Teaching the troll

Severus did not know how tough the task of teaching Marriet is going to be.

It seemed that no one taught her any thing to Marriet before coming to Hogwarts.

She was bloody illiterate when she started first year. As such, learned her English on the job, as muggles say. She doesn't have so much as an ounce of understanding about basic principles of magic.

Only good thing that can be said about her is insults seem to fly right above her head.

Marriet can be neither motivated, nor bribed in to learning.

Thus, Severus is surprised when he first told her to write her alphabet ten thousand times in a row by next day as an epithet, she indeed did write her alphabet ten thousand times and brought it to next session.

Well, Hufflepuffs are nothing if not hardworking, Severus snarked to him self. He told her she forgot to dot her 'i's and cross her 't's and told her to repeat the same thing day after, in both lady's script.

Thus began Severus Snape's epic journey to teach a troll ( as he liberally called her out side Lily's listening range, not necessarily Marriet's) how to read and write.

Marriet, while both slow to learn and grasp, is a very hard worker. She also inordinately liked spending time with Severus. What ever Severus told, she did. Even if it is to start jumping around like a monkey or quacking like a duck for his amusement.

Ofcourse, Severus kept all this out of Hogwart's student body's eyes and ears. Any one other than a slytherin will report it, all slytherin's will try to make a deal out of it.

Especially since Severus stopped helping them with homework.

How ever, at the end of the day, he did see Marriet's diligence and genuinely did help her understand her previous years subject, as he expected her to learn no more than a jelly legs and body bind hex. It had been a herculean effort even coming there. How ever, after three months of teaching her, he managed to teach her the incantation of body bind hex.

He did fully expect her to take a month to learn what he had learned in a day as a wee six year old. It some times amazed him that Marriet survived Hogwarts with as many people using her as stress relief and being as slow as she is.

The best part of this entire "teaching a dimwit how to hex" affair is impressing Lily. She initially thought Severus will go back on his word, but as he survived through teaching Marriet month after month, Lily was more and more impressed with him. The dates between them progressed to hand holding, and a kiss on the cheek, but never further than that. It's woefully clear to Severus his forty year old persona is interfering with his sixteen year old about the progress of their relationship.

He has put Lily on a pedestal for most of his life. In his dreams and memories, she is always as beautiful as a nymph, as kind as mother earth. How ever, Severus is noting she is just another sixteen year old girl, with same failings and strengths of a sixteen year old. He can't even call her the most powerful or most impressive muggleborn, having known Hermione Granger. Worst of all, Severus is noting the little things she did thinking she is being kind, that could be more hurtful and insulting than outright bullying. As all this went on, he became Hogwarts latest gossip.

Hufflepuff bet that Snape is Marriet's half brother. There simply aren't enough similarities between them to pass them off as siblings. Yes, they both are ugly, but it's a totally different kind of ugly. Marriet's burly, not the fat kind of burly either. She is Big boned, she can take down a fifth year guy in a fistfight or arm wrestling. Snape is tall and thin, more like a waif, in way that is absolutely opposite to Marriet's frame. There's also their skin. Marriet's skin has a strange lime green glow to it, some times it looked like excessive tan, some times, it looked just sickly. Snape is fair skinned. He is so pale, he could pass off for a vampire.

Their hair, while one could say both of them are dark of color and ugly, that's where any similarities ended. Snape's hair is straight and greasy, albeit only few times now. Marriet's hair is curly, and a dirtiest of the browns, dry in a manner of a horse's mane. No amount of oil can keep it flat. Ravenclaw tabulated all these findings, concluded there's no bloody way two people can be born from same parents and be this different.

Marriet stayed aloof in her own way, or the way she's seen Snape do it. She still listened, nothing in their words smelled like truth, thus, she never answered back. It is this behavior, more than any thing that convinced Griffindors she is snape's sister. They all determined since they both are ugly, uncommunicative and hate marauders, they must be related. At least that's marauders theory.

The surprising fact about all these rumors is none of them reached Severus's ears. Slytherins knew better than to antagonize Severus Snape, who won an unofficial duel with a sixth year as a first year using dark arts, rest of the student body never penetrated that little society called slytheirins. Lily, who's in unique position to inform him, choose to with hold.

Either way, amidst all these problems, Severus Snape finally finished teaching Marriet Dolcow the promised two jinxes, full body bind and jelly legs. He called it quits as soon as she was able to perform them. Marriet smiled broadly at him and declared that she liked having a brother if this is how having one felt like.

Snape bid his good by in response with out any response. If he knows one thing about Marriet Dolcow, it is that she is more persistent than a dog with a bone. Any kind of response, negative or positive is only going to make her more stubborn. He chose the best path of action by not responding.

Marriet did not mind.

People always left when she started speaking more than two sentences.

It's time to call Bella.

Neither severus nor marriet knew the amount of trouble Bella can bring them in future.