Allergies and Empathy (M) - (4 Parts)

[Jorm]

Title: Allergies and Empathy

Author: Raven C.

Fandom: Harry Potter (do I write anything else?)

Rating: PG 13 I guess

Pairing: Snape/Tara

Genre: Romance (My first hetero fic!)

Spoilers: Let’s just say books 1-6 to be safe, not sure when this is taking place

Disclaimer: All characters affiliated with the Harry Potter book and movie series are the property of J. K. Rowling and Warner Brothers Studio. Tara is my own character.

Summary: Tara, a new Hogwarts teacher decides to find out why Snape is such a grouch and ends up getting to know him even better than she intended and giving him a bit of a hand (or at least some comfort) with his fall allergies as well.

Authors note: I wrote this fic for VampireLady because she said se was frustrated that almost all the existing Snape fics portray him as gay. So VampireLady, this is for you! I hope you enjoy it.

Allergies and Empathy

Tara looked around her new office at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and frowned. It was not the room itself that she disliked; in fact she had been quite pleasantly surprised. It was high in one of the eastern towers with a beautiful view of the Forbidden Forest and the sun rise, she suspected that Dumbledore had done this entirely on purpose for her benefit. No, the thing she was frowning about was how sad the room looked with only her few rather shabby belongings to fill it.

“Well, what do you think Ix?” She asked the Siamese cat at her feet. He merely cocked his head to the side and yawned. Tara chuckled and scratched him behind the ears;

“You’re just upset because you’re not top dog anymore and that poor excuse for a cat Mrs. Norris is.” She told him. Ix glared at her reproachfully, no doubt feeling that to apply the term “top dog” to a cat was highly offensive.

“We’ll get used to it… I hope.” Tara said standing up with a sigh and sticking her hands into the pockets of her Muggle jeans. Really she said it more to reassure herself than Ix. She had never really considered teaching before, had been quite comfortable in her little country home, but for some reason she had found it impossible to say no when Dumbledore had paid here a visit and told her he was adding a class on empaths this year and that he wanted her to teach it. She had always found it hard to deny him anything he asked for. The class, he told her would be aimed mainly at empaths themselves, teaching them how to cope with and utilize their unusual talent and the extreme way in which the outside world could affect them, and would therefore probably be quite small, but that there should also be a certain amount of theory involved as well for the benefit of any non-empaths that chose to take the class. Tara herself was a very strong empath and had managed to learn how to usually keep the effect of others emotions on her to a minimum, which was why Dumbledore had thought she would be the perfect person for the job, even if she was still quite young, twenty-five to be exact. She really hoped she had made the right decision in agreeing to take the post. A sudden sharp pain jerked Tara roughly from her musings, making her gasp and grab her desk for support as a number of very strong emotions that were not her own washed over her. The most prominent was frustration, but underling that and no less potent was a mixture of loss, regret, depression, and anger which seemed to be directed inward as much as outward. Forcing her eyes to open against the blur of pain and emotion, Tara looked quickly around for someone to whom these feeling might belong and saw a man walk past her open door. She took a few deep breaths, forcing off the emotions that had so suddenly assailed her, walked over the door and looked out. The man wore dark flowing robes, his head was bowed and a curtain of greasy-looking black hair hung in his face, it was definitely him that the feelings were coming from. As she watched him he suddenly froze, a hand going quickly up to his face, his shoulders rose and fell with hitching breaths, and then…

“Hiikt’shhhh! Humpt’shhhh! Ih…ih…Ik’chhhh!” he sneezed three times into one cupped hand and gave a low growl, the feeling of frustration coming off him grew stronger and was joined by a sense of desperation and helplessness. Tara watched him with a certain amount of interest as he bent forward with another bought of harsh, wet sounding sneezes.

“Ikt’shhhh! IshHOOO! EchCHOO! HISHOOO!” He straightened up and slumped against the wall breathing heavily and sniffling wetly.

“Bless you.” Tara said softly and a little nervously. The dark haired man whirled around in surprise, he had a sallow face with a large hooked nose, which was at the moment rather red. His cheeks were also slightly flushed, but Tara couldn’t tell if that was from the sneezing itself or embarrassment about his fit having been seen.

