Disclaimer: Not mine, don't own it — I wish! Unfortunately, Harry Potter belongs to JKR and not to me; I'm just playing in her sandbox.

Author's Notes:

» Hermione changes her name during the story. However, to make it easier to understand, I'll continue to refer to Hermione by the name we all know. The only times her new name will be used is when she introduces herself to new people, or when someone is speaking to her and addresses her by name.

» This story is has been written in full and new chapters will be posted approximately twice a week.

» Thank you to atokkota for her support and feedback.

.o.O.o.

CHAPTER 9

After one particularly bad day a couple of months into the school year, Aimée decided she wanted some respite. She could have spent the rest of the evening until curfew in the common room but what she truly needed, deep down inside her, was to lose herself in brewing a potion. Aimée always found this particularly calming and restful. She therefore decided to brave Professor Snape in his office, to ask if she could do some extra-curricular brewing.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Aimée knocked on the door to Professor Snape's office.

"Come!" she heard. Pushing the door open, she entered the room.

Severus glanced up from his marking and raised an eyebrow in surprise when he saw her. "How can I help you, Miss Gale?" he asking, moving aside the pile of parchment and gesturing for her to take a seat.

Aimée fidgeted nervously but Severus waited patiently. This young girl, who reminded him so much of Hermione Granger, fascinated him and he revelled in being able to encourage her intelligence and enthusiasm for learning, which he had been unable to do with Hermione. He also recognised that this would be the perfect opportunity to talk to her and perhaps learn more about her background.

Screwing up her courage, as the dark, dour man was rather intimidating, even though he had been quite kind to her, Aimée asked the question she had come to ask. "Excuse me, Professor. I was wondering if it might be possible to brew sometimes in the evenings? I used to do a lot of brewing at home and I miss it. I know we brew during Potions class but I'd like to brew more often, if possible."

Severus sat back in his chair, considering the young girl. "And is there anything in particular you wish to brew, Miss Gale?"

After a moment, Aimée delved into her book bag and withdrew a tattered notebook, with a bookmark poking out. When she opened the notebook to the page, he was amused to see that the bookmark was in the shape of a fox's head and it looked like she had probably made it herself.¹⁰ She handed the open notebook to him and he glanced down at it, noting that the recipe written out in the notebook did not seem to be familiar. That surprised him and he read it more carefully. It looked quite simple to make but was rather intriguing.

"Tell me more about this potion, Miss Gale," he suggested and, to his astonishment, the girl blushed.

"My Mum was tortured during the war," she began in a small voice. "It hasn't caused any lasting damage as such, but she does have some lingering side effects. She often gets muscle spasms and in cold weather she gets some joint pain. She's tried a lot of potions but nothing magical helps, so she tried using Muggle methods. She uses bath salts and heat rubs, Tiger Balm, arnica, valerian, capsaicin… none of them are effective on their own but using a combination of them usually helps her. The problem is that she's living along while I'm in school and she can't apply the various creams and balms everywhere by herself — her back often has the worst spasms but she can't reach to put the creams on. I thought I'd try and create a potion using a mixture of the elements of each, that she can pour into her bath, and soak in it. Then she'll only need to use one thing, instead of messing around with different combinations, and she won't need to worry about how to apply it. I haven't made it for Mum yet but I think it should work. I'm confident about all the ingredients but I'm not sure about some of the timings and stirring patterns. Would you mind checking it for me, before I brew it, please?"

"You created this?" Severus asked in wonder. Even he, with his natural talent for potions, had not created his own potions at such a young age and with so little training. He had another look at the potion, mentally analysing and calculating as he read. This was a problem that he shared with Aimée's mother, as did a number of other people since the war, and he had not yet been able to develop a solution. He often considered Muggle methods when developing new potions, but knowing that they had no equivalent to the torture curse, it had not occurred to him to do so in this instance.

"I notice you have included elements of topical pain relief and Pepperup Potion? I understand the pain relief but why the Pepperup?" he asked in confusion.

"It's always worse when Mum's very tired or run down, or sometimes even if she's just been sitting in one position for too long, so I was trying to create something that would combine muscle relaxation with something that would relieve fatigue," she explained. "I didn't want the potion to relax her too much, as that kind of overtiredness might make her even more vulnerable to the spasms and make the pains worse, but neither would it be good for her if it stimulated her too much. By using the Pepperup externally, that ought to refresh her rather than energise her."

