"The Phoenix and the Raven"
a post-final battle fanfic by Seventia Snape
Chapter Eleven, "Lost"
Severus seated himself at Siobheann's desk and gazed out on the classroom. It hadn't changed at all, except for the handwriting on the parchments in front of him, her plans for the month's lessons. He was surprised and gratified to see that she hadn't changed the way he had filed notes and students' past tests, and that everything was still in it's place in the stores closet.
He'd only found himself changing one thing. The ink in the inkwell was a deep, velvety red. Severus snorted at her Gryffindor loyalty and charmed it to the deep green that he preferred. Then, after reading her thorough notes, he knew exactly where the students were in their learning, and he found himself impressed with the progress she'd made with them.
As impressed as he was, he saw room for more, and swept aside her lesson plans without a second glance. When he heard the footsteps of the first years coming down the corridors towards the classroom, so he cast a quick disillusionment spell and snuck out as they were coming in, not being able to resist a sudden impulse that he had.
He waited long enough for the students to settle into their seats, and burst into the classroom, robes billowing, and boomed out the speech that he'd always greeted first years with. But he never got to finish, for when he paused for breath at the end of his first sentence, all of the children except for about three of them jumped up from their seats and ran, screaming, out of the classroom. Severus smirked at the realization that he definitely hadn't lost his touch, and he would be handing out detentions tonight.
He couldn't help but be surprised, though. In all of his years as a teacher, he'd never scared a class of first years nearly as badly as he just did. Even Neville Longbottom, that dunderhead, had managed to stay in the classroom, even if he'd practically been convulsing in fear. He addressed the three remaining students, a trio of Gryffindors. He rolled his eyes. Of course it would be Gryffindors.
"Well, let's see if your brains measure up to your guts. Brew me an acceptable Nosebleed Cure in the next 30 minutes and I might consider not giving you a detention with Filch. Oh, and you'll need the platinum stirring rods…they're in that cupboard there." He droned, pointing in the direction they were to look.
But they didn't turn. Instead, they all exchanged bewildered looks. Severus glared at them, but their expressions didn't change. Finally, fed up beyond what his control could take, he walked up to the closest of the children and bellowed,
"Well, are you as dunderheaded as you look?! I showed you where to go!"
The child's bottom lip began to quiver and Severus sneered, preparing himself to hand out a detention, when McGonagall burst into the room, with his now red-eyed first years following behind fearfully. She looked around the room with a pinched face, as if she'd just eaten Dumbledore's entire hidden stash of Lemon Drops. Finally, she stopped stock still, pulling her wand out of her sleeve. Before Severus could ask what she was doing, she muttered something under her breath, and stepped back, still scowling. The first years standing behind her seemed to sigh in relief, then they stepped back to their desks, but keeping a cautious eye on Severus. Minerva addressed them gently.
"There, there. You see? The Potions classroom is not possessed, Professor Snape was just playing a mean joke on you. Severus, if you will follow me for a moment…" And she exited the classroom, Severus followed, a puzzled look replacing the sneer that had been there only moments before. When they closed the door behind them, Minerva snapped.
"What the HELL do you think you were doing to those poor students? Making yourself invisible and frightening the lives out of them! The young White girl will be in the Hospital Wing for days with the shock she's been through. Really Severus, you should know better!"
Suddenly, Severus realized exactly what had happened. He'd been so looking forward to sweeping in and intimidating the students that he'd totally forgotten to reverse the effects of the disillusionment spell. They couldn't see them. Severus tried not to smirk. It would be hilarious if Minerva hadn't found out and lambasted him in front of all those students…now it was really embarrassing. Severus decided he'd better cut his losses.
"My apologies, Headmistress. I didn't realize that the first years were such a jumpy lot. It won't happen again."
"It had better not! Now off with you! I have enough to do without dealing with things like this!"
Severus taught the rest of the class, and they worked quietly and respectfully, to his satisfaction. He didn't apologize or explain himself to them; there would be many instances in their pathetic lives where they would be confused and frightened, and those situations wouldn't coddle them, so neither would he. He found himself feeling regretful that Siobheann hadn't been there to see it. She would've been angry, yes, but even angry was better than the lifelessness he'd seen that morning.
Severus' reputation quickly spread after the first years spread their tale, and the students were quiet and studious with him. At the end of the day, he was mostly satisfied, except that he had a matter to inquire with McGonagall about. He stalked to her office and approached tentatively, not knowing if she was still upset over the silly first years. However, when she looked up and saw who it was, she did not seem upset, and he seated himself in one of the chairs as she offered him a cup of tea.
"No thank you, Minerva, I do not intend to stay for long, as Siobheann will need to be checked on. I was just wondering, I was thinking about your faculty and noticed a serious error. Is it true that at the moment there is no actual Slytherin teacher, but rather you have a Ravenclaw representing them?"
"Why yes, Severus. We had hoped that we would find someone, but nobody stepped forward for the task, and thus we did what we were required to do."
"Well, not any more. I would like to make a formal request to resume my former post as Slytherin head of house, despite the fact that I do not regularly teach here. They are getting soft, and I cannot bear to see it. I will shape them up right smartly."
