𝘼 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙

Dear soul,

"Sue! Hurry up, we're going to be late?" Harry said waiting for me in the middle of the Great Hall entrance.
"Sorry but late for what? We just have to buy Dobby's present right?" I asked joining him, Ron and Hermione.
We headed out of the school before someone bothered to answer my question.
"Yes, we have to buy Dobby's present" Hermione said.
"But I also want you to meet someone" Harry said with a half smile.
"Being mysterious today, are we?" I said.
"Just a little, it's not that I don't wanna tell you, it's just a precaution" he said.
"Fine, I trust you, we'll see".
We had too much fun than we should've choosing Dobby's present. We bought him socks of course has I had learned from Harry they were his favorite garment since he gave him his own in his second year freeing Dobby from the Malfoys.
We had fun selecting the most wacky socks we could find, including a pair patterned with gold and silver stars, and another that screamed loudly when they became too dirty. Then, at half past one, we made their way up the High Street, past Dervish and Banges, and out toward the edge of the village.
We. were walking toward the foot of the mountain, then we turned a corner and saw a stile at the end of the lane.
I didn't understand what we were waiting for until Harry moved forward to pat a big black dog on the head and he started wagging his tail. I noticed a neat  change of attitude when it noticed me. "She's fine Sirius, she's with us" Harry said and if only that name didn't suit a dog so well I would've been completely sure that was an animagus.
The dog literally nodded his head and I had the certainty that was actually an animagus. I was actually mesmerized, I had never seen one.
He led us to a cave and once we where in there he changed back to a man. He was dressed of worn out clothes and looked pale, very skinny, and the tattoos on his chest made hard contrast with his deathly complexion.
Harry hugged the man once he was fully transformed into a human again, he on the other hand hadn't yet moved his gaze from me.
"Sirius she's Sue" Harry said "I was almost forgetting to introduce you" he chuckled. I smiled to try to mask my embarrassment but I must've only made it worse because the man's eyes softened too.
"Hi Sue, I'm Sirius, Harry's godfather" he reached out to shake my hand and I did too "sorry, I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable, it's just that you look so much like Harry's mother that I was caught off guard for a second..."
"It's okay, really, I don't mind" I shook my head lightly.
Me and Harry shared an awkward look, he was probably embarrassed that his godfather had just told me I looked like his mother.
"Why are you here Sirius, it is dangerous for you, you could be seen" Harry said.
"The only ones here that know i'm an Animagus are you three... well, four now, and Dumbledore" he said to Harry.
Ron had taken the copy of the Daily Prophet Sirius had probably previously carried in his canine mouth as it was shown by the torn first page.
From what I could catch reading from behind Ron the article was about Crouch, of course his behavior hadn't gone unnoticed since he had been rather evasive right from the start of the Tournament, not to mention the whole scandal with his house elf at the Quidditch World Cup. They were all talking very excitedly about what had happened at the World Cup, Ludo Bagman, Malfoy, Winky, who apparently was Crouch's elf. All hypothesis had been considered about who could've stolen the wand and conjured the Dark Mark.
"I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't even say this but I think this is all speculation and it won't get us anywhere but more confused" I said "What I think is we should gather information, all we know to be true and then go from there"
"I agree" Harry said "so I think, Ron, you should ask Percy about Crouch, if he's seen him, how's he doing, things like these" he continued and that was the fist good idea I had heard since we'd gotten there.
"I can try" Ron said.
"Sirius, do you know anything about Crouch?" Harry asked to his godfather.
"I know he's the one who put me in Azkaban, without a trial"He said making everyone's face turn deadly white.
"What?" said Ron and Hermione together.
"You're kidding!" said Harry.
"No, I'm not," said Sirius.
"He's a great wizard, Barty Crouch and also power-hungry... Oh never a Voldemort supporter" he said, reading the look on Harry's face
"He rose quickly through the Ministry, and he started ordering very harsh measures against Voldemort's supporters. The Aurors were given new powers, power to kill rather than capture, for instance. Crouch fought violence with violence, but he still had his supporters. When Voldemort disappeared, it looked like only a matter of time until Crouch got the top job. But then something rather unfortunate happened..." he said with a smug grin, he liked the suspense.
"Crouch's own son was caught with a group of Death Eaters. Apparently they were trying to find Voldemort and return him to power."
"Crouch's son was caught?" gasped Hermione.
"Yep," said Sirius happily noticing his reveal had had the effect he was hoping for.
"Was his son a Death Eater?" said Harry.