Severus was astounded. The overall concept was so simple and yet utterly brilliant. He had no doubt that this would work but grabbed a sheet of parchment and ran off some quick Arithmancy calculations as confirmation. He adjusted a couple of the stirring patterns slightly but the rest of the recipe looked perfect. "Miss Gale, this is not something I often say to any pupil, let alone a first year, but I'm truly impressed. This is outstanding work. I think your potion will do exactly what you intend. I have no problem with you brewing it this evening."

"Err, Professor? Will you be still be here while I make the potion? Mum won't let me brew alone when I'm experimenting. She doesn't stand over me to check every step but she insists on an adult being nearby in case something goes wrong. I know it's an inconvenience for you but if you're going to be here marking papers anyway…" she trailed off nervously. To her relief, Professor Snape's lips curled into a smile, before he quickly schooled his face back into its usual impassivity.

"That's a very wise precaution, Miss Gale. Don't worry, I'll be here for some time yet. Even if I didn't have papers to grade, I rather believe I would choose to stay. I'll be very interested to see the finished product."

Aimée gave him a beaming smile and got to work. She took out her cauldron from its cupboard and, to Severus' approval, gave it a quick wipe with a clean cloth to ensure it was clean and free of any contaminants. She filled the cauldron with water at the sink and then set it up at her usual workbench. Pulling out of her bag a box of commercial bath salts, some chilli peppers, Arnica Montana, and various essential oils and herbs, all used for joint pain, as anti-spasmodics or as relaxants, she then made her way over to the store room to gather the remaining ingredients that were neither part of her standard potions kit nor items that she had purchased specifically with this purpose in mind. As Severus watched her out of the corner of his eye, he was puzzled to see that she was moving quite gingerly.

He waited until the potion was at its final stage of simmering and walked over to check on the potion. She extinguished the flame beneath the cauldron and lifted it up, to move it over to the cooling racks, where she had set out vials so that she could decant it. As she moved the cauldron over to the cooling racks, she suddenly hissed and nearly dropped the cauldron but Severus quickly caught it, levitating it over to the cooling racks with a flick of his wand.

"What's wrong, Miss Gale?" he asked, as she began decanting the potion.

"Nothing, sir," she mumbled, not meeting his eyes.

"Why don't we try that again? What's wrong, Miss Gale?"

"Nothing, sir," she repeated. "I tripped earlier and I guess I'm a little sore. Perhaps I should test my potion on myself, huh?"

"What aren't you telling me?" he sighed. "Why else would you hesitate to tell me you tripped?"

"Because I don't like making a fuss?" she said with false cheer, trying to put him off.

"Nice try, but I haven't been a Professor for over thirty years without recognising when a student is trying to prevaricate," he said, with a twitch of his lips.

"I really did trip, Professor," she assured him earnestly, emboldened by his near laugh.

"And what caused you to trip, Miss Gale? I haven't found you to be particularly clumsy."

"We all have our moments," she shrugged.

He guided her chin up with one long finger until she was looking directly into his fathomless, black eyes, which were looking at her kindly. "I'd like an honest answer, please."

"I don't want to talk about it, Professor Snape," she said reluctantly.

"Funny, I don't remember asking if you wanted to talk about it, Miss Gale. I do believe I told you to answer my question," he said. "Now, please tell me what really happened."

Professor Snape still had a finger under her chin, obliging her to keep looking at him. "I was pushed down some stairs," she finally admitted.

"Who pushed you, Miss Gale?" he asked gently. She looked into his compelling, black eyes and saw only sympathy.

"It was Reuben Weasley," she admitted.

"Come," he said. "You can collect your potion tomorrow. Right now, I'm taking you to the infirmary to be checked over by Madam Pomfrey. Don't argue, Miss Gale. As a member of staff of this school and your Head of House, I am responsible for your health and well-being. Now, come along."

"Please can we decant the potion first, Professor Snape?" she asked in a whisper. "If any contaminants fall into the cauldron, the potion will be ruined."

