She was avoiding him. He wasn't sure what to make of that. Her face was a blank mask whenever she was in his classroom and she'd stopped drawing attention to herself. He wasn't sure what to make of that either. Maybe he needed to speak to Minerva. He wasn't equipped for this.
She'd left a very polite note on his desk two days after their discussion stating that she felt that she needed more than a week to contemplate what she wanted to do, so she wouldn't be coming to see him as he'd offered. She'd let him know when she was ready to talk.
That had stung slightly. Ok, that had stung a lot. He'd been working himself up to accept that he had a daughter and now said daughter wanted nothing to do with him. That wasn't fair, surely? He knew he wasn't the nicest person, but he was trying.
She didn't appear to have noticed. Draco had noticed for God's sake! He'd cornered him discreetly and asked what the hell was going on. He'd had no answer for him so had fobbed him off. He wasn't sure Draco was convinced. How had he gotten to the point of being unable to convince a twelve year old? He was losing his touch. That was a depressing thought.
He was having dinner with Lucius and Narcissa tonight, for Merlin's sake, he really needed to up his game. He was fucked if he couldn't even convince their son of the story he was spinning. Bested by a twelve year old. Maybe he should give up now.
He'd been watching her since she'd refused to meet him. She was mooning over that arsehole Lockheart. Surely any child of his should have more discerning taste. The man was an imbecile. Hermione was more intelligent than him and she was only a second year. He was going to have to have a word with her, she needed to be more discriminating. Or he would, as soon as she was actually speaking to him again. She would speak to him again, wouldn't she? For Salazar's sake, he sounded like a teenage girl with her first crush. Maybe he could demand that she spoke to him, he was the parent. No. No, the girl was stubborn, that wouldn't go down well.
What was he meant to do? This was fucking complicated. Maybe he needed to speak to an actual parent. Cissa might be a good bet. Yes. That sounded better. Get advice from a more seasoned parent. He had a plan. He felt better already. And she would speak to him again, wouldn't she?
He sat in the Malfoy's ostentatious dining room, wondering if this hadn't been a bloody awful idea after all. They'd spent the entire night speaking in fucking riddles. No one was bloody candid, it was all subterfuge and carefully deciding how much you could trust a person to know. It was fucking exhausting.
"You mentioned Ella in your letter, Severus. I must admit I was surprised." Ah, bluntness. Finally. It had only taken three hours. Unexpected from Narcissa though, he'd expected Lucius to crack first. Still, he could work with it. He'd have to, after all.
"I had an unexpected revelation at the beginning of the school year. It necessitated the need for the inquiry." he began, choosing his words carefully.
Her pale eyebrow rose in surprise. "A revelation, Severus?"
He watched them closely. He was a spy damn it, he should be good at this!
"Were you aware she had a child?"
Interesting. Narcissa was, Lucius wasn't, if their reactions were anything to go by
"Of course, she did not! She couldn't have hid that!" Lucius exclaimed, looking affronted by the very idea.
"I have heritage potion results that say otherwise, old friend." he drawled, as he noted Narcissa's flinch. Hmmm even more interesting.
"I don't understand," Lucius said finally, looking at his wife, who sighed.
Fuck. Narcissa Malfoy didn't do anything so pedestrian as sigh. That wasn't good. Maybe he should have left well enough alone.
"I was there when she delivered her." She finally said. "I dropped the babe off at a muggle hospital and helped smuggle Ella to France. Not that she is there now."
"And the child's father?" Fuck that look on Lucius' face didn't bode well for him. Definitely should have left well enough alone.
"She never said. I had my suspicions, of course. I assume the heritage potion revealed him too?"
Lucius was going to murder him. And really, there had been peace for eleven years, he was out of practice. Maybe he could dodge? Hmmm, probably not. Lucius was like a dog with a bloody bone when it suited him. He tried not to picture a Labrador in place of Lucius, it wouldn't do to laugh. Not with that slightly murderous look on his face.
"Of course. Might I inquire as to why she gave the child up?"
Narcissa looked at him. She knew then or at least strongly suspected. Well, he'd intended to ask her for parenting advice. He hadn't thought of how he'd manage that without revealing he was a parent. He really was losing his touch. What had this girl done to him?
"She had heard of plans to marry her to Rabastian, and quite frankly she didn't want to. She had no idea what sort of life she would manage to build, and honestly, Ella was always such a free spirit, it would have been no life for a baby. She lives in a shack on a beach for Salazar's sake! She was worried that if she took the child once it reached school age someone would find them both and drag them back into proper society, with the child tied into a contract before the dust had settled. She felt that removing her from the situation was best and she was absolutely sure that the father had no urge to be an actual father. She actually laughed so hard she wet herself when I suggested it. It wasn't pleasant." Narcissa scrunched her nose delicately.
Well, that was insulting.
"The father, Severus. I need to know if he knew." Lucius still didn't sound happy.
"He didn't." he replied bluntly, still smarting from the earlier insult.
"You're sure, how can you be sure?"
