All's Fair; Chapter Five

Summary: Somehow surviving the last battle hasn't changed Severus Snape one bit. Now, seven years later, can the arrival of a new Charms teacher with a gift for smoothing over rough edges break down the walls he's built around his heart? SS/OC.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the storyline and Danielle Prince.
Warning: This chapter rated K+
Word Count: 3139

The rest of the day - in fact, the rest of the week - passed without too much trouble. I found myself immensely enjoying myself and my new job. I was slowly learning my students' names and was amused to see the playful rivalry between the houses. I say playful, but I knew that every now and then there were sparks that, if they had been said at the right time or place, would have ignited a huge fight no doubt eventually shattering the tender bonds made over the seven years since the end of the war. This worried me slightly, but Georgia soon informed me that it had been like that all the five years she had worked here. This concerned me, but also made me feel a little better - no doubt over time the atmosphere would settle and the students would rely entirely on inter-house championships to fight out their little quarrels.

The issue of Cameron Black still bothered me, but by the time her next lesson rolled around on Wednesday she seemed to have acclimatised a little, and although she still didn't draw her wand out, she didn't stomp on the boxes this time when I handed them around. She still scowled darkly at me from her corner but I had gathered from the other teachers - her head of house, Severus, included - that this was her normal behaviour. I quietly whispered to Neville after that discussion if maybe she would be more open if Severus wasn't her head of house. He replied in the negative. Apparently Cameron wasn't the first to come to Hogwarts locked up in her own little world.

As for Severus, I had soon learned that despite his love of his subject and of teaching he was despised and feared equally among the students. I had known, of course, that he may be a little… resented due to his oily appearance and sarcastic attitude, but not that he'd scare the first years (and above) half to death. In fact, when one of my classes had a lesson with me after him I had found them so unusually quiet I had to ask what was wrong.

'We just had a class with Snape, Professor,' one of the bolder ones said, inciting a shudder throughout the class at the Potion Master's name.

Half-thinking they were joking I'd chuckled and replied, 'Professor Snape, Phillip. And he's not so bad.'

The boy had looked at me with disbelief that was echoed in the majority of his classmates' eyes. 'Not for you maybe, you're a teacher. For us, though…' he trailed off, leaving the sentence hanging in the air.

'Everyone has different teaching methods,' I said cheerfully. 'If his is scaring you so stiff you can't even dice up your ingredients properly, well. Who am I to stop him? Now, back to my lesson.' And the period had continued, the students quickly loosing their quiet, gloomy mood as we turned to work on more complicated levitation spells involving water balloon to avoid injury. Funnily enough, that seemed to be one of the spells the students seemed to get the knack of extraordinarily fast. I couldn't help but comment on Severus' terrifying persona when I saw him next.

'You know half the school is scared witless when you're around, don't you?' I asked casually, one lunchtime when I settled myself in the chair opposite him in the staffroom.

'Yes,' he replied briskly before attempting to ignore me.

'I told you I thought it would be hard for the students to relate to you with a constant frown on your face,' I said, reminding him of our first teaching lesson.

'I do not want them to relate to me, I want them to learn.' His eyes were icily cold when he turned them up to gaze darkly in my direction.

I shrugged and smiled, ignoring his furious mood. 'Well, if it works.'

'I'm sure you'll know all about getting the information across, won't you?' he inquired, sarcasm now lacing its way in his voice.

I frowned in confusion. 'What do you mean?'

Severus scowled back before announcing, 'It may have escaped your notice, Ms Prince, but you are fast becoming the school's most popular teacher.'

I choked on the bite of sandwich that I'd taken. 'You what?' I asked, believing myself to have misheard him.

'Popular. Teacher. School's. You,' he repeated slowly as if talking to an idiot.

Half amused and half in denial I said, 'Really? Well then it seems your lessons on how to teach really did pay off.'

'Indeed,' was his only reply before Severus went back to ignoring me.

Conversations with Severus often went like this; with my attempting conversation, him trying to be polite yet tell me to go away before he finally came out with a whole sentence and then back to ignoring me again. I didn't mind too much - it was just who he was, so I didn't try to have more than two 'conversations' with him a day. I wanted to get to know him, true, but not to get on his nerves. At least - not too much.

One thing that did worry me, however, was the fact that I kept throwing up each morning after my daily jog. I knew this was a sign that my blood sugar levels were low, but I couldn't seem to figure out what was behind the cause of it. The immediate answer was, of course, that I was pregnant, but I sincerely doubted that. From the age of fourteen my mother had been meticulous in teaching me how to use contraceptive spells and potions. And I had always been meticulous in the use of them. So with that cause out of the window I was free to feel curious but not wary of the morning sickness.

