Entry tags:
Fic: A Staffroom Visit
I posted a WiP that will probably never be finished. So its finished now. It was beta'd by the wonderful ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dementordelta who has been both kind and understanding in encouraging me to write. Maybe I'll come back to this story one day.
For now, I thought I'd post what I have and let the world enjoy a fun bit of Severus Snape. It was heading in the Snarry direction but it never quite made it there.
Title: A Staffroom Visit
Pairing(s): Snape/Harry (-ish)
Character(s): Harry Potter, Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall
POV(s): Severus Snape
Rating: G (General audience)
Word Count: 1987
Crosspost: AO3
Summary: A fun little story of Severus Snape's walk to the staffroom
Chapter warnings: na
Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any characters, settings, locations, etc. from Harry Potter.
"Mr. Merrythought, what exactly do you think you are doing?" The young man froze with his hand poised over his cauldron, a vial of blood precariously close to emptying into the potion below.
"The ... The strengthening solution, sir?" The boy stuttered, withdrawing his arm and looking down and the vial in his hand.
Severus closed his eyes and counted to three, inhaling deeply as he did so.
"Then I suggest you put the iguana blood down before you subject us all to garrotting gas."
Berry Merrythought blushed as his classmates broke out in laughter, clumsily slamming the vial on the desk, and backing away from his cauldron as if it too were enjoying his humiliation.
Severus resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The young man was unusually stupid for a fifth year, but at least he seemed to be aware of it.
The rest of the lesson went as planned, with Severus doling out house points in his usual manner. He maintains a preference for Slytherin because post-war Hogwarts continues to have anti-Slytherine prejudices, and he's determined to make his house feel appreciated.
The students seemed to disappear the moment the bell rings. Severus sighed with relief, enjoying the momentary silence, before continuing with his usual routine.
Once seated at his desk, he makes short work of the second year essays. This batch of students aren't as dim as some others, and he's been considering rushing their curriculum. They're too advanced for the hair-raising potion.
Completing his marking in record time, Severus looked around his classroom for inspiration on what to do next. There was no need to clean anything, as the entire first year class of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs will be in detention that evening. He already has his lesson plans memorized, so that wasn't a good use of his time. And he doesn't have time to start a potion for Poppy for the hospital wing.
He finally decides on a walk to the staffroom. Stretching his legs would do him well.
Locking his desk, storeroom, and classroom door, he proceeded up the stairs and down the corridor towards the two restored gargoyles on either side of the staffroom entrance.
"Irvine, Innis", Severus inclines his head to each of the gargoyles as he approaches. Irvine nodded in return, as was his custom.
"Nice to see you again, Severus." Innis said, tilting her head to the side and fluttering her stone eyelids.
Severus glanced both ways down the corridor before indulging the statue. "Have you caught any misbehaving youths lately?" He asked.
"Not today, I'm afraid. But one of the Hallow twins tried to feed an extensible ear under the staffroom door yesterday. I'm not saying which one, though!" She smiled at him, evidently wanting to be persuaded.
Severus thought on that a moment. He had had a short conversation with Cinead, the gargoyle guarding the Headmistress' office, just last week. "I hear there's been a suspicious clink of cherry bottles along the second floor corridor," he said conspiratorially. "Maybe a yet-unnamed Professor hasn't changed their habits, afterall.".
Innis gave a gasp, followed by a girlish giggle. She lived for gossip. "All right, all right, Georgina Hallow and her blonde friend tried to get information on Septima's exam questions."
"And did they succeed?" He asked, scratching Innis under the chin.
"I dare say they did!" She squealed. "They left very happy with themselves."
"Thank you" he murmured in her ear.
Bidding goodbye to both statues, Severus turned to enter the staffroom, mentally taking note to warn Septima about the cheating girls. He could hear Innis and Irvine frantically whispering behind him as the door swung closed.
"Severus, so nice to see you!" Minerva approached quickly, threading an arm through one of his, and walking him further into the room.
Their professional friendship had grown since he first started teaching. They initially bonded over quidditch, but soon found that they could speak on many topics and had a similar sense of humour. With the exception of the 1997-1998 school year, her faith in him had never wavered.
