Author's Note: Special shout out to tlc125, a5mia, and francinehibiscus - I love your consistent reviews! Two of you have been with me for awhile! Love hearing from all of you! No SS/HG here. Time to see how different Severus is around someone else, even some he trusts. Far less open... :)
"Ah, Severus," Minerva greeted as stepped into her office. "Sit, please," She said and he sat across from her. "I was just reading over the details of this marriage contract." The clicked her tongue. "While I understand the need to increase the population of Wizarding Britain, this... feels like breeding contracts muggles use on animals..."
"Perhaps it feels like that because it is that," He said dryly.
She sighed, and then shivered at the thought. "How are things with Hermione then? I've hardly seen the pair of you."
He glared at her. "That is not now, nor will it ever be, any of your business."
Her eyes moved over his face for a moment. He didn't look exceedingly stressed, so she figured whatever was going on couldn't have been going too terribly. Her lion cub would probably be more forthcoming, but only a bit considering the girl was fiercely protective.
"I heard you found a cure for Astoria Malfoy's blood curse?" She asked, changing the subject for now.
Severus's dark eyes moved from Minerva's face to the portrait of Phinneas Black, who shrugged indifferently.
"It is another feather in the cap of Slytherin House," The former Headmaster said.
Severus frowned. "That was not the point."
"Right, right. Of course," Phinneas said snidely. "But, you do intent to patent the cure, don't you?"
Severus' dark eyes glittered. "I had not considered the possibility of a patent. My concern is for Draco's wife," Severus said coldly, referencing Phinneas's distant relative by name.
"Yes, such a shame she's gone and gotten pregnant in such a vulnerable state," Phinneas mused.
"She's pregnant?" Minerva asked Severus.
"Indeed," He said coolly.
"Speaking of pregnancy, Severus, tell me you're not truly considering mating with a mud..."
Severus violently silenced the portrait immediately before Minerva had time to even register what had been about to spoken. She looked at the portrait and saw that Phinneas looked very much like he'd been stung by Severus's silencing spell. "I told you what I would do if you used that word in my presence again, did I not?" Snape's voice was cold. Minerva looked at Severus questioningly. It must have been something that had occurred while Snape had been Headmaster. Black scowled from the portrait and stalked off out of the frame.
"What'd you do?" Minerva asked.
"Muted him," Severus said plainly. Minerva gathered from his clipped response that Severus had done a bit more than merely muted the portrait.
"How on Earth did you two manage to work together during the war?"
"We had more pressing matters to attend to, a rather important mutual goal, and we are both Slytherin. He would not betray me, nor I him. Cooperation was necessary," Severus said.
She shook her head. "Slytherins give me headaches."
"I have had my fair share of Gryffindor-induced headaches," Severus responded.
"Astoria is truly pregnant?" She asked, and Severus nodded. "Merlin, that's a risk... Did they not think it through? This could accelerate the curse."
"On the contrary, they thought it through several times, it seems."
"What is your opinion? Do you think it will..." Minerva's face dropped.
"I do not think pregnancy would be good for anyone with a blood malediction, but Hermione and I agreed to help keep her as healthy as possible. Astoria is young," He said.
Minerva raised a thin eyebrow. "Hermione?"
Severus scowled. "Would you prefer I call her Miss Granger while we consummate our marriage?"
"Severus, don't be crass." Minerva studied his face for a moment. His body language had always been some level of closed off, but he'd stiffened even more at having attention drawn to the fact that he'd used Hermione's first name. She smirked. "Have it your way, then. How about lunch over chess?"
He nodded. After the war ended, it had taken Minerva extra effort to restore her tentative friendship with Severus, but not because he hadn't understood her anger with him. His mental stability had been in tatters. It took him a year before he was able to be released from Saint Mungo's and another year still under her watch at Hogwarts before he could even step foot in a classroom. She'd always had a soft spot for Severus ever since he'd been a student, so when he came back to teach and she found out he was a spy, she'd welcomed the friendly rivalry and banter. After he killed Dumbledore and seemingly aligned himself as full Death Eater, all of the staff felt tremendously betrayed, Minerva especially. In the end, when his true loyalties, motivations, and Albus' scheming were revealed, she'd agonized that she had ever doubted him, and loathed that she had been cold to him while he'd been Headmaster. He had, for his end, repeatedly told her that she was supposed to have felt the way she did, and that her feeling guilty about it was counterintuitive.
