3. A Daughter To Be Proud Of
The fifth year Gryffindor girls were just settling into their beds in their shared dormitory when they heard the common room door slam, and someone storm up the stairs towards the room. The door flung open, revealing Hermione to be the culprit. She had been crying, her light make up smudged on her face. She moved towards the only empty bed in the room, hers, and flung open the trunk sitting at the end of the bed, which had been delivered and unpacked only moments before by the house-elves. She lifted her wand and pointed it at her wardrobe, summoning all of her belongings into the trunk, and she slammed the lid of the drunk, and sent it flying out of the room.
As she began to walk out of the room, one of the girls walked towards her and grasped her shoulders.
"What's wrong, Hermione? What's happened? You can tell us, we're your friends."
She tilted her head and laughed at the girl.
"Hermione? What's happened to your robes?"
One of the other girls walked towards her, and looked at the lining of her robes – for Gryffindors, this was red, and students were required to wear the colours of their houses. Hermione's robes, however, although mostly read, had taken on a green tinge, and in places had turned completely green. The trim of the robe, previously the gold colour of Gryffindor, had also changed to silver.
"Girls, haven't you heard? I'm transferring. To Slytherin. I'm sick of all the bullshit that Gryffindor has dealt out to me, and I'm moving to Slytherin. At least down there, everything's out in the open, the good and the bad, except when people are sneaking around."
And with that, Hermione walked out of the Gryffindor dormitories, and out of the common room, forever.
Professor Snape's office and living quarters were located down in the dungeons, next to the entrance to the Slytherin common room, and late at night he left the door to his office open so he could see the students sneaking in and out. Not that he would punish them, he wasn't stupid enough to take house points away from his own house, like the other professors here did, just to keep an eye on his students.
Tonight, he was marking some essays from his third year potions class on Hate potions and their uses. However, he felt like he was wasting his time as none of the students had fully grasped the subject, and after a few essays had been marked he gave up. Pouring himself a glass of Firewhisky to warm himself, he began to read some of his older students essays, finding more hope in them.
Along the corridor, a clattering noise was heard, and Snape lifted his head from the essays just in time to see Hermione Granger, looking dishevelled and rather upset, walk past his door. Not that he cared at all, she was a know-it-all who constantly interrupted his classes with answers – they were always right, and he secretly was very impressed with the girl, but she was a Gryffindor and a Mudblood, and he did not want to show his weaker side. Thinking it was very strange of her to be down in the dungeons this late, he slid to the door of his office as quiet as he could.
"Yes, Miss Granger, can I help you?" Snape sneered at the young girl, who had stopped just after his door. He noticed that she had stolen a Slytherin's uniform and was wearing it. "Playing dress-up are we, Miss Granger? Well that'll be 30 points from Gryffindor for being out of your common room after hours, and another..."
"Shut up, Severus." Hermione muttered, her back turned to him and an attitude he had never experienced from her before clearly shining through.
"You know, Snape, I've been meaning to give you something since the start of term, something I think you'll find rather interesting. You know, that affair you had with Lily Evans sixteen years ago, well, I'm the product of that, sadly. I'm your daughter. If you need proof, here is my birth certificate, and here is a letter from my mother. I'm tired of people lying to me, Severus, so let's just cut the crap. You're my dad." Hermione said, handing Snape the evidence.
Calmly he took it from her hands, and snorted. He couldn't believe it! She was so annoying, and her attitude was...just like his. He realised suddenly that had been a know-it-all in school, and he had annoyed his professors as well, surely. She had a flair for potions, and she had dark eyes, like his.
"Well, yes, it does seem that way, doesn't it. Is that the reason you're down here, and in Slytherin robes? You know, you were chosen for Gryffindor, so you should be up there."
Hermione laughed at him, and told him of her meeting with the Sorting Hat earlier that day. "..and the Hat said that after all the crap, all the lies, I had a chance to choose my own path for once. It's all well and good being a Gryffindor, but what has it got me so far? I've been almost killed a few times, and I'm constantly bullied. Well now it's time I thought about myself for a change. I want in. You're my father, make it happen. Tell me the password to the Slytherin common room, and set me up in there. I'll need my own room."
Snape had never known what he would do when this moment came around – he knew that Lily had given the child up for adoption, there never was a chance that she would have kept it. No matter how much she loved him, she had loved Potter more and their one-night thing had been just that, for one night only. She had been sad at being away from her husband on Order of the Phoenix duty, and he had simply been in love with her. He knew that their night of passion had resulted in a child, and that one day that child might find him. Merlin's beard, it just had to be Granger, didn't it?
"I don't know who you think you are, Miss Granger, but I am a Professor at this school, and I will not be talked to in that way. I will never be your father, not really. You can demand all you like, but you're never going to get. You're going to have to show some real Slytherin attitude to get the password, and I'm not seeing that so far. Now get out of my office, and get back up to your snivelling little common room and get on with your homework." Snape sneered at the girl stood in front of him, her face cracking up into what were bound to be tears. He did enjoy making students cry.
Hermione, however, did not begin crying as Snape had expected. Instead she lifted her head to look him straight in the face, looking more like Lily than he had ever realised, and smirked at him. "Follow me."
Walking out of the dark, gloomy office that Snape called home, Hermione lead her father to the entrance to the Slytherin common room, a bare stone wall at the end of the corridor. Thinking the witch was just going to talk him into giving her the password, Snape relaxed a little, letting his hands drop to his sides. Instantaneously, Hermione swung around to face him, lifting her wand hand and shouted "EXPELLIARMUS" before Snape had time to react. His wand flew out of his hand, and landed on the floor far behind him – the spell had been a very strong one, cast in rage and by a truly powerful witch. Looking for his wand, Snape felt a sharp pain as Hermione pushed him against the wall, pointing her wand at his neck. Her face was calm and collected, not her usual demeanour. Her eyes stared into Severus', cold and calculating.
Although having never been taught it, Hermione felt herself enter Severus' mind. She had a feeling in her body that she was able to use Legilimency, and used it to search her father's mind. Eventually she found what she was looking for. She released the professor from her grasp, summoned his wand, and passed it to him.
Hermione walked up to the bare stretch of wall, ran her hands across the smooth stone, and whispered "Merus" and without a sound, a door was formed in the wall, the entrance to the Slytherin common room. "I should have guessed, 'Merus'. Latin for pure. How witty of you." And with that, she walked through the door, into the Slytherin common room, bathed in green light.
Snape settled back into his office, his mind buzzing from what had just happened. He had seen a changed girl in Hermione, and was beginning to think she may fit in in Slytherin. She had used her talents to her advantage, and she seemed to be much more ambititious than when she had been a mere Gryffindor. She had stopped at nothing, and assaulted a teacher – clearly against the rules of Hogwarts. All of these traits made her, in Snape's opinion, an excellent Slytherin. He decided she needed some guidance and that, with a little help, would turn out to be a perfect Slytherin, a model Potions student, and an daughter to be proud of.