Something moving in circles on her tummy woke her up. Opening her eyes the girl in the bed looked around the room she was in. She and Papa had gone to Diagon Alley under Glamour a few weeks before and bought her new furniture. It was white with silver and blue linings. The room itself was coloured light blue and white and was situated at the east of the house, so that the morning sun shone directly in the room. Yawning widely, the girl sat up in the bed and picked up the grey Zenko kitten she had gotten last year. A hoot from a snowy owl made her smile and stand up to go to pet the owl as well. Looking around her room she sighed. She was happy and never wanted to leave this place. It was her home. Hers and Papa’s. She smiled when she realized what day it was and quickly put the kitten on the floor while she rummaged through the wardrobe, only to pull a summer dress on her lithe body. The dress was silver with spaghetti straps and fell to her knees in soft waves. She had gotten it from Papa the day they went to Diagon Alley. She couldn’t thank him more, but he just waved his hand and said it was a reward for being the best student in the year. She grinned proudly at that and hugged the dress to her chest. Running to the adjoining bathroom she took care of her morning business and after brushing her hair, put it in two neat pigtails, tied with two silver ribbons. It was a very special day today and she wanted to look her best.

Do you know what day it was?

It was her birthday, the thirty-first of July and she was twelve that day. She was never as excited about her birthday as she was today, for she would have her family to celebrate it with! She grinned at the thought and hurried out of the bathroom to her room again and stopped in her steps. There, on her bed was a house-elf. It wasn’t one of the Hogwarts house-elves for she knew all of them already. It had to be someone else’s. The house-elf bowed to her so low that she was scared that it would break its back as he greeted her.

“Miss Arielle Potter, it is a great honour to meet you at last.”

The girl simply smiled and sat down opposite the house-elf. She patted the bed in an invitation to sit down and got quite a big shock when the house-elf started to bawl over it.

“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” she asked it softly as she went on to pat him on the back. The house-elf simply cried harder and started to hiccough.

“No one has ever invited Dobby to sit.”

So, the house-elf’s name was Dobby, she smiled to herself as she pulled the trembling body in her lap as she tried to shush him gently. She always had a soft spot for animals and creatures, whatever the race and species. She would probably fell in love with Norbert, Hagrid’s pet dragon if she saw it too.

“Shh,” she soothed him as she rubbed its back and when the sobbing stopped, she pulled a handkerchief out of her nightstand and dried the tears from Dobby’s big eyes that were blinking at her. When the tears were dry, she smiled at the creature sitting in her lap and asked him gently,

“Now, why are you here Dobby? Do you have something to tell me?”

Dobby’s ears suddenly dropped as he tried to explain why he had come through the stuttering. Arielle thanked her lucky gods that she was submitted to the stuttering of professor Quirrell last term and knew what the house-elf said.

“D-Dobby h-has come t-to warn M-Miss A-Arielle Potter. Miss A-Arielle Potter must not got back to Hogwarts this year!”

She was left gaping. What was that supposed to mean? She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down as she watched as Dobby scrambled down from her lap and started to hit his head on one of the bed stands. With a roll of her eyes, she quickly snatched the poor creature before it hurt itself even more and hugged it once more.

“Don’t do that,” she said gently, “You’ll only hurt yourself.”

She thought about what Dobby told her mere moments ago and asked him quietly,

“Why shouldn’t I go back to Hogwarts? Is something wrong?”

Dobby sniffled before he looked at her again with his impossibly big eyes. What he told her then shook her to the core.

“There are dark plottings for this year at Hogwarts, Miss. Miss Arielle Potter is in danger if she goes there.”

She bit her lip as she tried to think of an answer, but the house-elf beat her to it.

“Dobby begs of Miss Arielle Potter not to go to Hogwarts! Dobby does not want to see Miss Arielle Potter in danger!”

She sighed and looked up, only to see her Papa standing in the doorway, watching the creature in a mix of a shock and anger. She hugged the creature closer to her, as if trying to protect it, and asked,

“What should we do?”

Professor Snape moved then and closed the distance between Arielle and him. Sitting down next to her and the creature in her lap, he opened his mouth to respond, when Dobby looked up and shrieked as he put himself between Arielle and the professor.

“Get away from Miss Arielle Potter! You is a bad wizard! You is a friend of my Master!”

Arielle’s eyes widened as she almost felt the magic tingle as the creature threw a shield over them. She opened her mouth wide and stared at it, while professor Snape scowled and retreated a few steps with his hands up to show that he wasn’t armed. Arielle tugged Dobby back on her lap and made him look in her eyes.

