𝒶ngelicchris

Now, years later, you had established a reputation at Hogwarts as one of the most benign sudents. Even those who detested your father were friendly with you — many of them even attempting to convince you to lessen your father’s harsh demeanour.

“You know I can’t do that, Neville. He’s really not as rude as everyone acts, he’s just.. strong-willed,” you defended, as you walked alongside Neville Longbottom through the school grounds towards your first class of the day, Herbology with Professor Sprout.

“Maybe to you..” Neville whispered under his breath, as the two of you neared the greenhouses through the calm wind.

Everyone knew that Snape had an obvious bias in favouritism towards the Slytherin students of his House, which extended to his daughter, even if you were a Gryffindor.

As you entered the greenhouse, the sight of Harry, Ron, and Hermione waving towards the two of you caught your attention. You received a few nods of acknowledgment from many of the Slytherins, who you shared the class period with.

“We’re supposed to be — OUCH — getting Bubotuber pus from these,” Ron said as the two of you joined their table, undiluted pus shooting towards his arm as he gestured towards a box full of slug-like plants, Hermione reaching for his arm to cast a quick remedy spell.

“Wow, Weasley, even the infestations don’t like you,” Draco Malfoy’s voice roared from the table behind the five of you, his friends laughing obnoxiously at his comment.

You turned to face him, spotting six familar Slytherin students; Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini laughed stupidly at his side, Enzo Berkshire was coddling over one of the plants, and Mattheo Riddle and Theodore Nott were trying to stab towards the middle of one of the plants with their wands.

“Shut up, Malfoy,” you said, rolling your eyes.

He stared at you for a moment, before smirking. “I’m sure your father wouldn’t be pleased to hear how you speak to your fellow classmates,” Draco teased.

“And I’m sure he won’t be too pleased once I tell him that you threw a pair of pliers towards us,” you said, eyeing one of the instruments that lay on the wooden table next to him.

“He didn’t — OUCH,” Enzo shrieked, as Blaise had swatted him over the head. “You idiot, she’s going to tell him that he did,” Blaise said.

“We can vouch for him, you know,” Pansy said, crossing her arms in front of her.

You mirrored her stance, looking at her with a look of disgust. “Oh, really? Who’s he going to believe? You five,” you gestured towards them, your gaze lingering on Theo as he wiped pus from his hair where the plant had exploded from his prodding, “or his daughter?”

Draco scoffed. “Whatever,” he said, turning back towards his own table.

“Blimey, never thought I’d see the day where Snape’s existence worked in someone’s favour,” Ron said, earning him a glare from you.

“Merlin, I feel like they’re all staring at me,” you said, as you peered over Harry’s shoulder towards the Slytherin table. At your words, Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned towards the long table in the Great Hall, and, sure enough, the dull eyes of six Slytherins glared directly at you.

“Malfoy’s just being a git, ignore him,” Harry said, as Ron stuffed his face with ham and cheese sandwiches to his other side.

“Easy for you to say! They’re not looking directly at you,” you pleaded, picking up your goblet of pumpkin juice with shaky hands to conceal yourself against their stares.

“For once,” Ron said. As you watched him reach for a roasted chicken across the table, your attention was diverted to a brown owl soaring towards your table. Hermione quickly reached for Harry’s goblet, moving it out of the way as the owl landed in front of you, a small folded piece of parchment held limply in its beak.

You took the parchment from the small owl, before reaching across towards Ron’s plate, handing it the crust of his sandwich against his protests. The owl hooted gratefully, before taking off again towards the owlery.

“What is it?” Hermione asked, eyeing the small roll of parchment you held. You unfolded it, an unfamiliar scratch of messy writing meeting your eyes.

The end justifies the means. Don’t dwell on the

conclusion, love — Draco

You looked up, facing the Slytherin table. Draco looked smug, his friends smirking at his side. Harry snatched the note from your grasp, reading it.

“What’s he playing at?” Ron spoke, reading the message over Harry’s shoulder.

“Don’t know,” you said, glaring at Draco, as you watched Theodore Nott whisper something in his ear.

