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Not Supposed to Be by Shorea [Reviews - 19]


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As the returning students made their way into the Great Hall for the first time that year, Severus sat pensively watching them without the slightest sneer on his face. Even the sight of the dark haired, green eyed boy who listened gravely to the bushy haired girl at his side didn't earn so much as a grimace. For the first time in more years than he could count, Severus found his attention focused completely on the first years now filing into the room.

As they walked, each nervous or excited to some degree, Severus sought out one tiny figure in their midst and sighed ever so slightly. She stood out like a sore thumb, unimpressed by the hall around her, and was already garnering a good bit of attention. The time had finally come.

Snape's mind, usually sharp and focused, began to wander uncharacteristically. The sight of the girl had brought back a myriad of memories, and while the first years queued and the Sorting Hat began its litany, Severus found his thoughts turned to the topic of one night stands.

There were many things Severus believed one night stands should be. Given his biting sarcasm and heavy work obligations, it was no wonder that he had considerable experience with them. As such Severus felt he knew their ins and outs, intricacies and unspoken rules better than most. He had also learned that sometimes, one night stands could be everything that they aren't supposed to be and more.

He supposed that his biggest mistake was getting absolutely hammered. It was something that he hadn't done since his own days at Hogwarts, but the occasion had demanded it so completely that Severus had no choice but to give in. And it wasn't as if anyone would have noticed either way, for everyone else was as drunk as he.

The boy-who-lived-to-annoy had become the-boy-who-somehow-managed-to-thrash-Voldemort, and in the process had accidentally uncovered the truth about the agreement between Snape and Dumbledore on the evening of the Headmaster's death. That Snape had taken two Unbreakable Vows, both of Dumbledore's initial devising, came as quite a shock to most of the wizarding world. In fact, it was only the eye witness accounts of Snape killing Lucius Malfoy and thus turning the tide during the last battle which bent public opinion in his favour.

And so it was, on that fateful evening some sixteen years before, that Severus Snape had gotten thoroughly smashed during the victory celebrations and discovered just what one night stands were not supposed to be.




The Three Broomsticks had been packed with survivors, seemingly trying to decimate their numbers with Firewhiskey in a way that would have made the Dark Lord cackle with glee. Snape, unable to deal with the noise and the constant pestering of now admiring fans, had stumbled outside into the snow with half a mind to throw himself into the lake and be done with it. His impromptu suicide plans were soon ruined, however, when he heard a hysterical giggle coming from the alleyway.

"Oh yes, Professor Flitwick, I think that's a marvellous idea! I'll get on that right away! But what about the other project you had me working on... should it wait? And I've still got the first years' essays to grade... Yes, you're right. I'll set those aside for later."

Severus stopped in his tracks, staring dumbly as Ginny Weasley talked to thin air. Her drunken ravings hit home painfully; the good-natured teacher she seemed to be speaking to had been killed during the battle. Ginny had been the one to find him, eyes closed and face serene as if he only slept. She had taken it well at the time, but Snape wasn't surprised to see her cracking now.

Ginny had become Flitwick's apprentice after school, and over the last three years Flitwick had developed an almost fatherly care for the witch. Between Molly's well meaning but doomed attempts to repair the relationship between her daughter and Harry, and her brothers' constant nagging to find a man, Flitwick had come to mean a lot to Ginny.

Something about her grief stricken face touched a chord in Severus, and he placed a gentle hand on Ginny's shoulder, meaning to lead her back inside before she caught a cold.

"Oh, Hello. Come to talk to Professor Flitwick?" Ginny asked slowly, her voice surprisingly clear for one so drunk. Severus grimaced slightly and began to speak in what he hoped to be a gentle voice.

"Ms. Weasley, Professor Flitwick is not here. He died on Wednesday during the battle. This if Friday, and you are standing outside of the Three Broomsticks in the freezing cold. Now, if you would be so kind as to come inside..."

"No!" Ginny cried, and Snape wasn't sure which part of his statement she was protesting.

"No, I don't want to go inside. I can't face them... please, don't make me go back in there."

Some of the madness had left Ginny's gaze, though the alcohol still clouded them, and a solitary tear rolled down her pale cheek. His own mind fogged almost beyond recognition, the usually stoic Potions master came undone. He reached up and wiped the tear away, and found himself completely lost in the eyes and arms of the witch before him.

And so began the journey of the "not supposed to" one night stand. One night stands were not supposed to happen in an alleyway in the middle of January. They were not supposed to happen with former students, especially not when said former student was a drunk, traumatized, war hero of only twenty-one.

The former student in question was not supposed to arouse her mother's suspicion by her tousled appearance the next morning, or send her entire family into panic when she threw up at the breakfast table a week later. Her family (obviously as mad as the rest of the pure-bloods) was not supposed to jump to ridiculous conclusions and hunt him down, unarming him quicker than the Dark Lord ever could and forcing his own Veritaserum down his throat. They also weren't supposed to force said student to marry her one night stand without even consulting a mediwitch first.

When Madam Pomfrey was finally allowed to examine Ginny and pronounce her illness the flu, it was too late. As much as Ginny and Snape raged at her family and each other, a wizarding marriage was permanently binding, and they were stuck.

