Fluffy Bunny Slippers

A/N: I'm back finally! Thank you all so much for your kind words. Life is back on track, I'm finished with my English BA coursework, and everything else is caught up.

Catch the reference to His Draught of Delicate Poison by Subversa and win 100 meaningless house points!

Chapter 7- Fluffy Bunny Slippers

"Did you bring all the books from your bookshop, Miss Hermione?!" Thea called exasperatedly from the study.

Hermione chuckled at Thea's observation and poked her head around the bedroom door to find the girl heaving two large reference books from the box on the floor and stuffing them haphazardly onto a shelf. She had set Thea onto the task of organizing her books on the bookshelves she had Transfigured out of empty cardboard boxes. However, Thea was making no effort keep them in any semblance of the order in which Hermione had packed them, putting each book haphazardly on the shelves so that Transfiguration texts were mixed with Astronomy, and Runes with Charms. Who knew where the fiction books would end up.

To keep herself sane, Hermione had decided it best to leave the girl to the task for now while she busied herself with things in her bedroom. Later, she would come back and rearrange everything to her satisfaction. Luckily there were spells for that.

"No, these are my own books," Hermione said. "My bookshop has many, many thousands more than I do."

"I think you have more books than Father!" Thea remarked, going back to an open box and choosing another book.

Hermione smiled to herself. She had not brought up the topic of Snape yet with Thea, and Thea had seemed too preoccupied with Crookshanks, then lunch with Crookshanks, followed by unpacking with Crookshanks, to talk about her father. As it was, the lazy half-Kneazle was now sprawled on the floor in such a way that Thea had to pet and then step over him every time she went to a shelf. It was hard to draw Thea's attention away to anything else, but Hermione was terribly curious about this antisocial man, and she was not about to let this opportunity to learn go by. It was not necessarily that she wanted to know more about him; it was that being Hermione Granger, she needed to know all she could about him.

"I doubt that," Hermione said. "He's lived longer than I have."

Thea shook her head resolutely. "He doesn't have that many. At least you have Cinderella!"

Hermione laughed as Thea pointed at the thick collection of Charles Perrault's fairytales.

"You liked the book then?"

Thea nodded. "I loved it, Miss Hermione. Father read it to me."

Hermione did not know if she should feel odd for learning information like this about the man she had long since labeled "Sadistic Bastard" and put under the column of "People Who Will Never Change." But it was particularly peculiar to think about Snape...the black bat and greasy git extraordinaire...reading Cinderella to a five-year-old.

And the five-year-old surviving the experience to tell the tale.

After all, this man had been a Death Eater. He had killed numerous times and had done any number of other horrible things. Who in their right mind would picture such a man reading a fairytale to a little girl, even if she was his daughter?

It was like saying Dementors liked pink, fluffy bunny slippers.

Pygmy puffs, on the other hand, she could definitely see enjoying said slippers.

There were just some things one could not logically picture.

And it was by some insanity that Hermione's mind continued to wonder what it would be like to listen to the man's voice actually read to her. Admittedly, she had enjoyed his lectures, even when he was being horrible to her and other students. Severus Snape used words as an eloquent weapon just as adeptly as he might use his wand, and Hermione would be the first to acknowledge the fact that it was a delightfully dangerous quality.

"Oh, Miss Hermione! You look so pretty!"

Hermione jolted back to reality with the exclamation from across the room, not realizing that she had gotten so lost in her thoughts. Thea appeared to be holding a photograph...one of the many things Hermione used as impromptu bookmarks...that had fallen from the book now at Thea's feet.

"Hmm?" she asked, walking over to Thea. The girl handed her two photographs of Hermione in the formal dress robes she had worn for the Potters' wedding. It seemed like such a long time ago that they had gotten married.

Which reminded her, she needed to Floo Harry and let him know what she had learned from Kingsley.

"Who are the other people in the pictures?" Thea asked.

"They're Harry and Ginny Potter." Hermione settled carefully down onto her haunches.

Thea looked up at her with wide eyes. "Harry Potter?"

"You know about Harry?" Hermione asked, thoroughly surprised that Snape's daughter had heard anything about Potter. As far as she knew, Snape chose to keep any dealings with the Boy Who Made Him Miserable fairly quiet.

"Auntie Minerva always talked about Harry Potter and his friends," Thea said, holding the pictures with reverence. "Auntie Minerva always told me a story about Harry when I would get into trouble with Father. She said that if the Boy Who Lived could deal with him, then so could I."

Hermione could not help but laugh at that knowledge. "Yes, Harry always used to get into quite a lot of trouble especially where your father was concerned. Your father doesn't seem to like certain Gryffindors very much."

"But he likes Auntie Minerva!"

"Of course he does. I mean to say that there a few of us Gryffindors your father found... difficult... to teach," Hermione said. There were definitely other reasons Snape acted the way he did, but those reasons would be kept quiet until the girl could understand the Marauder/Snape feud and other more nefarious plots her father had dealt with. And Hermione was not entirely sure that she should be the one to talk about them. Snape should tell her. It was a miracle in itself that he had allowed Minerva to talk to Thea about Harry.

