The Fat Lady widened her eyes when she saw the dark figure coming towards her. The castle was almost completely empty. The only two people that she saw regularly, and by regularly it was more like once a month, were McGonagall and Filch. McGonagall came by to check up on the common rooms and make sure things were prepared for the year, and Argus usually assisted her, doing more of the leg work. The two bickered constantly, and the Fat Lady always looked forward to their visits. The head of her house was particular when it came to her students, and Argus could care less about the specific shades of red used on the sofa cushions.

"Professor Snape? It's been quite some time since I've seen you outside of my portrait hole."

Snape rolled his eyes. "I have a request."

"What does a Slytherin want with the Gryffindor portrait? Don't Slytherins have their own way of entering their commons?"

"I'm here about the password."
She raised an eyebrow. What could he possibly want with the password? "And you think I'm going to just give it to you?"

"I want to request a password change."

"Do you?"

He straightened himself up. The Fat Lady hated his smugness. The first time she had seen Snape was when he was a young boy, often sneaking to the Gryffindor commons to see his friend Lily, whom she had been fond of. It was a shame what had happened to the young woman and her family. The only distinct memory she had of Snape was him sobbing outside the door, desperately begging to be let in to see Lily. The Fat Lady, as sympathetic as she was to the young boy, hadn't opened the door for him. Looking at Snape as a grown man, years later, she still felt a tinge of regret for letting him down that night. He looked so unhappy still. "I'm in a bit of a…quarrel with your head of house."

The Fat Lady laughed. "You think I'm going to take your side over Professor McGonagall's? Have you lost your mind?"

"Minerva and I have been engaged in some interhouse rivalry for quite some time. She's become a force to be reckoned with. I'm simply trying to return her treatment of me. She's no saint. I was hoping that you might want to have a bit of fun and help out the cause." The very small hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

She had to admit- the rivalry between houses was something she had loved even back when she attended Hogwarts. In Gryffindor herself, she had always felt proud of the young children who entered her portrait hole. Yet, she didn't want to pass off the opportunity to engage in some rivalry. It was so rare she did anything with anyone besides the other portraits. "And what if I say no?"

"Stubborn as you Gryffindors can be, I had a feeling you might."

From seemingly out of nowhere, the Poltergeist came speeding around the corner. "Change the password! Change the password! Change the password!" he sang. Snape looked amused.

Suddenly, the Fat Lady felt her entire portrait begin to tip and she grabbed onto the side of the table to keep from being dumped out of the frame. Peeves was pushing the portrait back and forth, side to side, and she screamed as all of her food crashed onto the floor, splattering onto her dress. "Snape!" she shouted.

When the movement came to an abrupt halt, she sighed in relief. "I should have known a Slytherin would stoop to such levels to get back at me," came the voice of her head of house.

Trying to regain her bearings, the Fat Lady steadied herself and looked up to see McGonagall standing with her hands on her hips, glaring at Snape. "Changing my password? Right before students move in? You could have done better. Aren't you supposed to be cunning?"

Snape smirked. "Well, I don't have all the time on my hands that you do."

"Time on my hands? What the hell time do you think is on my hands?"

"McGonagall's mad! McGonagall's mad!" Peeves chanted. "Sorry, Snape! Tried to get the Fat Lady to tell!"

"My apologies," McGonagall said, finally acknowledging her. "I didn't realize my esteemed colleague couldn't come up with anything better than to come bothering you."

The Fat Lady smiled and then glared at Snape who rolled his eyes. "I didn't say a word," the Fat Lady proudly insisted. Though, she knew if the shaking of the frame had kept up any longer the password may have spilled alongside everything else.

"I know, dear," McGonagall replied. "Peeves, shove off, would you?"

The Poltergeist flew up and tipped his hat to Snape. "A pleasure, Professorhead!" With that he was gone, laughing as he went.

McGonagall looked a combination of furious and amused. "Really, Severus?"

"Getting Peeves involved is always a risk. I took the gamble," he shrugged.

She laughed, stepping closer to him. The Fat Lady watched as he placed a gentle hand on her upper arm. She raised an eyebrow. The gesture looked far too comfortable for two colleagues. "He seems to cooperate better with you," he muttered. The Fat Lady took a seat in her chair, biting into the cakes on her plate. They had seemed to forget she was there because Snape began rubbing her arm, slowly moving it to her shoulder to massage its. She had never thought that anything romantic could go on between the two rivals, but the sudden ease of them both spoke for itself. "I wanted to...I...well, I know that with everything coming this year, I'm bound to be...difficult...I wanted to try and keep a sense of normalcy..." His voice was hesitant and quiet; she had never heard him speak so softly.

The Deputy looked more touched than the Fat Lady ever remembered seeing her. Taking a second bite of the cake, which she had figured out was carrot cake, she tried her best to keep quiet so they would continue speaking. She was far too interested in the conversation for them to leave. Student gossip she got a lot of, but professors rarely lingered near the common rooms. There was something far more interesting about an affair between two adults than two horny teenagers. "Severus..."

A speechless McGonagall was something the Fat Lady couldn't ever recall. In fact, she could have used it a few times over the years. She loved her head of house, but she was very strict with her students. "Don't," he said, putting a hand up.

Unsure of what was going on between the two, the Fat Lady was still touched. Whatever Severus had done, it had clearly made the woman happy. Minerva grabbed his hand with her own. "Thank you. I wish you knew what this meant to me." Her voice was trembling slightly. "I know this year is going to be hard. I've been trying to give you space..."

Severus pulled her slightly towards him and kissed her on the lips. They didn't kiss for long, but they were wrapped up quite tightly around one another. He had one arm wrapped around her waist and the other on the back of her head. Minerva, clearly not expecting the kiss, took a moment before pressing herself to him. The Fat Lady blushed slightly. As strange as a couple they were, there was something sweet about the sullen man being so vulnerable and the uptight woman letting loose. When they broke, Snape tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "What do you say we go to dinner tonight?"

A small smile spread across McGonagall's lips. "You mean out out?"

"Yes."

"I would love that...are you sure?"

Snape wrung his hands and the Fat Lady so desperately wished she knew the context of their conversation. "I don't know what his coming to Hogwarts is going to do to me…I haven't seen him since…"

"I know." The Fat Lady stopped herself from sighing aloud, wishing she knew what they were talking about. It was awfully hard to eavesdrop without context. Silence fell between the two until McGonagall reached out and cupped his cheek with her hand. "Look, Severus…I don't know if I've ever been clear with you…about much of anything. You know I'm not so up front about my feelings…"

He snorted. "As if I am."

She nodded and chuckled very quietly. "But, I don't expect you to forget her. In fact,…I don't want you to forget her." The head of Gryffindor let out what sounded like a long-held breath and let her forehead fall to touch his. She looked so vulnerable around him, so different from the normally prim headmistress leading her cubs to their den. "Whatever you're feeling with Harry here…just feel it. I know what we have, and I know what we don't have. I'm old, I know these things."

Snape was stroking her cheek with his finger. "You're not old. I've been asking you to stop saying that for six years."

"I'm not some naïve girl," she insisted.

"Thank Merlin for that," he laughed.

"Can we enjoy tonight?"

"I'd like that very much."

"Go get dressed. I'll meet you in an hour." He kissed her cheek and started to walk away. But, he stopped and turned to face her again. "Min?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

She smiled and disappeared down the hall. The Fat Lady finally let out the breath she had been holding and grabbed a knife to cut into her second cake of the evening. She needed time to process everything she had just learned, and she needed to do it quick because she had to be on her best game for the group of Gryffindors moving in later that week.