Severus sighed, knowing she was correct, and picked up the ladle himself, quickly decanting the potion and leaving it to cool. That done, Severus did a quick Scourgify, cleaning Aimée's cauldron for her, and with a flick of his wrist, sent it back to the first years' equipment shelf. Aimée sighed and walked over to her work bench to collect her book bag. She bent down to grab her bag and nearly toppled over. Severus strode over and picked it up for her. He waited at the door for her catch up with him and it was immediately obvious that she was having problems moving. Severus looked at Aimée and debated the best way to get her to the infirmary. She was just a little slip of a thing so he could easily carry her but he doubted that she would appreciate that, any more than she would appreciate being levitated.

"Can you walk if I support you, Miss Gale?" he asked.

"I'll try, sir. I don't want to put you out, though. If I had a stick or something to lean on, I'm sure I could manage by myself," she replied bravely.

"Don't be ridiculous, Miss Gale. There's no need to be a martyr. Come on, this way."

Severus led Aimée off to the hospital wing. By the time they got there, she was leaning heavily on him and as they approached the doors, he lifted her up to carry her the remaining distance. He strode through the door with the young girl in his arms and the door banged behind him.

"Severus Snape! Must you always bang my doors?" the Mediwitch snapped as she came out of her office. "Oh, dear. What happened? Put her down over here," she said, catching sight of the student in his arms.

"She was pushed down some stairs by another student," Severus replied, depositing the girl on the bed Poppy had indicated.

Poppy bustled over and got her first real look at the young girl, who was the spitting image of Hermione Granger at that age. "Oh my," she gasped.

Unseen by Aimée, Severus gave a brief shake of his head.

"What? What's wrong?" Aimée asked, beginning to panic.

"Oh, nothing dear. I just mistook you for someone else," Poppy said.

"Probably my Mum," Aimée replied cheerily. "She went to Hogwarts. I look just like her."

Severus decided to make use of the opportunity that had presented itself to him. "Really? Perhaps when Madam Pomfrey has finished treating you, we can have one of the house elves bring us some tea and you can tell me about her."

"You taught her, Professor. You knew her," said the brown-haired girl in surprise.

"I have taught very many students over the years, Miss Gale. I would not call any of them forgettable but it is easy to overlook those who left Hogwarts some years ago when your focus is on those who are here today."

Poppy finished her diagnostics and summoned a couple of potions, which she handed to Aimée. "Drink these and then you can have tea with Professor Snape. I'm keeping you here overnight, so when he leaves you can get yourself undressed and go to sleep."

Taking hold of the potions vials, Aimée looked at them curiously. Uncorking the vials she sniffed each one and nodded to herself in approval before drinking the potions. Severus' eyes gleamed with suppressed mirth. 'Little know-it-all! She can only be Hermione Granger's daughter,' he thought, sharing a look of amusement with Poppy.

"Caddy," called Poppy, leaving the Aimée with her Head of House. With a pop, the elf assigned to the infirmary appeared. "Please bring tea for Professor Snape and Miss Gale," she instructed the little elf, who bowed and popped away.

"May I ask a you something, Professor?" Aimée asked shyly.

"Isn't that what you just did?" he replied, his black eyes gleaming with mirth. Aimée rolled her eyes and Severus smirked in response.

'Merlin, but she's just like her mother!' he thought.

Taking the smirk as permission, Aimée asked her question. "I appreciate your taking care of me, Professor, but why would you want to have tea with me? I'm sure you don't do that with every Slytherin who has to spend time in the infirmary?"

"You are correct, Miss Gale, but I know the families of all the other students in my House and I'd like to get to know you better. I understand you're from Canada. Are you settling into Britain all right? It must be quite different here from what you're used to."

"Oh, yes. It's very different. The wizarding world there is more open to non-magical ideas and culture than it is here. And, of course, we're from Montréal, so I'm used to speaking two languages. Half the time I don't even notice whether I'm speaking in English or in French, so I'm having to be very conscious of what I'm saying here."

"Well, we do have one other student here who is also bilingual in French and English, if you ever feel homesick for the sound of French."

"Yes, I've met Victoire already. She's become a good friend — unlike her cousin. I don't know what I've done to make him hate me so much," she said sadly.

