Thank you for reading! Please let me know if you enjoy! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Updates every Saturday!
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After the battle of the smoothie, Severus seemed to remember that Harriet was there out of choice not obligation and she seemed to recover her patience with her cantankerous charge.
Harriet kept up Severus's daily routine but he no longer fumed as furiously as he had before when the service Harriet provided him wasn't exactly to his liking.
By the fifth week of his recovery, Severus was able to get out of bed and move around for longer amounts of time than walking to and from the washroom.
By the sixth week, Harriet felt like his need for her was dwindling. As she sat in the damask living room one evening, listening to the crackling fireplace, her suspicion was validated when Severus came downstairs on his own and sat across from her in a chair.
Although it was summer, Severus's childhood home was constantly chilly for some reason and Harriet took comfort the fire's warmth.
"I thought you'd already fallen asleep." Harriet commented as Severus eyed her cautiously.
To her surprise, he laid a hand against his throat and spoke more than he had been able to since the attack, "Not yet……...I have an irritating amount of energy as of late."
"Well…..that's good, yeah?" Harriet replied, "You won't be needing me much longer."
She expected Severus to affirm that fact or express his interest in her leaving him, but instead, he pressed the same hand against his throat so that he could answer, "Do I look like I'm fully recovered, Potter? Will you abandon an injured man that still struggles to complete the most basic of tasks?"
Harriet blinked at the offense in Severus's voice. He spoke as though he were both incredibly angry and tragically saddened that she would even think of leaving his side.
"No, of course not, sir." Harriet replied with a shake of her head, "I just…...I don't want to be in your way. I told you that I'll look after you. I've kept my word so far, haven't I?"
The tension seemed to ease from Severus's face but Harriet saw his discomfort as he kept his hand pressed against his throat and stated, "I'm currently little more than a cripple. I don't have a way for you to be in, Potter…...Strangely enough, your attention has proven useful………..I suppose that's better than the alternative."
Harriet couldn't help but crack a smile.
When Severus saw it, he scowled, but she didn't care, the notion was too amusing for her to ignore.
Severus Snape "supposed" that Harriet's kind assistance, her night and day effort to aid his healing was better than bleeding out on the floor of the Shrieking Shack alone?
Harriet was touched.
There were very few people who received such a heartfelt compliment from Professor, er, Headmaster Snape!
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As the summer continued to roll by, Severus and Harriet both began to accept their newly established routine as a way of life.
Harriet woke, Harriet fed Severus breakfast and ate her own, they sat together, Harriet fed Severus lunch and ate her own, they sat together, and then Harriet fed him dinner and ate her own.
Severus bathed himself, took himself to the bathroom, but frustratingly enough, those were the only things he felt like he could do comfortably and not because of his injuries.
Severus didn't want Harriet to find out how much of his independence he had gained back.
He had taken over changing his own bandages after he had claimed that Harriet always scratched him with her fingernails.
That was a lie, but Severus felt it was a necessary one.
If Harriet saw that the wound on his throat had healed down to only a slight scar, he was terrified that she would take her leave of him.
She had said it herself, she was there because he needed her.
If he was too active, if he tended the house, worked on potions, or did anything to demonstrate exactly how capable he was, Severus knew that Harriet would see no reason to stay any longer.
It was both Harriet's service and the company that Severus enjoyed.
He had to admit, after a lifetime of solitary rejection, it was refreshing to have Harriet waiting on him hand and foot. It flattered him to watch her fuss over him, to see the effort she put into making him comfortable, but it was more than that, too.
Severus, although he was loath to admit it, had come to like having Harriet around. A summer of isolation together had given him a chance to hold conversations with his least favorite student outside of the classroom and outside of the war.
Severus rather liked Harriet Potter after he was forced by circumstance to give her a fair chance.
He enjoyed the companionship that she offered him. He was also fond of her smile, her red hair, and her green eyes, all of which were bright and vivacious and very similar to someone that he had held very dear…..
Harriet shone like a light against the dreary backdrop of Severus's home in Spinner's End.
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Severus didn't realize that one morning, before he had started changing his bandages himself, Harriet had come in while he was still asleep to check on him.
In the middle of the night, Severus had thrashed this way and that and in his restlessness, he had managed to unfasten the gauze around his throat.
Harriet saw then that his wound was mostly healed, but she said nothing, in hopes that he would do the same.
Harriet had enough money to rent an apartment or buy a house. Harriet could have gone back to The Burrow or even stayed with Hermione's family if she had asked, the Grangers wouldn't have turned her away.
She could barely believe it herself, but through their long talks during the hours they spent side by side and the gentle tranquility that she began to notice in his presence, Harriet actually preferred to stay with Severus.
When he took over changing his bandages but mentioned nothing about how advanced his recovery had become, Harriet was happy.
She knew then that apparently, Severus had come to appreciate their deep talks with one another as well.
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As that long summer ended, the unavoidable truth eventually forced its way out.
The Hogwarts castle had been repaired and the new academic year would commence within the month. That meant that Severus was going back to work, which also meant that neither he nor Harriet could continue to ignore the fact that he had recovered enough that he was no longer in need of her care.
One evening after dinner, while Severus sat in front of the fireplace in the living room beside Harriet, he addressed the topic, "Classes will begin anew soon."
