Severus had been friends, of sorts, with Lucius Malfoy ever since his student days when Lucius more or less took Severus under his wing. The older wizard had been everything Severus was not, but he must have seen something in him as a boy and helped make his school years a little bit easier.
He had also been the one to introduce Severus to the Dark Lord and sponsoring his initiation as a Death Eater. Obviously Severus had quickly realised that this was a perhaps not so stellar idea, but by then it was already too late. On the flip side Malfoy had also been the one who set him up with connections that led to a Potions Apprenticeship with one of the best Masters in Britain.
After the Dark Lord fell they met up occasionally for a drink or two and to argue the merits of one Quidditch team over another, or they'd end up in Lucius' study until it was late enough to be early bickering about who knew the most obscure facts about British history (Severus usually won) or breeding livestock (Lucius) or alcoholic drinks (more or less a tie depending on the vintage).
The Malfoys had even made him Draco's Guardian, what passed for Godfather in the magical community where religion took a backseat to the very real need for protection against Dark Arts, demons and curses. Much like other kinds of Vows and binds the ritual tied him to the baby and made him act to protect the boy if necessary.
Lucius had strongly suggested that Severus not attend the World Cup final. He hadn't planned to go due to the cost of tickets, but the anti-invitation still felt strangely hurtful until the next day when the pictures in the Prophet made the reason obvious. Severus did get to see one of the semifinals before then, Ireland versus Peru, with tickets that had arrived without explanation on his desk two days prior to the game. He brought Minerva and Hooch, figuring he might as well secure a bit of good-will for the coming term.
~ x ~ xx ~ oo ~ xx ~ x ~
Albus had a completely hare-brained notion to restart the Tri-wizard Tournament, of all things. The Castle was filled to bursting with students who, even if they slept in their respective vehicle, shared classes with the NEWT level students. Somehow Potter ended up in the tournament and Severus also ended up with another old nemesis trying to frame him for existing, now in the shape of Mad-Eye Moody. Severus ended up keeping to himself more than usual, staying in his quarters rather than grading essays in the staff room, complaining to Minerva about the unfairness of it all whenever she ventured down to the dungeons.
October was sunnier than usual for Scotland and most students and staff were outside, watching the Hufflepuff — Gryffindor Quidditch game. Severus didn't have time for the game since Slytherin wasn't playing and he had grading and brewing for Poppy to catch up on.
There was a disturbance in the wards of the Castle on the third floor, in the girls' abandoned bathroom. He thought he had seen pretty much all a school full of teenagers had to offer but the scene that met him still caused his eyebrows to rise almost on their own accord.
"Miss Granger," he drawled with an air of reluctance. His eyes swept from the circle drawn onto the flagstone floor with animal blood, to the white, spindly candles, to the archaic Latin written in chalk on the stone walls. "What are you doing?"
The witch looked extremely shifty. "Nothing." She surreptitiously moved a rabbit skull behind the veiled mirror with her sneaker. "Why?"
"Summoning demons in unused bathrooms is not permitted at Hogwarts," Severus said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Nor anywhere else in, on or under the Castle, on the grounds, above ground, in the lake or below ground, for that matter. Or in the Forbidden Forest."
"I wasn't trying to contract a demon, Professor," the witch claimed. "I just wanted to talk to them a little, not Bind them."
"Please go back to your common room and stay out of trouble for at least the rest of the week, Miss Granger. And no more Summoning of demons!"
The witch slumped. "The others in Gryffindor don't understand me, Professor. Whenever I show up in the common room everyone else leaves. Can't I help you brew something instead? Do you need to make potions for the Hospital Wing? I promise not to make any Summoning circles in your lab or classroom."
She looked so hopeful and the absurdity of having a Gryffindor student eager to spend time with him made him agree, going against habit and his very nature. "Fine. Come with me."
With a few flicks of his wand the bathroom was set to rights. Severus pretended not to notice that she was quick to snatch up the candles and rabbit skull, carefully putting them back in her bag.
