Author's Notes: James Jago: Frell, you guessed the ending! I won't say which one is right. :-p

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling.

Chapter Thirty: The Odd Couple

After Amelia left there was an awkward silence that lasted a few minutes. Ellie began to wish that the floor would open and swallow her, or even better, Snape, who was staring at her.

"Er, nice place you've got here," Ellie finally said, breaking the silence. Snape sneered.

"It's not, but thank you anyway."

Well this is off to a great start, Ellie thought. She began tapping her fingers nervously on her trunk.

"Please don't do that," Snape said slowly. Ellie stopped immediately.

"Through that door you'll find a staircase. Your room is upstairs, first door on your left," Snape said.

"Thanks," Ellie replied, glad to leave the room, wheeling her trunk behind her, with Helga's cage in one hand. The door led her into a dark, narrow passageway. As Snape said, there was a staircase, and further down the passage was another door. Ellie couldn't bring both her trunk and Helga's cage up the stairs together so she left her trunk at the bottom and went up the creaky stairs. When she reached the top, she found herself on a small landing with four doors leading off it. All were closed. She opened the first door on her left and went inside.

The room was small, and very bare. The only furniture was a bed in the corner under the window, whose curtains were closed, and a narrow wardrobe. There was no carpet on the floor to cover the rickety floorboards. Ellie wasn't sure what to make of it. She set Helga's cage down on the bed and went to retrieve her trunk.

Ellie spent a long time unpacking. She hung her clothes up with much better care than she ever had at her old home with Mrs. Manning, primarily because the more careful she was, the longer she took and thus the longer she could avoid Snape. She felt her stomach beginning to growl and she realised it had been a long time since her last meal, and that had only been a sandwich bought on the train. She didn't feel like going downstairs to ask Snape what was for dinner however.

When Ellie was finished with her trunk, she parked it under the bed and then sat down. So far, it looked as if Snape lived alone. No other family then. It was for the best, Ellie supposed. If Snape had been married then his wife would probably have resented her. And as for kids – they'd be as slimy as he was. A moment later Ellie laughed to herself over that thought. She wasn't anything like him. In fact, to look at, you would hardly believe they were related, and thank goodness for that.

Ellie began to feel curious about the other rooms. Snape had not said she couldn't go into them. There would be no harm in taking a quick peak…

She looked down the stairs first, to make sure Snape wasn't about. She heard some muffled noises coming from one of the rooms downstairs, which meant that Snape must be busy with something. Excellent!

She started with the door opposite her own. Inside was a room much like hers, only smaller. The room beside it was a bathroom. It looked quite old, but barely usable. The last room was the one beside hers. The door was locked. Ellie was intrigued by this. What did Snape want to hide from her?

"Looking for something?"

Ellie jumped away from the door and looked nervously to her left. Snape was standing at the top of the stairs, glaring at her.

"Er, no," she squeaked, her heart beating furiously. Was he going to be angry with her?

"Dinner is ready," he said, and then walked back down the stairs. Ellie stayed put for a moment, calming herself down. How did he move about so quietly? The stairs had creaked like anything every time she went up it!

As she walked down, she noted the creaking again, and shook her head. Had he apparated up the stairs? What was the point of that? The remote chance of startling her if she happened to be snooping about which, admittedly, she was, perhaps.

Snape was waiting for her at the end of the passage, in front of the second door. He passed through and she followed him into a small kitchen. It looked a bit out of date. Snape gestured to a small table in the corner. Ellie sat down and Snape put a plate down in front of her. She wasn't sure what was on it – it looked like a stew of some sort. It didn't look very appetising. Snape sat down opposite her, shook out a paper, and began to read it as he ate. Clearly, he didn't want to speak to her. Ellie attempted to eat her food but it tasted about as good as it looked. Ellie forced down as much as she could out of politeness. When she had eaten as much as she could bear, she wasn't sure what to do next. Snape was still reading his paper. Ellie had always done most of the housework at home, and had she been there she would have waited until Mrs. Manning was finished and then washed the dishes. Snape seemed to be taking his time though and Ellie didn't want to sit there all night. She debated whether to ask to be excused and whether Snape would find that rude, considering she really hadn't eaten all that much of whatever he had made. She didn't want him to take offence. She felt at a loss.

"Are you finished?" Snape asked suddenly. Ellie was startled to hear his voice after the long silence.

"Um, yeah."

"You may leave if you wish."

"Okay. Thanks," she said, and hurried away and back up to her room. She collapsed on the bed face down and groaned. This was horrible! It was worse than she had expected it to be. Was this what it is going to be like the whole time she was here? Hiding up in her room and only coming down for (wholly unappetising) meals? It would be a nightmare! What was she meant to do with herself all day?

Ellie remained upstairs for the rest of the evening. She quickly discovered there was no running electricity in the house so she had to make do with candles when it got darker. Her thoughts drifted again to the locked room beside hers, but she didn't dare go out to even look through the keyhole in case Snape appeared again. Maybe tomorrow…

Tomorrow came after a long night of tossing and turning in the lumpy bed. It was early when Ellie woke up. She didn't feel like lying in bed so she decided to tackle the bathroom. She washed quickly and resolved to give the place a good clean later on. At least it would be something to do. Judging by the state of Snape's hair, he probably rarely used the bathroom anyway so hopefully he would not be offended.