"Because I am the girl's father, and until recently I very much did not know." In truth he was still slightly, ok, a lot, offended. He would have managed. Somehow. It wasn't that amusing to think of him as a parent was it? Fuck. Actually, it probably was. What was he thinking?
He'd stunned Lucius into silence, that had to be a first. The man never shut up normally.
"Who is she?" Narcissa was quicker on the uptake. This wasn't going to go down well, was it?
"Her given name is Hermione Granger."
"Harry Potter's Mudblood?!" That woke Lucius up, although strangely, he didn't look angry as he'd expected, he looked fucking delighted. What nonsense was this?
"I'd thank you not to refer to my daughter using that slur, Lucius!" he barked, hating the feeling of confusion Lucius' reaction had caused.
"Fuck old friend, your daughter is a Gryffindor! A stubborn, headstrong Gryffindor if Draco's letters are anything to go by. And she's best friends with the boy who fucking lived. Oh, fuck me! Cissa, get the elves to bring out the celebratory champagne, this is fucking hilarious!"
"It isn't that funny, arsehole!" he growled. It fucking wasn't! What was funny about this shitshow?
"Oh Severus, of course, it is! Tell me, how did she take the news?"
"She was fine. And now she isn't speaking to me." Fuck he really did sound like a teenage girl. And now Lucius was laughing so hard he was crying. Fucking wonderful. Why did he do this to himself? Why were these people his friends? The champagne really was good though. Maybe this was why they were friends. He sure as fuck didn't actually like them. Not currently. He'd just drink until Lucius calmed down. The alcohol would take the edge off asking Narcissa for advice.
"Why isn't she speaking to you, Severus?"
"I don't know." He wasn't pouting. Grown men did not pout.
"Have you tried speaking to her instead?" Narcissa prodded, a slight smirk on her face.
"She asked for time to work out what she wanted to do."
"Ah." Why was Narcissa smiling at him like that? It was disconcerting and he didn't like it. "It's noble of you to give her the choice. I assume you intend to claim the girl?"
"I don't think she wants me to."
"Don't pout Severus, it's not attractive. She's a teenage girl and her father is her professor. It's going to be difficult, even without the fact that she has two other parents. Find something she likes and reel her in that way. I hear she likes to read?"
She did like to read, didn't she? And he had a library. A vast library. Apparently, Cissa was a genius. This may be why they were friends.
"Thank you, Cissa."
"Don't mention it." she waved her hand delicately, "I do have one teeny, tiny, small favour to ask in return though."
Of fucking course she did. Nothing was bloody free, was it? He merely raised a brow at her.
"I want to meet her. She's family."
He imagined that his expression mirrored Lucius' mask of absolute horror at that suggestion. Fuck, the girl would not take that well. And she was incredibly liberal. She'd hex Lucius for some of his views. It would not end well. Draco would be murdered in his own home. He'd be hiding a body. He'd have to, wouldn't he? She was his daughter, it was expected, surely? Cissa wouldn't like it. She was inexplicably fond of Draco. He couldn't imagine why. Stuck up little sod that he was.
"I'll see what I can do." Smart answer, non-committal. It would buy him some time. He'd need time to convince her.
"Christmas, Severus," Narcissa insisted like she could read his thoughts. "Or the Christmas holidays at least. It's a time for family is it not?"
Well, that fucking complicated things.
His daughter was like a fucking ninja. He'd be proud if he was so fucking pissed off. He couldn't get her alone anywhere, she was out of his classroom before he could blink and she was always surrounded by people. He was sure it was deliberate. He'd even gone to watch bloody Quiddich just in the hopes of catching her, it may have been worth it to watch the incompetent buffoon vanish all the bones in Potter's arm though. That had been amusing.
Less amusing was the fate of Mr Creevy. What was going on in this school? Dumbledore was suspiciously quiet, when he'd voiced that to Minerva, she'd agreed, which was fucking terrifying. Minerva never agreed with what she called his conspiracy theories.
And now he was being coerced into starting a duelling club with that preening arsehole. Maybe he could stun him into a wall and be done with it. Minerva probably wouldn't approve though, she'd go all pinched and disapproving looking. And she was back to sharing her whisky, so he didn't want to anger her.
The man really was an incompetent arsehole. And Potter was a fucking parselmouth. That felt like information worth remembering. It had been unexpected, could he be behind the Chamber reopening? Slytherin was known for being a parselmouth.
He'd been in the hospital wing the second time round though hadn't he? So probably not. Even if this was all fucking odd. Potter's weren't known for being parselmouths. He felt like he was missing something obvious. He probably was, he wasn't sleeping properly again. He blamed the girl.
He still hadn't managed to catch her, she'd left quickly with Potter after Bulstrode had loosened the headlock in surprise when Potter had a chat with the snake. He wondered briefly what exactly snakes spoke about. Could they carry on a reasonable conversation? He could do with some intelligent conversation, it was severely lacking.
Maybe he could use Bulstrode as an excuse to check on her? No, her friends would ask questions and she'd never forgive him if they found out before she was ready.
