෴✵෴

❝ 𝙹𝚎𝚔𝚢𝚕𝚕 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚊 𝚏𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛'𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝; 𝙷𝚢𝚍𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚊 𝚜𝚘𝚗'𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎.❞

─ 𝑅𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝐿𝑜𝑢𝑖𝑠 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑛

෴✵෴

He's doing this to spite me.

Nina glares at her father from across the room as she rises from her desk. Group projects are the bane of her existence. Her father knows this, it's why he's told them all to get into pairs to practice non-verbal spells. Bastard.

Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown go together. Merula and Bernadette Cruise, of course. Julian Carter teams up with his sister Evelynn from Ravenclaw. Granger and Longbottom. Everyone is quick to link arms with their best friends and skip off to practice (or fake it rather, seeing as how most of them are just muttering the spells under their breath), but Nina has a few issues. First, she doesn't have a best friend. Fin is no longer here, and Oscar can't even get into the school. Second, nobody wants to be partnered with the teacher's daughter, especially when that teacher is Nina's father. It goes without saying that he's one of the most frightening staff members at Hogwarts, and no one wants to be on the receiving end of his rage if anything went wrong and Nina got injured (though Nina's not so sure he'd care enough to have such a rash reaction anymore).

She's stuck there looking stupid.

Maybe her father will let her get away with practicing without a partner because favoritism? She almost laughs at the idea. Perhaps, had this class taken place three years ago that could have been the case, but the way things have been going and the fact that Nina has had three rows with her father already that morning proved one thing: the days where he put her on a pedestal above all the other students and changed courses just because she found one particular lesson dreadful were over. He's not going to baby her any more.

Never mind, it's fine. It's just one class.

Stomach in knots, Nina starts down the aisles of desks, intent to find a partner before she gets stuck with someone unbearable, but she soon stops doing this. It looks stupid, she knows it does. Gryffindors are out for obvious reasons. A Ravenclaw, maybe, but she doesn't think that's a very good mix. They're both intellectual houses, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Too similar. No Hufflepuff in their right mind would be partners with a Slytherin, not with the negative connotations hanging over their heads, not when they're trying to avoid the same fate. Oh wow look the two evil houses are conspiring!

Her first instinct is to find Barbara Johnson because of this. She figures people will still be avoiding her like she's got dragon pox, but of course by the time Nina spots her in the crowd she's managed to find a partner with Rowan Khanna from Ravenclaw. It's fine. Rowan was in the Diggory Association, so she won't be afraid of Barbara like everyone else is, and they're close friends too. It makes sense. It's fine.

Nina's next thought is to find someone from her own house, but the issue here is that she can't stand most of the people in her year. They're brash, not cunning. Mean, not ambitious. They're the least Slytherin Slytherins she has ever seen. Blaise Zabini is tolerable, but as she moves for him he splits off with someone else and she has to circle around like she'd meant to go somewhere else. Thankfully, he doesn't seem to have noticed.

This is so stupid...

It's just one class.

Nina scratches at the back of her head. It's very hot. No one else seems bothered. She airs her neck with the collar of her robes. Do they fit right? They don't seem to. They're tight. Must be too small. Her father is horrible at shopping for female robes; she should have argued with him more about going to Diagon Alley...

Why the hell is this bloody room so hot?!

Nina has to be the only one without a partner now. Even Malfoy manages to find himself someone to work with -- Malfoy, Malfoy. People want to be paired up with Malfoy?

She's waited too long.

There are now only three other students left who need partners, none of which Nina is eager to work with: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Ed Lawson. All Gryffindors. This is bad. Very, very bad.

Just one class...

The boys talk it over, and Nina contemplates jumping out the window. Or perhaps she'll get sick and be rushed to the hospital wing. Or maybe she'll pass out from this bloody heat.

"... Not that I don't want to be partners with you, Harry, it's just ─"

"Ron, it's fine. I understand. Go spend time with your boyfriend, I'll be fine."

Oh no.

Weasley grins brightly, and Potter tries returning it. "You're the best, mate!"

Oh no, oh no.

Lawson and Weasley scurry off to join the line of students practicing, leaving Potter to look around awkwardly for another partner.

No, no, no, no.

His eyes land on Nina and widen in horror when he realizes she's the only one left. She sees him frantically searching for someone, anyone else.

Oh, Merlin please let there be someone else.

There is no one else.

