"We're glad you could come." Fuck. Jeans voice was icy, which meant she was fucking furous. This was not going to end well for him. He should have fucking brought someone else. Anyone else. At least then she'd be unlikely to murder him and bury him under their patio. Or maybe not. Maybe a witness wouldn't matter if she was angry enough. She looked angry enough.
"Ah…yes. Thank you for the invite." he hedged, watching her warily. She was holding a fucking knife after all. She said it was for the dinner but that didint mean he wasnt going to watch the fucking thing carefully.
Jean snorted derisively. "Less invitation, more summons." she commented, Richard stifled a laugh, looking far too amused. "Sit."
Fuck. How the fuck could one tiny woman be so fucking terrifying. Perhaps he should be taking notes. Or not, she was glaring at him. He sat. Wincing as she pointed the knife at him. "Explain."
"Ah…about the time turner?"
"Yes about the fucking time turner!" she barked, "The one I heard about from Narcissa!"
He winced, "I hadn't meant to keep it from you." he began hesitantly, wondering briefly how much his students would pay to see him so fucking cowed. The little bastards would probably empty their entire vaults for a chance to see this. The woman didn't even have magic for fucks sake! She did however still have that fucking knife… "I was blindsided by it when Hermione mentioned it. Albus had told her I knew and when she realised how angry I was and that I hadn't known but still hadn't actually asked what she was taking I had to….do some damage control." he ran a hand agitatedly through his hair. "And then I summoned Saul to determine if he knew, all requests go through his department and he….lost his usual control and and had to be held back from murdering Albus, which eventually triggered Minerva doing the same. And then Saul returned that night and reminded me the Mark was getting removed and it…well I was out of it until Sunday and then Annalise appeared on Monday and came close to murdering Albus and then Amelia came to shout at me because I hadn't fucking told her either and then I realised I also hadn't told you and so I wrote and now here we are."
There was silence when he stopped speaking. "Fucking hell." Richard muttered, "I always thought Hermione got her rambling tendencies from Jean, apparently its hereditary too, poor girl. Did you breathe at all during that?"
Severus gaped at him. Arsehole. Did he not realise that his wife kept pointing a fucking knife at him! Jean put the knife down, thank fuck, before she began to laugh. "Oh my! Your face!" he glowered. "Oh that doesn't work on me, Severus. I'm helping you raise two teenagers, you think I haven't seen that face before? Hermione looks similar when she's displeased. It's one of the only time's she looks like you, to be honest. That and when she does that eyebrow thing you do. I'm quite jealous of that one though. Now. Let me see your arm and then you can explain why this time turner is so dangerous. Narcissa was quite vague beyond her abject horror and the clear message that it was very, very bad. Didn't Saul promise to figure out how to take Richard with him using one?"
Severus blinked, surprising even himself when he compiled without comment, rolling up his sleeve to reveal his unblemished forearm. Immediately he found himself with an arm full of annoying, tearful woman. This was where Hermione got her overemotional nonsense from! For fucks sake, why was she crying! How the fuck had she gone from furious to laughing to this in such a fucking short space of time! Surely it wasn't healthy! If she got snot on his buttons he'd be much less forgiving than he was with Hermione. He loved her more than life and therefore tolerated it, even if it was still disgusting, he had no such compulsion to tolerate Jean, however reluctantly fond of her he was. "Oh! Oh, Severus, you're free!" Oh. Oh fucking hell. Were there onions with dinner? They must be. Richard looked suspiciously glassy eyed too. Onions. Those were a reasonable explanation.
"Yes well…." he patted her back awkwardly, silently pleading with Richard to remove his wife from his person. For fucks sake. He'd been hugged more in the last year than he had in his entire fucking life.
"Come on love, let the man breathe," Richard gently pried her off of him, thankfully taking the hint. "He can't explain about the time turner if you're smothering him."
Jean nodded, allowing her husband to pull her to him. Grasping the task like a lifeline, Severus began. "Time turners are highly regulated. Changing time can have serious implications for the timeline, causing people to not exist, changing history, not always for the better. No one knows what sort of ripple effect one seemingly benign action can have. What if saying hello to someone changes the entire course of their life? It's implications are frightening if not monitored closely. There is also the fact that you cannot be seen, not by yourself, not by anyone who may question how you managed to get from point A to point B in an impossible amount of time. There have been cases where someone has run into themselves and thought they'd gone mad. Those who have killed either their past or present selves, or whose friends and families have done so thinking that dark magic is responsible."