“Who are you?” he demanded coldly. Now it was Tara’s turn to blush.

“I-I’m Tara Maeve, the new teacher for ‘Empaths in Modern Society’” She stammered, extending a rather shaky hand. The man eyed her suspiciously for a moment before taking her hand rather grudgingly.

“Severus Snape, Potions Master.” He said in the same cold tone as before.

“Mrrow?” Ix had poked his head around the doorframe and was blinking curiously up at Severus Snape. Snape looked down at him and raised one questioning eyebrow.

“This is Ix” Tara said, bending down and scooping the cat up in her arms, he gave a displeased meow and scrambled out of her arms and up onto her shoulder where he perched with a look of utmost dignity.

“Ix, this is Professor Snape.” She told him. Ix looked at Snape and purred.

“I see.” Snape said, now raising both eyebrows. “Well, if you’ll excuse me I… I… Ikt’chhh! Eh…Essshhhhhh!” he turned his head quickly and sneezed twice into the crook of his elbow, then cleared his throat. “Excuse me, as I was saying, if you don’t mind I must be going, I’m very…” A look of desperate frustration settled on his face as his breath began to hitch again. “Very… Hisshhhaa! It’chhhxxx! It’chooo!” He sniffled desperately, glared at no one in particular, and finally managed too finish his sentence. “Very busy.”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you.” Tara said quickly. Snape nodded and turning walked away down the corridor. “I hope you feel better!” Tara called after him, as he was about to turn the corner. He stopped and turned to look at her with surprise.

“Oh, ah… Thank you.” He said sounding rather uncomfortable and forgetting his usual cold demeanor. A second later he had disappeared around the corner, but Tara heard another wet sneeze a minute later. She stood for a minute looking at the corner he had disappeared around, her head cocked slightly to the side in almost the exact same way Ix had earlier. “I wonder what happened to make him so cold and hurt.” She wondered aloud, then decided with a firm nod that se would just have to find out. “Curiosity killed the cat” was something she had frequently been told as a child, but it didn’t seem to have made any difference, she just naturally wanted to know everything about everything, especially people who seemed hurt. With this final nod of decision she turned and walked back into her office feeling strangely better now that she had something to work on.

(More to come soon.)

[Neesan]

Not being a huuuuge fan of het or OFCs, but this was really bloody HOT! Can't wait for more!

If I maaaay suggest something little, though? It's a little hard to keep up with one huge block of text, so adding some spaces would help. But other than that... KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

SNAPEANDCATNOOOOES! Damn, you make me crave the Draco fic I found. *runs to read that too* YAY Slytherin looooooove!

[Neesan]

That any better?

VERY! LMAO I hope I didn't sound all mean about it or anything. XD

[Guest Maiden of Fire]

....

all I can say

....

wow!!

[Zuki]

- checks the rating on this one first before reading-

Oh but I do so like this one...

[Chate Noire]

Love on Snape!! Lupin and Black are yummy and all, but I think he's the sexiest character in Harry Potter, especially when so wonderfully played by Alan Rickman.

I really like how this starts! Snape with allergies...<happy sigh>. And the new teacher sounds really cool; the part where she suddenly felt Snape's angst was wonderful, especially coming right after we learn Tara is supposed to be good at keeping other's feelings out of her head.

Melikes a lot, realllllly want to have more allergic Snape. Yup.

[VampireLady]

Oh my fucking god!!!

Thank you soooo much!!!!

Yeah, guys, this story is only written for me ....muahahaha! Now you are all jealous.

[Guest immune]

Ooh. I'm liking where this is going.

[Guest Maiden of Fire]

Ideas? Well, Snape needs someone to love him. *tear*

I'm such a romantic!

I love Snape!! Poor Snape.

*shuts herself up before she wails about him anymore*

Love is a good thing.

Snape, being Snape, of course hates this idea at first....but for the rest of us, he has to warm up eventually.

Well, that's my dumb idea. What ever you write it will be great!

[VampireLady]

Please go on writing...

[Happygolucky]

I love it. When's the next part coming out???