"Sometimes we don't need to do anything. Sometimes it just happens and there is no logical or rational reason that could ever possibly be acceptable," said Severus, speaking from bitter, personal experience. "Has this problem with Mr Weasley continued unabated since the start of the year?"

"It's been getting worse. I'm scared of him," Aimée confessed, staring into the depths of her teacup.

When she put her cup down, he tried to reassure her. "I will be taking official action against Mr Weasley for his despicable behaviour. Do not ever fear to come to me if the problems continue."

Aimée nodded hesitantly, biting her lip. Severus almost smiled at the memory of the young Hermione Granger doing precisely the same thing. This prompted him to ask her the burning question. "Tell me about your mother, Miss Gale. Do you know what her name was before she married?"

"She's not married," Aimée replied in a small voice, worried that he would look down on her for the fact that she had no father.

Severus raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I understand her name is Nonie Gale?" Aimée nodded. "Is Nonie perhaps a nickname? I don't recall anyone by the name of Nonie Gale attending Hogwarts while I've been a Professor, and I've been teaching here for over thirty years."

Aimée looked confused. "No, it's not a nickname. Nonie Gale, that's her name. I know she went to school here. She told me lots about it."

"Do you know what House she was in?"

"Yes, sir. She was in Gryffindor. She said my father was too, but I don't know his name." This last was whispered.

A disquieting thought was beginning to dawn upon Severus. "Miss Gale, may I ask how old your mother is?"

"She'll be thirty-three in a few weeks," the puzzled girl replied.

"I shall have to wrack my brains and see if I can remember her. Before I became Deputy Headmaster, I tended not to pay much attention to students from other Houses, apart from their academic abilities. Perhaps you could tell me one of the stories she has told you about her time in Hogwarts? It may help me to bring her to mind."

Aimée giggled and told her favourite story. "Mum told me she tried to take all the electives on offer in her third year but she ended up storming out of Divination before the year was over. On the one hand, she was absolutely horrified at the thought that she had actually dropped a subject as it went against everything she believed in but, on the other hand, she also thought the subject was a load of nonsense — she says you can't be taught Divination, you're either a Seer or you're not — and the teacher was a bit of a fraud. I always thought it was hilarious the way she despises Divination and yet she was still so distraught at the idea of dropping a subject.

"Here's a picture of her," she finished, digging her diary out of her book bag and showing him a photograph of herself with Hermione, which Aimée had pasted inside the front cover. "She also told me that she managed to brew Polyjuice Potion in the girls' toilets in her second year. She said the potion was perfect but she accidentally used a cat hair instead of a human hair and turned herself into a cat girl for several weeks. That's why she always insists I be very careful about checking my ingredients when brewing."

'Oh, that's Granger, all right,' thought Severus, as Aimée's parentage was now confirmed. 'Or one half of it, anyway,' he brooded at the back of his mind, as he responded to the girl's story. "Polyjuice is an extremely advanced and complex potion. You must get your potion skills from your mother." He mentally snorted to himself. ´You certainly didn't get your potion skills or intelligence from your father, if my suspicions as to who he is are correct.'

At that moment, Poppy and Caddy came back. Caddy took the tea tray away and Poppy shooed Severus out of the infirmary so that Aimée could go to sleep. Severus returned to his office, where he pulled out Aimée's student file, which he held as her Head of House. He looked up her date of birth and this corroborated his suspicion from earlier. The colour drained from his face as he realised exactly who Aimée Gale's father was. Sitting down heavily in his chair, he debated whether or not to mention this piece of information to Minerva but, in the end, decided to keep Hermione's secret. If Albus Dumbledore's portrait ever got wind of this, he would insist on interfering and such meddling would only end up hurting Hermione and Aimée. He would confirm to Minerva and Potter that Hermione Granger was indeed Aimée Gale's mother but her father would continue to remain a mystery.

The next day after classes, Severus was striding purposefully towards the Gryffindor common room when he saw a head of unmistakeably blue hair. He called the young Metamorphmagus to him. "Mr Lupin!"

"Yes, Professor? Is something wrong?" Teddy asked politely, as he warily made his way over to the ill-tempered man.