Both the Dr Grangers were frighteningly pale. "Saul has studied time his whole life. I can be done safely and he'd never put you at risk, he cares far too much about Hermione for that. But it should absolutely not be used by a teenage witch or in a space as small as the castle on a daily basis. The likelihood of error is huge. And lastly, she would have been beyond exhausted. If she had, by some miracle, managed to complete the year without incident, she would have been exceptionally ill. It was not designed to be used the way Albus proposed Hermione use it, and, if she was only turning back for classes, the sheer volume of work she would have had to complete in homework would have been almost impossible."
"I see." Jean's voice was icy again. "And how exactly does one request a meeting with the Headmaster?"
Severus' eyes went wide. "Ah….I don't think you do."
"Get me Saul." Her voice left no room for argument so he nodded, sending a patronus asking Saul if he was available to meet him at his home. The answering, and intrigued sounding agreement came minutes later.
"Why there?" Richard asked.
"Saul has not been here, he cannot just apparate to a place he has never seen. I'll return home, where no one will see us meeting and question it and bring him back with me."
"Fair enough."
Severus appeared home to find Saul waiting on him. "Ah! There you are! What's going on? Why aren't you at Hogwarts?"
"I was summoned home to be scolded by my mother," he replied drily.
"Pardon?" Saul asked nonplussed.
"Jean." Severus sighed.
"Ah." Saul smirked. "Amelia mentioned you had…ah forgotten to tell her about the time turner. How angry is she?"
"She wants to know how she requests a meeting with Albus."
Saul's eyes lit up in a way that instantly terrified him. "Oh! Oh yes! A small stop at the Ministry first then I think."
"What?" Severus yelped, "Why?"
"Well if they're going to see Albus they're going to need both some sort of protection and something that gets round those pesky little muggle repelling charms on Hogwarts."
"You're intending to take them?" Severus asked horrified. "Hold on, you can take them?"
"Yes of course." Saul frowned, "And why wouldn't I?"
"Because Jean will fucking murder him!"
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Saul grinned.
"It will be when we have to explain to Hermione why we let her mother go to fucking jail, Saul!"
Saul looked at him contemplatively. "I'll be there, you'll be there, maybe we should have Amelia there too. We'll stop her. It'll be fine."
Severus groaned, wondering how his life had turned into this.
They arrived back at the Grangers half an hour later.
"We thought you'd run." Jean commented lightly, before she kissed Sauls cheeks in greeting.
"I thought about it, you're all fucking insane." he snarked, fighting against the childish impulse to stick his tongue out at her.
Saul settled himself on the sofa, Severus grudgingly sat next to him. "Now! I hear you want to visit our esteemed Headmaster!" Saul beamed.
"Yes."
"Wonderful, so, you'll need these." Saul handed over two necklaces. "They'll allow you to see Hogwarts and ignore the wonderful wards designed to keep muggles out. We have them in case there's an emergency with a student and their muggle parents need to get into St Mungo's or Hogwarts. They're rarely used to be honest, the Ministry usually only requests them if the student is likely to die, otherwise their guardians take care of it. It's not widely known that we have them. You'll also need these." he handed over rings. "They protect against most harmful spells, just in case Albus gets a wee bit wand happy."
"Is he likely to?" Jean asked
Saul sighed, sharing a look with Severus. "Who knows. Probably not but just in case. It's been a hard week for the headmaster. Now do you have a plan?"
"No. I just want to know what the fuck he was thinking."
Saul looked at her for a moment before speaking gently, "You know he isn't going to be honest, don't you?"
Jean sighed, "How the fuck is this man Headmaster?"
"I ask myself that frequently," Severus replied wryly.
"Can we just shoot him with a water gun and make ourselves feel better," Richard sighed.
Saul looked at him with a giant grin. "Yes!"
"I was kidding…." Richard started before slowly he too began to smile. "However….."
"Oh my god, you cannot be serious! Either of you!" Jean protested.