“Dobby, professor Snape won’t hurt me. He’s been taking care of me since last summer. And he didn’t hurt me once in all that time. He’s not a bad wizard.”

Dobby was still hissing at the professor, but started to calm down as he listened to Arielle’s story. She had continued on telling him all that had happened between her and the professor. Finally, the shield dissipated and the house-elf moved from the girl’s lap to look miserably down at his feet. Only a hand on his shoulder prevented it from going to smash his head in the bed posts again. Then he sighed and said,

“Dobby will ask professor Snape, sir, to protect Miss Arielle Potter with everything he has. Dobby wants a Wizard’s Oath.”

Professor Snape sighed at this as well and sat back down on the bed as he looked the house-elf in the eyes and said in a quiet, but determined voice,

“You have my Oath.”

Dobby smiled at him with his toothy smile and disappeared with a flick of his fingers. Arielle and professor Snape were left alone.

“Well, that went well,” Arielle said to break the silence that stretched in the room. She looked to her Papa and saw him still glaring at the place Dobby last stood at. She crawled over her bed on his lap and leaned against him, putting one of her hands on his chest as she snuggled her head under his chin. Fingers quickly came to play with her hair as his free hand hugged her closer to him.

“Do you know whose house-elf that was?” he asked her after a long pause. She shook her head and leaned back to see her Papa. She was a bit curious as to whose house-elf would like her so much that he would risk coming here to warn her.

“His master is Lucius Malfoy,” Severus told her quietly. She blinked up at him trying to put the name to someone she knew and then widened her eyes as she remembered Draco Malfoy. Draco Malfoy was in the same year as she was and apart from that accident on the grounds when they had their first Flying lesson, he never pulled his wand on her again. He only insulted her every time he saw her, but that was it. She learned to ignore his repeating insults over the course of the year and when it finally dawned on him that she simply didn’t care, he ignored her too. They had a quiet agreement to ignore each other as much as possible after that.

“Is he Draco’s father?” she asked her Papa curiously. After she received a small nod from him, she went on to ask something else, but her Papa interrupted her with a soft voice that she rarely heard come from his mouth.

“He was a friend of mine, before the Dark Lord was Vanquished.”

She blinked up at him and then it all made sense. Her Papa had told her of his involvement in the last war and about being a Death Eater. So, if this Lucius Malfoy was a friend of her Papa’s then that meant that he was a Death Eater as well. She looked up at him with a question in her eyes and he gave her a small nod. Biting her lip, she asked him quietly,

“Do you think that he sent Dobby here to prevent me going to Hogwarts?”

Severus Snape thought for a moment and relived the memory of the house-elf. Then he shook his head and said,

“No, I do not believe so. The house-elf has come on his own volition. He will have to punish himself for this.”

“Poor Dobby,” Arielle couldn’t help herself uttering. A small twitch of her Papa’s lips had her grinning at him and hugging him again. She really loved doing that. She felt him put her on his lap again as he stood up. She put her arms around his neck so that she wouldn’t fall off as he took her to the Living Room. The cottage they lived in was located in Cornwall and was only a few feet of the sea. She loved going there when it was warm enough to splash around in the water and on the occasions when Severus joined her as well he taught her how to swim – after she almost drowned (he threw her in for the fun of it) before she got a chance to tell him she couldn’t swim.

When they entered the Living Room she was greeted by various exclamations of “Happy Birthday, Elle!” and she was put on the floor so that she could run to her family to hug them senseless. First was Uncle Moony, who threw her in the air as always, and she giggled at the affections. She kissed him on the nose and he put her down so that she could go greet her Grandpa, Auntie Minerva and Uncle Filius.

After being thoroughly hugged and kissed, she went back to her Papa, who had settled himself on the armchair and sat on his lap. There was a small table in front of the armchair with lots of presents on it. Her eyes lit up when she saw them and remembered her first Birthday present. It was from her Papa and she loved the owl that he bought her. She still remembered how she bawled all over him for it. She leant back on her Papa’s chest and smiled as she felt his arms encircle her waist and his chin on her head.

The others sat around the small table as well. She was curious as to what she had gotten for her Birthday, but knew better than to just grab the presents and open them. After a moment’s pause, Uncle Moony picked up a small book-shaped package and passed it over to her with a small smile. She grinned at him and gently took the present from his hand. She opened it carefully, not wanting to tear the beautiful wrappings and discovered that it was a book. It was Latin to English and English to Latin Dictionary for Curious People, by Fennimore Glyn. She looked up to Uncle Moony with a curious expression. Reading her expression, he quickly explained,

“I thought that you would be interested to know from where most of our Latin spells are originated. Take Expelliarmus for example. Expello means to disarm in Latin and Armus means weapon. So there you have it.”