[Jorm]

So that I don't clog up this forum with this fic all future parts will be added to this thread.

Also, I apologize for th serious lack of sneezing in this section. I promise the next one will have plenty.

Part 2

2.1 Tara

Tara sat nervously at the desk in her new classroom and waited for the first period bell to ring and her first ever class to start. She had hardly eaten anything at breakfast she was so nervous, and one of her legs was jiggling madly under her desk. She wished very much that she could have brought Ix with her, but it wasn’t allowed. When the bell finally did ring, Tara jumped nearly a foot in the air and gave a high pitched squeak.

‘It’s ok, it’s ok, you’re fine, everything’s gonna be fine, they’re just kids, they’re not going to hurt you!’ she thought desperately.

The thought, ‘You’re practically a kid yourself.’ Popped unbidden into her head.

“Shut up.” She muttered to herself and jumped again as the first student walked into the room. He looked at her with slightly raised eyebrows and she smiled nervously at him. The fact that she could tell he was pretty nervous himself made her feel a little better though. The boy took a seat near the back of the room as more students filed in looking both nervous and sleepy. When they had all taken their seats, Tara stood up and smiled at them, knowing that if any of them were empaths, which some of them undoubtedly were, they would be able tell just how nervous she was right away. She cleared her throat.

“Hi, I’m… uh, Professor Maeve.” She said, thinking how incredibly strange calling herself a professor sounded and making a quick decision.

“But you can just call me Tara. I’m going to be teaching you how to best use your talents as empaths and how to manage in a world full of strong emotions that can affect you in very negative ways.” She looked around, not quite sure what to say next, but was saved from having to think of something, by a raised hand.

“Yes?” She said, pointing to the boy who had been first to come in. He shifted nervously in his seat.

“Are… are you an empath?” he asked so quietly she barely heard him.

“Yup.” She said grinning. “I’ve been able to sense other people’s emotions for as long as I can remember, and as I got older it got a lot stronger and harder to control.” Another hand went up in the air.

“Yes?” she said again, this time to a girl with long brown braids.

“How do you keep it from overwhelming you and giving you headaches and stuff?”

Tara nodded understandingly,

“Yeah, that took me a long time, actually Dumbledore’s the one who really helped me with that.” There were a number of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’ at this.

“Anyway, that’s part of what I’m here to teach you. How to block out other peoples emotions when you want or need to.” From here the class went quite smoothly and Tara quickly got over her nervousness. The students where eager to learn and listened to what she told them excitedly.

2.2 Snape

Severus Snape was feeling very distracted, and not just because he couldn’t stop sneezing, he had something else on his mind as well; a woman. And that was something that had not happened in a very long time indeed, possibly not since Lily Evans had married that idiot James Potter and then gotten herself killed. But this woman was… well, different. There was no other word for it, she was like no one he had ever met before, if you could call a three-minute conversation meeting someone that was. But even in that short conversation she had acted much different than most people, she had hardly seemed put off by his coldness, almost rudeness, at all. She had even told him she hoped he’d feel better.

Well, he didn’t, but it was the thought that counted he supposed, or so people said. People like Dumbledore, he thought with a congested sigh, people who always looked on the bright side. Snape himself had never quite figured out were this bright side they spoke of was. He had certainly never found it, or any sign of its existence for that matter.

‘Why fall?’ he thought frustratedly. If he was going to have allergies, why couldn’t he at least get them in the spring when the school year was almost over, instead of the fall when it was just beginning and he was trying to make a good first impression on his new students? Well, “good” was perhaps not the right word, “dangerous” or at least “imposing” would have been a more accurate description of the impression he usually tried to make, but then that was his idea of a good impression. However it was very difficult to make that sort of impression when he was sneezing his head off. Teaching in a dungeon certainly helped to some degree, but his allergies where severe enough that it didn’t make a particularly noticeable difference to anyone but him. He had a break between classes now, but if his first was any indication, it was going to be a disastrous day. He was pretty sure he hadn’t made it through a single sentence without sneezing at least once. ‘It’s just my luck,’ he thought, ‘that I’m actually allergic to allergy potions.’

