I dunno. And I don't want one, either," she added, putting extra emphasis on 'don't'.
"Oh, well, that's too bad," he said, smirking. "See, I'm not sure how my sister went about this, but in my house I get the final say, and I say you're getting a bath."
Chase pouted. "She didn't do nothing wrong," she muttered.
"She didn't do anything wrong," he corrected her. "And, if you'll excuse me for saying so, leaving you alone in that godforsaken flat strikes me as wrong." He stood. "Come with me."
"I'm not takin' any baths!"
"Yes, so I've heard." Severus could feel a headache forming. He wasn't good with children, especially ones as young as Chase. He started up the stairs; a moment later Chase scrambled up after him, not wanting to be alone.
How am I going to convince her to take a bath? He looked at her again, his lip curling involuntarily. His own hygiene could be questionable at times, but Chase was filthy. Her hair was matted and tangled, her clothes sticking to her small frame, her face more than just smudged and dirty. He turned into the bedroom, looking through the small suitcase Chase's case-worker had packed with enough clothes for a week (all of the outfits included the same vomit-inducing shade of pink) and pulling out a pair of pajamas. Then he headed to the bathroom across the hall.
"No!" Chase hovered at the door. "I tolja I'm not!"
He looked up, prepared to force her, when an idea struck him. "Do you have any clothes besides those in the suitcase?" This should work…
"Wha-? At home. Why?"
The window opened slightly. "You take this bath and let me wash the ones you're wearing, and I'll take you out tomorrow to get more clothes."
She looked interested. "I get to pick 'em?"
"Within reason."
She hesitated a moment longer, then nodded. "All right. I don't want you watchin'," she warned.
"I wasn't planning on it," he said, turning on the faucets and letting them run until the tub was half-full. He left, trusting that Chase knew how to wash herself. Possibly. She can't even speak properly, he thought, and she'll start school in September!
School. Merlin's beard, that was going to be troublesome. Severus re-settled himself into the armchair and stared blankly into the fireplace. He taught at Hogwarts from September to mid-June. Who knew what had led Rowen to leave now, in the middle of July? More importantly, what kind of parent left their child without a warning, without even contacting family? The only reason Chase had been found was one of the Muggles noticing that no one had been in or out of the flat for days. Good thing for Chase that Severus was on his summer holiday; any other time of the year and she'd have been sent to an orphanage.
Severus had always thought his sister something of an idiot. Brains and beauty were, apparently, mutually exclusive in his family, and if Severus couldn't give Rowen anything else, he'd admit that she was easy on the eyes. She'd become pregnant at fifteen and dropped out of Hogwarts to have Chase, completing her OWLs from home but not returning for her NEWTs. The summer following his sixth year, Severus had moved into a cheap flat in Hogsmeade and joined up with the Death Eaters, so he'd barely seen his niece until… Well, today marked the first time he'd spent more than an hour with her since she was born, when Slughorn had granted him a day off to visit with her.
"This better?" The sound of Chase's voice brought Severus out of his ruminations, and he looked up at her. The pajamas, despite being a lurid shade of pink that even Chase seemed to hate, fit her well enough, which, considering that she was so small and skinny, was a feat.
"Much better," he said. It was true: Chase's hair was still damp and tangled, but the layer of grime was gone; without it, she was revealed to be a very pretty little girl; obviously she took after her mother. He pointed his wand at her hair, which dried instantly, falling down her back in a straight, thick, jet-black curtain. "Are you hungry?"
They ate supper, just a bit of Salisbury steak and potatoes, and Severus found himself appalled at Chase's lack of table manners. I've got my work cut out for me, he thought as she shoveled the potatoes in her mouth. "Slow down before you choke," he said. Chase ignored him. She probably hasn't eaten in a few days, he reminded himself. It was still hard to sit across from her.
"When do you usually go to bed?" He asked later, scooting to the side as Chase curled up next to him on the couch.
"Whenever," she shrugged.
He looked at the clock. It was nearing eight-thirty. "Starting today, you're to be in bed no later than nine o'clock. Got it?"
Chase looked as though he'd asked her to swallow frog spawn. "What if I ain't tired?"
"I don't care if you're not tired," Severus said, standing. "You'll do as I say."
"I ain't gotta listen to you," Chase growled, her blue eyes blazing, but she shrank away from him as though afraid he might hit her. "You ain't my mother."
"I may not be your mother, but yes, you do have to listen to me. That's why the woman from the Council brought you to me."
"Old bat. I don't like her, Severus."
"Yes, I heard you tell her that to her face. Do you have any manners at all?"
"I got some," she snapped, standing on the couch with her tiny fists cocked.
Cute, Severus thought with a sneer. "Prove it. Do as I tell you and get to bed. And don't stand on my furniture."
"No!" Chase shrieked.
Severus had reached his limit. He swooped down on her, grabbing her by the waist, and carried her upstairs, ignoring her continued protests and fists pounding his ribcage. With no small effort he shoved her into the bedroom and shut the door as she began howling. As he headed back down the stairs, he cast a Silencing Charm on the room; Chase could throw her tantrum until she ran out of steam, and neither he nor the Muggles would hear her.