"But come on!" Richard pleaded. "I could buy a super soaker!"
Jean closed her eyes as if praying for patience. "You cannot soak the Headmaster of our daughter's school because he's an arsehole."
"I don't see why not, Lady Fawley hexed him." Saul replied with a shrug.
"Stop encouraging him! For the love of all that is holy, help me!" she pleaded, turning to Severus who had been happily lost in fantasies of shooting a spluttering Albus in the face with a highly pressured water gun while someone else….Peeves maybe? pelted him with water balloons, making him startle slightly.
"I think I'll give Peeves water balloons." he replied decisively.
Saul laughed delightedly just as Jean screeched, "Peeves? The bloody poltergeist! For fucks sake!"
Severus shifted in anticipation. It wasn't like him but he wasn't going to lie he was bloody well looking forward to this, he really, really hoped Richard had gotten his way with the water gun.
"What's got you antsy?" Minerva asked suspiciously.
"Nothing!"
"Severus Snape you are fidgeting like a child at Christmas! Now what is going on!"
Severus sighed, he really was losing his touch. Keeping his voice low enough not to raise Albus' suspicions, he replied, "I might have told Hermione's parents about the time turner. Her mother is furious. And Saul….might have found a way to get them here to speak to Albus….."
"Ok." MInerva responded calmly, "The Drs Granger seem like level headed individuals. I don't understand why you're so excited."
Severus let out a bark of laughter. "Her father wanted to bring a water gun. Jean is genuinely furious that he put Hermione at risk. Level headed my arse."
Beside him, Remus laughed, "A water gun?"
"Yes. Jean refused to allow it though so don't hold your breath."
Remus laughed, "You almost sound like the woman scares you, Severus."
"She scares anyone with sense." He retorted immediately, making Remus' eyes widen in surprise.
Before he could reply the glow of an Unspeakables portkey half blinded the room. He could just make out Peeves lurking in the shadows waiting on his que.
"Albus Dumbledore I presume?" Jean asked her face hard.
"Ah….yes. Forgive me, dear, you have me at a disadvantage." Albus watched her warily, his hand immediately moving to his wand.
"Good." Jean retorted, making Severus snort. "I want a word. Now."
"Ah well, it's dinnertime you know, perhaps you'll join us."
"Or perhaps you'll realise that I'm not playing games and either we leave now or I have my conversation here."
"Come now dear, bring your….husband and….Saul Croaker? Are you unspeakables?" Albus asked, frowning.
Jean snorted. "No." He could see Hermione watching them from the Hufflepuff table, torn between curiosity and embarrassment. Harry, Susan and Neville looked gleeful. "I see we're doing this here," Jean sighed, using her best disappointed Mum voice. Hermione and Harry both cringed, as if conditioned. "I would like an explanation as to why my daughter was put at risk by the man who is supposed to be overseeing her education? I would also like an explanation as to why said man made that decision without informing her legal guardian? And then I would like to see where in the contract we signed when Hermione started this school that allows for this, and finally I want to hear what changes you have since implemented to ensure it never happens again."
Albus blinked. "You're muggles!"
"And you're an arse, what is your point?" Jean fired back.
"I… ah perhaps we should have this conversion in my office." Albus trailed off realising that yet again the entire student body was watching with avid interest.
"Or not." Jean countered, "I think we'll have it right here. You made it clear that your dinner was erribly important, far be it for me to interrupt with such a trivial matter as student safety. Do your wavy thing and get me a seat would you, Severus?"
Remus snorted, muttering "Wavy thing." under his breath until Jean pinned him with a look.
"And you are?"
"Ah…Remus Lupin, Defence against the Dark Arts professor."
"Ah." Jean replied "well, if you'd be so kind, my husband and Saul could also use a seat."
Minerva was almost crying into her goblet she was laughing so hard as Jean sat primly down directly in front of the Headmaster in the chair Severus had conjured. Remus moved quickly to comply with her request, conjuring two more seats with wide eyes.
"Told you she was terrifying." Severus muttered.
"How does she do that?" Remus muttered back.
"What was that? Do speak up?" Jean smiled sweetly.
"Ah nothing!" Remus quickly grimaced back before turning to look at Saul who had just sat down, grinning.
