Disclaimer: I own none of J.K Rowling's characters what-so-ever! I own the characters that you don't recognize. God, I do wish I own Snappe thoughsigh

Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews, so happy to hear people like my story! And a big thanks for my beta Becca!

Enjoy!

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When Dawn walked into the grand dinning hall, all she was saw was a long table with candles in a few places down the middle, a few places set, and a few baskets of fresh rolls and bread. Little Emily was sitting by herself near the end of the table, playing with the little forks and spoons. She looked up and waved Dawn over. Dawn went and sat across from her. There were no signs of Mr. Snape anywhere. She looked around the room and her eyes landed on one of the servants, who was busy dusting one of the vases.

"Excuse me," she called out to her

"Yes, Miss?" the servant ask, stopping what she was doing.

"Where is Mr. Snape?"

"Oh, Master Snape's carriage went down when one of the horses got scared when it heard thunder. I think he should be here any moment, Miss." she replied before returning to her work.

Dawn nodded and turn back to Emily who was still playing with the utensils, mouthing out wordless words, it seem she was playing with them like ordinary dolls. She smiled before placing her hands in her lap and waiting patiently.

It had been over thirty minutes and still no sign of Mr. Snape or Master Snape as the servants called him. Dawn was starting to get impatient; her foot tapping against the polish floors was the sign of her annoyance. Emily was looking like she was about to fall asleep on the table. The weather outside wasn't good for either of them, the sound of the rain splashing against the windows and the thunder and lighting in the distance were the only things keeping from Emily from falling asleep and Dawn keeping her patience. Whatever it was, the rain always kept her cool in situations, but it wasn't helping right now. Both of them jumped in their seats when the doors to the dinning room burst open and on cue, lighting flashed through the windows, giving it the eerier feeling. It was a tall figure covered in a black cloak with its hood up. Dawn's hand got ready to pull out her wand if needed. The figure walked in and began to take off its cloak. Whoever it was, it better have a good reason for coming here. A gloved hand reached up and took the hood from its head to reveal a man, probably in his forties with long black hair framing his pale face. To Dawn, he seemed somewhat familiar but couldn't place his face. He took off the rest of his cloak, after a servant took off with it, and was now dressed in a long black clothing. Emily, who seemed to be more awake then before, jumped out of her seat and ran up to the strange man and hugged him.

"Welcome back home, daddy," she said, smiling up at him.

"It's good to be back, Emily," he had a little smile on his face, it looked more to be a smirk then a smile.

"You must be Miss Phoenix, am I correct?" he asked, noticing her in the room.

"Yes, sir." she replied

He nodded and went to the head of the table, between Dawn and Emily. To Dawn, he seemed to be a nice fellow.

Take that, Marcy!

When dinner appeared on the table, everyone began to eat in silence. They were finishing up their last dish when Mr. Snape asked her something.

"Miss, Phoenix, might I see you in my private study after dinner. I need to discuss Emily's school plan." Mr. Snape said

She nodded slightly and return back to her food. He had already stood up from the table and walked out.

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After dinner, Dawn had to ask some of the servants where the study was and found it on the first floor near the library. She took a deep breath before knocking slightly on the door. 'Come in' was heard behind the thick door. Dawn pushed the door open and walked in. The walls, carpet, and chairs were either green or black. She spotted Mr. Snape's dark frame near the lit fireplace, his back towards her.

"Sit down," he said, almost like a command.

She sat herself down in one of the winged chairs, facing the mahogany desk. After a few minutes of complete silence, expect the cracking of fire in the fireplace, did Mr. Snape turn around and sat in front of her at the desk.

"Tell me, Miss Phoenix, where did you go for school?" he asked, suddenly.

"Salem's School of Witchs." Dawn replied.

"How were your studies there?" Mr. Snape asked.

"Excellent, got the second highest grades there, sir."

"What got you into being a governess?" he asked.

"Well, you can say it's been a dream job of sorts. My friend got me into it," she said, not wanting to mention how Marcy did it.

Snape turned and fetched something behind the desk and brought it up and made a large slamming sound when it made contact. If Dawn wasn't in her seat, she would have fallen back at the sight of the large stack of books that looked to reach her waist.

"This is your lesson plan for this year, you much teach Emily these items and hopefully have her be done by the end of June," he said before taking a deep breath and started to speak again, "They included Muggle Studies, Herbology, Astronomy, History of Magic, Charms, Transfiguration, and Divination. For muggle classes, they included art, music, English, Math, History, and Science. My daughter should know all of this by the time she is eleven years of age." Snape finally finished.

Dawn nodded, agreeing before spotting he fail to mention two subjects. "Sir, what about Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts," Dawn said.

Snape sighed, "I shall be teaching her Potions and I ask one of my friends to help her learn Defense Against the Dark Arts. You shall be meeting him by the end of the week, Miss Phoenix. You are required to teach Emily until she reaches the age of eleven, where she going to be enrolled in Hogwarts. The pay is 100 galleons per month." he said, sitting back in his chair.

They sat there in silence, Snape already busy with writing down something on a piece of paper. Dawn kept trying to remember where she seen this man before. Was it from a Christmas party? No, he didn't seem to fit in with Marcy's parties too well, not really his style. Unless he liked loud music, lots of eggnog and Christmas carols. She knew she have seen him recently, but where and when? His eyes, his hair, his pale skin, his figure, his tone of voice. It felt like a brick dropping into her stomach as her world came crashing down. No, it couldn't be really him? This had to be a big mistake! Maybe he had a brother or cousin that looked like him.