Lessons with Cameron also got progressively better and one time when she actually pulled out her wand during class when I congratulated her, the semi-smile I got in return was the largest sign of happiness I had ever received from the girl. She was, mostly, just as stoic and moody as her head of house, but I found that he too could be made to smile more often with the right persuasion. And it seemed that one particular form of persuasion was asking him out for drinks one Saturday night, several weeks into the term.

He had initially declined, saying that it was inappropriate and that we had agreed to stay 'just friends'. It took me a while to convince him that going out for drinks was something friends did quite often together and that I had already invited Neville and Georgia in previous weeks. So, eventually, he agreed.

The night itself came faster than I had expected, as I spent most of Saturday marking the essays I had set during the week and hadn't had a chance to mark yet, then watching the new Quidditch teams practise. Watching them gave me a yearning to fly again, but I had not bought my broom with me and one look at the school brooms was more than enough to put me off that idea. At five I went back inside and gathered together my purse and went to meet Severus in the Entrance Hall.

He was there, waiting for me and dressed in his usual sweeping cloak and I couldn't help but snigger behind my hands. Of course he was still dressed in his usual clothes – why on earth would he change for li'l ol' me? He raised a signature eyebrow which made me laugh harder before I led the way out of the doors and grounds and up towards Hogsmeade.

'Remind me why I am indulging you again?' he asked exasperatedly after several minutes of silence as we walked through the quiet streets of the Wizarding town.

I considered his question for a moment before replying. 'Because you've secretly been wanting to have drinks with me since that first night?' I asked.

He growled at the obvious innuendo and opened the door to the small pub, shoving me through. 'One night,' he hissed angrily in my ear as I passed him.

'I'm well aware of that, Severus.' I stopped as an epiphany hit me. 'Are you… ashamed of what we did?' Seeing his emotionless face I pressed on. 'There's nothing wrong with what happened – we're both consenting adults and you are only human.'

He turned to me angrily with a glare and took my wrist, pulling me through the room to a small table hidden away in the corner. 'There is no excuse for the way I took advantage of you and I would appreciate it if you stopped coming up with pathetic excuses and trying to make it up to me.'

I blinked in surprise. He thought I had slept with him out of pity? That I was trying to talk to him because I felt sorry for him? 'Oh snap out of it, will you?' I asked harshly. I had never felt pity for the man, least of all now. 'You're not my pity case, you know. I have more pride than that.'

It was his turn to be surprised. 'Then why?'

'I happen to like you,' I said stiffly, my tone indicating the opposite of my words. He raised his eyebrows again and I couldn't help but start giggling at his expression. It wasn't my fault that he'd made me so contradictory.

'One night,' he reminded me. He was obviously desperate not to make it more than that I couldn't help but ask myself – what was he so afraid of?

'One night,' I agreed willingly enough. 'Now, what do you want to drink?'

In the end, the evening wasn't a complete loss. Conversation was pretty much one sided, with Severus only butting in with an odd comment here and there, and I was pleased to notice he kept his sarcastic comments to a minimum. I even managed to make him give his almost-smile a couple of times and by the time we headed back to the castle a comfortable, if tentative, friendship had formed between us – at least, I hoped it had. We bid each other goodbye in the Entrance Hall at about midnight and headed back to our respective rooms. Though it may have been wishful thinking, I thought I saw him give a proper smile, even if it was fairly small and shy. That made a wide grin spread itself happily across my features.

By Monday, however, my good mood had gone. I had thrown up every morning for a month and, to make matters worse, I had missed my period. The evidence was staring me in the face; loud, rude and infinitely scary. I didn't even try to get my mind around the implications, or how it could have possibly happened, but instead headed into town again on Monday after I'd attended to my last lesson. I excused myself from dinner, claiming a migraine and went straight back up to my rooms and did the pregnancy test. I waited. And waited. And waited. Had five minutes always taken this long?

Finally it turned the dreaded red colour and I felt my face drain itself of blood as I fainted clean away on my bathroom floor.

I woke up only a couple of minutes later and, battling the uprising panic, I tried to face the problem sensibly. It wasn't as if I was a prattling teenager with little or no money to my name – I had enough in my bank to comfortably suit both myself and a baby for a year and I was making a packet here at Hogwarts. But I couldn't help thinking whether Minerva would still want me as part of her teaching staff when she finds out I'm going to be an unwed mother, but I broke that thought off immediately. What were we, in the middle ages? Of course she wouldn't chuck me out. To say she wouldn't mind would be totally untrue, of course, but I doubted that she'd judge me for it.