With no other alternative, Potter shuffles over. Nina tugs on her sleeve. The room's temperature raises about ten degrees. She glances over at her father, who's glaring at the back of Potter's head like he's got some toxic disease he's going to share with Nina. It would have been a comforting thought, knowing that his own stupid idea back fired, had Nina not been so sure the classroom would burst in to flames at any second with how hot it's getting. Potter doesn't turn to look at her dad ─ he seems determined not to ─ but from the look on his face he knows Nina's father is out for blood now. She winces. This can only end in disaster.

Oh my wretched, wretched life...

Harry Potter is the worst possible person she can be paired with. It's not that she doesn't like Potter; in fact, she has no opinion of him what-so-ever, given that in all the five years they've been classmates she's never had a conversation with him (alright she's spoken to him briefly on three different occurrences: First, that time in first year on the Hogwarts Express when Fin introduced them, though Nina hadn't said much at the time; second, when she and her father were going back and forth to the Black house for those meetings with the Order of Phoenix last year, but those times don't really count Nina doesn't think because it was just "hi" and "bye"; and third, they had a small interaction when she had tried to help him with his Oclumancy, but that didn't last long as he was dreadful at it).

Her father had forbidden Nina to speak to him ever since first year, (not that she even wanted to seek out social interaction with anyone, never mind a boy that would surely attract all sorts of attention) seemingly under the impression that he's some sort of bully or menace, despite no other teacher having any issues out of him. She remembers how furious he had been when Nina told him she and Fin sat with him on the train that year.

He has some sort of grudge against the boy for reasons Nina is sure makes sense only to himself.

Nina has never questioned it before ─ her father is strange ─ but given that she's now sixteen, and also the fact that she's itching for new ways to get under her dad's skin, she figures it's about time she breaks that rule ─ but still. It's weird. She has no way of knowing Potter's opinion on her. He can't think very highly of her. She's not only the daughter of who has to be his least favorite teacher, but she's also a Slytherin ─ the natural born enemy to Gryffindors. It doesn't help that she has a bit of a bad reputation, what with the eleven different instances in which she's set something on fire, the fact that she's always going on about homicide, never mind that she has a tendency to stab people with forks.

Oh, and she's now working for the man who killed his parents. There's that too. Not that he knows that bit ─ but still.

Nina tugs at her sleeves. The room grows hotter, still.

"Are you going to get your wand out or...?" Nina winces. She hadn't realized she'd been standing around for too long.

Stupid, stupid, stupid...

Potter already has his wand out, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else. Is he annoyed? He hates her. It only makes sense. She's horrible. Letting herself get stuck in this situation, becoming one of them. She shouldn't even be here, she's a fraud. He doesn't know this ─ but, still. She's just like her dad, and that's bad enough. Potter hates her dad, so he must hate her.

Just one class.

"Oh, um, y-yeah... Sorry." She fumbles with it as she brings it out of her pocket. Had she been thinking properly, she might have tried stuffing her discomfort inside that imaginary door of hers, but the room is too hot to concentrate on that and non-verbal spells at the same time. The idea doesn't come to her until much later anyway.

Stupid...

Potter stands back a little ways, like the others are doing. He holds up his wand with little enthusiasm, probably wondering how he had such rotten luck, getting stuck with the worst possible partner... Nina wonders if anyone will trade partners. But she can see everyone else. How they glance over, relieved that it's not them who's stuck with her. No one will trade.

Just one class...

The room is still very hot. She should be focusing, preparing for when Potter throws something at her (or maybe he's waiting to block something from her? She's not sure). Instead, her gaze drifts away, studying the other students. Granger is the first one to successfully perform a non-verbal spell, followed closely by Barbara. Most people are still faking it. Perhaps Nina can get by pretending the task is too hard? Doubtful, but anything is better than standing there like a blithering idiot with the worst partner in the world.

Potter's rolling his wand in his hand. She's starting to think maybe he is waiting for her to try something, but she doesn't want to ask in case he's struggling to come up with something himself. Instead, what comes out is, "If you want to try the Killing Curse, that'd be fine. Oh! And double points if you hit me. I'd thank you for it, actually."

He stares at her. "I... What?"

"Never mind..." Why did she say that? There has only ever been one person in this god forsaken school who understands Nina's sense of humor. She really misses Fin...

"Okay then..?"

"Pathetic, Potter. Here, let me show you."

This is where shit hits the fan. Nina groans as her father strolls over. Potter starts to say, "But we haven't actually ─ " Her father has his wand trained on him, and within seconds a nonverbal spell is flying towards him. Potter's own wand is up for defense just as quick as Nina's father's. "Protego!"

