Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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The burglary of Euphemia Rowle's home prompted an investigation by the Department of Magical Law, but Delphini paid it little mind.
She was too bewildered by everything that she had experienced during her stay with the Snape family over Hogwarts' winter break.
A loving home, generosity, kindness, those were new concepts to Voldemort's daughter and they perplexed her deeply.
When the holidays concluded and the students all returned to the castle, she and Zinnia sat at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall while they exchanged a mutual glare as if nothing had happened between them.
The students ate their breakfast and chatted amongst themselves before Headmistress McGonagall stepped up to the podium and spoke over the crowd, "If I could have everyone's attention, please! Everyone!...Thank you! We have a couple of brief announcements this morning before we begin the second semester of our school year…...Professor Flitwick will be offering a Charms Club after classes on Wednesdays that will give each interested student the opportunity to earn extra credit. Professor Snape is joining us for another term and Professor Sprout is still out on medical leave….During her absence, we'll be joined by Neville Longbottom, who will serve as our temporary Professor of Herbology. Please join me in welcoming our newest staff member!"
Zinnia's eyes nearly bulged out of her head as McGonagall turned and applauded, along with everyone else, while Neville stepped into the room from the teacher's passage behind the High Table.
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"And how is Neville doing at being a professor?" Ginny asked Harry one Saturday afternoon in the early spring while she fed Albus a jar of applesauce.
"He's doing well enough, I suppose." Harry shrugged while he sat across from her and read The Daily Prophet, "I've given him some pointers when he's asked me, but I don't want to insult him. I'm certainly no tenured teacher myself."
Albus squealed and threw his little arms up while Ginny smiled.
"I doubt that Neville would be insulted, Harry." She said with a sigh as she stood from the table and lifted Albus out of his high chair for a cuddle.
Harry abandoned his newspaper to watch his wife kiss their son's round little head.
A happy smile spread over his face.
Albus cooed while he watched his daddy stand and walk over.
Harry patted Albus's tiny back while he stole a kiss from Ginny's lips.
As Harry's hand slipped off of Albus and onto Ginny's belly, his heart fluttered when he rubbed the slightest hint of the swell that had started to form on his wife's lower abdomen.
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Professor Longbottom's first month of teaching actually went quite well.
Neville was patient and kind with his students, traits that most of the girls at Hogwarts rabidly admired, along with his good looks.
While Zinnia stood in Herbology one day, a particularly pushy Gryffindor girl kept weaving her head right in her way and obscuring her line of sight that allowed her to view Neville.
Zinnia stepped to the side and the Gryffindor girl spitefully stepped with her.
Zinnia frowned as she whispered so that only the girl would hear, "Would you watch where you're standing? I can't see."
The Gryffindor girl whipped her head around to look at her with the brightest of smiles as she quipped, "Then perhaps you should be taller!"
"Perhaps I should send my dragon after you." Zinnia glowered at the girl as Ed clutched onto her shoulder and growled ominously.
His noise sounded like more of a squeak, but he meant it as a growl while he narrowed his grey eyes to prove his point.
"That's not a dragon." The Gryfinndor girl mockingly laughed, "That's a lizard with wings."
Ed had had enough.
Without Zinnia's command, he drew in a deep breath and blasted the Gryffindor girl with the mightiest ball of black smoke that he could manage.
The Gryffindor girl sneered at Ed and Zinnia as she waved the tiny smoke cloud away with her hand.
Their exchange caught Neville's attention and he called over to the warring girls, "'Miss Densey, Miss Snape, is there a problem?"
"No, Professor." The Gryffindor girl nodded quickly, "...Sorry."
"Yes, there is a problem, Professor!" Zinnia quickly interjected, "I apologize for the chatter, it's my fault! I just don't understand the diagram on page fifty-seven."
"Well…..Try not to worry about it right now." Neville nodded, "I have office hours today. Anyone who needs a little help is welcome to stop by."
"Oh, thank you, Professor Longbottom!" Zinnia gasped as she clutched her Herbology book to her chest.
It had been a curious thing, the way Zinnia had struggled with the subject as soon as Professor Longbottom had come to Hogwarts.
She had never had any problems understanding the study of magical plants previously, but since Neville's appearance, she constantly needed extra tutoring.
If Professor Longbottom held office hours, Zinnia Snape was there, and she wasn't the only one……
Neville seemed to be oblivious to his popularity with the young ladies of the wizarding world.
Unsurprisingly, Delphini didn't seem particularly inclined towards her new professor.
Scorpius detested Neville, but for other reasons besides his assistance with Voldemort's defeat.
As Zinnia gazed at Neville with wide, hopeful eyes, Scorpius frowned at her.
Why couldn't she look at him like that?
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That same afternoon, Zinnia was the first one to attend Professor Longbottom's office hours.
