Chapter Eleven-

Severus quickly hurried upstairs just in time to see Hermione's door slam shut. Blaise and Draco were hiding in a small alcove in the hallway just before the library, laughing like they were both mad hyenas. Severus frowned at their behavior, but first turned to deal with his daughter.

"Hermione?" He asked, knocking on her door. He discreetly tried the door, but found it locked. "Are you alright."

He heard furious scrambling around inside the room and two horrified gasps from the two boys who were trying to hide. He made sure they stayed where they were with one swift, piercing glare and tried to concentrate on what his daughter was doing. "Hermione?"

He was answered this time, as the door swung open to reveal a bald, red-faced Hermione with tear-tracks down both cheeks. "You said I could live with Sirius and Harry if I really wanted to." She said, staring straight at him. "I really want to."

His eyes widened, noting the shrunken trunk in one hand and a gripped wand in her other. He searched for something to say to her, but took too long as she finally nodded and headed for the stairs. He followed her to the top of the stairs before he could speak. "Hermione, I wish you would reconsider. I have a potion that will re-grow your hair. They will not go unpunished."

"No." His heart fell as she shook her smooth head. "If this was the first time, I might stay. Hell," she laughed bitterly. "If this was the tenth time, I might stay. But it's every god-damned day. I can't take it anymore. They win."

"Every day?" He asked, following her again as she went downstairs. "You never said anything." He 'd never seen anything, he added silently. "What happened?"

"I'm not about to snitch on them." She said, spinning back to him as they reached the sitting room. "You can punish them and then they'll just start again. They've made their opinions clear- they don't a sister. I ignored it in the beginning because I thought they'd get it out of their systems and we'd be fine. But they didn't and I'm not fine and I'm not taking this anymore. I don't have to. I swear to God, they've driven me crazy. I don't ever want to see either one of them again."

She spoke angrily, but tears started spilling from her beautiful blue eyes as she spoke, nearly breaking his heart. "Alright." He said, sighing. He couldn't fight with her anymore. "Come with me, I'll take you to Black." He added, gesturing her towards the fireplace.

Within minutes, they were in Grimmauld Place.

"Hermione!"

They were immediately accosted by the bloody Boy-Who-Lived, whose joyfulness vanished the moment he saw her tear-stained eyes. "What happened?" He demanded, glaring at Snape.

Sirius, who had been playing chess with Harry at the small table in front of the fireplace, stood as he saw a bald-headed Hermione. A frown appeared on his face as he saw what his godson had seen. "Harry, why don't you take Hermione up to your room? Let me talk to Snape."

"Sure." Harry threw an arm around Hermione and led her away.

"Black, you don't mind if she stays with you for awhile?" Severus asked, as he ran his fingers through his hair. It was unusually clean, as he hadn't even had a chance to start brewing today and failed to do anything about his temper. Before Sirius had a chance to answer, Severus went on, "I have two boys I have to make regret every single breath they take, if you'll excuse me."

"Wait, wait." Sirius did what he'd never thought he would, reaching out to stop Severus Snape from leaving his presence. "Of course she can stay, but an explanation would be great."

As his enemy hadn't even bothered to be antagonistic, Severus couldn't just angrily brush him off. "Fine," he said reluctantly, stepping out of Black's reach. He definitely wasn't any more happy about being touched by Sirius Black than Black looked for touching him. "Apparently those idiot boys have mine have been playing pranks on her. She foolishly hasn't said anything to me and so those boys didn't know how dangerous it would be to anger me like this. I'm going to go show them."

While Sirius was always glad to see Snape's anger when it wasn't pointed at himself, he wouldn't have felt right turning Snape loose on two small boys, even if they had been idiotic gits. "Don't you think it would be a good idea to calm down a bit?" He asked hesitantly. "Maybe talk to Hermione first? You wouldn't want to say anything you'll only regret later."

"Oh, I won't regret any of it." Severus assured the other man. When his words failed to relieve the other man, he shrugged uneasily. "Come on, Black. You know I can't go talk to her. I have no idea what to say to her. She's crying- they made my daughter cry. I can't even get to know her well enough for her to call me Father. I can do this for her."

"You can't at your son's expense." Sirius pointed out. "Hell, you'll be facing down Narcissa Malfoy and Capricia Zabini if you do something permanent to those boys. Neither is a woman you want to tangle with- you know that. Hell, you'd be better off with Malfoy- at least he'd give you a fighting chance. Cissy would just castrate you, if Capricia didn't get there first. You know how protective she is of her son."

Sirius didn't elaborate, didn't even point out a specific woman, as there was no need to. They both had known Narcissa for most of their Hogwarts careers and Sirius had known her additionally as a child while Severus had known her as an adult. Both had seen the elaborate announcements that had announced the Malfoy heir when he was born, and pictures of an adoring Narcissa holding her baby while Lucius proudly looked on. Even though Narcissa was colder to the boy now, on Lucius's idiotic orders to 'toughen the boy up', no one in the whole of the Wizarding World doubted the love that woman held for her son.

And as for Capricia, well if her reputation wasn't dastardly enough before she had married Severus and started to settle down, however much slightly that was, she might have grown even more bloodthirsty between losing her daughter and finally getting a son. She had been overprotective of the boy since the day he was born. Severus had had firsthand accounts of her protection, while Sirius had met several new inhabitants at Azkaban who had been grateful to be there, just to get away from the vengeful woman. Her killing total had more than tripled since young Blaise had come into the world, though she was as successful at hiding her steps as ever. But everyone knew angering her heir was a good way to disappear forever.

