Disclaimer: this isn't really a Hogwarts fic – it's not even set in England
– but it does use JK Rowling's world and a few of her characters (mostly
just mentioned, but they are there), so I don't own what she created.
Author's Note: this story is a 'what if' story, based on 'what if…most of the events in "Once Upon A Time" never happened?'
You may want to read 'Once Upon A Time' before embarking on 'Wishful Thinking'.
In This Story: Morganna and Severus stopped talking to each other after he told her he was engaged. Yes, she got pregnant, only in this story Angelica is the result of a brief interlude between Sev and Morganna. She didn't tell him, because when she said 'I love you', he said 'I'm engaged.' He found out from Lily, who was there when Angelica was born. (Obviously the child not named Morag in this story) She had her seventh year at Beauxbatons, leaving England as soon as she possibly could. Known as Anna, she works at L&T (Leloupblanc and Tempscire) a law firm that is owned by a muggle and a muggle-born wizard. It caters for both muggles and the wizarding folk. Jacques Leloupblanc is the muggle-born wizard, a close friend of Anna's. She is his assistant, arranging his professional and personal life and running the day to day of the office with skill. She isn't a lawyer herself, but she's never called on for that, clearly. She's 24, Angelica is 8, Jacques is 30 and Severus is 25. Anna's parents (Cassandra and Maxwell) are still alive.
Summary (yeah, I did summarize a bit above, but this is handy too): Anna Montaque has been daydreaming about Severus Snape since she was 14. She hasn't seen him in eight years, but now he turns up at L&T at Headmaster Dumbledore's command, giving an interview for the L&T archives. Her life is turned upside down by wishful thinking that she has been trying so hard to bury.
~*~
Chapter One: Bittersweet Reunion
~*~
"Mama! Mama, Alexis is here!" it was Angelica. Alexis, damn the man, had been late. He was Angelica's tutor, and a very intelligent man, very capable.
If only he were on time!
"Thank god!" Anna cried. "I'm so late, Jacques was expecting that interviewee today – Alexis, damn it, where have you been?"
"I'm so sorry, Anna," he apologized, striding into the room. "My car broke down."
Alexis paused long enough to get a good look at his young employer. Anna Montaque was a sight for sore eyes, he candidly admitted to any that asked. She wore a soft pink suit – short little needle thin skirt, white blouse, jacket had been abandoned on the chair, white pantyhose and a pair of high heels that matched her suit – and it made her look 18. She flashed him a brief smile, and then headed out towards her car.
"Try to be on time, Alexis, you've made me dreadfully late!"
~*~
"I'm so sorry, Professor, she should be here any moment." Jacques apologized. "Anna's daughter's tutor has a habit of running late."
The young professor – who looked, in Jacques opinion, older than his years decreed – made no comment, and sat down in the chair Jacques had earlier indicated.
Anna came hurrying in. She would be taking down the professor's answers and Jacques's questions.
"God, Jacques, I am so sorry." She said, not noticing the professor. "Alexis was late again and I couldn't just leave Angelica there – oh, hello Severus…Severus?"
"You know Professor Snape, I believe, Anna." Jacques said smoothly. He'd been a close friend of hers during the summers she spent at home, and then when she'd come back to France, he'd been her closest friend. He knew what had happened in England, the myriad of reasons she refused to even speak Snape's name.
Snape gave no indication that he recognized her, and Anna noticed this. Jacques saw the bitterness in his pretty friend's eyes, and sat her down quickly.
"Anna, Professor, we'll get started, thank you."
Snape nodded distantly.
"Anna, you take this down, name, Professor Severus Snape." Jacques began. "Age?"
Before Snape could answer, Anna murmured, "25 as of February 8th."
Both men gave her startled looks. Jacques looked questioningly at Snape, who nodded.
"Correct, Anna. Write that down. Occupation?"
"Potions Master at Hogwarts."
"You always were good at Potions." Anna murmured, and Jacques had to struggle to hear – clearly Snape didn't, his eyes showed he heard her every word.
Jacques swept on as if she'd never spoken. "Marital status?"
"Unmarried."
"That's odd, I could have sworn you told me you were engaged." Anna muttered.
Snape looked oddly guilty, and Jacques tried not to look accusing. He'd had to deal with Anna's constant tears for weeks the summer after, had to listen as she poured out her heart. It hadn't been a bother, he'd been happy to, but he felt angry at whoever could make his smiling, bright, laughing friend into the teary-eyed wreak that she had been for months.