He sat down at the kitchen table, rubbing his forehead as the headache worsened. For a brief second, as he'd shoved her into the room, he'd felt like hitting her. Maybe I should have… As tempting as the thought was, several more pushed it out: The memory of himself at six years old, cowering in a corner as Tobias swung at him. The long nights he'd spent in too much pain to sleep after his father was through and had gone downstairs to drink himself unconscious; the mornings after, carefully picking out the best clothes to cover his bruises. No, he thought with a sigh. He couldn't put Chase through that. He wouldn't, no matter how far she pushed him. But good God in heaven, she was going to make it difficult.
XXX
The next five days were as much an uphill battle as the first. Chase had never had any sort of set schedule to her life, and Severus lived by his schedule. That was just the beginning of their differences. She also had what Severus considered disturbingly little control over her magic, which she would lose along with her temper. And there were the tantrums to contend with, as well. Within a day Severus discovered that Chase was used to getting whatever she wanted as soon as she asked for it, and had rarely (if ever) heard the word "no". He wasn't used to having his will bent by anyone, especially a spoiled child, something she'd have to learn. But Chase was as stubborn as he was, and nearly all of their interactions ended with a loss of temper on his end and tears on hers.
This is why I never wanted children, he thought as he shut Chase in her bedroom for the third time one particularly bad day, ignoring her shouts and casting the Silencing Charm again. But at the same time, he knew he wouldn't give up on her. She needed a firm hand, and who better for that job than him, Severus Snape, the most feared professor at Hogwarts?
So why is she handing me my arse on a daily basis?
"You must be patient with her," Dumbledore said the following Saturday. He, Chase, and Severus were in his office; just a few minutes previously, Severus had dropped in the chair like a shot-put, utterly exhausted from the last week. Chase, clad in a sensible black sweater and pair of jeans (Severus would admit that Chase conducted herself well in public; at home was another story entirely), hid behind the chair, occasionally sneaking glances at Dumbledore. "You've both had a major upheaval; the adjustments won't happen overnight." He reached into one of the drawers in his desk and pulled out a bag of lemon drops. "Would you like one, Chase?" he asked, holding out the bag to her.
Timidly, Chase approached the bag and pulled out a yellow candy. As she started to walk away, Severus cleared his throat.
"What?" Chase turned to him, eyebrows raised. "Oh!" She turned back to Dumbledore. "Thank you, sir." Then she returned to her hiding place behind the chair and began sucking on the candy.
"You are most welcome. Now," he turned back to Severus. "Chase cannot live in your quarters with you. For one, the castle just isn't equipped for such living arrangements. For another, she needs to be with children her own age. It would be much easier, for her and yourself, if you went back to your house at the end of her school day."
"I beg to differ." Severus leaned towards Dumbledore. "I have no desire to put her in a Muggle school, now or in the future. She has little control over her magic as it is, and I fear that placing her in the middle of a group of Muggles would cause her to lose it completely." Especially if they hate her as much as they hated me, he thought, looking sideways at Chase. Whatever his bitter feelings toward her, he didn't want her to suffer the way he'd had to.
Dumbledore seemed to hear this. "She can't control what the other children think, and neither can you. It is an unfortunate truth that she will be misunderstood by Muggles for the rest of her life, but it is pointless to hide her from them. She will have to live in both worlds, as do you. Besides, I believe there are laws about children attending school?"
Severus considered this. "They can be worked around."
"I would prefer you didn't."
"Perhaps you're right," Severus conceded, rubbing his forehead. "And it's not like the Muggles wouldn't notice. She has a 'case-worker', a Muggle woman who keeps tabs on her." At Dumbledore's confused expression, Severus explained. "Apparently, whenever the Muggle law enforcement is called due to the well-being of a child, as in cases of abandonment, they are assigned this 'case-worker' who checks in on the relatives, making sure the children are being properly cared for and offering services. Therapy and the like."
"Chase could benefit from a bit of help."
Severus shook his head. "The case-worker is uneasy around us. Chase has already told the poor woman to her face that she doesn't like her."
"Well, I don't," Chase piped up from behind the chair. "She's nosy, and we ain't supposed to tell her I'm a witch an' you're a wizard."
"I'm sorry," Severus growled, turning around to face her. "But did anyone ask you?"
"Severus!" Dumbledore's look was enough to quell his anger, but Chase was on the verge of tears. "Come here, Chase," Dumbledore said gently. "You've done nothing wrong."
"She must learn when to hold her tongue!" Severus did not like having his authority challenged, especially in front of the brat he was charged with raising.
"And she will," Dumbledore said, offering Chase another lemon drop. "But not right away. Patience, Severus, is the key. You must be patient with her." He smiled dryly. "Save the sarcasm for your students."
Severus sat, simmering, but realized on a level he would never admit to reaching that the old man was right. Chase was just a little girl, after all; she had the rest of her formative years to learn and perfect her manners. And he… Severus realized, with a guilty jolt, that he was acting just like his father.
"Perhaps you should go," Dumbledore said, rising.
Severus nodded, standing and beckoning to Chase. After a moment's hesitation, she hurried to his side and grabbed his hand.
"Don't think that you must do this alone," Dumbledore said at the main entrance. "If this case-worker offers you assistance, take it. After all, it takes a village to raise a child."