After Voldemort's death, and his own near-death in the shack, he stepped down as Headmaster and surrendered the post to it's rightful owner. Their friendship had mostly returned to normal, with the exception that her eyes sometimes twinkled in a way that Albus' had. Much to Severus' irritation, she denied any such thing whenever he mentioned it.
Lucky for him her eyes were normal on this occasion, which meant she wasn't scheming, despite dragging him further into the staffroom.
Upon approaching the huddle of people near the centre of the room, Severus noticed an unlikely face in the crowd: Harry Potter. Besides a few brief conversation at war memorial events, Severus hadn't spoken to the boy in years. He looked older.
"Professor Snape!" The boy said happily, extending his hand.
"Mister Potter," he greeted in return, "what brings you to Hogwarts?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The young man smiled broadly, radiating happiness. He gave a quick glance to Minerva before answering. “I was invited as a speaker at the upcoming Hallowe’en feast.” He was bobbing on his toes, apparently struggling to contain a leap of excitement at the opportunity.
“Is that right?” Severus was amused at the look of a full grown man in what appeared to be complete raptures over something as trivial as a speaking engagement to children, but he tried to pass his amusement off as mild interest. “What will you be speaking about?”
“I’m glad you’ve asked,” Potter put his hand in his cloak and withdrew a letter with Ministry letterhead on it. “This is something I was hoping you could help with.”
It didn’t pass Severus’ notice that Potter not only didn’t answer his question, but also jumped straight to asking for assistance. It must have been 15 or 20 years since the young man had left Hogwarts, and Severus wondered if he was still an idiot, or if this was a negotiation tactic he had picked up. Severus would have to keep an eye out for anything Sly Potter might pull.
Minerva thumped them both on the back as if to say ‘off you go’, and walked around to speak to some of the other staff in the room. Severus would have been affronted but for her warm smile which suggested she thought she was doing him a favour. That had yet to be determined. Severus wouldn’t submit to being pleased unless he absolutely had to.
Potter seemed to take it as permission to continue. “Edward Scott sent met a letter about his departments problems. It appears as though some domestic issues have made it increasingly difficult for him to conduct business abroad.” Potter sat down at the nearest desk, spreading the letter open in front of himself.
Curious, Severus sat down next to him. He wasn’t about to admit that the name ‘Edward Scott’ was meaningless to him. “What are these issues?”
Potter looked up from the letter under his fingers, excitement in his eyes, “Slytherins” he said, “it all comes back to Slytherins.” That caught Severus’ attention. Maybe Minerva was right about Potter having something of interest to say. Severus nodded for him to continue.
Before Potter could elaborate, Minerva’s voice rang from across the room, “Harry, will you be joining us for dinner this evening?” As if distracted by something shiny, Harry dashed across the room to join the discussion about food. It was strange seeing an older Harry Potter still dashing around as if he were a misbehaving student at school. Though what could Severus have expected? The hero of the wizarding world obviously never had to grow up. And this childishness left gave Severus an advantage: Potter had left the letter open on the desk. Choosing to interpret this as an open invitation to read its contents, Severus tilted it towards himself and scanned down the page.
Edward Scott, it turned out, worked for the Department of International Cooperation. Its well known to the Hogwarts staff that this department hires a disproportionately large amount of Slytherins (more than any other house combined). But the graduating class wasn’t running low on Slytherins, so what was Mr. Scott worried about?
The letter, written two weeks ago, was sparse but well written. It conveyed the department’s interest in hiring Potter as a consultant for a new project, and made a passing reference to the International Confederation of Wizards. Severus didn't keep up with international politics. If it didn't effect potion ingredient imports, he couldn't be bothered what the Pakistani Minister thought of Norwegian Ridgeback exports.
But why was this contract solicitation directed at Potter? Severus had no idea what his did day-to-day looked like, but perhaps the younger man occasionally picked up consulting contracts to keep himself busy. Must be nice. The Prophet often caught photos of The-Boy-Who-Lived-Again speaking to high-profile Ministry officials, though the man never appeared on the payroll. Harry Potter seemed to have become the new Lucius Malfoy (may he rest in peace, wherever he was), prowling the Ministry halls and getting inside information. But unlike Lucius Malfoy, the wizarding populace saw Potter's Ministry prowls as a good thing. It seems The-Boy-Who-Would-Not-Die can do no wrong.
