Author's Note: This chapter is the halfway point of this story, as well as somewhat of a turning point in the plot. There should be 5 more chapters plus an epilogue, most of which are written. Reviews are appreciated, it's nice to hear what people think.
In their third year of Hogwarts, everything changed. The school year began as usual, with Rose and Savin reuniting in their usual compartment on the train to discuss their summers and make their plans for the year ahead. The Sorting and start of year feast were fairly uneventful, with the most notable thing being the introduction of yet another new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, though that was hardly surprising anymore. Schedules were passed out, complete with new electives for the third year students. Rose and Savin chose to take Arithmancy and Ancient Runes together, and one more elective each (Rose picked Care of Magical Creatures, and Savin took Muggle Studies). They soon settled back into the routine of school life, getting used to new classes and teachers and adjusting to the heavier course load, and the first couple months quickly passed without major incident.
In mid November, tragedy struck Rose's family again, just over ten years after the death of her mother. One early morning, while Rose and Savin were both still sleeping soundly in their dormitories, Rose's father and stepmother were already leaving for work. Since they only had one car, it was their habit for Dan to drive Jenny to her work before continuing on to his own, and then pick her up again in the evening. Jenny's son John was still living at home as well, attending a local college that he could get to using public transportation to avoid having to share the car three ways. This particular morning started like any other, if perhaps a little chillier than it had been the last few days. Dan and Jenny hurried to the car, shivering from the cold, and began the familiar drive to Jenny's office. Traffic was light, and they were both in a good mood despite the early hour (which felt even earlier since the lazy winter sun was only just rising as they drove), chatting about their anticipated work that day and the letter they had received from Rose just the night before. Savin's owl, who had delivered the letter, was still waiting in their kitchen in anticipation of their response, which was only partly written. They were about halfway to Jenny's office, driving across an intersection, when a van suddenly came at them from the cross street, speeding through a red light. Dan tried to swerve away as the van barrelled towards him and Jenny, but the other vehicle was coming too quickly, and he couldn't react in time. The van smashed into the Aurums' car, sending both vehicles crashing into a concrete median in the road, and killing all occupants.
It was late afternoon by the time news of the accident reached Hogwarts, in the form of a letter delivered to the Headmaster by Savin's grey owl. Dumbledore, in turn, passed on the news to Professor McGonagall, for it fell to her as Rose's head of house to deliver such tidings. Transfiguration was the last period of the day for the Gryffindor third years, who had the class on their own that year. After class, Professor McGonagall pulled Rose aside and gently told her the news, at which point Rose muttered an excuse and ran from the room. McGonagall started to go after her, but the girl had a head start, and the professor quickly lost her. After checking the Gryffindor dorms, the Great Hall, and the library, and not finding Rose in any of them, McGonagall returned to the staffroom. She found Snape sitting there, reading a potions journal, and told him what was going on. By this point it was common knowledge among the staff that the potions master cared about Rose, and considered her one of his best and favorite students, even despite her being a Gryffindor, and McGonagall assumed that he would want to be kept aware of this tragic development in her life. She also hoped that he might have some better guesses of where Rose might go when upset, since she was running out of obvious places to check. Snape considered for a moment, then admitted that he might have an idea, and would go check there for Rose.
He found her exactly where he had expected, sitting on the gnarled roots of a lonely tree that grew to the side of the castle. Snape had noticed over the last couple years that this was usually the spot where Rose and Savin sat when they were outside. It had a good view of the lake and surrounding country, but was out of the way of the usual gathering spots that most of the students frequented. The grassy lawn in front of the castle, the lakeshore, and the trees scattered in those areas were usually filled with groups of loud students, but this particular tree was far enough away that Rose and Savin could sit there and talk undisturbed and virtually unnoticed, seating themselves on the thick roots that grew together to make a sort of bench. On that evening, with night falling quickly and the temperature low enough to make staying in the warmth of the castle more appealing than spending time outside, there were no gaggles of students outside the castle, only the single lonely figure under the leafless tree.