“Severus.” Said a voice behind him suddenly, making him jump slightly and spin around. Professor McGonagall’s head was sitting in his fireplace looking up at him.

“Yes?” he asked irritably.

“Somehow a pack of Jarvies have gotten loose in the school.” She said, ignoring his coldness completely. “Probably the Weasley twins doing, and they have been ambushing students and calling them a number of things which I would rather not repeat. I need you to go fetch Hagrid so he can come round them up.”

“And why can’t you fetch him yourself?” Snape asked rudely. Professor McGonagall’s head stiffened and she spoke sternly. “Because I am in the middle of a class at the moment. I managed to get Flitwick to keep an eye on it for a few moments while I called you, but I really don’t have time to go find Hagrid.”

Snape glared at her. “Well what about Filch? Isn’t he supposed to… He paused, fighting hard against a quickly growing need to sneeze… he lost.

“Ih-hissshhooo! Ih…Ih…Ih’ssshhhhhh! Hikt’chhhh!” He muffled the sneezes as best he could into a balled fist, cleared his throat and continued, doing his best to pretend nothing had happened.

“Isn’t he supposed to do this sort of thing? I’m a teacher you know, not a messenger boy.”

“I am well aware of that.” McGonagall said stiffly. “And I asked Filch first, but apparently one of the Jarvies has cornered Mrs. Norris in a toilet, and he is refusing to leave the bathroom until someone manages to get her out.”

Snape sighed, rolling his eyes, and muttered something that sounded very much like “git”.

“Fine.” He snapped to McGonagall’s head. “But if I die of a sneezing attack I’m holding you responsible.” And without another word he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room. Professor McGonagall’s head rolled its eyes and disappeared with a pop, muttering something that sounded very much like “git” as it vanished.

(More to come) ~DreamShadow

[Aljana]

I love this part:

"If he was going to have allergies, why couldn’t he at least get them in the spring when the school year was almost over, instead of the fall when it was just beginning and he was trying to make a good first impression on his new students? Well, “good” was perhaps not the right word, “dangerous” or at least “imposing” would have been a more accurate description of the impression he usually tried to make, but then that was his idea of a good impression. "

All of it is fabulous! Love where it's going!

Aljana

[vote_for_pedro]

Yay, Dreamshadow! I think this is the first hetero Snape fiction I've seen. Thanks a million, and excellent job! What did VampireLady do to get on your good side? Can I be on your good side too?

[VampireLady]

YEAH!

Very cool! Ahh...he is so sweet!

I thought my day was very bad, but this second part made it much better!

[tma]

hehehe... I see you get just like me after having offered a new fict. part. *grins and hugs* I always am Dying for the first reply. It's not that it needs to be massively popular or anything. I mostly write for myself and for the fun of it. But still.... it's a scary thing.

Anyway.... I wasn't around over the weekend but I was Very glad to see that you wrote more of this. Absolutely NO problem (on my part) regarding amt. of sneezing. I like to have good stories set up so that sneezing enhances a great story.

I am loving this. It is a very interesting concept. I've read all the books but I don't remember too much re: empaths. But I think that your additional character really doesn't have a "Mary Sue" feel to her. And it is seeming to fit together quite well.

Thanks muchly.

[Jorm]

Spoiler warning! pretty big spoiler from book 6

Part 3

Snape paused before the huge oak front doors; this was shaping up to be a very bad day. With a sigh he pushed open one of the doors and immediately sneezed as a chill fall wind blew a mixture of leaves and grass directly at him.

“Ickt’chhhhhh! Hii’ iissshhhhhooo! Iissshhhhooo! Ickt’CHOOO!” He barely had time to catch his breath before he doubled over again, his sinuses feeling as though they might explode at any second.

“It’chhooo! HISSHHOOO! Ehh…ehh… ESSHOOO!! ISSSHHHOOO! IPT’CHHOOO!! ACKT’CHHHOOOO!!!”

He practically collapsed on the stone steps he was so dizzy from the fit, but before he hit the ground he felt two rather small but suprisingly strong arms catch him.

“Are you okay?!” Asked an alarmed female voice that seemed only vaguely familiar.