Jacques continued. "Personality?"
Anna resisted the urge to answer.
"Private person." Snape said curtly. "Are we nearly done?"
"We have several more questions, Professor Snape." Anna gave him her most professional look and the bright, feigned smile that she gave all the clients.
"Why are you in France, Professor?" Jacques asked.
"I am here to discuss exchange student opportunities with the Headmistress of Beauxbatons. The Headmaster would also like me to give you this interview for your archives, and I have been instructed to speak to Ms Montaque in regard to whether Miss Montaque will be going to Beauxbatons or Hogwarts."
Jacques nodded as Anna noted that down.
~*~
When finally the interview was over, Jacques smiled briefly at Snape. "You mentioned wishing to speak to Anna. She's free now, and not likely to be so again for some time. Carpe diem."
Anna froze.
She didn't want to talk to Severus, didn't want to look at him, and didn't want to be in the same room. All those years of wishful thinking had been to nothing – he had never contacted her, had never tried to even be her friend again.
He'd just…stopped.
But she nodded, and showed Severus to her small office where she typed up notes, and arranged Jacques's life – personal and professional. People got used to chatting to Anna, Jacques's little assistant.
"Make it quick, professor." She said, gesturing at a pile of documents. "I have work to do."
"I have been instructed—" Snape started, but she cut him off.
"To discuss whether or not Angelica is going to Hogwarts. We can make it very quick. She isn't. She will go to Beauxbatons, like her aunts and uncle, like all her cousins, like every other Montaque there is."
"You went to Hogwarts." He reminded her.
"I went because my aunt decided I should. My lawyers contacted you seven years ago, you waived parental rights, Severus. This conversation is over." Anna was as curt as he had been not too long before.
"I am not here to claim those rights – though it was a mistake to sign that document." Severus told her calmly.
"Seemed to me like the perfect thing to do. Wouldn't want your wife getting her knickers in a twist."
"I am not married."
"So you said. And yet you told me you had a fiancée." Anna observed coldly.
"Mama!"
The pair whirled when they heard the vibrant voice of Angelica Montaque.
~*~
"What are you doing here, Angel?" Anna recovered first.
Severus couldn't say a word. Angelica looked so much like her mother – the sparkling blue eyes, the easy smile, the friendly demeanor and the soft kindness in her every move.
But her hair was like her father's, long, thick, and dark. The intelligence behind her baby blues, the quick evaluation of the situation, that was from her father.
"Remember, you told me that you'd take me to lunch." Angelica said patiently. "Uncle Jacques told me not to bother you, but Uncle Jacques was in one of his moods again, so I ignored him."
"One of his moods?" Severus queried.
"Oh, Uncle Jacques sometimes gets upset or something and he goes all broodingly and sulky. Mama says it's because he feels too much and he's a sensitive person or something. Friend-y bond." Angelica sounded intelligent, Severus knew he hadn't underestimated her. "What were you talking about?"
"School, Angel." Anna told her. "The professor here thinks you should go to Hogwarts when you are 11."
Angelica wrinkled her nose. "Sylph said that Hogwarts is a stinky old school. I want to go to Beauxbatons like Aunt Luci. Aunt Luci said that Hogwarts was where you met your downfall. Aunt Lacci said it was match, not downfall. I think they're all crazy, nobody could make my mama fall down." Angelica told Severus importantly. "She's the strongest person in the whole world, and she never ever cries. She smiles all the time and she's really sweet and Uncle Jacques wouldn't mind being Papa Jacques – that's what Miss Cecelia said, Mama, don't shout at me – and she's really brave, mister professor person. Do you know my mama from when she was in England?"
Angelica certainly had her mother's talent for talk.
"Yes, I knew your mother. Quite well." Severus said carefully. "Your uncle would like to be your father?"
"No, silly. He likes my mama. He'd like for me to be able to call him 'papa'. But Mama won't ever love anyone except for my real papa – Aunt Lucia told me. You must be one of Mama's friends; I've seen you in pictures. Uncle Jonathan* says that you're a real prat."
Anna knelt, eye-level with Angelica. "Angel, darling, you go and wait with Jacqueline. I'll just finish talking to the professor, and then we'll be off to lunch."
