A.N:

- I'm back! It's back! Oh I so hope you like it and can handle the more than likely two day breaks between updates. I'll do my best to update every day but with the new baby it'll be a tough-ie.

- I hope you all keep reviewing as often as you did with the previous two parts and keep me inspired not to give up...Come What May will be finished as and when I can for those interested, but this story just had a bigger demand :D

Chapter One: Professional Boundaries

"Come in!" Severus snapped; his current temperament more than reflected in his harsh tone of voice, as it ricocheted up from the base of his throat, which was already sore from bellowing at a number of first years earlier that morning.

"Fa-"

"Don't!" Severus snapped before the blonde haired visitor could continue his unwarranted greeting. "Just don't."

An awkward silence fell upon the room and from his desk, the elder of the pair inwardly reminded himself that he would not be affected by the discomfiture, for his predicament with regard to the young man before him was not to be addressed any time soon. That was simply too much to handle when added to all that was transpiring within his already hectic life at the present.

"What do you want Professor Malfoy?" Snape asked as plainly as he could without venturing towards impoliteness, "for as you can see," he gestured to the neat pile of papers lay out before him, "I have work to be getting on with."

"I wanted to discuss a matter of great significance with you Severus," Scorpius reply concisely as he took a seat before the dark haired wizard without invitation. "But if you are too busy-"

"- Stop babbling man and get to the point," Snape snapped, his long black flicking wildly in agitation. "What matter of 'great importance' have you come all the way up here to discuss?"

Scorpius, who was so used to the older man's abruptness and temperament, did not answer straight away and chose rather to compose himself before replying. "I came all the way up here," he began, his repetition of Snape's own sarcasm, doing nothing for the mounting tension in the room, "to discuss my timetable with you. That is your job isn't it?"

Snape's eyebrows furrowed as he swallowed his desire to hex the man before him. "Yes," he hissed through clenched teeth, "that is my job!"

"Well then, I would like to put forward an idea that I've been sitting on for a while now."

"Bloody get on with it then instead of pussyfooting around and wasting my time!"

Scorpius smiled in amusement for Snape's shortness; it was genuine enough and even Snape could see that. The younger man took great delight in his playful banter with the dark haired wizard before him, but the latter of the two did not rejoice at all in such behaviour…especially when he had papers to mark, a Dark Lord to visit and a family go home to: and all before nightfall!

"Firstly," Scorpius began in a tone that one could only describe as diplomatic, "I would like to express my concern with regard to the amount of classes you are teaching. Have you not got enough on your plate at the moment without a rowdy rabble of second years as well as your OWL and NEWT classes?"

"I don't think that is your concern Malfoy, so if that is all, you know where the door is." Snape's lip twitched sardonically as he quickly shifted his eyes from Scorpius to the papers before him and pretended to read over the scrawls of tedious essays written by their similarly tedious owners.

Severus Snape had no time for anybody but his wife telling him what to do and showing any sort of concern, and so his newly appointed Herbology Professor coming up to his office and expressing unease regarding his working hours was not something he appreciated in the slightest. Snape would not be taking advice from the man before him any time soon…to do so would be to admit to what the young man and his Mother told him just over fifteen years before.

"Severus I am not trying to cajole you into giving up your classes for no apparent reason. I am simply concerned for you."

"Well it is not your job to be concerned Scorpius. We have discussed that many times already in the past few years."

"I can't stop caring for you Severus, despite your lack of enthusiasm towards the fact we are both now faced with. I just want to make sure that you are not taking too much on simply to prove that you still can."

"Like I said," Snape said calmly and dismissively, "it has nothing to do with you."

"Fine, if that's how you want it to be I'll accept that you do not want me involved…but it is not just me who is worried about you. Hermione was the one who asked me to come up here in the first place and make an offer to take some of your classes for you."

Snape's eyes flared angrily as he looked over Scorpius. "She has no right talking to you!"

"She's scared that you're over doing it Severus," Scorpius informed earnestly, his blue eyes projecting nothing but honesty and compassion. "She never gets to see you any more."

