Disclaimer: JKR's world and people except for my OCs and some of the situations.
A/N: Something pretty horrible is alluded to in the last scene here. I've been pretty euphemistic about it, and the bad thing doesn't actually happen, but I think it's fair to give warning.
"Well, Mr. Prewett, how do you come to be in my detention? What made you sink to Markoff's level?"
Howard looked up from the cauldron he was scrubbing and sighed. "Uncle Severus, I think I'm in love."
Severus wasn't expecting this. He took a careful look at the anguished face before him, seeing the distress in the boy's hazel eyes. "I see. So who might the object of your affections be?"
Howard turned red. "Daphne Gilford. Markoff made an ugly comment about her."
"Of the blond hair and blue eyes? Yes, I can see her inspiring such devotion. Have you spoken with the lady?"
"Yes. I got her to join DA and we study together some nights."
"But have you told her how you feel?"
"I can't do that! What if she doesn't feel the same way? What if she just laughs at me?"
"Do you think she would honestly laugh at you?"
"No, she might feel bad for me, and that would be worse."
"I see."
"How was it for you, Uncle Severus? Back when you and Aunt Barbara were at school?"
"I did fall in love once. It was hopeless. We spent quite a bit of time together but I never told her how I felt. Then we had an argument and we never spoke again."
"Aunt Barbara?"
"Lily Evans...Lily Potter, eventually."
"You were in love with Harry Potter's mother?"
"We were from the same town. She seemed so perfect to me...too perfect to tell her how I felt about her. Perhaps I worried, like you, that she would have laughed or felt bad for me."
"But what about Aunt Barbara?"
"I didn't really know her until after the final battle of the war. We were here at Hogwarts for some of the same years, but I didn't know her at all. She was a funny little thing, not much to her except those big eyes and pigtails, hanging about in the library all the time."
"So the whole time you were in school together you never spoke with Aunt Barbara?"
"You'll have to ask her, because her memory is better on these things, but I think I once said, "Excuse me," when taking a chair from the table in the library at which she was sitting."
"So how did you ever happen to fall in love with her?"
Severus smiled, recalling the willow tree and many very special days. "She became a good friend to me after the battle. She went back to work at the Ministry and because we both work in potions, we became collaborators. I made sure she got the job here and then last year I simply loved her."
"How did you know you were in love?"
"I knew how much she loved me, first. She doesn't always say much, but sometimes her actions say a great deal. Then came a day, after one of your meetings of students who had lost parents... She was so very distressed. I tried to talk her out of having any more meetings but she wouldn't hear of it. Suddenly I realized that I needed to be with her and comfort her and, to the best of my ability, help her continue working with all of you. I knew in that moment that I had fallen into a love that went beyond what she gives to me."
"So how did you tell her? How did you break the ice?"
"Ah... I didn't break the ice. I hope that eventually I would have, but what happened is that she asked me why I had not said or done anything. In a nutshell, this is why Lily could never be to me what Barbara is. Barbara loved me enough to say something when I couldn't make myself speak. When it came down to it, I don't think I loved Lily enough to speak, and she certainly never felt that way about me."
"Aunt Barbara didn't ask you to marry her, did she?"
"No, and, actually I told her I love her before she told me. She was the shy one on some other occasions, too— well, we'd better not get into that. Anyhow, you've been there for most of the rest of it."
"You love each other a lot, don't you?"
"I cannot imagine my life without her. I don't want to remember what that was like."
"Thanks, Uncle Severus."
"I don't think I've told you how to win the heart of the fair Miss Gilford."
"You have given me a lot to think about, though."
The first Hogsmeade Weekend of the school year was usually a tumultuous day. Professors Snape and Merrill escaped through the door, where the students were already lining up, before Mr. Filch had a chance to start checking the students against the approved list.
After walking up to the town, Professor Snape left his wife at the Three Broomsticks before heading out to act as a check on the students' rowdiness in the shops. Keeping her face hidden in her auror robes, Barbara sat in a quiet corner and requested a steady supply of tea. She took out some books related to her research and her notebook, and went to work.
One of the next people to arrive in the bar was Professor MacDonald. She didn't see Barbara in her corner, and sat in a table in the middle of the room. "Hey, Rosemerta! Long time no see!"
