Chapter 7
‘SLAM’
The old man behind the door startled before smiling a bit
“Ah, Minerva. Hello there.”
Minerva opened her mouth to scream at Albus Dumbledore, for how dare he let Hayden, little Hayden Potter, James’ and Lily’s child with such horrible people? But was stopped by a hand in the air.
“Please, my dear, breathe.” She refused to take his orders, too angry to listen to him.
“Albus Fucking Dumble–!”
“My dear. Please.”
Her face twisted into a grimace of rage before she started to try and scream again.
“How dare you let her stay with those–those horrible–terrible muggles?! She had just lost her parents and you just– just move her even more far away from the people who actually cared about her?! You–!”
“My dear,” Albus frowned deeply, “ who are you talking about?”
Minerva glared at the man
“Hayden Potter. Who else would I be talking about?”
Albus blinked.
“I happen to not understand what is the problem here. They were her last family my dear. As much as you or I may have wanted to keep her, by the law, she must have gone to her family.”
Something dark crossed his eyes
“Or would you rather have Sirius not to be found out about and let him have her?”
Minerva flinched before she closed her eyes forcibly and exhaled sharply. The memory of how Siri– how Black was the traitor is still hard to digest.
“The problem, Albus,” she said through gritted teeth, “is that those muggles were horrible to her.”
Albus frowned.
“Certainly they wouldn't be that–”
“They were.” She felt as if she was twelve all over again, with adults patronising her when she went to them with her worries for her friend's safety.
Albus' lips turned downward but Minerva couldn’t care less.
“They were apparently so horrible that she had to be taken away from them.” she whispered.
His eyes widened comically
“She isn’t with the Dursleys anymore?”
Her brows furrowed
“No.”
He looked lost, and suddenly looked towards a little machine in his office before he breathed and sighed.
Minerva watched as he slumped into his own chair.
“Did she tell you that they– that they abused her?”
“I don’t know the extent but apparently it was so bad that she was taken away!” her accent making it difficult to understand what was being said but Albus knew exactly what she was trying to say.
Minerva pointed a finger towards Albus
“You had told us,” she spat venomously and watched as he paled. “you had told us that she was safe, and taken care of, and spoiled. Gods! I thought I was about to see a feminine version of James Potter, but then I realised that the address was a bloody Orphanage!”
“An orphanage?” Albus inquired quietly, a silent despair in his voice that made her stammer in her thoughts
“How was she?” he continued conversionally.
“She– she was fine, a bit malnourished but fine” Minerva blinked before glaring at the man “you will not distract me Albus! I am trying to say that she wasn’t taken proper care of before and you’re– you’re thinking of something else!”
“I was not,” was the calm reply “I was worried for her now as this is the most I can do now. She is now safe my dear, calm down.”
Minerva gawked at the man
“You– how can you– how can you not feel guilt?”
Albus sighed wearily
“I feel a lot of guilt my dear, but I try to stick to the present more than the past.” He eyed her with knowing eyes, “You should try that sometimes, dear.”
Minerva didn’t shuffle, but it was a near thing.
“Lemon drop?”
“No.”
He sighed.
“I know that you feel as if I was responsible for this mess, but truly dear, you know how havoc things have been in the ministry, especially after the war. So many things to be done and yet I am held back at all stages.”
Minerva didn’t pay attention, she continued to stare at the desk trinkets.
“You were supposed to have people watching, Albus.” she muttered quietly,
Albus sighed once again and massaged his temples.
“I know.” he whispered into the room
They stayed like this for minutes
“You told us she was being pampered. You swore she was being watched. You swore that she was protected. You swore to us that that was the best. You didn’t just say it, Albus. You swore.” she repeated.
He nodded solemnly but didn't reply.
Minerva looked outside of the room, inspecting the Black Lake. She felt like a wound was once again being forcefully open. Betrayal laid heavy in her chest and so did guilt.
“Are you certain that this is the reason why she was there?”
“It was what she told us.”
“Us?”
“Severus went with me.”
Albus frowned before a little smile formed
“He must’ve hated it.” was the humour reply
“We did.”
He stared at her and she looked him in the eyes.
“It was a decrepit little all girls orphanage, it– I don’t know, it just didn’t look right for children to live there surrounded by such– such depressing energy.”
“Even Severus was unnerved by the church at the back of the orphanage. It held a lot of graves.” she added quietly
Albus made a face and stared at his lap, seemingly lost in thought.
“Will you trust me in my words, when I say that I had no idea of this?”
And that's the thing wasn’t it? Did he know of the abuse but let it continue? He didn’t seem the type to. But then again, this that he had just done was neglecting his responsibilities at best and child endangerment at worst.
She closed her eyes.
“I need time.”
He nodded and he looked so guilty and old. Minerva felt as if she had never seen him this old. Perhaps, yes, once after the death of– of the Potters.
She pressed her eyes closed and resisted the urge to let a tear fall. She felt as if she had failed with her students once more. Once more, another student was abused and she had done nothing.
“How was she?”
