Snape's Niece

Four

Bells rang and all the students got up and made their way to classes all over the school. "Oops, sorry. Excuse me," said a soft, feminine voice.

"No problem. I bumped into you." Harry glanced up and saw Emma, standing next to Malfoy, who was looking very protective of Emma.

"Off you go, Potter. Wouldn't want to slow the mudblood down, after all she might miss three seconds of the opening paragraph and have to ask the professor to repeat his whole lecture," Draco smirked.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," said someone. They looked at where the sound was coming from. It was Emma. "That was not so polite, Draco. Now apologize to Harry, after all if he said that to you about me, wouldn't you want him to say he's sorry?" Her face was hard as stone. Now she looks like her uncle, thought Draco.

"Abso-bloody-lutely not," he said firmly.

Emma cocked an eyebrow. She pulled his head down and whispered into his ear. "If you don't apologize, I'll tell Pansy the Door Code, and if you change it I'll tell her the new one, too."

Draco paled. It was hard to believe he could get any paler, but he did. "All right, all right. No need to threaten me. Sorry Potter."

"And?" Emma said, giving a 'Go On' look.

"And Granger I'm sorry I called you a Mudblood. Won't happen again." At least, not when Emma's around...he thought. He glimpsed Emma's expression, which was pleased, evidently she couldn't read his mind.

Emma nodded at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, then slipped her arm through Draco's arm and they walked off. They were midway through the Charms corridor when the bells rang again.

"Holy crap!" Emma yelled, diving behind a suit of armor.

Draco laughed. "It's just to sound the end of the class," he said. "Look, people are coming out of the classrooms now. See?"

She glared at him. "I'm not a child. You don't have to speak to me as if I was one. But, yes, I can see that now." She stood up, dusting herself off. Unfortunately there was a crowd gathered just in front of Draco. A taller man with red hair. Rather like Ron, she thought, stepped forward.

"Hello, I'm Bill, Bill Weasley. I don't believe we know each other. I am the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. And you are?"

Emma smiled at him, she could sense Draco glaring behind her. "I'm Emma, Emma Snape. Professor Snape's niece. He's the Potions master here." She smiled flirtatiously at him.

He grinned back at her. "I know who you are. I think you met my youngest brother last night? His name is Ron Weasley."

Emma nodded. "Yes, he was, uh, one of the people who, um, carried me into my uncle's office. He has the brightest red hair I've ever seen."

"That's the one. But you could also be talking about my younger brother Charlie, or my other younger brothers Fred, George, and Percy. That could also describe my sister Ginny. Or my parents."

"Wow. A family of red heads. My brother had red hair, but he dyed it. I also dyed my hair something else once," she said this a bit sad, but grinning.

"What colors did you and your brother dye your hair?" he said fascinated, leaning against the wall.

"He dyed his hair black. I dyed my hair electric blue, and spiked it. Since all I wear is black, electric blue hair was a bit much for my mother. She made me shave my head." Emma grinned. "That made me look like a skinhead, of course. And that freaked her out even more. So she witched my hair back and told me if I ever dyed it again, I'd have bubblegum pink hair for a month. haven't dyed it since then."

"When was that?" he asked.

"Two months ago. As you can see, she made my hair grow back very fast. The charm didn't wear off for a month, so I now have two feet of straight black hair," she frowned. "I have to go now, Draco is showing me the castle, and we've only seen this part. I believe we are going to the 'Astronomy Tower' or something now."

Bill looked at the tall Slytherin, who glared back at him. Bill raised his eyebrows. "Five points from Syltherin. Wipe that expression off you face, Mr. Malfoy." He turned to Emma. "And you, Miss Snape. I have never before met a more polite teenager. Ten points to Slytherin for being nice to an old professor who had forgotten what 'polite' was like."

As they were walking away. Emma looked up at Draco. He had an annoyed look on his face. She snorted, the moaned, doubling over clutching her head. "Ohhhhh, my HEAD! Make it stop, someone, PLEASE!"

Draco knelt beside her, frowning. "Looks like you've got one monster hangover," he said, trying to hide a grin once he'd looked her over. "Let's get you to Hospital wing straight away."

Five minutes later they were in the Infirmary, and Emma had an ice pack pressed to her forehead. "Oh, Madame Pomfry, can't you make it STOP!?" Tears were rolling down Emma's cheeks. "Ugh, if I had known it'd hurt this bad, I wouldn't have chugged the whole bottle. Now stop laughing at me Draco, it isn't funny."

Draco pulled himself together and held his arms out. "Come here then," he said "It's all right, I don't bite. Usually." She climbed over to the bed he was sitting on and sat so she was leaning back into him. He folded his arms around her and hummed something soothing, rocking her back and forth.

"Quit that," she muttered, irritably. "You are making me seasick. Now that's better." She nestled farther back into his arms, head against his shoulder.

"Where is she? Where is she? She isn't hurt is she?" The voice of Severus Snape is unmistakable, even when you have to hangover to end all hangovers.

"Now, Severus, I'm sure your niece is fine," said the voice of Bill Weasley. "But you have a class to finish, I believe. I'll stay here and watch her while you tend to your duties."

"Let me see her first," growled Snape. "After all, she is my niece, not yours, Thank God." He walked into the infirmary, and saw his niece with Malfoy. He felt halfway pleased that she had found an "friend", and halfway angry that Malfoy had his filthy hands around his niece's waist, his chin by her ear, no doubt whispering sweet nothings into her ear. Anger won out. "WHAT do you think you are doing?" he said in his best hiss-shout ever. "Get your filthy hands OFF MY NIECE! And sit somewhere else. Malfoy, must you always cuddle up with every new female student in Slytherin?"

Bill had walked right behind Severus, and frankly, he was shocked--shocked--that such a thing would happen in Hogwarts, and in the Infirmary no less! But those feelings from a Weasley--especially from the oldest-- are simply preposterous. "Twenty points from Slytherin, Malfoy. No playing touchy-feely in the Hospital wing." He frowned at them. "Honestly," he muttered. "Teenagers, hormones I am so glad I'm out of that age." Then he glanced at Emma and felt a twitchy feeling inside him. But, then again.... he thought, Maybe not... Draco jumped off the cot and sat on the one Emma had vacated five minutes before. He glared at Bill, then stopped remembering the five points from Slytherin earlier that morning. Bill turned to Emma and gave her a benevolent smile. "What happened to put you into the Infirmary? Surely not something Mr. Malfoy caused."

"No, Draco didn't do anything but realize I was in pain, pick me when I couldn't walk, and bring me here," Emma said wincing.

"Ah, but you haven't answered my original question. Which was this: What happened to put you in the Infirmary?"

"Ugh, I can't believe I'm telling you this," she mumbled. "But about 375 ml of fine Smirnoff Vodka. And the hangover to end all hangovers. If only I had some Aspirin and a glass of water!" Emma winced as she said this "And could you not shout? My head hurts. Aw, hell, I hate hangovers!"