AN: I have mentioned before that I wrote this story a little differently, and in fact I wrote this chapter before I wrote anything else and then wrote everything else in light of this chapter. I did have to edit it a bit - I didn't expect Draco to pop up like he did - but for the most part this was the plan from the beginning. Please let me know what you think!
"Thank you for coming, Miss Weasley," Professor Snape greeted her. "I trust that your brother has briefed you on this meeting?"
"He said you were really yourself," Ginny answered uncertainly.
"Indeed, I am," Professor Snape replied. "I distilled part of my personality, such as might be put into a painting. And with the spell that George performed in conjunction to the potion, this is the most realistic rendering we could make of me. And infused into this memory is also what I wanted to tell you should you come to this part of our relationship."
"What part is that?" she asked cautiously.
"George was supposed to invite you into this memory if you did something specific to claim my younger self as your son," Professor Snape replied without guile. "Did you defend me from the Governess?"
"You knew all along," Ginny gasped, looking at the Professor in the face for the first time. "You set this up! How could you have chosen such a horrid caregiver for your younger self?"
"She would have been a horrid caregiver if my goal had been for my younger self to like her or receive good care from her," Professor Snape explained.
"She said that you had used that spell on her as a student," Ginny pressed, her eyes looking at the professor suspiciously.
"I did, on very rare occasions, give her a stroke or two when the situation clearly warranted it," the Professor admitted quietly. "It wasn't an uncommon punishment in Slytherin, and one that I doled out on occasion, and to which the recipient usually had no real resentment. I did not realize it had inspired such plans of . . . vengeance in Miss Stradling until I accidentally stumbled across her stray thoughts well into her later years at Hogwarts."
"So you knew exactly what you were doing when you recommended her to be your younger self's governess?" she asked with incredulity.
"Please, will you sit down?" he invited. "This is going to be a longer conversation."
Ginny agreed, seating herself in a soft, worn chair opposite of her Potions Master. She still couldn't believe how strange this whole thing felt.
"Would you care for tea?" he asked her formally.
"Yes," she agreed. "Wait, is that something we can do here?"
"Why don't we attempt it," Professor Snape gestured, and a hot pot of tea with two cups and all the accompaniments appeared. "How do you take it?"
"White, no sugar," she responded formally.
Professor Snape prepared her a cup, and handed it to her with ceremony. She breathed in the aromatic aroma, smiling a bit that it was her favorite tea. Had he known?
"I love Earl Gray," she told him.
"I'm gratified to hear that," he responded, preparing a cup for himself. "I am fond of it as well."
"Shouldn't you have wanted the Governess to like you?" Ginny pressed him, taking a sip of her tea in consternation. "It seems like your younger self could use a little care and compassion after the childhood he had."
"I agree with you completely," he told her, taking a sip himself. "But it wasn't from her that I was intending for my younger self to get that care."
"What do you mean?" she asked. "Harry? You know he adores you."
"He does," Snape nodded. "When I chose him to become the father to my younger self, I knew he would grow to love me easily. And, as I grew quite fond of Dumbledore as my adult self, I figured that it wouldn't be hard for my younger self to grow fond of him as well as soon as I realized that he was not going to abuse me. But one worry came along with that decision."
"What was that?"
"His future wife," Snape answered honestly.
"Did you not like me?" she demanded, feeling her face flush.
"You misunderstand," Snape told her softly, his voice wavering slightly. When Ginny saw the look on his face, she felt her fury subside. He was obviously trying to say something difficult, but was having trouble. For the first time, she saw the young boy she cared about in this older, jaded Snape.
"Then what do you mean?" she asked, softer this time.
"I knew that I would have a father," Snape admitted. "One that was over-young for the responsibility, absolutely, but one with a kind and loyal heart. But I found myself not contenting myself with one loving parent; I was greedy. I wanted another."
"You wanted a mother?" she squeaked, caught completely off guard. This vulnerability on the adult Professor Snape was disconcerting, and realizing that it was about him wanting her as a mother was completely unreal.