"Mum? Dad? What are you doing here?" Hermione approached hesitantly from behind, clearly having decided to see what the hell was going on. Harry appeared behind her.
"Jean, Richard, Saul." he greeted cheerfully.
"Ah hello you two. We're just here for a little chat with your Headmaster."
"Of course you are." Hermione replied faintly, her eyes darting to Severus. He held up his hands placatingly, inclining his head towards Saul. Hermione shut her eyes briefly in resignation. "Just…..maybe don't completely humiliate me?" She asked finally. "I'm going to go and eat cake and hope that this is a particularly vivid nightmare."
Harry gave a jaunty little wave, grinning as they both headed back to the table.
"So dramatic." Jean sighed, "She gets that from you, you know?"
"Me!" Severus spluttered.
"Yes you! Remind me who it was who had a heart attack at the sight of Hermione cuddling Theo."
"She was on his knee!" Severus howled, Richard nodding his agreement beside his wife.
Remus joined Minerva, losing his composure as he laughed into his goblet.
"In public, surrounded by parents and their friends. They were hardly having sex at the table." Jean scoffed. "Honestly, you two are going to have to accept she's growing up."
Severus' eyes went wide. "No! Absolutely fucking not! No sex."
Jean snorted, rolling her eyes. "You keep telling yourself that. But in the meantime, I'll have another chat about proper contraceptives and make sure she bloody has some."
"Absolutely fucking not!" he barked.
"And you're going to stop me?"
All of the staff were watching with interest. It really had been the most entertaining week. Albus was merely grateful that the focus wasn't on him.
"Severus is due to teach the third years the contraceptive potion shortly." Minerva cut in, her eyes twinkling.
"Together? In class?" Jean gasped.
"Yes."
"Oh! Oh my god." And at that she began to cackle, several students looked alarmed.
"I do not see what is funny, Madam." Severus bit out, crossing his arms across his chest.
"You have to teach our daughter, her boyfriend, her brother and your godson the contraceptive potion…..in the same class. It's fucking hilarious! Do you have to explain how to use it?"
"Yes." Severus bit out.
"Oh! Oh my god that's too good!" she turned to Saul. "Tell me you'll observe and do the funny memory thing? I really, really want to see that!"
Saul laughed, "With pleasure. I can only imagine the awkwardness of that class. Did he mention he has to give the sex talk to the third year Slytherins?"
Jean gaped for a moment before she howled. "Of which Theo is one?"
Severus scowled. "Which is why he'll be telling that little sod that as far as he is concerned he can ignore all other advice and practise abstinence, isn't that right?" Richard cut in.
Severus nodded vigorously. "Indeed."
Jean snorted, "You're both ridiculous you know. Don't you want Hermione to be able to talk to you?"
"About sex?" Severus asked horrified.
"Well yes….what if she needs advice and I'm an owl away?"
"I…." he stared back helplessly. "She wont be needing advice on sex while at school. She has to be at least fifty-five. We've discussed it!"
Jean snorted, as her eyebrows hit her hairline."We won't discuss the chat we had over summer then. Very well."
"What?" Severus yelped. "What chat? What are you talking about!"
"Oh calm yourself down! She has no intention of sleeping with anyone any time soon." Severus let out a visible sigh of relief. "However we did discuss the conversation you had with us early in the summer about accidents and forced marriages and potential ways to prevent both so that when she is ready, she's sensible."
"At fifty-five!" Severus hissed.
"Severus, if we get her to sixteen, I'll consider it a job well done given that even if things don't work out with Theo, she's still going to be living in the same damn place as whoever she's with. Mainly unsupervised if you think about it."
Sixteen? What? He felt like his brain was short circuiting. No. At sixteen she was still a baby. Absolutely fucking not. And she wasn't going to be unsupervised, she was moving out of Gryffindor tower immediately and into his quarters. She wouldn't be fucking unsupervised there. Vaguely he registered Remus letting out a low growl. It startled him out of what was likely to be a spectacular meltdown.
"What? Why are you growling?"
Remus instantly flushed, coughing slightly. "It ah…appears as if the bond between Harry and Hermione means Moony considers her pack. He's not overly fond of the idea of someone touching one of his cubs." he muttered so quietly that Severus had to strain to hear him.