Her whole face lit up at that and she quickly listed through the book to find some more definitions. She put the book next to her after she had enough and grinned up at Uncle Moony.

“It’s wonderful! I’ll love reading it, I’m sure! I was always curious from where the spells come from! Maybe I’ll even be able to make my own spells one day!”

Her Papa shifted a bit at that and she wondered why, but forgot about it as Auntie Minerva put her present in her little fingers. It was another book. She grinned excitedly as she read the title, The Guide on Becoming Animagi, by Gus Aiman. She thanked her profusely and promised she would never try it out by herself. Next was Uncle Filius’s present. She giggled at the title of his present, Charming Charms for Charming Girls, by Madam Bettine. It was a book on make-up spells, like charming the finger-nails another colour, charming her hair to stay in place with a special hair-style, ever-fresh breath, and other charms. She shrieked in glee and jumped on her Grandpa’s lap as she saw what he had gotten her for her Birthday. It was a brand new Broomstick – Nimbus Two Thousand. It wasn’t as new as the Nimbus Two Thousand and One, but she didn’t care. She had her own Broomstick and she could fly all she wanted… under her Papa’s watch of course. She would never fly alone, as she hadn’t gotten to fly much.

After settling herself back on her Papa’s lap, she was given the last three packages from her friends. There was a box of sweets from Blaise, Sakura seeds from Neville, so that she could plant that Japanese Cherry Tree in their garden, and a small crystal figurine in the shape of a phoenix from Cedric.

She felt her Papa shift nervously then and turned around to face him. He was the only one that she hadn’t gotten a present from. She heard the others stand up and leave the two of them alone. She blinked at them in confusion. What was going on here? She turned back to her Papa, who had cleared his throat by then and opened her mouth to ask a question, but he put his fingers on it and she went silent before even starting on her question. She settled more comfortably on her Papa’s lap and watched as he tried to find the right words.

He was nervous, went through Arielle’s mind at that moment. She gave him an encouraging smile and put her arms around his neck again as she snuggled to him. His hands came around her as he hugged her back. She put her head on his shoulder as she waited for him to speak.

“Arielle?” he finally asked. She hummed softly to show that she was listening.

“Do you really see me as your father?”

She pulled back and blinked up at him. Where did that come from? She smiled at him anyway and said,

“Of course I do, silly. Why wouldn’t I? I mean, you took me under your care. You saved me from the Dursleys, you’re always there when I need you, and even when I don’t. You care about me, you do your best to teach me how to behave in the Wizarding World. Why wouldn’t I see you as my Papa?”

She was pulled in his hug again and she sighed in content. There was a small pause, in which Severus played with her hair as he gathered his courage up.

“Would you like to make it official?” he asked softly. She gasped and quickly looked up in his eyes to see if he was kidding. He was not. There was a serious look in his eyes. The most serious of all she had ever seen. She saw that he did mean it. She gave him a watery smile as she buried herself in his arms again as she whispered,

“Yes, I’d love that.”

She remembered the scene in the Mirror of Erised and smiled even more widely as she realized that one of her deepest desires of her heart was coming true. She looked up to him and with a big grin on her face told him.

“You know, I found a Mirror of Erised last year at Hogwarts.”

She saw him frown, as he didn’t quite understand where she was going with it.

“I think if I looked in the mirror now, I would see only myself.”

A small sigh escaped his lips as he crushed her to himself once more. They stayed like that for a few minutes more, until she felt him move his wand arm, and heard him summon something. She looked up and saw some papers and a vial of a potion sailing towards them through the air. She smiled as the papers drew near. They were adoption papers. She didn’t know what the vial was for, though.

Severus put the papers in her hand and the vial was left in his. He nudged her to read them, but she didn’t need to. She saw that he had already signed it, with today’s date scribbled in the date field. She looked up with another smile as she wished to have a quill so that she could sign it as well. There was a small rustle on the writing desk in the corner of the room and a quill floated to her. She blinked at it and plucked it out of the air. With a shrug of her shoulders, she put her hair behind her ear as she put the paper on Severus’s chest to sign it as well. She looked up to see Severus staring at her with a strange expression on his face and asked,

“What do I sign it as?”

That seemed to break him out of his stupor and he answered her in a quiet voice.

“Whatever you wish to sign as.”

She grinned at him again and put the quill on the paper again. What did she want to sign it as? Finally, she signed the papers with a flourish. There was a wicked grin on her face as she read what she wrote again. Arielle Lily Snape. She gave the paper back to Severus and waited for his reaction. It was instantaneous. He put the papers aside and drew her to himself again as he kissed her forehead gently. She sighed in his arms and closed her eyes. That was the best present she had ever gotten.

