Grace shouldn't have kept her hopes up that Professor Snape would stay by her side through the night. But she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed at the sight of the empty chair. That was after she nearly had a heart attack from waking up in an unfamiliar place. Her panic must have set off an alarm and Madame Pomfrey ran into asses her.
"What's wrong? Are you having an attack? Do you need your-" Grace cut off the medi-witch.
"No, I just got scared cause I didn't know where I was. I'm fine."
It was Saturday so at least Grace wouldn't miss any classes, but she felt fidgety and alone in the infirmary bed. Plus, Professor Snape must have taken her book to finish it, leaving her with nothing to do but stare at the ceiling or sleep.
As if she read her mind, and Grace was certain sometimes that she could, Luna floated in with a handful of objects. She plopped them down on the bed by Grace's feet, "Good morning!" she said in a sing-songy voice. "I brought you some things to keep you occupied. Breakfast, your favorite books, a Quibbler, and your… electronics." Luna quickly handed Grace her phone and laptop and she slid them under the covers in one swift motion. Electronics were not supposed to work on Hogwarts grounds. They worked in Hogsmeade, but in Hogwarts, they would glitch and crash and die quickly. Grace, Luna, and a few other Ravenclaws had pulled a few all-nighters their second year just to figure out how to get their iPhones to work. It was 2016, and everyone, even young wizards and witches, owned an iPhone, and it was nearly impossible to go without them. After a series of spells, their electronics worked, they were slow, but they got the job done. They shared their discovery with other students, all vowing to keep them a secret.
Grace picked up her plate of breakfast: a fried egg and ham squished between two pieces of toast. "Thank Merlin, I was starving. I didn't even eat dinner last night, my stomach was going to start eating itself," she bit into the sandwich, getting crumbs all over her lap. But it was so good.
Luna squeezed in to sit next to her best friend in bed. The two girls had become inseparable since the day they met. The fact that Luna was a Pureblood and Grace was a Muggle was an unspoken truth between them. Luna paid no mind to the difference and instead of Muggle book, it was just a book. She made Grace feel like her equal, even though she was far from it. And that's what made Luna such a great friend.
"They didn't have coffee," Grace almost choked on her breakfast.
"I'm starting a riot. That's it. First, they tell me that I'm being abandoned by my foster parents, now they're denying me of my caffeine fix?" She hoped that making light of the whole situation from yesterday might make things easier to cope with, but when the words came out of her mouth, she only felt worse.
Luna gave her a sad smile, "I was worried about you yesterday. You didn't show up for dinner and I didn't see Professor Snape at the head table and I thought you might have gotten detention but when I went to the classroom, you were nowhere to be found. Professor Flitwick told me what happened and that you were in the infirmary. Grace, I'm so sorry…" She pulled her friend into a tight embrace.
"I just don't know what's going to happen to me," Grace said into Luna's shoulder. "I don't have a foster family anymore. They'll send me back to the home and I'll stay there until I'm eighteen because no one wants a teenager! No one wants an abandoned kid over ten!" Tears started to form in her eyes. Luna smiled and wiped her friend's tears. Stress was not something that needed to be on Grace's mind right now.
"Why don't we watch something?" Luna asked, pulling Grace's laptop from underneath the sheets. Grace had spent most of their time together indulging Luna in Muggle movies and TV shows and books. Luna always found them quite fascinating and often insisted on watching them more often that Grace had.
Grace pulled up a funny movie from the 80's for them to watch. The two girls had seen Better Off Dead countless times, but it was just a feel-good movie, and that's what they needed right now.
They sat close together on the infirmary bed, shoulder to shoulder, watching the movie. Every so often, they'd echo the movie, making the other giggle. Grace considered Luna to be like a sister. She never had such a strong bond with any other girl before. She'd been in Miss Lane's for two years and could never bring herself to get attached to the other girls. She knew that one day they would be fostered or adopted, and didn't want to risk heartache. But with Luna, she knew she'd always be there for her. Luna would always be waiting for her at Platform 9 3/4 to sit with her on the Hogwarts Express, she'd always be in the bed next to her in Ravenclaw Tower, and she was only a message away after Grace talked Luna into getting a phone their second year. Owling each other took too long so they only used it to send packages to each other.
"Do you know where Professor Snape was last night if he wasn't in the Great Hall?" Luna asked halfway through the film.
Grace didn't take her eyes off the screen, "Oh. He carried me to the infirmary after I knocked myself out." The words came out of her mouth so blatantly that Luna was taken back in shock.
"He carried you?" Luna's eyes got wide.
Grace nodded her head and pointed to the chair next to the bed, "Sat there until I regained consciousness. He was reading The Fault in Our Stars when I woke up, so I asked him to stay and read to me until I fell back asleep. I don't know how long he stayed but he wasn't here when I woke up."