Severus sighed. "I won't kill them." He said, though he sounded far too reluctant for Sirius's taste. "I won't even permanently injure them. But I told the damn little idiots before they even saw Hermione again that I wanted peace between the three of them. This will not inspire peace. Why they ever thought they could get away with this, I don't know. Frankly, I'm surprised she didn't attack them."

Sirius could have leaped on that opening to throw out the fact that she was a Gryffindor and therefore a good person as opposed to her father. He could have, but he didn't. Instead, he actually did something rather decent. "I am too." He said. "She's a lot like her father that way."

Severus looked at the other in surprise, but Sirius wasn't done yet. "Snape, don't look at me like that. As I know the truth now, a lot of the things Harry has told me about that girl remind me an awful lot of you. Including the part where she didn't like to tell other people about bullies. If he's right about her, which I couldn't imagine him not being, she's already plotting vengeance. Although she'll be smart about it and hit them when they least expect it. Just like her father. She would never have taken the easy way out and told you what was going on."

He paused, but then decided to finish his thoughts. He wasn't sure he could shock Snape anymore, but if he did then it would be worth it. "She does want to get to know you, but you've got to figure that she's about as shy as you are. She's a bookworm. Just like you, just like Remus- which means she'd rather read books than talk about anything awkward. And you've got to admit that your situation is awkward. That's why you're hiding down in your dungeons and she's hiding in a library. Just remember- she's never left Harry's side since they became friends. Yet she decided not to spend the summer with him. She wanted to spend it with you."

"I…" Severus couldn't remember the last time he'd been struck speechless and knew it was a feeling he didn't like. Nevertheless, it wasn't as if the other man was wrong. "Well, I didn't think about it like that."

"Well you should." Sirius said gruffly, having had more than enough of the niceties. "So, just give her some time and then make those two apologize."

"I'll do that. Take care of my daughter, Black." Rather disgusted himself, Severus made his glare all the more menacing. "I'll Floo her tomorrow." He added, before leaving.

***

When he returned home, he had a surprise waiting for him. Not only were the boys waiting for him patiently on the couch, Capricia was sitting on the armchair closest to the fire, glaring at the boys while nursing a glass of wine.

"Capricia, darling." He said hesitantly. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to visit my daughter." She said, smiling at her former husband. "I found some dresses that would look darling on her. Only to find that she had been chased away from her own father's house. And seeing as he was nowhere in sight, I took it upon myself to get the whole story." She emphasized the last few words, her eyes boring into the two boys. Severus, much amused, turned to them, watching them squirm uncomfortably in their seats. "Where were you, darling? And where is my daughter?"

Severus winced himself as her glare turned to him. She only claimed her children separate from his when he had fallen into disfavor. Unfortunately, this time he knew he deserved such behavior all too well. "I took her to…" Of course, he couldn't tell her, thanks to the Fidelius charm Dumbledore had put on Grimmauld and so his throat closed. "Erm, that is, she's safe. She's at a friend's house." He added reluctantly. "She no longer wishes to stay with me."

"And you didn't bother to ask her if she wished to come stay with me?" As he fell into her trap, Capricia was instantly on her feet. He closed his eyes in defeat, realizing she hadn't cared where the girl was, truly. She was only mad that the girl hadn't gone to her. "She is my daughter! Just because my son doesn't want to spend any time in Italy with me doesn't mean she wouldn't. But no, you don't consider that, do you?"

"No, Capricia, I didn't." Severus admitted. "Because I knew that she wouldn't go to you. She was upset and angry. She needed someone comfortable to go to. You may be her mother, but you are a perfect stranger to you. And," he added, straightening. He could only take so much of Capricia and he didn't need her pettiness at the moment. "If you keep up your attitudes, you're not going to be anything more. I have tried to explain to you that our daughter doesn't care about fashion. She doesn't want you visiting just for dresses. You could have come back just to visit her, but you didn't. All you're trying to do is update the wardrobe that she doesn't even care about."

She gasped, free hand flying to her chest. "How dare you! I care just as much about our daughter as you do!"

"I didn't say that you didn't." Severus said, mindful of the two boys eagerly watching with wide eyes. "I'm saying you've visited three times in the last month and each time I had to spend the next few days listening to her complain about not being able to find her jeans and other Muggle clothes. She doesn't appreciate your updates. As you've spent no time with her, I can tell you that she doesn't particularly appreciate the woman that Blaise and I know and love. So I sent her to her friend's house. She only has one close by and she needed time with him. It's done with and she's staying there until she feels ready to come home- here- again."

"Oh really?" She asked, glaring at him.

He raised his chin. She was the only one who ever dared challenge him and that was because he usually gave into her every demand. But Severus Snape wasn't one to be walked on all the time, even by the gorgeous woman before him. "Really." He said in a defiant voice.

They stared tensely at each other and then she sighed. "Very well." She said. "I suppose this is my own mistake. I kept intending to come to those family meetings you were having, but something always came up. I thought you all were getting along quite well, though. What happened?"

Severus smirked, turning towards the teens. "That is what I intend to find out."

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Sorry guys, but you'll have to wait one more chapter to find out the prank. Let me know what you think it is! And tell me where you want Hermione to go- stay with Sirius and Harry, go visit with Capricia or go back to Sev's.