“I…” Snape said weakly as the speaker lowered him gently to the ground and he looked up to see who it was, too exhausted to even be embarrassed. The young woman, the new professor from the other day stood above him, looking down at him her eyes full of concern. He swallowed, and realized suddenly that his nose was running uncontrollably. The girl, he was having trouble remembering her name at the moment, sat down next to him on the steps, pulling out a purple handkerchief and handing it to him.

“Thags.” He said, almost wincing at how congested he sounded and blowing his nose weakly into the handkerchief.

“No problem.” She said. “Are you okay? You don’t sound so good.”

“Allergies.” Snape said with a sigh, pushing himself into more of a sitting position, so that he was no longer sprawled out over the steps.

“Ib afraid I dod’t rebember your nabe.” He added, slightly embarrassed and still sounding and feeling incredibly congested.

“Tara.” She said with warm smile, but then suddenly frowned as he sneezed again. “If you have this bad of allergies what are you doing outside?”

“Log story.” Snape replied. “Would you mide if… Isshhoo! If we continued this conversation idside?” He gestured back at the oak front doors.

“Of course not.” Tara said, standing quickly and helping him up as well.

Once inside Snape slumped against the wall, his head pounding slightly. And, he suddenly remembered with a groan, he still had to get Hagrid.

Tara frowned again, feeling his desperation at the dilemma. “Is… is there anything I could… Um, help you with?” She asked hesitantly. Snape looked sharply over at her, was it just him, or did she seem to know much more than he had told her?

After eyeing her suspiciously for a moment he spoke.

“There is… if you wouldn’t mind that is…” He sighed and explained the whole Jarvey fiasco. Tara laughed when he mentioned what had happened to Mrs. Norris and immediately offered to go get Hagrid for him, to which he agreed without a moment’s hesitation. There were, he considered, certain times when even he had to set aside his pride and let someone lend a hand. There was, at least, no denying that it was better then passing out from lack of oxygen because of a sneezing fit.

And so while Tara ran off to get Hagrid, Snape slid down and sat on the cold stone floor with his back resting against the wall and blew his nose again. He was still rather dizzy from the fit, but his curiosity was quickly overtaking that. How had Tara known that he needed help with something? Was it just a lucky guess? A coincidence? He had a feeling there was more to it than that, but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what it was.

“Ickt’shooo!” He groaned and decided he would have to think about it later, he was too tired and congested to think about anything but a nap at the moment. But he couldn’t even seem to get up the energy to stand, and so ended up falling asleep right there in the entrance hall. And that was how Tara found him several minutes later when she returned with Hagrid. He looked so peaceful and seemed to need the sleep so much that she decided not to wake him and instead got Hagrid to carry him down to his quarters before he went to round up the Jarvies and rescue Mrs. Norris.

Snape woke sometime later to find himself lying comfortably in bed with a blanket over him and a large box of tissues on his bedside table. He pushed himself up onto his elbows and looked around, wondering how he had gotten there. He was fully awake now and no longer dizzy, though still plenty congested. And he still had a slight head ache as well, but that wasn’t in the least bit surprising, he usually had a constant head ache from September through October, sometimes even continuing on into November depending on the weather. The joys of having allergies, he thought with a sigh.

Tara, who had been sitting in Snape’s living room playing Wizard Solitaire, an interesting version of the Muggle game in which the playing card taunted you, felt rather than heard him awaken. A feeling of confusion wafting out of the bedroom made her turn here head, and then she did hear him.

“Hmpt’chhhh! Ickt’shhhh! Ishhooo!” Two wet gurgling blows and a groan followed the sneezes.

“Oi! What, did you forget about us?” One of the cards asked.

“You’ll never win with an attention span like that.” Another added primly.

“Oh, shush.” Tara said, scooping them together and stuffing them in her pocket as she got up and headed for the bedroom.

“How are you feeling?” She asked, poking her head through the door.

“Confused.” Snape replied honestly.

“Yeah, I can tell.” Tara replied grinning and coming further into the room. At Snape’s raised eyebrows she chuckled.

“Guess you were a bit distracted because of your allergies when we first met.” She said, “Otherwise you probably would have figured it out by now.”

