Two Sides of the Same Coin
Author's Notes: This is an AU crossover between The Devil Wears Prada and Harry Potter. The prompt I was given, by kayryn, was the result of her imagining Meryl Streep as a female Severus. My mind leapt to Miranda Priestly and Severus Snape being twins, particularly since she created a wonderful manipulation of a dark-haired Miranda in Snape's clothing.
Timeline: This story starts a few days before the second (and final) battle against Voldemort. I have disregarded parts of the final battle and the Epilogue from Harry Potter's seventh book/movie as well as many parts of the book/movie for The Devil Wears Prada. I believe this story will run about ten chapters. I have finished writing the prologue and three chapters…don't worry, though—this story will be finished!
Betas are awesome! Please spare a moment or three to give silent thanks and praise to some wonderful individuals— akasarahsmom (GinStan), shesgottaread, peetsden, and quiethearted for their support and kind words while I pulled out my hair and worried about writing this crossover. Let me know what you think of it if you are so inclined.
Disclaimers: I was going to write a really technical, legal version here about how I am not earning any money off of this story and am merely offering it for entertainment value, protected by the fair use doctrine (in a much more impressive format, of course); forget that—you all know. Plus, I'm a real piss-ant, so if you are the owner of the characters, books, movies—whatever—and want to sue me, go ahead and try. Bring it on. I have a law degree, and I'm not afraid to use it.
Oh yeah—I do not own Harry Potter, any of the characters associated with the books, movies, audiotapes, video games, theme park, knick-knacks, assorted sundry, or wands (except for the one I bought at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter this summer—oddly, it doesn't work). Same applies for The Devil Wears Prada.
Pairing: Miranda Priestly and Andrea Sachs; Minerva McGonagall and Hermione Granger
Rating: M/NC-17
One last thing! The first chapter has some emotional and physical abuse. It may be triggering. I did not write it gratuitously; it is essential to the story.
Prologue
May 1969
"Why are you defending him?" shouted the irate man, his hooked nose and towering presence scaring everyone in the room. He was so angry. He always was. Every day he left before the crack of dawn to work in the textile mill and returned, exhausted and sour, to eat and sleep long after the sun set.
"He's just a boy," she answered while swinging her arms out wide. "Please, Tobias. I made your favorite meal for you. Come sit down," she pleaded.
"You always say that! It is unnatural, the way he is. Look at him! He'll never be a real man! Sniveling in the corner," he said in disgust. "His sister is braver than he will ever be!"
Hearing this, Miriam rushed over to her brother and crouched next to him. "Get up! Sev, get up!" she whispered furiously, tugging on his arm. He was deadweight, his arm pulled tightly around his head to ward off any blows their father might deliver.
"You might as well call me unnatural, then," Miriam's mother sobbed. "You knew I was a witch; we talked about the possibility that our children might have these abilities..."
"You control it," he responded, a helpless look on his face. "Even Miriam does," he said waving a hand at her.
"It's hard to control as a child, Tobias. But he'll learn at Hogwarts."
His face morphed into anger. "It's not just that! The way he moons over that girl, Lily," he continued. "His head is full of silly dreams when he should be helping out here or at the mill with me. I break my back every day, and he is wasting space and money we could use." He strode over to them and pulled Miriam away. "You are worthless," he hissed at Severus before slapping him hard enough that he crashed into the wall behind him, his head banging against it loudly as their mother screamed.
"Stop! Stop!" her mother cried out, running to them and placing herself between Tobias and Severus. She gasped in pain as she became the recipient of the next blow.
"Father! Stop! STOP!" Miriam shouted as she stepped close to her mother and brother, holding her hands out in front of her body to ward off his attack. Her father pulled his lips back into a scary snarl. He raised his hand to hit her, but he was suddenly pushed back forcefully and thudded against the far wall before dropping to the floor like a sack of potatoes.
"What have you done, child?" her mother whispered in a horrified voice.
"I don't know," Miriam said as she looked at her hands in wonder. "He was going to hurt you and Sev," Miriam said in a shaking voice.
"Go to bed, both of you," her mother urged as she helped Severus rise from his crouched position. She touched his cheek lovingly before turning back to Miriam and hugging her briefly. "Thank you, darling, for protecting us. Now, go," she said. Miriam and Severus walked silently to their rooms.
