He gingerly made his way to Minerva's office trying to convince himself this wasn't a fucking awful idea.
"Nervous, Severus?" Andromeda asked from beside him, a slight smirk on her face.
"No," he replied shortly.
She snorted. "Liar. Min was always the only person you were afraid of. And now apparently Hermione. It's adorable by the way, how you are with her. I can't believe Ella never mentioned she was pregnant. Then again, she always did struggle to think of anyone other than herself."
"Andy!"
Andromeda raised an eyebrow at him mockingly. "What? We both know it's true."
"That's enough! Ella left because they were attempting to tie her into a contract with Rabastian. She thought that if she kept Hermione they'd be found once she became old enough for school and that they'd be forced back with Hermione tied into a betrothal contract."
"Bullshit," Andromeda replied succinctly, making his eyes widen. "Hermione would be automatically registered to the school of her country of residence. You have to specifically ask for entry to the school of your choice to bypass that. No one interested in her whereabouts has access to the registers outwith Durmstrang, Beauxbatons and Hogwarts. Ilvermorny quite publicly refused to allow anyone to access their records, if you remember. She had options. On top of that, betrothals, before a child comes of age, are now incredibly rare and Lucius, romantic sod that he is, would have fought it if one had been expected earlier and she had asked him to. He has a higher standing than the Fawley's, he would likely have been listened to. Also, you are the most loyal person I know. You might have lost your way for a bit but let's not pretend that you wouldn't have moved heaven and earth for that girl the moment you knew she existed. Ella should have fucking told you. But she didn't want to be a parent and so she offloaded her mistake so no one would know enough to judge her," she breathed deeply into the stunned silence. "Ella was brilliant, she was scarily intelligent, she was funny and vivacious and she was selfish and cruel with a vicious streak a mile wide. You might want to see it all through rose-tinted glasses but the only person who'll get hurt if you do is that girl of yours. And I don't believe for a damn minute that you want that. So think very carefully before you allow that woman anywhere near the girl."
He registered that they'd stopped walking, that Andy was facing him, standing inches from his face as she made her case. Fuck. Was it true? Was he looking at it all through rose-tinted glasses? He couldn't be, surely? Lucius adored Ella but he would have mentioned her flaws if they were that worrying, wouldn't he? Surely neither he nor Narcissa would allow Hermione to be hurt unnecessarily? Fuck he needed to speak to them. This was madness.
Andromeda cleared her throat.
"I don't want to argue with you, Severus." she said softly "But even I can see in the small amount of time that I spent with you both that you adore that girl, and she clearly adores you. Don't jeopardise that for the woman who clearly couldn't be bothered to think beyond her immediate wants."
He nodded shortly, not having a clue what to respond to that, before striding ahead of her to Minerva's door, forcing himself not to think.
Minerva looked up in surprise when she saw both Severus and Andromeda standing in front of her.
"What's going on?"
He sighed, "Hello to you too Minerva. It's wonderful to see you, we're fine, thanks for asking."
"I saw you less than two hours ago. What's going on?" she responded sharply.
Fuck it was probably best just to say it. Maybe she'd be less angry than he was expecting. Hopefully. She had a mean wand hand and he'd like not to be hexed. Today had been bad enough.
"Ginevra Weasley needs a mind healer. She has asked me to be there when she tells her parents, I thought you should be aware."
"A mind healer? Ginny Weasley?"
"Yes. I called in Andromeda."
"You called in Andromeda?" she said faintly.
"Yes. Now that you're aware, we'll be going." He moved quickly, tugging Andromeda with him, hoping that Minerva was blindsided enough not to catch them.
"Severus Tobias Snape! Do not move." Minerva growled, clearly regaining her equilibrium. He winced as he turned back to face her waiting on her to speak.
"Sit. Both of you. And tell me exactly what is going on."
He glanced at Andromeda who grimaced and shrugged slightly. Fabulous. She was going to be no fucking help. He had been banking on her keeping Minerva's temper in check.
