Hello all! Well, the plot bunny attacked, and while I issue fair warning that this incarnation of what I assure you will ultimately be HG/MM is going to be rather slow burn, I do hope you enjoy as I expand my horizons a bit and expand my writing talents into one of my other favorite HP fanfiction tropes - Severitus. This story will feature the perspectives of my standard Hermione and Minerva, with the addition of Severus and Harry's outlook on things. This kicks off in first year, and will ultimately run through the course of the war and the Trio's graduation, so settle in for the long haul. I am desperately trying to form better habits about being consistent in my writing pace, so if the wind is with me, updates should be fairly regular. Warmest regards to all of you who have stuck with me all of these years. You are each and every one appreciated!
CHAPTER ONE
Severus Snape couldn't say he'd expected his life to turn out the way it had. If anyone had told him, when he'd first come to Hogwarts, that in a matter of years he'd become a Death Eater, defect, that his mother would leave his abusive father and then quite directly remarry, he'd have said they were mad. Had somebody dared suggest that his mother's remarriage would result in a younger sister who had him completely wrapped around her finger, he'd likely have started throwing hexes, and if anyone had been suicidal enough to imply he might have a son, he'd have died of shock on the spot. Severus Snape had known at a very young age he didn't want to be a father. He felt that he had such a bad example, and inherited enough of his drunken father's personality traits, that it would be poor form indeed to risk history repeating itself, in that he'd do to a son of his the kind of things Tobias Snape had done to him.
Still, all of the above was true, although his son didn't live with him. For that matter, his son didn't even know he existed as such; the boy believing as the general public did, that he was the natural born child of the man whose name he bore. All Severus had meant to be was a sperm donor for a dear friend and her husband, who was infertile. The war had taken the lives of the boy's mother and step-father, leaving him an orphan, and he'd been sent to live with his Muggle relatives. Severus had opted, nine years ago and change, not to step up and claim his son, believing that his aunt and uncle were far better suited to raise the boy. What child would want an ill-tempered father who couldn't be arsed to make time for him anyhow?
There were a fair few who knew about his son. His mother, of course, he'd told, and he'd not asked her to keep that secret from her husband. John was a Squib, and a decent enough bloke, and he treated Eileen like a Duchess, so that was a rave review in Severus' book. Just a year ago they'd told Siobhan about the boy, knowing that the two would be in the same year at Hogwarts. Severus was hopeful that his sister and his son would become friends, and through her he could get some picture of what sort of boy Harry Potter was.
It was early morning on September the first, and by this evening, his sister and son would be at Hogwarts. He planned to see Siobhan off at King's Cross with his mother and step-father, before returning to the school in time to greet the students this evening. He knocked on the door to Minerva McGonagall's office, intent on letting her know he was leaving the castle for a few hours. Above being Deputy Head, she was another of the few who knew the ins and outs of his life story. Her own family was entangled with his, as a matter of fact, given there was a marriage contract in place between Siobhan and a Ross of her choosing, when she came of age. Minerva and her brothers, along with their children, were McGonagalls by name but their mother had come from one of the more ancient and powerful Wizarding families; the Mighty Scottish Ross family had never been too worried about holding on to the name so much as they were keen to carry on the bloodline. They didn't care if one was Pureblood, Half-Blood, or Muggleborn, so long as you had magic. Isobel Ross marrying a Muggle had been quite the controversy.
"Enter!" Severus heard Minerva call after he'd knocked twice.
He let himself into her office, offering a polite nod. "Good morning. I just wanted to let you know I'll be stepping out of the castle for a few hours."
"Going to see Siobhan off?" the Scottish woman inquired with a small smile.
"Yes," Severus replied, "as well as a quick stop in Diagon Alley."
"Are you ready to see Harry this evening?" she inquired seriously. "I can't imagine how difficult…"
Severus sighed. "I was meant to be nothing but a genetic donation to him, Minerva. When Lily, James, and I did what we did, it was with the understanding I would be distant, uninvolved, and make absolutely no attempts to be friendly with the child when he came to Hogwarts. It is my intention to respect their wishes to that end regardless of their passing."
Minerva bristled. "How can you think that their deaths don't change everything, Severus? Bloody hell, the boy should be with you! He should be with his father!"
"As you've mentioned," he replied sedately, "a time or fifty over the course of the last near decade."
"You didn't see the Muggles Albus left him with," his companion all but growled. "I did. They were the worst sort, and I am terrified of what that little boy has had to put up with from them for all these years. If you're expecting him to show up tonight all pampered and spoiled as you imagined James and Lily would have done, then I think you're dead wrong."
"I already agreed to tell Siobhan about him and have her attempt to befriend him," Severus reminded his co-worker. "If she uncovers evidence to suggest Harry has been mistreated, then I will step in, but short of that, I'm sorry Minerva but I stand by my promise to Lily to not interfere."
