Thank you so much to Sarahamanda and No Name LOL for their kind reviews.
And, Anon, if you are by any chance still reading this, I'm very sorry for
insulting you by my comment at the bottom of Ch. 3. I was merely being
sarcastic in a moment of frustration over lack of readers. And thank you
for reading my story though it was not to your taste. I'll take that as a
compliment.
This chapter is longer! Yay for me! I hope you like it. If you review( and please review! It would make me feel special!) would you mind telling me, honestly, if you thought my characterization of Snape was all right.
Because I thought he might be, well, a bit unSnapeish. Thanks
Oh, yes. This story doesn't belong to me. It belongs to someone who will probably never read it, but that's all right. I still claim everyone and
everything I can, though!
CHAPTER SEVEN
Snape paced back and forward, back and forward, across his small home potions lab, thinking. He checked his watch distractedly. It was after midnight. Snape groaned audibly. It was officially doomsday. The day he lost his authority and reputation over his students that he had come to prize. The day his oldest daughter discovered what an ogre he really was. The first day of school.
Snape had tried hard to persuade his wife to home school Koraleigh or enroll her in one of the smaller wizarding schools in the area, usually all sorts of excuses and arguments such as the pressure she would have placed upon her to be the only student with a parent there and all other sorts of nonsense that he had spent hours composing, but to no avail. Ailey had seen right through his well thought out arguments. Snape shook his head fondly. There weren't many people who would be able to see gaps through anything he had said and even fewer who would stand up to him if they did. He hadn't married Ailey for nothing, after all.
After thinking about it, what he dreaded most about the upcoming day was the very strong possibility that Koraleigh would get hurt for his actions, that students would choose to use Koraleigh as a means to gain revenge for the countless detentions and point deductions. In the grand scheme of things, he supposed he could deal with the loss of his reputation. And as much as it pained him, he'd rather have his daughter hate him then for her to be hurt, though he supposed the two must go hand in hand.
Snape shook his head. The inevitable events that tomorrow would bring were spiraling toward their goal and there was nothing he could do to stop them. He let at a groan of frustration. It wasn't often at all that something happened that Professor Severus Snape, Potions Master, and most feared professor at Hogwarts couldn't control.
Snape looked at his watch again and decided that he could just as well argue things over in bed then down in his dungeons. Perhaps he would even manage a little sleep while he was at it.
Snape stealthily crept to his and his wife's bedroom, trying not to disturb any one. He entered the room, and quickly removed most of his clothing, leaving only the underclothes he usually slept in at home. Snape tried his best to make the minimal amount of movements so he wouldn't jostle the bed and his sleeping wife anymore then necessary. As he adjusted himself into a comfortable position, a warm and soft hand squeezed his own.
Any normal person would have started, at the very least, but Snape merely rolled over to look into his wife's beautiful hazel eyes.
"Well, get it all out. I know neither of us will be able to sleep until you stop that incessant nervous breathing of yours and tell me all your problems."
"You sound like me." he whispered.
"It would be impossible to have been married to you for this long without picking up on your habits."
"True." replied Snape drily.
"So, number one fear." She paused for a second. "I'm not trying to say that you're being irrational. I'm scared for Koraleigh too. But we can't protect her forever. She's growing up."
"I've noticed. But..."
"But you want to protect her. You're afraid of what the other students are going to do to her."
"How do you manage to always know what I'm thinking?"
I've had the same fears, Severus. Except in my case, I'm not going to be there to witness it. You are."
"I'm afraid that students are going to take out their revenge for the things I've done to them on Koraleigh." There. Snape had done it. He'd confessed his deepest darkest fear.
Ailey was silent for a minute. "I don't mean to change the subject, Severus, but isn't that what you do to Harry Potter?"
This comment from anyone else would elicit a nasty reply from Snape, but coming from his wife, the only person who could say anything to him and get away with it, Snape merely leaned back and sighed. Ailey was right, of course. That was what he had done to Potter. He wasn't his father, and from what he had seen through weeks of attempting to teach Occlumency, not worthy of such strong hatred. Not that that would have stopped Snape before, but maybe it was time for a change. Maybe he had become so embittered that he was becoming incapable of feeling, leaving him like...he shuddered...his father. That was something Snape would never do. Maybe it was for the best that Koraleigh was coming to Hogwarts this year. Maybe Snape could remember again how to sympathize. Maybe he could break free of his hatred of all students for being incompetent. Maybe...nah. Snape knew he was almost forced to act more polite and genteel to the students this year, but he didn't have to push it.
What Snape wouldn't even admit to himself was that he couldn't break free of his character and its mask because he was scared. Scared to show his real face to the world. He had always hated pity, after all.
"You're right." replied Snape finally. "I'll try to be more...accommodating of Potter this year."
Ailey just glanced at him questioningly. "And... Don't you think he deserves some recompensation for putting up with you?"
Snape frowned. "I'll let him into my NEWT class." Snape snarled inside. So manipulating, was Ailey. He'd fallen straight into that trap.
"But that doesn't change the students' reactions to Koraleigh. I don't want to see her hurt."
"Severus, I cannot promise that everything will be perfect tomorrow. In fact, I would be surprised if something didn't go wrong. But Koraleigh will be all right. She's a strong girl. And it's going to take a lot more then some students' comments to make her hate you. It'll all be all right, Severus. Have faith."