"Miss Weasley has been writing in a dairy. She was left with large gaps in her memory."
There was no point in sugar coating this really. Minerva would be furious if she had to force this out of him. And that would jeopardise his access to her whisky.
"Diary? What on earth?" He watched with interest as realisation dawned on Minerva's face.
"Is the girl alright?"
"Yes. Her diagnostics show no lingering dark magic. However, she is missing periods of time and Andromeda thought that her speaking to someone would be beneficial"
"I see. How did she get the diary, Severus?"
He winced. "I believe it was during an altercation in Diagon Alley." he hedged.
"An altercation with whom?" she asked, her eyes flinty.
"An altercation between Arthur and Lucius." he sighed finally. He should have known there was no way he'd escape telling her the whole story. He fleetingly wondered if that had been why he'd come. He'd told an adult now, surely that meant he was absolved from having to deal with it all?
"Do you mean to tell me that Lucius Malfoy deliberately set Ginevra Weasley up to open the Chamber of Secrets?"
"No! He had no idea what it was. He wanted her found with something obviously dark causing Arthur to be investigated. He's devastated that he's caused this, especially given that Hermione is furious and is refusing to speak to him."
"Miss Granger knows?" Minerva asked incredulously.
"Yes. As do Draco and Potter."
"Harry Potter knows," she said faintly before gathering herself together. "What do you intend to do about it?"
"Me?"
"Yes, you. You've obviously told me for a reason, beyond placating Molly Weasley, so what is it?"
He winced slightly at her tone. "Hermione pointed out that his contacts may be useful."
"Did she now? And how did Mr Potter take that?"
"By that point, he was surprisingly calm. He agreed with her."
"Harry Potter agreed that Lucius Malfoy should escape Scot free because his contacts may be useful?" Minerva asked incredulously.
"Yes. Surprisingly. I'm inclined to agree given what we're about to do."
Minerva sighed before turning to Andromeda. "Do you agree?"
"I'm not sure. The Lucius I knew would protect his own skin above all else. However, Hermione mentioned that he'd agreed to meet her muggle parents this summer. It might be good for him. And Merlin knows it's not a concession I'd ever have expected him to make."
"Fair enough." Minerva sighed, massaging her temples, "I'll hold off just now, but the first hint that the man is lying and I'm calling in Amelia."
Severus nodded, "That's fair. Will you join me for the meeting with the Weasley's? Merlin knows Molly is not my biggest fan."
Minerva nodded, "Yes, of course. When is it?"
"I haven't owled them yet, but sooner rather than later. Miss Weasley's first appointment will be next week. She'll have time for two more before the summer holidays. I assume you wish to keep to the same day and time?"
Andromeda nodded, "If possible. It makes scheduling easier."
"Owl them and request a meeting tomorrow after dinner then," Minerva said. "How many appointments do you think the girl will need?"
"I don't know, I told her it was up to her. The gaps are significant but I'm hoping that if we meet weekly over the summer, I'll be able to discharge her by the next school year."
Minerva nodded, looking utterly exhausted. "You'll stay for a drink? Merlin knows we need it after today."
Well if she was offering, he wasn't going to refuse.
He sat in Minerva's office the next day along with Andromeda and Ginny Weasley, facing a livid Molly and a slightly stunned Arthur. Fucking wonderful. He wondered if he could demand his daughter hire a live-in nurse rather than shove him into a care home in his old age for roping him into this mess. Surely it was the least he deserved?
"You mean to tell me that this school has nothing that detects dark artefacts?" Molly was screaming. Dear gods that woman's voice could raise the dead. Although, she had a point. Surely there should be some sort of ward that prevented students from bringing in fractions of the bloody Dark Lord's soul.
"Molly, you know we do not control the wards. I agree, there should be something." Minerva tried to soothe.
"But there is not!"
Fucking hell how did one woman reach that volume? How the fuck was Arthur not deaf?
"No." Minerva allowed, "There is not. However, I shall be discussing it with Albus. In the meantime, Ginny just wished you to know what the plan was regarding her health."
