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Thank you for all your reviews!
Chapter 3: Muggle Games and Oreo
"Uncle Severus, I'm bored." Athena said ½ hour later.
"Here, take this." Snape said, opened his cupboard and took out a Muggle basketball that he confiscated from Dean Thomas. He threw it to Athena and she caught it easily. "Good catch, who did you learn from to catch a ball?"
"Mandy." Athena said shortly.
"Oh yeah, Madam Hooch teaches Quidditch. Well, go and play with your ball."
Athena walked off and Snape returned to his marking of the Slytherins' Potions essays. First he heard the bouncing of the ball, then...
BOUNCE
BANG
THUD
CRASH
BANG
BONG
And the ball..
BANG
..landed hard on his desk, making a mess of his neat pile of Gryffindors and Slytherins' essays and upset his inkbottle. The ink poured in a black stream over the desk and across Draco Malfoy's essay and a second later, Draco's essay was covered with a black streak. "ATHENA! What are you doing?" Snape demanded, looking up and gasped at the sight of his cabinets lying flat on the floor, the gargoyle at the stone basin was spraying water in the air, and out of 30 jars of slimy things on the shelves behind his desk, 20 jars were smashed into bits. Snape couldn't help but scowled at Athena darkly.
THUD
Athena dropped the ball to the floor suddenly and sniffed.
"Oh please, not that stupid crocodile tears stunt." Snape said, rolling his eyes. He stood up, turned to his jars and took out his wand. "Ruparo." He said and the jars went back to their original state. "Now..." He turned to Athena and stopped.
Athena was sobbing. She had her face in her hands and her shoulders shook.
"Athena! Hey stop crying!"
"YOU SCARE ME, I WANT MUMMY AND DADDY!" Athena wailed.
Snape thought frantically. If Minerva finds out about this, she will kill him! Then a thought struck him.
"Athena, don't cry please! I beg you! Now if you stop crying, we'll play a game." Snape said in panic.
Athena blinked furiously and wiped her tears away quickly.
"Good, what do you want to play?"
"Hide and Seek!" Athena said happily.
Snape stared at her blankly. "What?"
"It's a Muggle game, Mandy play that game with me all the time. I hide while you count to 50 and when you are done, you can find me. If you give up, you can yell 'home free'."
Snape thought for a while. The castle was pretty big, and by the time he found her, Dumbledore and Minerva would probably be back. "All right."
"Good! I hide while you seek!" Athena said and run off before Snape could say anything. "No peeking!"
Snape closed his eyes and counted to 50. Then he yelled, "READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!" and looked back. "I deal with those later." He said to the cabinets, spraying gargoyle and the messy desk and marched out of the dungeon.
***
"Albus, do you think it is safe? Leaving Athena with Severus?" Minerva whispered to Dumbledore during the meeting.
"Yes, I think Severus won't dare to provoke her." Dumbledore whispered back.
"But Athena is rather difficult to handle..." Minerva started.
"I know, like all kids, she isn't an angel all the time." Dumbledore said dryly. Then he smiled. "At least Severus get to learn how to take care of a child." He then turned to talk to Madam Maxime.
"Hope that he takes care of her in a proper way." Minerva thought.
***
"Aha! I found you!" Snape called when he found Athena hiding under a chair in the staff room. "You are too easy to find, Athena!" He said and found himself grinning.
Athena groaned and crawled out. She stood up, sneezed and stared at herself. Her robes were now dusty, her hair was dirty and she looked sweaty.
"You need a bath, kid." Snape said, trying not to smile at the state she was in. "Follow me." He said and leaded her to his bathroom. "Get in." He said shortly and turned on the tap.
"Uncle Severus?"
"Yeah?"
"I don't have any extra clothes."
"Damn." Snape said to himself. He stared at Athena for a while and took out his wand. He waved and a towel and a set of new robes lay beside the bathtub.
"And there's no shampoo." Athena said.
Snape clicked his tongue impatiently and waved his wand again. "There. Now get into the bathtub, wash yourself quickly and don't waste water." He said and closed the door.
***
30 minutes later, Snape banged on the door. "Athena! You have been in there long enough! Get the hell out of there!"
Athena opened the door with her hair wet and clean robes. "Boy that was fun!" She said happily and run past Snape, leaving wet footprints on his floor.
