Mothers, Witches, and Bargains Made

I\'m *so* sorry for the long wait; unfortunately, me and the cable company had words. But now I\'m baaaaaa\'aaack, and plan to stay that way. : )!! The next chapter shouldn\'t be more than 3 days coming. I hope you all enjoy.


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Chapter Twenty Five
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For the first time since his first year teaching here, Severus Snape dreaded going back to his chambers. It had taken all of twenty minutes after leaving the hospital wing for him to discover that Miss Granger, his *wife* -- he shuddered at the mere thought -- had not gone back to Gryffindor tower as he\'d expected, but had rather been sent to his chambers for the night. Outraged, he\'d stormed to Albus\' office. He was bloody well *not* going to put up with *this*! He may have had to marry the chit, but there were *rules* about teacher/student interaction . . . and not a one of them allowed cohabitation. He had figured all along that if worst came to worst, he still wouldn\'t have to deal with her until after she bloody well graduated.

~~~~~\"Albus!\" Severus shouted as the staircase stopped moving and he strode into the ever-cluttered headmaster\'s office. \"Some bloody idiot has lost what little mind they have left!\"

\"What *ever* are you talking about, Severus?\" asked wearily.

Severus paused, momentarily surprised by the weary, frustrated sound of the headmaster\'s voice. He couldn\'t remember a time he\'d heard it before. As far as he was concerned, it *really* didn\'t bode well. Albus, despite his many quirks and eccentricities, was the rock upon which his foundations were laid. Until now that had been firm and unyielding. His frown deepening, he stepped closer to the much older wizard, looking closely at him for the first time in ages. He saw what he always saw, other than a hint of tiredness, an eye-twinkling, white-haired wizard who delighted in perplexing others. Within a moment of verbally questioning the mask the headmaster wore, Severus shook his head mentally. If Albus wanted him not to see just how tired he was, then he wouldn\'t \'see\'. It was the least he could do for the man who had been such a determining part of his life -- irritating pain in the arse or not.

\"The Granger girl was directed to sleep in *my* chambers,\" he said instead, hoping that, per usual, the headmaster would set the world to rights.

\"Yes, she was,\" Albus replied evenly, the brightness immediately gone from his eyes.

Biting back a snarl, and fighting against a nearly overwhelming disappointment, Severus leaned over the edge of Albus\' desk, resting his weight on his fists. \"Well, what are you going to do about it?\" he snapped.

** *Do* something about it, you old codger, like you\'re supposed to!**

\"She obviously can\'t stay there. You know damn well that even my going down there to tell her to go back to her dorm would spread talk across the school like wildfire in August. I don\'t personally fancy getting fired over this. Mere *rumors* of inappropriate behavior would be enough to see me run out of here -- if not tarred and feathered on the way out.\"

Albus shook his head. \"That won\'t be an issue,\" he assured with a negligent way of his hand. \"The two of you are married.\"

This time he did growl. \"In name only, Albus, and you bloody well know that! She\'s still a student here.\"

\"Yes, I do know that,\" Albus began, \"but that--\"

\"Cut the meandering, Albus. I want that *student* out of my chambers, and I want her out now. Send either Minerva or Poppy down there to fetch her so I can go to sleep.\"

\"Sit, Severus,\" Albus commanded.

Unused to anything except cheerful chiding from the headmaster, Severus was surprised into obeying. He immediately glared at the source of his irritation the moment he\'d realized what had happened. He stayed put, however, refusing to outwardly admit he\'d done anything except exactly what he wanted to do. It simply wasn\'t a Slytherin thing to do.

\"It was headmaster Phineas who mentioned the rules regarding this situation.\"

Groaning, Severus wilted back into the chair. \"Rules?\" he asked flatly.

**There are rules for this?!** By only the thinest of margins, did he manage *not* to groan and bury his head in his hands. **Really, what *else* could *possibly* go wrong?**

\"What rules?\" he asked, carefully editing the full measure of his frustration and keeping it from his voice.

Instead of replying, like any sane man would, Albus rose instead, crossed the room and pulled out a dusty tome that easily weighed ten pounds. He deftly opened to the precise page he wanted and handed it over.

Severus\' eyes narrowed suspiciously when the headmaster refused to meet his steady gaze. \"Must you be so melodramatic, Albus?\" he asked, taking the bloody thing. \"Just tell me what new conundrum has come up to make my life miserable.\"

Albus shook his head. \"I don\'t think you would believe me.\"

Frowning in earnest now, Severus diverted his attention to the words in front of him. **Not believe him?** That was a little far-fetched, now wasn\'t it? He couldn\'t imagine a person he believed in more.