The potions master approached, suddenly much less sure of how to proceed. When he had told Professor McGonagall that he would go find Rose, he hadn't thought much beyond locating the girl, and now found himself unsure what to say or do. As Slytherin's head of house, he had been required to deal with grieving students before, but he had only been teaching for a few years, and the situation had not arisen too frequently. And the occasions where Professor Snape had been called upon to counsel grieving Slytherins had been fairly awkward experiences for all involved, something unsurprising considering how badly the man handled dealing with his own emotions, let alone anyone else's. But now, walking towards Rose where she sat huddled and crying among the tree roots, he wanted to help, wanted to at least try to see if there was anything he could do. Later that night, looking back on that moment, he would realize that it hadn't even occurred to him to turn around, to leave her there and tell McGonagall where to find her. His questions to himself, his hesitancy, were only about how to alert her to his presence, what to say to her, how to offer his support, not whether to do so. He would ponder this for a long time, later that night, wondering how he could have come to care so much about a single student, a girl not only not in his own House, but one in the House of his rivals. But in the moment, Professor Snape was not focusing on his motivations or feelings, which could be dissected at leisure at a more convenient time, but on his course of action.
He called out softly to Rose, moving to sit beside her as she looked up at him, wiping at her face with her sleeve in a vain attempt to hide the evidence of her tears. For a few minutes they sat in silence, neither entirely sure what to say, watching the sky darken further as the sun set. Seeing Rose shiver in the chilly night air, Snape pulled off his black cloak and draped the heavy fabric over her shoulders. She wrapped it tighter around herself, burrowing into the warm cloth, before suddenly throwing herself into the potions master's arms. He, though somewhat taken aback (after all, none of his Slytherins would ever have considered hugging him, even if they were in distress), nonetheless managed to react appropriately, awkwardly patting her on the back and making what he hoped were comforting noises as she sobbed into his shoulder. They stayed there, sitting together under the tree as night fell and the temperature dropped even further, until Snape quietly suggested that they consider returning to the castle. Most of the other students and teachers would be in the Great Hall for dinner, so they would be able to avoid drawing unwelcome attention on the way to the Hospital Wing, where Snape recommended that Rose stay overnight to avoid having to interact with her housemates, something which she agreed that she would rather put off as long as possible.
The two of them made their way across the darkened grounds to the brightly lit castle and through the deserted halls. They found the Hospital Wing empty - no students were currently in residence there, and Madam Pomfrey had gone to dinner with the rest of the school. As they entered the room, Rose finally broke the silence that had hung over them throughout the walk back, asking in a wavering voice what would happen next. The professor, correctly interpreting the question as being about larger issues than what to do now that they had reached the Hospital Wing, answered by telling her that the funeral was planned for the next day, and that Professor McGonagall would escort her there in the morning. As he mentioned the Head of Gryffindor House, Snape suddenly realized that he should probably have told McGonagall that he had found Rose, though he supposed she had assumed that considering that they had not encountered any search parties on their way through the castle. With a quick apology to Rose, who still had not outwardly reacted to what he had told her, he quickly sent a patronus message to both Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore letting them know what was going on. When he turned back to the girl, he found that she had sat down on one of the hospital beds, still holding his cloak wrapped around herself, watching him.
When she was sure that Snape was done working his spell, Rose hesitantly asked whether he might be able to accompany her the next day instead of Professor McGonagall. As soon as she finished speaking she was already sure it had been a mistake to ask. Yes, he'd come out to look for her, and stayed with her when she needed it, and as surprising as it was to realize it, she did think she would find his presence more comforting than McGonagall's, but that didn't mean she could just say something like that! Rose immediately started trying to take it back, mumbling an apology and trying to explain that she didn't mean for him to go to any more trouble, he'd already done enough...he held up his hand as though to physically halt the jumbled flow of words coming out of her mouth, and she fell silent, ducking her head so her hair fell forward over her face. The potions master had already been ready to grant her request, and had been from the moment she asked it, but if he hadn't, that gesture certainly would have swayed him, for it was one that he remembered very clearly from his own youth, which had not really been that long ago. Before he had learned to hide his thoughts and control his emotions through magical means, the younger Severus had often used his long hair as a way of hiding his face, providing a barrier between himself and the cruel outside world. Pushing away memories of himself sitting in these same beds in the hospital wing too many times in the past, Snape returned to the matter at hand, informing Rose in a tone that allowed no argument that he would be accompanying her in McGonagall's place, unless she could come up with a more convincing argument than those that she had presented so ineloquently so far. It probably wasn't the politest way of saying it, but the girl nodded, didn't burst into tears again, whispered a soft "thank you," and seemed to understand what he was really trying to say, so Snape decided to count that as a win.