"Of course," he answered. "Children do best with two parents, and as an adult realizing the harm done by my mother, well, it made me want to give my younger self a different experience. Maybe enough of a different chance that I could actually have a relationship with a woman as an adult."
"You want me as a mother," Ginny realized, setting down her teacup without realizing it. "You set up the Governess to force my hand."
"Not to force your hand," Professor Snape quickly corrected. "I did not want to force you to do anything. When I watched you and thought of you in the . . . altered circumstances that I orchestrated, I believed that your biggest downfall would be how you knew me as an adult, and feeling insufficient to parent me."
"You were Harry's Father," she answered, looking away.
"And I was the headmaster at Hogwarts during a time where you helped lead the rebellion within its walls," he answered firmly. "You fought me. You saw me do terrible things and believed that I was a terrible person. I imagine it was hard to believe later that I was acting as I could to prevent even worse atrocities."
"There were chains . . ." she admitted, and then fell quiet.
"Which I thought better than the cruciatus," Snape softly explained. "I was trying to curtail the worst from the Carrows, while still seeming brutal enough to maintain my position as headmaster. I had to make many decisions, many of which I deeply regret the necessity that forced me to make them."
"I wasn't at Hogwarts as long as Neville . . ."
"You and I both know you were there long enough," he told her with seriousness. "And you and I both know what happened there."
"You weren't that cruel," she admitted, looking down. "Only Neville knows that you caned me; I've never even told Harry. But even he doesn't know that you spared me like you did. I had never been caned before, but even I know that it should have hurt more than my mother's wooden spoon."
"I did my level best to spare you," he told her with deep sadness. "I used the spell I used for younger children that spelled the marks to look worse than I applied. Even though the pain was not as intense as a normal caning would have been, the experience was still . . . distressing to you, and for that I have deep regrets. You know why I had to do it, don't you?"
"To protect me from the Carrows," Ginny acknowledged. "What they had wanted to do was far worse."
"Even so, I would like to apologize for my part in terrorizing you so thoroughly," he told her firmly. "You were brave, loyal, and brilliant in your endeavors; and I secretly cheered for you. However, to maintain my cover, I chose to inflict fear, emotional abuse, and even on that occasion some physical abuse upon your person. For that I am truly sorry."
"We both did what we had to do."
"And I believe part of the cost of that is that you've always been a little afraid of me," Professor Snape pressed. "Even after everything became known of my work with the order after the war, you have always seemed nervous around me. I had hoped that the years ahead would prove to show you how much I value you and respect you as my son's chosen partner. But alas, years we did not have."
"And now you want me as a mother to your younger self?" she asked, confused.
"I was not trying to force you, but to invite you," he tried to explain. "I tried to convey the message through your brother that I wanted you to mother my younger self, but you still seemed hesitant, unsure. I had left instructions that if you seemed set against mothering my younger self to respect your wishes. But if you more seemed as if you might be willing but didn't feel as if you could do it, then to employ measures to convince you. Forgive an old Slytherin his tricks, but I wanted to stir the Gryffindor within you. You are not timid by nature, and I expect you to be as fierce as your mother in protecting your offspring. I was just hoping that little Severus could fall under that protection."
"So you arranged Miss Stradling," Ginny nodded, understanding. "You figured that if I saw a complete failure in care for your younger self that I would step in and put a stop to it."
"Which you did, rather nicely I understand," Professor Snape acknowledged. "Thank you for your protection."
"George has followed your instructions well."
"He has turned into more of a partner than I ever would have realized when that hooligan was in school," Professor Snape acknowledged. "But there was part of the plan that even he wasn't privy to. You see, part of the plan was to stir your maternal instincts, but the other part of the plan was to also dismantle some of my younger self's walls."
"What do you mean?" she asked, surprised.
"You know me to be an intensely private man, Miss Weasley," the professor answered her. "You know how much being this honest is costing me. But when I set this plan up, I knew that only this honesty at the end would do the plan justice. You know something of my relationship with my mother, I suppose?"