Potions was always your favourite class of the day, as it was one of the only times where you would get to visit your father during school hours. The Gryffindors, however, always hated having to attend the same Potions class with you, as Snape would always replace his harshness for you by being extra hard on them — offering you and the Slytherins a free-pass from his torment.

“Did I not say to add three drops of leech juice until the liquid brewed to an acid green shade?” Snape asked Neville, who shuddered under his gaze. “Why, then, has Longbottom’s,” he gestured towards Neville’s cauldron, “turned to a putrid shade of orange?” Snape asked.

Wearily, Hermione raised her hand up, which Snape ignored. “I think we should test out Longbottom’s potion on his fat toad,” Snape suggested, as the Slytherin’s laughed at the horrified look on Neville’s face. “If it works as it should, which I highly doubt, as failure seems to follow Longbottom everywhere he goes, then this toad should shrink down to the size of Longbottom’s intelligence,” Snape said, earning choruses of laughter from the Slytherins. “If not, then Longbottom might benefit from saying his farewells to the amphibian.”

“Professor, please-,” Hermione began. “Did I pick on you to answer, Ms Granger?” Snape snapped coldly, his gaze shifting from Neville to Hermione now.

“Ten points will be-,” he began, before his eyes landed on you, who looked at him wide-eyed. “Five points from Gryffindor for meddling into matters outside of your own,” Snape said harshly to Hermione, turning back towards his desk.

. . .

“Do you see what we mean? He only lessened his punishment of the Gryffindors because you’re in our House!” Ron said exasperatedly as the four of you departed from the dungeons. Neville walked next to you, still shaking slightly as he held Trevor clutched against his chest.

“He’s goal-oriented,” you defended sharply, your books held tightly against your own chest.

“And I think he had a point,” Draco Malfoy said from behind your group. “Granger, you really should think about keeping your mouth quiet once in a while.”

Ron looked as if he were about to pull his wand out of his robes, but Hermione placed a hand on his arm to stop him.

“What’s the matter, Weasley? Afraid Snape’s going to pick on you like he did Longbottom?” Theo asked, as Mattheo reached for Trevor.

“Stop,” you said, reaching for Trevor yourself. Mattheo and Theo laughed, as Pansy, Enzo, and Blaise made their way over from where they’d left the Potions classroom. At the sound of your words, Draco looked over at you.

“Mattheo, stop it,” he said.

Shocked, everyone turned towards him. “But, this toad’s as useless as Longbottom’s-,” Mattheo began. “I said stop,” Draco said. Mattheo’s shock allowed you to seize Trevor from his grasp, handing him back to Neville, whose mouth was agape.

“And what is all this commotion?” Snape had made his way out of the dungeons, joining the group of Slytherins and Gryffindors who stood down the corridor. He turned towards you for an explanation.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville stared at you, waiting for you to rat on Draco and his friends. Yet, as you caught Draco’s eye, his friends standing a small distance behind him, something overcame you.

“N-nothing. Neville’s toad was just.. reacting to the potion a little late,” you said, as you stared up at your father. He glared at you, giving you a look that inexplictly said he didn’t believe your defence.

“Get to class, all of you,” he said, his eyes lingering on you for a moment, before turning swiftly back to the dungeons.

“What was that?” Harry demanded angrily once Snape was out of ear-shot. Your eyes locked with Draco’s again, before you continued down the corridor, passing the bewildered faces of his friends.

“She’s gone mad,” Ron spoke softly to Harry and Hermione over dinner; you were currently in your father’s office, helping him restock his potions ingredients. “We were this close to finally watching Malfoy snuff it,” he said, as he helped himself to a plateful of stew.

“Talking about little Ms Snape, are we?” Fred Weasley said, as he and George joined the Gryffindor table. “Quite a change of heart she’s had recently, don’t you think?” he added on, as he sat on Ron’s side.

“Whatcha mean?” Ron asked through a mouthful of steak and kidney pie. “Oh, come on, Ron, we knew you were thick, but not this thick,” George said.

