There was a knock on the door leading from Ward 49 to the private room, but before Snape could tell them to go away the door opened and a rather festive looking Gilderoy Lockhart stumbled in. He had a strand of garland slung around his neck like a scarf and smelled distinctively like brandy, which he carried a glass of.
"Would Germy like to come dance?" Gilderoy mumbled happily. Snape's lips curled and he wanted desperately to curse the man into oblivion. He stood and walked over to Gilderoy until he was only a few inches. Gilderoy looked at the thoroughly displeased man and gulped audibly.
"Maybe later…" he practically squeaked and ran off. Snape made sure to give the door an extra loud 'bang' as he closed it. Before sitting back in his chair he looked again at the woman and scoffed.
"Dance!" he said disdainfully, again reassured that Lockhart was an idiot.
Severus Snape had never felt uncomfortable about knocking on Professor Bisset's office door. The older wizard had always welcomed him and at least feigned interest in whatever Snape wanted to discuss. For three years, ever since Bisset had taken thirty points from Gryffindor when he found Sirius Black hexing Snape their first year, Snape had almost trusted his professor. Bisset seemed to Snape to be a knowledgeable, decent, and quite a fair wizard, and it didn't hurt that Bisset seemed to appreciate Snape's interest and value his abilities. So, it was with a generally hopeful demeanor that Snape knocked on the office door, hoping to go over some facts on dementors with his Dark Arts professor. Several moments passed and Snape knocked again, and then again, and again. Finally, getting rather upset, Snape pressed his ear to the door to try and find any signs of movement. He heard music. It was upbeat and moved rather quickly. Confused and feeling defiant after being ignored, Snape opened the door anyway.
"You can go faster than that!" he heard Bisset's voice laugh, drastically different than the feminine voice that was singing.
"Only if I want to fall down!" a girl's voice laughed back. With the door fully open, Snape found himself looking at Professor Bisset holding the hand of a girl spinning in circles below it. After half a dozen turns Bisset looked up and saw the boy standing in his door way and smiled at him.
"Hello Severus," he said warmly. This got the girl's attention and she stopped spinning. She wobbled a bit trying to stand still and face the door, so Bisset wrapped his arms around her and held her straight. Snape was visually surprised to see the clueless looking black haired girl who had never seemed to say a word. She looked just as surprised to see him. Professor Bisset was not oblivious to any of this.
"Come in," he said and Snape entered, closing the door behind him. "I trust you knew Germaine?" Bisset asked him. Snape's eyes went from the girl to the man, still rather wide in surprise. He had not expected to see this man he admired twirling a student. The girl, Germaine, quickly got over her surprise and her face went rather blank and sad.
"Should I get some tea?" she whispered to Professor Bisset, but Snape heard her anyway.
"Oh that sounds like a good idea. Would you like some tea, Severus?" he asked with a smiled. Snape shook his head, he'd much rather have an explanation, but wasn't about to ask for that.
"Well, I'd love some tea, thank you Germaine," he told the girl and she was off and out of sight. Bisset motioned for Snape to take a seat and the young Slytherin did. Bisset sat across from him.
"So, what's on you mind?" Bisset asked smiling.
"She's a student!" Snape found himself yelling unexpectedly. Bisset had asked. The idea of Professor Bisset being in anyway, unprofessional, with a female student had Snape absolutely aghast. He was feeling disappointed to say the least. Bisset simply looked at him calmly.
"She's also my daughter, Severus," Bisset told him. There was silence for a few moments, and Snape collected himself.
"Daughter?" he asked to clarify. The wizard nodded.
"Germaine Bisset," he said. Snape searched through his mind. Surely he had heard that before. He was a little preoccupied at the sorting ceremony, but in the three years since he must have heard the girl's last name. He had just never paid her any mind before.
"Oh, I, um…" Snape felt rather silly, and he didn't like that at all. The uncomfortable feeling was broken by Germaine walking over to them with a tray carrying a teapot and two overturned tea cups. She set it wordlessly on the small table between then and turned one of the cups right side up and poured her father some tea. Professor Bisset thanked her and she smiled back. A glance at Snape quickly removed the smile and she turned and walked away. Snape felt rather like not opening his mouth and Bisset blew slightly on his tea to cool it off. There was the sound of a door closing and Bisset looked up at Snape.
"Her mother died just after Germaine was born. The birth left her weak and she contracted dragon pox…" Bisset explained, a look of sadness fell over him.
"Oh," was all Snape said. He'd really rather discuss the dark arts, but felt it was a bad time to mention dementors.
"So," Bisset said happily once again, "what did you come to talk about?"
"Red caps. Do you think they could have magic, like elves? Maybe that's how they move those boulders."