"Good thing that little girl is smarter than you, then," Minerva jabbed.
Severus snorted as he moved to exit her office. "She's smarter than you, too, my friend, and her father's family typically sort to Gryffindor. Have fun wrangling the insufferable know-it-all!"
"What an arse!" he heard Minerva utter as the door closed behind him, and he made his way to the Headmaster's office, from where he could Floo directly to Diagon Alley.
Siobhan Hermione Prince bounced off the sofa when she heard the doorbell ring at half nine. She was already all packed to go to Hogwarts, and very excited to be formally beginning her magical education. Of course, she'd had tutors for ages, per Grandmother Niamh's insistence, but that wasn't the same thing. For as long as she could remember, her older brother had been telling her stories about the Dunderheads of Hogwarts, and she couldn't wait to be among them. Of course, she wasn't a dunderhead, but that was not the point. The point was that she was going to Hogwarts, where she could see her brother every day, and where, she'd been told, there was the biggest Library she could imagine.
"He's here!" she yelled, running toward the front door.
"I heard the bell," her mum said, also moving toward the front door. "Calm down, Siobhan. You know your brother doesn't like it when you're bouncing all over the place."
The door opened, and despite her mother's warning, she launched forward and lept into her brother's waiting arms. He picked her up and held her tightly, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek. "You're almost too big for this, Siobhan."
"Sorry," her mother muttered at Severus. "You know how she is."
"It's fine," Severus assured her. "Honestly Mother, it wasn't as if I expected anything different."
Siobhan huffed as her brother put her down. "Can we go now? I don't want to be late if traffic is bad."
"Pop quiz first," her brother said, kneeling. "House you ideally want to go for?"
"Gryffindor," Siobhan sighed.
"Who am I to you at Hogwarts?"
"Professor Snape, Mean Old Bat of the Dungeons," Siobhan replied. "Honestly, we've been over this before at least five times."
"Where would you find a bezoar?"
"Of course, you'd throw a Potions question in there," she huffed. "Easy. In the stomach of a goat."
Severus grinned. "Your blood status?"
"Muggleborn, so Mum doesn't get hunted down," Siobhan said impatiently.
He poked her shoulder. "Don't be a brat. Your name please?"
"Hermione Granger," she replied.
"See, not too hard. Now we can leave," her brother finally gave in. "Where's your father?"
"Office," Eileen replied. "I'll go get him."
Five minutes later, the family of four was out the door and in the car, heading for King's Cross. Of course, either Severus or Eileen could easily have apparated them there and saved a good deal of time, but it wouldn't do to start Siobhan, or rather Hermione off with an indication that she came from a magical family. No, they would do things the Muggle way, just in case anyone was watching. Severus had even glamoured his features a bit before they left so that nobody at the train station would recognize Professor Snape dropping off a supposedly Muggleborn student for the eleven o' clock train to Hogwarts. This way, at least, he could say a goodbye to his sister without fear of recrimination at the school, or if it came to it down the road, within the Dark Lord's ranks.
"You'll be fine," Severus assured his sister, as she prepared to board the Hogwarts Express. "If you have any problems, you can always come to my office. I doubt anyone would question such a know-it-all seeking out a Professor."
"Even a mean one?" she asked, eyebrow raised.
"You'd have to act really desperate," he teased.
"Remember to send any letters home through your brother," Eileen reminded her daughter.
"And remember to write at least once a week," John requested.
"Of course, Daddy," Siobhan said with a smile.
With a final round of hugs, Siobhan bounded away from her family and onto the train, not bothering to look back. She quickly found a compartment to sit in, occupied by only one boy. "Hello," she greeted. "I'm Hermione Granger. You are?"
"Neville Longbottom," he offered with a shy smile. "I saw you saying goodbye to your family. Parents and Uncle?"
"Parents and annoyingly protective older brother," she replied with a grin. "Well, half brother, although that doesn't matter to me. He's from our Mum's first marriage, and I'm from the second. We don't have the same dad. What about you? What's your family like?"
"Oh, I live with my Gran," he shrugged. "I've an Uncle who comes around now and then, but my parents are in long term care at St. Mungo's. Cruciatus, you see."
Siobhan knew immediately what he was talking about, and hated to press for uncomfortable details, but she knew she had to play at being an ignorant Muggleborn. "I'm sorry, I'm Muggleborn. I've been reading a ton to try and catch up to everything I ought to know about Wizarding society, but I'm still a bit behind. I know St. Mungo's is a Wizard's hospital, but I don't know what Cruciatus is. Is it a disease?"