"Mary! How long has it been? Weren't you here with Peter Petigrew the last time I saw you?"
"Two years ago, I guess. Those were different times, difficult times."
"So, Mary, word is out that you tried to duel with an auror last week. What was that like?"
"That piece of fluff? An auror? No way. I was toying with her. The kids needed to see how protective charms work, so I let her have the easy part."
Rosemerta glanced toward Barbara's table. Barbara shrugged and took a sip of her tea with a steady hand.
"Oh is that how it was?" said Rosemerta. "It was described somewhat differently to me, but you know how word travels."
"Yes, exactly. Tell me, Rosemerta, do you know how Merrill and Snape actually ended up married?"
"I couldn't say. They seemed smitten from the first time she came up here, right before last school year started. She never takes his eyes off of him, and he glares at anyone who looks at her funny. It's kind of cute, actually."
"Cute? Are you kidding me? I don't understand how suddenly that man is a hero and all of his evil deeds are forgiven."
"Well, love, the tavern is filling up, and I need to see to the other customers. What'll you have?"
Soon after Professor MacDonald placed her order, a young couple came into the room and sat at a table near Barbara's corner. Barbara recognized Howard and his friend Daphne Gilford. They ordered butterbeers and sat somewhat awkwardly until their drinks came.
"Daphne, there's something I wanted to tell you..." Poor Howard was blushing from his sandy-brown hairline to the collar of his robe.
"Yes?" Daphne was a bit eager and blushing a little, too.
Howard took a deep breath. "I really like you and I was hoping we could, you know, go out?"
Daphne took a deep breath. "Oh, yes! I really like you, too, Howard."
The clasped hands under the table and blushed their way through their butterbeers before paying and leaving. Howard jumped up and offered Daphne his arm. Barbara recognized his trying to do something Severus usually did and smiled.
A while later, the Headmistress came in and sat at Professor MacDonald's table. "You asked me to meet you here, Mary?"
"Thank you for coming, Professor McGonagall. Yes. I wanted to go over some numbers with you, which I find, frankly, disturbing. Here is a list of the detentions I've been giving out since the school year started and, as you see, they are heavily weighted toward the Slytherin House. I think something needs to be done about those Slytherins."
"I already knew about this, Mary. The Deputy Headmaster gives me a report every week on detentions. In fact, all the other professors seem to be giving detentions that are fairly even between houses, while you are remarkably light on Gryffindors and heavy on Slytherins. You might want to consider doing what's best for the students first, and looking at house affiliations second, when it comes to those decisions."
"So Snape has been complaining about me?"
"Hardly, Mary." Minerva's voice got very cool and quiet. "Severus and I know each other well enough by now that he merely needs to present me with the information and allow me to draw appropriate conclusions."
"So you're asking me to baby the Slytherins." Mary's voice became petulant.
"Hardly again, Mary." Now Minerva's voice took on an acerbic edge. "Indeed, if you would like to come to my office and see the reports, you will find that Professors Snape and Merrill have handed out far more detentions than you but that they are more even-handed."
"Are they really so perfect as all that?"
"No, Mary, they are not. They are simply dedicated teachers who delight in their subject matter and in their students. When they make mistakes they try to learn from them. You have not been teaching long, and you may wish to learn something from their example."
"I'm not--" Professor MacDonald saw the look in the Headmistress' eye and nodded, calming her voice down. "I'll do my best, Headmistress."
"I know you will, dear. Now if you'll excuse me..." The Headmistress got up and went to pay for her drink and leave.
Altogether, Barbara learned a great deal by sitting in her quiet corner of the Three Broomsticks. By the time her husband returned, she had filled a page of her notebook with a list of potential scams being thought up and troublemakers to keep an eye upon.
When Professor Snape walked into the room, Barbara threw her hood back and smiled to her husband who walked straight to her table and sat down next to his wife, taking the hand she offered him and kissing it. "Anything to report?" he asked sardonically.
"It's been quite a profitable day, I think," she murmered, showing him her list. "If half of this comes off, we should have enough detentions to be able to finish our clean up Dungeon 4 and perhaps start Dungeon 3 as well."
"I've uncovered or stopped quite a bit of mischief, myself. You know what? It's just mischief, now, too, and nothing particularly malicious. The world is improving."