Severus wasn’t bitter about it. Much. Its true, the wizarding populace wouldn’t accept him in politics even if he wanted it. But he always had the option of a life of leisure. His Prince inheritance was more than enough to get by on. But after years of working as a double-agent, his brain wasn’t satisfied with idleness. Even now, at nearly 60 years old, he had to make his own schemes and subterfuge to keep teaching interesting. Moulding fresh young minds didn’t always provide the challenge he was looking for.
Returning, Potter sat down, threading his fingers through his hair to sweep it out of his eyes. He gave an endearingly shy grin that Severus though he must use often when excusing his ill behaviour. “Sorry about that, I do miss the food at Hogwarts.” Severus took this to mean that the young man would be staying for dinner. “Any way,” he cleared his throat, “back to what I was saying. I’ve been working on a multi-pronged strategy to help Edward Scott, here, and I’d like to bring you on board as a Slytherin expert.”
Severus couldn’t help but smirk. It was nice to see that Potter still respected his old school teachers for their wizarding knowledge. Or at least he still respected his old Potions professor. Not one to pass on the opportunity to work on something new (as long as it didn’t interfere with his teaching), Severus asked “What does this project entail? What sort of time requirements are you looking for?”
“If you’re free after dinner tonight, I’d love to go over the details.”
Severus didn't miss Harry deliberately side-stepping the question. As loath as he is to admit it to himself, he was very much interested in finding out what this is all about. But if the younger man wasn't going to elaborate, Severus wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of looking curious. He nodded, and stood up to end the conversation. Harry also stood. “Please come to my rooms after dinner. Tell the portrait of Isabella Aragon who you are and she’ll let you in.”
Potter nodded and they shook hands again before parting.
Severus chose to see this as a 'win', and resisted strutting all the way back to his classroom. He must have had a powerful impact on the boy Potter if decades later he had come to Hogwarts to consult him as an expert. Minerva had also given her blessing, so it must be something he would enjoy helping with. But that didn’t mean Severus had to look too eager and jump at the opportunity. It paid to be tactful in this situation; the bigger inconvenience Potter caused, the bigger the debt Severus could collect from him later.
dementordelta who has been both kind and understanding in encouraging me to write. Maybe I'll come back to this story one day.For now, I thought I'd post what I have and let the world enjoy a fun bit of Severus Snape. It was heading in the Snarry direction but it never quite made it there.
Title: A Staffroom Visit
Pairing(s): Snape/Harry (-ish)
Character(s): Harry Potter, Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall
POV(s): Severus Snape
Rating: G (General audience)
Word Count: 1987
Crosspost: AO3
Summary: A fun little story of Severus Snape's walk to the staffroom
Chapter warnings: na
Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any characters, settings, locations, etc. from Harry Potter.
"Mr. Merrythought, what exactly do you think you are doing?" The young man froze with his hand poised over his cauldron, a vial of blood precariously close to emptying into the potion below.
"The ... The strengthening solution, sir?" The boy stuttered, withdrawing his arm and looking down and the vial in his hand.
Severus closed his eyes and counted to three, inhaling deeply as he did so.
"Then I suggest you put the iguana blood down before you subject us all to garrotting gas."
Berry Merrythought blushed as his classmates broke out in laughter, clumsily slamming the vial on the desk, and backing away from his cauldron as if it too were enjoying his humiliation.
Severus resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The young man was unusually stupid for a fifth year, but at least he seemed to be aware of it.
The rest of the lesson went as planned, with Severus doling out house points in his usual manner. He maintains a preference for Slytherin because post-war Hogwarts continues to have anti-Slytherine prejudices, and he's determined to make his house feel appreciated.
The students seemed to disappear the moment the bell rings. Severus sighed with relief, enjoying the momentary silence, before continuing with his usual routine.
Once seated at his desk, he makes short work of the second year essays. This batch of students aren't as dim as some others, and he's been considering rushing their curriculum. They're too advanced for the hair-raising potion.
Completing his marking in record time, Severus looked around his classroom for inspiration on what to do next. There was no need to clean anything, as the entire first year class of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs will be in detention that evening. He already has his lesson plans memorized, so that wasn't a good use of his time. And he doesn't have time to start a potion for Poppy for the hospital wing.
