I still don't own Harry Potter. Anyhow, Daisy is mine, and so is her familiar, if I ever manage to figure out which one I want to give her.
November 1990, that same night
"Severus!" they heard Minerva McGonagall call through the fireplace at about ten-thirty. "We need your help! One of my lion cubs has been missing all afternoon! Nobody's seen her since Herbology just before lunch!"
"Miss Dare is in my office," he said calmly. "I'm not sure how long she was waiting for me to get there, but she seemed to need a listening ear, so I lent her one or two."
"Oh, Thank Merlin!" Minerva breathed with relief. "Thank Merlin you found her! Is she alright?"
"I believe it best that you and I have a discussion later, Minerva, your lion cub is still in my office," he said calmly, "And I will not discuss head of house matters in front of a student, not even in front of my most prized snakes, you know that."
"Of course," she sighed, "I'll let the others know you found her. Thank you, Severus."
She withdrew from the fire and Daisy looked up at the Head of Slytherin house that looked at the clock.
"Well, it is far past curfew," he said calmly. "As it was spent in my company, I will not punish you or your fellow lion cubs. However, I will be having a word with your head of house about how your fellow lion cubs are treating you."
"Thank you, sir," she stuttered, and he noticed that it was a little less of a stutter than it had been at the beginning of the night. "Sir-may I-may I come back tomorrow, please?"
"You will have me tomorrow for Potions," he said calmly. "I still have a reputation to uphold, however I believe that I have a way that we can keep up this pretense. A detention once a week will make a nice pretense, yes?"
"But-but no punishment, sir?" she asked, and he sneered.
"Well, if you count getting ahead of your classmates while we talk as a punishment, then yes," he said calmly, "Now come. There is a very upset lioness who I'm sure will have a lot of crap to give me if I don't bite her head off first."
"Thank you, sir," she stuttered quietly as she got up and followed him to the door. He summoned two rolls of parchment and tapped each one with his wand.
"If you ever need to speak with me after curfew, use this," he said giving her one. "What you write will come to my piece of parchment, and vice versa. I do not like watching a student suffer such cruelty as I had faced when I was a student, contrary to popular belief."
"Sir?" she asked quietly, and he looked down at her. "Can-is it okay if-if we're friends?"
"You would be the first true friend I've had since I was fifteen," he said quietly, "So yes, I'd like that. it felt nice to finally have someone to talk to as an equal who wasn't trying to control me or the like."
He managed to get her close to the Gryffindor common rooms and she stared at it.
"I don't want to go back," she admitted, "I know it's my house, but… they hate me…"
"Daisy!" they heard, and turned to find Professor McGonagall racing up, with Professors Flitwick, Sprout, and Dumbledore walking calmly but relieved behind. "Thank you for finding her Severus!"
"Where was she?" Fillius squeaked.
"My office," Snape said calmly. "She needed a listening ear. Apparently somebody decided it would be best to let the students isolate and mock her."
"I sense more to the story," Pomona frowned. "But, alas, it is far past curfew! Tomorrow at the staff meeting?"
"No," Snape snapped angrily, "Tonight, no later. You need to see this – all of you."
Minerva led Daisy through the portrait hole just then, and half the Gryffindor house was waiting while the other heads of houses bickered outside their common rooms.
"Alright, off to bed!" he heard her yelling, "And I'll hand out a detention with Professor Snape if anyone tries to make fun of one of your own lion cubs again for no reason! And mark my words, you can bet he'll make it most unpleasant!"
"Damn right I will!" he called in to her, "They'll be scrubbing cauldrons until they can't feel their arms and legs! Or worse!"
They all shuddered and hurried off to bed. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Snape was probably just mad because of the late hour. Daisy knew, however, that the two of them understood each other's pains perfectly. The only difference was that she had two older brothers who joined in her stepmother's "fun".
Minerva left the common rooms once they were all asleep, with Daisy back with the other first year girls, who were snickering, and they each received a cold glare from the Transfiguration teacher just before said Professor tucked a very, very tired Daisy into bed, who was asleep before her head even hit the pillow. It didn't take the others long to figure out that she'd probably just run off crying for the teachers' attention. They wondered vaguely who had found her.
"What is it, Severus?" Dumbledore asked as Minerva met back up with her fellow heads of houses in his office.
"Yes, Severus, what is so important that it can't wait?" Pomona scowled with mockery.
"This," he said pulling out the parchment Daisy had written. "Miss Dare had it in hand when I went into my office to find her sobbing in one of the chairs. I assumed the worst, so I let her stay."
"Oh, Merlin, this is-is this-a suicide note?" Minerva gasped in horror as tears came into her eyes.
"Either that or a runaway one," he blinked. "I may be cruel and heartless, but I'm not about to turn away a student who wants to die. Not when I myself sat in that very chair begging Professor Slughorn to let me stay with him over the summer, or to take me out of all of my other elective courses and put me in any Potions class he had available, even as a teacher's aide."
"Oh," Minerva gasped as she read the letter and fell back into a chair behind her with shock. "Oh my… how did you come by this?"
"She had it in hand, as if she wanted me to take it. She held a transfigured quill in another one, that she'd turned into a knife," he revealed, "Naturally I changed it back before anything could happen."
"Oh, god," Minerva said putting her face into her hands. "I knew they were picking on her, but I had no idea it was so bad! I thought it was just light teasing behind her back!"
"Obviously not," Snape said angrily. "I gave her a piece of parchment so that she could talk to me after curfew if she needed to. She seems to have come to think of me as a better head of house, I think."
"I've already scolded my lion cubs, but I'll be sure to give them hell for this," Minerva promised, "This is madness!"
"We'll let our houses know as well," Fillius squeaked as he finished the letter. "I've never seen a suicide note so wet… all that sorrow…"
"I think her family background is as bad as mine," Snape admitted, "She just doesn't want to admit it. I also think that her older stepbrothers drive off any possible friend, so she didn't have a-a-"
"A Lily," Minerva finished, and he nodded gravely.
There was a long silence in the room just before Dumbledore broke it.
"I will also take steps to ensure this doesn't happen again," he said calmly, "It is why Moaning Myrtle haunts her bathroom, and I do not wish another student to share her fate. Also, Sir Nicholas will need to keep an eye on Miss Dare for a few days yet."
"I'll have the Baron keep an eye on her in the dungeons when I can't," Snape said calmly, "And I will ensure that she is not insulted in any way, shape, or form in my classroom. Also, what is her address? I want to have a word with her parents."
"Uh-oh," Pomona said gravely, "I know what that means, Severus Snape, don't you dare threaten them!"
"I'm not going to threaten them," he sneered, "Just remind them of why they shouldn't touch her and start treating her with respect. After all, we wouldn't want a murderer out of another lion, would we?"
"Severus, it is times like this that you scare me," Minerva admitted with fear in her eyes. "If it gets worse, let me know. I want to have a little revenge of my own."
"As do I," Fillius piped in.
"Count me in," Pomona agreed.
"Get in line," Snape sneered, "Peeves and I go first."
The other teachers paled before he realized what he had said and sneered so profoundly that they were sure the apocalypse was coming. He started laughing at the possibilities, and they looked at each other before fleeing to the fireplace to escape from the maniac head of Slytherin house.
So what do you think Snape will have Peeves do? I tried to make her in character, she'll be upset for a while yet whenever she's not around Snape, but things will get... complicated.
Anyhow, review please! Please, pretty please! Most of my stories have zero or one review to their names! *begging and pleading*