"Please find Mr Reuben Weasley for me and send him to my office immediately," Severus commanded.

"Yes, sir," Teddy sighed, as he gave up all hope of spending some time out on the Quidditch pitch with his friends before supper. He decided to start his search in the Gryffindor common room. 'If he's not there and no one knows where he is, perhaps I should ask Uncle Harry if I can see his map for a minute,' he decided. The map had been created by Harry's father, Teddy's father and their two friends, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, when they were at Hogwarts and it showed the location of everyone in the building. It was very precious to Harry because it was one of only two things he had of his father's. Although Teddy had also lost his parents when he was an infant, he had much more to remember his parents by, including people who were happy to talk to him about them, something which Harry had always lacked. However, Teddy knew that Harry would willingly let him use the map to locate Reuben.

Fortunately, since Teddy had a feeling that Professor Snape wanted to see Reuben sooner rather than later, the first thing he saw when he walked into the common room was a mop of Weasley red hair. "Reuben," he called.

"Yeah?" the younger boy grumbled, not even looking up from his game of chess.

"Professor Snape wants to see you in his office. Now!" replied Teddy.

"What does he want? He's not even my Head of House. I'm in the middle of a match. I'm not going. If it's important, Uncle Harry, as my Head of House will come and talk to me," Reuben pouted.

'Why did I have to get stuck riding herd on this idiot?' thought Teddy in dismay. He walked over to the table where Reuben and one of the other first years were sitting and picked up the board.

"Hey!" yelled Reuben in annoyance.

"First of all, the game will still be here when you get back; just leave the board on your bed and no one will touch it. Secondly, Professor Snape is a member of staff in this school, so when he says, 'Jump!' you say 'Yes, sir,' and you jump! Thirdly, he may not be your Head of House but he's the Deputy Headmaster and Deputy Headmaster beats Head of House. Fourthly, there is no one in this school by name of Uncle Harry, not even for you, Weasley. During term-time, it's Professor Potter and only Professor Potter, unless he happens to invite you to visit him in his family quarters. Now get up off your annoying, lazy, little arse and go down to Professor Snape's office. Trust me, you don't want him to come after you."

"You can't talk to me like that! My father is a war hero! When he hears about this…"

"When he hears about this, it will probably be as part of an official letter of warning from the school that if you don't buck up your ideas and improve that attitude of yours, you'll be facing expulsion," said Teddy in disgust. "And your father isn't the only war hero around or have you forgotten that your grandparents, all your uncles and most of your aunts are also war heroes? As were my parents? As were most of the staff in this school, including Professor Snape. Being the son of a war hero is nothing special, Weasley, not unless you honour all those who fought and died, which you clearly don't."

Teddy handed the chessboard to Reuben's opponent and nodded towards the boys' dorms. The young firstie took heed and disappeared with it. Teddy reached out and grabbed Reuben by the ear, dragging him out of his seat. Of all Teddy's Potter and Weasley cousins, Reuben was the only one who was a spoilt, arrogant brat and Teddy despised the younger boy.

"Gerroff me!" Reuben yelled, swinging his fists. Hearing the commotion, one of the prefects, Oscar Wood, came over.

"What are you doing to that firstie, Lupin? Let go of him!" the prefect ordered.

"Professor Snape wants to see him but he couldn't be bothered going. Apparently, he's not subject to the same rules as the rest of us because his father's a war hero," said Teddy scornfully.

"So what? So is mine! So are most of our parents," Oscar replied in confusion.

"That's what I was trying to tell him," Teddy explained.

"So what? I'll tell you what!" blustered Reuben. "My father's also a famous Quidditch player!"

"Famous?" Teddy laughed derisively. "He's a second-string player for a team that has been bottom of the league for over a century. He has never actually played in a winning game in his entire professional career. Your aunt was one of the top scoring players of all time when she was playing professionally and was on Britain's world cup team, as was his father," he added, pointing at the prefect whose father, Oliver Wood, had once been Gryffindor's Quidditch Captain and had begun his professional career with one of the top teams, Puddlemere United. Ronald Weasley, on the other hand, had joined his beloved Chudley Cannons, who had not won the league since 1892. Not only that, but he was widely known to be facing an ignominious dismissal from the club for his erratic and unreliable performances as the Chudley Cannons' second-string Keeper.

