An Unlikely Savior ~ (Edit) COMPLETED

Chapter 35 ~ On the Grounds

“Severus! Wait!” Hermione called as she tried to keep up with the angry wizard, who was stalking across the Hogwarts grounds. Finally, she snagged his billowing robes and dug her feet into the ground, effectively stopping him. Snape whirled on her.

”I can’t believe Eileen deceived me in this manner,” he hissed.

The subject of Eileen’s detention came up during the conference and when Snape found out only Hermione had been contacted, he lost it. Especially when he discovered Eileen had requested the notification be sent to her mother. She had purposely circumnavigated him.

“Well, she is a Slytherin, Severus. Deception is par for the course,” Hermione panted.

Snape stared at her.

”Don’t throw logic at me! I’m furious with Eileen AND with you. Why didn’t you inform me she received three days of detention?” Snape demanded.

“How was I supposed to know you weren’t contacted?” Hermione countered.

Snape made a disgusted noise and ripped his robes out of her hand.

“She’s been caught in her deception and has to face the consequences.”

”But—you have no idea why she walked out of class!”

”Why doesn’t matter. She knowingly broke the rules and marred her pristine record, Hermione.”

Hermione fell silent. Snape was being unreasonable. Sometimes there were reasons to blatantly break the rules. He was so Slytherin he believed you had to do it in such a way that there were no repercussions. Anything else was reckless, and stupid.

Hermione followed him, and saw a glowing light suspended in the air as they neared Hagrid’s hut. That light was supported by Eileen, who was holding up a lantern while Hagrid pounded a post into the hard winter ground for the Hippogriff pen.

Snape stalked up, appearing like a wraith out of the darkness, followed by Hermione.

Eileen nearly dropped the lantern at her father’s sudden appearance. By the way he was scowling at her, she knew she was in a world of trouble. Then Hermione appeared beside him, worry on her face.

”Dad!” she said.

Hagrid looked up, put the huge mallet down he’d been swinging and smiled at Hermione and Snape.

”Perfesser! Hermione! Good ter see yeh!”

”This isn’t a social call, Hagrid. I need to speak to my daughter,” Snape said in a tight voice as Eileen blinked at him.

”Our daughter,” Hermione piped in.

Snape looked at her with exasperation. She just had to keep saying that, didn’t she?

“Oh, all right, then. I’ll jes’ make meself scarce,” Hagrid replied, trundling off to the hut and entering it, closing the door behind him. There were a couple of noises like things being knocked over, then all went silent.

Eileen looked at her father, who seemed as if he were trying to hold in his anger.

Never good.

”Eileen, you purposely had the notification I was supposed receive about your detentions sent to Mrs. Weasley,” he growled at her.

”Sent to her mother,” Hermione said, frowning at him.

Eileen thought quickly.

”Well, the Headmistress said either parent could be notified. I thought since we just—er—discovered each other, she’d like to be more in the loop,” Eileen lied, not a bit of shift in her eyes.

Hermione turned her head and covered her mouth with her gloved hand so Snape wouldn’t see her grin. Eileen was good. What an answer.

Snape stared at her for a moment, then said, “Eileen, look very closely at my face.”

Eileen held the lantern higher, studying her father’s frowning face. She looked perplexed. She didn’t perceive anything different about it. The nose was still huge, and the black eyes narrowed, his lips pursed with anger. Nope. He looked like dad, all right.

”What am I supposed to be looking for?” she asked him.

”The words ‘idiot’ or ‘stupid’ etched into my forehead,” he snapped at her. “Not there, are they?”

Eileen lowered the lantern, reddening.

”You purposely had that notification sent to—to your mother so that I wouldn’t find out about it and punish you,” Snape continued.

Eileen didn’t say anything as her father glowered down at her. Hermione chose this moment to intervene.

”Eileen, why did you walk out of class?” she asked her daughter softly.

Eileen’s eyes began to glisten.

”Because of the things that were being said about you and my father by the other students. The whispering—“

”What are you talking about? Whatever they were saying were just words. Words hurt nothing,” Snape growled. “I thought you were stronger than that, Eileen.”

His daughter looked down at the ground miserably.

”Words do hurt, Severus!” Hermione snapped at him in defense of Eileen. “They can cut a person just as deeply as a knife. You just can’t see the wound. Can’t you see Eileen was in pain? And to be honest, it’s your fault.”

”What? My fault?” Snape hissed at her.

”Yes, your fault,” Hermione stated flatly. “You hid her parentage and when it came out. She had to deal with the fallout of YOUR deception, which, I might add, is a million times worse than rerouting a detention notice.”