A few minutes later, they both stood up and she ran off to share the news with her family. They all congratulated the two of them and the cake was distributed. It was a lemon cake with the same icing. She never had a cake before and wasn’t sure what to do when her Papa put twelve candles in it. She looked at him, waiting for an explanation. It came quickly.

“Just make a wish and blow the candles out, child.”

She grinned and nodded. She closed her eyes to make a wish – to stay with Severus forever – and blew the candles. Each and every one of them was put out. She grinned at the success and happily distributed the cut cake to her family.

That evening, Severus came to her room holding the vial of the potion that he summoned along with the papers. The papers themselves were now sent to the Ministry to be made official. Grandpa made sure that they would be. She was sitting on her bed, waiting for their nightly ritual. Severus would come in her room and tuck her in, then kiss her goodnight and stay with her until she fell asleep. She still had nightmares from where she almost died and it helped that he was always there when she woke up. It seemed as if he had an internal alarm in his head to know when she was distressed.

She raised her hands up to his as he sat down on the bed next to her. He smiled at her softly and after putting the vial on the nightstand, pulled her up to his chest as he leaned down on the wall behind him. She snuggled up to him so that she was half lying on him and felt him pull her blankets up so that they covered her to the chin.

“Stay with me tonight?” she asked him softly. She felt him put his fingers in her hair again as he told her that he would. She smiled and blinked up at him. He was fingering the vial again and watching it with a peculiar expression. Then, he looked at her and asked her,

“Would you drink this potion? It’s a part of the Adoption ritual and creates a bond between a child and a parent. I would be able to feel you in my head then and always know where you were, so that if you were in danger I could get to you and help.”

She pulled the vial from his fingers and with a smile gulped the potion down. It wasn’t tasty. It tasted more like metal than anything else. She shuddered and slipped back down on her father’s chest. In mere moments she was asleep, smiling at the sensations with having her hair stroked.

When she opened her eyes the next morning she was alone. She felt a bit sad that her Papa had left her once she fell asleep, but that thought was soon dissipated when she felt that her sheets were still warm from where he was sitting last night. She smiled and sat up to look around herself. Her eyes fell on the figurine Cedric gave her for her birthday and she smiled as the sun’s rays made it shine like a thousand diamonds. She gently stroked the back of it and was surprised to hear a soft tinkling sound. Her heart soared with love and she couldn’t help but smile more widely.

“Do you know what the meaning of this song is?” a voice from the doorstep asked her. She blinked and turned to see her Papa leaning on the doorstep with his arms crossed as he watched her with his black eyes. She shook her head and looked at the figurine again. It went quiet after a minute and the room was in a comfortable silence.

“It is the Phoenix’s song of Love and Friendship. Your friend gave you a very thoughtful gift.”

She smiled and raised her hands just as she did last night. Somehow, making the adoption official made her feel somehow insecure. She had remembered how her ‘family’ treated her and didn’t wish to be a burden to Severus. She knew that she shouldn’t feel like that because she had gotten a lot better this past year, but she still had some insecurities that she just couldn’t overcome. Severus must have noticed some of what she was feeling, for he uncrossed his arms and walked the distance between him and the bed as he sat down on it, pulling Arielle on his lap and stroking her hair when she leaned her head on his shoulder.

“You will never be a burden to me, Elle,” she heard him whisper in her hear and squeezed her eyes shut to prevent the tears from falling. She snuggled deeper into his arms and after a few moments replied,

“I know, but…”

“Shush, you idiot child. I understand.”

She wanted to protest about being an idiot child, but then she realized that it was his endearment for her and giggled once the realisation made its place in her brain. When a few minutes went by and Arielle discovered that apparently her Papa didn’t have anything better to do then cuddle her she smiled and relaxed within his arms. The hold he had on her tightened a bit before he quietly asked her if she’d like some breakfast. It wasn’t her that answered but her stomach. She heart him chuckle quietly as he stood up with her still in his arms. Putting her arms around his neck so that she had a better balance she looked at his face and smiled happily at him, becoming her small cute self again. She smiled wider when she felt a kiss on her forehead and waited until they were in the kitchen. Severus put her on the counter and made his way to the cupboard where he kept his cooking ingredients. Pulling out some flour and eggs, she knew that he would make pancakes. She watched him with a small smile on her face. It was their new morning ritual. He would come to her room and wake her up and then she would sit on the counter and watch him prepare breakfast. Swinging her feet happily she took the offered cup of hot cocoa and sipped on it. She really loved her Papa lots and lots. He was the best Papa in the world. She smiled widely at him when they sat down at the table and attacked the food with gusto.

