Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Unquestionable Love	By : CRMediaGal Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 3380 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is copyrighted to and belongs to JK Rowling. I own none of her associated characters. New characters belong to me. No money/profit is made from this story.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
- 4
A/N: A shorter chapter, but the start of one of a few plots I'll be introducing to you. Like I said, these first several chapters are establishing one plot and one dynamic of this family. More to follow later.

Many thanks to my beta reader, Brittny.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is copyrighted to and belongs to JK Rowling. I own none of her associated characters. New characters belong to me.

Chapter 3: A Father's Dismissal

In less than twenty-four hours, Hailey had already gathered word from those around her—along with the discussions she had the misfortune of overhearing the previous night in the Gryffindor common room—that her father was pretty much loathed by most of the student body with the exception of Slytherin House, and this troubled her immensely. Certainly, she knew him to be very strict—Lily and Surina attested to that in the past whenever they came home for holidays or summer break—and that his temper could at times be unpredictable.

Such a fact was well-known both inside and outside of the Snape household. Hailey could easily recall how her sisters often returned home from Hogwarts in tears because of something Severus had said or done, but at the time, Hailey had not been too concerned about it herself. Perhaps since the bond between her and her father had been mainly a pleasant, solid one, and the third Snape child, and Hermione look-alike, had never really worried about things being any different.

Hailey hardly thought about how her dad would 'teach' her or her peers much at all; however, after hearing some of the disheartening whispers from other Gryffindors, Hailey found herself anxious and ruffled by what she overheard. Was Severus really as cruel as some of the students were claiming him to be? As for the nicknames, it seemed so unfair for anyone who did not know him to speak so unkindly…

Lily, James, Albus and Hugo had shuffled Hailey aside in the common room, trying to distract her from some of the hushed, unfriendly banter traveling around them in circles. While she was grateful for their attempts, she was not stupid, and she heard practically every vile word whispered about the Potions Master. After a while, it all became too much. A ferocious desire to confront every Gryffindor in the room overpowered her. She wanted to challenge their absurd, catty remarks, but Lily would not allow it. Why? By the end of the evening, Hailey's need was dire; she needed to speak to her father as soon as possible.

After waking earlier than usual the following morning, Hailey decided to be one of the first students to head down for breakfast, hopping out of bed and dressing in her school uniform well before seven o'clock. It was a brisk and unusually sunny morning as she trekked down to the Great Hall, which was near empty when she entered with Tessa Longbottom, another First Year Gryffindor whom she knew before arriving. Like Hailey, Tessa's father was also a Hogwarts professor; however, it seemed that unlike in Hailey's case, Tessa's father was very well-liked and popular.

Worried that her father might not be present, Hailey felt herself relax when she caught sight of him at the head table. He was sipping a cup of tea and looking exceedingly displeased with the exciting jabber coming from a group of Ravenclaws near the front. To this, Hailey stifled a laugh under her breath.

The scowl on Severus's face was further pronounced by a few lines around his mouth and, not surprisingly to Hailey, he seemed relatively tired and put out. But that was not new information and the smart little witch brushed it off as lack of sleep. Her father never slept well or more than a few hours at a time. A twinge of guilt overpowered her as she recalled how peacefully she had slept her first night at Hogwarts, even despite the animosity she overheard directed towards him last evening.

Hailey meandered with Tessa towards the head table. Professor Longbottom, or Uncle Neville as Hailey and her sisters affectionately called him, was seated on the opposite end of the head table from Severus. The tall, energetic Herbology professor was chatting animatedly with Madam Hooch, the Flying instructor and Quidditch referee with short, spiky grey hair and strange yellow eyes. Hailey recognized her immediately from past Quidditch matches she had attended with her mother and Jeannie.

Eying Uncle Neville, Hailey felt quite bad for not having spoken to him previously. She really had been completely enamored with, not to mention distracted by, her first wondrous night at Hogwarts. She had not even noticed him last night but was not surprised to see that Uncle Neville and her father were not speaking to one another or making eye contact. For some reason unbeknownst to Hailey, they rarely, if ever, spoke to each other when their families crossed paths or got together on rare occasions. Hailey sensed that Uncle Neville was somehow afraid of Severus, or at least unhinged by his presence, and the idea made her chuckle quietly before her face turned grave.

