April third-Dysphoria
Friday, April 3rd, 1992
Severus Snape was still in his classroom despite the last class being over forty-five minutes prior. Technically, he could have walked a few feet and through a door so that he wasn't in the classroom(or hallway). But, that door led to his office and then rooms. Severus thought his rooms for living, not work. And his office was mostly to talk to students and do official business. He tried to separate it all as much as possible.
Even still yet, he would have to go to his office within the next hour or so, in case a student came looking for him there.
Scratch that, a student was coming to talk to him in his classroom right now.
"Uncle Sev?" Kat whimpered, pulling a chair in front of Severus's desk, and sitting down. "I know-I know I'm supposed to call you professor at school, but no one is here. And, please, I really need my uncle Sev."
"It's fine, kiddo. What do you need? I'm here."
"I-I'm sorry for missing your class today." Kat replied, quietly. They had obviously been crying before coming here, and looked like they were going to start again soon.
"It's fine, kid. But, why did you? What's wrong?"
"I hate it!"
"Hate what?" Severus's voice was calm and quite, as kind as he was able to make it.
"Everything!"
"Everything?"
"My face, body, voice. The way clothes look on me, the weird way my hair makes me look, what my body is going to turn into. Everything!"
Severus wasn't sure how to respond, but before he could regardless, Kat began again.
"Everyone looks at me and sees a boy! Maybe a girl. But, I'm not a boy or girl!"
"Not everyone. I don't, neither do your friends."
"Yeah, huh."
"Did your friends say they saw you as a binary gender? Misgender you? Anything else of that sort?"
"No." Kat admitted.
"Then why do you think they feel that way?"
"Because of course they do. Look at me!"
"I am. And I see no trace of a boy or girl. You're nonbinary, Kat, and that's what I see when I look at you." Severus was telling the truth. Ever since Kat came out to him, he couldn't see them as anything but nonbinary. Because that's what they were.
"But, I have...boy stuff."
"I don't." Severus reminded. "Am I not a man?"
"You are, but....It's different. You pass, I maybe pass as a girl, maybe, but that's still not right."
"It's not about passing. Besides, you think I passed when I was eleven? Because I definitely didn't."
"What did you look like?" Kat inquired, having never seen a childhood picture of their godfather.
Severus got a thoughtful look on his face. "Well, I was shorter and still had some baby fat, but not much. I never had much. My face was just as round and I was rather, not exactly lanky, but my arms and legs were long compared to everything else. I hadn't really hit puberty yet, but I had a little acne. I mostly just looked like a normal kid. My eyes were a bit of a lighter shade, sort of dark brown instead of black, but they were close. My hair was half-way down my back, and also more brown than black. Obviously my hair and eyes have darkened over the years. I was a bit less pale, but definitely not tan. Just sort of red, mostly in my cheeks."
"Have you changed a lot?"
Severus shrugged. "In some ways. Others not so much."
"Did you know you were a boy yet?"
"Deep down, yes. But, I was really repressed. I didn't come out to Madame Pomfrey and my friends until the end of my third year, and not to everyone else until the beginning of fourth."
Kat squinted their eyes in confusion. "But, then, how didn't Dumbledore know you were trans?"
Severus shrugged once again, usually he tried to avoid that habit, but...whatever. "I guess he forgot. He didn't pay much attention to me when I went to Hogwarts, especially in my first four or so years."
"And then you were forced to be his spy and a teacher?"
"That would be correct."
Kat rolled their eyes in annoyance. "Old people. Can't we just sacrifice them to Cthulhu and get it over with already?"
Severus let out a surprised laugh, Kat always brought his defenses down. "I believe that is called murder."
"So?"
"You can't murder people."
"Technically, physically, I can."
"You will be arrested."
"Only if I'm caught....You were caught and didn't get arrested."
"Technically, I was. I was just released." Severus pointed out.
"So, I'll get released."
"Are you feeling better?" Severus redirected the conversation.
Kat swung their legs, thinking. "A little....For now...."
"I'm glad. Come talk to me again anytime you want, Ladybug."
Kat stood to leave before pausing. "Ladybug?"
"It's a nickname."
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with my name? You used to call me Dragon, which makes sense with my deadname. But, ladybug, where did you get that from?"
"Your name is already an animal!" Severus replied, exasperated.
"It doesn't have to be an animal."
"Yes it does."
Kat rolled their eyes playfully. "If you say so."
"I do!"
Kat laughed, walking out the classroom door.
Talking to their godfather, their uncle, Sev, always made things better.