Black Roses

The name "Niamh" is pronounced "Neve", just in case you didn't know...

~***~

Chapter One

Severus Snape stormed down the corridor, his face set in a grim expression. As per usual, there was a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. And as per usual, the teachers already at the school had been called to "welcome" her.

Well, so much for that idea. The others might be planning on being all nicey-nice around her, but Severus certainly wasn't. And if she seemed worried at his unpleasantness, then she wasn't much of a teacher, was she?

He entered the staff room and was surprised to see that only Minerva McGonagall was there. He was early for once.

"Good morning, Severus," she said pleasantly, as he threw himself into a chair opposite.

"What's so bloody good about it?" he grumbled. "I'm tired, and I've been dragged here to welcome this bloody new girl..."

"Ever the optimist, aren't you? You and Sybill should get together sometime."

"Urgh....please don't put that in my head."

"And there's me thinking that nothing scared the Head of Slytherin."

"Don't be fooled, Minerva."

"Don't worry, I'm not. I know you're a big softy really."

"I wouldn't go that far."

Slowly, the staff room filled up, but there was still no sign of Dumbledore - or the new professor. Severus was growing irritable. He wished that they'd hurry up so that he could go home.

No sooner had he thought this than the door swung open, and in came a beaming Dumbledore.

"Ah, glad to see you all here," he smiled. "Now, may I introduce Professor Niamh O'Connor, our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher?"

A young woman stepped into the room, and smiled round at them all. Only one thought was careering around Severus's mind.

Oh my God.

She had a small, pale face, out of which peered two huge, chocolate-coloured eyes. The face was surrounded by waves of scarlet hair that reached just past her shoulders, and around her neck was a glowing chunk of amber. She wore a black vest top and huge black jeans held up by a black leather belt, and Severus had to smile as he took in the battered trainers on her feet. He got the feeling she wouldn't part with those trainers for the world.

His smile quickly faded as Professor O'Connor shot him a "what-are-you-staring-at?" look, and he quickly looked away. He had to look back again, though. He couldn't help staring at her eyes...they were such a beautiful colour that one could easily drown in them.

"I was wondering...could I have a volunteer to take Professor O'Connor on a tour around the school? I've got such a lot to do," Dumbledore was saying.

"I'll do it," Severus offered, before he could stop himself. Dumbledore looked surprised, but he quickly wiped the expression from his face.

"Right. Well, does anyone have anything that they would like to add?" The teachers shook their heads. "Well, then. I call this staff meeting to an end..."

The staff room slowly emptied, and Professor O'Connor hovered by the door.

"Sit down if you want," Severus said.

"No, I'm OK, thanks," Professor O'Connor replied. She had a very sweet voice; sort of musical and enchanting at the same time, with a faint Irish accent there somewhere. Severus guessed that although she'd spent some of her earlier years in Ireland, she hadn't been back for years.

"OK...well, do you want to go on that tour, then?" Professor O'Connor pulled a face.

"I don't want to be stuck in here on a day like this. Shall we just go for a walk around the lake, take the tour later?"

"Er - OK then," Severus said, stunned at first, but then he reminded himself that she probably meant it in a just-as-friends way.

Probably.

~***~

Twenty minutes later, after a couple of awkward silences, a conversation had started between the pair. Niamh - she had insisted that Severus call her that - reminisced on her schooldays, and Severus reminisced on his, and they compared the differences.

"So you went to Durmstrang?" he asked.

"Yeah. I begged my dad to let me come here, but he was having none of it. He said it was important that I was taught the Dark Arts. That's why I'm so good at defence."

"Your dad...he wasn't Aidan O'Connor, was he?" Niamh looked at him quizzically.

"Yeah, that's right...how did you know?"

"Oh - I used to know him. Years ago."

It wasn't a lie. Aidan Connor had been a Death Eater at the same time as Severus, and had come after him and tried to kill him when he found out that Severus had turned his back on Voldemort. The last Severus had heard, he'd been killed in a fight with two Aurors, seven years after Voldemort attempted to kill Harry Potter.

Niamh suddenly looked at him, eyes wide, horrified.

"What?"

"Oh my God - you're - you're -"

Severus realised what she was talking about and locked his eyes onto hers.

"I used to be," he said honestly. "But I'm not anymore. I stopped years ago. Just before - before he killed a friend of mine."

"Who?" Niamh asked curiously.

