The Slytherin Within

-THE SLYTHERIN WITHIN

By: LANA MANCKIR

Snape stirred in his bed and was slowly waking up to a pleasant feel on his neck. It was Saturday, and he knew he could allow himself a little more sleep than usual.

"Hmmm," he moaned as the slick tongue made its way to his ear. "Hermione..."

He lazily opened his eye lids expecting to see those entrancing brown eyes staring back at him.

"Ahhhhhhh!" he yelled, clumsily falling off the bed.

A fluffy white poodle followed him to the floor happily waving its tail and licking every bit of bare skin it could find.

He immediately got on his feet and backed away from the excited animal. Hermione walked in the room smiling. "Isn't it adorable?"

"What is that?" he asked with a scowl.

"Why, a dog Severus, haven't you ever seen one?" she asked sweetly.

"I know it's a dog, what I mean is why... what the bloody hell is it doing here?" his annoyance was clearly visible and Hermione seemed to be very pleased with that.

Hermione sat on the edge of the bed and patted her hands on her lap. The furry thing promptly jumped on. "Well, you see I was thinking that since you don't want to have children, it would be a great idea to have a pet. Most couples who decide not to have kids, opt for a dog."

"Has it ever crossed your mind that I might not want a pet either?" he asked irritably.

"But Severus, a dog is a lot easier than a child. It won't bother you at all; it doesn't even talk! I though you'd be happy with my idea," she said pouting.

Snape looked at his young wife and sighed, pinching the bridge of his long nose. They had been married for three years and lately all she talked about was having babies. He was adamant about the fact he couldn't stand children from the beginning. It was already a burden to face the insufferable dunderheads in his class, why have more at home?

He looked at the dog with pure disgust on his face. "Couldn't you at least have gotten a cat, maybe an owl, or something that didn't look so fluffy and... and happy!"

"Oh, but when I saw Seviekins, it was love at first sight! Look at those pleading black eyes." Hermione lifted the fur covering the dog's eyes.

"Seviekins?"

"I named it, I thought its eyes reminded me of yours and I wouldn't name a dog Severus, so Seviekins seemed appropriate."

"You've got to be kidding me!" he spat. "This thing has blinding white fur and..." he walked closer to get a better look. "And a pink ribbon around its neck? Is it really a male dog?"

"Oh Severus, it's just a dog, it's not like the other dogs are going to question its sexual preferences!" She rolled her eyes.

"You said you thought of me when you saw it!" He crossed his arms in front of his chest stubbornly .

She let the dog down and stood up to wrap her arms around her husband's waist. "I didn't say that luv, all I said was that its eyes reminded me of yours. Come on, it won't be so bad..."

He knew he couldn't say no to those sweet cinnamon eyes, especially considering that he had already denied her a child. "All right, but it better not be in my way!" He scowled.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you Severus!" She stood on her toes, kissing him deeply and he melted into her lips, forgetting momentarily about the dog.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After lunch, Hermione had gone to Hogsmeade to shop for some new books and Snape took the time to grade papers.

He had been there for more than an hour when the dog entered the room, not paying much attention to him. Snape narrowed his eyes, as the dog made its way to his book shelves and sat lazily, scratching and biting the spine of one of the books at the bottom. He immediately stood up and rushed across the room to shoo the animal away, and upon getting there, he realized it was his only copy of 'Moste Potente Potions.'

"Get out of there!" he said as he reached his hands to grab the dog. The animal growled viciously, almost biting his hand off.

"You get out of there this instant you insufferable beast!" Snape tried to push the dog with his feet but the animal sank its teeth on his leg. With difficulty, he freed his leg backing away from it.

Before he could utter another word, the dog gingerly lifted its leg and peed over the already scratched book.

Snape was livid. He pulled out his wand and pointed at the furry animal, ready to hex it into oblivion.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING SEVERUS SNAPE!?" Hermione had her hands on her hips, obviously back from her shopping.

"I... it was... that creature is the devil!" Snape was so angry that he couldn't manage to speak properly.

"I can't believe you were about to hex a poor defenseless, little animal!" Hermione was speaking fast and in a pitched tone that indicated trouble. Even with all the rage Snape was feeling, he knew better than to cross her when she spoke like that.

"But Hermione, that's not a normal poodle, it tried to bite me and... " He tried to reason with her.

"Oh please!" she interrupted. "Seviekins wouldn't hurt a fly, look at him!" She pointed at the dog whose innocent eyes were watery, while it hid behind her legs shaking in fear.

Still flinching at the sound of the dog's name, he looked at the animal and was dumbfounded to see how conniving the little thing could be.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In the days that followed, Hermione slowly made him forget the episode with sex, and lots of it. She could be very manipulative and knew Severus' weak spots really well.