“She’s normally really nice — unsettlingly so, actually, considering her relatives,” Fred said. “But recently,” George said, as he loaded his plate with mashed potatoes and gravy. “She’s been acting more and more like the wretched version of Snape. Been lashing out at the Slytherins, who normally treat her fairly well — you know how they are, prioritizing family trees and all that,” he mocked.

“A lot of the Slytherins even think that she should’ve been sorted into their house,” Fred said, as he withdrew a couple of pieces of Nosebleed Nougats from a packet that was in the pockets of his robes.

“That’s absurd!” Hermione shrieked. “She’s nothing like Snape!”

“The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, though, does it?” Fred said.

“Where’s your little girl friend, Potter?” called a voice from behind them. Draco Malfoy was shouting across the hall now, drawing attention from all four tables. “She’s finally decided where her loyalties lie?” he said, as the Slytherins stared at Harry, waiting for a reaction.

“Ignore them,” George said, as Ron placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder to turn him away from the Slytherin’s stares.

Hermione quickly shoveled heaps of shepherd’s pie into her mouth, causing Fred to place a hand on her wrist. “Calm down, it’s all yours, mate,” he said at her sudden rush.

“I have to get to the library,” she said, as she quickly downed the remnants of her pumpkin juice.

“For what?” Ron asked. Ignoring him, Hermione placed her knife and fork down neatly on top of her plate, before rising from the table, making her way quickly out of the hall.

If Harry, Ron, Fred and George hadn’t been so preoccupied by Hermione’s sudden departure, or the fact that Neville had mistakenly eaten one of the twin’s Nosebleed Nougats during dessert, they would have noticed the six seats at the Slytherin table that now stood vacated.

“Knight takes the King!” Ron exclaimed, as his Knight piece came barrelling towards Harry’s fallen King. The common room was empty except for the two of them, who were playing one last round of wizard’s chess before bed.

The sound of the portrait hole swinging open caught their attention, as they spotted Hermione hurrying through.

“Guys!” she said, spotting them. “You’ll never — believe — what I just heard,” she breathed out, as she clamped a hand over a stitch in her ribs.

“Well, get on with it,” Ron said, as he packed away the chess board from where he knelt next to the table near the fireplace.

She caught her breath for a moment, before hurriedly saying, “Malfoyandhisfriendsweretalkinginthelibrary.”

“Sorry?” Harry asked.

“Malfoy — and his friends — were talking in the library,” she said slower.

“Wow, that’s strictly against school rules, isn’t it?” Ron said.

“That’s not what I meant. They were talking about her, Malfoy wants to ask her out,” Hermione said, as she told them the details of how she had overheard Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson teasing Draco over falling for a Gryffindor, Enzo Berkshire congratulating him on ‘coming to his senses,’ and Theodore Nott and Mattheo Riddle shooting him outrageously unrealistic ideas on how to ask you out.

“Malfoy fancies a Gryffindor? Snape’s daughter, too? Blimey, he’s asking for trouble,” Ron said.

“What do you mean?” Hermione asked.

“Come off it, Hermione. Snape would never allow anyone to date his daughter, not even Malfoy. Remember what he did to that one Hufflepuff whose hand accidentally brushed against hers when they both tried to grab the same textbook?” Ron said, as the three of them recalled when Snape had hexed a Hufflepuff boy’s cauldron to blow up in his face, singeing the top of his hair.

“Besides, she’d never date a Slytherin,” Harry said firmly.

“Who wouldn’t date a Slytherin?” you asked. Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned towards the portrait hole where you’d just entered. “Sorry I’m late, my father had to skin a few Boomslang snakes because he’d ran out of their skin-sheds,” you said, waiting for a response.

“Uhm, Crabbe fancies Hermione!” Ron shrieked out. Hermione glared at him, outraged.

“Urgh, really?” you asked, disgusted.

“Yeah, he’s been boasting about it to the Slytherins,” Hermione said, clearing her throat, “but I would never date a Slytherin,” she clarified, shooting Ron a furtive look of appall.

“They’re not all that bad,” you defended quietly, a gleam of a smile on your face, as you made your way up to the dormitories.

