Disclaimer: All Harry Potter people, places, and things, (all Harry Potter nouns) belong to J. K. Rowlings. Desiree Snape and Eleanora Snape are mine.

Chapter 13: Hansel and Gretel

At the beginning of summer, Nora became a registered animagus. Remus and Desiree were married in a wizards' binding ceremony with Minerva as the maid of honour, Severus giving the bride away, Nora and Hermione as bridesmaids, with Harry and Ron watching from their seats. They bride and groom honeymooned in Germany and returned in time for the new school term.

At the Welcoming Feast, it was announced that Desiree would be teaching Ancient Runes. However, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was from the Ministry of Magic. Nora thought that Dolores Umbridge resembled the drawings of the evil witch from Hansel and Gretel in a storybook she had as a child. Don't eat anything she makes, Nora thought wryly.

Unfortunately food was not the problem: Defense Against the Dark Arts was. Umbridge basically had the students reading from their textbooks, not teaching them anything. After a few dreary months of monotony, Umbridge did give a short lecture in which she posed questions to the class. However, she was asking them rhetorically, not wanting a discussion.

Not realizing that the questions were not meant to be answered aloud, Nora spoke up in response to a question. Umbridge turned to her and stared at her oddly. "Young lady, you have one detention for speaking out of turn."

Nora was not in the mood to behave or restrain herself, not after such a frivolous accusation. She stood and met the hag's gaze. "What right do you have to give me detention for answering a question that you asked the class?"

Harry grabbed Nora's sleeve and pulled her back down to her seat. "That wasn't a good idea," he whispered.

Umbridge, her face flushed with irritation, marched over to Nora and handed her a hastily scrawled note. "Report to the head of your house immediately! I will not deal with such an insurrection!"

Slowly standing, Nora silently made her way out of the room and walked down the hall to Minerva's office. After hearing rumors about Umbridge's disciplinary tactics, Minerva was not surprised to receive an owl from the woman regarding Nora. That girl has definitely met her match this year, the Transfiguration professor thought as she heard a knock at the door.

"Have a seat, Miss Snape," Minerva called out.

Nora drifted into the room and plopped down on one of the chairs. "I suppose you want me to explain myself. Alright, I'm sorry you had to hear about this, but I probably deserve whatever is coming to me. Madame Umbridge posed a question to the class and I answered it, thinking that she wanted an answer. So she gave me detention. I was more than upset and I called her on it. Then she sent me to you for whatever punishment you would like to assign."

Minerva simply sat back in her chair and studied her guest. I don't know what mortifies me more: the fact that she corrected a teacher or the fact that the teacher gave her detention for doing what any other student would have done in a class. "Miss Snape, you should not have corrected a teacher, but she should not have assigned you a detention beforehand. Therefore, you will serve your detention with me, in which you will help me clean my classroom."

Nora nodded. "Thank you, Professor McGonagall, for not being too hard on me."

"I severe punishment was not warranted. However, I would advise you to stay well out of Madame Umbridge's way in the future. Try to blend in and avoid aggravating her," Minerva advised as Nora was dismissed.

Minerva's mind wandered as she returned to her marking. I don't like where this is going. She orders the students around as if they were several years younger than they are, and she has made several sharp remarks about the staff. Sybil should not have been fired. I only hope business with the Order is not discovered. Who knows what that toad would do if she knew, Minerva surmised.

Numbered among the members of the Order of the Phoenix was Remus. Desiree had finally discovered what Remus had been doing after he had left Hogwarts. He had gone on several reconnaissance missions and researched different things that the Order needed. After an accidental conversation with Molly Weasley when the woman had assumed that Desiree was in the Order, she had decided to confront Remus with her findings when he came to see her during the winter break.

She had not seen him in two months and kissed him soundly as he walked in through the door. He smiled at her when the kiss ended. "Should I ask what is for dinner?" he teased.

Desiree sighed. "I'm so glad to see you back, and dinner is ready, but there are a few things we need to discuss."

"That's fine. I have missed being here, especially with my wife," he remarked.

"And I've missed you too. I talked to Molly. She seemed to think that as your wife, I knew about a certain group," she paused and watched as Remus almost choked on his food. "Tell me about the Order of the Phoenix."

He knew that denying its existence would only irritate her. After he explained the basic elements of it, he added "You are not joining it."

"Why won't you let me join the Order with you?" Desiree questioned as she and Remus ate their dinner.

"You know it is too dangerous. I love you too much to see you get hurt or worse doing things other people ought to be doing. You should stay here and continue teaching where you are safe," he insisted.

She placed both hands on the table and leaned toward him. "I'm not about to let you wind up dead without getting the chance to help you. You forget that I've spent enough time in America to know how to be stubborn."