"Lily Potter. I knew her from Hogwarts. He once sent me and a couple of others to a house, with orders to kill whoever we found there. Well, there was nobody there, but I saw the Potters' wedding picture on the mantlepiece. And that's when I knew I couldn't carry on like that."

"I understand," Niamh said quietly, and she reached out and took hold of his hand. "Voldemort almost destroyed me too."

~***~

"Well, look at that for a pair of fast workers," Minerva McGonagall commented, looking out of the window.

"What?" Azalea Hooch came to the window, too. "Hm...'course, they could just be good friends..."

"Have you ever seen good friends hold hands like that before?"

"Good point."

~***~

"Why? What happened to you?" Severus asked, so curious to hear her story that he hardly noticed her hand linked with his.

"It was just after my father died. I knew that if he'd never become a - a Death Eater, then he wouldn't be dead. I was so depressed, I just wanted to die all the time. My dad might have been a bit of a bastard sometimes, but he was still my dad, y'know? And then two Aurors came after my mum. Seemed to think she was guilty, too. They - they took - they took her to Azkaban..."

A tear rolled down Niamh's cheek, and Severus squeezed her hand.

"Is she still...?"

"In there? No. She died two months later."

"What did you do?"

"Lied. Learnt to look after myself, and lived alone. I've been on my own ever since."

"That's...that's really brave."

"No, it's not. I was just too proud to admit that I needed reassurance from anyone. I regret that now. If I'd gone to stay with someone, not necessarily even a relative, I wouldn't have been so depressed."

Another tear spilled, and Severus reached out and wiped it away.

"Don't cry," he soothed her. "Voldemort is gone for good now...he won't ever hurt you again."

~***~

"What were you saying about them just being good friends?" Minerva said in amusement. "He's touching her face now..."

"Honestly - it's a good job the students aren't here. That's how rumours get started."

"Or you start them."

"Well - maybe sometimes. Not often, though..."

~***~

"I know he can't ever come back," Niamh wept. "But sometimes - sometimes I still have nightmares..."

"About your parents?"

"My mum especially. People thought my dad used to knock her about, but he'd never have done that. He loved us. It was just a shame what he chose to do with his life. And it was obvious that he was a Death Eater, but mum...she'd never have done anything like that. She wouldn't have hurt a fly. I remember, when I was a kid, I was terrified of spiders, and she'd always say, 'Never kill them, Niamh. Just get them in a glass and take them outside'...and d'you know what? I never have killed a spider since."

Severus didn't know quite what to say. He'd never been any good at comforting people. He thought of putting an arm around her shoulders, in a sympathetic kind of way, but decided against it.

"Anyway...that's enough about me." Niamh sniffed and wiped her eyes. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Well - were you pushed to become a Death Eater, or...?"

"No. My parents both died before I finished at Hogwarts. My father - being the nice, kind family man that he was - used to go down the pub, get tanked up, then come home and use Mother as a punchbag. He never laid a finger on me or my sister, though. Well - he might have hit Arty when I wasn't there, I don't know. Anyway, one night, he came home, and they started arguing. He started kicking her and punching her, and then - and then he tripped and fell down the stairs, and dragged Mother down with him. It was the butler who found them. Mother had given him the night off, and by the time he found them the next morning, it was too late."

"Oh, God - that's awful," Niamh said softly. Severus shrugged.

"It didn't come as a shock. I knew it'd happen one day. But my sister, Artemis - she was distraught; she was only ten, you see. She's seven years younger than me, and she moved away to Egypt to live with my aunt, and she went to school there. Never heard from her since."

"So - don't you have anyone else? No other relatives?"

"None in this country. There's Artemis, of course, but like I said - I haven't heard from her for nearly twenty years. My friends were all I had, and when they turned to the dark side, it just seemed right for me to do the same."

"Life's so cruel," Niamh said, her voice barely above a whisper, but Severus caught every word that she spoke. "It gives us a family and friends to love, to cherish, and then they're snatched away before we have the chance the say how we feel..."

Severus didn't say anything, but he silently agreed with what she was saying. They stood in perfect silence, staring out at across the gently rippling waters of the lake, and Niamh suddenly turned her head and kissed Severus softly on the cheek.

He looked at her, saw her eyes staring into his, and next thing he knew, her mouth was attached to his, and - this came as a shock, for it had only happened once before -

He was in love.