Snape stared at Hermione, then looked back at Eileen. She looked miserable. And it was his fault. But damn it, he didn’t need Hermione tugging at his conscience like a Muggle Bull Terrier. She was turning this around on him.

”But she was caught, Hermione, that’s the difference. I told you of the deception,” he argued.

”Yes, when Eileen was about to die,” Hermione shot back at him.

Eileen looked up at her father now with a little frown on her face. Her mum was right. He would have kept the truth hidden if she hadn’t become sick.

Snape looked from one frowning witch to the other, feeling rather trapped. Clearly, Eileen saw Hermione’s logic and was waiting for him to respond.

“Already you are undermining my authority,” he hissed at Hermione. “I don’t need you defending her wrong actions! I’ve handled my daughter all her life and haven’t done a bad job of it!”

But Hermione wasn’t going to be cowed. Now, both of Eileen’s eyebrows rose as she witnessed her parents’ first fight over her.

”If she did commit wrong actions, Severus, she got the trait honestly!” Hermione shot back at him, stamping her foot for emphasis.

”Honestly or not, she won’t be going to the Christmas ball. That’s her punishment!” he snarled at Hermione as Eileen’s eyes went wide.

”But—but it’s tomorrow night, dad. And I’ve already got my dress and shoes and it’s my first ball. I really want to go,” Eileen cried.

Hermione gasped. Her first ball? He was going to keep her from experiencing that because she was upset about the gossip about them? Why, the hard-hearted bastard.

”You should have thought about that before you deceived me, Eileen. You are coming home with me, tonight,” he said coldly.

“Severus Snape, you monster!” Hermione suddenly yelled at him. He looked at her coolly. He didn’t care if she called him names. He was still Eileen’s father.

“I’ve been called worse things,” he said, “now, come along Eileen.”

Eileen stood there, her brown eyes flitting from her father’s face to Hermione’s face. He was being so unfair. He could get like that, but this was the first time Eileen had someone else in her corner.

”No,” she said softly.

Snape stared at her.

”What did you say?” he asked her in disbelief.

”No. I’ll not come home. I want to go to the ball. I walked out of that class to keep from hexing someone, dad. That was the smartest thing to do in the situation. You always said if a situation is unbearable and not worth the effort of attempting to change it, walk away from it. And I did what you told me to do. Now, you want to punish me for it. No, dad. That’s not fair.”

”Are you—are you purposely disobeying me, Eileen?” Snape asked her in a quiet voice. But there was pain in his eyes as he looked at the daughter he loved.

”I’m afraid so, dad, unless you’re going to throw me over your shoulder and force me to go with you,” she said, hating the way he looked at her.

”I see,” Snape said. “Very well, Eileen. It’s clear you no longer respect me, now that you have—“

Snape looked at Hermione.

”—someone else to influence and coddle you. Do what you like. Despite my best efforts—it all ends the same way, doesn’t it?”

”Dad—don’t,” Eileen said to Snape as he looked at her, his eyes wet.

”I’ve got to go,” he said softly, then he looked at Hermione. “You’ve only known her less than a day and have managed to undo the work of a lifetime in mere hours. You are an amazing witch, Hermione Weasley. Very effective at whatever you deign to do. Very effective. You should do well against the Board. Congratulations and good night.”

Snape billowed off into the night, heading for the main gate.

”Dad! Wait!” Eileen cried, running after him. But she couldn’t see him. He must have Disillusioned himself.

”Dad! Wait! Come back!” Eileen cried, but only silence answered her. “I won’t go to the ball! I’ll listen! Dad!”

There was still no answer. Eileen slowly walked back to Hermione and looked at her miserably.

”He’s gone. He looked so—so hurt,” she said in a quavering voice. “And he sounded so sad. What do you think he meant when he said it all ends the same way?”

Hermione thought she knew, but she didn’t want to burden Eileen with it.

”Don’t worry about it, Eileen,” she said softly.

”But I am worrying. I want to know what he meant by that? That it all ends that same way.”

Hermione sighed.

”I think he meant everyone abandons him in the end,” Hermione said, blinking rapidly. It really was incredibly sad because, overall, it was true for the wizard. He had believed Eileen would be the one person who would stand with him, support him through thick and thin.

But Snape didn’t realize that Eileen was growing up, and there were going to be clashes of will. It wasn’t abandonment, it was just—nature. She had defied him for the first time in her life and it cut him to the core. Of course he blamed Hermione, who argued with him right in front of Eileen, undermining his authority.

