"You really said that, sir?" Harry exclaimed, a bit surprised as he had never seen the professor be outright unkind to the elf before. "That was... mean!"

"And just when am I ever nice, Mr. Potter?" Snape responded with a faint sneer. "I was not feeling particularly sociable at the time."

"Potions Master wasn't feeling sociable at all," Hana quipped. Harry laughed as the professor shot her a glare.

"Wonderful," the man uttered dryly, "a house else with a sense of humor."

Hana smiled unrepentantly. "Potions Master was not making it easy for Hana to be getting to know him," she reminded him.

"He doesn't make it easy for anyone," added Harry, sotto voce.

"Cheeky brat," the Potions Master muttered. The teen grinned impudently. "And as I recall," he continued, addressing Hana, "you were rather persistent against my desire to be left alone." He raised a brow challengingly at the elf, who ducked her head sheepishly.

0o0o0

Severus Snape was reorganizing the student potion supply closet when a crisp popping sound heralded the arrival of a house elf. The young man glanced back over his shoulder to see that it was the same elf who had invaded his quarters the previous evening.

"I still have no need for assistance," he stated blandly, turning back to his task.

"Master Potions Master Professor sir isn't needing anything?" she queried.

"Nothing."

She looked about the narrow room, then back through the open doorway into the classroom, as though looking for something that might need to be done. There was nothing, however, and her shoulders began to droop until she suddenly noted the time.

"Lunch is almost being over!" she exclaimed, a note of triumph in her tone. "Master Potions Master Professor sir is not eating, yet. Hana can bring sir a tray!"

Snape clenched his jaw, irritated by the continued interruption to his quiet afternoon. "No, thank you," he bit out.

"But Master Potions Master Professor sir should eat!" the elf protested, the long name she was using for him grating on his patience.

"I am quite capable of looking after myself," he growled. "I do not need a house elf overseeing my every move. Now, if you would kindly remove yourself from my presence, I should like to work in peace."

Hana flinched at his harsh tone, tears springing to her eyes. "Mm!" She gave a sharp nod that he didn't see and promptly popped away. The surly Potions Master continued with his task, the constant chill of the dungeons his only company.

0o0o0

It was a few days later before the elf bothered him again. She made an appearance as he was making out his lesson plans for the coming school year. No, he didn't want tea and he still didn't require – nor desire – her assistance.

A week after that, she asked if he wanted her to clean his spotless quarters; a couple days after that, if he'd like for her to go to Hogsmeade to fetch him anything. Even after classes started, the elf showed up so often and so randomly that he was beginning to feel paranoid.

The final straw came the second weekend of September.

Snape gritted his teeth as the elf popped into his private lab. His hand was poised over a cauldron which currently held a rather delicate potion. Had he accidentally added too much Essence of Dittany, he would have had to scrap the whole solution and start over again.

"Is Master Potions Master Professor sir needing anything today?" she chirped. "Hana would be glad to help!"

Putting the vial down on the worktable, the Potions Master whirled on her. "You ingratiating, brown-nosing, groveling nuisance! I shall tell you once more and once more only. I do not need nor desire, nor do I expect I shall ever need or desire, your assistance. Should that ever change, I will. call. for. you.

"Now," he demanded nastily, "have I made myself perfectly clear, or do I need to dumb it down for your puny little mind to understand?"

This time, the wizard saw the tears as they welled up and began to stream down the little elf's cheeks. "You is not being the same wizard Hana met before," she whispered brokenly. Snapping her fingers, she disappeared from sight.

Somehow, though, Snape wasn't relieved to see her go.

0o0o0

"You were such a bastard!" blurted Harry, clapping a hand over his mouth a mere second too late.

Snape silently raised an eyebrow at him. "Care to repeat that, Mr. Potter?"

"Uh, no, sir," the teen said in a very small voice, mouthing 'oops' to himself, much to the professor's amusement.

"As you so... delicately pointed out, it was not one of the proudest periods of my life," the man said. "I was working as a spy for the headmaster by that time. That, combined with... other things in my life, served only to make me more irascible. Furthermore, up to that point, I had assumed that she'd been sent by the headmaster as a way of keeping an eye on me and the thought that I was not trusted, rankled me. It did not occur to me that she might actually wish to aid me for my own behalf until afterward.

"Hana," Snape spoke sincerely, looking at the little elf, "I am truly sorry for hurting you back then... and for not apologizing to you sooner."

Harry gaped. Snape hated to admit when he was wrong and he knew that the words hadn't come easily to the man. In fact, he could count the times he knew of the professor apologizing on one hand.

"No!" Hana cried, jumping to her feet. "No, Potions Master is not needing to apologize to Hana – he is being good to Hana for many, many years!"

"You are far too forgiving, Hana," he told her.

"That is not being true!" she insisted.

"It is," he contradicted. "Nevertheless, your loyalty has come to mean... a great deal to me."

Were he not already situated on the sofa, Harry would have been likely to fall over. As it was, the teen wasn't entirely certain he was not experiencing some potion-induced dream.

Hana had thrown herself at the professor, her arms wrapped about his neck. Snape patted her on the back, though, it seemed more like an effort to get the elf to let go than to soothe her. The man was clearly discomfited.

"Potions Master was not having a good time – that is why he was being so mean," Hana declared once she had collected herself. Harry was amused to note that she had perched herself on the arm of Snape's chair. "But Hana is always knowing he is being a good wizard! Even the other house elves was not knowing this, but Hana did!"

"You mean, they thought the professor was a dark wizard?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Master Harry, and they was also saying that Potions Master will never be liking Hana. They told Hana she was not acting like proper elf because she is Hogwarts elf and she shouldn't be trying to be close to unkind Potions Master!" She shot an apologetic glance at the wizard in question.

Harry thought he could see where the other elves had been coming from, but opted not to say anything.

"Hana is just knowing Potions Master is a good wizard," Hana said, honey-colored eyes earnest. "He was just forgetting for a while. So, Hana decided she is waiting until Potions Master called her!"

"Did he?" asked the boy.

"The answer to that is rather obvious, isn't it?" Snape drawled.

The elf answered, anyway. "Mm! But other elves was saying he would never call for Hana." She paused, wringing her hands a moment before admitting in a quiet voice, "Hana is almost believing them..."