"I need to talk to you," Fred said, taking Harley aside a couple of weeks later. Things at Hogwarts had gone haywire, and the Ministry's presence had sparked a new hatred amongst the students for Umbridge. She even had a group of Slytherin students playing security guards for her: Malfoy amongst them. The Inquisitorial Squad. Harley had considered joining, just to make sure they didn't get out of line, but decided against it. She could very well wind up hexing one of them, and then she'd be expelled.
"What is it?" Harley asked. They were the last two in the common room, because they had a free period.
"This isn't going to be easy but...George and I want to leave."
"What do you mean, leave?" It was a silly question that she mentally berated herself for.
He gestured towards the window. "Leave. Get out. Open our shop. It's ready. Our products are ready, and I am bloody miserable here. I mean, I won't be leaving right away, but sometime soon. I just wanted to be sure you were okay with it."
"Fred, you do not need my permission. You have to do what is right for you," Harley said. "If you stay, I will support you. If you leave, I will support you as long as you keep doing what you love."
He bent down and kissed her, and she wished that the girls' dorm wasn't occupied by the Quidditch girls preparing for practice. "I have the best girlfriend in the world."
"Let me know when you're leaving, okay?" She tugged on his hair. "I will never forgive you if you just up and go."
"You got it, love." He checked the bulletin board. "Almost time for your meeting with Snape about your shop."
She nodded, standing up and getting her robe. "See you tonight at the DA." She walked down the halls to the dungeon to see that she was early: the fifth years were still handing in their potions. She saw poor Potter struggling to finish something, but she saw something else just as disturbing: Umbridge, sitting beside Snape, taking notes. He looked as though he was ready to hex her himself and was just containing his rage. So far, he was the only professor to not have had an inspection, until right then.
Finally, the class filed out, Harry looking fairly pleased, probably because Snape had not bothered him as much. Snape saw Harley standing at the door and motioned to his office, casting a side-eyed glance at the little toad.
It was another five minutes before Snape entered his office, looking flustered. "I apologise for the delay."
"Staff inspections?" Harley guessed. She had heard about the harrowing ones Umbridge had given Hagrid and McGonagall.
He nodded, but did not sit down. "Are you still interested in the shop in Hogsmeade?"
"Yes, sir."
"Excellent. Go to your dorm and get your cloak, please. We are going into town." The professor put his cloak on as well. "I have already gotten clearance, there is no way you can be punished for going, despite Hogsmeade trips being cancelled."
Harley did not tell him about Dumbledore's Army, or that that was the reason for their trips being cancelled. Instead she ran up to the dorm, and told Harry she was going to miss the DA meeting that night.
When he asked why she responded, "My future awaits me." Rushing back to the entrance of Hogwarts, she met her professor there. After having a terrible summer and beginning of the school year, she was glad to have something to look forward to.
"Are you ready to leave?" Snape asked her. She noticed his eyes kept straying to her hand, which was not fully healed. She would carry that scar for the rest of her life.
"Yes, sir. Thank you. I think this could be categorised as going beyond the call of duty as a professor," she commented.
"Perhaps," was all the Potions Master would say as they began walking to Hogsmeade. It was a pleasant journey in the cold, mid-afternoon winter air. The school had felt as if it were suffocating her, and she was glad for a reprieve.
"So, how is your brother doing with his special Dark Arts meetings?" Snape asked, causing Harley to nearly trip from shock. "Yes, I know about it. So does Dumbledore. We are all part of the Order, remember, it is our job to know these things. And frankly, I'd prefer him teaching you than that woman. I think I'd prefer the Dark Lord teaching it over her."
Harley sighed. "It is going all right. Everyone is doing a fantastic job...except for me."
"You? I am sorry, did I hear you correctly? Last I checked, you could do no wrong," he said, voice laden with sarcasm. But he was smiling down at her.
"I cannot produce a Patronus," Harley admitted. "I have been trying since fifth year and have had no success."
"You will," the professor said. "You have it in you. When you are in need, or rather, when someone you care for is in need, your Patronus will show itself."
They walked a bit more in silence, Harley contemplating what he had said. How did he manage to have faith in her when she at times had so little in herself?
"I'm actually teaching them, too...a little," Harley said.
"Really?" Snape looked genuinely interested. "I didn't know you had tuition tendencies."
Harley smiled. "Well, not everyone likes how I do it, but I help the students in my year with hexes and I'm trying to teach them some basic healing potions, ones that aren't on the curriculum."
He was quiet for a moment. "Is that why a few of the Hufflepuffs have improved? Well done, Harley."
She beamed and they walked in silence for a little while longer.
"What is this Umbridge said about Harry going to begin remedial Potions? Sir, you do not give extra lessons. Really, I am surprised you haven't tried to kick out the students who perform less than satisfactorily," Harley said.
Snape smirked. "You know, if anyone other than you spoke of me in that way, it would result in detentions and vast point removal. I know I can tell you, because unlike everyone else, you can keep your mouth shut. You know about Potter having visions of the Dark Lord?"
"Yes, sir."
"Dumbledore wants me to give Potter Occlumency lessons. Do you know what that is?"
She nodded.
"Well, then you now know why I was asked to give him those lessons. We are only holding off telling him because he has not had anymore visions as of yet. If the connection is closed, there is no need to stretch his abnormally small mind."
Harley giggled. "You are quite cruel, sir. However...I cannot say I have not thought similar things about him. He does not seem to have Mum's qualities at all, does he? You know, she wrote so terribly about James Potter, it is hard for me to not look at Harry and see him as a miniature version of him."