Most people are afraid of him.

Hailey was behind Tessa, lost in her thoughts. They had barely reached the front of the Great Hall when Lily came treading in out of nowhere. "Hailey!" she clamored. Her curls were wrapped in a sleek, low ponytail that flopped madly as she rushed in, took a seat at the Gryffindor table and motioned for Hailey to join her.

Hailey noted Lily's panic-stricken expression. She turned to Tessa, who had stopped with her and was glancing at Lily with unfocused eyes.

"Tell your dad I said hello, would you?" Hailey said apologetically.

"Sure," Tessa replied in an airy, dreamlike voice.

Tessa sauntered away to the head table—her long, nearly white curls bouncing merrily behind her. Hailey mused as she watched her friend approach Uncle Neville how unbelievably kooky, but fun, she was. She was just like her mother, Aunt Luna.

Hailey ran to her sister and plopped down beside her. She wanted to say hello to Uncle Neville, but more importantly, she eagerly wanted to see her father. She tried to suppress her annoyance at Lily's bad timing.

"Lily!" she exclaimed, looking over her sister's alarmed visage. "Are you okay? What's the matter?"

Lily shot her an equally quizzical expression. "What? Nothing. I was going to ask you the same thing, actually."

Hailey narrowed her dark brown eyes. "Come again?"

"What were you doing?" she hissed desperately, taking Hailey aback.

"Um, I was about to say hello to Uncle Neville and then talk to Dad. I wanted to ask him something, and we haven't spoken since I got here."

Lily fidgeted in her seat and then straightened, as if Hailey had touched upon a nerve, and glanced away uncomfortably. "I was afraid you were about to do that," she breathed nervously. "I got here just in time. Oh, I should have told you first thing yesterday, probably on the train ride here."

Hailey's eyebrows rose. "Tell me what, Lily?"

When Lily answered, her voice was barely above a whisper. "You can't talk to Dad, Hailey."

Hailey was shocked, her wide eyes matching her bewilderment. Her cheeks turned a bright shade of red.

"Why not?"

"Well, don't be alarmed, okay? But Dad's a little standoffish here, Hailey. Don't take it personally. It's just that here, he's our professor, not just 'Dad.' There's a certain, um, decorum he has to follow. He has to treat us like everyone else. Don't be offended by it. You can't take it personally, sis, really. He'll be very upset if you do."

Hailey inched back, surveying her sister's pretty face. The idea that her father might act any differently had not crossed her mind until last night, and now her sister was telling her that she could not speak to him when she really needed to. Her face contorted into an expression of muddled disappointment.

"Mum thought I should be the one to explain to you," Lily attested, as if reading her sister's troubled mind, "seeing as I've already been here a few years and, well, let's just say that I've learned from experience..."

Hailey scrunched up her noise. "Experience?"

"You have Potions today, I'm assuming?"

Hailey nodded. "This morning, actually. Why?"

Lily shifted again in her seat, scooting closer to Hailey so that their faces were almost touching. "Well, just don't be surprised if you find that Dad treats the Slytherin students better than the rest of us."

Hailey watched as Lily's eyes glanced away momentarily. From the direction in which they were looking, Hailey guessed that Lily must be inspecting their father at the head table. Her eyes fluttered and returned their attention to Hailey, and she pressed on.

"He has a tendency to favor Slytherins. Surina has it pretty easy with him, but only because she's in Slytherin. Just don't take it personally if he's harder on you. He's only trying to make you better, Hailey. I promise. It's nothing personal against you. I sometimes struggle with remembering that, but Mum is always reminding me. You need to know that, too."

Hailey was silent for a long moment, the harsh criticism and unpleasant jeers about Severus from the previous night reverberating in her head. She peeked over at the head table again, now officially suspicious and unsure.