They went to his private lab, located behind his office, instead of the classroom. She looked around wide-eyed but didn't comment on it further, to his surprise. It wasn't large, but there was enough room for two people brewing if needed since he often had multiple potions or experiments going on and preferred to keep them separated.
He set her to work brewing Pepper-up and a fever reducing potion while he set up a cauldron of Deflating Draught for Poppy and another of Regermination Potion for Pomona. She got to work once he showed her where everything was, bringing up the correct recipes from her textbooks without prompting.
"How did you know I'm doing most of the brewing for the Hospital Wing, Miss Granger?"
She shrugged and continued chopping jewelweed. "I haven't needed to see Madam Pomfrey very often but when I do I can taste your magic in the potions, sir. The ones without your magic never work as well."
Severus hummed in response. It pleased him that someone could sense the difference in his potions. She shouldn't be able to taste his magical signature, however, but perhaps it was something else she noticed and attributed to his magic. After all, she knew his handwriting by now and he labelled all vials himself.
~ x ~ xx ~ oo ~ xx ~ x ~
It became a habit of sorts. Once or twice per week she escaped down to the lab, to avoid her moronic housemates. He began leaving her a list of potions to brew, starting with the simple first-year potions with detailed instructions but quickly progressing to more advanced potions such as the Euphoria Elixir and Wit-Sharpening Potion and to helping him prepare ingredients for potions he had to brew.
He even toyed with giving her an Apprenticeship, if she were to keep it up, but the Headmaster put a stop to that as soon as he got wind of it. During one of their regular check-ins a few months after the bathroom incident the Headmaster brought it up in his usual roundabout way.
"You should leave Miss Granger alone, Severus."
He bristled. "Whatever for? So she can continue to bask in the mediocrity of those two morons she claims to be friends with?"
"Why do you think she ended up in Gryffindor?" Albus exclaimed. "Not so the Head of Slytherin could claim her as an Apprentice, at least. You know what your obligations are, Severus."
Fawkes sat on his perch and started whistling something that sounded suspiciously like the Fawlty Towers theme. Severus tossed a grape to the bird who deftly caught it and devoured it whole, before stalking down to the dungeons again. He knew his place. Albus never let him forget it. But for a moment, he had dreamed of something different.
~ x ~ xx ~ oo ~ xx ~ x ~
Something strange was definitely going on with Potter regarding his participation in the Tournament. It didn't make sense to assume, as Albus claimed, that Potter would have figured out how to skirt the age line himself. The boy did manage to get through the tasks using a combination of sheer dumb luck and surreptitious help from his friends.
Granger kept to herself a lot but somehow managed to snare the Durmstrang champion, Krum, although their friendship or whatever it was came to an abrupt end after her dip in the Lake when she appeared to be so angry her hair pretty much dried itself off in a matter of minutes out of sheer magical fury. After that he didn't see them together any longer but the staff room gossip failed to deliver the cause of the rift.
As Albus had ordered, he turned her away when she next showed up at his door. He did end up sending her a message by one of the House-elves with as near an apology as he could make it, and a long reading list.
~ x ~ xx ~ oo ~ xx ~ x ~
The end of the year was wrought in misery for him, and summer got abruptly more busy and much more dangerous. Albus restarted the Order, the Dark Lord restarted their meetings, and whatever spare time he used to have got abruptly devoured by pain.
Severus had a hard time understanding why the Dark Lord feared the Order of the Phoenix, a gathering of oddballs in the bowels of the Black family mansion, or was it crypt. It was a bit hard to tell. The whole house felt like a funeral, like decay and sorrow and a longing for the good old days.
Miss Granger was there for half the summer after having spent some time with her family. She smiled and curtsied whenever Molly ordered her to do something but Severus could see how the strain grew with each request, and it seemed her hair got even bushier and wilder the more her mood sank. She — along with the rest of the brood — did their best at spying on the Order meetings but a bunch of teenagers were still no match for the combined wards of himself, the Headmaster, Kingsley Shacklebolt and whoever else was in attendance.
