Severus Snape, professor of Potions, Head of Slytherin House and 'Greasy Git of the Dungeons' as the Gryffindors had unsubtly dubbed him, currently sat marking essays. He had been at his desk for the past three hours, marking. And here he still was, at nine o'clock in the evening, marking blasted essays. Half the students couldn't even spell potion. To most of his first to third years, it was poshon.

Suddenly there came a knock at his door. He looked up in surprise. Generally it was only Minerva, Albus, Poppy or Draco who came to visit him and Minerva used the Floo, Albus simply Apparated in (Headmaster's privileges), Poppy barged through the door and Draco waited pensively outside for at least ten minutes before the wards accepted his magical signature and allowed his entrance. This had to be someone else; possibly a student or maybe Aurora (god that would be awkward!)

"Come in!" He called.

And in walked the one person he had not expected to see. A certain know-it-all, bushy-haired, buck-toothed Gryffindor who went by the name of Hermione Granger.

"Good evening, Professor," Hermione said smoothly. Snape raised an eyebrow.

"It's past curfew, Miss Granger," he drawled, but he was curious and therefore desisted from taking points.

"I had something urgent to see you about." Snape gestured for her to continue. "You see, I've being getting to know your godson a bit better recently and he tells me the only way I'll understand how horrible Gryffindor is as a house is if you tell me. Also, he's a narcissistic bastard."

Snape blinked.

"Well..." He said slowly. This was a bit overwhelming. "You're, er, talking about Draco, aren't you?"

"How many godsons do you have?" Hermione retorted.

Snape paled. "One."

"Then it's Draco."

"Alright then. What do you want to know?"

It was Hermione's time to blink. He was being forward with her? Well, she might as well take this chance; it might be the only one she got.

"I want to know why Slytherin has such a dark reputation, whereas Gryffindor, which Draco assures me is just as evil, does not," Hermione requested.

Severus sighed, and massaged his head. The girl wanted a hierarchy lecture.

"One thing you ought to know before I continue, Miss Granger, is that almost all Slytherins are Pure-blood and not many Gryffindors are. Most Gryffindors are viewed as Blood Traitors, witches and wizards who turned their backs on what being magical actually meant. Blood Traitors don't tolerate inbreeding, that is to say procreation between two of the same family, incest, and Pure-bloods do not agree with breeding with Muggles. That is distasteful to them.              

"Consequently, due to repeated idiocy on both parts, Slytherins were soon treated as criminals within the magical world. Not helped by the multitude of Dark Lords that have emerged from our house which is, by the way, a house for the cunning, not the evil. Those few simply used the advantage of being cunning to their benefit; they amassed followers and soon grew powerful. Gryffindors, by contrast, own no particular leaders, with the exception of Professor Dumbledore, of course.

"These Gryffindors then dubbed the entirety of Slytherin as Dark Lords and rose within the Ministry. Ministers were generally always Gryffindors as there are far more Blood Traitors than Purebloods; consequently, there are less Slytherins, and the Sorting Hat will not sort any student into the wrong house. So there is no reason to hope now that you are actually a Ravenclaw at heart, Miss Granger."

Hermione blushed, marginally disturbed that he had read her mind. "But why, Sir, are the Gryffindors so bad if the Slytherins were also tantalisingly stupid at that time?"

Severus breathed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Some would say this is a personal viewpoint and at times, I agree, however, what happened to me reflects what has happened to every Half-Blood in Slytherin for the last four hundred or so years," he explained.

Hermione looked worried. "So, what did happen to you, Sir?"

"Ah, Miss Granger, that is a story for another day." Severus stood up. "Come back tomorrow and I may be in a good enough mood to tell you. Until then, though, you are out after curfew. Five points from Gryffindor, Miss Granger, and do not let me catch you out this late again."

"Yes, Sir," Hermione replied quickly, and left without looking back.

*

Severus sat down again rather suddenly. What had he got himself into? More the point, what had Draco got himself into? And why had Severus decided to oblige Miss Granger's request? Did he really need someone else to talk to so much that he would speak to a Gryffindor student? He must be losing his mind. He glanced at the photograph of Lily on the fireplace.

"She can't be that bad, can she Lily?" He asked pleadingly. "After all, she is best friends with your son."

The Lily in the photograph simply shrugged.

*****

There you go: another chapter. I decided to add an out-of-character Snape to join the slightly demented Hermione, Confounded Lavender, sarcastic Draco and caring Parvati. Ah, well, I can just say my fanfic is getting a little bit out of hand, a little bit AU. Hope you enjoyed!