"And growing up. Our Howard is having a bit of a romance."
"Yes, I discovered him and Daphne in an alleyway, exchanging some kisses." He leaned closer to her. "Other staff members are in town now, and there is something I saw that I wanted to show you, if you would join me."
Barbara packed her bag. Her husband took the bag and then taking her hand within his arm walked her to the doorway where they paused to settle the bill. While standing there and chatting with Rosemerta, he noticed a wand pointed at his wife's back and sent a stinging hex at the hand holding that wand, followed by a chilling glare. Barbara never saw it.
"So what did you want me to see?" asked Barbara after they walked out of the tavern.
Severus smiled down and said, "I'll show you."
Several minutes later, he walked her through the gate of their own garden and sat her down on a bench in the very middle. The garden was in a glory of the reds, yellows and oranges of mid fall and there were even some late roses still in bloom.
"Oh, Severus! This is breathtaking! Do you think we could take some of this with us to the castle?"
They got some clippers and a basket and spent the rest of the afternoon pruning the garden and selecting flowers for their rooms at Hogwarts. Every so often they exchanged some kisses of their own.
Barbara was just done grading essays and looking at those same flowers when Severus walked into the room several nights later. He'd had a difficult evening, she knew, although she knew he had prevented her from hearing very much of the conversation. The dark glint in his eyes confirmed it. He was angry and... something else... nauseated?
"Don't touch me, I need a shower."
Barbara followed him to the bathroom. "I can help..."
"Please leave it," he said. "I'm not sure I can control myself, and I don't want to end up shagging you against the wall like some trollop when the filth of that man is sticking to me."
There was something in the tone of his voice that made her stop. As she waited, she heard the water running. Then she heard him sob.
She went in. "Severus, what happened?"
"I don't think I can tell you."
"You have to tell me."
"I don't think I can."
"Do I have to come in there?"
She heard him take a tortured breath.
"He really thought he was currying favor with someone important. He actually offered-- Barbara, please don't make me say it."
"You know it will be better if you do."
Another deep breath, another long sigh. "...his stepdaughter. Her father died years ago, her mother in the final battle, here. He wanted to give me his stepdaughter for my personal use in order to gain whatever it is he thinks I can give to him. He said that she's untouched so far, but that if I wanted more experience he would see to it, himself."
"Oh, Severus!"
One more labored breath. "Barbara, he was talking about Carissa Montague. That sweet little girl. I nearly blasted a hole through his black heart." His face came around the shower curtain. "I wanted to destroy him. Barbara, I thought of half a dozen curses I could use to kill him and then turn his body to a small pile of ash. I couldn't hide my revulsion. Worst of all, it's clear that he's going to offer her to someone else as a means to get out of being arrested. Someone will take him up on it."
She came up to him and kissed him. "And you proved you're a completely different sort of man by not vaporizing him on the spot. We'll get her away from that man. We'll bring her home with us, Severus. I know that many other children are abused like this, but this one we can save. If she's truly and orphan and her parents have no relatives..."
His dear, tortured face eased to a more hopeful look. He reached around her neck and kissed her back, pulling her into the shower with him.
They were in bed a little later and drifting off to sleep when he took her hand and kissed it. She smiled at him. "You know," he said, "I regret that I didn't pay more attention to you when we were students." She opened her mouth, but he put his finger on her lips. "Don't say it. I'm more than happy that we found each other now, too. But she reminds me, a little, of you back then. So studious and with those big brown eyes... I wish I had asked you what you were thinking, just once.
"What he suggested, I suddenly felt like he was offering to sell you to me. It was like he was trying to desecrate our wedding night. And then," he put his hand to where he could feel the baby tapping, "I wondered if this precious person were my daughter and if she would ever have a step father so horrible or if any man would treat her like that. Finally I just wanted to protect every female in the world from men such as that one.
"Barbara, I was as seduced by the dark arts as anyone I know, except perhaps the Dark Lord himself... But to lose all sense of what's decent... I couldn't sink to that level of evil."
"Maybe that's why your love affair with the dark arts ended?"
"Maybe that's why," he agreed.
A/N: So we know the next member of the family, at least her name and a little of her story. Thank you, reviewers!