Severus gaped, very quickly sifting through how he felt about that before shoving his fear to the back of his mind and settling on it being a decidedly good thing. Once this year was done and Remus was out the castle, he could threaten Theo with a fucking werewolf if he dared even think about touching his daughter inappropriately. Apparently there were upsides to this pet wolf ownership thing. And then he grinned.
"Good lord Severus, that's terrifying. I didn't know you could smile." Pomona commented from down the table.
He snorted, ignoring Jean and Minerva's curious looks. They wouldn't approve. Richard would though so that meant two thirds of Hermione's parents agreed and Jean was overruled. Not that he'd ever tell her that. Best she didn't know really. She owned lots of pointy sharp things and he'd prefer them not to be stuck into sensitive parts of his body.
"Now Albus, we appear to have gotten sidetracked. You were going to explain why you felt the need to put my daughter at risk?"
Albus spluttered having stupidly let his guard down while they had not been focusing on him.
"Madam, I assure you that Miss Granger was at no risk as long as she followed the rules."
Jean hummed, "So the rules were foolproof?"
"I…well…no magical rules are foolproof." Albus blustered.
"And what would have happened if those non foolproof rules had failed?"
"I…well. Many things are possible, of course."
"Fine. Give me best case scenario." Jean replied grimly
"Well, she would have seen herself and realised what had happened."
"Ah. And my daughter is often alone?"
"Well…..she has to be alone to turn back."
"Yes but if she was seeing herself, she's not in the space where she turns back is she? So how high is the likelihood of her being seen by one of her friends?"
"Well of course it's not impossible."
"No, I'd suggest it's highly probable," Jean sneered, "So best case scenario is one of her friends see two of her and what? How many teachers knew she had one?"
"Oh." Albus looked visibly uncomfortable. Which was nothing short of miraculous. Perhaps if Voldemort ever came back he'd just arrange to leave Jean alone in a room with the man. He'd be apologising soon enough, surely. "Well. I knew." Albus continued, clearly deciding that brazening it out was the way forward. Fucking idiot.
"Yes, you knew and told no one else. So explain what exactly people were going to think? Especially given the situation with an escaped convict roaming around looking for Harry."
"Well dark magic would of course be one explanation but there are….."
"Dark magic." Jean interrupted, "The stuff that makes you lot wave that wooden stick first and ask questions later, yes?"
"Yes well….they'd be aiming to incapacitate first."
"Oh wonderful. Just incapacitating the thirteen year old girl, not ourtight murdering her. How reassuring." Her disdain almost sounded like his. Severus wasn't sure he had ever been more proud.
"What my wife is getting at, Headmaster, is that we'd really like an explanation as to why on earth you thought it was acceptable to give one to a thirteen year old girl? Given the risks posed and the fact that only you apparently knew about it."
"Well Miss Granger is uncommonly bright."
"So you were threatened and wanted rid of her?" Jean asked pointedly. Remus choked.
"What? No!"
"Then what the fuck were you thinking?" Ah….Albus' time had run out, obviously.
"I….ah….well perhaps I hadn't considered all angles carefully enough…"
"Not, fucking, good enough." Jean growled. "I've lodged a complaint with the governors. Interesting that you leave that option out of the welcome speech to muggle parents, isn't it?"
"Madam Granger, your daughter was perfectly safe as long as she followed all the rules!" Albus insisted.
Jean rose sharply, "No, she wasn't you blustering fuckwit! You just fucking said as much! I would have had a modicum of respect for you if you had admitted you were wrong and apologised, you know, like normal people do, however as it stands, one more wrong move Headmaster and I will see you buried. I understand that there's a rather large queue currently, between us, I don't imagine you'd stand much of a chance. Saul, I think I'd like to go before I strangle him. He's clearly beyond fucking deluded and I refuse to spend time in prison because we had too many witnesses."
Saul nodded, rising, "Wonderful to see you all again," he grinned.