Minerva paused for a moment, considering, and finally gave her assent. Severus smirked and turned on his heel to exit the office.
"You won't recognize them by next week, Minerva."
Minerva sighed, finding herself glad to see Severus getting involved, but apprehensive after the morning's events.
"I was afraid of that, Severus."
Severus strode into the Slytherin common room on his way back to his quarters, a bit more stomp in his step, as it felt like the last four years were melting away. Nay, the last twenty. The dark lord was gone. Severus was a free man and he had handed out thirteen detentions.
The Slytherins all looked up, shocked beyond words. Some of the first years, still reeling from the morning's incident, hid themselves subtly behind older students, furniture, or whatever was handy. Severus scowled blackly and addressed them in clipped tones.
"Five years ago, I was head of Slytherin house. At that time, Slytherin was a proud, noble house, and it had nothing to do with their blood status. They were the most powerful, ambitious, cunning students Hogwarts had ever seen. And now, as I look on all of your soft little faces, I am ashamed to find myself as your head of house again. You are not powerful! You there, boy, I saw you being bullied by a Ravenclaw only this afternoon. You are not ambitious! I have looked at your grades, and you are all lacking seriously. I doubt you're even trying. And most of all, you are not cunning! You all scuttle along like a bunch of Hufflepuffs, and all of the cleverness I saw today was exhibited by the Cornish Pixy that Mr. Lazenby here set loose in the girl's lavatory. Very weak, all of you!
But you will change. I expect you to all be punctual tomorrow morning in the Great Hall at 8 a.m. You will be clean and neat, and all of your homework will be done in a fastidious and thorough manner. And if you decide to get into mischief, it had better be goddamned clever and subtle, and they had better not trace it back to you or you'll be serving detentions with Professor Lovegood, who will send you on a hunt for Nargles or whatever idiot creatures her father has written about. Do I make myself crystal clear?"
Severus glared around the room, and watched as everyone nodded. He sneered and stepped out of there, stalking towards his quarters with a smirk on his face. It was good to be back and have minds to bend to his will. But as soon as he opened the door to their quarters, he suddenly shrunk about a foot in height, hearing the oppressive silence around him. He sadly headed to Siobheann's room, half afraid to see what state she would be in.
Siobheann was still laying in the bed motionlessly, her pale skin rivaling her sheets for whiteness, and her enormous red eyes were wide open, staring at the ceiling. There were tear tracks on her face again.
Severus conjured another cool, wet cloth with a heavy heart, and gently brushed her hair out of her face before wiping gently at her eyes and cheeks. She woke up a little but still said nothing. He took a hold on her hand and spoke softly to her.
"Siobheann, you really must eat something. If I prepare something nice for you, will you eat it?"
Siobheann's eyes slid over to him, and she nodded her head almost unperceptively. He got to his feet and headed to the kitchen, where he prepared a simple powdered chicken noodle soup and he summoned a Pepper Up Potion, which he poured a few drops of into the soup. He entered her chamber and lay the tray on top of one of her trunks, and he gently wound his arms around her, helping her to sit up.
She was still listless and half dead with grief, so he spoon fed her, encouraging and soothing her as he did so. When she had finished about half of the bowl, she put her hand up, as if to push the bowl away, but Severus was firm with her.
"Siobheann, if you think I am going to allow you to live on half a bowl of soup as your day's sustenance, you are dead wrong. I am not moving until you've eaten all of this."
She glared at him, the potion making a bit of color come into her cheeks. But then she exhausted herself, the fire in her eyes dying as suddenly as it had appeared. He sighed, cursing himself for his impatience, and tried again.
"Please Siobheann…do this for me. I am worried to death about you."
She looked up at him and then dropped her eyes. He successfully fed her the remaining soup and then helped her lay back down. Then, he summoned a book from the sitting room and read to her quietly until he turned to look at her and saw that she was fast asleep, leaning against him.
Severus softly brushed a bright red curl away from her face and gave her another secret kiss on the forehead before standing up and heading to his own quarters. He had decided that he would give himself that much, a stolen moment here and there. There was nothing wrong with that, and it was a comfort to him besides. She would never know.
As Severus sat himself down on the edge of his bed, removing his socks and taking a deep breath, he suddenly reached in the top drawer of his bedside table and pulled out a large sheaf of parchment, as well as a quill and some of his favorite green ink. And, for the first time in nearly ten years, he wrote a journal entry, so that when Siobheann joined the world again, she could read up on what she had missed in her classroom and Hogwarts.
It was his own way of paying her back for all those back issues of the Daily Prophet that she had hunted down for him when he was weak. He found himself smiling a little as he penned the first sentence.
Dear Miss Dewar,
This is just a little something, a sort of thank you for taking care of me for three years. I only hope that your recovery will not take as long. Yours truly, Severus Snape.
My dear, wonderful readers,
This is just a little something, a sort of thank you for taking care of me today. I sincerely promise you that I will complete this story, and it will be damn good. There will plenty of snarky moments and tears and laughter and plot twists that will make your hearts leap into your throats. And I will always appreciate your kind words and encouragement.
Yours truly, Seventia Snape
P.S. Thanks especially to Wendy Wobbles, who has been my greatest encouragement. I sense the beginnings of something grand. All of the best to you.