AN: I'm back! Lovely holidays, and back to the real world. I have a feeling this chapter might evoke some feelings, please let me know what you think!
"Welcome, Miss Stradling," Harry greeted her as he opened his door. "You are quite punctual."
"I try," she answered with a sniff. "I assume my new charge is inside?"
"He is," Harry answered. "Please come in."
Miss Stradling followed Harry into the room, sniffing at the cheery decorating and comfortable furnishing. She had expected the savior of the wizarding world to be a bit more, well, dignified. And wasn't this the old Black mansion? It was hard to imagine the Black ancestors living in a place like this.
"Through here," Harry directed her. "We are informal here, and everyone has gathered in the kitchen."
"I see," she sniffed again, though Harry seemed oblivious to her disapproval.
She entered the kitchen then, complete with a long wooden table with people in various stages of breakfast seated.
"Hiya," Ron greeted her. "Ron Weasley."
"I remember," she nodded gravely. "I'm Miss Stradling."
"Hermione Weasley," Hermione greeted her. "Ginny Weasley isn't here this morning. And this is Severus."
"Mr. Snape," she nodded. "Greetings."
Severus nodded back, finding himself unable to speak. This was not whom he had expected his new father to hire; she was actually quite frightening. She held her body firmly and confidently, and there was actually nothing about her that didn't speak of rigid discipline and confidence; from her tight bun of jet-black hair to her stylishly demur pointy-toed flats. Severus had gotten used to people dressing in mostly muggle-friendly clothes with occasional robes, but nobody could mistake Miss Stradling for muggle friendly. Her skirt, an electric purple rimmed with a sensible ruffle, was a professional length and matched her short, practical day robe she wore open, showing her white starched blouse.
"We have set aside a little room for you and Severus to use for schooling," Hermione told her. "I have left out the books we've been working through so you would know where he is."
"I expect to spend the first few days assessing his inadequacies," Miss Stradling sniffed. "Our academic rigor will continue after that."
"I think you'll find he's been making rapid progress," Hermione told her, a bit stiff in her reply. "He's quite bright."
"We shall see," Miss Stradling sniffed again. "Children of . . . mixed parentage often have inadequate educations."
"Then you are charged with rectifying that," Harry nodded, trying to head off Hermione's indignation. "Severus has had a somewhat . . . difficult upbringing before he came to me. I expect that you have been briefed with the details?"
"I have thoroughly read your letter," she informed him.
"Excellent," Harry smiled at her. "I just want to say a few things in front of Severus so we're all on the same page."
"Proceed," she nodded.
"First, please keep me informed of any misbehavior that Severus displays. The last Nanny was trying to befriend him and didn't report a lot of the problems until she was so frustrated that she was ready to leave."
"You will not find any such Hufflepuff tactics from me," Miss Stradling sniffed. "I do not believe mollycoddling pupils to ever be helpful."
"Secondly," Harry continued, hoping that this caricature of Slytherin and pureblood sentiments before him was actually the right choice for his ward. "If he earns a physical punishment like caning or a spanking, that it will be administered by me at my discretion. Bring the matter to me and I will handle it."
"I understand," Miss Stradling agreed. "Though I rarely find the cane necessary."
"I'm glad to hear that," Harry smiled at her. "I know that we are not the typical old Slytherin family that you are more used to, but we hope that this is a good match for everyone."
"You are not," Miss Stradling agreed. "But I would also ask you for some latitude in my dealings with the boy. Any interference with my methods will lessen my ability to teach him."
"We will not interfere if your methods are reasonable," Harry agreed.
"Reasonable for a Gryffindor or for a Slytherin?" she pressed.
"I will do my best to keep in mind that there is a cultural difference," Harry agreed. "But I was raised by a Slytherin, so I do know a bit about how they operate. I'm sure we'll be fine."
"Then why doesn't my new charge show me to our classroom," she nodded. "I would like to not waste any further time."
"Severus, please show her to your schoolroom," Harry directed. "Lunch will be at one when Ginny returns from practice."
Harry watched Severus lead his new Nanny out of the room, his eyes watchful and wary. He reflected that he felt the same thing – Miss Stradling did not feel like a safe person to him either.
"Poor little chap," Ron mused as he left. "I think he might have met his match."
"He's going to regret running off Broomie," Hermione sighed. "I don't think this one is going to let him get away with anything."
"Do you think she'll be too much?" Harry asked, concerned.
"It's what your father said to do, right?" Ron shrugged. "She wouldn't have been on the list if he didn't think she'd do a good job."
"You're right," Harry sighed. "But I just can't help but feel that I've just thrown him to the wolves."
"That lad is no helpless sheep," Ron snorted. "He'll be 'right."
. . .
"Good morning," Miss Stradling greeted her new charge as the entered the bright, cheerful schoolroom. "Please have a seat."
"Good morning," Severus replied, cautiously sitting. "Here are the reports Auntie Hermione left for you."