Oh bloody fuck, now the woman was wailing. He actually felt sorry for Miss Weasely who looked like she'd rather be bloody anywhere else. He watched fascinated as Molly clutched Ginny to her, wondering idly if you could actually suffocate someone by holding them too tightly. Judging by the colour of Miss Weasley's face, he may be about to find out.
"Molly, let Ginny breathe."
Bloody Arthur ruining his learning opportunities.
"We'll make sure Ginny is at her appointments Healer Tonks."
He watched Andromeda smile at him, professional mask in place. "Wonderful. Well, I shall leave you to it. Ginny, I'll see you next week."
"Thanks, Andromeda."
Minerva was looking expectantly at Molly and Arthur Weasley, clearly hoping they'd also leave. Molly was pointedly ignoring her as she was back to squeezing the life out of her youngest child.
"I think I shall also take my leave. Minerva, I have an issue I would like your assistance with once you are free."
Minerva shot him a grateful look. "Of course, Severus. Let me see Molly and Arthur to the floo. I'll be down once I've escorted Miss Weasley back to her common room."
Molly was spluttering as he swept out of the room, thanking all the gods that he was not the girl's Head of House. Minerva would be at least another hour. That gave him time to play with his new basilisk.
Edging into the room he took in the sheer scale of it as he mentally prepared a list of all the experiments he wanted to do. He was going to have to order more containers. Fuck. Lots more containers.
Hastily scribbling a note. It was legible enough surely? He called for an elf, asking it to take his order to Slug and Jiggers before he started planning the best way to deal with this.
The fangs and the venom sacks seemed like the best place to start.
Several vials and jars later he looked with satisfaction at the array of ingredients he'd harvested. He was barely a quarter of the way through. Where was he going to store all of this? Bloody fuck he hadn't thought this through. He was going to have to take it home, wasn't he? Or knowing his luck, one of the little cretins would find it and murder themselves playing with the venom.
He debated with himself briefly before he shrunk the jars down and hid them in his multiple pockets before sending a quick Patronus to Minerva and striding up to Gryffindor tower.
The looks on the Gryffindors faces when they realised he was standing in their common room was hilarious. Not that he could laugh. They might think he was human then and he couldn't have that. He wasn't sure if he'd ever seen them so quiet. It was nice, this stunned silence. Maybe he should catch them off guard more often.
He heard someone clearing their throat.
"Everything alright, Sir?" a voice asked nervously. Katie Bell. Less obnoxious than her Weasley year mates.
"I'm looking for Miss Granger."
"I ah...I think she went to her dorm, do you want me to get her?"
What sort of a question was that? Did she think he was going to take a seat and wait on her to appear? Although…..Sitting down, revelling in the tiny squeaks of surprise, he turned back to the girl. "Yes. Do tell her to hurry up, all this red makes me feel nauseous."
Damn these chairs were really quite comfy. The Slytherins would kill for this. Although all the red and gold was a bit much. And it was fucking boiling. Did they need the fire on that high? It was almost fucking summer.
Hermione appeared moments later, looking confused. He stood, relieved. The little sods were still silent and watching him. It was fucking creepy.
"Miss Granger, I need a word. Come with me."
She nodded at him and followed him out of the portrait hole. He heard the explosion of noise as he left the room and smirked.
"Father? What's going on?"
"I need to drop some ingredients at my home. I wondered if you wished to accompany me?"
Her eyes went wide. "What? Now?"
He arched a brow at her. "No, next year. Of course now. Did you think I sat in the Gryffindor common room for fun?"
She smirked back at him. Fuck maybe he hadn't been the best influence on the girl. "We both know you enjoyed their shock, Father."
"Maybe," he conceded with a smirk of his own. "Now, are you coming or not?"
"Yes!"
He walked her back to his rooms to get to the floo, she was bouncing which he realised should have annoyed him. He was slightly annoyed that it didn't.
