Author's NoteGuess who! Sorry this one's kinda short, but we figured it was a good way to end the chapter or whatever...maybe more later today but I doubt it.

Disclaimer: (insert usual disclaimer here)

Chapter Five

I can't possibly imagine how odd it must have been for my daughter to go to school and find her mother and her father there as her teachers. Especially since the latter was pretty much loathed by everyone but the Slytherins.

Not that she wasn't used to it by now – both Severus and I had been teaching at Hogwarts for ten years, and four years of that time, our daughter was a student there. Now entering her fifth year, I always wondered whether or not she was horribly embarrassed by us or if people even knew that we were her parents. And during the five years before she was old enough to go to school, she was raised in Hogwarts, tended to by the House Elves, often visiting Professor Dumbledore in his office and playing with his many gizmos that she had come to think of as toys.

Now, Lorelei Alexandria Snape, who was fifteen years old, had taken after her mother in looks and cup size and therefore was the main attention of most of the males in the school. However, since everyone knew that she was the daughter of Severus Snape, no one dared go near her.

Not to mention that they had no idea who her mother was.

Lorelei was a Gryffindor, which caused a lot of uproar in her first year. You could imagine the whispers that traversed the room when the daughter of Severus Snape was sorted into Gryffindor.

I, on the other hand, wasn't particularly surprised she was in Gryffindor. She never really displayed the whole sly-and-cunning thing – she was definitely more of a brave soul. When she was four years old, when we were still living in Rivendell, she had run away on an adventure for a day. We had found her in an open field, brandishing a long stick and shouting cries of "Die, orc, die!" to an invisible opponent.

This year wasn't any different from the rest; the three of us packing up everything we'd need, Severus and I sharing a trunk, Lori with a bag of her own. We sat in the professors' coach, Lori with her friends. She barely acknowledged us.

The second I walked into the school, the first person I saw was Hermione, the girl who always tagging along with Harry and his other friend, Ron. She was alone this time, however, until two red-haired twins came up next to her, whom I knew were Ron's brothers.

"Hiya, Hermione," said one. I still couldn't tell them apart very well, so I consented to calling them Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley in my class.

"Hello, Fred," said Hermione.

"Did you see my brother and Harry around anywhere?" the other twin, George, asked.

"No, I haven't seen them at all. In fact, I'm quite worried," she said breathlessly.

"I'm sure Ron just got lost or something stupid like that and never found you on the train," said Fred. "He's always doing stuff like that."

"Yes, that would be a very Ronald-like thing to do," Hermione mused.

"Well, I suppose we best be going – want to get good seats so we can taunt the first-years like we did to you guys. Remember how scared Ron looked when he was coming in? That was my doing – I told him you had to wrestle a troll to get sorted," George said proudly.

"See you," said Hermione.

"Come on, Lori," called Fred.

"Coming!" called back a voice I knew all too well. When she walked by me, however, she didn't even look at me. That always kind of stung, but I could understand why – after all, I knew what it was like to have your parents come bursting in the Great Hall and humiliate you. Although, that was slightly different – at the time that it happened to me, I didn't know that Elrond was my Dad.

Severus and I gave each other a final look before he took of, pushing through the flow of students to get to the front of the Great Hall. We always had to go through this routine – I had to wait until he had already gotten about half way down the hall before going down myself. This was, of course, for Lori's benefit. Sevi and I could care less who knew about our marriage, but Lori knew that a lot of people didn't like him as a teacher and she would prefer if they didn't know that not only was he her father, but I was her mother.

When I finally headed down the long hall, I couldn't help but notice the difference in the way they looked at me in comparison to my husband. They gave him cold, icy glares or just ignored him completely out of fear. I, on the other hand, was greeted with warm smiles and sometimes, "Hello, Professor!" from one of the few students who were eager to get an education. It bothered me a little that no one really liked Sevi, especially that they had no problem showing it. It reminded me of my years when I was in school when everyone found out that I was pregnant with his baby. I realized as I took that walk that not only were we keeping the relationship a secret for Lori's benefit, but for mine as well. It made me feel like a terrible person. I shouldn't be ashamed of my partner. I wasn't, really, I just didn't like the feeling that everyone disliked him so much. And I remembered those terrible looks I got in the hallways back in school and I didn't want them to come back.

Sevi sat down on the other end of the table. I sat a few seats away from Dumbledore, as I had in years previous. It was the beginning of any other year.

The beginning of any other year, my ass.