The marriage was a disaster. While they kept a cool civility about themselves in public, their attitudes toward each other in their chambers were volatile at best. Ginny blamed Severus for taking advantage of her; Severus accused Ginny of the same.

When Ginny joined the staff as Charms teacher a month later, things got even worse. By the end of the first day, there wasn't a single ruby or emerald in the giant hourglasses, and McGonagall, now Headmistress, threatened to take their point privileges away.

Three years went by, and things continued much the same. At their worst, Ginny hexed Severus so badly that he missed an entire day of classes, and Severus retaliated by putting something mildly nasty in her pumpkin juice which turned her skin green. But the attacks ended the day Potter announced his engagement to Luna Lovegood.

Ginny's girlhood crush had grown deeper throughout her school years, and fifth year had been the happiest time of her life. Despite her bravado at Dumbledore's funeral, Harry's decision to leave her had hurt deeply. Her heart aching, she'd had trouble facing him again. As time went on they grew apart, and by the end of the war they were left with little in common. Though she had moved on, Harry and Luna's marriage awoke a strange pang in Ginny's heart as she thought once again about what could have been.

As Severus entered their rooms that evening, he was stopped short by the sight of his wife crying softly on the sofa. While she had shed many tears in his presence, they had been tears of anger and self pity. These silent drops were of something else entirely, and they called his mind back to the grief stricken girl in the alleyway three years before.

Once again his hand had gone to her shoulder, and she did not turn it away. They talked for hours, Severus sympathetic but blunt, Ginny quiet and resigned. By the time they each turned in for the evening, a tentative friendship had been formed.

The next two years felt something like a courtship for Severus. While they still fought occasionally, Ginny seemed to like his wry humour, and he admired her pluck. They both eventually forgave her family, and returned to speaking terms. Severus even braved a Weasley family dinner once or twice a year. When, on their fifth anniversary, Ginny told him that she was pregnant, his heart did a little backflip. He would be a father.

But one night stands were not meant to have happy endings. The pregnancy was a struggle from the start for Ginny, and in the end Severus was told there was "nothing they could do". Even as his daughter came into the world, his wife left it.

Severus wanted to be bitter... to rage against the child who had stolen away the joy he had only recently discovered. But one look at her tiny face had him wrapped around her little finger, and Severus gazed with love at the baby in his arms.

The first few years had been the hardest. Severus had no experience with children under the age of eleven, and crying babies did nothing for his temper or patience. But little Evelyn could do no wrong in his eyes, and with the help of the sympathetic female teachers, he managed to muddle through some how. He had even put aside his own prejudices against the Weasley clan for the child's sake, and she had spent many lazy summers playing with her cousins and Potter's brood at the Weasley stronghold.

While at Hogwarts she led a sheltered but full life. The Snape family fortune was put to good use, seeing that she had private tutors and a house-elf to look after her. Thanks to her Aunt Hermione the girl understood that house-elves were to be respected, leaving Snape with the unenviable task of finding a house-elf willing to play dress up with his daughter and accept paid holidays.

She learned the art of Potion-making at her father's knees, and spent many hours in their library pouring over texts far too advanced for her age. There had been question as to whether she should attend Hogwarts or not, but Severus could not stand being separated from her for such long stretches of time, should she go somewhere else. In the end it took every teacher swearing a blood oath to grade her fairly and show no favouritism before the Ministry would allow it. Severus wondered how his Evelyn would cope, but Harry took her aside and talked to her about the pressure of being well known, and Severus felt oddly grateful to the boy-who-might-not-be-so-bad-after-all.




And now, the time had come. McGonagall called "Snape, Evelyn" and Severus watched carefully as a hush fell over the crowd.

She walked gracefully, her petite frame ramrod straight and her head held high. Her skin was pale but mercifully not sallow. While her hair was as dark as her father's, it had a red sheen in the candlelight. Her eyes were inky and deep like his, but her nose, blessedly, her mother’s. She looked like a porcelain doll, the cold and void, save for the smattering of freckles across her nose and the twinkle in her eye.

She sat primly and lowered the hat delicately across her forehead, holding the edges so that it wouldn't fall across her face. The silence grew nearly unbearable as the hat took its time. Occasionally Evelyn would wrinkle her nose or smile slightly, but still the hat didn't answer. Finally, just when McGonagall was about to remove the hat and check for damage, the brim cracked and a feeble voice called out "Gryffindor?"

For a moment, no one moved. Then, growing slowly, a rumble of sound erupted all around them. Gasps of disbelief and curious proclamations flew as student's looked to their Potions professor, the Sorting Hat, and back again. Severus was speechless with shock, still sure he had heard incorrectly. The loudest and most devastating (to Severus, anyway) response came from the Gryffindor table... a loud and raucous cheer, led by the ever annoying Sirius Potter and Evelyn's Weasley cousins.

Still, nothing could ruin his happiness completely. Evelyn smiled as she took her seat between two redheads, and giggled when Nearly Headless Nick shot a smug look at the Baron. Finally recovering enough to nod and clap as his daughter looked his way, Severus smiled wryly and conceded defeat. There were a lot of things one night stands were not supposed to be, but he was grateful for every one of them.



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Not Supposed to Be by Shorea [Reviews - 19]


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