Reuben was bright red with anger and humiliation and Teddy could see that he was on the verge of erupting violently. Teddy exchanged a resigned look with Oscar. "I'll go," he said wearily. Making his way out the common room, he could hear Oscar giving Reuben a rollicking and wondered just how many points the stubborn twit would lose Gryffindor.

Teddy made his way down to the dungeons and knocked on Professor Snape's office door. "Enter," he heard and pushed the door open.

"Professor Snape?" he said.

"What is it, Mr Lupin? Where is Mr Weasley? Are you incapable of performing this small task? Surely it's not that hard to spot that red hair, or does it blend into the background too much in the Gryffindor common room?" said Severus with a sneer. For the most part, he had got over his hatred for Harry Potter's and Teddy Lupin's fathers but when either Harry or Teddy messed up, the sneers tended to reappear.

"No, sir. I found him. But he refused to come. He seems to think that because his father is a war hero and professional Quidditch player, he's above the rest of us and doesn't need to answer to you," said Teddy, disdain clear in his voice. "Oscar Wood is dealing with him."

Severus stared at the boy in disbelief. Never, in all his years of teaching, had a pupil refused a summons from him. Not even Draco Malfoy, his own godson, and also a self-entitled brat in his youth, had ever ignored a professor in this manner. Even Hagrid, who Draco had despised, had received a certain amount of obedience from the younger Malfoy. Severus finally found his voice. "Thank you, Mr Lupin. That will be all."

Just as Severus stood up, ready to go storming off to Gryffindor tower and retrieve the Weasley brat — by force, if need be — Oscar Wood came through the door, levitating a frozen Reuben Weasley in front of him. "I believe you wanted to see him, Professor?" Oscar asked, with a cheerful grin.

"Indeed I do. Thank you, Mr Wood. That will be ten points to Gryffindor for making sure he comes. Unfortunately, it won't be enough to make up for the points he is about to lose," said Severus with a smirk.

Teddy exchanged a conspiratorial look with Oscar. "I think we expected as much, Professor. I'm sure Gryffindor House will make their feelings plain to Weasley," he said, as he and Oscar left, closing the door behind them.

Severus released Reuben from the Petrificus Totalus and levitated him so that he was in a standing position. However, before the boy could run out, as he was sure that Reuben had every intention of doing, he flicked his wand and a chair came floating over behind the boy, bumping into the back of his legs, making him sit down reflexively. Severus then applied a sticking charm so that the boy could not get out of the chair until Severus released him.

Severus looked at the boy with cold eyes. "Well, Weasley. I understand that you think it beneath you to pay attention to your teachers. I'm here to teach you just how erroneous that assumption is. Before I do that, though, we're going to discuss the matter of your assault on Miss Gale."

"What does it matter?" the boy said dismissively. "She's just a slimy snake. You people shouldn't be at Hogwarts with decent folk."

Severus could not believe his ears. He always knew that Ronald Weasley was a prejudiced fool but his son was surpassing even the father. His voice became even quieter and silkier than normal, a sure sign of impending danger.

"I suggest you curb your tongue, boy. You're in enough trouble already. In case you haven't been keeping track, you're in trouble for physically assaulting Miss Gale, for refusing to come to my office when summoned, for rudeness, and for prejudice. Understand this, the war was over a long time ago. Prejudice is no longer acceptable in Hogwarts. Nor are you better than anyone else here in Hogwarts. Learn to be polite and to treat others with courtesy and respect, otherwise, if you keep up that disgusting attitude, you will be expelled.

"Now, for your punishment: twenty-five points from Gryffindor and week's detention for each of your infractions. Just in case you can't work it out for yourself, that means you have just lost Gryffindor one hundred points and you have a month's worth of detentions. Next time, it will be fifty points and a fortnight's detention for each infraction, so make sure it doesn't happen again. Be here at seven o'clock this evening for your first detention. Your detentions will be served primarily with me but also with Mr Filch when I have other duties. Now get out of my sight," he ordered and Reuben fled.

.o.O.o.

¹⁰ lonnies dot dk / 2012 / 08 / printables-foxy-bookmarks