After breakfast, Arielle helped him wash the dishes – he washed them and she dried them – as she talked about the book she had been reading these past few weeks. It was a book that she had gotten for Christmas and talked about Wizarding Rituals. She was fascinated at just how many different Rituals there were. After drying off her hands he had asked her if she wanted to go to Diagon Alley to buy her new school supplies. She had gotten a Hogwarts letter just yesterday morning after all. She nodded enthusiastically and he let her go off to dress for the occasion.

When she exited her room, she wore her dark green cloak that Grandpa gave her for Christmas and a really cute emerald green dress. It was a very warm day after all and she didn’t want to be overheated. As she had used the Floo Powder before, Severus didn’t have to tell her how to do I and they were off.

ooOoo

Immediately after arriving, Severus made Arielle put the cloak off, as it was a very warm day. He shrunk it with a wave of his wand and put it in his pocket for safekeeping. Diagon Alley was buzzing with people and the noise was almost overwhelming. It seemed as if Severus and Arielle decided to go to Diagon Alley on one of the more crowded days. It wasn’t until they heard a bypasser muttering that there was a really famous wizard called Gilderoy Lockhart signing his new book, Magical Me, that they understood the reason for the mass of people.

Their first stop was Gringotts where Severus took a bit of money from his vault. They had talked earlier in the year that as Severus was now her guardian that he would pay for her school things and that her vault and later on the Potter Family vaults would be saved for her when she was of age. She was really fascinated when she read that she had to be seventeen instead of eighteen or twenty-one to become of age. At first she had protested that she had her money and didn’t want to be a burden by having him pay for all her things, but when Severus put his foot down, she acquiesced and let him have his way. It did make her feel warm that he would want to buy things for her. It was obvious to the both of them that it was because the Dursleys never bought anything for her that she didn’t expect other people would want to and it made her feel uncomfortable.

After exiting the bank they made their way to the apothecary where Severus chose the necessary Potion ingredients of the best quality. She smiled to herself when he bickered with the man at the counter about the quality of Dittany. It was good to have a Papa that was a Potions Master sometimes. She almost snickered at the thought but caught herself just in time and wandered around the shop looking at ingredients and picking some up (just in case). When she approached the counter, the shopkeeper and Severus had finished the bickering and were now talking about ordering some Potion ingredients for Severus’s private stock. Putting the ingredients on the counter she looked up hesitantly to see Severus’s attention moving on to her and then to the ingredients she picked up. He checked every one of them and then with a nod put them with the others. He was rewarded with a wide smile on Arielle’s face.

Their next stop was Madam Malkin’s and she was measured for her new school robes, having grown a few inches through-out the year. That done she opened the letter that had a list of books needed for her second year. She blinked at it and then up to her Papa with a confused expression on her face.

“Papa, why are there so many books by the same author on the list? Not to mention that it’s the name of that famous writer we heard of today…” she asked him in confusion. Blinking down at her, the Potions Master took the list from her fingers and read through the list himself. A snarl later he thrust the list back in her hands and tugged her so that she didn’t have a choice but to follow him. They didn’t stop until they both reached the Flourish and Blott’s bookshop. There was such a mass of people that Arielle got scared and hid behind Severus’s back. While she did get used to lots of people (especially in a school like hers), she was still scared a bit, especially if those people were strangers that she had never seen before. Every minute or so a purple smoke came out of the bookshop and she could swear she heard small explosions in there. Just as she was about to ask her Papa what that was, she heard a voice calling her name. She turned around enthusiastically and grinned widely when she saw who the owner of the voice was. She let go of Severus’s hand and ran forward until she crashed into the bigger boy’s arms that had already prepared to take her in a hug. She grinned up as Fred heaved her in the air and swung her around for a few seconds. It reminded her of Uncle Moony and that thought alone made her grin wider as he put her down. She quickly started on the barrage of questions.

“It’s so nice to see you here! Are you also here for the school supplies? Where were you at already? Do you already have your books? What abou-” she was interrupted by a hand on her mouth (courtesy of George, who had snuck up on her from behind).

“Whoa, whoa, girl! Calm down,” she heard Fred say and blushed when she realized just what she had done. She heard laughter behind her and finally realized who it was that was holding his hand over her mouth so that she wouldn’t say any more idiotic things to embarrass herself further. She giggled herself and the hand finally moved away to let her breathe. Turning around she did the same as she did with Fred and happily received a hug back.

