Familiar

Nobody quite knew what to do with the new Severus Snape, the Snape that stroked cats and with growing realisation of the student body, the Snape that didn’t shout at them anymore.
The Snape that awarded Neville Longbottom 5 points when he cast his Patronus charm perfectly in DADA and the Snape that would regularly have a half-kneazle curled up on his desk each lesson.

On the first occurrence of walking into Defence Against the Dark Arts and finding her cat curled up on her Professors desk, Hermione cautiously walked up to the front, gave Crookshanks a stroke behind the ears and calmly added a

“Good morning Professor, I’m pleased you and Crook’s are getting on so well” before she was able to resume her seat he barked

“Granger, why won’t your infernal beast leave me alone?”.

She turned around and calmly replied “because he likes you Sir and he is an excellent judge of character”.

By the time the Christmas holidays rolled around it was accepted by student and staff that Severus Snape had made friends with Hermione Grangers cat and it was unconsciously agreed by all student and staff that nobody would speak of it.
This was the case right up until the last day of term where the seventh year Gryffindors, seventh year Slytherins and a half-kneazle found themselves witness to a once in a lifetime event.

“Settle down, settle down, today we are going to be continuing with the Patronus charm”

Excited mutterings were heard around the class only to dissolve when an excited Lavender Brown shot out “Sir! Sir, is it true a Patronus can change?”

Heaving a sigh Snape drawled “Yes Miss Brown a Patronus can change..”
“But why?” shouted out an eager Seamus Finnegan.
“Mr Finnegan” Snape sighed with a put upon look of disdain, “do not interrupt me.
As I was saying, a Patronus is individual to each witch or wizard and for the majority of us will stay the same throughout our entire lives.
Patronus have been known to change when one has suffered great upheaval, tragedy if you will”.

“Sir” Blaise Zabini called with his hand in the air.
“Yes Mr Zabini?”
“My mother told me that hers changed when she met my Dad but that wasn’t tragic”.
“That’s debatable” muttered Ron to a mixture of guffaws and chuckles from his fellow Gryffindors.
“1 point from Gryffindor Mr Weasley for your unnecessary rudeness.

Now, Mr Zabini, if you wish to be romantic and believe in the stuff of fairytales then yes, it is also rumoured that if you fall in love with another, it can cause your Patronus to change into something complimenting theirs, say a Lion and a Lioness for example”.
As though unwilling to continue he drew himself up and quietly added “furthermore, when two Patronus match, this is a symbol of..”heaving another sigh in the silence of the room.. “true love”.

“WHAT?” Screamed an excited Lavender Brown over the din of noise being made by absolutely everyone.
If anyone needed further proof of Snapes evolution it was proven in this moment of chaos.
Instead of shouting at the interruption or demanding silence, he merely turned to his desk, sat down and stroked Crookshanks whilst waiting for his class to settle.

Finally, Dean Thomas piped up through the noise “Sir, Sir!”
Once quiet had once more fallen, Snape responded with an elevated eyebrow and a “yes Mr Thomas?”
“Sir, why have we never heard about this before? I for one would like the chance at finding my one true love!”
Several of the girls in the class sighed, fluttering their eyes in a grinning Dean’s direction.

Heaving himself back up to his feet, Snape retook to the podium and replied “because Mr Thomas, this phenomena has not occurred since Salazar Slytherin and Rowena Ravenclaw found themselves to be linked over a thousand years ago.”

“WHAT??” Screeched Pansy Parkinson, “Slytherin fancied a swat Ravenclaw?”
“1 point from Slytherin for your interruption Miss Parkinson”.

Harry muttered “did he just take a point from Slytherin?”

“Yes Mr Potter I did and in answer to your question Miss Parkinson, no. He did not fancy a swat Ravenclaw as you so eloquently put it, they were in essence, soulmates.
Now, before this lesson becomes a complete waste of time, let us begin.
Everybody up!” ordered Snape to the sound of chairs screeching across the floor and whispers of trepidation.

“Longbottom!” Snape boomed.
“Y..yes Sir?”

As you managed to create a corporeal Patronus when requested last lesson I would be grateful if you would be the first.
Make sure to extenuate your wand movements so that the rest of the class can see”.

“Err, yes Sir” Neville replied with more confidence.
Clearing an area for himself, he briefly closed his eyes and with deliberate wand movements spoke “Expecto Patronum!”.
To his joy, a white bear stood before him, where it fell onto all fours and began sniffing the students before once more looking at its caster and disappearing.

A round of applause from the Gryffindors followed this demonstration with numerous “whoops!” from Ron and Seamus.

“Yes, yes, very nicely done Mr Longbottom, take 10 points for Gryffindor”.
Taking advantage of the silence that followed this statement, Snape rounded on Hermione.
“Miss Granger, perchance being the resident know-it-all you would grace us with your talents once more?” he breathed, reeking of sarcasm.
“Of course Sir” She simpered, rolling her eyes.
Excited to see her Otter once more she thought of her parents, of their reunion and their joy.
Bringing her wand down she spoke the incantation and there before her eyes was…

“Crooks?”

From behind she heard Harry ask “Hermione, where’s your otter?”

“Crooks?” she began again and beginning to panic now she fell to her knees in front of her new Patronus, struggling to breath. “I’m Hyperventilating, oh merlin, oh God, where is my otter? Oh God, where is he?”.

“WHERE IS MY OTTER?” She screamed, hair crackling with magic.

After the last year, with all of the changes and all of the chaos and death she had wanted just one thing to remain unchanged and “Oh Merlin, I can’t see, I can’t breath”.

Again, from behind she heard Harry address Snape.
“Sir, I think she is having a panic attack, we need to get help”.

Ron tried approaching Hermione only to find her magic was slowly spiralling and pushing everyone away.
All that could be heard from the mess that was Hermione on the floor was the continuous mutterings of “Oh Merlin, where is he, where is he”.

“Stand back Mr Weasley, she clearly can’t be moved, I shall call Madam Pomfrey to us”.
Raising his wand he called “Expecto Patronum” and stood, with everybody else in absolute horror as the unthinkable unfolded.