Eye of the Beholder

Chapter 8

Chapter 8. A Visit with the Headmaster

Sunday afternoon Snape strode down the hall towards the Headmaster’s office. At the password, ‘toffee flavoured beans’, the doors opened and Snape stepped onto the rising staircase. At the top, he walked over to Dumbledore’s inner office door and knocked.

 
"Enter," Dumbledore replied. Snape opened the door and stepped into the office. "Ah, Severus, what can I do for you?" he asked, smiling. Snape took the seat in front of the Headmaster’s desk. He felt nervous with all of the photos of the previous Headmasters staring at him while they were pretending to be asleep. He felt like he was being watched, which, the thought to himself, he probably was.

 
"I have come here to discuss two issue with you, sir," he began. Albus Dumbledore sat back in his chair, folded his hands, and gave Snape his full attention. "First," Snape began, "I wanted to let you know I have endeavored to begin a special project with one of my potions students, Sasha Rowan." At this, Dumbledore’s eyebrows lifted somewhat, but he nodded his head for Snape to continue.

 
"It has come to my attention that for some time now, she has been trying to brew a certain potion, but has not had much success. I let her know that if she required my assistance in the matter I would provide all the guidance I could. She expressed interest in this, and so we have made arrangements to start the potion. It will take approximately a month to complete, which means she will be staying here at Hogwarts during the Holidays. I thought you should be made aware of this."

 
Dumbledore looked at Snape and slowly nodded his head. "I appreciate that Severus. I can imagine what type of potion she is looking for," he said meaningfully. "Severus, will it be possible to accomplish such a thing? I would not want to get her hopes up without good cause." Albus gave Snape a pointed look over his half-moon glasses.

 
Snape just smiled. "Yes it is possible. Involved and complex, but possible." Dumbledore thought a moment. This was very unusual for Severus. In all the time they have known each other, Snape has never offered his talents to help a student in such a way before. Dumbledore was astute enough to realize Snape would not do such a thing it he did not think it was necessary. And besides, Dumbledore thought, it was about time that Severus got back into what he enjoyed best – making potions. Maybe losing himself in the complexities of this task would give him something else to think about rather than the Death Eaters. And besides, Snape actually sounded excited about it, and that was something Dumbledore wanted to encourage.

 
Albus smiled benevolently at Snape. "I think it is a very noble thing you are doing, Severus. She is a bright girl, no question about that, and I think you would appreciate her wit and intelligence in a way the other students do not. Besides, I think she could use a bit of interacting to bring her out of her shell."

 
Snape was not too sure what to make of Dumbledore’s last comment but continued. "I will arrange with Filch that she is not to be harassed during the times she is walking from her dormitory to the potions dungeons. I thought I would inform you of this incase there are problems." Dumbledore no his his agreement, and would make a point of mentioning it to the other teachers as well.

 
Snape cleared his throat. "There is one other issue I would like to discuss with you, actually. It is more of a personal nature. Do you know what happened to her, to cause such physical and emotional damage?" Snape was curious if Dumbledore knew any more about the circumstances surrounding her time before she entered Hogwarts.

 
Dumbledore carefully removed his glasses and set them down on his desk, thinking. "Ah yes. Sasha. An unusual case, very unfortunate, very unfortunate. While I do not know the whole story, what I do know is that she was adopted out to a Muggles family when she was an infant. Unfortunately, her new mother was quite religious, and had no idea Sasha was a witch. Nor, did she believe in wizards or witches. Apparently, when she was a child, Sasha had the ability to do magic, although with nobody to guide her, it was not controlled. Apparently odd things happened around their house that she could not explain. The mother realized that when the child was around, the wind chimes would play Sasha’s favorite song, instead of random notes in the wind. Other small things, like she would find Sasha’s favorite blanket in her bed when the mother specifically put it away the day before. Little things that we do routinely in the magical world, that would unnerve a Muggle."

 
"Unfortunately, as Sasha grew from a toddler to a child, her powers became more focussed, and more incidents occurred. Her mother also became more paranoid, and she eventually came to believe Sasha was the spawn of the Christian devil. She would lock Sasha in a closet and semi-starve her in an attempt to ‘exorcise the demons’ from poor child. Her adopted father eventually left because of the mother’s actions, abandoning Sasha to that woman."

 
"One day when Sasha was but seven or eight, she was playing outside when she was assaulted. By whom and how many we will never know. Sasha was left with a deep wound across her face. Sasha somehow managed to crawl home, bleeding, to her mother, and told her what happened. In the mother's delusional mind, she thought the devil had come to claim the child, marking her with his brand, and the mother locked Sasha in a closet for two days. If it were not for the child’s paternal grandmother stopping by and realizing something was wrong, Sasha would most likely have died in that closet. As it was, the wound became infected, and healed as you see it today."

 
Snape had quietly listened to the story with disgust. "And nobody knows who was responsible for the attack in the first place?" he asked with mounting fury. Anger at both the attackers, and the stupid Muggles woman.

 
Dumbledore looked up at Snape with sadness in his eyes. "Wizards, unfortunately. Her wound did not heal well because it was caused by magical means, which required magical healing. Exactly why she was chosen for the assault, nobody will ever know, I am afraid."

 
"So what happened after that. How did she come to Hogwarts?" Snape asked.

 
"Her grandmother took her away to recover, both from the physical attack, and from the emotional damage she had suffered. When it was time for Sasha to receive an invitation to attend Hogwarts, the grandmother was wise enough to realize Sasha was not yet ready. I agreed that she should wait a year so she could fully recover, and come to grips that she was not a spawn of the devil, and that being a widoesdoes not mean she is evil."

 
Snape nodded his understanding. "I see. And the grandmother? How come she was so understanding of the whole situation?" Snape inquired skeptically.

 
Dumbledore smiled. "Because she is a Squib, apparently. " It made sense to Snape. Well. He would have to think about this a bit. It certainly gave him a deeper insight into Sasha’s psyche.

 
"Thank you, Headmaster, I appreciate you sharing your information with me," Snape said as he stood to leave.

 
"Any time, Severus, any time. You spend too much time alone in your dungeons do you know that? You should get out and socialize a bit more," Albus chided him. "One more thing, Severus," Dumbledore said as Snape reached to door to leave. "What do you think of a Christmas dance this year at Hogwarts, in addition to the usual feast? I rather think it would be a nice change. It would be a good opportunity for you to mix with the staff and students on a more, informal basis," he said meaningfully.

 
Snape froze where he was, then straightened, and turned towards Dumbledore. "A dance. Well, not really my ‘thing’, however I imaging it would be a good way for the students to release all that extra energy after the Christmas exams." With that, Snape bid the Headmaster a good day and left the office.

 
A dance indeed, Snape thought. That was the absolute last thing he wanted to attend.