AN: This story will eventually be Luna/Snape, though there's a lot of friendship before that. Still, if you dislike this pairing, I suggest you find another story to read. This fanfic will be a little over 50 000 words long when it's complete - the first chapter is the shortest. I am very pleased with the way this turned out, and I hope you will enjoy it as well.

Chapter one

Snape watched as the first students entered the Great Hall. They were sneezing and dripping water all over the floor. A look at the ceiling confirmed what he already knew: there was a storm going on outside. The large House tables slowly began to fill up with wet students, and Snape observed them as they sat down. Most of them looked worn and pale. As a matter of fact, the only students that still looked like they had anything to be happy about were his Slytherins.

He wasn't too happy about that.

Snape's eyes roved over the Gryffindor table. As he had hoped – and expected – there was no sign of the Golden Trio. Not that that meant much: if they'd truly been stupid enough to try and get on the Hogwarts Express, they'd have been captured long before they even laid eyes on the school. He could only hope that Dumbledore had trained his lap dogs better than that.

With some interest he noted that the Weasley girl and Longbottom had returned to the school. The both of them were looking decidedly gloomier than the other students. However, if the Weasley girl and Longbottom were here, that had to mean the last of the menaces was present as well. His gaze swept over the Ravenclaw table – and, indeed, there was Lovegood, looking as unperturbed as ever.

After five years of teaching her, the girl still was a mystery to him. She appeared to have permanently settled in some other world beyond anyone's imagination, and no matter what comments people threw at her, they just slid off her as though there was some invisible barrier around her. It should make sense, then, that Lovegood looked happy even though there was nothing to be happy about. He noted with some distaste that the girl was still wearing her radish earrings – didn't she know that the Death Eaters in the school would pick on her for such a thing at the first opportunity?

His eyes moved from the Lovegood girl to the Death Eaters sitting a few spots away. Snape noted that there had carefully been left two empty chairs around them – it seemed that none of the teachers had wished to sit next to them.

Nor had anyone sat down next to him, for that matter.

Alecto's beady eyes were eagerly observing the students, and her fists were unconsciously clenching and unclenching. She was, no doubt, thinking of all the horrible things that she would be inflicting onto the students this year. Next to her, Amycus was looking a little less fearsome – but that was only because he was too stupid to seem truly dangerous. How he was ever supposed to keep the students safe with those two around he couldn't possibly fathom.

Just then there was some commotion outside the Hall, and the entrance doors swung open, admitting a stream of nervous first-years. Fewer, Snape observed, than there had been last year. Obviously, the news that he was to be the school's new Headmaster had made some parents refrain from sending their children to Hogwarts. Snape could only agree with their sentiments.

He watched as the first-years took place beneath the Sorting Hat one by one, and were each sorted into their respective houses. As always, there were cheers from whatever table the new student joined, but they were noticeably less loud than usual. Only at the Slytherin table were the cheers as loud as ever.

When the last student had been Sorted, the time came for his speech. However, Snape was hardly looking forward to that particular part of the evening. Seeking to prolong the time until he was forced to stand up and speak, he once more let his eyes go over the students he most expected to cause trouble. Longbottom and Weasley were already looking about as rebellious as he had ever seen them, and it seemed foolish to hope that they would keep their heads down and do as they were told this year. They were not the only Gryffindors who looked murderous – most of what had once been Dumbledore's Army was with them. The Hufflepuff table looked rather upset, too, but not as rebellious as the Gryffindors. Most of the Hufflepuffs, at least, would have the sense to remain unnoticed. As would many Ravenclaws.

His eyes reached the Lovegood girl, only to find that she was already looking at him. For a moment or two, their gazes locked. Then the girl gave a tiny smile and went back to their food. Had Snape been anything less disciplined, he might have looked surprised. As it were, he sighed almost inaudibly and stood up for his speech.

As it turned out, he had been right about the Gryffindors. The silly children just could not seem to grasp the fact that to leave the warmth of their beds was to leave what scarce protection the castle could still offer them. Despite the many vigils of the Carrows, the students kept sneaking out in the middle of the night to wreak havoc. As such, it happened quite often that one of his students found themselves receiving a severe punishment. And 'severe' in this case did not mean writing lines for the next three months – no, it meant having the Imperius curse practiced on you, or even the Cruciatus curse. And yet, despite these horrendous punishments, the students would not give up their resistance. Though he tried to assign as many of the punishments himself as he could, he could not avoid the occasional student ending up at the Carrows' mercy.