Luna's jaw was agape, "You're lying! Grace don't make up such ridiculous lies! If Professor Snape heard you telling preposterous stories about him-"
"But Luna, I'm not lying! It was the strangest thing ever. But, I don't know, maybe it was the potions I was on, but he actually looked relaxed and not his usual grumpy self," Grace pulled her eyes away from the screen to look into Luna's. Luna searched her friend's eyes for some sign that she was playing a joke on her, but she was completely serious.
"I can't believe it! I know you love the man's class but there's no denying the man is a bit terrifying!" Luna was convinced Grace had hit her head a bit too hard the previous night.
Grace just shrugged, "Maybe he's just misunderstood. No one ever really gives him the chance to find out, now do they?"
She's absolutely mad! Luna thought. She stayed silent for a moment before nudging Grace's shoulder, "Watch your movie, weirdo."
Grace huffed out a tiny laugh and continued watching the movie. Just then, the infirmary doors flew open and Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape walked in. "Speak of the devil," Grace muttered under her breath. But her anxiety hit her like a bus when she saw the three adults wearing grim faces.
Grace stiffened at the sight of the three professors in front of her. She was frozen with panic and didn't even remember to hide her laptop. Thankfully, Luna quickly slammed the lid down and shoved it under the sheets before they got close enough to see what exactly they were hiding. She got off the bed and slung her bag over her shoulder, grabbing Grace's arm, "Breathe. I'll see you later, okay?" Grace gave a slight nod, but her mind was elsewhere. Her eyes were staring at the wall in front of her, and Luna just knew she was so deep in thought, it was like she was drowning. She gave her friend a sad smile, though Grace didn't see it, and turned to leave the infirmary. "Good morning, Professors," Luna gave a bow of her head before leaving the room.
Grace did indeed feel like she was drowning. She was preparing herself for the worse, but the worse scenarios running through her mind caused her breath to catch in her throat and her chest tighten.
"Grace, dear?" Professor McGonagall snapped her out of her trance. She blinked a few times, releasing a breath she wasn't aware she was holding in.
Dumbledore started, "Miss McClivert, we've come to discuss with you-"
Grace cut the Headmaster off before he could finish, "Please, you can't send me back!" her words ran together as the anxiety grew. Her hands started shaking and her eyes began to fill with tears, "I can't go back to the foster home! You don't understand, I'll be stuck there for the next four years, miserable and alone, please don't make me go back there! I'll do anything, can't I stay at Hogwarts in the summer? I'll work to earn my keep, I promise! Just please!" Her words were pleading and hot tears were running down her cheeks. She looked frantically at the three adults but her eyes couldn't focus on anything.
"Miss McClivert!" Snape shouted, earning Grace's attention at once as her eyes finally focused on him. His hands grabbed at both of her forearms, "Get a hold of yourself this instant!" His hands squeezed her arms, and for some reason, they stung. She looked down to see her arms and hands littered in red scratches. She honestly had no idea she had been doing that.
Snape let her get her rapid breathing to slow before releasing her arms. She took a deep breath, "Please, you have to understand… The Nobles' were my only and final chance at a 'family.'" The tears just kept coming, but she forced herself to wring her hands along the sheets instead of on her skin.
"I don't understand. Why wouldn't you be taken to another family again?" McGonagall tried to keep her voice as calm as possible, and not show any worry for the child in front of her.
As if like a light switch, Grace stopped her tears and spoke in a matter-of-factly deadpan tone, "I am never going to get adopted. I am too old now and have been in too many foster family's cares. They see my file and think I'm troublesome. I'm not cute, I'm not young, I have too many issues. I'm undesirable. I'm just another waste of space to whither away in that orphanage now."
The words had come from the Ravenclaw's mouth like they had been drilled into her. She knew exactly what her fate was and she thought everything she said to be true. Severus felt a slight pang in his chest. For some peculiar reason, he pitied the young girl. She was only fourteen and her chance at a someone normal home life had been ripped away from her, from people she trusted.
The girl just yesterday morning had so much cheerfulness and hope in her eyes, but now when he looked down at her, all he could see was an empty shell of her former self. He knew nothing of her personal life, why should he? He wasn't her Head of House. He had watched her swallow a handful of pills when she gained consciousness and wondered why a girl so young had to live like that. It was then he realized that her cheerfulness was merely a ruse, just a side effect of the medication she took just to make her feel that way.
Never in a million years would Severus ever believe that Grace McClivert was ever on the receiving side of abuse. It was something that hit too close to home, but after learning the truth, he could sympathize with the girl. She was so good at hiding her dark past, whereas he let the abuse his drunk Muggle father had inflicted upon him consume him to create a bitter adult. Why would a parent ever raise their hand to a young child? No one knew the extent of the abuse she suffered when she was young. The only evidence was the amount of medication she took. The only ones who knew were Dumbledore, her best friend Luna, and a mind healer that visited Grace once a week to deliver her prescriptions. But as far as Dumbledore knew, Grace had long ago buried her emotions and memories of her birth parents deep down and refused to talk about them, only leading to Grace's mental demise.