"What the..." Snape started and looked into his bathroom. "ARRRGGHHH!!!!" He bellowed at the sight of his bathroom, which ceilings, walls and mirror were drenched wet.
"ATHENA!!!!!"
***
"Anymore questions?" Fudge asked the 3 Headmasters/mistress and their Deputy.
Silent.
"All right then, dismissed."
As Dumbledore and Minerva stood up and gathered the parchments, Minerva heard Madam Maxime exclaimed: "Good gracious! It's raining heavily!"
"It is?" Minerva asked.
Madam Maxime nodded. "Oui, mon chere madame."
"At least we can use umbrellas.." Minerva started when she heard Fudge groaned. "What is it, Mr. Fudge?"
"I afraid that all of you have to stay for a longer time." Fudge said slowly.
Minerva nearly dropped her rolls of parchment. "WHAT?"
"I still have a couple files here for all of us to discuss on." Fudge said. "I'm sorry."
Madam Maxime smiled. "Bien! We can continue until tis dreadful storm stops!"
Minerva dropped down on her seat heavily while Dumbledore just sighed. "Looks like we can't go back to Hogwarts tonight. Excuse me Fudge, can I send an owl?"
"I hate meetings." Minerva muttered.
***
"Athena, sit there and don't move." Snape ordered, pointing at one of the students' seats.
Athena sat down and watched Snape cleaning up the wet floor, fixing the gargoyle, replacing the cabinets, and tidying up his desk. "Sorry." Athena said softly.
"What?" Snape looked up from his desk.
"Sorry for making such a mess. I didn't mean to." Athena said, biting her lower lip and looked at Snape with her blue eyes filled with guilt.
Snape stared at her. Maybe this brat is not so bad after all. "It's okay." He mumbled. He took out his wand and pointed at Draco's Essay. "Deletrius." The ink stain disappeared. "So, want any snacks?"
Athena raised her eyebrows.
"But not those magical candies. Are there any Muggle snacks that you like?"
"Yeah.." Athena said slowly and looked at Snape uncertainly.
"Hey, I am not angry anymore." Snape said quickly. "So what do you like?"
"Oreo!" Athena said immediately.
Now it's Snape turn to raise his eyebrows. "I have never heard of it."
"I'm sure that Daddy mentioned it to you, he likes it too."
Snape thought hard. "Well, your Daddy did say that his office's password for next year is Oreo... but he never says what it looks like."
"It has two round chocolate biscuits with white cream sandwiched in between. Daddy and I like to eat it with cold milk."
"What about your Mummy?"
"She doesn't like Oreo. Said that it is too creamy and she doesn't like the way Daddy and I eat it."
Snape frowned. What does Minerva mean by that? He shrugged and waved his wand, trying to picture what Oreo looks like. Soon, a plate of two chocolate cookies and tall glass of cold milk appeared on the student's desk.
Athena clapped her hands in delight. "Uncle Severus, you are great!"
Snape folded his arms and found himself smiling proudly. He then cleared his throat. "Eat up then." He ordered, trying to be as cool as possible and went back to his students' essays.
Athena nodded and picked up an Oreo cookie. She SPLASH dropped it into the glass of milk, and then pick it out. Snape looked up and understand why Minerva doesn't like the way Dumbledore and Athena eat Oreo. Milk was dripping from the cookie itself, staining everywhere and cookie crumbs were all over the desk.
Snape sighed. He hoped that Dumbledore and Minerva would come back sooner. He stood up, walked to the window and looked out for any sight of Dumbledore or Minerva but all he could see was a huge storm and a barn owl, flying toward his window. Snape opened it and the owl flew in, dropped a letter at his feet and flew out again.
Snape bended down to pick up the letter and opened the envelope. He unfolded the letter and read:
Dear Severus,
Is Athena all right? I am sorry to say that Minerva and I can't come back to Hogwarts tonight, the weather is terrible and Fudge still has a couple of files for us to discuss. We will be back in the morning. Take care and watch over Athena.
Dumbledore
Snape stared at the words in disbelief. Then he bellowed, "GOD! HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO ME?!"
Athena accidentally knocked over the glass in shock and then..
CRASH
Snape turned around and groaned as he saw a puddle of milk and glass pieces on the floor.