Fuck, the Weasley twins were coming his way. Maybe he should just cast a nice discreet shield charm now? Why did it look like the little bastards were heading directly for him? Fuck. They were heading for him. Oh please god no. What had he done to deserve this?
"Congratulations Sir!"
He arched a brow.
"We hear it's a beautiful, bouncing baby girl!"
Fuck! Glancing quickly around to make sure no one else was in the vicinity he shoved them into an abandoned classroom and ensured he looked as menacing as possible. Good, the little fuckers looked nervous.
"Explain,"
"Ah, 'Mione's been a bit upset lately. Not like herself so we had a little chat didn't we Gred?"
"Yes, just a little chat, Forge. See if we couldn't cheer her up."
"Apparently, she'd had some shocking…."
"Really shocking….."
"Insanely unbelievable some would say…."
"Most would say Gred….."
"Right Forge…."
"News that our resident potions master was actually…."
"Her biological father…."
"Can you believe it, sir?"
Fuck his head hurt listening to them.
"She told you this?"
"Yes, she was pretty upset."
And now they looked serious. Fabulous.
"We thought you should know. She said you hadn't really spoken about it and she wasn't sure what to do."
"Her muggle parents were a bit surprised and not terribly pleased so she's feeling guilty."
"Maybe you should talk to her Sir."
"I would if the annoying chit didn't keep avoiding me" Fuck apparently he hadn't said that as quietly as he intended.
"We could lure her here…"
This was insane. He couldn't possibly be thinking of agreeing to this, what was he thinking?
"If you could," he nodded entirely against his will.
Fuck. What was he meant to do now? They'd left him here. Did he just wait? It was a bit sad really, wasn't it? Silently hovering in an unused classroom with no apparent purpose. It made him feel antsy. The waiting. He was more than a little relieved when he heard the sound of voices.
"Fred, George, what are you doing? I don't want to go this way! Let me go back to the common room. Oh. Hello Sir."
"Don't you mean Daddy, Hermione?"
"OUT!" he barked, his nerves shot to pieces.
"Yes Professor, 'Miones dad, Sir. We'll just be going."
He pinched his nose. Fucking little sods. He had to figure out what to say to her now. She was here, like he wanted, and he had no fucking idea what to do with that. So he turned slowly to face her waiting on what was surely to be anger. Fuck, she was crying, What the fuck was he meant to do with that? He was emotionally stunted, remember, didn't she know that? Surely it was fucking obvious.
Oh. Oh fuck, now she was hugging him and crying. What was he meant to do with his hands? Was it bad manners to vanish the snot she was definitely leaving behind? Probably.
Her frame felt strange against his. He couldn't remember the last time he'd hugged someone. Lily probably. Fuck that was sad. She seemed to be ok with it though, even if he felt as awkward as fuck. She smelled like vanilla. Which was odd really. He hadn't expected that. Should he say something comforting? What the fuck could he say that was comforting! He was bloody Severus Snape! He was proficient in the arts of sarcasm and snark not fucking comfort. Shit. He needed to say something, she was crying all over his buttons. It felt quite nice though, hugging his daughter. Real parents did this, did they not?
"Do you…..do you want to talk about it?" That sounded reasonable didn't it?"
"Mum and dad are angry. They didn't really want me to figure out who my birth parents are yet, they already feel like they're losing me to this world and to have it confirmed that my biological parents are magical and one of them lives in school with me. Well, let's say they didn't take it well."
She was muffled by his frock coat but he thought he caught all of that. Not that he knew how to answer her. He may be Head of Slytherin house but he passed all of these sorts of issues off to the prefects.
"I imagine that is difficult for them. Would it help if I met them?" Fuck where had that come from? He was shit at meeting parents, granted this was his daughter and not some girl but still, he wasn't the sort of man any parents wanted their daughter bringing to their house. Even if said daughter was also his daughter. When had this got so fucking complicated?
She was looking at him now, Jesus, she was an atrocious crier. All read and puffy. And that was definitely snot on his buttons. But she was also smiling. Fuck, he was going to do this, wasn't he?
"Would you, Sir? It might make them feel better if they knew who you were."
He sighed. Of course, he was going to do this, how could he not when she was looking at him like that?
"I will agree to meet with your parents during the Christmas holidays however, I have a request of my own."
Was he really doing this? It seemed slightly foolhardy. He'd started now though.
"Narcissa Malfoy has asked to meet you. She was present for your birth apparently. She is also in contact with your mother."
"Oh. I...well...I suppose it wouldn't hurt. Would she tell me about her do you think, my mother I mean?"
"I imagine she would." See, he could do this. It would be fine. He'd be fine.
"Are we telling Draco before we go?"
He hadn't thought of that. They probably should rather than blindsiding the boy in his own home. And truly, he wanted to see how he reacted. It would be amusing if nothing else.
"I'll arrange it for tomorrow. You want to be there I assume?"
"Yes." And she was smiling again. At him. And it made him feel better than scotch ever had.