**Oh for bloody Merlin\'s sake!** he thought as he redirected his attention to the old tome, now in his hands.

~Married students shall not be permitted to reside with their maidenly classmates. Adult knowledge of the womanly art of marriage would be a disruptive and corrupting influence that would be inappropriate.~

\"What utter rot!\" he exclaimed heatedly, the words as explosive as they were automatic. \"When in Hades was this written, Albus? The dark ages?\"

\"A fair approximation,\" Albus admitted readily, though a bit sheepishly.

Severus was gobsmacked. It had finally happened. It really had. Albus had finally gone completely off his nut. Either that, or he was finally old enough and senility had suddenly set in. \"And you still intend to abide by it?\" he asked incredulously, despite his efforts otherwise. \"You *really* intend to support this utter . . . *tripe*?\"

\"I don\'t have a choice, Severus,\" Albus replied quietly. \"As much as I abhor the sentiments this rule displays, I\'m trapped -- as are you and Miss Gr-- Snape. You are as aware as I that Fudge, with Lucius\' prodding, is bound and determined to see me ousted as headmaster. I *must* abide by all the rules, so they have nothing to give the board of governors. Even ones as old and obviously outdated as the ones that apply to this situation *must* be followed. After this . . . crisis . . . is over, then we can look into a thorough upgrading of the rules of conduct.\"

\"Fine!\" Severus snapped, seeing the other wizard\'s point, but not wanting to. He would *much* rather the whole sordid situation were put to and over with. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with any of it. \"Then find her private quarters, but bloody well get her out of mine.\"

Albus shook his head. \"That, also, will not be possible.\"

Breathing deeply, hoping to prevent the tension headache he was rapidly developing from turning into a migraine of full-blown proportions, Severus gave up even bothering to glare. \"And why not?\" he asked defeatedly. This really was getting to be too much for him to handle. One thing after another had gone wrong today -- the only thing right was that he was still alive, and right now, he really wasn\'t too sure that was a good thing.

\"That is two paragraphs further on.\"

\"Joy,\" Severus replied drily, wanting to make the headmaster actually pronounce his doom.

Not bothering even a token protest, however, Severus returned his attention to the previously offered text. \"Other than quite possibly the dark lord,\" he asked after reading for several minutes, not really expecting an answer, \"who could I have *possibly* enraged this badly?\" he asked grimly. Then another thought hit him, sending a spark of pure, masculine panic racing through his blood. \"Did Miss Granger read this? Does she realize that the continuation of her schooling rests solely with my . . . *whim*?\"

Eyes widening slightly, Albus hastily shook his head. \"I know better than that,\" he replied, chuckling. \"She may be a student, and young yet, but she is *still* a woman -- one with quite a temper from what I\'ve heard from young Harry. Over years of learning to deal with Minerva, I\'ve learned a few things about the female psyche -- not everything to be sure, but enough. Frankly, the less said about things that are *obviously* not going to be taken advantage of the better.\"

Severus almost chuckled at the slight warning note in Albus\' voice. It wasn\'t a warning he needed. Albus\' disappointment was not something he would willingly choose to undergo at the best of times, and this certainly wasn\'t one of those times.

Of course, that was completely aside from the fact that for the moment it seemed he was stuck with Miss Granger, stuck, also, with having to share his private living space. He, no more than any man, wished to do so with a female in a righteous snit. Student or not, some . . . concessions would have to be made or neither of them were going to survive the school year.

He smirked. \"I\'ve certainly seen ample enough evidence of Miss Granger\'s temper without having to resort to trusting Potter\'s judgement,\" he replied drily. \"If you will recall, most of Hogwart\'s saw a rather impressive display of it just recently.\"

\"Ah, yes, the infamous hallway incident.\"~~~~~

And so the blasted conversation had gone, and no matter what he said, nothing changed -- nothing could change really. As much as he had protested, he *had* understood that. That *didn\'t* mean he had to like it. Miss Granger was still on the other side of this door, and if he didn\'t want to be caught lingering outside his own chambers by some skulking student, he needed to gather his dignity around him and just bloody well go inside.

He completely ignored the little voice inside that mentioned the fact that the young lady in question was \'Granger\' any longer. That was something he simply was *not* ready to deal with.

Growling at himself, he quickly undid the wards and stepped inside, bracing himself for confrontation. All set, he was instantly stymied the moment he walked in the door. Instead of what he\'d expected, he found her sound asleep on the sofa. Torn between relief at putting off the inevitable, and irritation that he\'d prepared and there was currently nothing to prepare for, he finally sighed giving it up as a lost cause. Quietly crossing the room, he grabbed an extra blanket and carefully laid it over Granger.

Shaking his head as he watched the sleeping girl, he finally snorted softly and took himself off to bed. Time enough to deal with the oddities in the morning. Perhaps things wouldn\'t look quite so bad after a full night\'s sleep.


TBC
Kiristeen
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Kiristeen@kiristeen.com


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