Still don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters! And, as promised, here are the next few chapters since I've been away since before Thanksgiving!
March 1993
"Merlin's beard, Severus!" Lockhart huffed as he lifted the large wad of galleons onto the main table in the staff room. "Your student – ugh! I don't know what spell you taught her to dangle me by my ankles, but I hope nobody else learns it!"
"I didn't teach her that, actually," Snape lied smoothly, "She must have picked it up somewhere. I will not deny that I'm not so sure this is all you owe us."
"What?" Lockhart huffed. "Of course it is!"
"Oh? Then where is the money you owe Miss Dare for the twenty-five hexes that she performed on you? Have you already forgotten that you owe her thirty-five hundred galleons?" Snape asked, "I am not a man to forget debts, nor grudges for that matter."
"Fine," Lockhart huffed, "This is just for the staff. I see no reason to get her the money just now…"
"Lockhart, she did that so she can pay for her books," Snape snapped, "I had to threaten her parents to pay for all your textbooks, and they tried to kill us for it! If she goes back there, she'll die, and I'm sure you don't want the death of an innocent, talented student on your hands!"
"I had no idea," Lockhart said faintly, "I-I'm so sorry, Severus, but-but I'm afraid that right now I'm a little low on funds. I can give her half of the money, but I'm afraid-!"
"No, Gilderoy," Snape snapped, "She held back on you before, and if she wants to hex you to get her money, I won't stop her!"
"Fine!" Lockhart snapped, "I'll give her what I owe her, and the money back for the books of mine that she purchased so that she can buy her textbooks for the upcoming years! Happy?!"
"Almost," Snape hedged, "You won't just be paying her the money you owe her, you're going to give her a formal apology for insulting her and saying that you meant for all that to go as it did! She defeated you fair and square, and in all honesty, I don't believe you really did all the things that your books claim that you did!"
"How dare you!" Lockhart yelled angrily, "Are you calling me a liar?!"
"There are a lot of things I'd like to call you," Snape shot back calmly, "And I'm sure Potter would finally agree with me on something when it comes to a desire to hex you into oblivion."
"You against me!" Lockhart yelled, "Rematch! In front of all the students! Winner gets two thousand galleons from the other!"
"Oh? Making such hasty bets, Gilderoy?" Snape sneered, "very well, I accept. Two weeks from now sounds nice, to let you recover, you know."
"No!" he yelled, "Tonight!"
"May ninth," Snape snapped, and Lockhart flushed angrily. "The more you insist upon keeping it tonight, the more I'll insist it should be later."
"Fine! Next week!" he yelled, and Snape sneered.
"I look forward to destroying you," he hissed as he gathered up his money from the bet and left the staff room.
The others rounded up their money bags as well and went off to their offices. They used the Floo, all calling Snape at once, and he scowled.
"Severus, is it true?" Minerva asked, "Did they really try to kill you?"
"No, but if it weren't for the Howler I'd sent them last year, they wouldn't have given me the money needed," Snape said as he set the money on the arm of the chair. "I had to pull out my wand as it was, and the evil stepmother – Sweet Salazar, she's worse than my father! She may not have physically abused Miss Dare, but she most definitely has psychologically and emotionally tortured the poor girl, and withheld information."
"Does Miss Dare still have access to the Johnson vault?" Dumbledore asked calmly.
"Yes, and technically speaking, I'm her guardian over it since I signed the paperwork as one of her Professors," Snape said calmly, "The Goblins were extremely lenient after I explained her housing problems to them and told them that she was running away from an abusive household."
"Did she?" Flitwick squeaked fearfully.
"She ran to me and I sent her to live with my aunt," Snape said calmly, "Miss Dare and I now live next door to each other."
"Merlin's beard!" Charity yelled, "I had no idea – Severus, I am so sorry! Is there anything I can do to help?"
"We," the others corrected in unison, "We all want to help."