"You will need to come with me to access the wards. I apologise, flooing with someone is not particularly comfortable. I'll change them once we're there but they're blood wards so I can't do it without you."
She nodded at him as they stepped into the fireplace and wrapped her arms around his waist, anchoring her to him with an arm around her shoulders he shouted out their destination.
Hermione stepped from the floo and spun in a slow circle taking in the room.
"You live here?" she asked, with wide eyes.
He smirked at her. "Yes, I live here. Although if anyone asks I live at Spinner's end, Cokeworth."
"What?"
"I'll take you there on the way home so you can convincingly convey your horror should anyone ask. Lucius and Narcissa know I live here, as does Minerva. Everyone else believes I retain the family home in Cokeworth. It's better that way."
"No uninvited guests?" she guessed.
He snorted. "Something like that. Come, I'll give you the tour."
He lost her in the library, rolling his eyes in response to her puppy dog ones when he tried to persuade her to leave. He should have known to leave it to last.
"I will be back in fifteen minutes Hermione, I am going to store the basilisk parts in my lab and then we truly do need to think about leaving."
"But the books, Father! I can't possibly work out what I want to read in fifteen minutes!"
He laughed at her. "Hermione. You are my Heir. In, hopefully, many years from now, you will be Lady Prince. They will be your books. They're not going anywhere, sweetheart, no one said you couldn't come back."
"Lady Prince?" she asked, frowning.
He sighed and motioned to the sofa in the middle of the room.
"Yes. My mother was a Prince but she was disowned for marrying my father. He was a muggle. Upon her death, my grandparents realised I was the only one left and decided that instead of the line dying out, they'd make me Heir. I inherited when they died."
"Oh," she said softly. "That must have been hard for your mum."
He shrugged. "She made her choices."
"Father?"
He looked at her for a moment before he spoke. "Your grandfather was not a pleasant man. By the time she died, your grandmother had given up using magic entirely because he hated it for its limitations. He couldn't understand why she couldn't just conjure money and it made him angry."
"So angry he took it out on her?" she asked softly.
"Yes."
"And you?" she guessed.
"Yes, Hermione. As I said, he wasn't a pleasant man."
"I'm sorry," she whispered as she moved to cautiously wrap an arm around him. Severus took the opportunity to pull her close, burying his nose in her hair. He wondered briefly how he had survived so long without this. As confusing as things felt at the moment, she was enough to ground him. He found himself hoping that Andromeda was wrong, that Ella wasn't the woman she said she was. He hoped he wouldn't have to protect his daughter from her mother. He hoped Ella would see how amazing this girl was. She had so very quickly become his focal point. He now made decisions based on whether she would approve and while some part of him wondered if he should, he needed to make her proud. He was attempting to make Harry bloody Potter's life better for fucks sake. For no other reason than he knew she wanted to fix it.
She tightened her arms around him and he wondered if she knew how much power she truly had. She had Lucius agreeing to meet muggles, him helping James Potter's son, she seemed to be utterly clueless that she had two powerful men dancing to her tune. He wondered what she'd do if she knew. Would she abuse that power? He didn't think so. She didn't appear to want anything from them, well except maybe his library. It was odd. She had more power over him than either of his other two 'masters' and all she wanted from him was for him to be there. He wasn't entirely sure what to do with that.
"Come along, Hermione. We have to adjust the wards and we have another house to see today. You can come back and ransack the library in the summer."
"Really? I can come back in the summer?"
"If...if you want to?" Fuck, his heart was hammering all of a sudden. Was he having a heart attack? This wasn't normal. It wasn't that he was scared she'd say no. That was absurd.
"Yes! Mum and Dad still work a lot during the summer. It gets boring." she said with a shrug.
He looked at her, debating with himself. "You know that you are welcome to stay with me? I don't mean stay all summer and not see your parents, but, during the week when they are working or for a few weeks….."
"I...I think I'd like that, Father. Could I go and see them for a few hours in the evening once they're home? And at weekends? We're going to France for a couple of weeks but that's all they've really got off work."