There was a brief pause, a silence as the student and professor looked at each other and each tried to decide what, if anything, to say now. Before the silence could stretch too long, Professor McGonagall entered the room, summoned by the message Professor Snape had sent her. Hearing the doors open, Snape turned around and greeted her, informing her (in what was meant to be the same commanding manner that he had used on Rose, but came out a little more hesitant directed at someone who had been Snape's own teacher not so very long before) that Rose would be staying in the Hospital Wing for the night, and that in the morning he would take her home for the funeral. McGonagall was, understandably, a little taken aback by the statement, since as far as she was aware the plan had always been for her to accompany Rose, as was her duty as the girl's head of house. She started to open her mouth to ask Snape what on earth he was talking about, but stopped herself as he shook his head slightly at her with a significant glance toward their student sitting on the bed. Before McGonagall could decide to speak despite his warning look, the potions master suggested quickly that perhaps they should go over the details as they walked, and leave Rose alone to rest. With a glance at Snape that made it clear he'd better have a good explanation for all this, McGonagall agreed, and after a few more comforting words to Rose, the two professors left the Hospital Wing.
Professor McGonagall managed to wait until they were out of the room and far enough away that there was no chance of Rose hearing them before turning on Professor Snape and demanding an explanation - not only of his behavior in the hospital wing, and the apparent new plan that he had concocted, but also of why it had taken so long to retrieve Rose and where she had been the whole time. Snape did his best to calm down his colleague, explaining how he had found Rose and her request that he accompany her to her parents' funeral. By the time they reached Gryffindor Tower, where McGonagall intended to collect some appropriate clothing for Rose to wear the next day, the transfiguration professor was onboard with the plan and agreed that it did make sense under the circumstances, though she still scolded Snape for putting her on the spot like that in front of Rose. The two parted near the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, McGonagall entering the common room while Snape headed back towards the dungeons to prepare himself for what was sure to be an unpleasant day ahead.
Early the next morning, before the rest of the school had made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast, Professor Snape and Rose left Hogwarts, apparating to the outskirts of the town where she had grown up. Dressed in dark muggle clothing, they walked the rest of the way to the graveyard, arriving at about the same time as the rest of the mourners. Rose's stepbrother John stood with his mother's parents, watching as she arrived. Snape, not wanting to get in the way of what he assumed would be a welcome family reunion for his student, held back slightly as Rose approached them. He noticed that she seemed somewhat reluctant, but that was only natural, wasn't it? He recalled from his own parents' funeral that he hadn't been terribly interested in interacting with anyone, even what little family was left at that point. But as Snape watched further, he started to wonder whether something more was going on. It was one thing to want to be left alone at a time like this, to run off and hide somewhere so you didn't have to deal with other people, but when actually put in the position of being forced to interact, shouldn't she have seemed a little more pleased, or at least relieved, to see family? Severus Snape would be the first to admit that he didn't always have the best understanding of human behavior, and was aware that his own life experiences were not always (or often) the best guide for predicting how other people should act or react to situations. However, he recalled well that once he had been forced to attend the funeral for his parents and deal with all of the people who had shown up (some to grieve, but more to gossip), he had been grateful for the presence of his grandmother, and had stayed close to her for the duration of the ceremony, using her as both comfort and shield from the others present.
But as Rose reluctantly approached her family, not making any move to embrace any of them and they similarly keeping their distance, the expressions on her brother and grandparents' faces when they saw her...something didn't seem quite right, but not obviously wrong enough for Snape to be willing to jump in and intervene. So he continued to hang back as the ceremony commenced, and only made his way back to where Rose stood with her family once it had finished. When he did it was quickly obvious that his original instincts had been right - all was not well with the extended Aurum clan. As the funeral guests drifted away, leaving only the family and Snape by the gravesite, things boiled over. It was soon clear that Rose's stepbrother, through some rather convoluted logic, was convinced that magic must have played a part in their parents' deaths, since no obvious cause had been found to explain why the truck had suddenly run that light and smashed into the Aurums' car, and he, by extension, blamed Rose for the accident. John, with his grandparents backing him up, made it clear that Rose was not welcome among them any longer, despite the fact that her stepmother had been the only mother she'd ever known, and her step-grandparents the only grandparents. No amount of convincing could have convinced him, and neither Rose nor her professor bothered to try terribly hard (as she told Snape at a much later point, she had never gotten along with John or his grandparents, and her grief and anger at being effectively disowned by them was more a matter of principle than any real desire to spend more time together). With grudging permission from John (Snape didn't bother pointing out that they didn't need his permission, as he was focused on getting this over with and getting Rose out of there before she completely broke down), Snape took Rose back to the house to gather up her things, magically shrinking it all to fit into his pocket. They walked back to the edge of town, Rose looking silently back at the place that had been her home for 13 years but never would be again. She took Snape's offered hand and he apparated them back to the border of the Hogwarts' wards. Neither knew exactly what would be coming next, but it was clear that this would be the start of a new, and very different, chapter in their lives.