Severus watched the girl leap out of her bed and pace back and forth across the infirmary floor, bartering nonsense deals to persuade Dumbledore into letting her stay here during the holiday.
"Miss McClivert, because you are a minor, we cannot let you go without a legal guardian. I'm afraid that there is simply nothing we can do," Dumbledore tried his best to get the child to calm down for just a moment.
Grace only picked up her pace and started to bear the aura of desperation. She was hanging on to her last string of hope, "I'll run away! I'll- I'll just hide somewhere in Hogsmeade! And I'll make sure none of you can find me because I'm not going back to that wretched hell hole!"
She's a child, for Merlin's sake! Severus didn't know what came over him. Perhaps he was overwhelmed that he had watched a child crumble in minutes or he really did have a soft spot for the Ravenclaw. "I'll be her legal guardian," everyone stopped in their tracks. Even Severus had surprised himself, he wasn't meant to say that aloud.
Dumbledore whipped around to look the potions professor in the eyes, "Severus-"
He was cut off by McGonagall, "Could you possibly be serious, Severus?"
He looked at Grace, who looked like a deer in headlights. Her face had paled even more than usual and she looked paralyzed. Her stomach was twisting in twelve different directions and she was suddenly very cold and started to feel dizzy.
"It's… Ultimately up to Miss McClivert's wishes," Severus said, looking at the ginger-haired girl. She looked like she was going to faint.
Grace edged herself closer to her bed and mumbled, "I… Need a moment, please," before collapsing onto the bed.
Grace awoke with a pounding headache and the chills. She tried to sniffle but she couldn't breathe out of her nose. She sighed. She knew that a great amount of stress lowered her immune system, but this had hit her like a sack of bricks. She tried to sit up but felt a hand on her forehead.
"You're burning up," it was Snape by her bedside in the chair once again. "Take this, it will break your fever," he handed her a vial of the potion. She drank its contents and stuck her tongue out in disgust, it tasted absolutely disgusting. But almost instantly, her headache subsided and her sinuses started to clear. She laid back down and took a deep breath before turning on her side to face the professor.
"How long have you been there?" she got the chills once again and pulled the covers over her shoulders.
"Since you fainted. Which was about an hour ago."
"Oh. Okay, then." Grace suddenly went blank on everything to possibly say, which led to an uncomfortable silence between the two. Severus Snape had just offered to be her legal guardian, just so she wouldn't have to return to the home. And her reply? She fainted. "So, did you… mean that? When you said you'd be my… you know."
"Your legal guardian? Yes. But it is up to you to take the offer. I am not going to force you into anything, Miss McClivert." Severus gave the slightest of smiles, barely detectable to the naked eye, but Grace definitely saw it.
"Can I have time to think it through?" she asked.
"Of course, take all the time you need, Miss McClivert."
Was this completely inappropriate? He's my Potions Professor. But then again, no one else was offering up. I barely know him outside of Potions Class. He'll probably just have me clean. Where does he even live? In a cave somewhere? In a coffin? What if he gets tired of me? Should I? I mean, it beats Miss Lane's. Unless he chops me up and serves me for dinner like Hannibal Lector. Actually, that sounds much better than Miss Lane's.
Grace had a tendency to make faces while she was in deep thought as if she were having a conversation with her own Jiminy Cricket. And the professor had certainly noticed.
"Miss McClivert, are you all right?" Severus gently nudged her shoulder, breaking her train of thought.
"Huh? Oh, um, yes I'm okay. I just- Yes. I am completely on board with you being my legal guardian. For the time being until I'm eighteen or you get tired of me."
Well that was certainly thought over fast, Severus thought. He would have expected her days to think this through. Or maybe it was him who needed to think this ordeal through completely.
"Just, on one condition," she added.
"And what might that be, Miss McClivert?" his tone may have come off a bit annoyed, but it had most likely been from the lack of sleep he'd been getting. He barely slept the night before while at Grace's bedside in fear she would wake up and have another attack. By the time breakfast was being served, he found it suitable that if Grace needed anything, Madame Pomfrey would be there.
"The whole 'Miss McClivert' thing has got to stop, Professor. If you're going to be my guardian then it is only suitable that you call me by my first name, Grace. Or Gracie, I don't mind that either."
Severus was slightly confused and honestly shocked at how quickly the Ravenclaw bounced back to the Grace he knew or at least the Grace she made everyone know. She had gained color back in her cheeks, and her eyes had hope in them. "Then it is only fair that you may call me Severus."
"Can I call you 'Sev'?" she held back a giggle.
Severus narrowed his eyes, "Don't push it."
She immediately shut her mouth, "Right, sorry. Won't happen again." She tried to keep a straight, serious face, but she couldn't help but smile at the man. This was her last chance at a family.