"What is it now, Miss Phoenix?" asked Snape, rudely , looking up from his desk.

"Oh, nothing sir, just...just thinking that's all." Dawn said, he must have heard her gasp during her train of thoughts.

After a few more moments of silence, Dawn started to speak again. "Sir, I know this isn't my place but..." she paused, he looked at her, waiting for her next move, "But what about Emily's mother? I know it's hard on a child to grow up without one parent or both. I do want to know what happen to her, if anything did happen, just in case-"she was cut off by Snape slamming his hands of on the desk.

"Her mother is dead, you hear me, dead! I don't want to discuss anything about her, not under my roof, or in front of the servants, and not Emily! Keep your silly thoughts to yourself!" he said, anger flashing in his eyes as he stood from his desk, towering over her.

She didn't know what came over her but Dawn stood from her chair and faced him even he was a lot taller then her.

"I will not keep these 'silly' thoughts to myself. I'm worried about Emily's well being in the future. I know that a child without a mother's love tend to turn not how they plan to be. Depressed and thinking that their mother left because of them, blaming themselves for something they didn't do in the first place. They either don't treat their own children well or become depressed and miserable and almost or do commit suicide." Dawn almost yelled.
"Get out of my study this instant, Miss Phoenix!" he hissed at her.

"Gladly!" she said and taking the stack of books with her, not bothering how heavy they were.
She opened the study door and began to walk out before turning back towards Snape.

"Have a good night's rest, Lord Snape." she spat out before storming out.

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Dawn stormed to her room, cursing under her breath while trying to hold up the stack of books in her arms. She couldn't believe that man! She thought he was a nice person but like Marcy said, he was a complete jack ass! The servants passing by where stunned by her behavior, some scared that she could kill them without a blink of an eye. She finally reached the sanctuary of her room and walked in and threw the books on the desk near by without a care in the world when it almost caved in. She stopped cursing when she noticed her personal items from her former house were in the room, set in the right places where they should be. That set her spirits up a little bit, making her room feel like home. She frowned, right now, she wished that Marcy and Alisa were here to comfort her and give her advice. She did the next best thing she could do, write to them.

After writing to her best friends, deciding she would send the letter tomorrow, when she was well rested and could think right. She got changed into her pajamas and laid down on her bed and stared into space, thinking. Why did Snape have to blow up like that? She was just asking him a simple question that couldn't hurt anyone, although it did in the end. And why did she explode like that too? It wasn't a good way to set a first impression for her boss. She sighed.

Why did he, of all people, have to be her hero, her savior from the bookstore.

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Snape stood in front of the fireplace, staring into space as a fresh glass of Fire Whiskey in his hand, taking sips from time to time. The only sound in the room was the cracking of the fire and the fading sounds of the rain and thunder from outside. His dark eyes filled with sadness, hate, and a slight form of guilt. Why did Dawn Phoenix have to bring up old memories that he'd rather keep hidden deep inside? Be as it may, she was fully qualified to be Emily's teacher, the governess, and Emily seemed to taken a shine to the older witch. She was different to people he known. Dawn was interesting but in no way of the seven hells could she take her place. Snape took a deep drink from his glass, hoping to drink until all of the old memories had gone away once more.

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What surprised Dawn was that Snape didn't fire her after what happen after dinner that day. She went on to teach Emily for the week, all of the requirements she was told to meet were met. She planed Monday to have Charms, English, and Astronomy. Tuesdays with Muggle Studies, Herbology, and Potions with her father, Wednesdays were art, Divination, and History. Science, Transfiguration, and Potions again on Thursdays. And finally, Friday, the last day of the week, filled with the hardest subjects; Math, Potions, and Defense against the dark Arts. Thankfully, Dawn didn't have to teach the last two classes.

During the week, she rarely saw or spoke to Snape, maybe a little 'hello' and 'good day' now and then. She was too busy work with Emily for the first week of school was taking up most of her energy. Today was finally Friday, Dawn just finished Math with Emily and sent her to her father for Potions. Her energy was wiped out! She could barely stand straight. Dawn walked towards the living room and collapsed onto one of the couches and let the cushion mold with her body. Even by the first week by doing this, she couldn't even dare look at another text book again. It was hard to control Emily for the first couple days, she was an active child. Jumping from her seat, babbling on and on about stuff that had nothing to do with school or her assignments. Once, Dawn actually threatened to put her in time out and making her write a five page report in History. Emily quickly obeyed and got straight back to work. She sighed. This was the first week for both of them, soon, hopefully soon, they will get used to it and become a second nature for both of them. Dawn rubbed the back of her neck as tight muscles were forming there. She was too exhausted to hear anyone coming into the room. She felt gloved hand at the base of neck and began to rub the area around the tight muscles. She let out a moan of pleasure as very skilled hands rubbed her neck, letting go of all tension.

"Looks like someone just need to let out some stress," said a unfamiliar voice in her ear.

She quickly jumped up from the couch with new found to energy, wand drawn at the intruder. She stood facing...

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Authores notes: Haha! Sorry, but a cliffy just had to be there. I wonder who was giving Dawnie a free next rub? Who it friend or foe? You have to read the next chapter to find out. Please review! Thank you.