"Auntie Hermione?" she repeated, her tone mocking. "Surely they haven't reduced you to that yet."
Severus flushed, feeling shame. "She insisted."
"Well, perhaps there are so many Weasleys running around that first names are more convenient," she replied. "We don't need the reports for now."
"Would you like to see where I am in my maths book?" he asked, feeling more confident in math than in his reading.
"I wanted our first meeting be private," Miss Stradling told him. "I felt it would be a better place to understand each other."
"I have had a Nanny before," Severus told her with an edge in his voice. "I think I understand."
"I prefer the term Governess," Miss Stradling told him. "I am not merely tasked with your care, but also with your education. The term is old fashioned, but more accurate."
"I see," Severus told her. "Are you aware that you aren't my first Nanny?"
"I believe I am your first Governess," she told him sharply. "And I believe our relationship will be a little different than it was for your previous 'Nanny.' I believe you will find me a quite different person."
"She found me difficult," Severus told her with a slightly smug tone.
"I believe I am up to the challenge," she told him. "You were my professor and head of house."
"And that is supposed to make me believe that you have sympathy for me?"
"Not at all," she told him firmly. "Quite the opposite in fact. In fact, I believe that I might tell you the story of my first week at Hogwarts."
"I thought you were supposed to be educating me."
"I will be," she told him, the gleam in her eye decidedly harder. "In fact, I think you will find it quite illuminating. I came from a proper, pureblooded line though not one of the sacred twenty-eight. Do you know what that means?"
"No, I don't," Severus replied.
"You will address me as Miss Stradling," she ordered, her eyes narrowing. "It is cheek to reply without my proper address. Alternatively, you could call me Governess."
"Miss," Severus glared.
"My first week of Hogwarts was certainly an education," Miss Stradling told him. "And most of it came from my new head of house, one 'Professor Snape.' He educated me quite well, in fact."
"It sounds like you had a lot to learn," Severus replied, pugnaciously not adding her address.
"And learn I did," she replied with a small, smug smile. "And learn you will as well."
Miss Stradling then removed her wand from her sleeve, and with a quick flick Severus jumped from his seat, grabbing his backside. The sensation on his backside was sudden, hot, and acutely painful – much like the stripe of a cane.
"You can't do that!" he objected angrily.
"I did not hear any explicit prohibition," she replied with a crooked smile. "Surely if he wished to prevent it he would have mentioned magical discipline. This punishment leaves no mark, involves no cane, and was in fact one of the favorites of yours when a Slytherin got out of line. I received three my first week."
"You probably deserved it," he glared.
Miss Stradling smiled again and flicked her wand in the same manner, the result of which brought tears to Severus' eyes.
"I did, but not why Professor Snape said," she replied in a soft voice. "He said it was because I needed to cooperate better with those of mixed blood in my own house. He said that I was not one of the sacred twenty-eight, and that meant that I had to have mixed heritage in my own family line somewhere so I had no room to discriminate. I got a taste of that spell every time I said something nasty to that mudblood I had to sit next to in class. But that isn't why I deserved it."
"Why?" Severus glared at her, and then grudgingly added a mumbled "Miss" at the end.
"I deserved it because I wasn't smart enough to avoid his censure," she told her young charge. "I thought the justice of my situation was enough reason to defy my head of house, and I thought open and honest defiance was better than being clever, being a true Slytherin. But you taught me differently. Yes, I learned better, and you will as well. I will teach you to submit to my authority as surely as you taught me."
"I will tell my father of this punishment, Miss Stradling," Severus spat at her, summoning his resolve. "He wouldn't approve."
"See, you can be taught," she smiled at him. "And after just two strokes. Now, you go ahead and tell that imposter you call a Father. You have not a mark on you, and a history of pranking your Nanny. Who do you think he will believe?"
"He will believe me," Severus replied, but wasn't so sure.
"Do you know that I was the last Nanny or Governess willing to come to your house after your bout with the last nanny?" she asked him. "The difficulty in managing you has gotten around, let me assure you. No squib would come within a mile of you because they couldn't defend themselves, and any magical Nanny had you as a Potions Master, which scares them enough already. I'll bet your 'Father' might be able to find a nice boarding school to take you if you become too much of a burden."
And here, Severus blinked. He often thought back to this conversation, wishing he had yelled at her and stomped out of the room and told his Father what had happened. But reflexes are funny things – the automatic things that our bodies learn to do over the years are what come easiest to us. And Severus had learned to survive, to ignore pain in his body and injustice, and to simply get along. The bigger part of himself knew what she was saying was wrong – that his Father wouldn't send him away. But that small part of him that was still unsure – that's the part that she provoked. What if his new Dad didn't believe him? What if he did, and created a situation where Severus became a burden because there was nobody to care for him?
"Sit down, Mr. Snape," Miss Stradling ordered, seeing that she had won the power struggle.
Without a word, Severus obeyed.