The three stared after you, shocked.

“Bloody hell, she would date a Slytherin,” Ron said, horrified.

“She can’t be this naive, can she?” Pansy asked the surrounding Slytherins the next day. The five of them watched as you stroked the long, glittering white fur of a unicorn Hagrid had brought along for your Care of Magical Creatures lesson.

“You think she’s naive? Draco’s been staring at her for the past two minutes,” Theo said, looking over at the boy, his silver eyes unblinking as they stared at you affectionately fawning over the unicorn.

“I don’t think he’s even blinked once,” Mattheo teased.

“Draco!” Pansy grinned, snapping her fingers in front of his line-of-sight.

He drew his eyes away from you as you stared up at the unicorn with the most endearing look he’d ever seen on your face, the shine of brightness illuminating from the magical creature’s fur casting a soft glow over your skin. “Yeah?” he asked.

“Did you hear anything that we said?” Enzo asked.

“Yeah, sounds great,” he said, his attention drawn back to you. Theo and Blaise chuckled, never having seen their friend so dumbstruck before.

“Come on, mate, just ask her out,” Theo encouraged.

“Yeah, the worst she could say is no,” Enzo added.

“Unless she decides to hex you, that is,” Mattheo chimed in.

Draco sighed heartily. “You know I can’t ask her. She’s Snape’s daughter. He’ll poison me or something.”

“So? At least you’ll die a happy lad,” Mattheo said, earning him a disapproving glare from Draco.

“Just go for it,” Theo said, pushing Draco towards where you stood.

Stumbling, he fell face-first on the patch of dirt in front of him, wincing as he pulled himself up.

“Malfoy, get away from ‘ere!” Hagrid yelled, but it was too late; the unicorn, which was accustomed to females rather than males, sensed Draco, and roughly kicked its front legs out at him, causing him to fall back on to the dirt.

“No!” Hagrid warned the creature, hurtling forwards and seizing Draco by his arms away from it.

“It’s okay! It’s okay..,” he heard you say softly.

You had neared the unicorn once more during its outburst, even as the rest of the students had hurried a safe distance away. You stroked the unicorn’s coat of fur gently from where you stood at its side, calming it down.

The class watched in astonishment as the unicorn obeyed your soft lulling, nuzzling further into your delicate touch.

As the class ended, Draco watched as you made your way back to the castle with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, the sounds of Ron saying, “That was brilliant!” and Hermione sharing the reasoning behind a unicorn’s historical discomfort around males that she’d read in Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them following after you.

“To be completely honest with you, mate, if you don’t ask her out soon, I will,” Enzo said.

Soon enough, Draco realized that everyone was thinking along the same lines as Enzo. The story of how you’d tamed a unicorn during Hagrid’s class spread throughout the school the following day, with many people even expressing their shock. “I’m sorry, a Snape did that? Aren’t they the kind of lot that would, I don’t know, skin the unicorn alive instead?” they heard a Ravenclaw say during their Charms lesson.

Even the Hufflepuffs, who had a premeditated disdain for your father, were suddenly gawking at you the next few days.

“Just tell her the truth,” Pansy encouraged Draco, as she sat on the floor in front of one of the sofa’s of the common room.

“Yeah, tell her how you’re absolutely whipped for her,” Mattheo teased, dodging out of the way as Draco had launched a pillow at his head from where he sat on the sofa.

“Guys, be serious,” Enzo said on Draco’s behalf.

“We are!” Theo defended, as he cast a floating pink heart bubble into the air from the tip of his wand.

Draco reached forward, his slim finger popping the burst of pink. He rubbed a hand through his silver-blond hair, sighing loudly as he leaned back into the couch cushions.

“Just start off small, mate. Girls are weirdly enamoured by simple gestures,” Blaise suggested, clapping an encouraging hand on Draco’s shoulder.

Draco stared with his mouth agape after you, fighting the urge to strike Mattheo across the back of his thick head as he laughed behind him.

“We didn’t mean like that!” Theo said through his own hysterics, as Pansy, Blaise, and Enzo struggled to contain their own laughter.