He finally decides on a walk to the staffroom. Stretching his legs would do him well.
Locking his desk, storeroom, and classroom door, he proceeded up the stairs and down the corridor towards the two restored gargoyles on either side of the staffroom entrance.
"Irvine, Innis", Severus inclines his head to each of the gargoyles as he approaches. Irvine nodded in return, as was his custom.
"Nice to see you again, Severus." Innis said, tilting her head to the side and fluttering her stone eyelids.
Severus glanced both ways down the corridor before indulging the statue. "Have you caught any misbehaving youths lately?" He asked.
"Not today, I'm afraid. But one of the Hallow twins tried to feed an extensible ear under the staffroom door yesterday. I'm not saying which one, though!" She smiled at him, evidently wanting to be persuaded.
Severus thought on that a moment. He had had a short conversation with Cinead, the gargoyle guarding the Headmistress' office, just last week. "I hear there's been a suspicious clink of cherry bottles along the second floor corridor," he said conspiratorially. "Maybe a yet-unnamed Professor hasn't changed their habits, afterall.".
Innis gave a gasp, followed by a girlish giggle. She lived for gossip. "All right, all right, Georgina Hallow and her blonde friend tried to get information on Septima's exam questions."
"And did they succeed?" He asked, scratching Innis under the chin.
"I dare say they did!" She squealed. "They left very happy with themselves."
"Thank you" he murmured in her ear.
Bidding goodbye to both statues, Severus turned to enter the staffroom, mentally taking note to warn Septima about the cheating girls. He could hear Innis and Irvine frantically whispering behind him as the door swung closed.
"Severus, so nice to see you!" Minerva approached quickly, threading an arm through one of his, and walking him further into the room.
Their professional friendship had grown since he first started teaching. They initially bonded over quidditch, but soon found that they could speak on many topics and had a similar sense of humour. With the exception of the 1997-1998 school year, her faith in him had never wavered.
After Voldemort's death, and his own near-death in the shack, he stepped down as Headmaster and surrendered the post to it's rightful owner. Their friendship had mostly returned to normal, with the exception that her eyes sometimes twinkled in a way that Albus' had. Much to Severus' irritation, she denied any such thing whenever he mentioned it.
Lucky for him her eyes were normal on this occasion, which meant she wasn't scheming, despite dragging him further into the staffroom.
Upon approaching the huddle of people near the centre of the room, Severus noticed an unlikely face in the crowd: Harry Potter. Besides a few brief conversation at war memorial events, Severus hadn't spoken to the boy in years. He looked older.
"Professor Snape!" The boy said happily, extending his hand.
"Mister Potter," he greeted in return, "what brings you to Hogwarts?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The young man smiled broadly, radiating happiness. He gave a quick glance to Minerva before answering. “I was invited as a speaker at the upcoming Hallowe’en feast.” He was bobbing on his toes, apparently struggling to contain a leap of excitement at the opportunity.
“Is that right?” Severus was amused at the look of a full grown man in what appeared to be complete raptures over something as trivial as a speaking engagement to children, but he tried to pass his amusement off as mild interest. “What will you be speaking about?”
“I’m glad you’ve asked,” Potter put his hand in his cloak and withdrew a letter with Ministry letterhead on it. “This is something I was hoping you could help with.”
It didn’t pass Severus’ notice that Potter not only didn’t answer his question, but also jumped straight to asking for assistance. It must have been 15 or 20 years since the young man had left Hogwarts, and Severus wondered if he was still an idiot, or if this was a negotiation tactic he had picked up. Severus would have to keep an eye out for anything Sly Potter might pull.
Minerva thumped them both on the back as if to say ‘off you go’, and walked around to speak to some of the other staff in the room. Severus would have been affronted but for her warm smile which suggested she thought she was doing him a favour. That had yet to be determined. Severus wouldn’t submit to being pleased unless he absolutely had to.
Potter seemed to take it as permission to continue. “Edward Scott sent met a letter about his departments problems. It appears as though some domestic issues have made it increasingly difficult for him to conduct business abroad.” Potter sat down at the nearest desk, spreading the letter open in front of himself.