Richard stood more slowly, glancing quickly at Saul who handed him something discreetly. Something that expanded rapidly and was shortly pointed at Albus' nose. "Next time you put my baby girl at risk, Headmaster, I'll consider a real one." The jet of water that shot out of the water gun and into Albus' spluttering face was immensely satisfying. As was the chaos that came when Peeves, sensing that this was his que, promptly pelted Albus' head with water balloons. The Drs Granger left amidst the madness. No one in the Great Hall dared move, other than Hermione who thunked her head onto the table in mortification.
"Severus! You're looking well."
"Andy. Thank you for coming."
She hummed,"How have things been?"
"Fine." He sighed. "Well, not fine, it's been an eventful week, I'll let the children tell you."
Andromeda's eyes widened. "Right then. Who's first and when is your appointment?"
"I haven't made one," he muttered.
"Don't make me owl her!" Andromeda threatened. "In fact. You write, I'll deliver. I'll pick it up before I go. Now who's first?"
"Hermione, so she can't wiggle out of it."
"Can't imagine where she gets that from." she muttered. "Send her in in five minutes, I'll be in the classroom next to Minerva's. I was using that for Ginevra last year and Min said it would still be free."
He nodded, "She should be here shortly, they were just finishing dinner when I left. I'll walk her up"
Andromeda smirked, "To ensure she comes?" she asked before she walked out, heading in the direction of Minerva's classroom.
Hermione was fidgeting when he opened the door, Harry gripping her hand as if keeping her from bolting. He sighed, "You know Andromeda, my girl, she is hardly that scary. Come along now, she's waiting."
"Can I just stay here?" Harry asked. "It keeps people from asking questions."
"Very well, I shall return once I've dropped Hermione off," he took Hermione's hand from Harry and pointedly wrapped it in the crook of his elbow. "Stop panicking." he murmured softly. "She doesn't bite. It's just a chat."
Hermione nodded but didn't say anything. Deciding not to push, he allowed the silence to fall as they walked. And despite knowing she needed this, he still felt almost guilty as he shut the door behind her.
He found Harry idly shuffling a pack of muggle cards when he returned. "Was she ok?"
"She will be. Andromeda is good at what she does. How are you feeling?"
Harry shrugged, "I'm not going to lie and say I'm looking forward to it but I feel better than Hermione clearly does." Severus hummed, picking up parchment, penning a very quick note that would hopefully satisfy Andy before rolling and sealing it. "Do all wizards have those funny wax things?" Harry asked curiously.
"Seals?"
"Sure."
"Most but not all. Most use their family crest, but some have seals designed."
"Oh. When do they get them?"
Severus snorted, "If you think Draco doesn't use his now, you haven't been paying attention."
"Yeah well Draco's hardly the benchmark for normal is he?" Harry muttered.
"No," Severus replied, stifling a laugh. "But most purebloods use them, they'll have grown up doing so."
"So it's a pureblood thing?"
"Not necessarily. If you want one we can arrange it."
"Oh." Harry looked momentarily startled, "ah….people wont think it's odd? Ron doesn't use one."
"It went out of favour in some families." Severus shrugged, "But Longbottom uses one, all of his essays have his seal on them, Finnegan uses one too, I believe his mother got him a custom one before Hogwarts. No one will comment."
"They do?" Harry asked, startled.
"Yes. Now. Do you want one? And are you keeping the Potter crest or designing your own?"
"I….Yes I want one. Can I….can I merge two?"
Severus frowned, "I don't see why not, depending on the family. What two?"
"Well…I was thinking. I won't really be just a Potter by summer and….maybe I could merge yours and mine? Does Hermione use yours?"
Severus blinked, he was not going to fucking cry. He wasn't. For fucks sake he was a grown ass man. He was not going to cry over a simple request. "She does." he croaked. "I…of course you can, if you are sure."
Harry beamed back at him, resuming shuffling the cards, allowing Severus to get himself back under control.
Swapping over his children, Severus wondered again how the hell he had gotten here. Two children. Two Gryffindor children who he wasn't entirely sure weren't trying to break him, albeit in very different ways.
"How did it go?" he ventured when it became clear Hermione was not going to volunteer information.
She shrugged. "Fine."
"Hermione." he warned.