"No idea," said Sirius "I was in Azkaban myself when he was brought in."
"Did Crouch try and get his son off?" I whispered. Sirius let out a laugh.
"Crouch's fatherly affection stretched just far enough to give his son a trial, then he sent him straight to Azkaban."
Well not that he's been in there all that much.
"So he's still in Azkaban" Harry said.
"No," said Sirius dully "He died about a year after they brought him in."
I glued my eyes back on him, died? No.
"After a few months Crouch's wife died too... Grief" Sirius said "He lost his family and also his career so Cornelius Fudge got the top job, and Crouch was shunted sideways into the Department of International Magical Cooperation."
Why the hell do they think he's dead?
"Moody says Crouch is obsessed with catching Dark wizards" Harry told Sirius.
"Yeah, I've heard it's become a bit of a mania with him," said Sirius, nodding. "If you ask me, he still thinks he can bring back the old popularity by catching one more Death Eater."
"And he sneaked up here to search Snape's office!" said Ron triumphantly.
"Yes, and that doesn't make sense at all," said Sirius "Ever since I found out Snape was teaching here, I've wondered why Dumbledore hired him. Snape's always been fascinated by the Dark Arts, he knew more curses when he arrived at school than half the kids in seventh year, and he was part of a gang of Slytherins who nearly all turned out to be Death Eaters."
I concentrated on what Sirius was saying but at the same time I needed to keep Snape out of my mind now that he was talking about him, I couldn't let him know that.
Sirius held up his fingers and began ticking off names "The Lestranges, they're a married couple, they're in Azkaban. Avery, from what I've heard he wormed his way out of trouble by saying he'd been acting under the Imperius Curse, he's still at large..." The three of them began exchanging glances but I didn't have the faculty to care at all in that moment "what is it, guys?" Sirius asked seeing the sudden change in their expressions.
"You said Avery.... so he is not in Azkaban anymore?" I asked Sirius.
"No, why? Did you know him?"
"Know him... he is my father" I managed to say before it became completely impossible to breathe "I'm sorry, I- I need a moment"
Sirius was looking at me like he was wondering why Harry would've brought me there so I decided best to step out of the cave so that I could think without another person doubting which side I was actually on.
So none of them is in Azkaban anymore... but maybe they're not looking for me, I mean, it would be pretty obvious they would find me in Hogwarts, where else would I be?...
I couldn't even finish a thought without checking Snape was completely shut out of my mind and that was requiring a lot more energy than even before.
The Imperius Curse, what a bastard, none ever did anything more willingly than he did everything he was asked...
"Sue, is everything okay?" Harry asked.
"No, it's not" I said taking a deep breath "every time I find out something it's never something good. I didn't know my father wasn't in Azkaban anymore, not to mention apparently Snape knows him, in the worst scenario they were both death eaters." I said as a little vent.
"No Sirius said Snape was never even accused of being a Death Eater" he said, probably just to comfort me because he hated Snape just as much as he hated Harry "There's still the fact that Dumbledore trusts Snape and I don't think he would let Snape teach at Hogwarts if he'd ever worked for Voldemort." Harry said.
"Why are you telling me this? Wouldn't it be logic for you to think I am passing information to my father now you know he is not in Azkaban anymore?" I asked.
"You are too... scared of him... I don't know what happened or if you will ever want to talk about it but every time he pops up into the conversation the terror on you face makes me think you couldn't possibly work for him" he said.
"He's right, you know?" Sirius said "I had a hot minute of doubts when you said he was your father but now I honestly feel like Harry, the emotions written on your face couldn't be untrue. Whatever happened to you I'm very sorry about it but know you'll always be safe at Hogwarts"
I was very relieved by their words I soon started to feel very guilty about not telling them about the other major thing to know about me even though I didn't know how they would take it, Harry especially, I had been around him all that time without telling him.
"There's something I have to tell you... all of you" I said getting back in the cave.
Harry looked really focused on me, he looked at my every movement.
I sat where Sirius was before so that I could look all of them in the eyes. "I'm a Legilimens"
"You can use legilimency, how could you learn that?!  you're only a year ahead of us" Ron asked confused but Sirius stopped him.
"No, she means she is born with it" he explained. Thankfully he didn't say gift, one more person calling it so and I could've gone mad.
"You're a natural?!" Hermione asked.
"Yes" I said "I was born with it".
"Right, prove it, what am I thinking about?" Ron asked.