"Is he going to come? Will we see him again?" Angelica asked curiously.
"No, on both counts. The professor is just passing through, he won't be visiting us again." Anna's expression dared Severus to argue. He chose not to, at least for now.
~*~
Severus, you are a bloody idiot he thought to himself, as he watched Anna walk away. Long beautiful legs, silky hair french plaited, then twisted into a bun at the back of her head – he could just imagine it spilling down her back. Blue eyes that you could get lost in, slender and willowy, vibrant young woman.
He remembered her; he had never, ever forgotten her.
And she hasn't forgotten me, either he thought wryly. The expression on her face made that fairly obvious
He saw her smiling at Angelica as the two of them walked down to her car – a baby-blue convertible. He knew her family had big money, and that she didn't really need this job. Cassandra Richesses-Montaque had made headlines in the Daily Prophet when she donated 4.2 million galleons to a wizarding hospital.
To add insult to injury, the next person he saw was Anna's sister, Lacrimosa Perrault. Married with twin girls Angelica's age, Lacrimosa was still the epitome of vicious.
"Any regrets, Professor Snape?" she taunted.
"None, Mrs. Perrault." Severus said. And, strangely enough, he found that he meant it. Almost. He did regret that he never caught Anna after he and Akira broke their engagement. So, one regret.
"Anna's got dozens of regrets. Top of the list is that she ever met you. Of course, you gave her Angelica, so she isn't too angry with you. And despite the eight-year-old daughter, she's still got plenty of handsome men beating a path to her door. Must be the combination of money and beauty, we all know she's a little lacking in the brains department. After all, she slept with __you__."
Severus ignored Lacrimosa as he walked out of the building, headed for the rental car that Dumbledore had put on Hogwarts expenses.
*In this story, Jonathan O'Connell and Anna are friends, and Jonathan is the one who wants to cause grievous bodily harm to Severus.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*
Author's Note: I've always wondered what Morganna would have done if she hadn't married Severus. So now I'm going to see what happens. They may just end up together anyhow. Or I'll torture Sevvy with love, and then have her marry Leloupblanc or something. If you're wondering where Gom is (those of you who've read my other stories might be), in this version, Gom is with Cassandra, because he's the only real connection to her oldest daughter (Gloria Anne) that she has left.
Author's Note: this story is a 'what if' story, based on 'what if…most of the events in "Once Upon A Time" never happened?'
You may want to read 'Once Upon A Time' before embarking on 'Wishful Thinking'.
In This Story: Morganna and Severus stopped talking to each other after he told her he was engaged. Yes, she got pregnant, only in this story Angelica is the result of a brief interlude between Sev and Morganna. She didn't tell him, because when she said 'I love you', he said 'I'm engaged.' He found out from Lily, who was there when Angelica was born. (Obviously the child not named Morag in this story) She had her seventh year at Beauxbatons, leaving England as soon as she possibly could. Known as Anna, she works at L&T (Leloupblanc and Tempscire) a law firm that is owned by a muggle and a muggle-born wizard. It caters for both muggles and the wizarding folk. Jacques Leloupblanc is the muggle-born wizard, a close friend of Anna's. She is his assistant, arranging his professional and personal life and running the day to day of the office with skill. She isn't a lawyer herself, but she's never called on for that, clearly. She's 24, Angelica is 8, Jacques is 30 and Severus is 25. Anna's parents (Cassandra and Maxwell) are still alive.
Summary (yeah, I did summarize a bit above, but this is handy too): Anna Montaque has been daydreaming about Severus Snape since she was 14. She hasn't seen him in eight years, but now he turns up at L&T at Headmaster Dumbledore's command, giving an interview for the L&T archives. Her life is turned upside down by wishful thinking that she has been trying so hard to bury.
~*~
Chapter One: Bittersweet Reunion
~*~
"Mama! Mama, Alexis is here!" it was Angelica. Alexis, damn the man, had been late. He was Angelica's tutor, and a very intelligent man, very capable.
If only he were on time!
"Thank god!" Anna cried. "I'm so late, Jacques was expecting that interviewee today – Alexis, damn it, where have you been?"
"I'm so sorry, Anna," he apologized, striding into the room. "My car broke down."
