A/N: And now back to the hospital wing…here you go.

Chapter Nine: How Much a Muggle Hates

"Julie? Are you still awake?" her father called. Sure enough, his daughter was sitting up in bed with hands flat on the table, playing wizard chess with Donaghan. Judging by the Scottish boy's expression she had won a few.

"I'm still up, Dad, I've only got one tooth to go." Julie gave her father an exaggerated smile showing new white teeth.

"She's beat me seven times an' tha's a' wizard chess!" Donaghan looked a little bit jokingly despondent about it. "I didn' kna' Muggles coul' play this game!"

"Uncle Ron?" her father asked.

"Definitely."

"Well, I'm glad to see you're learning from your mother's friends. I've brought somebody here who's being made to apologize." Abruptly Donaghan was on his feet with wand drawn.

"Tha' Flint bastard's not-"

"It's okay," Julie told him, and the Scot sat down. "I have to tell him sorry too about the stabbing thing- -don't worry, Dad, I can't quite hold a wand just yet."

"So you're alright with it?" She nodded. "Then McPherson, I will have to ask you to leave for a few minutes at the most. You can come back after Flint's left, will that be okay?"

"Of course, Professor."

"Or else maybe you could let the Gryffindors know how their Seeker is."

"I think I'll do tha', sir."

"Could you tell Chloe Davies that I'm okay, please?"

"Sure thing, only-girl-here, I'll be back righ' soon." He left them very calmly after giving Julie the gentlest kiss on the cheek.

As soon as he was certain the Scot had gone, Snape motioned to Hagrid to bring Flint up from the corridor. With typical presence of mind, he hadn't let the Slytherin wait right outside the door to the hospital wing, just in case Donaghan felt –vengeful.

The dark-haired, slouching boy ambled nervously into the hospital wing, shocked to horror at the sight of the Seeker's hands. Even though they were now shaped like hands again as the tarsals were beginning to grow in as hard bone, the bruises made them purple like mottled gloves. Julie's face, with two black eyes, broken nose, and lurid grin was the hardest for the Slytherin to look at then. He knew that second that he liked Snape's daughter terribly, and also that she hated him like pestilence. However, instead of saying something mean or frowning at him, Julie looked a little shy and half-smiled showing most of her new white teeth.

"I'm sorry that I knifed you in that fight back there."

"I'm sorry, too, Miss-" Flint glanced at Severus, "-Snape. I should never have gotten involved in the first place, and the violence I used was inexcusable."

"Naw, that's okay. I'd've done the same thing if you broke my wand."

"That was right before I broke your leg, Jul- -miss. I was the one in the wrong."

"It was a fight, Flint. Fights are bloody sometimes, sometimes people get cut up and some bones get broken. But fights end. Our fight's over. Let's be civil and dispense with all the worrying."

Nervously Flint agreed to this and Julie had him sit down to the left of her. A mischievous grin had been sprouting and suddenly reached it's full ear-to-ear.

"So, d'you like to play chess at all?"

Her dad smiled.

**************************************

"You mean she wasn't ticked at all about the injuries?"

"Not in the slightest! She thinks fights are fights and now it's over, so her hating him is pointless. Apparently it's a tradition that she learned in the Muggle schools."

"Was Flint shocked by this?"

"Incredibly, and very ashamed of things. I've sent him back to his dormitory with a month of detention- -I thought Harry might need some Bludgers cleaned, and Hagrid's lawn…"

It seemed incredible that Julie wasn't mad at Flint. She explained it as a rule she'd learned back under Muggle care, an offbeat ethic given out to kids who fought too much. Severus recognized the 'ethic' as behavioral conditioning to hold no grudges, which didn't fit her blood but seemed a useful trait.

There was a lot that needed to be explained about her lack of reaction to the curses, as well as a little bit of research on her unique scar. Snape knew that the star was Wormtail's work, but just how many effects the scar had left her with had become his quest between classes to figure out. Reasoning that maybe she had merely dodged Flint's curses after all, he shot her with a minor one she didn't even seem to feel as she left his class with some other Gryffindors.

"Julie, did you see that?"

"Professor Snape!"

"What is it?" Julie looked in surprise at the Weasley boys. Tim was checking the back of her robes for some reason and Tom had her father at wandpoint.

"He just shot you!"

"Did you really, 'Fessor? Was I bad?" Julie grinned a little cheekily at Severus, who was suddenly grinning broadly with his arms crossed there.

"You didn't feel that?"

"No, I didn't."

"Well, that's very good."

"You just cursed your own daughter- -sir," Tom observed in disbelief as the professor smiled and looked at Julie's back for marks again. The Gryffindor had his wand up as if he was holding off an enemy. Snape motioned for him to put it back down again.

"It's quite alright, Weasley, just a test."

"Yeah, we just needed to see if it worked on me, Tom, you can put the wand down, now."

"How do you keep the Weasleys straight, Starcatcher? It seems to me that they're their fathers' little clones, except the older pair had better marks and Beater skills."