"I've never heard anything more melodramatic in my entire life! Of course she gets to see me. I sleep in her bed every bloody night."

"Ah well that's another thing…" the blonde haired wizard sighed. "Hermione also tells me that you often aren't in your bed till long past midnight, and that you are often up and out before the crack of dawn."

"That is because I am a working man Mr Malfoy, perhaps you should ask your Father if that has always been the case. I think he shall provide you with the answer of 'yes I have."

"There is no need to bring Draco into this Severus. You know fully well that I have kept my distance from him since Mother showed us that pensive."

"Oh so it's Draco now is it?" Snape asked harshly, ignoring Scorpius' reference to that fateful night fifteen years previously when his life quite literally was turned on its head.

"You know my reasons Severus…"

"Indeed but they are futile. Draco is your Father and you his only child. He needs you."

"And what of my needs?" Scorpius asked, his eyes beginning to glisten slightly.

"They are no concern of mine Mr Malfoy," Snape replied shortly; "As I have reminded you several times already."

Scorpius wiped his eyes and stood from his chair slowly. He was getting nowhere with the stubborn man before him and so it would not bode well to stay and waste his time facing a loosing battle. "I just wanted to express my concern for your overzealous work efforts but it seems that I am not worthy to comment."

"No you are not," Severus said concisely. "That particular job lies with my wife and my children."

"And I am neither of them…am I?"

"No you are not, so if that is all, please leave."

Scorpius' head fell in defeat as he slowly made his way out of Snape's office and Snape, from behind his desk, watched the younger man through the underneath of his eyelashes, inwardly fighting the urge to pull the younger man back and apologise like he should. But before his inner protests could triumph, Scorpius had already left.

Once he was alone once more and his room eerily silent, Severus let his head fall into his hands as a myriad of thoughts and feelings drifted into his already preoccupied mind, and bombarded him with emotion and most importantly anger towards his situation. He punched his desk with one clenched fist and then threw everything off his desk in a fit of rage.

Huffing and puffing he sunk back into his chair, his hands clenched into tight fists and his eyelids squeezed shut in an attempt to rid his mind of any thoughts that concerned Scorpius Malfoy and his Mother.

May composed herself before knocking on the large oak door which she knew from previous admonishment sessions, led to a vast hexagonal room full of all the old books and clutter that could squeeze themselves onto the dusty bookshelves.

"Come in!" snapped the Headmaster who himself, was clearly not having the best of days. Before entering she wondered whether Professor Malfoy – who she had just seen storming from his office – had anything to do with his mood.

With a slow intake of breath to steady her racing heart, May pushed open the Headmaster's door and tentatively stepped into his office, her head hung low and her hands shaking nervously.

"Ah," the Headmaster sighed as he took note of the second year Gryffindor who stood awkwardly in the doorway of his office. "Miss Potter."

May did not reply, for the disapproving eyebrow that inclined slightly above the other on the Headmaster's face told her everything she needed to know about his current temperament. She would be best letting him begin and to keep her mouth firmly shut. The ball was in his court…

"Sit," he said firmly and without need for any further instruction as to where to sit (despite the fact that there were several seats in the office) May sat beside the older wizard on the small, black leather clad sofa that she began to think of as theirs, for that was where they always sat when she had been set to him.

May sat slumped into her chair where as the Headmaster sat bolt upright, his back firmly pressed against the back of the sofa, his left leg crossed neatly over his right and with his long fingers running almost therapeutically through his long black hair that was greying ever so slightly at his temples.

"Grandad I'm-"

"Please refrain from bombarding me with the inane requests for forgiveness and excuses that I am so worryingly used to, and instead listen to what I have to say."

May nodded solemnly her black eyes meeting her Grandfather's attempting to earn her a tiny amount of compassion…seemingly, the Headmaster was not affected by such obvious efforts and his black eyes remained vacant of all emotion as he looked over his youngest Grandchild thoughtfully.

"How many times since your arrival at my school have you been sent to me for some sort of punishment Miss Potter?"

