Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling, and whoever else, owns Harry Potter and everything else that goes along with it.
Summary: Bertha Jorkins told a lie. Florence wasn't being kissed behind the greenhouse- she was doing the kissing. A take on why Bertha's spying bothered Dumbledore so much.
All Plants Need Sunlight
by: Mystical Dragon
Harry was gone, leaving Dumbledore alone with his Pensieve. The white-haired man stared at the silvery surface as a figure rose, once again, up from the depths of his memory shreds.
Would things have gone differently if Bertha had just minded her own business. Especially that day. And why had she been so intent on following Severus around? The boy had a bad reputation but many, at the time, had worse.
Dumbledore swirled the memories around with his wand until he found the right one and dove right into it. This memory wasn't his. It was Bertha's. He had stolen it so the girl wouldn't be able to spread any gossip around about what she had seen. Severus had more than enough to deal with and the girl involved hadn't needed it either.
Bertha was in the shadows of the Forbidden Forest, dangerous place which was why it was Forbidden (foolish students), and watching, out of ear-shot, as a young third-year student, on his hands and knees, stared at a small mushroom.
Dumbledore moved towards the boy. It was Severus, of course. Dumbledore almost smiled. Severus looked so young. His black hair was greasy, it never wasn't, and his robes were lose and rather worn. He had a battered leather notebook opened next to him and was making notes in it with his quill.
A movement caught Dumbledore's eye. A plump, plain, girl had poked her head around the corner of the greenhouse. She slowly emerged from around the corner, being careful not to make any noise, and looked everywhere. She even looked in the Forbidden Forest but there was no way she would be able to see Bertha. It was simply too dark where Bertha was. The gossip loving girl had chosen the perfect spot and Dumbledore doubted it was by accident.
Florence, Dumbledore didn't remember her last name, settled herself down across from Severus, the lone mushroom between them, and sat there- staring at him. She looked both amused and... infatuated. Her eyes swept over Severus, lingering with an understanding sadness on his hair, and all over him. It was quite obvious that the girl wasn't thinking exactly pure thoughts either. She blushed at one point and had to look away, a guilty look on her face.
Severus kept on with making notes in his notebook. Dumbledore felt like nudging the boy so he would notice the girl but Florence didn't seem to mind being ignored. She was certainly drinking in the view. Dumbledore had forgotten that feelings like that could happen so young. And it was almost unimaginable for someone to feel that way about Severus.
Severus jumped, finally noticing Florence, and made to scramble away.
"It's just me," Florence said, her voice reassuring and gentle.
She knew him and knew him well enough to understand him.
"Mudbloods," Severus breathed.
Florence laughed before Dumbledore could mentally chastise Severus for insulting his friend.
"You forgot the filthy," Florence said, wagging a finger at him.
Severus looked quite haughty as he stared down at Florence and folded his arms across his chest. "That goes without saying."
She laughed again. "You Slytherins are hilarious."
"We aren't supposed to be," Severus said, looking quite exasperated. "It's an insult, Flora."
Florence waved it away. "Rather be called a Mudblood than a Muggle-born any day."
"You're weird," Severus declared, loosening his arms and moving closer to his mushroom specimen.
"Thank you," Florence said, sounding proud of the fact. "I'm glad someone finally noticed."
Severus added another note to his notebook, shaking his head.
Dumbledore had never seen Severus so comfortable around another human being before. They looked rather cute together. Severus would, of course, kill him if he ever found out he had witnessed this memory.
It made Dumbledore's heart to ache to see Severus so content and relaxed. He had never seen him that way before. He should have looked at this memory before but he hadn't wanted to invade Severus's privacy.
"What is that?" Florence asked.
Severus smiled. It wasn't like the smiles Dumbledore had seen. This smile was real. It made the boy's entire face less ugly, less evil, and just more human.
"It's a Dark Fairy's Cap," Severus said excitedly. "It has many properties and..."
Severus was off and running on a long explanation and Florence paid close attention. At least Dumbledore thought she was until he realized she wasn't only listening. She was staring at Severus's lips.
In mid-sentence Florence lunged forward, grabbed Severus's head in her hands, kissed him full on the lips, and then jerked away to lurch to her feet.
"I liked kissing you," she declared, her face turning red, as she turned on her heel and ran away as fast as she could.
Severus sat there, dazed, for several minutes. A soft, gentle, expression spread across his face as he touched his lips.
"Mudblood Hufflepuffs," he murmured, his face slowly turning red.
Severus closed his notebook, held it to his chest, and fondly gazed at the mushroom before him.
Dumbledore yanked himself out of his Pensieve. He knew what happened next. There was no point in watching it. Bertha told Severus what she saw, he cursed her, and, as near as Dumbledore could tell, Florence and Severus never spoke to each other again.
Dumbledore had been trying, and failing, for years to help Severus but nothing he did seemed to matter. Severus was drowning in his own self-pity and Dumbledore's patience was wearing thin. Maybe Florence would have better luck. Dumbledore had never realized how friendly they had been. He knew there had been kissing involved from Bertha but that meant little. Boys and girls often kissed each other even when they didn't know each other that well. This had been different. They had been bantering with each other, comfortable around each other in ways boyfriends and girlfriends never were, and that kiss had come from friendship turned into something else.
Friends did often marry each other. It wasn't unheard of. He knew a couple who loved being married to their best friend. If Bertha had never spied on them would they have ended up married? Having a girlfriend might have kept Severus away from those other friends who ended up as Death Eaters and having a wife could have kept him from becoming a Death Eater himself.
Did Dumbledore ever dare contact Florence? Would Severus like her still or despise her? Would she like him or be disgusted with how he turned out? Was she already married?
Before Dumbledore's plan was put into place he was going to have to contact Florence. Severus would need someone to turn to and Florence was the only person on the planet that Severus might turn to and with Dumbledore out of the picture Severus would need someone to help him stay anchored to their side. There was no guarantee that Severus would turn to Florence but there was a tiny chance he would and that tiny chance would have to be enough.
"Why didn't you just stay away from him?" Dumbledore asked the girl that reappeared in his Pensieve.
Severus was lost to him but he might not be lost to Florence.