Sometimes he ended up in the library after a report on Death Eater activity, and then she would often show up with two cups of tea and settle in the unoccupied armchair with a book. He wouldn't say anything and gradually her hair and magic would calm down when nothing but the rustle of pages and quiet slurps of tea accompanied the stillness. He slid a book on curses for everyday objects over to her side of the table once, and she reciprocated during their next impromptu session with an interesting book on Egyptian death magic.
"Why was the Boggart afraid of me?" she asked him once while they were seated in the library together.
Severus looked up from his book on Transfiguration Spell Theory. "I think you have that backwards, Miss Granger."
She shook her head glumly and continued addressing her cup of tea, held in both hands. "No, I heard Madam Weasley say there was a Boggart in the cupboard and went up to check. I opened the door but it refused to come out and just slammed the door shut immediately. When I tried again it was as if someone was holding it shut from the inside. It was the same when we tried at Hogwarts with Professor Lupin. The Boggart came out, saw me, and immediately jumped back into the cabinet. I just wanted to know what my greatest fear was. Perhaps it was too difficult to show?"
Severus snorted. It was definitely not in line with Boggart behaviour as far as he knew. "Are you sure you didn't cast a Patronus, or some such? And what happened to the Boggart?"
Miss Granger raised an eyebrow at him in a very fair imitation of his own. "I left the room so no one noticed, then they got rid of it. And I can't cast a Patronus."
"Odd indeed. No I fear I do not have any answers for you. If you learn anything more, do let me know. I'll inform you if I find any clues."
She nodded in response.
He didn't trust Sirius Black around her. The mangy dog was half mad even before spending a dozen years in Azkaban, but the years there hadn't exactly helped and now he was stuck in his hated ancestral home, on Albus' orders. There was no telling what he'd like to stick his nose in. The man didn't dare to even look at Miss Weasley, not with the girl's mother there and with the girl herself making it very clear that any attention from the dog's part would be unwelcome, but Granger was clearly unattached and without family around. The dog sidled up to her whenever he could, sat next to her during meals and tried his best to chat her up. Granger flowed away, always finding excuses to be elsewhere, and didn't even seem to hear him when he tried to flirt.
Severus did hint at a few good wards for her bedroom door, anyway, and he did point her in the direction of the Weasley twins who had both one and two tricks up their collective sleeves for dealing with sleazy wizards. After hearing the dog's yelp of surprise coming from outside Granger's door that same evening he sank deeper in the armchair, satisfied with a job well done.
~ x ~ xx ~ oo ~ xx ~ x ~
The new Ministry witch hired for the Defence position the following year was bad news, Severus was certain. It was clear already in the first welcome speech. He looked around the Great Hall furtively and wasn't even surprised when Granger was one of the few to openly glare at the new pink intruder. Seeing Ravenclaw's most flighty member Miss Lovegood actually focus on something with a look of mild distaste on her face was more surprising.
Miss Granger apparently landed both herself and Potter in detention right off the bat, and then it all deteriorated from there. He had accidentally-on-purpose ended up doing rounds that evening, manoeuvring Pomona into asking to switch nights with him. He had grumbled loudly of course but this way he'd have a favour to call in later in the term and he would have a chance to see what was going on with Umbridge. As he approached the Defence teacher's now very pink office something felt off. There was a hint of sulphur in the air and a general feeling of unease emanating from the closed door.
Suddenly the door slammed open. A strong wind gusted out, taking with it a bunch of parchment scrolls and pamphlets, followed by a faint meowing and the sound of rattling porcelain.
"Out!" a shrill voice yelled.
Two Gryffindor students were spit out and the door slammed shut behind them.
"Oh, hello Professor."
He raised an eyebrow at her. Potter didn't seem to notice much at all, staring at the wall with a dazed expression on his face and holding one of his hands with the other.
"She had us write lines but the quills had no ink, they channelled our blood instead? Harry's got marks on his hands."
Severus could feel the rage slowly building inside. "Murtlap essence, Miss Granger. In my office, the cupboard."