Ellie tied her wet hair up, got dressed and went downstairs. She wondered where Snape slept. She had not heard him come upstairs. Was that other small room his? It didn't look lived in. Maybe the locked room was his, although Ellie didn't know why he would lock the door. What was he hiding?

Ellie went into the kitchen. It was empty. She looked through the cupboards for something that might do for breakfast. She was starving. She quickly discovered that Snape did not keep much food in his house. No wonder he was so sallow looking and lanky if he didn't eat properly. She found a bag of apples and grabbed one. It would do. She sat at the table and ate it. Snape still didn't appear. When she was finished she tossed the remains in a bin and decided to peak into the sitting room. It was empty so she went inside. She inspected the rows of books. Many of them looked old. Judging by their titles, a lot dealt with the Dark Arts. Ellie had heard that Snape was supposed to be fascinated by the Dark Arts, and his library of books was not contradicting that rumour. Ellie pulled out a particularly interesting volume on hexes, Devin Farley at the back of her mind, eager to take a peak inside. A hand pulled the book swiftly away from her and she turned instinctively to see Snape standing right behind her. He didn't look angry, as she might have expected.

"Not yet, Miss Winterbourne," he told her.

"I was just…" Ellie began but he waved his arm lazily at her, not caring about her explanation.

"You have an awful lot of books," Ellie said.

"A fair few," he admitted.

"Have you read them all?"

"Yes."

"Wow!"

Snape looked amused for a moment.

"Sit down Miss Winterbourne; I want to talk to you."

Ellie gulped. Maybe he was angry at her snooping.

"I've had a look at your school report for the last year. It was… adequate, but it could be better."

Ellie snorted indignantly.

"Adequate? I got one of the highest marks of the year!"

"Exactly. You could easy have gotten the top mark if you had put some effort in," he said.

"What? I put plenty of effort in!" she cried, annoyed.

"Oh really? In between gallivanting around with Mr. Logan, I'm sure you may have opened a book or two, but I don't think you gave it your all. However, we can rectify that."

Ellie forgot all about feeling awkward around Snape. She felt the sudden urge to smack him. Gallivanting around with Jamie? That was ridiculous! Surely, she was allowed to have friends.

"What do you mean, 'rectify that'?"

"I mean that we are going to have some extra lessons. You'll be at a distinct advantage when you go back in September. Mark my words."

Ellie groaned.

"Extra lessons? You've got to be joking!"

"I don't joke, Miss Winterbourne."

Ellie suddenly sniggered. Coming after Snape's assertion that he didn't joke this perhaps was not the wisest thing to do, but Ellie had suddenly been struck again by the absurdity of her father calling her "Miss Winterbourne". Now that they were not at Hogwarts, it seemed even more ridiculous.

Snape frowned at her.

"May I ask what is so amusing Miss Winterbourne?" he sneered.

Ellie just laughed even more, although now she wanted to stop. She managed to compose herself enough to splutter out a response.

"It's just… it's funny… you calling Miss Winterbourne like that," Ellie explained between giggles. A cold look sobered her up, and she clamped her mouth shut.

"Why?"

Ellie almost laughed again. Why? Well duh, she felt like saying (but wisely decided not to).

"Well," she began, a bemused smile on her face, "because I'm…"

He looked expectantly at her.

"…I'm… your daughter," she finished hesitantly. He flinched, but his expression remained emotionless.

"I think it you've earned the right to call me by my first name, don't you?" she added more firmly. She knew this would probably sound a bit cheeky to Snape, but if he was going to stare at her like that then he would have to get used to it. She couldn't bear it otherwise. It made her feel too uncomfortable.

Snape sighed and Ellie caught him rolling his eyes.

"Right, Eleanora then," he said coldly.

"Um, actually, I prefer Ellie," she interjected. He glared at her.

"Why do you prefer such a ridiculous nickname?"

She scoffed, knowing he wanted to annoy her.

"Wouldn't you if your name was Eleanora? If I'd have gone to school with that name I'd have been beaten up," she said. "I don't know why my mum, or whoever named me (Snape flinched again at this) thought it was a good idea to name a child Eleanora," Ellie added.

A thought struck Ellie.

"Did you not ever have a nickname?"

"No," Snape replied, as if Ellie had just asked a very foolish question with an obvious answer.

"Really? With a name like Severus? You never went for Sev or something like that?"

Snape's eyes narrowed and he glared so coldly at Ellie that she shrank back.

Too far, she told herself.

There was silence for a moment, until Snape's loud voice broke it.

"Fine, Ellie," he said, sounding irritated.

"Thanks Professor," Ellie said. It was Snape's turn to smile, albeit sneeringly.

"Professor?" he repeated in a mocking tone.

Ellie laughed awkwardly, but then a terrifying thought striking her.

"You don't… you don't want me to… to call you… Dad?" she asked, sounding horrified at the very idea of it.

"Absolutely not," he snapped, glaring angrily at her.

Ellie sighed with relief.

"Do you have your school books?" he asked, sounding frustrated.

"Yeah, they're upstairs."

"Go and get them."

Ellie did as she was told. This was going to be a long summer.