“So, who’s going to answer my questions?” she asked them cheekily after they drew apart. Both boys gave a laugh as they explained to her that they came to Diagon Alley to also buy their school stuff and to get a new wand for Ginny, who was starting at Hogwarts this year. Their father had apparently put money aside so that she wouldn’t have to get a second-hand one – wands that were given to people that weren’t their first choice were never the best for that wizard. She also found out that Ron had their older brother Charlie’s wand and it dawned on her that it was probably because of that that he sucked at school so much… that or it could simply be that he was too lazy to study and practice things. They went on to tell her that their mum fancied Lockhart and that their little sister couldn’t wait to meet her.

A warm hand on her shoulder made her remember who was there with her and the growing horror on the twin’s faces made her giggle. She tried to stifle her giggles, she really did, but the sound of it still came through the hands that she clamped in front of her mouth to muffle the sound. The twin looks of horror would make her know who it was that put the hand on her shoulder even if she didn’t know already.

“Messer’s Weasley, I hope you are enjoying this nice day,” she heard her Papa say in an emotionless voice. She smiled slightly when she realized that he was trying to act nicely to them because she was their friend and they weren’t at school. If they were, they would probably lose some points already. The twins also seemed to realize that particular fact, for their mouths were wide open and if it were a cartoon, she was sure that their jaws would be laying on the floor in shock.

“Yes, we are, professor Snape,” George answered for the both of them and looked over at Arielle, apparently trying to see if she was annoyed that their Potion’s professor had his hand on her shoulder, but when he saw none of what he was looking for and something else in her eyes, he straightened and with a silent glance towards his brother, who seemed to realize the same thing, said,

“Forgive our rudeness, professor, but we’d just like to warn you that if you hurt our little sister, that we’ll have to hurt you as well.”

For a moment all was quiet and Arielle looked up to her Papa apprehensively. Not even a muscle twitched on his face as he stared at the two Weasleys. Then, a small smile appeared on his lips as he lowered his head a bit, to show that he respected their warning.

“I see,” were the only two words that he uttered before lowering his hand from Arielle’s shoulder and grabbing her hand, before he tugged at her to follow him to the bookstore. She waved at the two brothers with a wide grin in her face and trotted along with her Papa. She looked up to him with a wide smile and said,

“Thanks, Papa.”

“I do believe those to care about you a lot,” was Severus’s only reply. She grinned and nodded her head, still remembering how they called her. Their little sister. The grin on her face widened and she skipped a few steps to Severus’s amusement. The respect he had for the two trouble-makers grew up a notch, as he didn’t believe that they actually had the guts to threaten him… but apparently they did and they had threatened him. Of course, he had no intention to hurt Arielle… ever… but still. It warmed his heart to see just how good friends Arielle found. Suddenly, he didn’t care that they were Weasleys or that they were Gryffindors. Perhaps… just perhaps he could be a bit nicer to them this year at Hogwarts.

The moment they entered the Flourish and Blott’s bookshop, a man in forget-me-not blue coloured robes looked up and his eyes that matched the colour of the robe widened at the sight of Arielle. The sight would be comical if not for the enthusiastic exclaim and having Gilderoy Lockhart grab her hand and start dragging her up to the front of the shop. She was so shocked about it that she didn’t even try to fight it. Instead, she had to fight her own demons as she was reminded of her uncle Vernon – since he always grabbed her hand like that. She wasn’t even aware of Lockhart pulling her to himself and announcing to the world that he was the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts and that she would get his whole bibliography for free since she apparently came to buy his autobiography. She wasn’t aware that her face was as white as snow, nor was she aware that Severus fought against the flood of people to get to her after noticing her slack expression.

There was a sudden hush in the bookshop as a smack was heard, followed by a thud as Gilderoy Lockhart went flying on the floor from the force of Severus’s punch after he still didn’t let go of Arielle. But Arielle didn’t notice that. She slid on the floor, trembling, before flinching violently when someone put their hands around her. Her eyes slowly went back into focus as she became aware of the soft whispering into her ear. That couldn’t be her uncle, she surmised in surprise. He would never be so gentle with her. He would never pick her up so gently as the one who was now whispering some nonsensical words in her ear did. He would never pet her hair or kiss her forehead. So, who was it that was doing all those wonderful things to her. She felt the fog in her mind disappear slowly until she was aware of her Papa’s hands around her as he frantically tried to calm her down and bring her back to him. She heard him sigh when he noticed that her eyes were focused on him once again, before she felt herself being crushed in the biggest hug she had ever gotten from Severus.