Neville shook his head. "Oh, that's alright, it doesn't matter to me what sort of blood you have. Right then, so the Cruciatus Curse is a spell. It's actually called an Unforgivable Spell, meaning that it's illegal to use. Just using it one time can send a Wizard or Witch straight to Azkaban Prison. My parents were both Aurors - that's like Wizard Police, and when I was a baby there was this war going on against a Dark Wizard. My parents were captured by some people working for that Dark Wizard, and the Cruciatus Curse was used on them."
"What does the Cruciatus Curse do?" she asked softly, knowing the answer and being quite impressed by this boy who was freely talking about such a horrifying thing that had happened to his parents. It couldn't be easy, and she didn't think she'd have been brave enough to talk about it like this if it had been her parents.
"It's referred to as the torture curse," Neville said, voice low. "It causes the victim a lot of pain. Sometimes, people just die of shock. Sometimes, they go mad with the pain. That's what happened to my parents. They're alive, but they've lost their minds to the curse. They can't look after themselves any better than a small child could. They certainly couldn't have raised me. I keep hoping that more research will be done and they'll get cured, but there aren't many who survive the curse the way my parents did, so with very few people to even work at helping, there's just not a lot of call for research to be done."
"That's not fair." Siobhan sighed.
"I agree," Neville replied.
The two of them continued to chat as the train began moving forward, getting some snacks when the trolley came through. Neville continued to educate her on all things Wizarding Society, and while very little of it was new information to her, Siobhan appreciated his willingness to share. In turn, she shared a perspective from Muggle life. While technically speaking, she was a Pureblood, her father was a Squib and couldn't use magic, and her mother was a Witch who chose not to use her magic. Severus was only around now and then, and he tended to respect the ideals of keeping magic out of daily life when he was there. The most magical part of her childhood, to be honest, was her own accidental magic, and her trips to Prince Manor where she'd meet her tutor once a month.
Further, at her tutoring sessions, she'd see a fellow wizard, Blaise, who was her age and starting Hogwarts this year as well. Of course, he'd been given the same pep talk by Severus as she had, although Siobhan was pretty sure her brother had made poor Blaise take a Wizard's Oath to keep the family secrets to himself. Blaise was all but certain he'd go to Slytherin, and Siobhan wondered how she was going to strike up a new friendship with a boy from a rival house if she did indeed sort to Gryffindor. She and Blaise had been playmates since they were toddlers. She just couldn't imagine going a whole year pretending to hate him. Siobhan much preferred the notion of seeing him every day, rather than once a month.
After a while, Neville excused himself to go find the toilet, but when he opened the door to their compartment, his pet toad decided to make a jump for it. Siobhan told him to go ahead to the loo, and that she'd look for Trevor. Checking each compartment one by one, she made her way down the length of the train, asking other students if they'd seen a pet toad, and relaying to them that should they find one, to return it to Neville.
Then, she opened a compartment to find two boys about her age, one with red hair and another with black, and her heart nearly stopped at the sight of the latter. It wasn't that he looked anything like her brother - she imagined there was some charm or potion in effect to make the boy look like his adoptive father - but there was something in her magic that called out and nearly made her leap into his arms the way she might with Severus.
The two boys stared at her expectantly, pausing what seemed to be an attempt on the ginger's part to cast a spell. She opened with her objective, at a loss of what else to say. "Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one."
"No," the redhead said, looking annoyed at being interrupted.
She narrowed her eyes. "Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see then."
"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow," the same boy said after clearing his throat. "Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow!"
Harry shrugged when the supposed spell did nothing, although Siobhan offered more vocal criticism. "Are you sure that's a real spell? Well, it's not very good, is it?"
Both boys looked affronted, and she hurried to redeem herself, taking note of Harry's broken glasses.
Siobhan's father had a terrible habit of leaving his glasses on his desk chair, only to forget they were there and then sit on them upon returning to his desk, breaking them in the process. He'd replaced more pairs than was reasonable for a man of his age, and so when Siobhan had gotten her wand upon her eleventh birthday, nearly a year ago, one of the first spells she'd learned was the one used to repair broken glasses, as a gift to her father. "Of course," she continued, moving to sit across from Harry, "I've only tried a few simple ones myself, but they've all worked for me. For example, Oculus Reparo. See, that's better, isn't it?"
As Harry took his glasses off to inspect them, his now legendary scar became clearly visible, and Siobhan took advantage of the view and used this excuse to identify him. "Holy Cricket!" she exclaimed, "You're Harry Potter! I'm Hermione Granger." She turned toward the other boy, not wanting him to feel left out. "And you are?"
"Ron Weasley," he said, mouth full of chocolate.
"Pleasure," she said, a bit put off by his lack of manners. She turned back to Harry. "You two better change into your robes. I expect we'll be arriving soon."
With that, she left the compartment to resume her search for Trevor, or at the least to find Neville again and make certain he got into his robes as well. She hated to leave Harry, but it seemed that her nephew had managed to find a friend in the Weasley boy, and she would see him again soon enough at the sorting.
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