"About six or seven," May muttered quietly.

"And have these admittances to my office had any affect on your inappropriate behaviour?"

"Not really but I promise-"

"- That this time will be different? He interjected almost humorously.

"Well yes. I don't like coming up here to see you, you know!"

"Oh but obviously you do. Otherwise you would not misbehave so often would you?"

May frowned at her Grandfather her lip twitching angrily at his lack of leeway with regard to her current predicament.

"And one more question Miss Potter," Snape continued his eyebrows furrowing with concern as he projected it her way, "what did I warn you would happen if you were sent up here once more?"

"Grandpa please don't, Dad will-"

"- What did I tell you?" he repeated firmly and cutting her sentence short.

May sighed in defeat…her Grandfather was not one to be challenged. "You said that you would expel me from Hogwarts and that I will be forced to attend a foreign school and move away."

"Indeed," Snape retorted. "And what did your Father have to say about my…warning?"

May felt a little stupid at having to repeat something which she knew for certain her Grandfather knew off by heart. "He said that he wouldn't send me to a foreign school of wizardry but would instead force me to attend a Muggle boarding school."

As she repeated her Father's own severe warning to her she thought briefly back to her previous school year when her Grandfather had called him into the school to explain her 'despicable behaviour.' Albus Potter was not happy and made her life a living hell since.

"I thought so," Snape said softly.

May drooped her head as the Headmaster's disappointed eyes fell upon her. All she had wanted to do since arriving at Hogwarts was impress her Grandparents with her uncanny knack for Potion's and Defence Against the Dark Arts alike, but all of her intellectual success had been overshadowed by her tendency to get herself into trouble and nobody seemed to notice how well she had been doing in class.

"This is hard for me May," Severus said quietly. "As Headmaster of this school I am inclined to dismiss your feeble attempts at an apology and expel you as I promised, but as your Grandfather I can see that you are genuinely a remarkable young woman who just borders on mischievousness once in a while."

"I don't want you to make allowances for me just because of who I am Grandad. That wouldn't be fair."

"No it wouldn't May," he said pulling her into his lap so that he could wrap his arms lovingly around her. "But sometimes life just isn't fair."

"So you won't make me leave?" She asked unsurely as her Grandfather ran his hands affectionately through her dark brown hair.

"Let me tell you a little something about your Grandpa Harry," Severus said. "Your Great Grandpa Albus loved both Harry and I as if we were his son's and thus when we both found ourselves in times of trouble, he would often look the other way. For being a Father and a Grandfather isn't easy at the best of times and especially when you are Headmaster of a school."

"The thing with you May," he continued thoughtfully, "is that you are an immensely bright child and with the potential to do what no other witch before you has done intellectually wise. But" he said more firmly, "you have inherited the Potter knack for trouble making and it will hinder your success as a student here if you carry on."

"I know that Grandpa and I want to make you proud and do well."

"Then stop mucking about and just get your head down to work."

"I will, I promise."

"Good," Snape said planting a soft kiss on her forehead. "Now be gone with you child," he said humorously, "I have papers to grade and other Gryffindor's to chide."

"You really are wretched sometimes Grandpa," May giggled as she picked up her school bag and straightened her robes.

"But you love me more than anybody else, right?" he asked as a two brackets framed his lips as he smiled.

"Yeah," she replied quietly, "but don't tell anybody else. Promise?"

"As long as you promise not to tell anybody that you're my favourite Granddaughter."

May's chest puffed up with pride as he said this but it soon deflated. "Hey," she said accusatorially "I'm your only Granddaughter!"

"Exactly," Snape said with a smile, "my favourite."

May huffed, feigning hurt as she turned her back on Snape to leave. She loved it when her Grandfather smiled and so today's meeting with him had turned out not to be so bad after all.

"Oh and May," Severus called as she stepped out of his room. "Out of interest, who was the bugger who sent you out of their class and up to me today?"

May smiled profusely. "Some wretched woman called Professor Granger," she called back, imagining the frown on his face as realisation hit that her own Grandmother had caused such trouble.

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