"Thank you, Miri," Sev muttered before closing his bedroom door. She could hear the door's locking mechanism click as she turned to enter her room, and she locked her door, too. She would have to stay out of the way so that her father would not punish her.
Hearing movement in the corner of the room, Miriam quickly looked over and saw her father. He grew taller and darker, like a wraith or one of those Dementors Sev liked to talk about. He shouted obscenities and threats as Miriam backed up, her fingers searching for the doorknob so she could get away. But there was no doorway, no door, no wall close by. Hearing noise behind her, Miriam turned her head and saw her mother crying. The older woman kept mumbling, "I'm so disappointed in you, so disappointed," over and over as Miriam shook with fear and rage and shame.
End of April 1998
With a gasp Miranda woke up, perspiration making her nightwear stick to her uncomfortably. It was just a dream. Actually, most of it was a memory from her childhood. She hated thinking about it. Her mother always afraid, her father always abusive—they lived in squalor, wearing rags, while their diet consisted of stale bread and dirty water. It was rare to eat meat or vegetables or fruit.
She had wanted to leave that life as soon as she could, and she'd gotten a job working for a seamstress to save money. She'd begun working soon after the events in that dream. She would have left, too, had nearly saved the money she'd needed, when she'd received the letter that she'd been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Both she and Sev had gotten one. They were so happy to get away from there, but they felt guilty leaving their mother.
Sighing, Miranda rose. She wouldn't get back to sleep now. Such nightmares had plagued her more and more frequently. They worried her. She didn't usually have these types of dreams unless her brother was in trouble.
Severus Snape, who was currently the Headmaster of Hogwarts, was misunderstood and oft maligned for his role in the war against Voldemort. Everyone believed he was Voldemort's right-hand man, and from what Sev had shared, Voldemort treated him as his most trusted adviser. With Dumbledore's death, though, no one knew Sev's true role as a re-doubled agent, doing what he could to protect Harry Potter, the son of Lily Potter, while acting as if he were Voldemort's most loyal supporter.
Everything he did was out of love for this woman who had died nearly seventeen years ago, his childhood love, the one he carried a torch for since they met at the tender age of nine. A torch he still carried.
She pulled on a robe and quietly opened the door to her daughters' bedroom. Four-year-old twins, Caroline and Cassidy were the most important people in her world. She loved watching them communicate in the way only twins could, much like how she and Sev communicated. Even though they have not lived in the same country for twenty years, not since they graduated Hogwarts, Miranda and Severus still easily slipped into twin-speak whenever they were in contact.
Relieved to find they were still asleep, Miranda closed the door and made her way downstairs to eat breakfast. As she made some tea and toast, thoughts of her dream kept flashing before her eyes. She would have to contact Sev to see what was happening.
That would be extremely hard. Hogwarts did not have modern-day technology such as computers or telephones, and she did not have the magical means of communication used by the wizarding world such as floo-calling or owls. She wished she could just apparate to him, but intercontinental apparation was extremely dangerous since the distances between points were so large. Sending a letter through the postal service would take too long.
She would have to go to him.
The girls could stay with their father. He lived in Manhattan and would be able to take care of them for a few days. Normally when she traveled to her flat in London, she took them along, but she did not want them to miss pre-kindergarten school. They enjoyed the structure of it, and upsetting their schedule would cause unwanted repercussions. Nor did she want them anywhere near danger. And right now the UK was a dangerous place to be. Deatheaters were attacking innocent, non-wizarding folk, as well as anyone in the wizarding world who was not a Voldemort-supporter.
From her flat she could apparate to their childhood home at Spinner's End, Cokeworth. She shivered at the thought. She hated that place. Hated the memories attached to it. Nevertheless, she would be able to reach Sev from there. The floo network was connected to Hogwarts. At least it used to be. If not, she would send an owl.
Decision made, Miranda got ready for her day at Runway. She had much to accomplish before disappearing for the rest of the week. But she would do this for Sev, just as she always tried to rush to his aid. She was, after all, his older sister by three minutes. She would always attempt to protect him, even knowing he was no longer the powerless little boy he once was during their childhood.