Snape frowned, trying to remember just what she had told him on their first meeting, but his headache seemed to be getting in the way of his thinking.

“Don’t worry about it.” Tara said, once again seeming to know exactly what he was thinking. “I probably would have been pretty distracted too if I was sneezing that much.” She grinned again. “I’m an empath. Well, I didn’t tell you exactly that when we met, but I said I was teaching the new class on empaths.”

‘Of course!’ Snape thought, finally remembering and forcing himself not to slap himself on the forehead as that would undoubtedly just make his headache worse. Suddenly he looked at her with sharp suspicion, a sudden fear filling his mind. Tara winced, knowing full well that the fear was because of her.

“Do you mean…” Snape asked slowly, “That you can tell exactly what I’m thinking and feeling?” He didn’t like this idea one bit, he had too many thoughts and feelings that he would probably die before admitting to.

But Tara shook her head. “I can’t tell what you’re thinking, only what you’re feeling. And usually I can’t tell why you’re feeling what you’re feeling, and most of the time I try to block as much of it out as I can anyway. It can get pretty overwhelming feeling what everybody else is feeling, and sometimes it’s downright painful.” She admitted.

Snape relaxed slightly, but not completely at this.

“Exactly how much do you know?” He asked, not entirely sure he wanted to know.

Tara shrugged, looking slightly uncomfortable and sat down in the chair across the room.

“Well, the day we first met your feeling were… well, strong… So I know you’re not very happy and you’ve lost a lot of things that were important to you, and you’ve done a lot of things you regret, and you’re mad at both the world and yourself. And…” She looked at her shoes. “And you’re scared and alone…” She paused. “And I want to help you.”

She forced herself to look up at him. He was staring at her and for once she couldn’t tell what he was feeling. He looked like he might be about to cry, or to yell at her, she couldn’t tell which, or maybe it was both.

“I…I’m sorry, I didn’t –“ She started, but he cut her off sharply.

“Get out.” He said, his tone one of some one who is holding back a very strong emotion.

“I-“ She tried again.

“Get OUT!” he yelled. “How dare you presume to think you know what I feel! You have no idea what you’re talking about! Now GET OUT!”

With tears beginning to brim in her eyes Tara quickly stood and hurried out, mumbling a choked out apology as she left.

Snape sat fuming in bed. How dare she! How dare she be so… so right! He picked up the tissue box and hurled it at his bedroom wall, tears streaming down his cheeks. And then he collapsed on the bed crying… crying for all that he had lost and all that he had done. Crying for his mother, and for obeying Lord Voldemort, and getting Lily, the one woman he had ever really loved killed, and for all the things he had never wanted to think about again, all the things he had tried so hard to block out.

(Poor Snape, he needs a hug doesn't he? Don't worry, there's still more to come! ... I hope that's a good thing...)

~DreamShadow

[star000]

FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!

star

xxx

[star000]

there are loads of HP fics with men on men action in, and i like that this one is different. i have to say that after the 6th book Snape can burn in hell, but still love the fic!

not meaning to offend anyone as i like any HP fic or any story/book regardless of the characters sexual preference

(plaese dont shoot me)

star

xxxx

[Guest Maiden of Fire]

Wow!! I leave the forum for a few days and there are TWO wonderful updates to great me!! How wonderful! This is the best best best story!!

Snape really does need a hug....

This story is WONDERFUL, not only a good fetish story, and not only a good HP fan fic, but just wonderful! I love it so much! I hope you write more and keep posting them!!!

Lovely story!!

[tma]

I'm really enjoying this. The connection between the two and the angst. *grin*- am a bit of an angst lover.

[Aljana]

As always, totally fab! And love the Wizard solitaire!

Aljana

[VampireLady]

If your time allows it: Please go on writing!

We are all very excited I think and you are such a wonderful writer!

[VampireLady]

OK!

I'm very exctied!

AND: I wish you the best luck for your finals.

I had them at the beginning od the year and I know how hard this time can be!

[Jorm]

Miracle of miracles, I have actually written more!!

Not, in my opinion some of my best stuff, but ah well. Not much sneezing either unfortunately, but I will keep going and hopefully te next part will be better.