Minerva smiled
“She acts more like Lily than expected.” was the first thing that came into her mind and she held back the sob that threatened to come out. “She’s pale, even more pale than Lily ever was, eyes much greener than Lily’s too. Black hair that comes in waves into the middle of her back.” She smiles humorlessly and stares at the tea in her cup with thousands of thoughts in her mind.
“I saw some little braids that reminded me of the way Lily sometimes let–” she inhaled, “Let Black and Peter and James braid her hair.” she whispers the last part.
Her chest feels tight with emotion, as does her throat and she knows that she needs a distraction or to get out of here. It was not an issue to show emotions to her ex-teacher, but now that she had started to question his truthfulness, she wasn’t so sure she wanted to be near him while in this state.
“And, how was her..reaction to magic?”
Albus sipped his tea lightly but his eyes were sharp
“I– she– she told us of how she just needed the confirmation. She is apparently very skilled with her magic. Could float things and stuff..” she muttered.
Albus gripped the tea cup forcefully.
“I see.” was the tight lipped response.
They stayed in silence for some more minutes before Minerva stood up excusing herself. She wanted to check up with Severus, he seemed very… shaken from the encounter.
“Minerva.” he called and she turned her head a bit
“Should I have known of this sooner, I’d have done something.” he looked guilt stricken, old and sad.
Minerva only nodded.
_____________________________________________
She entered the dungeons and couldn’t help but sigh as she saw Severus pouring what was probably the second bottle of whiskey out of his special cabinet.
She walked close to the desk and sat on the opposite chair, she tried to resist the urge to rub her eyes and just scream but then she gave up and rested her head on her hands.
Severus Snape watched his former teacher and now colleague stay so silent and still he feared she might have died or fallen asleep.
He heard a soft sob come out of her lips and gently guided her right hand towards a cup of whiskey. He saw as she drank it and nodded gratefully. He didn’t dare to say anything out loud, having spent the last few minutes crying himself.
He couldn’t imagine how Minerva was feeling.
He just felt guilty about how Lily’s child had ended up so..so cold.
She had been very convincing during the whole conversation, until the end where she revealed her true colours, like Lily would. To lie and manipulate so naturally that it looked as if she was born already knowing how to.
Hayden was like Lily in the aspect of manipulating, but she was so like James in the fact that she could easily look not to mention be dangerous. That was something that had always made various Death Eaters hesitate when in a battle against James Potter. There was just a sharp edge that Potter seemed to have that made you somewhat hesitant to anger him.
Oh he had a lot of friends in school, one of the most popular guys together with his little shitty group, people said it was easy befriending him but you’d never be truly his friend if you didn’t see his bad side either.
Lily may have been a force to be reckoned with but Potter had always been the violent one out of the two of them. Potter had a certain cruelty and intenceness that made people wary around him.
And Severus could see that exact cruelty and intenceness in Hayden, could see Potter in the edges of her smile, and he could see Lily in the way her eyes narrowed when she analysed them as she thought of possibilities and plans and ways of using and manipulating people.
He shuddered.
Oh, and when she had talked about her relatives. The bare minimum for adults to understand, yet she still held the details close to her chest. He felt as if he had somehow seen through a mirror of time. This wasn’t the way Severus himself would have pictured himself saying things about his childhood, he’d have been bitterer, spat out curses. No.
That was how he remembers Regulus Black talking about his own homelife to his friends.
Severus remembers vividly that day.
He wasn’t supposed to be there, had gotten lost in thoughts on his way to his dorm and ended up listening to the soft spoken confessions of Regulus Black to Barty, Evan and Pandora.
Dorcas had already been enamoured by Marlene Mckinnon at the time and tried to get the Griffindors to trust her enough to bless their relationship, so she wasn’t there.
Severus sighed and rubbed his eyes.
“There is nothing more we can do.” Minerva muttered under her breath, “she is safe now.”
“That is all that matters.”
_________________________________________________________
Perhaps Severus ought to have paid more attention to Hayden last time he saw her. Or maybe it was just the way they’ve met that made him think she was all bad. Not that she wasn’t bad because honestly? He wanted to strangle the little brat (even if a part of him had almost hiccuped in relief as he saw her eyes filled with a life she lacked before)
He just didn’t expect to meet her so soon.
He was, as always, in the apothecary searching for ingredients until the little brat came in and saw him. He saw her first and had to withhold a gasp as he saw her without her fringe covering her face. He expected to find the lighting bolt yet nothing was there but then saw a glitch and understood.
She was either testing the waters safely or trying something else entirely. Slytherin? He withheld a smirk at the thought of Potter’s child at Slytherin.
But then she grinned and her eyes filled with mischief and he knew he was doomed, perhaps he should’ve kept his grudge against her father a better hidden secret then he wouldn't be her target.
“Why hello professor!” she greeted him excitedly and he felt his face scrunch up in annoyance.
He heard a faint chuckle from behind the counter and glared at the salesperson.
“My, my professor, don’t you know it isn't nice to glare at people?”