It seemed foolish that the little rebels still hadn't given up their practices. The only reason the Carrows' punishments had been bearable to him was that he'd thought one punishment would be enough to teach any student a lesson. Unfortunately, he had been wrong. No matter how many times they were beaten up, no matter what the Carrows made them do – the children just would not back down. And then to think that the only reason they were suffering these punishments was because they'd occasionally painted something on the walls, or had shouted at the Carrows in class.

Tonight, however, it seemed the students had finally grasped the danger of roaming about the school.

Snape was almost at the end of his patrol, and so far he hadn't encountered a single student. Not a single daring Gryffindor first-year. Not one righteous Hufflepuff. Perhaps, then, he would not be forced to hand over another student to the relentless Carrows tonight …

His hopes were bored into the ground the moment he rounded the corner. There, looking as serene as ever, was Luna Lovegood. A paintbrush was held loosely in her hand, red paint still dripping from its tip. On the wall, the wet paint shimmering in the candlelight, stood: 'Dumbledore's Army, Still Recruiting'. Of all the foolish things –

'Miss Lovegood!' he snapped, startling the girl from her activities. She turned to face him, the hand with the paintbrush lowering. The paint was now dripping onto the stone floor of the hall.

'Oh, hello, Headmaster. How are you tonight?'

For several seconds he attempted to find an appropriate answer to that question, then he finally settled on ignoring it completely. He waved toward the paint on the wall. 'Miss Lovegood, what in the name of Merlin is that supposed to mean?'

'It's called graffiti, sir,' she said, seriously. She passed the paintbrush from one hand into the other, and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, leaving behind a smear of paint.

'I know what it's called, Miss Lovegood.'

She beamed at him. 'I wasn't implying that you didn't, but since you asked …'

That girl never did cease to astonish him. In a bad way. To be honest, he was irked that he'd caught a Ravenclaw rather than a Gryffindor or a Hufflepuff. He had thought that those of the House of the wise Rowena Ravenclaw would be smart enough not to wander about at night at the present conditions.

'Being out of bed after hours is a punishable offense, Miss Lovegood.'

'Of course.'

The red smudge on her cheek was proving to be incredibly distracting, and he had to quell the urge to wipe it away.

'I will need to punish you,' he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. He could feel another headache building.

'All right.'

'"All right"? Miss Lovegood, this is anything but "all right". I could take you to the Carrows right now and see to it that you are properly reproached.'

'But you won't, sir.'

He stared at her happy face, the twinkling eyes, the radish earrings that even the Carrows hadn't yet managed to make her take off, and wondered how in Circe's name she'd ended up here.

'Miss Lovegood, have you forgotten that I am a Death Eater? You are hardly in a position to judge what I will or will not do. You will be quiet and show me the respect I deserve.'

Lovegood's bulging eyes widened slightly in surprise. 'Oh! I do apologize, sir. I didn't realise I was being disrespectful. Must be the influence of the Wrackspurts – I thought my brain seemed rather fuzzy.'

He wondered briefly what a Wrackspurt was, then decided that he was probably better off not knowing.

'You will return to your bed now, Miss Lovegood. And you will be reporting to Filch for detention tomorrow evening.' The smile she gave him was blinding, and the pounding in his head instantly increased. 'Now get out of my sight, before I decide to take more serious measures.'

The smile didn't disappear from her face as she picked up her bucket of paint and walked away from him. He stared down at the red spots on the floor and wondered why she hadn't simply used her wand.

In the next few days, he found that the Lovegood girl was occupying a rather larger part of his thoughts than he would have liked. For some reason, he now noticed her everywhere. No matter where he went, she'd be there, sitting in some window sill reading a book, or otherwise gazing dreamily outside.

If he had stopped to think about it, he would have realised that the reason for her persistent presence in his head was that she, quite simply, was a spot of colour in an otherwise bleak day. As all around her the faces grew paler and the expressions grimmer, Lovegood simply looked more radiant. No matter what punishments were inflicted upon her, she continued to smile. And not just smile – she actually smiled at him. At first he was certain it was a mistake – surely Lovegood had no reason to smile at him? However, as the days passed and he kept having chance encounters with the girl, he became more and more convinced that she was smiling at him.

