When Raven was far enough from the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, she finally stopped running and leaned against a cold stone wall. She hadn't paid attention to where she was going, her emotions getting the best of her, and she had ended up in a part of the castle that she didn't recognise.
It was darker here and it felt like the temperature had dropped several degrees; Raven assumed it was the dungeons. The corridor was long and gloomy, lit only by a few dim candles that were floating in mid-air. There was nobody around except a ghost that passed through a wall slightly further down from where Raven was stood, and drifted down the hall. It didn't acknowledge her presence, just floated past her and up a set of stairs that she had recently descended.
A sob escaped Raven's lips as she thought about what had just occurred. She hated that Cassius was at Hogwarts. She hated that she would have sit through every DADA class that he helped teach until she left school in just less than two years.
Fresh tears began to spill over Raven's face and she collapsed on the floor of the dungeons, hugging her legs to her chest in comfort and pressing her back against the cold, hard wall. She lost track of how long she had sat there crying but the sudden sound of boots against the stone floor threw her back to her senses.
"Miss Malf... Raven?" Of course, Snape would be the one who would find her in this state.
'That's just my luck.' She thought to herself and let out a sigh, wiping at her eyes.
"Are you... alright?" The Potions Master asked, his long black hair falling in his face as he looked down at the Ravenclaw.
"I'm crying on the dungeon's floor. Does it look like I'm alright?" Raven said with a sarcastic tone to her voice.
Snape looked like he was about to roll his eyes but he held himself back. There was silence for a few seconds then one of his large hands appeared in front of Raven's face. She took it and he pulled her to her feet.
"Come with me." He said curtly, dropping her hand and began striding down the hallway.
Snape stopped at the end of the corridor, outside of a barely noticeable door, and took out his wand. He removed the wards from what Raven presumed was his office and opened the door, gesturing for her to enter before him.
Raven's eyes squinted, trying to adjust to the dimness of the office. The only light source came from a couple of candles dotted around the place and a barely lit fireplace. It was exactly how she imagined a Potions Master's office to be. The shadowy walls were lined with shelves of large glass jars filled with slimy, revolting things like bits of animals and plants. In a corner, stood a locked cupboard containing what Raven presumed was Snape's private stock of potions ingredients, and a few bookshelves were placed around the place, all full of books and potion journals.
After entering the office behind Raven, Snape closed the door with a flick of his wand and strode over to his desk that was placed on the opposite side of the room. Raven stood awkwardly in front of him; she hated when people saw her cry, especially Severus, who had seen her cry many times over the years.
Most of the time, failure was the only reason that Raven would allow herself to cry. As a nine-year-old, Raven had had a very short temper and often found herself frustrated when, no matter how hard she tried, the thing that was causing her trouble always bested her.
On one particular occasion, she had been brewing a potion under the supervision of the Potions Master and she just couldn't seem to get it right. Thankfully, Draco had been off playing with Theodore Knott so he hadn't seen her losing her temper. Raven had no doubt that he would have made fun of her for weeks if he had seen how red her face had gotten.
Snape had momentarily left the study in Malfoy Manor where he taught her and her brother how to brew, and Raven's temper finally snapped. The potion had started bubbling over the top of the cauldron and nine-year-old Raven had burst into tears, throwing the ingredient that she had held in her hand into the cauldron. There had been a rather loud boom and Snape had come rushing into the study, eyes alert and wand drawn. Raven had curled up in a ball in the corner of the room, her entire body covered in the remnants of the potion, but she was more upset about failing to brew the potion for the fifth time than the potential harm that the potion could be doing to her skin.
After vanishing the remaining potion, Snape had knelt down in front of Raven, checking to see if she was in any pain, and after coming to the conclusion that she was not, he picked her small body up and carried her from the room. He took her to one of the bathrooms in Malfoy Manor and ran her a hot bath, all the while letting Raven cry into his black-clad chest. He had left her to clean herself off in the bath and when she emerged in a pair of pyjamas still crying and barely able to move her body from exhaustion, Snape once again picked her up and carried her into her bedroom. He had gently placed her into her bed and pulled the covers over her. Surprisingly, he had sat on the edge of her bed and stayed until she had finally fallen asleep, having worn herself out from crying. In the fleeting moments before she lost consciousness, she could have sworn she felt him brush her hair away from her forehead and tuck it behind her ear.
