the class begins to flood out of the room, the slytherins walking slowly whilst the gryffindors seem to almost run.
severus has bullied the class relentlessly, sparing not even the most innocent kids like neville or hermione and being lenient and merciful to those he deemed 'competent'. students of his own house, students who could do nothing wrong in his eyes.
"y/n." severus calls out to you and you glance at blaise, communicating that he could follow the rest and leave without you before spinning on your heel and almost crashing into neville.
"sorry, neville."
"it-it's okay." he stammers, sounding panicked. "excuse me."
you step to the side and watch him dash out of the classroom, dropping a sheet of parchment on the floor behind him.
"you want a word with me?" you say to severus, walking over to pick up the parchment and shove it into your pocket. you'll give it to him in transfiguration.
"yes, i do." severus answers, watching you slide on to his desk and sit cross legged on the top.
"my shoes are clean." you snap, watching him glare at your leather school shoes. "what do you want with me? i do not want to be late to minnie's lesson."
"i just need to ask if there's been any progress. how's it been? making friends with the gryffindors?"
you grimace. "you make it sound like i'm using them."
"you are." severus squints his eyes, studying you. as soon as he corrects you, your ears are hot and you feel incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of it all.
"this is an operation- and you are to befriend potter on the assumption that it will help you do all you can to help us all survive."
that's a whole lotta pressure, dad.
"i-" you look down at your foot, drawing circles on your white socks with the tip of your finger. "i'd make friends with him even if i didn't need to."
"i wouldn't allow it."
"you couldn't stop me." you smirk.
"the progress, y/n?" severus changes the subject. you sigh and begin reciting what happened throughout the day.
you don't realise it yourself, but you seem to have been keeping a record. keeping a count on how close you were getting to getting harry to trust you.
"harry and ron spoke to me a little. theo wasn't too nice to them, made a remark about ron's house but i told him off- he shouldn't speak to anyone like that."
it always bothered you when someone wasn't treated with respect and kindness. sure, not everyone deserved it. but, from the life you've lived- you know very well that everyone can benefit from it.
just look at severus.
"right. good." severus nods. "how's everything else then? made good friends in slytherin?"
you let out a soft chuckle. "or perhaps in slytherin you'll meet your real friends..."
severus' lips turn up to a proud smirk. he finishes the lines.
"those cunning folk use any means to achieve their ends.."
your lips split into a huge grin. "your voice is lovely."
"you'll never hear it again." he mumbles, looking away from you.
"i think i really want to." you chuckle and he grabs one of your hands.
"i don't want to pressure you- i'm proud that you're doing so well here." severus grins. "considering you're of the weaker breed."
"hey!"
severus booms with laughter and you can't help but smile as you attempt very hard to glare at him in offense.
"come on, now." he concludes. "let's get you to minnie's."
"okay," you say, slipping off of the desk. "off to transfiguration i go..."
severus tails you, as you make your way out of the door. you turn back for a quick second to tiptoe up to his face. it's hard to reach but you manage to kiss him on the cheek.
his face goes red.
"see you dad." you say, smiling nervously.
"i- of course. yes." severus stammers, looking down at you and slowly raising a hand to his steaming face. "goodbye."
you turn on your heel, trying hard to ignore the flurries in your stomach as you walk off down the corridor. there's a crash somewhere nearby the transfiguration corridor, and you're almost positive that it's peeves- but you're late as it were, and disturbing mcgonagall, no matter how much of a girl with valuable hindsight you were, was subject to a good telling off.
hm.
you'll blame severus.
you knock on the door twice before pushing it open. it's as heavy as it looks and it closes swiftly behind you with a clash.
"y/n." mcgonagall calls out your first name, forgetting she was to address the students by their last. "you're late."
"i'm sorry, professor." you say quickly. "my father wanted a quick word with me."
"did he, now?" mcgonagall grumbled, visibly annoyed. not at you, certainly. "i hope your father doesn't intend on keeping you from my lessons for such great periods of time, regularly."
you're not sure what to say to that. the usual banter would look strange to the students here, and out of the corner of your eye, you can tell serena is looking at inquisitivly.
"well, take a seat. we're just doing a baseline test to see what you are already aware of. take a paper from here, y/n and sit beside neville over there."
you look over at where she nods her head and see neville sitting on a desk all alone at the back and staring right back at you with the most terrified look on his face. his puffy cheeks redden and his wide panicked eyes, widen even more so in a way you didn't think was possible.
the blonde boy makes eye contact with you before lowering his head and staring down at his paper.
you grab a sheet from the front desk and make your way to the back of the room, sitting down beside neville. the boy moves cautiously over to the left and you can't help but smile.
i'm not scary, you think. it's definitely the last name.
"hey," you whisper, using a hand to reach into your bag and pull out a quill and the other to steady yourself on the desk. "i'm y/n. you must be neville, right?"
"y-yes. i know who you are." he stammers.
you blush. "you should know, i'm nothing like my father."
"aren't you?" neville asks slowly. he pushes blonde tufts out of his eyes to look at you better.
it was true. you seemed friendlier than snape. much friendlier.
"no." you smile. you place the quill you manage to find on the desk in front of you before shoving the hand down into you pocket to retrieve the paper neville left on the ground.
as you pass it back to him, the words dear mum and dad stand out to you, written in dark blue splotchy ink.
"you left your letter in the potions classroom." you whisper. "it wouldn't have made it to your parents in there."
neville took it from you gratefully and he relaxed a little. "th-thank you, y/n."
"your welcome." you say, looking down at the sheet of paper. the test on the first day back.
"i haven't a clue what to write." neville confessed.
you chuckle, not at him but at yourself.
well, maybe at the pair of you.
"no." you agree. "neither do i."