Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Severus woke up to complete silence. He found it a bit odd after the animated conversation he'd had with Jessica the previous night. She had been so excited about the Sorting, wondering which house she would be in. She had matter-of-factly informed him that her father had been a Ravenclaw, which perplexed Severus, as he could not recall ever having taught Jason Augustus. He remembered telling her not to worry about houses, as it would be a fair number of years before she would be sorted. He had, naturally, been sure that she would be sorted into Slytherin when the time came.

Sighing, Severus pushed the covers off him and slipped out of bed. His feet hit the cool stones, and he was thankful, as he was every morning, for the charm he had placed on it that took out most of the bite of the freezing dungeons. The students all thought he thrived in the freezing dungeons, and he always enjoyed a quiet chuckle knowing he was never too cold. He had placed a complete heating charm on Jessica's rooms, though, not wanting her to catch a cold. Groggy for an unknown reason, he went through his normal morning routine: wake up, shower, brush teeth, get dressed, coffee. Even having a seven-year-old living with him had not deterred him from this simple routine.

He sat in his chair near the crackling fire, drinking his usual morning coffee and going over the week's schedule. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw fourth-years first thing. Lovely. At least it wasn't Gryffindor and Slytherin first-years. Last year had been a nightmare, and he'd been positive he'd have a headache until the holidays. He had, of course, Albus to thank for that. Changing the schedule year after year. Could the old man never be consistent? Grumbling slightly, Severus rubbed his eyes. He seemed to be in a foul mood, more so than usual...especially since Jessica arrived...and he couldn't find a reason why.

Well, he did have an inkling. He'd never admit it, but he wasn't looking forward to handing Jessica over to someone else to care for while he was teaching classes. It was embarrassing enough that he'd been seen being protective of the girl, but to be moping about because she wouldn't be around...that would be a mistake. He still had a reputation to maintain after all. His thoughts drifted to his impromptu meeting with his old students. With a slight start, he realized that it was, indeed, Miss Granger that would be caring for Jessica while he was teaching and that Miss Granger had, indeed, stood up for his ability to care for Jessica himself. He grudgingly admitted to himself that he might be content leaving Jessica with Miss Granger.

Thinking of Miss Granger sticking up for him led his thoughts to the party the Weasleys' had thrown at the end of the summer and what Mrs. Potter had laughed at him about. Yes, Jessica still called him Professor. It had seemed right...before...more formal. But now, he thought, it might possibly be time for a change in that area. She was staying with him; that much was obvious. And if she was going to be his daughter, then she might as well call him by his given name. He mentally gulped, not finding the humour that a little girl could instill such fear in him.

The subject of his thoughts ambled into the room, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. Her blonde hair was all over the place, and she had sleep marks across the right side of her face. Severus grinned as he thought that it was a sight he never, ever expected he would live to see. Honestly, him caring for a young girl. What was the world coming to?

* * *

"Come along, Jessica. Wouldn't want you late, now, would we?" Okay, so he was nervous. He had no reason to be; he knew that logically. He mentally thanked his years as a spy, as he was able to conceal his nervousness and allow it to appear as slight impatience.

"Professor," Jessica said knowingly, "we don't have to be at breakfast for a half hour yet."

The corners of the girl's lips twitched as though she was holding back a laugh. To even think of it! A young girl laughing at the intimidating Professor Snape.

He raised an eyebrow, but let it drop. Instead, he sat across from her and looked at her seriously.

"I think that we need to have a talk, Jessica," he said softly...well, as softly as he could. He was actually proud of himself for keeping his nerves out of his voice.

She looked up at him curiously, abandoning the shoes she was in the process of trying to pull onto her small feet, her head tilted slightly to the side. "All right," she said without any trepidation.

Nodding his head once, Severus looked into the girl's soft, green eyes. "I think that..." He coughed, as though there was something caught in his throat, though he knew there wasn't. "That is to say..." Severus mentally growled at himself. You could tell fluid and convincing lies to the most vile wizard in your time, but you can't ask a seven-year-old girl to call you by your given name. Despicable. He coughed once more. "There is something that I would like you to consider doing, Jessica." There, that was a start.

"What is it?" she asked, still curious, though her eyes were amused.

"I think that it would be appropriate if you would use my given name." There, he'd said it. Okay, so he'd meant to kindly ask her to, but she was lucky he hadn't flat out demanded it of her.

"Of course, but..." She looked at him hesitantly.

"Hmm?" he asked absently, still congratulating himself on asking her almost kindly.

"Well, what is it?" That grin was twitching at the corners of her lips again.

"My given name?" he asked, as though it was obvious and she should know.

"Yes, silly," she said, breaking into soft giggles, her eyes sparkling.

Severus chose not to comment on the young girl's teasing. He did, however, send her a glare, and her giggles ceased, though the humour in her eyes remained. It was her fault he was distracted, anyway. "It is Severus."

"Alright, Severus." She tried his name out and nodded, seeming to approve. "I think it's time for breakfast, though."

Severus looked up at the clock above his mantle, noting that she was right. When he looked back at her as she started to walk toward the door, however, he smirked. "I don't think you're quite ready," he said, motioning to her feet. Jessica blushed and hurried back to the couch to put her shoes on.