Raven had woken the next morning to find Draco and her mother standing around her bed. Draco had looked like he was desperate to hug her but Narcissa's hand on his shoulder was a clear warning not to.
"How are you feeling Raven?" Her mother had asked, her voice laced with concern.
"I'm okay." Raven had replied quietly, hugging her duvet closer to her.
Narcissa looked at her for a moment then removed her hand from Draco's shoulder, wondering over to Raven's vanity table. At the speed of light, Draco had jumped onto Raven's bed and hugged her so tightly that she thought he might break some of her bones.
Raven had dressed for the day and her mother sat her at the vanity table so she could braid her daughter's hair.
She was not surprised to see Snape at the breakfast table when she had gone down to get some food. In fact, Snape was at Malfoy Manor so much that he even had his own bedroom. Her father had been at the table reading the Daily Prophet and he barely acknowledged her arrival. Not once during that day did he ask if she was alright. Snape, on the other hand, had looked her over and sent her a questioning glance. Raven had given him a small smile in reply. Sometimes Raven thought Snape acted more like a father to her than her actual father did.
Needless to say, she still got a lecture from the Potions Master later that day about being patient and alert when brewing. Raven had mumbled that 'you shouldn't have left me alone with the potion then' and Snape had sent her a menacing glare but didn't respond. After all, it was partially his fault for leaving a nine-year-old on her own with a potion that she had never been able to get right.
Now, in the Potions Master's office, feeling as helpless as ever, Raven let out a shaky breath.
"Sit down Raven," Snape said, his voice surprisingly not like the usual sharp, bitter tone that he addressed students with.
Raven edged over to the chair across from him whilst trying to discreetly wipe at her eyes again. Snape watched her lower herself into the chair then he leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Now, I am aware people believe me to be a cold-hearted monster but considering only minutes ago you were a sobbing mess on the floor of the dungeons, I would like to know what caused it," Snape said calmly.
Raven's feet suddenly became very interesting.
"I don't want to talk about it," She mumbled and began fiddling with her hands.
She could sense Snape's disapproval at her reluctance to answer him. Several times he tried to get an answer out of her but each time he would ask, Raven would ignore him and shrug her shoulders in response.
"You are aware that I can enter your mind and see for myself?"
Raven's eyes widened.
"However..." Snape drawled. "I do not wish to invade the privacy of your mind unless I absolutely have to and since you are not a trained occlumens, it would most likely cause you a fair bit of pain."
The room filled with silence as neither of them said anything further.
"Aren't you going to give me detention for lingering in the corridors?" Raven asked Snape trying to change the subject.
"I'm debating on it," Snape stated, a smirk briefly appearing on his face. "Are you supposed to be in a lesson right now?"
She shook her head no.
"Then, unfortunately, I cannot give you the delight of scrubbing cauldrons until they are squeaky clean."
"What a shame," Raven murmured sarcastically.
They sat in silence again and when it became clear that Raven was not going to talk any time soon, Snape picked up his wand and sent a Patronus shooting out the room.
"If you won't talk to me about why you are upset, maybe your brother can get you to talk." He declared.
Raven crossed her arms and pouted. Half a minute later, there was a knock on the office door and Snape walked over to open it.
"You wanted to see me, Professor?" Raven's twin brother said as he stepped into the room.
"Your stubborn sister is upset and refuses to tell me why." Snape glanced back at her with a slightly annoyed expression. "I was hoping she would talk if you were here."
The second Snape sat back down at his desk, Raven shot out of her chair and lunged herself at her brother, wrapping her arms tightly around him.
"Rae, what's wrong?"
Raven didn't answer, only pressed herself closer to Draco.
"Rae?" He tried again.
"Cassius spoke to me," Raven mumbled into her twin's chest.
"What- oooh," said Draco, a look of understanding crossing over his features.
The sound of Snape's cloak rustling as he leaned forward in his chair filled the room.
"What is she talking about Draco?" The Potions Master asked.
The blonde boy ignored Snape's question and patted the back of Raven's head.
"It's okay, Rae." He soothed but Raven seemed to disagree. She pushed away from her twin brother, making him stumble backwards slightly.