"I…." Fuck he really couldn't cry, when was the last time he'd spent a summer with another person? He thought fleetingly of childhood summers with Lily, "Of course, Hermione. We can speak to them about the arrangements and you can go and see them as often as you want."
"Thank you," she said softly.
He pulled her in tighter. What had he done before this girl?
They flooed to Spinners end, Hermione's nose wrinkling at the damp, musty smell of the old house.
"This is…." she trailed off, looking around the dilapidated home he'd grown up in.
"Yes. It is," he said drily.
"I know you said it was bad but I….I don't think this was quite what I expected."
"No. I imagine not. Come along, I'll show you the rest and then we can leave."
It took all of ten minutes to show her around, she followed him silently with her face carefully blank. He had never been fond of the place but never before had he been so glad to leave. He never wanted his daughter to set foot in that hellhole again.
She turned and hugged him hard when they exited the floo back into his rooms.
"Not that I don't appreciate it, Hermione, but what was that for?"
"I...that place was horrid. It felt horrid. And you grew up there. I can't imagine how that was."
He squeezed her tighter, wondering if anyone else had ever cared. It was a strange feeling, one he didn't quite know how to place.
"It wasn't pleasant but I don't live there now. It's alright sweetheart," he murmured into her hair.
Something moved in his eye-line and his eyes shot up to see Minerva sitting watching them, a soft look on her face. He quirked an eyebrow at her, wondering why she was here….and how the fuck she'd got in.
She smirked back at him. "You think I don't know how to dismantle your wards, laddie?"
Hermione let him go, twisting to face her Head of House.
"Professor!"
"Miss Granger. If you wouldn't mind, I need a word with your father."
She turned to raise an eyebrow at him. Fuck he was in trouble.
"I'll see you soon, Hermione," he said, pulling her back into a hug. "Assuming Professor McGonagall doesn't murder me."
She laughed. "Love you, Father." she threw over her shoulder as she escaped the room. He stood still, despite her having said it once, it was the only time. Her casual declaration momentarily leaving him stunned.
"Ocht, I was going to shout at you and now I find that I can't. Sit down Severus before you fall down from shock."
He moved automatically, seating himself across from Minerva while he silently tried to process the feelings he wasn't sure what to do with. Would it always be like this? Would his girl always throw him so vastly off balance or would he get used to it eventually? Fucking hell he hoped so. He couldn't keep feeling this overwhelmed.
"Severus," Minerva said gently. "Talk to me."
He glanced up at her, her face was still soft. "I….I think she might be the first person ever to tell me they loved me," he said, his voice sounding lost even to his own ears. "I don't know what to do with it, Min."
"Oh, my boy." A look passed over Minerva's face that he couldn't place. " You deserve this. You deserve to be loved and that girl of yours adores you. Let her, Severus. She'll be good for you."
"I don't like feeling this out of control" he replied softly. "She has no idea, does she? I've spent this entire year feeling completely off balance. She hugs me, Minerva. Often. I've been hugged more in the last few months than I've been in my entire life. And then she says she loves me like that, like it's a common sentiment. Just casually, over her shoulder, as she's leaving. What the fuck am I meant to do with that?"
"Let her love you. Let her remind you that you're worth loving. Let her put those broken pieces back together. "
"It's not that simple!"
"Oh but Severus, it is." He sat, looking at her as he processed that. She smiled at him. "You'll get used to it, my boy. Your daughter is as stubborn as you, she's not going to stop."
He sighed, forcing the emotions back down as he tried to get himself back under control. "Do I want to know why you are really here?"
Minerva pulled an unimpressed face. "I came here to shout at you. You cannot just send me a Patronus telling me you're taking your daughter out of school for the afternoon! You know that's unacceptable! However, I find myself unable to muster the energy. So I shall leave it this time. However, you pull a stunt like that again Severus Snape and I'll cut you off from my supply for a month!" He gaped at her, making her laugh. "Come along laddie, I've got a bottle out and waiting, you look like you need it today."