The American witch (Harry Potter reader insert)

The Grease Monkey and A New Friend

your first class was potions from what you've heard the professor was an old bat.
you knew right when you stepped in that room this was probably gonna end up in a shit show.
the twins had told you everything that man did to everyone.
how he terrorized every kid that stepped into his class.
how he favored slytherins over every other house and were especially cruel to those in gryffindor.
along with how he always tended to single out Harry for things he hasn't even done.
Bean had followed you into the class and laid right under your table.
Snape had followed your every movement the second you stepped inside.
feeling a pair of eyes on you; your own eyes darted up from your parchment paper.
looking up you made eye contact with him; Snape was astounded.
you were the first student to ever look at him the way you did.
your face was completely neutral and your eyes held daggers that could kill; he felt slightly intimidated along with pathetic...a student, a mudblood no less, intimidated him.
he was the first to break your little staring contest; and started taking role.
you hadn't known how long you were glaring at the grease monkey till Harry had shook your shoulder.
"y/n are you alright?"
your head snapped towards Harry
"umm yeah i-i'm alright" you cleared your throat "do you need anything?" you asked him smiling.
your smile caught him off guard and made him blush furiously.
"n-no i was just checking on you. you were just glaring at nothing." he responded.
you were about to laugh when Snape decided to call your name.
"ahh Miss L/n our new student" Snape sneered.
"yes sir that would be me" you said politely.
Snape looked you up and down judging every single thing about you.
"well Miss l/n would you mind telling me what would happen if i mixed powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
you stayed silent watching his face closely.
"no? hm than do you know where i would find a bezoar?"
you kept silent again, this is what you did in school you would stay silent to tick off the teacher.
Harry, who didn't know that piece of information, looked at you with a dumbfounded look. he thought you were ignoring Snape because you didn't know the answers and just didn't want to admit it.
Snape looked smug as you stayed silent before asking one more question.
"staying silent are we? let me ask an easy question, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
the only reaction he got out of you was a slow blink and a straight face.
"pity i had slight hope considering you were a student of slytherin but you obviously failed those expectations."
just as he turned around and started walking towards your desk, did you begin talking.
"mixing those two ingredients together creates the draught of the living death."
Snape stopped walking and slowly turned towards you.
"you can find a bezoar in the belly of a goat and those two plants are the same, that also go by the name of aconite."
Snape was in front of you by the time you were done talking.
"one more thing Professor Snape, i pity you. may whoever's death you regret rest in peace."
and with that sentence Snape dismissed the whole class giving you a free period before your DADA class.
before stepping out of the class you turned to the old professor who was sitting at his desk, his head in his hands.
you silently walked up to him
"Professor Snape, i am truly sorry for your loss. but let me warn you holding in the pain will make everything so much worse. ignoring whatever happened will deepen whatever guilt you feel." you took something out of your bag and placed it on his desk.
Snape looked up to see what you put down. it was a single playing card and a playing chip.
"my older sister and her wife had liked to play cards with me. it was like our own little thing, they always kept these on them. they always said 'these things are our lucky charms.' but they weren't so lucky as they thought." tears were dripping from your eyes as you continued. "one day they were picking me up from school, i was 10, i asked if i could hold their 'lucky charms' on the way towards the car. everything was ok for one minute but i had walked out to far into the street. a drunk driver was speeding down the street. my sister was closest to me and pushed me out of the way...she was the one that got hit. she died on impact and exactly 2 years later i lost my sister in law to an active shooter. they both died protecting me and i still feel guilty."
Snape was silently watching you,
"keeping these with me everyday reminds me of those days. it also reminds me that they wouldn't want me to live in constant guilt and depression, they would want me to live my life to the fullest. i'm telling you this because i know what you are dealing with." with that you turned around and walked out of there.
Snape slumped in his seat his head hanging down in front of him. sighing he looked up slightly noticing you left something on his desk.