"No, it's not! You have no idea what that... that man has done!" She said to Draco, her voice rising to almost a shout.
Her anger flared and the glass jars on the shelves started rattling. In the corner of her eye, Raven saw Snape hurridly stand up from his chair and slowly walk towards them.
"Rae, calm down," Draco said cautiously.
Raven scoffed. "Don't tell me to calm down!"
Realising she needed to get rid of some of the raw magic in her, Raven grabbed her wand from the inside of her robes. But before he could even think about what spell she was going to fire at some random object, Snape had disarmed her.
"Give me my wand!" Raven hissed at Snape.
He toyed with it for a second then placed it into one of the pockets in his cloak.
"You will get it back when you have calmed down," Snape drawled, infuriating Raven even more.
"Argh!" Raven threw her hands up into the air.
Her eyes were misted with tears that threatened to fall any second, but in the corner of her eye Raven saw her brother and Snape exchange glances and slowly Draco reached out to grab hold of her arms. He pulled her to his chest and wrapped his arms tightly around her body, rubbing a comforting hand up and down her back.
"It's okay Rae-"
"No, it's not!" Raven interrupted angrily and attempted to pull back from Draco's embrace but he held on even tighter.
"It will be," Draco reassured her.
Eventually, Raven gave up fighting and collapsed against her brother, sobbing into his shoulder and clinging to him as though she was convinced he would leave her at any moment.
Draco continued to rub her back soothingly and guided Raven over to Snape's desk to sit down as her legs had started shaking and she was about to fully collapse on the ground. Draco perched on the arm of the chair, placing one arm around his sister's shoulders.
The room filled with silence.
"I don't want to be in his class," Raven said quietly.
The Potions Master looked at her, confused.
Draco explained to Snape that Raven had a history with the DADA apprentice, although he wasn't quite sure what that history consisted of, only that whatever it was had hurt her badly.
"Defence Against the Dark Arts is a core subject and it's essential that you take it." He stated.
"Then I'll... I'll drop out of school," The desperation was clear in her voice.
"No, you will not," Snape said sternly. "Your parents asked me to make sure you don't get chucked out of school again and I am not going to let you willingly leave school."
"Fine, but there is no way I'm stepping back into that classroom again."
"What exactly did Professor Stagburn do to make you hate him?" Snape asked.
The only reply he received was a firm shake of her head.
"I have an idea," Draco piped up.
Snape raised an eyebrow in question.
"What if you teach Rae Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor? After all, you have always wanted to teach it."
Raven looked up at the Potions Master hopefully.
"Absolutely not. I don't have the time to-"
"Please!" Raven was on the verge of begging if it came down to it.
Snape sat back down opposite the two Malfoys and looked as though he was actually contemplating the idea. Draco placed a hand on Raven shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly.
"I will have to check with the headmaster but I may be able to take over some of your DADA lessons. I cannot do all of them because I do not have enough time, but at least this way you will not have to spend as much time around Professor Stagburn."
Raven let out a sigh of relief and her eyes closed momentarily.
"I also expect you to assist me with marking and any other tasks I see fit as I will have less time to do them myself," Snape added as an afterthought.
"Thank you! Ah, I could hug you right now!" Raven exclaimed.
Snape raised one of his eyebrows at her and Draco let out a laugh.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Rae. You do not want to know what happened to the last student who tried to hug him." Her twin brother said.
"What happened? Tell me!" Raven tugged on the sleeve of Draco's robe.
"Let's just say, they would rather jump off the astronomy tower rather than serve that many detentions again," Draco said warningly.
Snape had a smug look on his face, obviously pleased that his endless detentions worked on that particular student.
"I believe you both have lessons to attend in ten minutes so I would advise that you leave now if you don't want to be late," Snape said and shooed the two out of his office with a smirk on his face.
Raven stopped just outside the door and turned back to look at the Potions Master, her hand held out in front of her expectantly.
Snape pulled Raven's wand out of his robes and placed it in her hand.
"Thank you," Raven said with a smile. "Seriously."
Snape's mouth twitched slightly in response, an almost smile.
"Go or you'll be late!" He pointed in the direction of the stairs and Raven smirked back at him.
As she walked down the corridor, she heard him mutter, "You Malfoys will be the death of me."
Raven's laughter echoed around the stone walls of the dungeons.