Having taken Theo’s advice to heart, Draco had decided that the most effective way to, indirectly, ask for your attention was by planting a Boggart that he had nicked from the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor’s desk inside an empty classroom. As he had recruited Crabbe to help with his plan, his beaty foot had knocked you off your feet in the hallway, sending your books to the floor. Draco, who lurked behind the statute of an old wizard, swiped his wand lazily over one of your fallen books, sending it into the empty classroom. As you blushed furiously, you had made your way into the classroom, letting out a horrified shriek that echoed through the hallways.

Draco smirked to himself, making his way out from behind the statue towards the classroom, intent on ‘saving’ you. What he hadn’t expected was for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to come barreling through the hallway at the sound of your distress, Harry’s voice echoing through the halls as he protectively yelled out, “RIDDIKULUS!”

As he watched the four of you make your way out from the classroom, Harry’s arm wrapped around your shoulder, his face distorted with a bitter look of dejection.

Pansy cleared her throat. “May I suggest something?”

It appeared as if Harry, Ron, and Hermione had taken it upon themselves to always have at least one of them at your side at all times following your encounter with the Boggart. Draco stared bitterly at where you, Ron, and Hermione stood in the stands of the Quidditch pitch, sporting scarlet memorabilia alongside the rest of the Gryffindors.

He rubbed furiously at the handle of his broomstick, cleaning at a spot that had no signs of smudge. As Marcus Flint stared intently at the Gryffindor Captain, Draco glared menancingly at Harry. The sound of Madam Hooch’s whistle brought him back to earth, and the Quaffle was released, feet kicking off the muddy ground, broomsticks rising into the air.

“Rough start for Potter over there,” Lee Jordan commentated loudly throughout the pitch. It had taken Harry a few seconds to fly upwards into the air, as Mattheo had roughly bumped into his shoulder — a few valuable seconds that Draco had used to surmount his broomstick over the height of the pitch on the Slytherin side.

“Chaser Angelina Johnson’s in possession of the Quaffle — OOH, fantastic save by one of the Weasley twins, I think that was Fred? Or George — kind of difficult to tell from here..” Jordan said, as a Bludger had come barreling towards where Angelina Johnson flew from where Theo had aimed it.

Theo looked over at Draco, shooting him a curt nod. Blaise, who had just swerved away from one of the Gryffindor players in attempts of confusing him, and Mattheo, made their way over, following Theo’s lead.

Draco hitched the handle of his broomstick roughly forwards, aiming towards the stands filled in shades of scarlet and gold.

Many people shirked, dodging out of the way through frightened gasps. Hagrid swore loudly, stumbling backwards, stepping on the feet and colliding harshly with a group of small first-years.

“Blimey!” Ron Weasley shrieked, as he reached for Ginny’s hand, pulling her downwards to duck out of the way, Hermione doing the same to you.

“Oi! What was that?!” Seamus Finnigan roared, as yells of outrage flew from the mouths of the Gryffindor crowd.

Draco caught your gaze as you looked up at him with wide eyes from where you were crouched next to Hermione. He shot a sly wink your way, before indiscreetly reaching into the pocket of his emerald Quidditch robes, pulling out an enchanted piece of parchment. He dropped it from where he hovered, your hand quickly wrapping around the wrinkled sheaf before it could hit the floor.

He hurriedly turned back towards the match, catching sight of Blaise, Theo, and Mattheo crowded around Harry’s broomstick, blocking him from searching for the Golden Snitch.

You looked down at the sheaf of parchment, carefully unfolding it with trembling fingers outside of Hermione’s sight.

A drawing danced around the paper, the ink blotches from where the quill had met its surface moving around. It appeared to be a terribly drawn sketch of Draco flying on his broomstick as he neared a poorly drawn girl, hearts moving around her head. Before you could even wonder what the drawing was supposed to mean, it had vanished from your grasp in a heap of burned parchment.

You dropped the small burned remnants of the sheaf onto the ground of the stands, before looking for Draco once more.

