Forget Me Not (Severus Snape x OC)

Chapter 6: Defended

Severus took his usual seat at breakfast, his body turned away from Theda's empty chair. He didn't want to talk to her or Gilderoy, but he knew he couldn't avoid them forever. Especially because Theda sat beside him at every meal.

"This is going to be a long, long school year, Lily."

A few minutes later Theda took her seat, saying nothing. It seemed that she had correctly read his body language, which surprised him somewhat. He had expected her to broach the subject of the storeroom incident, but it seemed that she had no intention of doing so. They ate in silence, which is what Severus had wanted... So why did he feel just a little bit annoyed?

He didn't want to hear some half-baked apology, but somehow her clear lack of shame was just as irritating as that would have been. After he had finished his food, he sat there for a few minutes, slowly nursing his tea, waiting to see if she was going to say anything. When it was clear that she had no intention of doing so, he slammed his empty cup down on the table and walked to class.

The day was agonizingly long. Draco Malfoy had animated a dead bat, whose spleen they were supposed to be using in the swelling solution Snape had assigned. The dead bat got stuck in Hermione Granger's thick, curly hair, still flapping its lifeless wings about as Ron Weasley attempted to free it.

"Detention, Mr. Malfoy. You as well, Mrs. Granger, Mr. Weasley."

"They didn't do anything!" Harry shouted, infuriated.

"They were creating a disturbance in my class, Mr. Potter, as you now have as well. You will be joining your friends in detention tomorrow evening." His lip curled slightly at the look of frustration on Harry's face. "Oh, and 5 points will be taken from Gryffindor as well."

The rest of the school day was more of the same. More classes, more outbursts, more corresponding consequences. As much as he loved handing out detentions, it wasn't enough to distract him from the fact that he'd soon have to sit next to Theda for dinner. Though he tried to, he couldn't understand why this whole situation was upsetting him so much. 

Maybe it was because she was arrogant enough to think she hadn't done anything wrong. Or maybe her silence was proof that she had heard rumors about him from the other staff and didn't want anything to do with him. Or maybe, if he was honest with himself, it was because prior to the Gilderoy incident, he had thought that perhaps they could have been... friendly with one another.

"Good evening, everyone," Dumbledore said to the staff as they were all waiting for dinner to be served."May I speak with you all for a moment before dinner begins? If you'll be so kind as to follow me, this is a conversation I'd rather not have in front of the students."

Dumbledore led them all into the nearest classroom where four students were waiting. Severus recognized them right away as the girls who had been out by the greenhouses the previous night.

"Now, my dears, will you please tell the staff what you saw?" Dumbledore prompted.

"Well..." Started one of the girls before looking down at her shoes.

"None of you are in trouble," Dumbledore said in a comforting tone. "But please, for the safety of the other students, tell us what occurred by the greenhouses last night."

"We... I had forgotten my textbook in Greenhouse 2, and it had all my notes and homework in it. We thought we could slip in quickly enough to get it before anyone noticed, but before we could we saw this... thing. At first we thought it was a house elf, but... It was kind of more like a gnome. It was laughing at first, but then it spoke to us and told us there was a wounded animal that needed our help near the edge of the forest. It seemed very distressed and we thought we could help, so... we followed it."

"Well, that sounds unmistakeably like an erkling." Said McGonagall. "They aren't supposed to leave the forest."

"Yes, that's what Professor Dumbledore said too." The girl replied. "But then, suddenly, it was hoisted upside down into the air, and before we knew what was happening we ran away. We thought it was trying to attack us, but... now I'm not sure. We thought maybe someone else was down there."

"Well," said Dumbledore, "as erklings do not possess the ability to levitate, I believe you are right, Miss Windham. It sounds like someone was indeed looking out for you." Dumbledore looked around the room at the staff members, awaiting an explanation.

"I'm afraid that would be my doing, Headmaster." Gilderoy chimed in, flashing his jarringly white smile. "I was planning to take care of the erkling problem myself. I am, after all, the most equipped wizard here to handle any creature that ventures out of the Forbidden Forest."

Snape was fuming but he restrained himself, as usual, from showing any outward indication of his feelings.

"Let that imbecile have his moment of glory,"  he thought. As much as he hated to see Gilderoy receiving praise for something he hadn't done, Severus felt that if he himself demanded credit that would be somehow even more pathetic.

"Yes, I was fighting off about 10 of them when I noticed these poor girls being led to the forest by one that had slipped past me during all the action of the fight. Took care of him, no problem."

"Well, Gilderoy," said Dumbledore in a patronizingly cheerful, yet skeptical tone, "good thing you were there to intervene."

Upon hearing that Gilderoy had been their rescuer, the girls began to whisper and giggle nervously amongst themselves.

"Yes, well, now that that's cleared up—"

"Excuse me, Headmaster." Theda chimed in.

"Yes, Miss Desmond?"

"I happen to know that Gilderoy was busy attending his fan club last night."

The teachers all cast their gaze expectantly from Theda to Gilderoy.

"Well, I—" Gilderoy stammered before Theda once again spoke up.

"I was taking a walk around the grounds and I witnessed the whole thing. Severus was actually the one who came to their aid."

Severus was stunned. This was the last thing he'd expected. He was not accustomed to anyone standing up for him, and this was shocking enough in itself. What was even more surprising, though, was that it had come from Theda.

"Is this true, Severus?" Dumbledore inquired.

There was a long pause, as Severus was still trying to find the words to respond. He looked absolutely mortified to suddenly be in the spotlight but finally managed a simple "Yes, Headmaster."

The girlish smiles and giggles the students had been exhibiting quickly turned into looks of shock and mild disgust. None of the other staff members seemed the least bit surprised by this revelation.

"Well then, I thank you, Severus, for looking out for our students. And thank you, Miss Desmond, for speaking up. 

Theda gave a slight nod, doing her best to avoid Severus' gaze.

"Now that's settled," Dumbledore continued,  "I'll have a word with Hagrid about the erkling problem and I'll make an announcement to the students at dinner so they know to keep an eye out for them in the meantime."

They all proceeded to the Great Hall where dinner had already been served. Dumbledore quickly made his announcement before allowing everyone to resume their dinner. Severus took his seat, wondering if Theda was going to say anything to him, but she didn't. He felt like he should thank her for what she had done, but expressing thanks didn't exactly come naturally to him.