He stood and sighed as he pushed a strand of her black hair behind her ear. "Dearest, I love you. If anything ever happened to you I'd never forgive myself. I have also accepted that I have a daughter now. If something were to happen to both of us, what would Nora do? She needs at least one of us to be here for her."

Desiree stood on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly. "You're right, but I still want you to be safe."

"For you, I'll do the best I can," he conveyed as he kissed her tenderly.

On the last day of the winter break, Severus and Minerva sat drinking Wassail just after having played two games of Samurai chess. Minerva sighed, knowing what she needed to ask him, but not wanting to. "Albus would like you to teach Mr. Potter Occlumency."

"You want me to teach the Potter brat Occlumency?" he asked incredulously.

"He's fifteen, hardly young enough to be called a brat anymore. I am asking you on Albus' behalf to do this," she pleaded.

He crossed his arms, staring at her indignantly, and though recent times were serious, part of her wanted to laugh at how he reminded her of his much younger self for an instant. "You know that I will do as Albus asks, but you also know how much that boy and I despise each other."

"You and I both know that Occlumency is the best way to keep… unwanted visitors out of his head," she said, referring to Voldemort.

"I cannot promise anything. I will try, but the two of us may hex each other into the next universe in the meantime," he added flatly.

She sighed and gave him a small smile. "That's all anyone is asking these days: that we all try. With evil wizards and extraordinarily rude Ministry officials lurking who knows where, we all must learn to stick together."

He scoffed. "That is easier said than done."

Toward the beginning of April Minerva entered her rooms and collapsed on her couch. Umbridge had pushed her too far and annoyed her past tolerance. After a moment she summoned the energy and poured herself a glass of brandy. Hearing a knock at the door, she jumped up and quickly made to answer it, thinking that it was an unexpected visit from the 'headmistress.' However, the door opened before she could reach it.

Severus entered and quickly shut the door behind him. "I know you would prefer that I didn't use your password, but I have news that shouldn't wait. That toad Umbridge keeps dropping in on my classes and assigning detentions before I can. I know this is probably the last thing you need to hear right now, Albus in exile and all, but this is ridiculous!"

By then Minerva had jumped to her feet and was standing in front of him. "Of all the irritating things to do, who will she come after next? I am appalled that she has this kind of authority! Do you know what else that monster would like to do? She wants to spy on all of us while we give career advice! That shrew of a woman thinks she deserves to be headmistress. If I didn't think it would get me sacked like Sybil, I would march right in there and tell her what I thought of her pointless rules and her harsh dealings with the staff!"

"I'm just glad that Desiree has somehow managed not to make herself noticed. Nora should never have spoken out like she did a few months ago, but I probably would have done the same thing in her position. At least I've managed to successfully teach her how to keep her thoughts to herself. She really is quite talented at the arts of mind-reading, probably because it comes so naturally to her. She is currently skilled in Legilimency as well as Occlumency," he remarked.

"How are Mr. Potter's Occlumency lessons progressing?" she questioned.

A dark look that she had not seen since his fifth year appeared in his eyes. When she reached over to him he jerked back as if he had been burnt and began pacing. "Potter saw something he wasn't supposed to. I ended the lessons. He'll never be good enough anyway," Severus snapped.

Minerva raised an eyebrow and began following him as he paced. "What are you talking about? What happened?"

She noticed the sadness in his expression. "Potter looked into my pensieve and saw my worst memory! The brat saw what happened during my fifth year!"

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes for a moment. The days and weeks were taking their toll on her and she felt it in every fiber of her being. "Oh Severus, I am so sorry. I'm surprised you are here after all that. Is there anything you want me to do?"

"Minerva, I'm sorry to be blunt, you look about as bad as I feel. Sit down for a moment," he commented, noting her exhaustion.

She wondered what he was doing as she seated herself until she felt two strong hands begin to massage the tight knots out of her neck, removing her hairpins as well. Becoming progressively contented, she chuckled. "Severus, you should have thought to do that months ago."

As he continued to alleviate the pressure that had built up in her neck and shoulders, he smirked as he heard a sound associated with her animagus form. Continuing the massage, he leaned toward her. "My dear professor, I do believe you are purring," he whispered in her ear, his hot breath on her neck.

She shivered. "It has been far too long since I've actually felt relaxed," she admitted breathlessly.

The motion ceased but then she felt him kissing her neck. The next thing both of them knew, he was still kissing her neck, but had managed to pull her out of her seat. Then his lips captured her in a searing kiss. They kissed ardently and she deepened the kiss. Her hands rested on his shoulders while he wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close to him.