The wizard in black, her father, seemed relatively the same. He was sitting as still as he always did, practically molded to his chair like a statue. His lips were the only feature that moved and he was mumbling something to Professor Dumbledore seated next to him and in much livelier spirits.

"You can't go over and talk to him, sis."

Hailey whipped her head around abruptly, hurt. "But why?"

"Dad won't want you to approach him—"

"He – He doesn't want to talk to me?"

Hailey could not hide the pain in her voice, but Lily squeezed her arm affectionately and smiled, though Hailey could not fathom why. What was so cheerful about having your father blatantly ignore you and not want to speak to you?

"Of course he wants to talk to you, Hailey! But, well, we can't. If you, Surina or I are seen in public with Dad too often, other people might take it as favoritism. He could get into a lot of unnecessary trouble for it. It's silly, I know, but he has to treat us like any other student. Simply for appearance's sake, you understand?"

"But - But the Longbottoms..."

Lily continued to offer her younger sister a gentle, reassuring gaze. "It's different for Tessa, Hailey. Uncle Neville doesn't have the liabilities hanging over his position like Dad does. I think you know what I mean..."

Hailey peered down at her untouched eggs and toast and decided that she no longer had any appetite. She inched the platter away, grunting in disgust.

"It doesn't mean you can't see or talk to him, Hailey," Lily urged, "because you can. Surina and I do it all the time. You just have to find the right opportunity to approach him privately, that's all. Not now, for instance."

"I see," Hailey replied with a frown.

A part of her understood what Lily was getting at, and she secretly reprimanded herself for being so foolish as to think that nothing would change. Why had not all this been explained to her before?

Lily continued to lightly press her right arm. "I had a hard time with the whole scenario my first year here," she spoke as comfortingly as she could. "You remember, don't you? Maybe Mum never said anything, but I wrote home in tears a handful of times." She laughed dismissively, recalling the unhappy memories with an air of indifference. "So did Surina, and she sees Dad a lot more than I do and, like I said before, has it a lot easier than me. It's still kind of hard at times, but you'll get used to it too, Hailey. It's really not so bad."

Lily searched Hailey's face for some kind of assurance but found none. Hailey stared down at her unappetizing breakfast, her brown bangs half-masking her downcast eyes.

"Lily?" she finally asked in a hushed, small voice.

"Yes?"

"Was Dad mad at you for not getting into Slytherin?"

Hailey glanced sideways and found Lily eying her with a most sympathetic look. For a second, Hailey tensed, fearing her sister's answer, but then Lily shook her fair head, her light curls bobbing back and forth in unison with her answer.

"No, Hailey," she answered encouragingly.

Hailey said nothing for a few moments, then finally let out a sigh and straightened in her seat. "Good."

Lily intended to say something else but, at that moment, James Potter and another friend of Lily's, Liam Finkle, entered the Great Hall with two additional rambunctious boys. Plopping themselves down around Lily, they immediately distracted her from speaking any further on the subject. Lily hesitantly turned away from her little sister to address her friends who were now commanding quite a lot of attention from the whole table. It had filled up considerably since Hailey and Lily arrived.

Hailey reluctantly rejoined the morning conversations with other first years seated around her. Albus and Hugo had strolled in while she had been chatting with Lily, and she welcomed their distracting, humorous banter, every so often chancing a glance at the head table.

Severus was still sitting quietly, his dark mass in striking contrast to the vibrant attire of the teachers and everybody else surrounding him. His raven eyes were scanning the room warily, but they never fell upon her. He had not made any eye contact with her at all over breakfast, unraveling her senses more so as the minutes passed. Was he purposely avoiding her for some reason?

He wouldn't do that! she reprimanded herself, still somewhat unconvinced.

Hailey found her mind drifting to very recent times when Severus would scoop her up in a hug and engage her in some level of conversation. All she wanted at the present was for him to come over and talk to her. Was she being unreasonable? Her father was not even looking her way, and it was only her first full day at Hogwarts.

Maybe he's just distracted. It's the first day of classes. He probably has a lot on his mind, as usual.