Snape finally nodded. It would be all right. He rolled over, and tried to go to sleep. Though sleep took a long time in coming, it finally came.
compliment.
This chapter is longer! Yay for me! I hope you like it. If you review( and please review! It would make me feel special!) would you mind telling me, honestly, if you thought my characterization of Snape was all right.
Because I thought he might be, well, a bit unSnapeish. Thanks
Oh, yes. This story doesn't belong to me. It belongs to someone who will probably never read it, but that's all right. I still claim everyone and
everything I can, though!
CHAPTER SEVEN
Snape paced back and forward, back and forward, across his small home potions lab, thinking. He checked his watch distractedly. It was after midnight. Snape groaned audibly. It was officially doomsday. The day he lost his authority and reputation over his students that he had come to prize. The day his oldest daughter discovered what an ogre he really was. The first day of school.
Snape had tried hard to persuade his wife to home school Koraleigh or enroll her in one of the smaller wizarding schools in the area, usually all sorts of excuses and arguments such as the pressure she would have placed upon her to be the only student with a parent there and all other sorts of nonsense that he had spent hours composing, but to no avail. Ailey had seen right through his well thought out arguments. Snape shook his head fondly. There weren't many people who would be able to see gaps through anything he had said and even fewer who would stand up to him if they did. He hadn't married Ailey for nothing, after all.
After thinking about it, what he dreaded most about the upcoming day was the very strong possibility that Koraleigh would get hurt for his actions, that students would choose to use Koraleigh as a means to gain revenge for the countless detentions and point deductions. In the grand scheme of things, he supposed he could deal with the loss of his reputation. And as much as it pained him, he'd rather have his daughter hate him then for her to be hurt, though he supposed the two must go hand in hand.
Snape shook his head. The inevitable events that tomorrow would bring were spiraling toward their goal and there was nothing he could do to stop them. He let at a groan of frustration. It wasn't often at all that something happened that Professor Severus Snape, Potions Master, and most feared professor at Hogwarts couldn't control.
Snape looked at his watch again and decided that he could just as well argue things over in bed then down in his dungeons. Perhaps he would even manage a little sleep while he was at it.
Snape stealthily crept to his and his wife's bedroom, trying not to disturb any one. He entered the room, and quickly removed most of his clothing, leaving only the underclothes he usually slept in at home. Snape tried his best to make the minimal amount of movements so he wouldn't jostle the bed and his sleeping wife anymore then necessary. As he adjusted himself into a comfortable position, a warm and soft hand squeezed his own.
Any normal person would have started, at the very least, but Snape merely rolled over to look into his wife's beautiful hazel eyes.
"Well, get it all out. I know neither of us will be able to sleep until you stop that incessant nervous breathing of yours and tell me all your problems."
"You sound like me." he whispered.
"It would be impossible to have been married to you for this long without picking up on your habits."
"True." replied Snape drily.
"So, number one fear." She paused for a second. "I'm not trying to say that you're being irrational. I'm scared for Koraleigh too. But we can't protect her forever. She's growing up."
"I've noticed. But..."
"But you want to protect her. You're afraid of what the other students are going to do to her."
"How do you manage to always know what I'm thinking?"
I've had the same fears, Severus. Except in my case, I'm not going to be there to witness it. You are."
"I'm afraid that students are going to take out their revenge for the things I've done to them on Koraleigh." There. Snape had done it. He'd confessed his deepest darkest fear.
Ailey was silent for a minute. "I don't mean to change the subject, Severus, but isn't that what you do to Harry Potter?"
This comment from anyone else would elicit a nasty reply from Snape, but coming from his wife, the only person who could say anything to him and get away with it, Snape merely leaned back and sighed. Ailey was right, of course. That was what he had done to Potter. He wasn't his father, and from what he had seen through weeks of attempting to teach Occlumency, not worthy of such strong hatred. Not that that would have stopped Snape before, but maybe it was time for a change. Maybe he had become so embittered that he was becoming incapable of feeling, leaving him like...he shuddered...his father. That was something Snape would never do. Maybe it was for the best that Koraleigh was coming to Hogwarts this year. Maybe Snape could remember again how to sympathize. Maybe he could break free of his hatred of all students for being incompetent. Maybe...nah. Snape knew he was almost forced to act more polite and genteel to the students this year, but he didn't have to push it.
What Snape wouldn't even admit to himself was that he couldn't break free of his character and its mask because he was scared. Scared to show his real face to the world. He had always hated pity, after all.
"You're right." replied Snape finally. "I'll try to be more...accommodating of Potter this year."
Ailey just glanced at him questioningly. "And... Don't you think he deserves some recompensation for putting up with you?"
Snape frowned. "I'll let him into my NEWT class." Snape snarled inside. So manipulating, was Ailey. He'd fallen straight into that trap.
"But that doesn't change the students' reactions to Koraleigh. I don't want to see her hurt."
"Severus, I cannot promise that everything will be perfect tomorrow. In fact, I would be surprised if something didn't go wrong. But Koraleigh will be all right. She's a strong girl. And it's going to take a lot more then some students' comments to make her hate you. It'll all be all right, Severus. Have faith."
Snape finally nodded. It would be all right. He rolled over, and tried to go to sleep. Though sleep took a long time in coming, it finally came.