”I haven’t abandoned him,” Eileen said miserably. “I just want to go to the ball.”

”Then go, Eileen. This won’t be the first time you and your father clash. You’re growing up. This will blow over. Your father loves you. He just has to face the fact that you aren’t his little girl any longer.”

Eileen looked at Hermione, tears beginning to fall from her eyes as she fought to hold them in.

”I’ll always be his little girl,” she replied. “Nothing and no one is going to change that.”

Eileen walked off into the night toward the castle without saying another word to Hermione.

As Hermione headed for the main gates, she wondered if she should have said anything at all. Snape was right. She had only known Eileen a couple of hours and already she was coming between them. She really didn’t want to do that. She just wanted to get to know her daughter and be there for her, not replace her father.

Hermione exited the grounds of Hogwarts, and Disapparated home, her heart feeling heavy as stone.

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About three hours later, a very inebriated Severus Snape threw open the door to his shop and shouted for Odessa, his voice ringing up and down Knockturn Alley.

”Odessa! I need your services!” the wizard bellowed unabashedly, announcing his intentions to the world. “Get your round arse in here! Now!”

Snape slammed the door, weaved over to the recliner and dropped down in it heavily. He picked up the bottle of Firewhiskey he’d been draining since he came home and turned it up against his lips, guzzling it like water.

The shop door opened and in walked Odessa, looking a bit surprised.

”You bellowed?” she asked him.

Snape looked at her with bloodshot eyes.

”I’m—lonely,” he said, his voice going soft. “I am in dire need of—company, Odessa. I didn’t want someone—I didn’t know.”

Odessa felt very sympathetic to the normally hard wizard. He was drunk and vulnerable. The way he said he was lonely was almost heartbreaking.

”Oh, that’s all right, Severus,” she said, giving him a smile. “I’ll be glad to keep you company.”

”For the right price of course,” he slurred.

”Of course,” Odessa replied, but to be honest, she might have stayed with him even without pay because of his condition. Odessa had never seen him drunk before.

”Listen, I’m going to close up the shop for you,” the prostitute said. “Then we’ll get down to the ‘company’ part, ok?”

”Watsheva,” Snape said, the bottle slipping from his hand as he closed his eyes.

Odessa closed up the shop and counted down the drawer, taking three Galleons out and marking it in Snape’s account book for “services rendered.” She heard a horrible snore and looked over to see Snape sound asleep.

”Poor bloke,” she said softly, walking over to him and running her hand over his cheek. “Whatever is troubling you must be something big for you to get like this. I’d better get you home.”

Odessa knew where Severus’ home was. He had taken her there once during one of their extremely rare encounters. She struggled with the drunken wizard, getting her shoulders under his arm and holding him up. She lowered the torches in the shop, warded it securely, then Disapparated, Snape in tow.

Severus Snape didn’t realize it, but he did have one friend in this cold, cruel world, one who understood how cold and cruel it could be.

Odessa Divine might be a whore, but she was a kind soul. She knew what it was to be abandoned, to be ostracized and to be looked down on. She knew and empathized with others who experienced the same thing. So she empathized with Snape. She knew no one would come to his aid, and more than likely he would have been robbed in his condition if she hadn’t done something. He was an all right sort. She wouldn’t let it happen.

They reappeared in front of Snape’s home, and immediately fell to the ground, Snape lying on top of Odessa, dead weight and snoring as she struggled to roll him off of her.

”My, you’re a heavy one,” she hissed, finally getting him off and pulling out her wand.

”He won’t know,” Odessa said to herself, pointing the wand at him.

”Levicorpus,” she said, solving the weight problem as she directed the dangling, sleeping wizard into his home, and eventually his bed. Raucous was on his roost, but didn’t make a squawk as Odessa brought Severus in. The raven knew his master was out cold and in need of help, so he allowed the witch to proceed unimpeded.

Odessa magically stripped Snape down to his boxers, then lifted the elastic band and peeked in at his goods, shaking her head at the impressive size of his package.

”The gods of nads were awfully good to you, Severus Snape,” she said to the sleeping wizard, letting the elastic snap back.

She covered him up, then divestoed all her clothing except her bra and knickers and climbed into bed next to him, slipping under the covers. She had been paid after all so he deserved her time.

Besides, he was going to be a mess in the morning and would need someone to help fix him up. In addition, sleeping in a nice bed in a clean, quiet home was like a mini-vacation for the witch, who was used to cramped, cheap little rooms with paper-thin walls and mattresses that sagged in the middle.

So, Odessa was in no hurry to leave.

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A/N: Thanks for reading.