She nodded and was off, pulling Potter behind her.
He opened the door again and poked his head into the office. There were two piles of still-smoking ash on the two benches in front of the newest teacher's desk, and behind her the remnants of a whole box had gone up in flames. Smoke was coming out of her desk drawer too. He didn't understand the very pink decor or why she had empty porcelain plates all over the walls. Something flickered in one of them, perhaps whoever was in there had fled. The room pulsated with spent Dark magic, he could feel it tugging at his Mark and twisting and twirling all around him.
"Hogwarts takes umbrage at Dark artefacts, Madam Umbridge." He raised an eyebrow at her. Better to have her believe it was Hogwarts doing rather than the Gryffindor witch who was his primary suspect. Not that he knew what she'd done to them.
"Oh," the pink witch tittered. "No harm, no foul."
Severus nodded once and backed out of the room.
Later that evening he found himself in Minerva's quarters. He had a somewhat surprising friendship with the Head of Gryffindor. Always bickering in public, but they sought each other out in private to plot and conspire and gossip about Albus and the other teachers.
A cup of tea and Minerva's shortbread, specially commissioned from the kitchen elves, and he got to the point.
"Umbridge. She's using blood quills on the students."
He thought he'd have to go find the Cardio-save potions in the Infirmary, the ones Poppy had in stock for Albus and anyone else above seventy just in case they overexerted themselves by betting on Quidditch matches, as Minerva practically bounced out of her chair and was about to storm the Castle, William Wallace style.
"Breathe, Minerva. She tried."
"On whom?"
"… Potter. And Granger. Breathe!"
Minerva almost had steam coming out of her ears without Pepper-up. She sank back down into the chair, lips pinched tight, breathing heavily through her nose.
"We'll bring in Filius and Pomona, Severus. They need to be informed as Heads of Houses so we can be a united front."
Severus nodded reluctantly. It did make sense but he didn't like it much. "We need to do this without Albus. He's too cornered as it is and needs to be outside this situation."
Minerva nodded. "He would not step in anyway, I fear. Sometimes his assessment of these kinds of situations is either way too clear-sighted or borderline insane."
~ x ~ xx ~ oo ~ xx ~ x ~
It was a strange year, all in all. He tried to coax the Slytherins into making good decisions but more and more of them were falling for their parents' propaganda or political manoeuvring. Of the fifth-years Nott, Zabini and Bulstrode might be salvageable but definitely not Crabbe, Goyle or Parkinson.
Draco was beginning to look like a lost cause. He stopped coming to Severus' office hours, stopped participating in the monthly Slytherin House meetings and even stopped raising his hands in class, even if he knew the answer when prompted. Severus wasn't sure what to do about it, not when it would mean going against Lucius' influence on the boy and especially not when he was playing Death Eater himself.
He avoided Lucius. No more late nights in the study, no casual meetings.
Together with Minerva and the other teachers they did what they could to make life at Hogwarts as miserable as possible for Umbridge. It amused him to encourage the Weasley twins and Peeves in whatever antics they could come up with. The Poltergeist seemed to relish in having a legitimate target for once.
Granger was busy and he didn't interact with her much, still bound by Albus' command to leave her be. He followed her actions from a distance, seeing how she was behind several events involving Umbridge. She started a vigilante group of students because of course she would. Since they tried so hard to keep it hidden of course all of the staff knew within days, aside from Filch and Umbridge.
In the solitude of his own chambers he could almost admit to being proud of her. He even almost admitted to as much to Minerva, during another of their tea sessions.
A/N: So this whole fic spawned from an adopted plot bunny at the Hearts&Cauldrons Discord. Namely this one:
"Miss Granger," Professor Snape drawled with an air of reluctance. His eyes swept from the circle drawn onto the dungeon floor with animal blood, to the white, spindly candles, to the archaic latin written in chalk on the stone walls. "What are you doing?" "Nothing," Hermione said, surreptitiously moving a monkey skull behind the veiled mirror with her sneaker. "Why?"
Funny how the mind works sometimes… /AA