I sat a long time curled up in a ball in the corner of the bathroom, pondering what to do. Who should I tell first – my parents? My employer? The father of my unborn child? I gulped as the fiery image of Severus appeared in my head. I closed my eyes and imagined myself walking up to him heavily pregnant and telling him it was his – his reaction was not pretty and I could see him walking out of my life forever. I didn't want to do anything to damage this tentative bond I had with him – especially since it was painfully obvious that he did not talk much to the other teachers either – and on a hunch declaring my pregnancy would break that friendship beyond repair. I had no doubt that Severus was the father; the numbers would work no other way, though I have to admit I didn't try very hard. Let's see: who would I prefer to be the father of my unborn child; A) perverted ex-boyfriend who slept with a barely-sixteen year old behind my back or B) an intelligent but world-resenting Potions Master.

Eventually I stood and changed quickly before collapsing into bed. I'd tell Severus first. He deserved to know the truth before anyone else. Just before sleep stole away conscious thought an echo of an echo resounded in my head; why hadn't the contraceptive spell worked?

Tuesday morning hit me hard and brilliant through the curtains I'd left open and I realised with a sickening jolt that it was far too late in the morning for me to go for my jog. A now-familiar wave of nausea hit me and I moved to the toilet almost in boredom. Morning sickness was such an annoyance. I hurried down to breakfast and managed to catch the last couple of minutes before hurrying back to my classroom – arriving mere seconds before the students. Many shot me a curious glance at my haggard expression, but as time rolled on my usual cheerfulness took over and by the end of second lesson I had come to terms with my predicament. After all, it was just pregnancy – it wasn't as if I was going to die or anything. Still, I had always imagined myself only getting pregnant after I had married. I guess fate didn't want me to do things the traditional way.

In the staffroom I sat by myself, ignoring everyone else as I tried to wring out enough courage to tell him. He was there, in the corner of the room, sipping his tea and regarding the world with his usual, stoic gaze. Occasionally that gaze fell on me and I saw a spark of warmth in those obsidian depths and my courage would build up. Then he'd turn away again and my will would shatter. I couldn't do this – I couldn't tell him. I must do this!

Round and round in my head courage chased cowardice which chased away courage. It was a never ending, relentless circle and before I knew it, break was over. I shamelessly avoided him at lunch time, hiding away in my own rooms, being brought my meal by a house elf. At dinner I simply immersed myself in conversation with Georgia and my other neighbour and avoided even looking at him. But when I left the hall early and turned at the last moment to snatch a glance at him I saw Severus' eyes were fixed on me and this time there was no warmth. I realised then that whatever friendship I'd had with him was ruined now by my avoidance anyway.

I have no doubt that the next day and the next and the next, leading on indefinitely, would have taken on a similar pattern, were it not for Cameron Black. Third lesson on Wednesdays was the only other lesson I had with Cameron and I always looked for her, as I always looked for the students' whose names I knew. When she had first tried using her magic I had quickly noticed that she was a natural at charms – of any spell at all, I've no doubt and on that Monday when I'd congratulated her on a most excellent hovering charm she gave me the sweetest little curving smile - I almost forgot her normal, sulky, guarded mood.

However, she did not turn up on time for the Wednesday lesson and I couldn't help but wonder where she got to. As that particular lesson I had the students all continuing to practise hovering charms (with many disastrous effects), no one except myself and those close to the door noticed when Cameron entered. Upon seeing her huge red eyes and tear stained skin I immediately pulled her back out of the classroom, excusing myself for a few moments.

'Cameron… what happened?' I asked gently.

'I-It's nothing, professor,' she replied, trying to hold her head up high, but I could see there were new tears gleaming in the corner of her eyes.

I knelt down so that I was on the same eye-level as her and spoke again. 'What lesson did you have last?'

'Potions,' she whispered coarsely.

My eyes narrowed and I stood sharply as my suspicions were confirmed. The girl shrank away from me at my reaction. 'I'm not angry at you, Cameron,' I assured her. 'But promise me one thing,' I paused and waited whilst considering my wording. Cameron tilted her head slightly in curiosity and I continued, 'Next time you want to curl up in the bathrooms and cry, come and see me first, alright?'

'I don't need your pity, Professor.' The harder side of the eleven year old was slowly appearing.

I touched her shoulder, my eyes staring down the corridor in the direction of the dungeons when I muttered, 'Believe me when I say that it isn't pity I feel.'

Cameron blinked and then the tiniest of smiles graced her face. I ushered her back into the classroom and turned to my class, calling for hush.

'I'm afraid an urgent matter has arisen that I must see to immediately. If you could all read and take notes on pages 23-30 for the last ten minutes and-' a groan rose from the class, '-think yourselves lucky as it would have been your homework.' This wasn't exactly the truth, but the essay I had been meaning to set them could be put off for another couple of days. Plus, it cheered the class. 'As soon as the bell goes you may leave. I will take in your notes at the beginning of next lesson, so don't think you can skive.'

Then I turned and left them to their own devices, making my way angrily down to the dungeons and a certain hated Potions professor.

Written: Unknown
Chances of continuation: nil

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Much love,
Cal