Well that wasn't nonverbal...

He's got quick reflexes, though, Nina will give him that.

The shield charm is strong enough to knock Nina's father back into a desk. Everyone is watching now.

Dear God...

Her father scowls, the whole class gawking at the scene, much to Nina's dismay. Why does he always do this? "Do you remember me telling you we are practicing nonverbal spells, Potter?" It used to freak her out ─ how differently he spoke to other students than he did to her ─ but as the years drug on, Nina has come to expect it. It's still terrible every time, but she expects it.

Potter is stiff. Nina wants to die. Everyone is still staring. "Yes."

"Yes, sir," Nina's father corrects.

This is where Potter signs his death warrant. "There's no need to call me sir, Professor."

Perhaps, it's the tension, or the heat in the classroom, or even Nina's ever growing apathy towards her father, but she can't help it. She laughs.

Her father gives her a look, but she just shrugs it off. She's not the only one who's had an audible reaction. Several other people around the room gasp, and a group of Gryffindor boys are grinning behind her father's back. A couple people are struggling to stifle their own giggles.

"Detention," Nina's father says. "Saturday night, my office. I do not take cheek from anyone, Potter... Not even the Chosen One." Potter looks disgruntled by the use of his latest title.

"Come on, Dad, get a sense of humor." She's not sure why she butts in. Nina doesn't mind confrontation, it's just that she prefers not to have a crowd of spectators when it occurs. Then again, everything else is changing this year, why shouldn't she? And if he's going to force her to replicate him, why shouldn't she give him Hell the way he does everyone else? "It was pretty funny."

From the look on his face, he does not agree. "Do you want to have detention as well, Nina?" The rest of the class is trying to pretend they're not watching, now, lest they be the next victim of ridicule, but they're also curious. Up until this point, Professor Snape, as he's known to them, has never given, or even threatened to give his daughter detention. As far as they could see she has never been disciplined at all. Nina can't see why that fact is so interesting to the lot of them, but she can already see it being the talk of the school later.

Her heart's hammering in her chest now, vision red. She's not sure if it's having an audience or the fact that he's got the audacity to act like she's out of line. He started this whole damn thing. "No thanks," she says, knowing she's digging her own grave right next to Potter's. "I'm busy Saturday."

She swears someone goes, "Ooh!" From the flash in her father's eyes, Nina thinks he hears it too, but given that it's impossible to tell where it came from (or maybe he's just too furious with her to care) he doesn't do anything about it ─ fortunately for whoever. But honestly, can't they just fuck off?

"You have no plans. You are a recluse." Nina huffs as he calls her out. The rest of the class is about to have a stroke. Lucky, them. "Which leaves you open for detention. So, I will see you in my office Saturday as well."

Nina snorts, "Not if I don't show up." On one hand, a classroom full of her peers may not be the best place to have their latest argument, but on the other hand she refuses to give him the last word.

Her glowers at her. "Shall we make that two detentions, then?"

"Ooh, can we?"

She's making a scene, she knows, but at the moment her rage outweighs her discomfort with the onlookers. He's such a Pratt. They're shifting now, anyway. Something about a parent arguing with their child puts people off, especially if that parent and child are the Snapes.

"And now it's three. Shall we keep going?"

Nina shrugs. Potter's next to her, trying his hardest to look invisible, lest he get himself another detention too in the cross fire. "We might as well, seeing as how you're so intent on making me do things I don't want to do." This is about more than just this class, more than working with Potter as a partner, more than detentions, and more than stupid non-verbal spells. He can't respond. Not unless he wants to give himself away, announce to the whole damned class that he is still a Death Eater and that Dumbledore is a blasted idiot for trusting him so much.

A conflict of interest.

For a moment longer, the father and daughter do nothing but glare at one another. Nina knows they'll be continuing this at a later date, without the audience so they can say what they really want, what they really mean, but for the time being she takes the win.

Her father, agitated at the loss, makes a swift turn to leave the conversation. The rest of the class jumps at the movement, hurrying to look as though they've been focused on their work this entire time. Patsies.

She glares at his back as he goes. Fucking bastard...

෴✵෴

෴✵෴

𝚁𝚞𝚕𝚎 𝙽𝚞𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝚃𝚠𝚘

෴✵෴

𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚙𝚞𝚝𝚎, 𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚖 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚓𝚞𝚛𝚎. (𝙽𝚘𝚝𝚎, 𝚒𝚝 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖, 𝚒𝚝 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚕.)