I still don't own Harry Potter. I apologize for all the late updates. I've got college, another batch of fanfics that I've worked ahead on and are trying to upload at regular intervals, and also some crossovers that I'm trying to come up with some ideas for.

August 1998

"Professor?" he heard, and jerked as he was snapped back to the present.

"Sorry," he wrote, "What was that, Potter?"

"I was saying: how do you know her?" he asked, "Aside from being Potions Professor."

"I also taught her Defense," Snape reminded in the smoke writing, "Where is she?"

"Uh, at home crying," Harry said warily. "Um…"

Snape flicked his wand and a Patronus appeared. This time, however, it was not a doe like they were expecting – rather, it was a wolf.

"A wolf?" Harry asked, and Snape shrugged.

The wolf bounded off and Snape stared after it.

"What changed?" Harry asked, "I heard that emotions will change it, but what changed?"

Snape said nothing, his gaze becoming unfocused as the thought about everything that had happened to the Gryffindor whose life he'd saved. She'd been much less trouble than Potter, and he wanted to see the young witch again, even if only for a few hours. It would at least comfort him for a little while if someone came to kill him in the night.

"I'll just be going then," Harry said awkwardly. "Thanks again for letting me talk, Professor."

Snape was emotionless as he lay there silently. A nurse came in to check his vitals, and he frowned at the sight of her. She looked similar, like a combination between Lily and Daisy, and he hated it. She was wary, and ran out as quickly as she could. It was ten minutes later that a male healer walked in and flicked his wand at Professor Snape and began murmuring spells.

"Well, Professor, it looks like you're all patched up," he said calmly. "As long as you take it easy, you'll be fine. No talking for another few weeks unless you have to, and be sure to take a pain potion whenever you're in pain. Madame Pomfrey warned me about you being a stickler for healing regimens. You'll be brought back right quick if you stray and aggravate your neck."

"Yes, yes, I get it," Snape wrote. "Let me out."

"Alright, alright," he said putting his hands up fearfully. "Don't get your knickers in a twist."

Snape's glare shut him up and he discharged the grumpy Slytherin. With a sigh of relief through his nose, Snape changed back into a clean pair of black robes that Potter had left behind for him. He almost smirked at the boy's thoughtfulness before going and wordlessly apprarating straight to a street in Spinner's End.

As he walked through the streets, he saw a few people, and gruffly nodded ever so slightly. He had ensured that the bandages were still visible on his neck, so they left him be. A few daring Muggles remembered him from when he was a child, and one approached him with a pen and paper. They struck up a conversation, with Snape writing his answers back to the man, and the elderly Muggle winced as he read a Muggle version of what had happened to the Potions Master.

"Ow," he said shaking his head. "Tch, Colleagues these days, ya cain't trust 'em."

"I agree," Snape wrote, "Unless you taught them of course."

"Aye, you're a scary man when you want to be, Sev'rus," he said nodding, and Snape sneered. "A right scary man, terrifying. Why, I remember when a woman on my street somehow got you yelling so loud at her, I heard you all the way down the street!"

"Wait, what?" Snape wrote, "When was that? What was the name?"

"Eh, some Rachel Dare," he said warily, "You was yelling something about neglecting their stepdaughter, the poor girl."

"Ah, Miss Daisy," he wrote, "I remember her. Quietest student I ever taught, literally. Didn't speak a word, completely mute for fear once the others started picking on her for her stutter, but I made sure to set them all straight. No student gets made fun of in my classroom, and those boys were regretting it for weeks."

"Did she ever talk again?" he asked, and Snape pulled the pad to him.

"She spoke, but only when it concerned her anger or frustration about her parents. It was as if they had completely forbidden her to talk and she only spoke whenever an emotional dam inside of her broke. It took me weeks to get her to talk, and that was still just between the two of us. Over time, she came to talk a little more, but it was still only just enough for me to be able to get the basics," Snape wrote quickly. "Turns out, they were so neglectful, she thought the world wanted her dead. I ended up saving her life in her second month at the Private school I teach at."

"Oh," the old man said sadly. "Poor dear. She moved off, just down the street from your house, I think. started renting a room with Agatha."

"What?" Snape wrote, and the man repeated it. "When?"

"Uh, just last year," he said carefully, "She got in a fight with a bunch of weird guys with black cloaks and silver masks, and ended up whipping them like dogs."

"I-Where is she now?" Snape wrote quickly, "She could have been killed, those men were criminals!"

"Oi, easy Sev'rus," the man said as Severus started coughing in his panic, "Easy now, lad. She still there."

Snape's eyes widened, and the man nodded.

"Thank you, Agnes," Snape wrote and handed the pen and paper back to the elderly man, "but I need to go check up on my top Chemistry student. She's the only one I trust to take my place now that I'm the headmaster. I worked hard to build up a good chemistry reputation, I intend to have it upheld, and I will not have a dunderheaded fool teaching my favorite subject."

The man stared as Snape walked briskly towards Agatha's house, which was down the road from Snape's own home. He knocked on the door, and the elderly Muggle woman answered.

"Sev'rus!" she gasped, "What bring you here?"

He pointed to his throat and made a no-no motion with his other finger. He quickly began spelling out Daisy in sign language. She tilted her head confused, and he deadpanned. He looked to find her having planted daisies in the garden out front of her house, and pointed at them.

"The daisies? Oh, Daisy!" she realized, and he gave her a thumbs-up. "Oh, right. Daisy! There's someone here to see you!"

"If I find that you're another one of those good for nothing…" she ranted angrily before stopping in shock. "Professor! You're alive!"

He breathed in her scent with relief as she tackled him into a fierce hug. He held her close, taking another trip down memory lane.

Wahoo! Snape and Daisy sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! Just kidding, not yet. But I may just do that...

Review please!