Alexis paused long enough to get a good look at his young employer. Anna Montaque was a sight for sore eyes, he candidly admitted to any that asked. She wore a soft pink suit – short little needle thin skirt, white blouse, jacket had been abandoned on the chair, white pantyhose and a pair of high heels that matched her suit – and it made her look 18. She flashed him a brief smile, and then headed out towards her car.
"Try to be on time, Alexis, you've made me dreadfully late!"
~*~
"I'm so sorry, Professor, she should be here any moment." Jacques apologized. "Anna's daughter's tutor has a habit of running late."
The young professor – who looked, in Jacques opinion, older than his years decreed – made no comment, and sat down in the chair Jacques had earlier indicated.
Anna came hurrying in. She would be taking down the professor's answers and Jacques's questions.
"God, Jacques, I am so sorry." She said, not noticing the professor. "Alexis was late again and I couldn't just leave Angelica there – oh, hello Severus…Severus?"
"You know Professor Snape, I believe, Anna." Jacques said smoothly. He'd been a close friend of hers during the summers she spent at home, and then when she'd come back to France, he'd been her closest friend. He knew what had happened in England, the myriad of reasons she refused to even speak Snape's name.
Snape gave no indication that he recognized her, and Anna noticed this. Jacques saw the bitterness in his pretty friend's eyes, and sat her down quickly.
"Anna, Professor, we'll get started, thank you."
Snape nodded distantly.
"Anna, you take this down, name, Professor Severus Snape." Jacques began. "Age?"
Before Snape could answer, Anna murmured, "25 as of February 8th."
Both men gave her startled looks. Jacques looked questioningly at Snape, who nodded.
"Correct, Anna. Write that down. Occupation?"
"Potions Master at Hogwarts."
"You always were good at Potions." Anna murmured, and Jacques had to struggle to hear – clearly Snape didn't, his eyes showed he heard her every word.
Jacques swept on as if she'd never spoken. "Marital status?"
"Unmarried."
"That's odd, I could have sworn you told me you were engaged." Anna muttered.
Snape looked oddly guilty, and Jacques tried not to look accusing. He'd had to deal with Anna's constant tears for weeks the summer after, had to listen as she poured out her heart. It hadn't been a bother, he'd been happy to, but he felt angry at whoever could make his smiling, bright, laughing friend into the teary-eyed wreak that she had been for months.
Jacques continued. "Personality?"
Anna resisted the urge to answer.
"Private person." Snape said curtly. "Are we nearly done?"
"We have several more questions, Professor Snape." Anna gave him her most professional look and the bright, feigned smile that she gave all the clients.
"Why are you in France, Professor?" Jacques asked.
"I am here to discuss exchange student opportunities with the Headmistress of Beauxbatons. The Headmaster would also like me to give you this interview for your archives, and I have been instructed to speak to Ms Montaque in regard to whether Miss Montaque will be going to Beauxbatons or Hogwarts."
Jacques nodded as Anna noted that down.
~*~
When finally the interview was over, Jacques smiled briefly at Snape. "You mentioned wishing to speak to Anna. She's free now, and not likely to be so again for some time. Carpe diem."
Anna froze.
She didn't want to talk to Severus, didn't want to look at him, and didn't want to be in the same room. All those years of wishful thinking had been to nothing – he had never contacted her, had never tried to even be her friend again.
He'd just…stopped.
But she nodded, and showed Severus to her small office where she typed up notes, and arranged Jacques's life – personal and professional. People got used to chatting to Anna, Jacques's little assistant.
"Make it quick, professor." She said, gesturing at a pile of documents. "I have work to do."
"I have been instructed—" Snape started, but she cut him off.
"To discuss whether or not Angelica is going to Hogwarts. We can make it very quick. She isn't. She will go to Beauxbatons, like her aunts and uncle, like all her cousins, like every other Montaque there is."
"You went to Hogwarts." He reminded her.
"I went because my aunt decided I should. My lawyers contacted you seven years ago, you waived parental rights, Severus. This conversation is over." Anna was as curt as he had been not too long before.
"I am not here to claim those rights – though it was a mistake to sign that document." Severus told her calmly.
"Seemed to me like the perfect thing to do. Wouldn't want your wife getting her knickers in a twist."
"I am not married."
"So you said. And yet you told me you had a fiancée." Anna observed coldly.
"Mama!"
The pair whirled when they heard the vibrant voice of Angelica Montaque.
~*~
"What are you doing here, Angel?" Anna recovered first.