"I'll never understand why you weren't sorted into Slytherin!" he said out of breath, after collapsing beside her. She rolled to nestle her head on his chest and snaked one arm across his waist.

"I have no idea what you mean," she purred while tracing her finger on his stomach, making invisible drawings.

"Oh, I beg to differ my dear, I'm sure you know exactly what you're doing. Every time I try to bring up the 'dog' subject, you shut me up with your little sex tricks." He regarded her intensely before whispering in her ear, "Temptress!"

She giggled and kissed him passionately, earning a deep groan from him and once again, the subject was forgotten.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The following days proved to be really annoying for Snape but he knew he was irritable by nature.

The dog obviously didn't like him and the feeling was mutual. But since Hermione was happy with it, he made the small sacrifice of accepting to live with it. 'It's better than a noisy kid,' he kept telling himself.

But as the weeks gone by, he was finding it even harder to live with the damn creature. The small sacrifice was turning into a very large one. He couldn't even read the newspaper anymore, for the dog took a liking on sleeping over every new edition. Hermione would put it on the coffee table and leave to teach her early Transfiguration classes.

As soon as she left the room, the dog would make itself comfortable and lay on top of it, snapping at him anytime he tried to retrieve the bloody newspaper.

Once she was in the room, the dog would be the most harmless and darling thing, making him even more outraged. He would glare at the fluffy animal and in reply the dog would wag its tale, tilting its head and looking absolutely adorable.

The sneer on Snape's face, showed the exact feelings that sickly cute demonstration provoked on him. 'You don't fool me, you ball of fur from hell!'

It was one late afternoon that he found something was missing in his office.

"Hermione, have you seen that extremely rare potion's manuscript we acquired in Spain last Holiday?" Severus yelled from his private office.

"That ancient one?" she asked coming from the sitting room.

"Yes, I was sure I had left it in this bottom drawer..." he said looking for the hundredth time in the same drawer.

"That's odd, are you sure you didn't place it somewhere else?" Hermione asked while bending to look under the desk and the leather chairs in the front.

"I believe I would have seen it, if it was under my desk," he said in a snide tone.

Hermione frowned at him in confusion. "What?... Oh no, I'm not looking for your manuscript, I'm looking for Seviekins. He's been too quiet this afternoon, and I can't find him anywhere."

Their eyes met in mutual realization and they rushed through their chambers looking everywhere for the white ball of curly fur. When it was about dinner time, the two of them caught their breaths as they found little pieces of parchment making a path to his store room.

With a murderous look that could drive away anyone in a mile radius, he slowly opened the store room's door.

Comfortably laying under a shelf, the dog was munching on what looked like yellowed parchment. Severus retrieved the remains of the parchment with a shaking hand and sorting through the slobber, he was able to see faint inscriptions in Spanish.

Meanwhile, in the Great Hall, a deep raging scream was heard.

"What was that?" McGonagall asked alarmed.

Professor Sprout shrugged. "I have no idea, although it sounded a lot like Severus."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hermione walked calmly through the dark corridor, while holding the fluffy white dog in her arms. As she stopped in front of the gargoyles, she said, "Canary cream!"

The spiral stairway came into view and she climbed humming contently. Upon entering Dumbledore's office, she placed the dog on the floor, in front of the desk. And, sitting back in one of the leather chairs, she watched as the white fluffy dog transformed into the tall elderly wizard.

"I'm glad this is over, I don't think I could take Severus' murderous glares any longer." The old man chuckled, stretching his arms.

"You were brilliant Albus!" Hermione replied grinning.

"Oh, that was nothing," he said with his blue eyes twinkling. "The convenience of being a multiple Animagus!"

"It worked like a charm, Severus would never suspect in a million years. I mean, he thinks you can only turn into a phoenix," Hermione replied.

"He and everybody else, my dear, you're the only one who knows my secret." He regarded her with a great deal of affection. "But it was for a good cause."

"Indeed Albus, I will be eternally grateful to you... and don't worry, no one will ever know about your secret." She stood up and hugged the old wizard.

Letting go of her, Dumbledore asked, "So, I think it's settled then, we'll be having a new member on the Snape family very soon!"

She smirked as the memory of Severus screaming and telling her he would have ten kids with her, as long as he didn't have to see the dog ever again.

They exchanged their goodnights, and Hermione headed for the door to leave.

"Wait, Hermione," said Dumbledore catching up with her, holding a very old looking parchment. "I think you'd better give the real Manuscript back to Severus... after the shock of seeing the fake one destroyed, he will be delighted to see it."

With a wry smile, Hermione left Dumbledore's office, and headed to the dungeons. 'Maybe Severus is right, I could have easily been sorted in Slytherin..." she thought as she opened the door to meet her husband.

........................................