"I never said anything to you, but I think you were doing a decent job as headmaster." Harriet replied.
"That's because you weren't in attendance last year." Severus snipped.
Harriet chuckled, "No, I wasn't, but I heard from people who were."
"Perhaps now, Potter, you'll have a chance to judge for yourself." Severus replied in his low purr of a voice.
He was very much looking forward to spending the next year seeing Harriet in passing. Maybe she would even become a prefect for Gryffindor and they may continue to have opportunities to spend a fleeting moment or two together.
"I doubt that very much." Harriet replied.
Severus looked over at her with narrowed eyes.
"I'm not coming back to Hogwarts." Harriet informed him.
Severus flinched like he had been punched in the gut. Before he could question her, Harriet added, "I've been accepted into the auror program at the Ministry of Magic. I'm going to start two weeks from now."
Severus's brow furrowed in defeat.
No.
No, that wasn't what should happen.
What had she done?!
Harriet blinked as she watched the look on Severus's face change from disbelieving to infuriated.
"So am I to believe that the Ministry doesn't care enough about their Aurors to allow them to finish their education?" Severus quipped.
"I think it's more of an exception than a rule." Harriet replied with a shrug, "I want to join and they allowed me. It wasn't my fault that I couldn't come back last year, everyone knows that. I don't see the reason to sit at a desk for-"
The news that Harriet wasn't coming back to Hogwarts upset Severus and when he was upset, he felt vulnerable.
When Severus Snape became vulnerable, his main defense mechanism was to lash out.
"-How lovely it must be to encounter an unlimited amount of exceptions and viable excuses. Tell me, Potter, is there anything that being the Chosen One doesn't get you?" Severus shot back hatefully.
Harriet glanced over at Severus and Severus scowled back at her across the darkened living room.
Harriet was about to ask him if he wanted her to leave, but before she could speak, Severus rose to his feet with his black robes swirling around him. As he strode out of the room, he stated with an irritated sigh, "You've exhausted me, Potter, I'm retiring for the night…..See that you put out the flames before you sleep."
Severus stalked out of the room and up the stairs like an angry bat as Harriet scoffed to herself.
It was her life and her choice.
What difference did it make to Headmaster Snape if she graduated or not?
He never liked her anyway. Harriet thought it would make him relieved to know that he wouldn't have to be bothered with her at the castle ever again.
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Severus made it up to his room and he closed his door with a frown of malcontent as if he had just witnessed an awful disaster.
Severus was deeply upset that he and Harriet would part soon and he would have no reason to contact her any further.
He would not see her at Hogwarts.
He would not glance at her in passing.
Severus was even more disturbed and saddened by the fact that along with the summer, his and Harriet's meaningful chats by the fire would also die.
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The last two weeks of their time together were spent in a tense sort of dread.
When the grimly awaited morning of Harriet's departure came, she rose early. She hoped to avoid saying goodbye to Severus in person but she scribbled a note down which she left on the bed for him to find later.
Headmaster Snape,
I'm glad that you are doing better. This summer was more pleasant than I expected. Best wishes for the new school year, the students should be honored to have you as their leader. I have yet to pay you back for all that you've done for me, but perhaps one day, I'll find a way.
Kind Regards,
Harriet Potter
Harriet quietly grabbed her trunk, her bag, and then she crept out of her room.
She didn't bother to turn any lights on as she stealthily slunk down the stairs.
Harriet had just made it to the bottom of the steps when the small lamp in the tiny foyer switched on and she found Severus standing in front of her, already awake and dressed in his usual robes. His dark eyes were as black as the hair that hung around his face as he loomed over her and asked, "In a hurry this morning, Potter?"
"Oh! Um, yes, sir……...I hope I didn't wake you." Harriet replied.
"Nonsense." Severus huffed coldly, "Did no one ever inform you that it is very poor manners to leave without saying goodbye?"
"But I did say goodbye, sir." Harriet nodded in her own defense, "I left a note upstairs….on the bed."
Severus frowned down at Harriet while she gazed up at him.
As their eyes met and studied each other, there, in the quiet stillness of the morning, Harriet found herself resisting the urge to lean in closer to him. Severus saw something that he was unfamiliar with glistening in her green eyes and he found himself delightfully horrified by the hypothetical possibility of her acting on whatever impulse she seemed to be considering.
Using an incredible amount of willpower, Severus pulled away and stepped aside.
"Go on, then." He said in a voice that was almost a whisper, "Being the Chosen One won't absolve you from tardiness in the ministry's eyes."
"Look after yourself, headmaster." Harriet nodded before she raised her wand and apparated away.
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When Severus was left standing alone in his empty foyer with his jaw clenched, he hunched slightly and breathed into the nothingness.
With an air of true melancholy dismay, Severus glided upstairs to the bedroom that Harriet had inhabited. He stretched out his long, elegant fingers and picked up the note that she had left for him on the bed.
His teeth were grit firmly together as he scanned over the words she had penned.
Severus had torn off a piece of parchment that Harriet's mother, Lily, had written long ago. He had kept that scrap of Lily in his breast pocket for over a decade, but after he read over the note Harriet had written to him, Severus removed that piece of Lily from his breast and replaced it with Harret's note, the small bit of her that he had to keep, a small remembrance that she had given to him freely.
Severus glanced around the empty room and sighed to himself.