Severus couldn't say a word. Angelica looked so much like her mother – the sparkling blue eyes, the easy smile, the friendly demeanor and the soft kindness in her every move.
But her hair was like her father's, long, thick, and dark. The intelligence behind her baby blues, the quick evaluation of the situation, that was from her father.
"Remember, you told me that you'd take me to lunch." Angelica said patiently. "Uncle Jacques told me not to bother you, but Uncle Jacques was in one of his moods again, so I ignored him."
"One of his moods?" Severus queried.
"Oh, Uncle Jacques sometimes gets upset or something and he goes all broodingly and sulky. Mama says it's because he feels too much and he's a sensitive person or something. Friend-y bond." Angelica sounded intelligent, Severus knew he hadn't underestimated her. "What were you talking about?"
"School, Angel." Anna told her. "The professor here thinks you should go to Hogwarts when you are 11."
Angelica wrinkled her nose. "Sylph said that Hogwarts is a stinky old school. I want to go to Beauxbatons like Aunt Luci. Aunt Luci said that Hogwarts was where you met your downfall. Aunt Lacci said it was match, not downfall. I think they're all crazy, nobody could make my mama fall down." Angelica told Severus importantly. "She's the strongest person in the whole world, and she never ever cries. She smiles all the time and she's really sweet and Uncle Jacques wouldn't mind being Papa Jacques – that's what Miss Cecelia said, Mama, don't shout at me – and she's really brave, mister professor person. Do you know my mama from when she was in England?"
Angelica certainly had her mother's talent for talk.
"Yes, I knew your mother. Quite well." Severus said carefully. "Your uncle would like to be your father?"
"No, silly. He likes my mama. He'd like for me to be able to call him 'papa'. But Mama won't ever love anyone except for my real papa – Aunt Lucia told me. You must be one of Mama's friends; I've seen you in pictures. Uncle Jonathan* says that you're a real prat."
Anna knelt, eye-level with Angelica. "Angel, darling, you go and wait with Jacqueline. I'll just finish talking to the professor, and then we'll be off to lunch."
"Is he going to come? Will we see him again?" Angelica asked curiously.
"No, on both counts. The professor is just passing through, he won't be visiting us again." Anna's expression dared Severus to argue. He chose not to, at least for now.
~*~
Severus, you are a bloody idiot he thought to himself, as he watched Anna walk away. Long beautiful legs, silky hair french plaited, then twisted into a bun at the back of her head – he could just imagine it spilling down her back. Blue eyes that you could get lost in, slender and willowy, vibrant young woman.
He remembered her; he had never, ever forgotten her.
And she hasn't forgotten me, either he thought wryly. The expression on her face made that fairly obvious
He saw her smiling at Angelica as the two of them walked down to her car – a baby-blue convertible. He knew her family had big money, and that she didn't really need this job. Cassandra Richesses-Montaque had made headlines in the Daily Prophet when she donated 4.2 million galleons to a wizarding hospital.
To add insult to injury, the next person he saw was Anna's sister, Lacrimosa Perrault. Married with twin girls Angelica's age, Lacrimosa was still the epitome of vicious.
"Any regrets, Professor Snape?" she taunted.
"None, Mrs. Perrault." Severus said. And, strangely enough, he found that he meant it. Almost. He did regret that he never caught Anna after he and Akira broke their engagement. So, one regret.
"Anna's got dozens of regrets. Top of the list is that she ever met you. Of course, you gave her Angelica, so she isn't too angry with you. And despite the eight-year-old daughter, she's still got plenty of handsome men beating a path to her door. Must be the combination of money and beauty, we all know she's a little lacking in the brains department. After all, she slept with __you__."
Severus ignored Lacrimosa as he walked out of the building, headed for the rental car that Dumbledore had put on Hogwarts expenses.
*In this story, Jonathan O'Connell and Anna are friends, and Jonathan is the one who wants to cause grievous bodily harm to Severus.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*
Author's Note: I've always wondered what Morganna would have done if she hadn't married Severus. So now I'm going to see what happens. They may just end up together anyhow. Or I'll torture Sevvy with love, and then have her marry Leloupblanc or something. If you're wondering where Gom is (those of you who've read my other stories might be), in this version, Gom is with Cassandra, because he's the only real connection to her oldest daughter (Gloria Anne) that she has left.