“I’m fine,” she mumbled in his neck as she let her arms sneak around his neck, seeking comfort. His arms tightened a bit, and then he pulled her away so that he could look her over with worry in his dark eyes. She had seen that kind of worry before, but the look in his eyes now was much more intense than on the Halloween and at the end of last school year. She felt him stand up with herself still in his arms and let her head fall back on his shoulder as she listened to his footsteps walking out of the bookshop, after buying her books. He didn’t let go of her even when they entered the Leaky Cauldron. She wondered if it was alright for him to do so, what with him having to hide the fact that he was on the light side, but then her eyes started to feel heavy and she let them fall closed as she fell asleep, the shock of what happened earlier, finally taking its toll on her body.

She was completely out of it when Severus Flooed them home and put her in her bed, covering her with a blanket and tucking it snugly around her, before kissing her forehead and exiting the room, leaving the door open, just in case she needed him.

ooOoo

Arielle did in fact need him later in the day when she woke up from her nightmarish sleep with a frightened cry and after a few moments of panicked disorientation found herself in her bedroom and in her bed, with her Papa already walking through the doors, worry etched on his face. He sat down on her bed and after removing the blanket that was covering her, she crawled to him until she was safely cocooned on his lap and with his arms encased around her. He was so warm that Arielle suddenly felt so safe in his arms that she forgot all about her nightmare.

It was strange really, just how close the two of them had become once she had started calling him Papa. It was as if the wall he had built around himself had suddenly broke down whenever he was in her presence. She felt honoured that he cared so much about her to actually let down his guard around her and just be himself. She loved him so much more for it. She was brought out of her musings by his question,

“Are you alright?”

She nodded with a smile on her face and after snuggling closer to him answered his question, “Yup. I’m fine.” She looked up to him and smiled up at him, feeling her smile widen when he returned it, even though his was a lot smaller than hers. She guessed it was because he didn’t smile often and when he did, it meant all the more to her that she was able to make him smile.

“Hey,” she poked his shoulder with her index finger and when she knew that she had his attention added, “wanna play Wizard Chess with me?” She could almost hear him smirk at her from above her as he replied, “As you wish. Are you prepared to meet your doom again?” She giggled, because she knew that she was really bad at it, and yet that didn’t stop her from wanting to get better at it, nor did it stop her enthusiasm for the game. Her Papa was brilliant at it and she wanted to learn to play it good enough so that she actually won a few games – that had not happened yet, although her Papa reassured her that she was getting better with every game they played. Perhaps she would be good enough to actually challenge Cedric when she returned to school for her second year! With that on her mind, she jumped off her Papa’s lap and ran to her wardrobe, pulling her Wizard Chess set out of one of the drawers. She liked having her games in the drawers so that they didn’t take much of the room in her bedroom and she always knew where they were.

Settling herself on the floor, she waited for Severus to join her and then started placing the chess figures on the board, giving Severus the advantage by choosing the black figures. She liked the black ones more than the white ones, as strange as that might have sounded.

After being trashed for the fifth time in a row, she suddenly heard her stomach grumble in hunger and realised that she hadn’t had lunch yet, since she slept through it. She could also hear Severus chuckle slightly before he stood up from where he was sitting on the floor, with Arielle facing him, lying on her stomach, as they played chess. He held a hand to her to help her get up and then they went the kitchen where Severus prepared their dinner, Arielle getting her usual cup of hot chocolate.

ooOoo

The days left of the summer holidays seemed to fly by after that and Arielle was shocked to realise that tomorrow would be her first day back to school, since it would be the first of September. While she couldn’t wait to get back to school and see her friends, she was going to miss the comfort and cosiness of their home. It would be the first time she actually felt like she had a home and that thought made her go warm inside as she hugged Severus before going to bed.

The next morning, she woke up early so that she could pack her things in the trunk. She put the books she knew she would want to read in it, and left the others on the bookcase that Severus had bought her so that she could put her own books on it. She was of course free to read the books in his library, but it felt nice to show off her own books. She had never had books before and so it was definitively a nice feeling to have. Once her trunk was packed and closed, she ventured out to the living room and made herself comfortable on the couch with a book on her lap, getting some last minute reading done before she actually had to leave.

Severus walked in the room not long after that, a cup of hot chocolate, still steaming, in his arms as he put it down on the table in front of her. After giving him a smile, she put the book down and brought the cup to her face and took a deep breath, savouring the smell of the chocolate, before taking a small sip, letting the warm beverage slide down her throat as she swallowed it.