Curious, Severus sat down next to him. He wasn’t about to admit that the name ‘Edward Scott’ was meaningless to him. “What are these issues?”
Potter looked up from the letter under his fingers, excitement in his eyes, “Slytherins” he said, “it all comes back to Slytherins.” That caught Severus’ attention. Maybe Minerva was right about Potter having something of interest to say. Severus nodded for him to continue.
Before Potter could elaborate, Minerva’s voice rang from across the room, “Harry, will you be joining us for dinner this evening?” As if distracted by something shiny, Harry dashed across the room to join the discussion about food. It was strange seeing an older Harry Potter still dashing around as if he were a misbehaving student at school. Though what could Severus have expected? The hero of the wizarding world obviously never had to grow up. And this childishness left gave Severus an advantage: Potter had left the letter open on the desk. Choosing to interpret this as an open invitation to read its contents, Severus tilted it towards himself and scanned down the page.
Edward Scott, it turned out, worked for the Department of International Cooperation. Its well known to the Hogwarts staff that this department hires a disproportionately large amount of Slytherins (more than any other house combined). But the graduating class wasn’t running low on Slytherins, so what was Mr. Scott worried about?
The letter, written two weeks ago, was sparse but well written. It conveyed the department’s interest in hiring Potter as a consultant for a new project, and made a passing reference to the International Confederation of Wizards. Severus didn't keep up with international politics. If it didn't effect potion ingredient imports, he couldn't be bothered what the Pakistani Minister thought of Norwegian Ridgeback exports.
But why was this contract solicitation directed at Potter? Severus had no idea what his did day-to-day looked like, but perhaps the younger man occasionally picked up consulting contracts to keep himself busy. Must be nice. The Prophet often caught photos of The-Boy-Who-Lived-Again speaking to high-profile Ministry officials, though the man never appeared on the payroll. Harry Potter seemed to have become the new Lucius Malfoy (may he rest in peace, wherever he was), prowling the Ministry halls and getting inside information. But unlike Lucius Malfoy, the wizarding populace saw Potter's Ministry prowls as a good thing. It seems The-Boy-Who-Would-Not-Die can do no wrong.
Severus wasn’t bitter about it. Much. Its true, the wizarding populace wouldn’t accept him in politics even if he wanted it. But he always had the option of a life of leisure. His Prince inheritance was more than enough to get by on. But after years of working as a double-agent, his brain wasn’t satisfied with idleness. Even now, at nearly 60 years old, he had to make his own schemes and subterfuge to keep teaching interesting. Moulding fresh young minds didn’t always provide the challenge he was looking for.
Returning, Potter sat down, threading his fingers through his hair to sweep it out of his eyes. He gave an endearingly shy grin that Severus though he must use often when excusing his ill behaviour. “Sorry about that, I do miss the food at Hogwarts.” Severus took this to mean that the young man would be staying for dinner. “Any way,” he cleared his throat, “back to what I was saying. I’ve been working on a multi-pronged strategy to help Edward Scott, here, and I’d like to bring you on board as a Slytherin expert.”
Severus couldn’t help but smirk. It was nice to see that Potter still respected his old school teachers for their wizarding knowledge. Or at least he still respected his old Potions professor. Not one to pass on the opportunity to work on something new (as long as it didn’t interfere with his teaching), Severus asked “What does this project entail? What sort of time requirements are you looking for?”
“If you’re free after dinner tonight, I’d love to go over the details.”
Severus didn't miss Harry deliberately side-stepping the question. As loath as he is to admit it to himself, he was very much interested in finding out what this is all about. But if the younger man wasn't going to elaborate, Severus wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of looking curious. He nodded, and stood up to end the conversation. Harry also stood. “Please come to my rooms after dinner. Tell the portrait of Isabella Aragon who you are and she’ll let you in.”
Potter nodded and they shook hands again before parting.
Severus chose to see this as a 'win', and resisted strutting all the way back to his classroom. He must have had a powerful impact on the boy Potter if decades later he had come to Hogwarts to consult him as an expert. Minerva had also given her blessing, so it must be something he would enjoy helping with. But that didn’t mean Severus had to look too eager and jump at the opportunity. It paid to be tactful in this situation; the bigger inconvenience Potter caused, the bigger the debt Severus could collect from him later.