Snape and Evans
Rose was initially surprised at how welcoming the other Slytherins were if you were a Slytherin. Rose realized how correct Draco was. As soon as Rose acted like a Slytherin, the Slytherins accepted her as one of their own. Rose’s housemates around her age were friendly and included her in their conversations and when they played games. The older Slytherins helped her with any problems that she had, especially those concerning the other Houses. For the first time, Rose actually felt like she belonged.
A month after Rose was integrated into the Slytherin House, Professor Snape called her up to his desk after Potions class.
“Do you want me to wait for you?” Astoria asked as they gathered up their things. Astoria was Rose’s closest friend out of the Slytherins.
“No, it’s okay. I’ll meet you back in the commonroom afterwards.” Rose smiled, thankful for a friend in Astoria.
“Okay. See you then,” said Astoria as she left the classroom.
Rose walked up to Professor Snape’s desk. “Sir?”
“Miss Potter.” Professor Snape gestured to a chair in front of his desk. “Please take a seat.”
Rose took a seat and looked at him, waiting for him to speak.
“Miss Potter, I am pleased to see that you have finally found your place in Slytherin.” Professor Snape paused to allow Rose to speak her opinion.
“So am I, sir. The other Slytherins are really accepting and helpful now that I embraced being a Slytherin.”
“And what does your brother think about this?” asked Snape, raising an eyebrow.
“I don’t think that my brother likes it, but he doesn’t care about me so I don’t see how his opinion matters.” Rose copied Professor Snape by also raising an eyebrow.
“Why do you believe that your brother doesn’t care about you?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Explain it to me,” Snape drawled.
Rose gave him a sad look. “Professor Snape, after I was sorted into Slytherin, which was against what my brother wanted, he told me that I was evil and he couldn’t trust me anymore. We haven’t really spoken since then. Later that same year, I overheard him trying to convince his friends that I was the Heir of Slytherin. Even after he found out that I wasn’t, he still treats me the same way as he did when he thought that I was going around petrifying people. He acted cold towards me during the summer, and then he left me with our horrid relatives when he ran away. We haven’t spoken since he abandoned me. I don’t see how any of his actions over the past year suggest him caring about me.”
Professor Snape leaned over his desk and responded sincerely, “Well, Miss Potter, I am sorry on your behalf that your brother is a close-minded dunderhead.”
Rose scrunched her eyebrows together and asked hesitantly, “Sir? Can you please not call me ‘Miss Potter’? I would rather not be associated with my brother even if it is just through a name.”
“Then what do you suggest I call you?”
Rose offered, “Would just Rose be okay? Or is that too informal?”
“It is too informal,” Professor Snape replied curtly.
Rose looked to be in deep thought for a moment. Then, she looked up at Professor Snape and asked him, “Do you, by any chance, know what my mother’s last name was before she got married?”
Professor Snape raised an eyebrow and answered, “I, in fact, do know. Your mother’s last name was Evans.”
“Evans,” Rose said, trying the name out. Rose’s emerald eyes shone as she announced to Professor Snape, “You can call me ‘Miss Evans’ then.”
Professor Snape nodded curtly. “That is agreeable, Miss Evans.”
Rose smiled an enormous smile directed towards Professor Snape. “Thank you, sir.” Then, Rose adopted a curious look and asked, “Sir? Do you think that the other teachers will agree to call me Rose Evans instead of Rose Potter?”
Professor Snape folded his hands in front of him. “You won’t know until you ask them. If they don’t agree when you ask, I can speak to them to convince them to, if you want me to that is.”
“Oh, yes please! Thank you so much, sir!” Rose beamed at him.
Professor Snape drawled, “If you have nothing else you would like to talk about, you may go back to the commonroom. I do believe that you wouldn’t want to keep Miss Greengrass waiting for you too much longer.”
Rose quickly grabbed her bag and said, “Thank you for everything, sir.”
Professor Snape nodded back. “Anytime, Miss Evans.”
Rose grinned at him and skipped off to find her friend.
As he watched Rose skip out of his classroom, Professor Snape remembered another ‘Miss Evans’ with green eyes and red hair who had at one time smiled at him with that same smile and who had bounced away to her friends with that same joyous skip.