A/N: Thanks all. Please comment, vote, and rec the fic to your Snape friends. Engagement really keeps things going.
An Order meeting spins Wren's demands in an unexpected direction. TW: Some talk of past trauma. Couldn't stop listening to 'cotton candy' by spill tab writing this one. Which is also on the playlist if you looked that up on Spotify :)
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Wind beat when Wren and Tonks landed before a thin row of houses. HQ revealed itself so they climbed the steps to enter.
"Wren Valentine," Remus Lupin opened his arms as he came down the narrow hallway. Wren beamed, crossing the cozy threshold.
"Remus," she hurried to embrace him, "you're looking well."
"Still telling lies," he gave a shy smile, rubbing the back of his head. "All the while you come off the summer glowing. Good holiday?"
"Fruitful," she decided, bumping into him when Mad-Eye hobbled past. Remus caught her arms and saw Tonks watching them before she tripped trying to hurry off the other way.
"The most feral Herbologist to walk the earth. No plant army yet, Valentine?" Mad-Eye laughed a crude sound but she smiled in turn, standing taller.
"It's hardly going to be an army, Alastor," Wren blew a strand of hair from her face, "although, I'm sure you'd agree we need allies wherever we can find them."
"Unlocking a new world," he mused.
"Might be nice to have a fig tree that helps clean up after my boys," Molly Weasley appeared in the doorway. "Wren, good to see you, dear. I hope you're hungry after."
"For your cooking, Molly, always," Wren moved by Remus, patting his arm as she went. More Order members paced around a long table behind Molly. Sirius Black sitting at the head, cleaned up and restless. Across from him, Severus sat. Surprised her that he'd gotten here first but he often had the jump on things.
Both men jumped to their feet at her appearance. Comically.
"Wren, been a few weeks since the last meeting with all of us," Sirius crossed to hug her. He caught Snape's harsher glare for it and was undaunted.
"Glad to see you so healthy," she grinned in response, genuinely happy. Wasn't strange anymore, their interaction. Wren crossed behind him and took a chair near the window. Casually. Few spaces away from both men. They eyed each other and slipped slowly back down. Stiff. "Professor Snape, I trust your holiday is well. Planning for classes this coming term?"
"It is coming along, Miss Valentine." His fingers clasped together on the table. Sirius swept his eyes between them.
"No need to be coy, you two."
"Black, I would advise you to keep your mouth sealed."
"Are you going to seal it if I don't?"
"Oy, enough," Wren cut in before the bickering could escalate. More people began to circle the table. A clatter sounded through the front door. Hemlock poked his head from Wren's front pocket.
"Is that a Bowtruckle?" Mundungus Fletcher was balancing a tall stack of cauldrons, Molly behind him snipping in a growing fury. "Can I borrow it?"
"No, you may not," Wren frowned at him.
"I can pay-"
"Will you get those things out of here!" Molly had him scrambling off with his goods. She went into the kitchen to seek out her husband in a huff.
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a soft place to fall // Severus Snape x OC
Fanfiction**Smut/Slow burn** Herbologist Wren Valentine has worked as Professor Sprout's assistant at Hogwarts after Dumbledore brought her to the castle in the summer of 1988, though she's no longer the spitfire Gryffindor the staff remembers. With Voldemort...