Part 4

4.1 Tara

Tara, her eyes blurred by tears half ran, half stumbled down the dungeon corridors and back up to the entrance hall, where she nearly collided with Albus Dumbledore himself and almost lost her balance.

“Easy there!” He said, taking her arm gently but firmly to keep her from falling. He then surveyed her carefully, his expression darkening.

“What do you say to a nice cup of tea in my office?” He asked gently.

Tara nodded, wiping the back of her hand across her cheek and trying not to blush. Dumbledore led her up to the fifth floor where a large ugly stone gargoyle stood halfway down one of the corridors.

“Sugar Slugs” Dumbledore said, and the gargoyle leapt aside as the wall seemed to split in two revealing a spiral stone staircase that was rotating slowly upward.

“Right this way.” He said kindly, motioning for her to go first. “Mind your step.”

At the top of the stairs they stepped off onto a small landing in front of a large oak door, which seemed to open before Dumbledore even touched it. He ushered Tara into a comfortable chair in front of his desk and the seat on the other side for himself.

“Accio tea kettle!” he muttered and a large silver kettle zoomed across the room into his waiting hand, narrowly missing Tara’s head on its way.

“So…” Dumbledore said, as he set about making the tea. “It appears that you have had a rather unpleasant first day here.”

Tara shifted rather uncomfortably in her seat, but Dumbledore smiled kindly at her.

“Life is never easy for empaths Tara.” He said, “No matter how skilled you are at blocking out others feelings some will always get through and you will feel compelled to help that unfortunate soul with what ever problems they may have.” He took her hand in his and looked into her eyes with a father-like love. “It is of a curse than a gift sometimes, isn’t it? And there is little you can do about it, but use it as best you can.”

“Sir?” Tara said frowning at him slightly. “Are you an empath? I’ve always wondered, you just always seem to know… everything.”

Dumbledore chuckled and leaned back in his chair. “No, no, Tara, I am not an empath.” He said with a laugh. “Just a very wise and nosy old man.”

Tara smiled inspite of herself as Dumbledore leaned forward again, looking a bit more serious.

“Tell me” he said, “What happened to upset you so.”

Tara looked at him silently for a moment before letting the whole story tumble out and by the end there were tears in her eyes again.

“I see.” Dumbledore said quietly and his eyes had a far away look in them as if he were reliving some distant memory.

“I didn’t mean to upset him.” Tara choked out. “I just… I just wanted to help. He seemed so…” But couldn’t seem to finish.

“Of course you didn’t mean to upset him.” Dumbledore said, returning to the present. He sighed and stood, walking over to his window and looking out.

“Severus…” He paused and sighed again. “Severus can be difficult at times. But you mustn’t blame him for most of it. He has not had an easy life by any stretch of the imagination. But then of course, you already knew that.” He turned and smiled at her again. “And of course you could not stop yourself wanting to help him. Unfortunately Severus isn’t one to except help very readily. You see, most of the people who have ever claimed that they would help him have only ended up hurting him. I believe he has given up hope in the human race for the most part. His father was very hard on both him and is mother, who unfortunately died when he was young. I think he must have become very violent at times for when I first met Severus and for quite sometime after he would flinch at any sudden movement. His fellow students where not particularly kind to him either, he was frequently teased and occasionally even assaulted.” He sighed again.

“I cannot help but feel partially responsible, I should have watched the students better, but I was new at being Headmaster at the time.”

“He hates himself doesn’t he?” Tara asked softly.

Dumbledore nodded. “When the basic emotional needs of a person are withheld for most of their life they will often turn to anyone at all who offers them. No matter how extreme, or criminal that persons motivations are.” He paused and looked sadly out his window again.

“Severus, turned to Voldemort. The one person who he believed could give the two things he most desired; respect and revenge on a world he believed had turned its back on him.”

Tara stared, horrified at Dumbledore. “He became a Death Eater?”

Dumbledore nodded and Tara almost thought she could see tears in his crystal blue eyes.