Thank you for all your reviews!
Chapter 3: Muggle Games and Oreo
"Uncle Severus, I'm bored." Athena said ½ hour later.
"Here, take this." Snape said, opened his cupboard and took out a Muggle basketball that he confiscated from Dean Thomas. He threw it to Athena and she caught it easily. "Good catch, who did you learn from to catch a ball?"
"Mandy." Athena said shortly.
"Oh yeah, Madam Hooch teaches Quidditch. Well, go and play with your ball."
Athena walked off and Snape returned to his marking of the Slytherins' Potions essays. First he heard the bouncing of the ball, then...
BOUNCE
BANG
THUD
CRASH
BANG
BONG
And the ball..
BANG
..landed hard on his desk, making a mess of his neat pile of Gryffindors and Slytherins' essays and upset his inkbottle. The ink poured in a black stream over the desk and across Draco Malfoy's essay and a second later, Draco's essay was covered with a black streak. "ATHENA! What are you doing?" Snape demanded, looking up and gasped at the sight of his cabinets lying flat on the floor, the gargoyle at the stone basin was spraying water in the air, and out of 30 jars of slimy things on the shelves behind his desk, 20 jars were smashed into bits. Snape couldn't help but scowled at Athena darkly.
THUD
Athena dropped the ball to the floor suddenly and sniffed.
"Oh please, not that stupid crocodile tears stunt." Snape said, rolling his eyes. He stood up, turned to his jars and took out his wand. "Ruparo." He said and the jars went back to their original state. "Now..." He turned to Athena and stopped.
Athena was sobbing. She had her face in her hands and her shoulders shook.
"Athena! Hey stop crying!"
"YOU SCARE ME, I WANT MUMMY AND DADDY!" Athena wailed.
Snape thought frantically. If Minerva finds out about this, she will kill him! Then a thought struck him.
"Athena, don't cry please! I beg you! Now if you stop crying, we'll play a game." Snape said in panic.
Athena blinked furiously and wiped her tears away quickly.
"Good, what do you want to play?"
"Hide and Seek!" Athena said happily.
Snape stared at her blankly. "What?"
"It's a Muggle game, Mandy play that game with me all the time. I hide while you count to 50 and when you are done, you can find me. If you give up, you can yell 'home free'."
Snape thought for a while. The castle was pretty big, and by the time he found her, Dumbledore and Minerva would probably be back. "All right."
"Good! I hide while you seek!" Athena said and run off before Snape could say anything. "No peeking!"
Snape closed his eyes and counted to 50. Then he yelled, "READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!" and looked back. "I deal with those later." He said to the cabinets, spraying gargoyle and the messy desk and marched out of the dungeon.
***
"Albus, do you think it is safe? Leaving Athena with Severus?" Minerva whispered to Dumbledore during the meeting.
"Yes, I think Severus won't dare to provoke her." Dumbledore whispered back.
"But Athena is rather difficult to handle..." Minerva started.
"I know, like all kids, she isn't an angel all the time." Dumbledore said dryly. Then he smiled. "At least Severus get to learn how to take care of a child." He then turned to talk to Madam Maxime.
"Hope that he takes care of her in a proper way." Minerva thought.
***
"Aha! I found you!" Snape called when he found Athena hiding under a chair in the staff room. "You are too easy to find, Athena!" He said and found himself grinning.
Athena groaned and crawled out. She stood up, sneezed and stared at herself. Her robes were now dusty, her hair was dirty and she looked sweaty.
"You need a bath, kid." Snape said, trying not to smile at the state she was in. "Follow me." He said and leaded her to his bathroom. "Get in." He said shortly and turned on the tap.
"Uncle Severus?"
"Yeah?"
"I don't have any extra clothes."
"Damn." Snape said to himself. He stared at Athena for a while and took out his wand. He waved and a towel and a set of new robes lay beside the bathtub.
"And there's no shampoo." Athena said.
Snape clicked his tongue impatiently and waved his wand again. "There. Now get into the bathtub, wash yourself quickly and don't waste water." He said and closed the door.
***
30 minutes later, Snape banged on the door. "Athena! You have been in there long enough! Get the hell out of there!"
Athena opened the door with her hair wet and clean robes. "Boy that was fun!" She said happily and run past Snape, leaving wet footprints on his floor.