The two boys went a little red at their teacher's insult, but Julie recognized the bait had just been meant for her. With an artless little smile she turned to her father and explained it thus:

"Oh, no, Professor, see; Tom's the one who makes the Slytherin Chasers look bad, and Tim's the one who makes their Keeper look a total ass. There's a very big difference in their playing style."

"Oh, so that's it. I thought that Tim was the one who couldn't use a bat without knocking the Quaffle out and Tom was the one who couldn't fly past the half-pitch mark. My mistake."

"Yeah, you must be thinking of Durden and Blodgett there. Poor Slyth'rins can't fly 'thout a balance stick."

"Or maybe it was those Gryffindor pixy boys- -you know, the ones you seem to use for Chasers when a rock would suit."

"Speaking of rocks, I've never seen flying like Blodgett's there... Oh, wait, yes I have. That time a dragon gave birth in midair was close."

"At least Blodgett doesn't fall from a Keeper's foul. Bloody Scottish git-"

"Don't even push it, sir." Julie glared angrily. Snape gave her an evil little smile at this and continued:

"Oh, dear, I'd forgotten that you've got the hots for your captain, girl. Quite a peculiar sort of player to fancy, there, can't even get through a game without breaking his or someone else's arm."

The poor Weasley boys, who had been watching the fight very nervously, suddenly noticed that Julie was brilliant red. She liked Donaghan? Now this was some festive news. Meanwhile, Julie was fighting her father still.

"I swear, Professor, if you don't lay off on McPherson, I'll-"

"You will do what, Miss Starcatcher?" Snape gave her his best 'I'm-a-teacher, you're-a-student, ha-ha' grin, which was something like a raven trying to smile at you. Julie fumbled for a second, but came up brightly.

"I'll...tell Professor McGonagall you don't think we'll win our next match."

Severus looked in fury at his daughter's smile. His mouth went into the thinnest of thin lines and stayed that way.

"One word to Minerva McGonagall and you'll have detention until you can vote, girl!"

Julie innocently asked him a question then:

"Speaking of, when do wizards get to vote?"

"Eighteen just like Muggles, dear. -If you think that you can threaten your teachers, you are sadly and direly- -oh, hi, m'love."

Professor Granger had just entered in the midst of this. The Weasley boys tried not to giggle as they saw the look she gave Julie and Professor Snape.

"What's going on here, Sev?"

Their professor looked nervous and sheepish then.

"Er- -Julie and I were just talking Quidditch, dear. Nothing major, just some insults about flying skill."

"But what's this I hear about you threatening teachers, Julie? You aren't-"

"She's just defending the Scot with McGonagall," Snape explained, causing Hermione to smile at both of them.

"I've got a class to get to, do I have detention, sir?"

"No, Starcatcher, you're fine. Go on, now," her mother said, as the Weasleys gave her brilliant grins identically. The instant the three students had left their sight, she turned to Severus with eyebrow raised quite quizzically. "And why did she need to defend the Scot before the Weasley boys?"

"I- -er- -um, sorry?"

"Close. You have to stop tormenting students, dear. Sooner or later you are going to offend the wrong girl at the wrong time of the month and then I'll have to turn you back into a person."

"Julie can't Transfigure people yet- -can she?"

"According to the Headmistress, she's becoming adept at it. Seems she's inherited somebody's interest in Animagic."

"Damn that Pot- ...drat your friend anyway. She was only supposed to learn flying from him and now she's always hanging out with he and Hagrid. You'd think he was really her uncle, then."

"Well, he sort of is, in the strictly honorary sense of the term. Why are you blaming Harry for her studying?"

"Because he's- -oh. That's your fault." She smiled at him. "It's just that Harry's told her about the Animagi back in my school days, seems like she fancies the idea of repeating it. I'm constantly worried I'll find her with horns one day."

"Horns?"

"Well, one big one, like unicorns. I've also pictured rabbit ears and kitten fur, all nasty thoughts."

"I think Julie'd be more of a raven type. She does like to fly more than I do."

"And a rabbit wouldn't fit her since she fixed her teeth. Sometimes I think she was cuter before she did." He sighed and Hermione patted him.

"She looks older, dear, and that makes parents sad, I'm told." For a moment he looked at her as if she didn't feel the same. "I think it's her outgrowing my old robes that made me notice our little girl's growing up."

"She outgrew them?"

"Just my fifth-year set, much too tall. If she gets to be your height, I will be ticked."

"Oh, come on, dear, you aren't that short, just...not that tall. I think you're the perfect height, if that thought helps."

"The perfect height for you to pick up too much."

"If you insist, darling."

Severus picked Hermione up.

"Oh, put me down, what will the students say?"

"This is my free class or don't you remember that?"

"I remember full well, Professor Snape!"

"It's yours as well, isn't it, Professor Granger?"

"You know my schedule, don't you, dear?"

"Oh, that's right, you have a class in just five minutes. Damn."