“He did. And he did a great many things that he now regrets most deeply, I don’t believe he ever really knew what he was doing when he was actually doing it. I believe he forced himself not to think about it because he knew he would hate himself if he did… And now he does. He returned to our side shortly before Voldemort fell and worked as a spy for several months at great risk to his safety.”

Tara sat in silence for some minutes, thinking about all that Dumbledore had said. It explained so much about Snape, no wonder he had become so angry, if had been her she certainly wouldn’t have wanted to discuss that sort of thing with someone she hardly knew.

“I hope this will not turn you off from befriending him.” Dumbledore said at last. “He needs all the friends he can get, though he would undoubtedly never admit it.” He added. Tara looked up at him and smiled.

“Don’t worry, it won’t.” She said.

Dumbledore smiled in return. “Good, just remember to tread softly around Severus

4.2 Snape

“Yow mrow, mrrrumm?”

Snape rolled over to see Tara’s cat sitting on the rug in the middle of his room glaring at him with an unmistakable look of reproval, if his fur weren’t so different, Snape would have thought that it was Professor McGonagall in cat form.

“What do you want?” he snapped, glaring back.

Ix made a noise somewhere between a hiss and a snort and leapt up onto the bed so that he was looking Snape straight in the eye and licked his lips. Snape sneezed, turning his head sharply to one side.

“Ickt’choo! “Hisshoo! Isshhooo!” When he turned back to face the Ix, sniffling, the cat licked the tip of his nose and snorted. Snape blinked.

“You are most definitely the strangest cat I have ever met.” He told it.

Ix looked almost as though he was grinning. And then he did something that made Snape’s jaw drop; he spoke.

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” He said casually. “And actually I’m a kneazle*.” He flicked his tail to show off the lion-like tuft at the end, a trademark characteristic of the kneazle.

Snape stared. “I didn’t know kneazle’s could talk.” He said with interest, all else for the moment forgotten.

Ix shrugged, “We choose not to most of the time. When witches and wizards find out we can they tend to want too have long pointless conversations with us. And personally I have better things to do than discuss the idiocy of having hired dementors as prison guards.” He said. “I knew it was a stupid idea to begin with, I see no point in discussing it further.”

“So why are you talking to me then?” Snape asked.

“Because you’re an egotistical git and you need to be taught a lesson.” Ix replied calmly.

Snape’s face darkened with anger, but Ix ignored this and continued.

“If you’re intention was to make someone who was just trying to help cry and feel guilty, then let me tell you, you did a wonderful job.” He said sarcastically.

“She had no business sneaking into my head and telling me what I feel!” Snape snarled, getting angrier by the minute.

Ix rolled his eyes, “You think she chooses to know what people are feeling every second of her day? Do you have any idea what that would be like? To feel the pain of every person who walked by? I mean really, does that sound like fun to you?”

“I – “ Snape began, but the kneazle interrupted him.

“Let me guess, you didn’t think of that, right?”

“Well, I – “

Ix snorted, “Don’t bother trying to explain your twisted logic.” He said, “It won’t help.”

“And what will help?” Snape asked through gritted teeth.

“Well, for starters there is a little thing called ‘I’m sorry’, you might want to try that. All she wanted to do was help, you know. She could tell how unhappy you where and she wanted to make you feel better. And last time I checked that’s no reason to make someone cry.”

“I didn’t mean to make her cry.” Snape said sulkily.

“Well, you certainly messed that up then.” Leaping back onto the floor. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a certain caretakers cat to harass.” And with that he stalked hautily out of the room without a second glance at Snape, who sat there in something of a state of shock, until his allergies caught up with him and he had to bury his nose in the handkerchief Tara had given him as he was overcome by another fit of sneezes.

“Humpt’chhhh! Ickt’chhxxx! “Hit’chhooo! Ishhhooo!”

He then slumped back in bed sniffling and fell back into a dream-tormented sleep.

*Kneazle (Pronounced NEE-zul) – Is a small catlike creature with flecked, speckled, or spotted fur, large ears, and a tail like a lions. They are intelligent, independent, and occasionaly aggressive, though if they take a liking to a witch or wizard, they make excellent pets. (From “Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them” by Newt Scamander) I added the being able to talk part.

Also points to anyone to can figure out where I took Ix’s name from!