She shook her head. "I have no urge to recount an entire session. I'm going to the library, I have charms homework." At that she practically ran from him. What the fuck was he meant to do now? Did he go after her? Did he give her time? For fucks sake where the fuck was his teenage girl instruction manual? Had it gotten lost in the post? Reminding himself that she was uncannily like him as a teen at times, he decided to leave her be, for a little bit at least. He was going to find her once he'd had a chat with Andy whether she liked it or not.
Harry emerged looking less sullen than Hermione, bouncing off in search of Ron and Neville after he had requested the boy allow Hermione to come to him. At least one of them had had a positive experience, he mused. How the fuck had Harry bloody Potter turned into the easiest of his children?
Andy appeared after her session with Ginny. Arching her eyebrow and staring him down until he handed over the letter he'd written earlier. "Wonderful. It's nice to see you're capable of following some instructions."
He rolled his eyes. "How were they?"
She gave him an exasperated look. "Severus! I'm not going to tell you what they said!"
"And I'm not asking. Hermione….was not ok when she came out I'm trying to determine the best course of action."
Andromeda sighed, seeming to come to a decision as she sat down. "Harry will be fine, he's remarkably resilient for a boy who has lived with what he did. The fact that there is no way he's going to be made to go back helps immensely. There's work to be done, obviously but I imagine we'll be done with weekly sessions by February at the very latest. Interestingly you've done quite a bit of my work for me, he's learning to trust adults to actually help which is probably his main issue. He obviously had issues with bullying at his previous school but he was mainly left alone outwith his cousin. It leaves its own marks but he was wholeheartedly accepted here which helped. Hermione….Hermione has spent many years continuously being told weaknesses were not something she could afford to have because they were used against her. She was told that she couldn't be herself because no one liked her when she was. She finds it difficult to get out of that mindset. She had a harder time when she got here, it was the same pattern which just reinforced the message she's been getting almost her entire life. There's still some….hiding her true thoughts and feelings because she's terrified she's going to end up alone and ridiculed again. She'll get there, she has your tenacity but it's so ingrained that I imagine it'll be a harder habit to break."
"Fuck." he muttered, running a hand through his hair. "And how do I help?"
Andromeda smiled, "Just keep being there. Don't allow your temper to get the better of you if she acts well….like a teenager. She's going to. And I imagine you're not going to like it. She knows you love her, just don't allow her to forget."
Severus sighed, "Thanks, Andy."
"Anytime. I'll see you all next week." she paused, "Don't overthink this. She's more like you than you'd probably like her to be. You know what to do."
Fucking wonderful. After the floo whisked Andy away, he called for an elf. There was no way he was wandering the castle and if she was like him, she'd have found somewhere out of the way to hide in.
"Milly, please find my daughter, don't let her see you, I just need to know where she is." The little elf bobbed its head and disappeared.
"Miss Professors daughter is being in in her bed, Sir." the elf announced five minutes later
Severus frowned. Fuck. That fucking complicated things. He couldn't fucking go there. Not again. She definitely wouldn't thank him for that but if he had an elf aperate her here….well there was a possibility she'd just fucking hex him. But he couldn't leave her wallowing all night, he remembered what that felt like. Fuck it all.
"Please bring her here." he sighed, casting a shield charm just in case.
The look of utter fury on his daughter's tear stained face made him recoil. Fucking wonderful.
"What do you think you're doing?" she growled.
"I needed to see you and didn't think you'd approve of another invasion of your common room." he replied honestly.
"So you had an elf bring me here without giving me a choice?" Well that made it sound awful. But what the fuck else did she want him to do?
"Yes well, given the situation that seemed best."
"What situation, Father?" Had she been getting lessons from Narcissa? That tone was fucking familiar. To be honest, it was just as terrifying coming from Hermione. Perhaps Cissa had just conditioned him to respond in a certain way. That was it. He was in no way wary of his thirteen year old daughter.
"The one where you shut me out and wallow." he replied confidently, not allowing himself to cringe back from her tone the way his body really fucking wanted to.
"And that's now your call to make is it?"
Fuck. Fucking fuck. If that statement had come from Cissa he'd be bloody leaving in the hopes of her not murdering him. She'd definitely been giving Hermione lessons. Those needed to stop.