"I'll give them study hall if you need my help, Sev."

"You will not! That's the most ridiculous...giving kids study hall...and you never give enough homework!"

"It's to balance when you give them way too much."

"How do you expect children to learn if they don't have to work for it?"

"How do you expect them to learn if they're scared of their teacher?"

"They're not scared of me!"

"Julie's not. Kenny is."

"Little Longbottom? Never!"

"He's just as terrified as Neville was for seven years. I'm not asking you to change your teaching methods, but tone it down a little with the first-year kids. Please, Severus."

"Neville was scared of me?"

"Petrified."

"I never knew that. He's fine with me now,though,-right?

"Yes, but a great deal of that comes from what I've been telling him."

"Like what?"

"That you aren't that awful, Sev."

"Isn't it obvious? You married me, I'm not that bad."

"No, not really, even if you snore and give the puppies treats too much."

"I do not snore and they need treats to grow properly. You talk in your sleep and you're strange when drunk."

"How many times have I been drunk, Sev?"

"Last year at the faculty Halloween party."

"I couldn't help that! Bloody Malfoy gave me absinthe twice."

"So that explains why the Davies keep sending it."

"Speaking of our daughter's other uncle, is he coming up?"

"For Halloween? Of course, and staying here 'til Christmas break. Problems with the Ministry Committee on Auror Weapons, I think, said he'd need to be up here at least three months. I don't blame them for authorizing wand guards, but your Weasley's proposal on portable holes is a little much."

"Portable holes?"

"I think they use them to keep big things in. Like the hippogriff colt that Black thinks our daughter'd like."

"Hagrid said he'd keep him stabled out by his house, Sev."

"It's just too stereotypical to actually let your daughter have a pony, dear."

"She hasn't asked for one."

"Because she hasn't heard of them!"

"Yes, she has, I told her about third year twice."

"She would like that story."

"Beats some other things I'm sure she's wondering about." Hermione gave Severus a look that implied volumes of accounts of the dungeon. "I wouldn't want to give Julie ideas, would I?"

"Oh, stop that, or I'll kiss you 'til you're late for class."

**************************************

"I hate it when Dad rags on Donaghan!" Julie yelled, furiously putting her textbooks down. The Weasley boys gave her identical curious looks from both her right and her left simultaneously. "What?"

"Julie, do you really-"

"-have the hots for Donaghan?"

"Because if you do-"

"-we think that he likes you, too."

"So, do you, then?"

Julie looked very sheepish and sank into a library chair. Madam Pince wasn't around so she sighed and said:

"I've been sort of dating him since after the Quidditch game."

"Awww!" Tim thought this was cute and smiled cheekily. "That's so sweet!"

"And you didn't tell us?" Tom asked, grinning.

"As I recall it, I was a little busy getting pounded and regrowing bones."

"We must have a drink to celebrate!" Tim suggested, giving his cousin a sly wink as he pulled out some butterbeer.

"We can't have a drink in the library," Julie protested.

"She's right, we'd better go back to the Common Room." Tom was fully aware of the prank that Tim was planning for their Seeker friend's butterbeer. Julie, however, was too disbelieving that they weren't teasing her to notice they'd spiked her cup royally. Just as Tim had poured three glasses in the vacated Common Room, Donaghan came in and said hello.

"Donaghan!" the two Weasleys chorused, producing another spiked glass from Tim's bookbag and pouring him a butterbeer.

"Come on, sit down!"

"Alright, but we can't stay long, there's practice soon."

"He's right, guys, let's wait on the butterbeer." Julie was just about to unpour the glasses with her wand but Tom stopped her and she gave him a look. "What's up with you?"

"It's just your father's class, you can't get a drink at all."

"Even if you're dying," Tim added expansively. Donaghan defended Julie's parents thus:

"Professor Granger lets you get a drink in class, but only if you're sure that you won't mix things up. Once I had a cup of butterbeer and another of a Freezing Potion," as Donaghan talked, he was drinking the butterbeer. "I wound up with hypothermia right before a Transfiguration test."

"That's pretty bad, but what about the time your dad made you test the Polyjuice Potion in his class, Julie?"

"She had forgotten her homework-"

"-to bring one hair of another person to try it with."

"So I just pulled a light one out of the hairbrush that Mom gave me and I wound up looking like her until study hall."

"Her dad took off five points from Gryffindor-"

"for having her eyes not change-"

"-their eyes are the same, y'know."

"I know," Donaghan observed smiling secretively, as he and Julie swallowed off the last drops of butterbeer. She returned his look and the cousins noticed they were looking just about to-

"What was in this, guys? I feel as if you'd-" Julie suddenly realized they'd spiked it with something bad. "You didn't use that Lust Potion we found in the Restricted book?"

"No." they chorused, giggling.

"You might say that it's-"

"-worse, though,"

"you really might."

"Guys," Donaghan said threateningly. They burst into laughter and Julie sighed.

"I hate it when they play these pranks on me."