She studied him now. He tensed under her scrutiny. "What?" He growled.
She gave their lunch order to the House Elf. Then, she looked back at him. "Forgive an old woman for feeling guilty again." His dark eyes narrowed, and he shifted in discomfort. "Oh, stop squirming, boy," She said and clicked her tongue at him. "I'm not about to start crying." In truth, she'd done well at accepting he seemed better the last handful of years. It wasn't until the marriage law, until she had to see his devastation at being forced to do something else he didn't want to do, that the thoughts and feelings came rushing back.
He stood and grabbed her chess set off of one of the shelves. Setting it on the desk between them, he pulled his chair closer as she arranged the pieces. After the war, and after his trial, which was followed by his discharge from Saint Mungo's, Severus had been released to Minerva at Hogwarts. He spoke very little about his experiences during the wars, even if she asked him direct questions, but his psyche had been so badly damaged that she had to watch him almost constantly. Kingsley gave her a location monitor for his Admonitors as he would often wander off in a catatonic state unaware of his surroundings completely. It had taken Saint Mungo's so long to release him because he'd been deemed a danger to himself. His moods whilst hospitalized were extremely volatile and destructive, but Saint Mungo's, knowing what he'd sacrificed, refused to label those moods as anything other than expressing trauma. They would not see him locked up in Azkaban because he was seen as "dangerous."
When he'd come to Hogwarts, he hadn't been volatile at all. In fact, he had been an empty shell of a man, but she discovered that chess was something that grounded him. She also found that reading to him when he was at his most unresponsive helped bring him back to reality. After six months of being back at Hogwarts, he began to speak in more than monosyllables. His usual moodiness and temperament returned slowly, and she had watched in awe as he began to pick of the pieces of himself. His resilience was, at this point, already legendary. Sometimes, he would talk to her about things he experienced, mostly filling in gaps of whatever story, but she knew him well enough to know never to pry. If he brought something up, they spoke, but he showed his trust in her more in how he sought her company. He continued to play chess with her weekly without fail, and each week, she would see his progress. He began to brew again, for pleasure, and he would often discuss various research topics with her. Still, he spoke little of his past, but he seemed to have given himself closure. She never pressed him. Instead, she had chosen to meet him where he was, and he had seemed grateful for that. Yet, she always felt guilty, and she felt it harder to rid herself of such feelings with nothing pressing to district herself, no war looming in the distance. Should she have pressed him more? Did he need to talk about things? Did her not pressing make him feel like she didn't care? Did he know that she did care?
"You are staring at me, Minerva," He said and glared at her. "It has been your move for nearly five minutes." He took a bite off of his plate of fish and chips. He narrowed his eyes. "What?"
She shook her head and looked at the chess board. "I'm just getting caught up in the past."
He was quiet for a long moment as she moved her chess piece. "Don't," He said finally.
She looked at him. "Don't what?"
"Brood," He said and moved a pawn.
"Severus..." She said softly.
He looked at her and he had a slightly panicked look in his eyes. "Your move," He said and his eyes flicked from her face to the chest board.
"Lad, if I don't ask, these questions will never leave me alone," She said and pinched the bridge of her nose. He leaned back into his chair, draped on long leg over the other, and then crossed his arms across his chest. "Did I do right by you when you came here from Saint Mungo's? Should I have done more?"
He looked mildly irritated. She rarely crossed into emotional territory, and it made him uncomfortable and also slightly annoyed. "Tell me: is it my upcoming nuptialsthat have you in such a state?" He asked dryly.
"The idea that you're being forced to do something again does."
He shook his head, and then frowned. "Minerva, you were and did exactly what I needed. Now, stop this ruddy Gryffindor sentimentality, or I will leave."
She rolled her eyes as she moved her knight. After a moment, she said, "Thank you." He didn't respond. He merely ate a chip and made his next move. After lunch, he left with the signed marriage contract forms. She sat tapping a finger on her desk.
"It would appear that his arrangement with Miss Granger is going well," Albus said from the wall.
"Albus, he seemed almost... Happy," She said. "At least, as much as Severus Snape would reveal anything other than general distaste and disapproval."
"I've thought long and hard about their pairing. If they let it, it could be beautiful, Minnie," Albus mused.
"Yes, well, it's the letting bit I'm worried about in his case," Minerva said.