He drew a deep breath. He was the adult. She was the child. He was the adult. She was the child. "Yes. Actually, I think in this instance it was. I was reminded that you are very like me in many respects and I am well aware of how easy it is to be bested by what's inside your own head. I am not asking for specifics of your session with Andy but I am absolutely going to make sure you're alright." That sounded good didn't it? He sounded like he meant it, like he was in control.
Hermione's bottom lip wobbled. Fuck. He'd take the Cissa clone over tears. He fucking hated it when she cried. It hurt and he didn't like it. He wanted to just fucking fix it and Andy had already told him he couldn't. He watched her for a moment, as she attempted to get a hold of herself before he sighed. He was going to have to get waterproof buttons. She slumped into him as he reached for her, her hands tightly fisted in the fabric at his back. Robes of this quality were not meant to be abused like that he thought fleetingly before turning his attention back towards his sobbing daughter and pulling her tighter to him, attempting to murmur soothing nonsense in the hopes the crying stopped and she gave him something tangible he could do to fucking help.
"Feeling better?" he murmured when she finally seemed to be calming down.
She shrugged, pulling back from him. "Tired." she replied.
"I'm told crying does that. Come and sit with me for a while." She moved slowly but complied, drawing her knees up to her chest. "I cannot help if you do not speak to me, my girl."
"What if you can't help?" she whispered.
He froze. It was unthinkable to be honest. "Why would I not be able to help?" he hedged.
"It's all inside my head." she replied to her knees, sounding so utterly defeated he wanted to wrap her up and never let go. "I'm….broken. And apparently crazy because Andromeda said it was all inside my head."
He had to quickly stifle the urge to fucking murder Andy. Surely she hadn't said that?
"You are not broken and you are not crazy." he replied firmly, pulling her to him, while attempting to get his thoughts into some semblance of order. "What exactly did Andy say?"
"She said I had internalised certain peoples opinions of me and now treat everyone like they think the same, even if they don't."
Thank fuck. He didn't need to murder Andromeda. She'd probably put up a bit of a fight and Cissa would be displeased. Although he made a mental note to get her to check next time that Hermione actually understood what she meant. "You know those two statements are not the same, my girl," he said softly.
"Aren't they?"
"No!" he sighed, "It's completely understandable that you would learn to behave in a certain way to avoid negative behaviours from other people. Those habits are hard to break. You'll get there, it's the entire reason you're speaking to Andy." Pausing, he considered what he wanted to say next, "Hermione?" She hummed in acknowledgement, "I've said it before but you know that you can come to me? You don't ever need to feel like you did today and hide it? I…I don't imagine I'll feel much better after I've spoken to whoever the hell it is Andy has assigned me and we both know neither you nor your brother will allow me to wallow….that has to go both ways, my girl."
She nodded slowly. "I know. Most of the time."
"But?"
"I….I still wonder when you'll get sick of me. When it'll all get too much, what….what if Andromeda can't fix me?"
Fuck. Fucking hell. That hurt. Why did no one warn you that your child hurting fucking hurt you too?
"I've already told you, you are not something to be fixed, my girl." he replied fiercely, pulling her to him "You are not broken. And if we have to have this conversation every day for the rest of my life it will never, ever be too much."
And now she was crying again. For fucks sake. At least it was his shoulder this time and not his buttons. Maybe if he just strategically moved her around his person then his buttons wouldn't get too waterlogged. That seemed like a sensible strategy.
He kept her cuddled close for as long as she allowed him to as they discussed other topics. Several hours later he walked a visibly calmer Hermione back to her dormitory, pondering how the hell he could help. He didn't like feeling like he couldn't. Not with her. Not when it all clearly hurt so fucking much. Could she really tolerate this weekly for months? Could he? He wasn't sure he could handle watching her struggle so bloody much every week, it went against every instinct he had, even if he knew she needed it. Surely she had to give in and start listening to Andy eventually? Although if she was as stubborn as he was as a teen, and he had to admit that unfortunately, she was, it was going to be a fucking long and painful year. Maybe Moody's sessions would provide her with a different kind of healing? He always felt better after he'd hexed someone when he was annoyed. Sighing, he poured himself a drink. Was she too young for alcohol? Hmmm probably, he couldn't see Jean approving and it wasn't really the healthiest of coping mechanisms. Shame. It really did help.