"Fine" I said entering his mind and I saw it "you are thinking about our Yule Ball rehearsals, where you danced with McGonagall and she warned us not to behave like a 'babbling bumbling band of baboons'" I said "is that right?"
I got from his impressed look that I was right.
Harry's face on the other hand had gotten really red so I decided to prove it to him too.
"Harry, whatever it was that you were going to tell me that night in the common room I don't know, I wasn't reading your mind, I don't do it normally. I know people don't like it so I never do unless I'm asked to" I said, poor lad looked absolutely amazed. It's a lie, but this one doesn't hurt anyone.
I turned to Hermione "No, no please, I believe you, I don't need proofs" she said covering her head like I was going to beat her.
"Okay fine, I wasn't going to, It's not like I only need to look into your eyes to know what you're thinking" I said.
"Sorry, that was rude" she said, giving me an apology smile.
"Wait if she can read minds she can read if Snape is actually a death eater"
"It's not that easy.." Sirius said "he most certainly is a skilled occlumens, if he really has secrets and works with Voldemort he could've concealed all the memories that could incriminate him" he said.
"Right..." said Ron disappointed.
"I'm sorry, that was a good idea, but he could kill me if I tried" I told them.
"You'd better get back to school," Sirius said, getting to his feet.
"Now listen" He looked particularly hard at Harry. "I don't want you lot sneaking out of school to see me, all right? Just send notes to me here. And if you talk about me among yourselves call me Snuffles" Harry nodded, he was very obedient and even docile when it came to Sirius, he must've really loved him and he loved Harry too. I couldn't have imagined someone living in a cave and spending most of the time in his dog shape if it wasn't for someone they loved.
"For what it's worth" Sirius said to me "I'm glad to have met you and I believe you about the legilimency... you haven't even tried to read my mind since you got here" Sirius said taking my hand.
"Thank you, it was a pleasure to meet you, I hope I'll see you again" I said, shook his hand and then backed away to let them all hug and say goodbye properly.
Our way back to the castle was pretty quiet, at least between me and Harry, however Ron and Hermione had very different points of view and that clearly showed by the raising volume of the voices. I decided to profit of that time to lock away those memories from Snape, I made sure to do the best job I had ever done in concealing them so that at least it would've been very hard to find them, not only because I didn't want him to know he was suspected to be a death eater but also because I wanted to give him the chance to tell the truth when I asked him.
Once we were back in the castle they went back up to the common room.
"Are you not coming?" Harry spoke to me for the first time after we had left Sirius.
"No I'm going to talk to Snape, I wanna know what he has to say about my father" I said looking at them halfway up the stairs.
"You can't, he's going to find out about... Snuffles" he said.
Right, damn, I hadn't thought of it.
"I'll make something up, i won't sell Snuffles to him so easily" I winked at them and turned around on m way to the dungeons. I would've never thought that way would've become so familiar that I could actually walk without really paying attention to where I was going.
"We need to talk" I said basically breaking into his office.
He put down his quill that was waltzing around some poor student's essay "do we, now?" He raised his eyebrow. Where was his vulnerability for calling me beautiful when I needed it?
"So you know" he sighed "I wasn't sure"
"Damn forget that I don't care" I said "actually I do care but not right now."
"What do we need to talk about, then?" He asked.
"I was thinking about the memory of the other day, the one in the greenhouse" I said and paused for him to show me he remembered, he nodded lightly starting to become slightly uncomfortable.
"I couldn't help but think, by the look on your face, that you knew my mother"
"We have been in school around the same time, we were both slytherins, I suppose..."
"Don't give me the 'I suppose'! That kind of reaction wasn't for someone you had crossed paths with a couple of times" I said "don't force me to find out myself again, you know I can, I'm getting the hang of it"
"I knew her and your father, we were housemates" he said, I tried to refrain from showing any signs of triumph for getting him to talk about my father so easily.
"Just that, housemates"
"Do you want me to narrate my extremely lonely life at Hogwarts? Because that's not something I want to discuss with you!" He was getting angry so I'd have done better dialing it down.
"No I just want to know how well you knew him"
"Not that well"
"Well enough to know he was a death eater?" I asked.
"Yes"
"Well enough to know where he is now?" I said while every fiber of myself hoped he would've said no.
"No" he said "now you're going to tell me what this is all about" he said looking rather concerned examining my face carefully with his deep, penetrating eyes.
"He was in Azkaban... my father"
"Was..."
"As in not anymore, exactly" I said and grabbed onto the edge of his desk, would my legs ever stop shaking any time I say this?
He got up from his place behind the desk "sit, you need it more than I do apparently".