She clutched her Herbology book in her arms and tried not to drool in delight when she discovered that she would be alone with Neville in his office, at least for a moment.
"Miss Snape!" Neville greeted her from across the room while he wrestled a wrangling root back into its pot, "Go ahead and have a seat across from my desk! I'll be right with you!"
While dirt flew around Neville as he attempted to subdue the willful plant within his grasp, Zinnia obediently sat down across from her beloved's desk.
Footsteps sounded down the hallway, outside of Neville's office, and she begrudged whoever approached for stealing the private time that she may have enjoyed with her favorite professor.
Before the second student arrived for tutoring, Zinnia happened to see the end of Neville's discarded tie poking out from one of his desk's top drawers.
While his back was turned, she stealthily slipped the tie out of the drawer and into the pocket of her robes………
Zinnia reasoned that if she couldn't spend some time alone with her beau, at least she could hold onto a small piece of him.
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Six weeks into his teaching career at Hogwarts, Neville was visited by a new student during his office hours.
He looked up in surprise at the frowning, blonde boy who walked through his door.
"Mr. Malfoy." Neville said politely, "You don't normally struggle in class. Do you have a question about the soil project that I assigned today?"
"No, Professor Longbottom, I don't." Scorpius said as he kept his frown while he approached Neville.
He tried to hold himself still and not visibly tremble as he confronted his foe.
Zinnia's breathless gasps, her dreamy stare, the way that she smiled when she talked about their Herbology teacher, Scorpius had reached his threshold with all of it.
"I've come to speak to you man to man." Scorpius told his professor very matter-of-factly.
Neville tried not to smirk at the small boy who stood in front of him ready to battle for some apparent reason.
He kept the look on his face serious as he asked his student, "Oh? What about?"
"I….." Scorpius started to say. He paused to take a breath as his words caught in his throat, "...I would like to challenge you to a duel."
"...A duel?" Neville blinked, careful to maintain his seriousness so that he wouldn't wound his young pupil, "A duel is a very serious matter, Mr. Malfoy. May I ask why?"
"I have to triumph over you for someone I love." Scorpius sniffed, "It's nothing personal, Professor Longbottom."
"I see." Neville said with a serious nod.
He thought to himself for a moment on how he may calm the waves that he had evidently caused and what words he may choose to assuage his offended student.
Neville met Scorpius's gaze as he spoke, "I deeply apologize for whatever wrong I've committed against you or…...whoever else. Tell me, Mr. Malfoy, do you think that two gentlemen such as ourselves may discuss this matter in greater detail? It is not the way of civilized men like ourselves to solve matters with violence."
Neville hoped that his words would calm Scorpius and make it seem like his idea to abandon the prospect of a duel.
Professor Longbottom curtailed his smile as Scorpius nodded stoically and walked forward to sit down for a chat.
Neville hadn't known what to expect when he had taken on the job of teaching students, but he certainly hadn't anticipated that he would be challenged to a wizard's duel by an angry second year.
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"Is there anything that I can bring you, Lily?" Severus asked as he sat at his wife's bedside while he gently combed his fingers through her crimson hair.
"No, Sev……." Lily breathed with a gentle smile, "Sorry, I just became really tired all of a sudden. I mean, I'm always really tired lately, but that wave of exhaustion was something else."
"Are you feeling any better now?" Severus asked with a tight frown of tense concern.
"...I'm still….a bit tired." Lily breathed as she closed her eyes.
She had almost slipped off to sleep when she felt the covers rustle as Severus climbed into bed beside her.
Lily kept her eyes closed and furrowed her brow as she spoke, "...Sev? Your lunch hour is nearly over……..You have to go back to the Ministry soon."
"I have no meetings scheduled for the rest of the day." Severus replied as he frowned down at Lily, "I'll ask my assistant to brief me tomorrow…..Nothing's more important than you, my love."
"I'm fine, Sev." Lily whispered weakly before she drifted off to sleep, "...I'm fine."
Severus kept his frown as he watched his darling's face relax as sleep consumed her.
He gently lifted Lily's hand and pressed a thoughtful kiss to her palm.
When he pulled back, something caught his attention and he carefully moved her fingers to have a closer look.
Severus's frown deepened as his brow furrowed in soul-crushing dread.
His heart pounded and he swallowed thickly as he looked at the small fan of purple that had discreetly spread out over the base of each of Lily's fingernails.
He laid her hand down gently on her chest as he drew in a deep breath of resolution.
Severus could no longer blind himself with ignorant fantasies.
Lily was not getting better.
Both the muggle and the magical world had failed her.
Severus exhaled as he gave his sleeping wife a gentle, delicate kiss.
If no one else could aid her, then Severus took the responsibility upon himself.
Severus Snape would be the one to save his precious Lily.