"What the..." Snape started and looked into his bathroom. "ARRRGGHHH!!!!" He bellowed at the sight of his bathroom, which ceilings, walls and mirror were drenched wet.
"ATHENA!!!!!"
***
"Anymore questions?" Fudge asked the 3 Headmasters/mistress and their Deputy.
Silent.
"All right then, dismissed."
As Dumbledore and Minerva stood up and gathered the parchments, Minerva heard Madam Maxime exclaimed: "Good gracious! It's raining heavily!"
"It is?" Minerva asked.
Madam Maxime nodded. "Oui, mon chere madame."
"At least we can use umbrellas.." Minerva started when she heard Fudge groaned. "What is it, Mr. Fudge?"
"I afraid that all of you have to stay for a longer time." Fudge said slowly.
Minerva nearly dropped her rolls of parchment. "WHAT?"
"I still have a couple files here for all of us to discuss on." Fudge said. "I'm sorry."
Madam Maxime smiled. "Bien! We can continue until tis dreadful storm stops!"
Minerva dropped down on her seat heavily while Dumbledore just sighed. "Looks like we can't go back to Hogwarts tonight. Excuse me Fudge, can I send an owl?"
"I hate meetings." Minerva muttered.
***
"Athena, sit there and don't move." Snape ordered, pointing at one of the students' seats.
Athena sat down and watched Snape cleaning up the wet floor, fixing the gargoyle, replacing the cabinets, and tidying up his desk. "Sorry." Athena said softly.
"What?" Snape looked up from his desk.
"Sorry for making such a mess. I didn't mean to." Athena said, biting her lower lip and looked at Snape with her blue eyes filled with guilt.
Snape stared at her. Maybe this brat is not so bad after all. "It's okay." He mumbled. He took out his wand and pointed at Draco's Essay. "Deletrius." The ink stain disappeared. "So, want any snacks?"
Athena raised her eyebrows.
"But not those magical candies. Are there any Muggle snacks that you like?"
"Yeah.." Athena said slowly and looked at Snape uncertainly.
"Hey, I am not angry anymore." Snape said quickly. "So what do you like?"
"Oreo!" Athena said immediately.
Now it's Snape turn to raise his eyebrows. "I have never heard of it."
"I'm sure that Daddy mentioned it to you, he likes it too."
Snape thought hard. "Well, your Daddy did say that his office's password for next year is Oreo... but he never says what it looks like."
"It has two round chocolate biscuits with white cream sandwiched in between. Daddy and I like to eat it with cold milk."
"What about your Mummy?"
"She doesn't like Oreo. Said that it is too creamy and she doesn't like the way Daddy and I eat it."
Snape frowned. What does Minerva mean by that? He shrugged and waved his wand, trying to picture what Oreo looks like. Soon, a plate of two chocolate cookies and tall glass of cold milk appeared on the student's desk.
Athena clapped her hands in delight. "Uncle Severus, you are great!"
Snape folded his arms and found himself smiling proudly. He then cleared his throat. "Eat up then." He ordered, trying to be as cool as possible and went back to his students' essays.
Athena nodded and picked up an Oreo cookie. She SPLASH dropped it into the glass of milk, and then pick it out. Snape looked up and understand why Minerva doesn't like the way Dumbledore and Athena eat Oreo. Milk was dripping from the cookie itself, staining everywhere and cookie crumbs were all over the desk.
Snape sighed. He hoped that Dumbledore and Minerva would come back sooner. He stood up, walked to the window and looked out for any sight of Dumbledore or Minerva but all he could see was a huge storm and a barn owl, flying toward his window. Snape opened it and the owl flew in, dropped a letter at his feet and flew out again.
Snape bended down to pick up the letter and opened the envelope. He unfolded the letter and read:
Dear Severus,
Is Athena all right? I am sorry to say that Minerva and I can't come back to Hogwarts tonight, the weather is terrible and Fudge still has a couple of files for us to discuss. We will be back in the morning. Take care and watch over Athena.
Dumbledore
Snape stared at the words in disbelief. Then he bellowed, "GOD! HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO ME?!"
Athena accidentally knocked over the glass in shock and then..
CRASH
Snape turned around and groaned as he saw a puddle of milk and glass pieces on the floor.