"There is one thing," Snape said calmly, "Charity, she will need a different ride to and from King's Cross aside from me. I'm afraid my aunt can't drive, so could you apparate Miss Dare to and from King's Cross if I show you where to apparate to?"
"Yes," she said calmly, "Wizard or Muggle Community? What am I talking about? You're a Slytherin, it's a wizard."
"Muggle, actually," Snape said calmly, "Aunt Agatha was my father's older half-sister through his father having a love affair. Thank Merlin I don't have any cousins."
"Is Agatha…?" Minerva asked fearfully.
"She is nothing like either of my parents," snape said calmly, "She is loving, kind, and was the maternal role in my life that I needed throughout my childhood, and she raised me after my parents ended up dead at my father's hands."
"Your father commit suicide?" Pomona asked shocked.
"We have gone off on a tangent," Snape said dismissively, closing the subject. "Now, how do the rest of you intend to help?"
"We could buy her an owl," Flitwick squeaked, and Snape snorted. "What?"
"Fillius, as honorable and good of an idea as that is, I'm afraid that you'd be wasting your time," Snape said calmly, "That is what she's going to go do with the money Gilderoy owes her."
"Surely-!" Dumbledore started.
"Let me finish, Albus," Snape snapped, "She has already gone to the pet shop in Diagon Alley, and the phoenix inside has chosen her to be its witch."
There was silence until it was broken by Lockhart.
"So sorry!" he grinned, "what did I miss?"
"We were talking about Miss Dare's financial situation, actually, Gilderoy," Albus said calmly, and Snape could almost see the twinkle in his eyes. "You seem to be one of a noble heart, perhaps a yearly payment to help her pay for her books?"
"I know I already am," Snape said, "And Charity has agreed to help bring Miss Dare to King's Cross so her parents don't have to pay for the trip."
"I'll pay for the food her familiar will eat once she gets one," Minerva said calmly. "Pomona?"
"I'll make sure she gets her Herbology textbook for free," Professor Sprout said.
"I look forward to defeating you, Severus!" Lockhart yelled before Snape scowled and sent a powerful stinging hex through the Floo. He knew by the sound of repellants that the others had repelled his except for Lockhart. "Jerk!"
"Dumbass!" Snape shot back before Lockhart closed the Floo. "Now, there is one other option available if you all are willing to hear me out."
"What's that?" Charity asked.
"Her neglectful and abusive father and stepmother are filthy rich," Snape said calmly, "If we can scare and psychologically torture them into giving her the money needed, we don't have to worry. Although she will still need a way to King's Cross, I believe my Aunt Agatha still remembers taking me and how to get to the station and platform."
"I'll wait until your idea is over, Severus," Minerva smiled. "If I'm correct, you said you had a plan up your sleeve?"
"yes, yes I do," Snape sneered and the others closed off the Floo. "Baron! Bloody Baron, where are you?!"
O.o.O.o.O.o.O
It was a week later that Daisy was called into Snape's office to find a large bag of gold being pushed across his desk towards her.
"Gilderoy Lockhart is a coward," Snape snarled, "I had to threaten him, and Peeves tormented him all week long, but this is the money that he owes you."
"Thank you, sir," She beamed, "Can we go to Diagon Alley, please?"
"Yes, it is a Hogsmeade weekend tomorrow, isn't it?" Snape asked curiously, "Yes, I'll see what I can do."
"Severus," Dumbledore said from the Floo. "Gilderoy tells me that he has given you the money that he owes Miss Dare. Why don't you take her to Diagon Alley tomorrow?"
"We were just talking about asking your permission to do so, Albus," Snape said calmly. "Well, Miss Dare, I will see you tomorrow at eight o'clock sharp, don't be late."
Snape went into the Headmaster's office and pulled a memory out of a jar inside his desk.
"Severus, my boy, what's wrong?" Dumbledore asked worriedly.