The students in the Great Hall gradually began filtering out, with the teachers also taking their leave. Severus, however, was one of the few to remain at the head table. Was he waiting around to talk to her? For a fleeting moment, Hailey convinced herself that he was. After all, had not Lily just told her the night before that he did not stick around for the entire length of meals? And here he was, doing just that.

"Well, well, well," came a familiar, genial adult voice from behind.

Hailey whipped her head around to find Uncle Neville standing before her with a proud, almost asymmetrical, grin. He was wearing a curious red-and-gold striped sweater that had to be as old as he was. It was quite beat up and worn in spots, but he did not seem to care. He was too busy smiling down at her with Tessa linked at his side. She, too, was staring at Hailey but in her usual ethereal way.

"Miss Hailey Snape, a Gryffindor!" he declared boastfully. "Congratulations, kiddo!"

"Uncle Neville!" Hailey squealed, relieved to see such a friendly face.

At least he seemed happy to see her, she thought, and had no problem acknowledging her existence. She jumped up and gave him a quick hug.

"Nuh uh!" he corrected her in a teasing, casual manner with his index finger. "I'm afraid you'll have to call me 'Professor' here, Hailey. Unfortunately, I have to follow all that formality rubbish."

"Oh, of course!" Hailey replied, turning red. "Sorry, sir."

"Oh, no, please! You make me sound old! Call me 'Professor'!" He grinned, waving her apology away, and nodded to his daughter. "I'm afraid I'll have to remind Tessa quite often as well."

Neville turned to Albus and Hugo, giving each of them thoughtful greetings. After conversing with the three of them about their class schedules, Neville squeezed his daughter, who seemed far away and lost in a dreamland, before turning to the three other children he knew so well.

"I'll see you shortly, yes?" he inquired, his tone overly enthusiastic. Hailey and the boys nodded, giving him their pleasant smiles. "Well, I'll leave you to it then! Good luck on your first day today!"

The Herbology professor then acknowledged Lily and James before treading out of the Great Hall, saying hello to a few passing Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws as he left. The place was now virtually empty with only a few stragglers from each house finishing their meals. Hailey had just re-situated herself when both she and Lily saw Severus finally rise from the head table, stroll around it, and descend towards them with his trademark robes rippling against the floor. Hailey started in her seat. Her small movement did not escape Lily's sight, or Severus's, who abruptly hesitated. Hailey was about to say hello when he suddenly recommenced his furious stride. There was only a passing glimpse in her direction that informed Hailey she had been acknowledged. She followed Severus's silhouette with her entire being, twirling around in her seat. Lily, however, was completely still and gazing silently at her younger sister as Severus flew past the two Gryffindors and exited the Great Hall without saying a word to either of them.

Hailey was dumbfounded. She suddenly felt miniature and insignificant. Albus and Hugo noticed the Potion Master's seeming dismissal of his two children and glanced sideways at one another, not quite understanding what had just happened.

"Later, sis," Haily heard Lily murmur beside her. "Try to approach him after your Potions class. I'm sure Dad will have a moment to talk to you then."

Hailey slowly turned to face Lily and managed a weak smile but could not muster up anything more. There were tears prickling her eyes, but she would not allow herself to cry. Instead, she silently gathered up her books, relieved that it was time to go, and followed Tessa, Albus and Hugo out of the Great Hall to their first class of the day: History of Magic.

All the while, Lily watched her go, feeling apprehensive and hoping that Hailey was not too put out. She was all too familiar with the mental wound Hailey was nursing and a flash of anger danced across her attractive face but vanished before anyone else could notice.

"Let's go, Lily," said the boy named Liam who suddenly emerged at her side. "We'll be late for Divination."

Lily heaved a heavy sigh, gathered up her belongings, and waltzed out of the now empty Great Hall with James and a few other students. Her brown eyes briefly swept the hallway for any sign of Hailey, but the shaggy-haired girl was nowhere to be found.

Be sensible, Dad. Don't do to her what you did to me...

Lily lingered in the hallway another moment before reluctantly turning away towards the North Tower.
- 2
- 3
- 4
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Unquestionable Love