Family Portrait
"—Anyone know the answer?" asked Remus. Walking up and down the row that split the classroom's desks into two groupings, he tapped his wand in the palm of his hand in anticipation. One of these children would be brave enough to answer, he just knew it.
Sometimes it simply took time for a person to gather their courage.
As he scanned the few dozen faces gathered in the classroom he bit back a smile when a pair of blue eyes met his gaze. Ah, she was going to be the one. Remus continued his pacing to not spook the girl. As he did, the girl, a Ravenclaw, raised her hand in the air. He dipped his chin at the young brunette girl attached to it.
"Yes…?" he said, hoping she would supply her name. This was only his second time with this class and he still hadn't quite memorized who all of them were by name yet.
"Eileen Snape, sir," she replied, answering Remus's wish, but also kicking him into a mental spiral.
As he faltered, Remus scrutinized the Ravenclaw. She was Eileen Snape? She couldn't be, could she? There wasn't a speck of resemblance between her and Severus Snape.
He looked over the other Ravenclaw girls, hoping to see some sniggering. Ravenclaws weren't typically tricksters in Remus's experience, but there was always a first time for one to manifest. However, no girl was laughing and not one favored Severus Snape in appearance any more than the supposed Miss Snape before him.
His eyes returned to the girl and he winced. That deeply unimpressed look on her face was an expression Remus had seen her father wear plenty just these past few weeks (and during their schooldays). So she was Miss Snape. Somehow, she had managed to take after her mother wholly.
What a lucky child.
"Yes, Miss Snape?" he said.
"The answer is one magpie," she replied. "If you see just one you're surely going to experience some kind of bad luck according to Muggles."
Remus let himself smile. "You are correct," he said. "Which I should have expected you would be," he went on with a small laugh and what he hoped was a friendly smirk. "Professor Snape would not allow any daughter of his to be a dunderhead."
The girl pursed her lips. "I know things because I am curious," she proclaimed. "It is not because I am my father's daughter."
He didn't mean to but Remus gaped. Then he gave a nervous laugh. Smoothing a hand over his hair, he said, "Yes, of course." Remus tried to lessen the ire in the girl's deep ocean-blue gaze by saying, "As the Muggle saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."
The girl's glower let up slightly and Remus thought he saw a flicker of confusion cross her face. It seemed she was unfamiliar with the proverb he was sharing. A look around the classroom at large told him she was not the only perplexed second-year in the room.
"Your father may have given you the opportunity to know more," he said, "but it was you who decided to seize on it."
Understanding dawned on the faces of a few students and Miss Snape gave a tiny bob of her head. "Yes," she agreed. "I did."
Relieved to have recovered from his small kerfuffle, he clapped his hands and said, "Now, if everyone could turn to page 53 in their books?"
-O-
As all of the children were packing their books away in their satchels, Remus walked over to the desk Miss Snape was sitting at. The girl studiously ignored him as she capped her bottle of ink and placed it in her bag.
He held back a sigh.
"Miss Snape?" said Remus, voice raised just a touch so she could not even try to feign she had not heard him.
The girl raised her gaze from her bag. Pulling the strap of her satchel over her shoulder, she replied, tone sullen, "Professor."
He made himself smile at the girl. Maybe it would make the resentment in her eyes lessen. "If you'd stay just a minute please?" he asked. Remus hoped maybe he could smooth things over with her after what happened during class. He didn't need another feud with a Snape. Severus, and now, Darla, were enough for him.
Eileen didn't answer right away. Instead, she looked over her shoulder at an Indian boy who was standing next to his desk. Remus thought he was one of the handful of Patils in Hogwarts' halls right now.
Miss Snape returned her attention to him and said, "…I have Charms next, Professor. I can't be late to my own head of house's lesson."
Remus put one hand up and placed the other over his heart. "Just one minute, I solemnly swear," he told her, buoying himself with his private joke.
"All right," she relented, not looking happy about it.
The Patil boy called out, anxious, "Eileen?"
Remus raised an eyebrow at the way the girl rolled her eyes. "I'll be there soon, Sachin," she said, not looking at her housemate. "Don't pair up with anyone else."
Fiddling with the strap of his bag, Mister Patil nodded. "Okay," he said before swiftly exiting the room.
Now that they were alone, Remus sat himself down on the desk next to Miss Snape. "Your mate?" he asked her.
"No," she replied, still standing. Wrapping her arms around her middle, she said, "We work well together is all."
"Ah," murmured Remus. Perhaps Miss Snape took after her father and her aunt. "Do you have mates outside your house? Like your, ah, aunt?" he questioned.
Remus had seen Darla and Stephen Bones together the other day while taking a stroll around the grounds. They'd been playing with Gobstones and laughing. Miss Farley had been right about the two being close, which was a shock to Remus, but he was not upset. Really, the more he thought about it, the gladder it made Remus. It was good to see this generation extinguishing the feuds of the previous generations and befriending each other.
The girl made a noise of displeasure in the back of her throat. "Professor, you promised this would only be a minute," she complained.
He blinked. Again, for surely being the copy of her mother, Miss Snape was all her father in attitude. "Yes, you're right. My apologies Miss Snape," he said.
The girl lifted her chin. "I accept."
Remus could not help but chortle. "You remind me of your father," he told her without thought.
The girl did not scowl at his comparison, thankfully, but she also did not preen. From the way her eyes looked at everything but him, Remus wondered if she felt conflicted, embarrassed. She was the right age for it, he supposed.
"People say that," she replied at last.
He almost laughed again. What a diplomatic answer. The tact she was using had to be learned from her mother. Merlin knew Snape had little of it when they were schoolboys— And now.
"I'm sure they do," he said. Remus cleared his throat and placed his hands on his knees. Leaning nearer to the girl, he began his apology, "That's why I wanted you to stay a moment. I'm sorry for implying your knowledge is because of your father and not your own hard work. That was unkind. Growing up, I had a mate who was often compared to his family and…" Remus trailed off.
The girl was frowning at him and he realized he couldn't wax at her. She wasn't going to appreciate it (not to mention he didn't really think it was appropriate to talk about a mass murderer to a preteen girl). He uncurled his fingers from his knees and smoothed out the wrinkles in his trousers.
"Well, to keep things short, he hated it," summarized Remus. He offered the girl his most contrite smile and said, "I know better and shouldn't have done that to you."
"Thanks," she replied, apparently startled by his apology. Remus winced internally. She probably didn't get many of those from professors he imagined.
A shyness took Miss Snape and she mumbled, "I… I don't mind being compared to him. Sometimes. It's just I don't know more things than my peers because of him." That frostburn-blue glint from earlier returning to her gaze she declared, "I was interested in things as a little girl. Sev and Edie just made sure to take me to the library whenever I wanted to have my questions answered."
He nodded. "I will remember that," he promised. "Thank you."
Then they just stared at each other until Miss Snape started to shift from foot to foot. Finally, she huffed and asked, "Am I dismissed?"
A flush took his cheeks unbidden. "Oh! Yes," assured Remus. Waving her off, he said, "Go, go. I'm sorry again."
Hurrying off as instructed, the girl stopped in his classroom's doorway to wave at him, a tentative smile on her face. "It's fine. See you next time, Professor Lupin."
Remus returned her wave and smile. Once alone in his classroom, he sighed with relief. It seemed he'd had a stroke of luck. It looked like he was going to be on decent terms with at least one of the Snapes this year.
How did you like this moment between Eileen and Remus? It went far better than his interaction with Darla.
Thank you all a million for reading!