"Father likes you, too, Miss Hermione," Thea said sincerely.

For all she knew, it could have been a curse flung at her, the way Hermione felt like she had been laid out flat on her back with the shock of this statement. "Why do you say that, Thea?"

Thea shrugged and went back to her work unloading books. "I don't know."

"You must have a reason," Hermione prodded gently.

"Because you released me from a particular tight spot in regards to teachers."

If Hermione could have jumped out of her skin, she would have. As it was, the sudden intrusion of the headmaster's sinuous voice into the conversation was enough to make her wobble on her haunches, struggle to find balance, and then fall back on her arse against a box of books.

Hermione shot him a glare and blew a strand of curly hair out of her eyes. "Why must you always do that?!"

He stood still, raising a challenging brow. For all the severity of the look on his features, it seemed as though he was in a much better mood than he had been in this morning. "Do what exactly?"

"Sweep in like a bat and scare me out of my wits."

There was a faint glimmer of a smile on his lips, as though he were pleased with her approximation, rather than angry.

She squinted slightly, trying to read further into the expression on his face, but it was pointless. He was not going to show any more than he already had. "I thought that we had determined that I'm not a student anymore, Snape. You can't just come barging in... Next time try knocking on the dam...er, on the door, I mean."

"Your door was open, Miss Granger," he said, sneering. It was unclear if he was sneering at her or the fact that she had to catch herself from cursing in front of Thea.

"Just knock next time."

In an unprecedented movement, however, he took a few steps toward her and offered a hand. She looked at it for a long moment, not knowing what to do. Either she should amiably accept his offer to help her up or Stun him so she could go find out what happened to the real Severus Snape. Whether he had worked for their side or not, he was most certainly not a nice man who favored chivalry when it came to women who had fallen on their arses.

He seemed to realize the gaffe and started to withdraw his hand, but she was not going to let this moment pass. She grabbed his hand before it was out of reach. To this, he mirrored her initial surprise. It was as though he had not expected her to accept the hand of the man she so often loathed. Hermione could not get over the feeling of their two hands entwined, even in so innocent an action as this.

Snape was surprisingly strong; Hermione was not a waif, after all, and had struggled in vain like every other female on the planet to keep healthy. Right now, with all the stress eating she had been doing, she was a few pounds over her optimal weight, but he had lifted her to her feet easily.

"Thank you," she said quietly, standing still and looking at him curiously. The past few seconds had been odd, but not as odd as standing frozen in the middle of the room, their hands clasped, and his dark gaze holding hers. It was as though they were in some strange sort of fog and there was nothing else in the world but them.

It was maddening; she was certain she would be up for a few sleepless nights just trying to dissect what had happened here. She desperately wished she could read what was going through his mind. But if the Dark Lord had not been able to, then there was unquestionably no way she could break past this impenetrable fortress.

"Father!" Thea, always a warm ray of sunshine, burned through the fog.

Hermione hurriedly pulled away her hand and turned around to look at Thea.

"Yes, Thea?" questioned Snape.

"Miss Hermione has more books than you!"

Hermione felt a blush creep to her cheeks. "I already told you that's probably not true. She's just impressed because I have Cinderella."

If he could have blushed, Hermione was sure he would have. The look on his usually stony face was that of faint embarrassment. Obviously, he knew that Thea had talked about him reading the book to her. Hermione smiled at his discomfort.

"Come, Thea, we must give Miss Granger some time to get ready for tonight."

Thea bent down and patted Crookshanks on the head. "Goodbye, Crooks."

Thea bounced over to her father. They turned to leave without saying anything else. Hermione followed them out to the living room, and it was when Thea was at the threshold of the door, she froze as though she had forgotten something.

She spun around quickly and ran to Hermione. Hermione lowered down onto her haunches again, accepting the child into her arms for a long hug. This was different than the one she had received from the girl at the bookshop. At the bookshop, it had been one of gratitude. Now it was one of approval and... love?

Thea stepped back, smiled, and turned on her heel to join her father again, who was looking on thoughtfully. Such an expression worried Hermione more than anything else could, as it was so different from anything else she had ever seen on his features.

Soon they disappeared, and Hermione shut the door quietly, leaning her shoulder against the thick wood. She had not even started teaching yet, and things were already getting strange. It did not bode well.

-----

In the Great Hall, Severus sat stiffly in the large gilt chair usually occupied by the Headmaster or Headmistress of Hogwarts. Though he would never tell anyone, he was supremely nervous for this opening feast. He knew it was of the utmost importance that he conceal his nerves. He already had a carefully built reputation with the older students; the last thing he needed was for the new first-years to see a crack in his black-and-white veneer. They would all use it to their advantage if they noticed it.

All of the returning students were peering up at him curiously, probably trying to understand how he had ended up as their Headmaster. Even he was not quite sure why the Ministry had wanted him to be in such a high-ranking position.

