Disclaimer: Anyone you recognise does not belong to me, but to JK Rowling and Mercedes Lackey.
Note: This is my first fanfic, please do not judge too harshly. (No flames please.)
"I cannot believe this. Is he totally blind to the boy's baser nature? This task would not be half as hard if the boy was not so like his father!" The words became clearer and clearer as I got nearer, until the last word, which was so full of venom that it seemed to poison the very air around it.
"SIT DOWN, SEVERUS!" The tone of command was such that I actually did, even though it was not directed at me. I knew there was something that didn't quite fit about that voice, apart from the fact that a light, young, female voice should not be misused in such a way and then it hit me: it didn't fit because I didn't recognise it. In all my time at Hogwarts, I am definitely sure, I had never heard that voice before. At that point I realised I couldn't get up again. It was as if a giant hand was holding me down.
"Are you calmer now? … I could say any number of things of the "don't judge a book by its cover" or "l'habit ne fait pas le moine" kind but instead … Have I told you about the world where there are Knight-Mages? Well, in that world magic as an entity is more conscious than here and can take an active role in things. The evil ruby-red-skinned and horned demons sometimes mate with humans. On one such occasion the human witch asked the magic, which she had always used for good, for help. The magic gave her a choice: her child could have the outward appearance of a demon but her mother's soul or a human appearance and a demon's penchant for evil. The mother, of course, chose the human heart."
"Is this supposed to make me feel better?"
"Yes. Let me finish. In France, a couple of centuries ago, people were slightly squeamish about naming parts of the body, so instead of "les dents" you would have "les commodités de la conversation" and "les yeux" were "les miroirs de l'âme". Now your charge may mostly look like his father and have inherited some unseemly traits such as impertinence and disregard for rules, but if the eyes, Lily's eyes, reflect the soul, the more important, if not always the more noticeable, part of our being, then he also possesses Lily's quiet strength, intense loyalty, inner courage, unconditional kindness and, above all, her ability to find good in everyone, even, and perhaps especially, when they themselves cannot. He is a mixture of both his parents, the good and the bad. At the risk of sounding clichéd: it takes two to tango…. The most important thing for you to remember is that he is NOT James. Only a small, superficial part of him corresponds to James. For mankind it's not a case of 1+1=2 but 1+1=3,66666666666666…" There was an awkward silence. "And anyway, you're not going to let an 11 year old get to you, are you?"
Suddenly I noticed that I was no longer being held to the floor and took to my heels. The conversation between Snape and the young woman had obviously been meant to be private, so I thought it safer not to linger. I probably should not even be writing this down (Snape would certainly murder me if he found out) but I have a feeling it needs to be written down to become and stay real. So there it is: what happened to me as I walked by.