"I didn't know he was out, I don't how much time he's been out and I don't want him to come look for me. He knows I'm in Hogwarts"
"Where else would you be, Sue?" He said.
"This should've been my last year, I haven't been able to attend for a few years... my mother's sickness and my father absence have kept me quite busy" I said.
"Oh... you don't look like... nevermind" he shook his head.
"I needed to know you're not in touch with him and I still don't feel like you're telling me the truth, Severus, or at least not all of it"
"I promise I don't know anything about him" he said but his face was always so unreadable.
"Sev-"
"I promise" he said with a tone that implied it was the end of the discussion.
"Should I ever find out it's not true... I don't even know what I might do"
"Are you threatening me?" He stepped forward.
"Yes"
"Watch it" he whispered slowly.
"What, aren't I 'beautiful'? Could you hurt someone so beautiful?" I mocked him, I had enough of his hard facade, it was about time he stopped this game.
He looked at me like, for just one second or maybe something more, he had actually thought of killing me there and then but than he had reconsidered.
"Watch your mouth, I have hurt beautiful things before" he growled lowering a little so that we were on the same level.
"That's exactly why you won't do it again" I whispered inches away from his face "you always told us in class not to make the same mistake twice, doesn't the rule apply to you too?"
"I'm telling you... another word and-"
"And what, you are going to kill me? Please take a number and wait in line after my loving father."
"He is not going to kill you" he whispered.
"So you do know something" I said.
"No, I know nothing about him" he said plainly holding onto his calm behavior like it was the only thing that kept him from drowning "I just know he's not going to kill you, or even if he so desires it he'll have to kill me first and I... am not that easy to kill" he said with particular emphasis on the last words. Coming from him even something so sweet could sound threatening.
"Are you saying you will protect me?"
"Did I even need to say that?"
I jumped off of the chair and threw my arms around him to pull him in a hug, just the way I knew he pretended to hate. That wasn't the first time and he had learned the only way to make me stop sooner was letting me do it so he let me hug him, less reluctantly than previous times, I thought. He even at some point actually hugged me back.
"Thank you Severus" I said he didn't reply verbally but with a light squeeze on my shoulder.
Once I let go of him he didn't seem to be ready yet but following my lead he took a couple steps back.
"Don't worry we're not going to talk about the other thing..."
"Are you just going to bring it up whenever it's convenient for you?"
"I could, you still have a few things to make up for" I said, I hadn't thought of that but it wasn't a bad idea.
"And this is exactly why, as much as I don't want to, we need to sort this out"
"You really don't want to" I said "I can feel it" I smirked.
"Yes I don't want to but..."
"But you'd rather talk about your feelings like the good hufflepuff girl you are than allow me even one way to have power over you" I joked.
A little smirk curled his lips making my brows furrow because that wasn't the reaction I was expecting.
"The inexperience with your own gift is very discouraging, miss Avery"
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"It means that one thinks you should have better knowledge of what people's feelings are because of your gift"
"You know that's because I don't see it as a gift, I try not to use it, unless I have to"
He sighed and nodded "life could be a little easier if you used it, it was given to you for some reason"
"What's the point here..."
"The point is... Dumbledore might have been right, I am falling for you. I was always able to control every single thought or emotion, however with you..." he said and I couldn't believe what my ears were hearing.
"With me..." I wanted him to go on but he never did, he did something else, something completely unexpected and not at all like him, or at least the him I knew. He slid his hands under my hair and behind my neck, his eyes shone catching the dim light of the dungeon like we were in the sunlight and then he kissed me, not an impulsive kiss, he seemed to have pondered it before doing it, the fact I hadn't pulled back had encouraged him.
I kissed him back angling my head so that it was easier for him to have access to my lips.
Dear soul, I hope you know what you're doing.
They know.
He pulled me closer to him encircling my waist with his other arm. I deepened the kiss holding his face in my hands.
He pulled back to breathe but he didn't let go of me "they know" I whispered absent-mindedly.
"They do" he said looking at me like he was searching for any glimpse of regret.
"I think I'm falling for you too" I said, it was like that kiss had unlocked a different level of consciousness of my feelings. I didn't know I wanted it too until it happened.
He gave me one of his extremely rare little smiles and he kissed me again.

A/N: I am so angry🌈 my TikTok account got banned for no reason, what the hell... anyway, if you were following me or got here from TikTok I made another account @/acciopaulson (remove the / on TikTok) I'll be posting there until I can figure out if there's a way to get my old account back.