The only question was: why? What motivation could she possibly have to smile at a Death Eater, and the murderer of the students' beloved Dumbledore to boot?

And as he looked at her friendly face now, he could still not understand.

'I will ask you for the last time: why have you broken into my office and why did you try to steal that sword?' he barked at the three in front of him. 'Why is it so important to you?'

No answer was coming. Longbottom was staring at a spot somewhere above Snape's shoulder, and though he was pale, he did not appear as afraid as he would normally have done in a similar situation. The Weasley girl, unlike Longbottom, was not avoiding his eyes. Rather, she was staring at him with such intensity and ferociousness that he was tempted to believe she intended to burn him with her very eyes. Lovegood met his eyes as well, though there was no hate or anger to be found in her expression. Why, he could not fathom.

'I honestly do not know what you hope to gain by these foolish actions,' he snapped, circling around the trio. 'Surely by now you will have realized that all they earn you are detentions?' He could not imagine how those dunderheads had still not grasped the simple fact that resistance was useless. Countless times he had tried to impress upon them that the only possible outcome of these actions was disaster, but the students seemed to be about as receptive as a stone wall.

Weasley, Longbottom and Lovegood kept quiet. Longbottom had turned a shade paler.

'Very well, in that case I shall have to assign you detention.' He swept around his desk and sat down, pulling a piece of parchment toward him and scribbling a short message on it. He then sealed it and handed it to Longbottom. 'You will have detention with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest tonight at eleven. Give this to him, and see to it that you arrive on time. I need not say that the consequences of showing up late will be severe.'

The three turned to leave. Longbottom nearly dropped the piece of parchment in his haste, and the Weasley girl was already by the door before he had finished speaking.

'Miss Lovegood,' he said, just as Weasley pulled open the door. 'If you would please stay a moment.'

Weasley and Longbottom exchanged alarmed looks. Lovegood, however, appeared completely unfazed and went to sit down on one of the chairs in front of his desk. Weasley and Longbottom still hadn't left.

'Longbottom, Miss Weasley, I do not believe I invited you.'

'You don't honestly expect us to –' the redhead began.

'Ginny, really, it's all right,' Lovegood interrupted, still smiling brilliantly. 'I will see you in a bit.'

Weasley cast him another dark look, then disappeared through the door along with Longbottom. Snape turned his attention back to the girl in front of him. Lovegood was still looking as serene as she always did.

'Miss Lovegood?'

'Yes, Headmaster?'

He scowled. It appeared as though it was nearly impossible to frustrate Lovegood. 'Why did the three of you attempt to steal Gryffindor's sword?' Snape had assumed that he would have better results questioning just Lovegood than questioning all of them, and he was not disappointed.

Lovegood looked surprised. 'Why, I thought that would have been clear. We were simply trying to boost the students' morale a bit, and what boosts morale better than a heirloom of Godric Gryffindor?'

It sounded fair enough. Still, it seemed slightly suspicious that out of all the things those three could have chosen to do, they ended up going for the sword – the one thing in his office that he actually cared to keep.

'Is that all, Miss Lovegood?' he prompted, his tone as icy as he could make it.

Lovegood nodded. 'It actually was my idea,' she added, smiling. Snape merely stared. 'You see,' she continued, 'I knew it would be all right, because you would never harm us. I said that to Neville and Ginny too, but I'm not sure they believed me.' She looked a bit sad at this.

'What do you mean: "you would never harm us"?' He asked sharply. 'Certainly you are not as daft as you look, Miss Lovegood? Use those brains you are rumoured to have, and perhaps then you would realise that what you are saying is utter nonsense.'

Lovegood regarded him expressionlessly. 'That is not a very nice thing to say to somebody.'

'What?' he snapped. 'What are you rambling about, Miss Lovegood?'

'I get told often enough that I'm daft, but that doesn't mean I enjoy it,' she stated calmly. 'So I would really prefer it if you could refrain from calling me that.'

Snape gazed at her mutely. The girl was actually reproaching a known Death Eater and murderer for addressing her as 'daft'. He did not think the situation could get much more complicated.