Finally he turned fully to her and blurted out
“What are you even doing here?”
She grinned playfully
“Why, I saw your wonderful person right here in this rather stunning establishment and decided it was great to ask you for dinner sir!”
He swore it was possible to hear a pin drop.
“No child, I will not go to dinner with you”
She pouted but soon started laughing as he felt his face scrunching up in disgust.
His face remained stopped in that disgusted motion until she launched her cauldron at him.
He refused to catch it simply on principle and she seemed shocked.
“Sir, I didn’t know you potioneers could resist a cauldron.”
People laughed at the back and he closed his eyes to breathe quietly.
Perhaps he had been wrong, she may as well be as petty and vegentful as Lily, and just as bold too.
Gryffindor?
“What even were you hoping to get from me?”
“Why a discount from your bloody expensive potions would be great!”
He stared at her numbly and mentally shut some cabinets of his own mind to not make him facepalm in front of a lot of bloody people. They seemed rather familiar with her attitude, what was happening?
Definitely a gryffindor
“Language P– Child.”
“Ash Muara.” she whispered conspiratorially and he sneered, (unfortunately his face was too soft for it to be effective, not that he or Amara knew, but others who actually saw him for more time, knew)
Severus sighed wearily, “Honestly, Muara, I don’t want you influencing your school mates with your lack of class.”
She gasped dramatically, in a way he had seen Draco do and he briefly contemplated the thought of running away.
“Lack of– lack of class?” she stammered dramatically. He idly noted that she had started ranting about that but he was more aware of people’s eyes now.
Tough luck, their eyes said and he sneered at them all,(this time a proper sneer) they paled and went back into their own business.
They continued like this for some other minutes, with him picking various ingredients and she making comments over them, asking about some potions she had been reading and why that happened or why that wasn’t better.
Being annoying really.
He answered any potion related question until noticed some third years taking notes and he just couldn't keep the disdainful snarl that came out of his mouth
“This was all things you ought to have known for the last three years Mr. Weasleys, why are you taking notes?” he asked and internally knew that he just signed himself for hell as the twins looked up with mischief.
He looked quietly to the side and saw Potter’s head dip to the side in curiosity. He sighed.
The twins grinned and flung themselves towards Potter.
Time seemed to slow down as he watched her good mood turn sour in mere seconds as she held herself stiff as a board while they casually touched her.
“Well you see professor, we just saw you here and thought ‘what a wonderful time to see our favourite professor!’ and then we see you being verbally abused by this little pimp and we just knew we wanted to get to know just who got to crack the dungeons bat facade.”
“Dungeons bat?” she echoed with a smug smirk though it was somewhat dimmed from their proximity and he felt his being freeze as time caught up to him and he remembered te less than better words that she spoke about her relatives.
He cleared his throat harshly and stepped up, trying to intimidate them. For Potter, it didn’t work as she was now probably retracting somewhere safer inside her mind, but for the Weasley twins it was very effective.
They stepped away from him and while they tried to pry her away with them, she stood on her ground and they were forced to leave her.
She breathed in slowly and smiled at them all
“Well Mr. Weasleys, I am Ash Muara but unfortunately I didn’t get your first names.”
“Why–
“Good morning”
Dear lady,”
I am Gred,”
And I go by Forge” they grinned wolfishly and Snape felt as if he was seeing the beginning of perhaps the next marauders.
“No.” Was all he said and he shook his own head.
“No?” she asked confusedly with her head dipped to the side.
He stared
“Absolutely not. If you three try to become a group, I quit that motherfu– the school. And I’m sure Minerva would do the same. And so would Filius for that matter.”
He saw as the three smiled
“Well sir,” Potter started
“We would like some of that to happen”
“No we wouldn't” she glared at them until they lowered their heads sheepishly.
“We couldn’t do that to you,”
“After all, where would you go without your dungeons?” she smirked and the boys laughed in delight
She literally only heard the nickname today and was already using it as a mockery, gods this child.
He grumbled and walked away as fast as he could, though he only got so much (to the salesperson) before she entered the line with him and the other two tailing after her.
The people in the line parted to make room for her and he watched impassively as she bargained the price of the ingredients she had.
What even were those for? They weren’t even needed in the first year list.
His eyes narrowed suspiciously and he clicked his tongue, the noise startling everyone and he saw her smiling sheepishly towards him. A hand scratching the back of her neck and the other getting the coins for the new price she had in it for her.
Then she was out and talking to the twins, who were gasping dramatically when she announced she had never played or even knew what quidditch was.
They walked away and Severus realised he felt lighter than before.
He ought to tell Minerva a bit about this encounter. Perhaps he ought to leave the part of where she insulted the price of his potions out and basically insulted her.
Or he could leave it there as an excuse to insult the little brat back.
Minerva would have grey hair just from hearing that James’ Potter’s child became friends (or acquaintances) with the Weasley twins. It was bound to end up badly for the teachers.
Should he increase the protections against pranks that he had in his office and personal rooms?
He suddenly felt really less safe about this year.