After all, they had all suffered under his tutelage for a long while. Though the truth had come out about his allegiances, he had still maintained a great deal of his privacy...that overwhelming need to push everyone away and keep them guessing...and he had also retained his less-than-pliant attitude. Students and parents looked at him with slightly less contempt than before, but they still knew him as "stringent," if not completely evil.

Many people had looked at him with contempt for countless years, and he had not enjoyed it; to have most of them now looking his way with such a thought made it unbearable.

If only his damned Potions mistress would hurry up with the first-years and take the attention off of him for a bit.

Said Potions mistress, however, was quickly becoming more of a problem than he had originally thought she would. He knew that she would do wonderfully as deputy headmistress and as a teacher. This, surprisingly, did not turn out to be the problem. No, the new vexation was one he had certainly not expected and most certainly did not welcome.

He could not even intelligently dissect it at this point. There was no name for it, no reason it should be there; all he knew was that it meant trouble...lots of trouble.

Finally the large doors at the opposite end of the hall opened and revealed what he had been anxiously waiting.

All attention shifted to the pretty woman now leading the procession of first-years down the long aisle. He would not call her extremely beautiful by any means, but she certainly had grown up from an insufferable girl who had been all frizzy hair and buckteeth. Hermione Granger was certainly easy to look at for an extended amount of time.

Why he was thinking like this, he did not know and did not care to find out. Yes, he was a man and like every other man had the same urges, but it was wholly irresponsible of him to think like this for more than one reason.

But maybe he was on to something.

They had all seen better marks in O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. scores the previous year in Defense Against the Dark Arts since "dashing" Kingsley had been on staff, especially amongst the female students. Perhaps more students would pay attention in Potions now that they could look upon a teacher who was a little easier on the eyes than he was. It was a ridiculous notion, yes, but it might help.

Though paying attention had never been his problem in school, he was quite certain that having someone like her would have been much nicer than Horace Slughorn.

His hearing picked up the general murmuring of the students. Most of them had learned about the woman from tales told by their elders and from chapters in their History of Magic classes. They had seen pictures of the abominable Golden Trio, heard of their deeds. She was as good a celebrity as any international Quidditch star might be.

And he had also taken this knowledge into account when seeking her out to work at Hogwarts.

He looked on as she called the names of the first-years up one by one to place the Sorting Hat on their heads. Teddy Lupin was sorted quickly into Gryffindor; Atticus Malfoy went directly to Slytherin.

The Sorting Ceremony drew on; when he had looked at the list of students to attend this year, he had almost been appalled at the sheer number of Order members' and past students' children he would be in charge of. At least there was no Potter to worry about yet.

The ceremony ended with Persephone Weasley being sorted into Ravenclaw with her cousin, Marguerite.

Granger magicked the stool and hat over to the right as she made her way up the dais to take her seat between him and Kingsley. At least he would not have to talk to her. She had seemed fairly friendly with Shacklebolt earlier; Severus hoped they would entertain each other.

He had an insane urge to be a gentleman and help her with the chair, but resisted the urge. Instead, he stood up to welcome everyone and begin the feast. Announcements would wait until later.

"I'm far too tired to even think about eating," he heard Hermione remark to no one in particular.

Severus glanced at her to remark, but Kingsley had already beaten him to the punch.

"If you had needed help with your unpacking and settling in, I would have helped," Kingsley said with a smile, pouring dark wine into his goblet and motioning toward Granger's goblet with the carafe. She smiled faintly and moved her goblet so he could fill it.

"Thank you, Kingsley," Hermione said. "And I already had help, if you'll recall. It was the help I had that made me so tired. She kept me on my toes."

Severus tried not to pay attention to the conversation taking place beside him, but it was futile. They were talking about his daughter after all.

"Speaking of which, where is Thea?"

It took him a moment to realize the question was directed at him.

"She has dinner in our quarters," he replied, glancing quickly at her.

"Alone?" Hermione questioned.

Snape tried not to grimace at the pitch in her voice. He had heard it many times before when she was voicing her opinions on the plight of the house-elves and other magical creatures. It was the slightly shrill, riddled-with-disbelief tone of a woman who would quickly become disagreeable, should she decide that what she was hearing was appalling.

Much like Minerva's used to get.

"She hardly could sit with the students, much less at the staff table," Severus replied, sipping his own wine.

Hermione scoffed. "You make your six-year-old daughter eat by herself?"

Kingsley cleared his throat and said as quietly as possible over the din of the room, though could still be heard two seats over, "Not many people know about Thea, Hermione."

"No wonder she needs companionship so badly. I can see now what's going on... You keep her locked up in your quarters all the time. What, are you too afraid to let people know you too are capable of having a child?" Hermione asked.

Snape turned to her and hoped the glare he gave her was enough to silence her. It seemed to do the trick, as she pursed her lips together and turned to face the room rather than him.

He leaned over to her. "There are many reasons, Miss Granger, many of which I do not expect you to understand. She is my child, and I will do as I see fit."

She opened her mouth to say something else, looking like a rather ridiculous fish, but closed it again. Granger quickly turned her full attention to Kingsley, seemingly forgetting the headmaster for the rest of the evening.

Hopefully it would stay that way for a while longer.