They left, contentedly walking side by side, entering the Great Hall together and separating to their different tables. Before separating, though, Severus reminded Jessica that Miss Granger would be watching her and the other young children during the day, that she was to be on her best behavior, and that they would return to their chambers after dinner.

* * *

The Great Hall was slowly filling with the early risers and their groggy friends. Jessica was sitting next to a little girl, chatting in whispers, and Severus was avoiding conversation with Professor Sinistra (the woman could be quite tactless). There was a towering stack of schedules in front of him that he would pass off to his house Prefects when they got there.

With a sweeping glare across the room, Severus drank his second mug of coffee (black, naturally) that morning. When the doors opened to allow a group of his fifth- and sixth-years, he made eye contact with his Prefects, who wisely went promptly over to him.

"The schedules," he said, motioning to them. The fifth-year Slytherin Prefects looked irritated, but they had accepted the job, so they would just have to get over it. One of the sixth-year Prefects separated the stack, and they went off to hand them out.

As breakfast was slowing down and the students were running to get the supplies they would need for their classes that day, Severus watched as Miss Granger escorted the younger children out of the hall. He resisted the grin that was tugging at his lips when Jessica turned back and waved happily to him, though he did nod his head.

* * *

Severus resisted the urge to growl as the second-year Slytherins and Gryffindors left his classroom at a near run when class was out for lunch. Had he really thought it couldn't get any worse than Longbottom? Or was that just desperation finally creeping through his carefully sealed cracks? There had been no less than six exploded and melted cauldrons and mistakenly made, extremely dangerous potions. He swore that everything he had taught that particular class the year before had completely left their empty minds over the summer holiday. He became more aggravated when he realized he would have to teach them all the information again in the hopes they would retain the knowledge this time around. He had a feeling that they would need more help than he could provide.

Feeling that his mood was far too foul to chance going into the Great Hall for lunch, Severus retired to his private lab to work on some of his projects. The one that had him completely baffled was the variation of the Zonlicht Serum he was working on. He was trying to find a way to completely block the sun's rays from an individual, but every time he thought of a new combination, he realized two or more of the ingredients would have most terrible effects on the drinker.

Of course he was only working on this particular project out of curiosity. He felt in no way indebted to Miss Granger. It wasn't because her charge desperately needed something like this for his life. It was purely for his own knowledge. That was not to say that if he found the solution, he wouldn't pass it on to the child. Of course he would. It just definitely wasn't for Miss Granger's sake.

Or so he tried to convince himself. In reality, he was thinking of the young woman much more than he would have liked. He blamed it on the witch, herself, for defending him to her beau. Though he did wonder what Mr. Zabini's issue with him was. They had both been spies for the Order within Voldemort's ranks. They'd both proven their alliance when the Final Battle had come. They had both murdered and participated in vile activities, so what made Blaise Zabini any more worthy of being a parent than himself?

* * *

The rest of the afternoon passed simply enough. He had a free period, then Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw seventh-years, which went quite well, with essentially no interruption. He actually looked forward to the seventh-years, as those who made it to Advanced Potions usually wanted to be there and were fairly adept at the subject.

After locking up the classroom, Severus headed up to the Great Hall for dinner. By the time he got there, the room was full of chattering children, which caused the headache that had been brewing all day, though lessening in the afternoon, to rise to his temples. He was grouchy as he walked to the Head Table, but seeing the second-years cower as he walked by made him feel just slightly better.

Dinner seemed to pass by too slowly. Then, finally, he was walking down the dungeon corridors to his chambers, Jessica walking alongside him. Once they were settled in the living room, Severus thought it would only be right to ask on her day. Never mind that he actually was curious as to what Miss Granger was doing with the children.

"How was your day, Jessica?" he asked, only feeling slightly less off-balance at being in the position to ask a child in his personal care such a question than he had a month ago.

She looked up at him with big green eyes, her blonde curls a mess around her head. "Oh! It was really fun. Hermione...she said we're not to call her Miss Granger...played a bunch of games with us, and she said that tomorrow, if it's not raining, we'll play outside games. I really like her."

"Well, that's good then," he said, content that he'd done his duty with her. He picked up the book that was on the side table and flipped to where he'd left off.

"Umm, Severus?" he heard Jessica's soft voice next to him a bit later.

Looking up, he cursed himself for not noticing that she'd moved. "Yes?" he asked.

"Can you... Umm... Well, I was wondering if you could brush and braid my hair? Please?" she asked, holding up a brush and hair tie. She continued in a hurry, "It's just that Daddy always brushed and braided my hair before I went to bed, and... I miss it."

Severus raised an eyebrow, wondering why she hadn't brought it up before. "I must confess that I do not know how to braid," he told her honestly, hoping that she would let it go.

"Oh." The sad look in her eyes seemed to pull at his heartstrings in ways he didn't think possible. Something inside of him had changed, and he knew that he couldn't bear to see Jessica so sad.

"I think I can manage a brushing, though. Come here," he said as he motioned to the floor at his feet. She smiled as she sat down and handed him the brush. He just happened to miss the extra sparkle in her eye.

* * *

A/N: Many thanks to my beta, Soul Bound, who has been a great help in improving my writing! Thank you, sweetie! I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Remember, reviews fuel the muse!

Chapter polished up on January 29, 2010.