It seemed that everyone else had also been preoccupied by Draco’s arrival, many people continuing to angrily blurt out, “He’s a bloody cheat!” Everyone’s attention was drawn back to the boy, however, at Lee Jordan’s shout of, “Malfoy’s leering dangerously close to the stands once more, he’s spotted the Snitch!”

Harry extracted himself from the huddle of Slytherin’s around him, barrelling after Draco to the calls of encouragement from the Gryffindors. Then …

“Malfoy’s caught the Snitch — SLYTHERIN WINS.”

Everyone around you groaned, Seamus Finnigan angrily throwing his red winter cap onto the floor as he swore. “THAT’S RUBBISH!” Fred and George Weasley yelled from the pitch, as many of the Gryffindors called for a re-match.

“They can’ just block him like ‘at!” Hagrid roared, as Harry and the rest of the Gryffindor’s sombrely made their way down to the grounds. “Come on,” Ron said, as you, Hermione, and Ginny made your way towards him.

As you barrelled through outraged Gryffindor’s, many of them yelling so furiously that their cheeks matched the shades of scarlet they wore, you were abruptly yanked by your arm by someone on the pitch.

“Pansy?” you asked, looking back at Ron, Hermione, and Ginny as they neared Harry, who looked as if he were to snap his broomstick in half.

“Come with me!” she giggled, pulling you by your arm towards the pitch.

She pulled you towards the Slytherin team, all of whom wore looks of triumph on their faces. Draco, however, was watching you and Pansy with a stern look on his face.

She pulled you towards him, stifled giggles continuing to fall from her lips. “Draco here has something he wants to tell you,” she said, before making her way over to Mattheo, Theo, and Blaise behind where the two of you stood.

You watched her as she left, before looking up at Draco, your eyes narrowed in confusion.

“Uhm,” he cleared his throat, “well, more so show you, actually,” he clarified. He pulled his wand out of his Quidditch robes, waving it with the tip aimed at the sky above the pitch.

Red sparks emitted from the tip, soaring high into the air. Many people gasped and pointed above, students proding their friends to draw their attention to the sight.

You looked up, squinting against the bright sparks that now spelled a message in the sky.

Don’t dwell on the conclusion, love

You looked at Draco with wide eyes, a blush beginning to creep across your cheeks. “I-I don’t understand..” you stuttered out, looking at him as his face shone with a red glow from the spell.

“It was kind of Pansy’s idea,” he said, as he looked down at the pitch to hide his own flushed skin. You looked over his shoulder at the girl, who giggled behind her hand. Enzo had also made his way onto the pitch, craning his neck to look at the sky with a look of astonishment on his face. Blaise stared at Draco as if he were already a dead-man walking. To the side of him, Mattheo and Theo were talking in hushed whispers, exchanging Galleons through a firm handshake.

“Look, I wasn’t really sure how to ask you at first, but, do you want to, maybe, go out together at the next Hogsmeade visit?” he asked. You looked up at him, conflicted, yet also shocked at how uncertain Draco seemed at this moment; the same boy who had just confidently won the Quidditch match for his House. You smiled softly at him, nodding your speechless approval.

You looked towards the Slytherin side of the pitch, spotting a familiar silhouette of long black robes and greasy black hair. Snape was sitting in a raised seat of the stands alongside some of the other Professors; Dumbledore acted as if he noticed nothing unusual, whereas Flitwick admired Draco’s spell work. Snape stared down at you with a thin line of lips, his body language stern.

You gasped, stepping a few steps back from Draco. “Draco, my father..” you said. It was no secret that Snape was overly protective of his daughter, and considering Draco as one of his favourite students wouldn’t lessen this burden.

“Don’t worry about that, love,” he said, “that’s a problem for later.” Yet, by the way his face started to become more and more red outside from just the fading sparks of the message, you knew that he was just as worried as you were.

© angelicchris

notes ⋆. 𐙚 ₊˚ yeah so i had noo idea how to end this, but thank you for the request, anon !! hot take — if harry had been born a girl, snape would have been murdering people left and right on lily’s behalf

𝓗𝐎𝐆𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒 𝓛𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 — @oopsiedaisydeer @drcamin