laying there was a pure white lily and a note,
Professor Snape, i give you this lily for the same reason i have my playing card and chip. to remind us of what could have happened, what should have happened and what did happen.
i cast a charm so it won't die. i hope you take my words into consideration. it really does lessen the pain.
Sincerely y/n l/n
Snape looked towards the door you had just walked out of moments ago, then back towards the flower.
a pure white lily; the symbol of purity and the flower of sympathy.
Snape gingerly took the flower in his hand silently shedding a tear before placing it in a jar on his desk.
You had been wandering around near the forbidden forest in silence Bean by your side. telling Snape your story about your sisters had opened up some fresh wounds. you looked towards the forest wondering what mystery was inside. your curiosity was building ever since they told you the name of it. walking closer to it you can't help but feel like something (more like someone) in there was in need.
as you took one step closer Bean just bolted into the forest. breaking you from your trance, you started running after him. you were running as fast as your legs allowed you to. somewhere along the way you lost a shoe but you didn't care. running with only one shoe was difficult so you kicked that one off too. the twigs scratched the bottom of your feet and low tree limbs had started scraping your face and arms when you brought them up to protect your face. a little ways away you here Bean barking and another animal whimpering.
following the sounds you came across a clearing. slowing down you saw Bean pacing around near another dog. this one looked like he had seen better days. his fur was matted even thinning in some spots most likely from scratching and fleas. he was so thin you could see his spine.
his whimpering got slightly louder, you looked at his hind leg. it was all scratched up, but one larger cut stood out more than the others. this one had slight blood caked around it.
when you kneeled in front of him he raised his head slightly growling and barring his teeth.
"shh it's alright i won't hurt you, shh shh" you slowly rested your hands under his chin and placed his head on your leg.
"see i'm not gonna hurt you buddy, you're ok now...i gotcha" you scratched behind his ear with one hand, the other was reaching in your bag for food and your wand.
grabbing some food you snagged for the great hall, you placed it in front of him to eat. while he was taking the food you used a healing spell on his leg. now all that was left behind was a scar.
remembering he was really malnourished you used a charm you read about.
"accio bowl" immediately a bowl came towards you. placing it on the floor you used another spell you had also read about.
"aguamenti" pointing your wand at the bowl. the dog was still in your lap looking much happier than what he was when you found him.
Bean was also laying next to you his head on your other leg. you looked at your watch to see the time, it was 12:15 pm. you didn't have DADA till one so you decided to stay with the dog.
you couldn't just keep calling him 'the dog' you knew you would be coming back your morals wouldn't allow you not to do so.
"hmm i gotta figure out a name for you buddy" the dog looked up at you as if he understood what you were saying.
you looked for any noticeable features on him. the first thing that stood out to you was his silvery grey eyes. they were a complete contrast of his black fur.
"how about Grey...what do you think hm, sounds like a good name. easy to remember right?" Grey seemed to like it as he gave a happy bark.
you laughed as Bean and Grey started to play. that little bit of food seemed to raise Grey's mood a lot; and that spell helped a lot he looked like he was in no pain.
the two dogs continued to play with each other and you watched happily.
you must have lost track of time because just then the bell tower rang.
gasping you looked at your watch it was already 5 minutes past one. you knew you were gonna be way late if you didn't hurry.
jumping up from where you were sitting you packed all your stuff. Grey and Bean had stopped playing when you got up.
"come on Bean we gotta go i'm gonna be late for class..." you trailed off looking at Grey. for a dog he looked incredibly sad, like he thought you were going away forever.
"i'm sorry Grey, i wish i could take you with me but i don't think the professors would like it if i had two dogs follow me everywhere. don't worry i'll come back tomorrow with some more food and maybe some soap to get those nasty fleas off you ok?" you got up and started running the way you came.
what you had failed to realize was you managed to worm your way in the heart of a wanted criminal.

(i do not mean that in a romantic sense, anything that would happen between sirius[even though he is in his animagas form]and y/n is strictly platonic)