'Miss Lovegood, I do not think you realize who I am –'

'Oh, I know who you are,' she said, leaning forward. The radish earrings swayed dangerously.

'Do not presume to know me!' he barked, quickly losing his patience.

Lovegood looked offended. 'Really, you might want to work on your social skills. You've got about as much charisma as a frigsplat.'

'Miss Lovegood, I do not know nor care what a frigsplat is. The only thing I desire to hear from you is how you possibly got it into your head that you are safe here.'

'I didn't say I thought I was safe here. I just said that you would never harm us,' she corrected him, fingering the ridiculous butterbeer cork necklace. 'After all, you're on our side.'

This conversation was getting more dangerous by the minute. 'I do not know what you are talking about, Miss Lovegood – I am not on your side at all.'

'But you are!' she exclaimed, smiling. 'It's clear as day. All these punishments you've been handing out aren't really punishments at all. And I've only ever seen you look at the Carrows with distaste – but then I suppose that is logical. How anyone could like them is beyond me.'

'Miss Lovegood …'

'And of course, Dumbledore trusted you, which counts for something, I suppose.'

'I murdered Dumbledore, Miss Lovegood! You would do well to remember that. I will not hesitate to hurt you should the situation demand it.'

Lovegood gave him another one of those sad smiles. 'I think we both know that's not true, sir.'

'Leave, Miss Lovegood. And do not forget your detention tonight, or you will be in serious trouble.'

Lovegood looked as though she was about to say something, but Snape merely averted his eyes and began arranging the parchments on his desk. He did not look up again until he heard the door close.

This was going to be a rather serious problem.

He spent the next few days observing everyone around him, and the Carrows with special care. If the Lovegood girl had found out his true allegiance, then who was to say no one else had? He had mentally berated himself over and over – it was a miracle he had survived this long when even the merest slip of a girl could see right through his disguise. He spent long evenings pacing through his office, going over all of his actions, every conversation he'd had. He observed his fellow teachers for any change in attitude that might suggest they knew his secret.

At long last, he was forced to conclude that, incredibly, Lovegood was the only one who had found him out. And yet, the ease with which she had explained how she had known he was on the right side, the simple clues that she had named – they frightened him. He would have to watch himself, become even more careful, if he desired to survive.

'Severus?'

He sighed, and slowly turned toward the wall on which Dumbledore's portrait hung. The old man was regarding him calmly from inside his frame.

'What is it?'

The painted Dumbledore sat up a little straighter. 'You've been looking rather tense, lately, my boy. Is something the matter?'

'You know perfectly well what the matter is,' replied Snape, turning his back on the painting and resuming his pacing.

'Truly, Severus, is it so hard to believe that Miss Lovegood may just have more insight than other people?'

'Actually, it is,' he snapped. 'But that is not what really matters. What matters is that if she can figure it out, anyone can.'

'I do not think so.'

Snape whirled around to face the portrait. Dumbledore was looking back at him quite calmly. 'Do you not? Then what, pray tell, do you think?'

'I think that most people are simply too blinded by hatred to see your true allegiance,' mused Dumbledore. 'They see what they want to see. Miss Lovegood is different in that aspect. Less … tended to see what she is expected to see.'

'Well, I am glad it is all solved then,' he said sarcastically, turning his back on the portrait once more.

'Severus …'

Snape elected to exit the office rather than face the portrait.

Ever since Lovegood's startling claim that she knew his true allegiance, he seemed to be seeing her everywhere. She always ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at the precise time that he did (that is, if he showed up at all), she had mastered the art of unexpectedly showing up on the floor that he was on too, and she was to be found near the entrance to his office way too often.

He would never admit that he was seeking her out.

Lovegood, with her insane mannerisms and strange outings, was an only too welcome distraction from the hardships of his work as a spy. Her oddness was strangely soothing, and there seemed to be a permanent aura of calmness about her. The fact that someone could worry about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and Blibbering Humdingers while the Dark Lord was on the loose was rather a pleasant change.

Snape had even managed to procure several editions of The Quibbler, the out-of-this-world magazine that Lovegood's father owned. As he had expected, it was full of imaginary creatures and impossible conspiracies. Plotting to bring the Ministry down from within using a combination of Dark magic and gum disease? It was immediately clear from whence Lovegood's peculiar beliefs originated.

Nevertheless, they were … interesting.