"James Potter was a terrible person. Everyone made him out to be a hero, but with the exception of Quidditch, all he did was be unnecessarily awful to everyone because he was coddled, wealthy, and a pureblood. Black is not much better, as you can see," Snape said. "I see quite a bit of James in his son, and unfortunately very little of your mother. However, at least Potter does not bully his classmates for the fun of it. There is that."
"He thinks the rules do not apply, and he really has been so childish lately. He needs a reality shock. You would think watching Diggory die would be enough to sober him up so he can see that this situation is bigger than just him and his scar.
"I mean, the Dark Lord killed my mum. His Mark kept her from the man she loved. I want him dead more than anyone, but I do not act like a child every time someone who knows better than I do leaves me out of the action," she said. "Professor, when I graduate, I want to join the Order officially."
"No." The word was abrupt and laced with aggravation. "No, Harley, you will not do that. I will not let you throw away your life in this fight like your mother did."
"But Professor, I will not be throwing it away if I happen to die. It would be to help save the entire Wizarding World," Harley said. "I want to do more than own a shop. I want to know that I made a difference."
Snape sighed. "Once you leave school, there is no way for anyone to stop you. You should know that you have made a difference already." And that was all he would say on the subject.
They reached Hogsmeade and went directly to J. Pippin's Potions. Miss Pippin, the owner, was there, puttering about with no real goal. Harley was disgusted by her and the way she ran her establishment.
When they walked in, Miss Pippin gave them an enthusiastic welcome. She told them to sit, and told Snape it was nice to see him again. Harley had always thought he avoided this place as a rule, but it seemed like Miss Pippin knew her professor quite well as she puttered around them both.
"Are you here to sign the papers?" Miss Pippin asked, confusing Harley even more.
"I am sorry. One of us is confused here, Miss Pippin," Harley said.
Severus sat across from Harley and said, "Get the papers, Pippin. I will explain." The woman scurried away. "Harley...I have already been to see Pippin twice since we began talking about this when you were fifteen. I wanted to ensure that you had your property."
"So you got a price and agreement out of her? That is amazing, Professor! Thank you!"
He did not say anything till Miss Pippin came back with contracts on parchment, quills, and an official wax seal. She placed them in front of Harley and said, "Congratulations, dear. I am so glad someone who respects this profession will be carrying on my shop."
Yeah, and doing a damn better job than you, Harley thought as she began to read the parchment. "Um...where is the price I will be paying? I'll just need to go to the local Gringotts branch down the way."
Miss Pippin tittered. "Well, dear, if you want to pay me twice, I won't say no!"
"Twice? But I never-Professor?" She glanced at Snape, who was smirking as he watched this exchange.
"I heard that in the Muggle world students get elaborate gifts for graduating school, more so if they are at the top of their class," he said. "We are not Muggles, but it seemed like you deserved something to commemorate your time as a student at Hogwarts, and as my best student overall."
Harley was speechless. The professor had bought her small gifts in the past, just as McGonagall had done for Harry, but this was much too much. To buy her a building? "Sir...I do not know what to say."
"Do not say anything: sign the papers," he said, gesturing across the table.
"But, I have my inheritance. I have to pay you back!"
He made an impatient gesture with his hand and Harley looked over the building contract. It seemed these things were much more simple in the Wizarding World as opposed to in the Muggle world. She saw her yearly taxes to the Ministry, basic material expenses, and that was about it. She signed her name and initialed where indicated.
Pippin then passed the papers to Snape, who also signed his name.
"You're not allowed to own property in Hogsmeade without being twenty-one. Only Diagon Alley lets you buy a property without a cosigner," Snape explained. "Do not worry: I will not get involved. I believe you can run this place on your own just fine, but had I not agreed to cosign, you could not have this property."
The process went by in a whirlwind, and Harley barely registered what was going on around her. Before she knew it, the little shopkeep had her wrapped in an unwanted hug of congratulations and she and Snape were back on High Street, contracts signed and her future secure.
"Professor, forgive my rudeness but what the Hell happened back there?" Harley asked.
"When you expressed desire about this property to me, I went and visited, explaining that I had a bright girl who wanted to take over the shop. Pippin was happy to take my word that you would come through and actually get the place. Once your sixth year finished, when I went and visited the Muggle world, I learnt about things that students received for graduating. It was then I realised...you would not have anyone to congratulate you." He paused. "You are a talented, brilliant girl. I want to see you succeed."
Harley did not know what to say, even now. Words failed her as happy tears welled up in her dark eyes. Her adoptive parents had been kind, but disinterested. Never had she had someone treat her like Professor Snape had. Overwhelmed with emotion she was not used to feeling, she forgot propriety as she threw her arms around the professor's neck in a fierce hug, trying to convey all she wanted to say. She did not know why she was crying, but she was, turning his cloak an even deeper black.
She felt his arms come around her as well, shocking her even more. She had assumed he would have been affronted by her displaying emotion like this. He hugged her tightly, as if he had wanted to do it for as long as she had.
"Thank you," she said, trying to convey much more than those two words were capable of. She was not just thanking him for the shop. She was thanking him for taking care of her when she was ill, for the time he took to pick out a charm bracelet, for giving her extra lessons, for taking her school shopping so she could be safe, for trusting her with so many secrets and tasks, for his extra lessons, for believing in her, for encouraging her, for taking care of her, and for the connection she had felt the moment they met.
He didn't respond, but he moved away and she saw that he was smiling. Not a smirk, but a genuine smile. She had never seen that before, and thought that he should smile more often.
"There is no need to cry," he said, taking out his wand and touching it to her forehead. Her eyes stopped stinging and her nose stopped running. "It was what I wanted to do. Now, let us go back to Hogwarts, the snow is starting."