"Harry as told me a bit of what he saw," she admitted.
"Well, I knew instinctively that I would have some bumps but that I would grow to trust Harry," the Professor admitted, sipping the tea again. "But I knew it would be much harder with you. Though as I child I feared my father more, as an adult I've come to see what my mother did was more . . . insidious. And more damaging, truth be told. My father beat me and hurt my body, but her neglect, her bitterness, and her rejection hurt my soul. I knew that if this time things were going to be truly different, it would mean that I would have to learn to trust you as well. In the end, as odious as the woman was, I decided that we both needed Miss Stradling in order to realize each others' vulnerabilities and to begin to trust each other."
"What a foolhardy and easily disastrous way to do it!" Ginny told him, exasperated. "You could have been hurt!"
"It was just my body, flesh and bone," Snape answered, with the cold, stubborn calculation of the self that had borne much suffering. "I am much more concerned about the rest of me."
Ginny marveled at the man before her, and realized how little she had really known him. He was a man of deep suffering, of brilliant plans, and of an almost preternatural understanding of human nature. And he had thought through this plan of his to the letter - even to the point of figuring out how to get his child self and her to start to trust each other despite steep odds against it.
"Perhaps, given all that I have done as an adult, I deserved a bit of what I received from a vengeful governess?"
"Young Severus did not," Ginny replied staunchly, narrowing her eyes. "He's an innocent child that has known nothing but abuse, and deserves nothing of the sort."
"He is me, you know."
"You may wallow in guilt all you want, Professor," she crisply replied. "But it does not mean you will convince me as well. I see a man that has done his level best to make up for some teen-aged foolishness, and a man that has suffered greatly already. And what young Severus is now, well, he's something new again entirely. He's not you at all, he's himself. And he's now under Harry's and my protection, and we would appreciate no further abuse upon his person by any quarter."
Professor Snape, much to Ginny's surprise, smiled softly at her speech, and sat back in his chair. "I see my faith in you is not misplaced, Miss Weasley. You are indeed the lioness I had hoped you would be."
"And I'm also someone that does not like to be patronized."
"Forgive me, I never had a daughter," he held up his hand in defense. "I was just having a moment thinking of how proud your father must be of you. Forgive an old man a little bit of patronizing. Although it is a bit odd to feel fatherly towards a young woman I want to be my mother."
"Nothing about this situation is normal," she conceded.
"But I assume you have more questions for me," he continued for her after a few moments, sipping his tea. "I believe our time is drawing to a close."
"I'm not sure that I have many," she told him, acknowledging his brilliance. "You seem to have thought of everything."
"I have tried," he nodded.
"And so now what?" she asked in a voice that was mostly pretty timid. Given his plan and what he had done to succeed, she felt that she would do almost whatever he asked at this moment. "What should I do when I go back to him? Should we hire another Nanny? Should I quit my job to care for you?"
"Of course not," he replied with a wave of his hand. "I don't believe a nine-year-old needs that kind of care. When Harry was this age, he was cared for by a mixture of your mother, a house elf, and myself. I wonder if a similar situation might be arranged?"
"George will be happy to have his protégé back," Ginny acknowledged. "And mum would love to have him. You're right, we can keep this in the family."
"Excellent," Snape nodded. "I understand that Draco Malfoy has made a connection with the child as well, that might be a good relationship to encourage for a fuller education for the lad, maybe with a weekly meeting time. Make sure you pay your mum, however. Whatever the nanny got she should get. They might appreciate the supplement to their income."
"Why not suggest her first?" Ginny asked. "This arrangement would have been easier on all of us."
"If I had suggested a suitable caregiver you would have felt disqualified to care for young Severus and deferred to her," Professor Snape told her softly. "That includes your mother - perhaps especially your mother."
"You added to the abuse he's suffered, though," Ginny argued.
"I have," Professor Snape acknowledged. "And I am sorry for it. But I am hoping that the benefits will outweigh the costs."
"I hope you are right," Ginny answered, shaking her head.