"An older version of Daisy told me to look at this memory," he said frowning, "She said it was important that I watch it tonight."
"Very well," Dumbledore said calmly. "I will not intrude."
Snape nodded before sticking his face into the penseive. He saw the Hogwarts hallways form and then the third year Daisy racing down the hall. She beamed before heading off to bed. She knew she left the money with him, but it would be safe in his quarters, she knew. Lockhart had the password, and she could tell it was him who had snuck into her bedroom to get the money back. Snape snarled as he watched Lockhart enter the girls' dormitory.
"Where is it?" the Defense teacher hissed quietly, "Where is my money?"
With Professor snape, where it belongs, Daisy thought.
"Hello," a familiar female snarl said quietly, and Lockhart turned.
"You are not Miss Dare," he said warily. "Who are you?"
"Mrs. Snape," the projection of the elder Daisy answered quietly. "Now, get out of this dormitory or I will hex you into oblivion like I've wanted to do in my school days. Oh, and if you don't give the money to the ones you owe it to, you'll get killed by the monster in the Chamber."
"What-how-you're the heir?" Lockhart whispered, and the elder Daisy snorted.
"Hardly. I wouldn't have a phoenix if I were a murderer, now would I?" she sneered, "Oh, and if you find that there is an orphan student, I recommend helping them in any way that you can. Potter needs to be left alone, and while I'm at it, the brunette that is asleep over there – Miss Day? Dane? Dare? Whatever her name is – needs to be left alone as well and treated with as much respect as you would give to the headmaster."
"And if I don't?" Lockhart whispered.
"I'll kill you," she snarled, "Give the brunette two thousand galleons, or you will get killed by the monster before the end of the year. Oh, and you won't see me again until the day before you are impaled upon a sword of your own forgery."
"What?" he asked, and she sneered before turning into the smoke form that Snape had taught her. she flew out the window, and he stared after her. "Accio my money."
Nothing came, and he snarled angrily before another Daisy projection appeared, this one pregnant.
"Still trying, I recall," she said calmly, and held one hand over her swollen abdomen and the other held her wand aloft. "Don't try to hex me, you'll get killed for trying to harm the little one inside me."
"Snape?" he asked quietly, and the projection nodded. "But-you-how?"
"I'm a projector," she said calmly, "Now, get out of this dormitory before I scream and wake everyone up and get you fired for being a pedophile."
"You wouldn't," he paled, "Please don't tell."
"I will unless you give my husband a thousand or so galleons a month until you leave this post," she snarled, and he nodded fearfully. "I don't believe you. Make the unbreakable vow."
He paled before whimpering and she grinned maniacally.
"I-I will send Severus the money," he whimpered, "Just-just don't kill me, please don't make me lose my job, my books would never sell!"
"You're an awful quiet desperate beggar," she grinned, "Go. Go down there now, and I'll be following you every step of the way."
Snape withdrew from the Penseive and raced to the Floo to get back to his office and then run to his private quarters. He'd just gotten inside when he heard footsteps down the hallways. And with that Lockhart came into a very irate Snape's Private quarters, and Snape was forced to listen to the blubbering Defense Teacher's terrified tale while shooting glances at the elder Daisy's swollen belly. As Lockhart finished his tale, Snape sneered and held out his wand.
"Gilderoy," Snape said calmly, "I will expose what you've done if you don't make those monthly payments. Make sure I receive them in private gradually over the course of the month or I will personally make sure you are fired."
"I will," Lockhart squeaked, "I promise!"
"Good," he sneered, "Now get out."
Lockhart fled quickly as Snape turned to the pregnant witch.
"Who are you?" he asked, and she beamed.
"Your wife," she smiled before vanishing and revealing that she had been a projection.
"Oh, god," he murmured before going to bed and falling asleep to a deep, and very disturbed slumber.
Oh, goody, I finally worked in a pregnant Daisy into the mix! I've been wanting to do that for eons!
Please review!