He suddenly pulled back slightly. "Perhaps we should not be engaging ourselves in things for the wrong reasons," he breathed.

She surprised him by grabbing his collar. "Quite right, but tonight the wrong course would be to ignore ourselves. I imagine that made little sense but, please don't leave," she whispered in his ear. With that she paused to see how what she had said would resonate with him. When he did not move she kissed him passionately.

He responded and the kiss intensified. She turned off her awareness to everything else except the fact that she was kissing him, and he did the same. Pausing after a more heated kiss, he carried her into her bedroom and both got very little sleep that night.

Minerva's alarm sounded at 5:00 that morning. As she stretched to turn if off, she realized that she was entangled in something. Her eyes flew open when she realized that Severus still had his arms wrapped around her. She unwound herself and noticed her robes in a pile on the floor. After grabbing a set of clean robes, showering, and dressing for the morning within a span if thirty minutes, she tried to wake Severus.

After practically shaking him, he grumbled and opened his eyes, focusing on her and then the rest of the room. "Minerva, what on earth and I doing here?" he asked.

She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "And I thought I had trouble remembering things."

He sat up and noticed that his robes were in a heap on the floor. "I thought that was a dream," he stated wryly with a hint of pink in his cheeks.

She threw her head back and laughed. "If you have dreams that vivid, I hate to ask what else goes on in that head of yours. You may use my shower if you want."

He chuckled. "Desiree has said similar things. I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky that neither you nor she is a Legilimens and that even if one of you were, I could block you out," he told her as he headed for the shower.

Once they were both ready for the morning, they decided to head for the Great Hall, one entering a few minutes after the other. They conversed quietly as they continued on their route. "Severus, we really ought to discuss a few things before the day grows too long. What happened last night?"

He snorted. "Minerva, if you have to ask that, then you have more memory problems than I do."

She glared at him and swatted his arm. "Severus Snape, you know very well what I meant!"

"Yes, I do. Last night was the result of too much stress, too many problems to worry about and," he paused and cupped her cheek with his hand since there were no students around, "something we both needed that words were insufficient to explain. Perhaps in time we'll be able to put our feelings to words." Before she could comment, he kissed her tenderly, causing her insides to melt all over again. Rather than continue the discussion, both simply proceeded quietly to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Severus tried to choke down his food when he noticed Harry sitting next to Nora. They locked glares for a moment and Nora elbowed Harry. "This conflict you have with him needs to be resolved. You shouldn't have looked into his pensieve."

The two continued conversing as they left and headed back to the Common Room. "I was curious. The two of us hate each other anyway. I don't know why he had to teach me," Harry reasoned.

Nora rolled her eyes. "You keep forgetting that he's my cousin. I think I could teach you something about Occlumency if you'll let me help. After all, he taught me."

Harry shook his head. "I won't ask you to do that."

"You are not asking; I am offering to help you learn something important. You of all people need to learn how to keep your mind safe because of what you know, the location of Sirius for instance," she pointed out.

"How should I go about this?" he inquired.

She thought for a moment and then the idea occurred. "The first thing I'll teach you is how to focus your surface thoughts. Right now you have too many stray thoughts that someone could use as trails to access other thoughts. Eventually you'll learn to block me out, and when you can block out scans from someone who knows you as well as I do, it should help you to fight Voldemort. However, if I teach you instead of a professor, it'll definitely take longer."

He smiled. "That would be fine. Perhaps you would consider teaching others after you graduate from Hogwarts."

She laughed. "I don't know about that. I should start thinking ahead, but with all that's been happening this year, I think most of us have been living from day to day."

Harry nodded in agreement. "And it would seem that the heads of the houses have the most difficulties."

In June as N.E.W.T.s and other exams were being taken, Severus was walking to the library to find an old Potions textbook to compare a few points when he heard a ruckus coming from outside. He raced to a window and watched in horror as Minerva walked out to where Umbridge and various Ministry officials were attempting to remove Hagrid. I'm never going to be able to reach them fast enough on foot, he reasoned, opening the window and taking his animagus form.

He flew down to the group, but could not get to them in time to stop Minerva from being hit with four stunners. When he took human form again, he quickly froze all the offenders and instructed Hagrid to alert the rest of the staff and turn the perpetrators in to the Ministry of Magic. Severus lifted Minerva into his arms and took her to St. Mungo's.

After waiting for what felt like hours, he looked up with anticipation as the healer finally walked into the room and spoke to him. "The Deputy Headmistress was badly injured with burns among her wounds. Most things will heal in time, but she is still very weak. You may stay with her for a while. She wished to see you when we informed her that you were here."

(my thanks to Quill of Minerva, Leta McGotor, and Morgana-Alex for reviewing :D)