“Good morning,” she said to Severus once she finished the sip. “Good morning,” she heard him say to her as he opened the Daily Prophet and started reading it. She pouted a bit as he didn’t give her any more attention than that, and then wanted to slap herself. She would become just like Dudley if she didn’t watch out how she behaved. She didn’t want to be a spoiled brat liked Dudley was and would probably be for the rest of her life.

Soon though, the time was ten to eleven and she had to leave for the train station on King’s Cross. With a wave of his wand, her trunk was feather-light and as such she wouldn’t have any problems getting it to the train and up in the compartment. Severus left the room to go collect the Portkey that she would take to get to the Platform Nine and Three Quarters just like last year and she was left alone for a few moments.

When he returned, instead of taking the offered Portkey, she put her arms around his waist and hid her face in his chest. She didn’t actually reach up to his chest, but she was taller for a bit and as such she couldn’t hide her face in his stomach anymore, but somewhere in-between. She could feel his arms around her and a kiss on her head as she looked up to him and said with a wistful voice, “I’m going to miss this.” She smiled a bit when he ruffled her hair and then took the Portkey and heard Severus say, “Be careful and have fun,” before she was whisked away to the train station.

When she reappeared, she was surprised to notice that she didn’t actually land on the Platform Nine and Three Quarters but in a niche near the toilets. It was probably better like that, because she couldn’t know where she would land and on whom she might land. She put her trunk on a trolley and pushed it towards the platforms nine and ten, so that she could go through the barrier.

The clock was showing that she still had three minutes left before the train left the station and she hurried her pace, but was stopped as she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. Her eyes opened wide when she was forcefully turned around and she stared up at the man with frightened eyes, being too petrified to call for help.

The man grew closer and closer to her and finally, with a frightened cry she was able to move. With the strength she never thought she could possess, she succeeded in freeing her arm. Backing away from him as quickly as possible, she ran to the barrier between the platforms nine and ten, hoping to get as far away from him as possible. However, it was not to be. As she backed into the wall, she felt no magic behind her and as her back hit the wall behind her she found to her terror that the barrier wouldn't let her through. She started trembling at that, and when the man saw how petrified she was, he gave her a dark grin, full of promise of pain.

A chiming of the clock could be heard from somewhere far away and with a shudder; Arielle realized that she missed the train. She was left alone and unprotected in the Muggle world, with her Uncle Vernon of all people looking down at her. Suddenly, her breath was taken away as he moved and grabbed her hand with a glint in his eyes that she knew rather well.

“I’ve got you now, you little vixen,” she heard him mutter as he dragged her off behind him. Where he was taking her, she didn’t know nor did she want to know. She could only hope that at least one of her friends realized that she wasn’t on the train and that they would send a message to Severus, warning him. But by then it could very well be too late. She knew how her Uncle was. He was gleeful to have her all to himself, and she would pay the price of just disappearing. She had thought that that period of her life was over, but apparently it wasn’t.

“L-Let go of m-me, Uncle Vernon,” she finally managed to stammer as she tried to free her hand once more. She noticed, belatedly of course, that they were already in a dark nook and that no one could see them, as a heavy hand landed on her face, knocking her off her feet and to the floor. She trembled as she put her hand on the spot where he hit her and looked up to him, frightened out of her wits.

“You little piece of vermin, how dare you speak to me like that!” she heard her Uncle below and cringed when she felt his heavy boot connecting with her ribs. A soft crack was heard and she knew that at least one of her ribs was broken. “You’re going to pay for what you did last year!” Her breath was taken away from her when he didn’t stop kicking her, instead it seemed that he wanted to make up for the lack of kicking her for the last year.

Her screams couldn’t be heard, because she couldn’t even get enough air in her lungs to open her mouth and try to call for help. She didn’t know how long this was going on, but she was probably only barely alive when she heard her Papa below from somewhere far away, “Get your hands off my daughter, you fat swine!” and finally felt her body being kicked as she heard a faint thud somewhere near her. She couldn’t open her eyes as she felt more than heard her Papa drop on his knees beside her and call her name frantically. She wanted to open her eyes so much to tell him that she was alright, and that she was glad that he came, but she couldn’t even get a little air in her damaged lungs.

She never saw her Papa pulling her in his arms when he noticed just how blue her lips were becoming from the lack of air, nor did she feel them apparate to St. Mungo’s. The only thing she was aware of was that she couldn’t breathe and that she was safe.

ooOoo

He could feel that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

Severus Snape was frantic with worry. He had gotten a letter from Blaise Zabini a few hours after he said goodbyes to his daughter with only a viciously short message that could be interpreted in millions of ways.

Professor Snape,

Arielle is not on the train and we can’t find her anywhere! Some people even said they never saw her enter the platform!

I hope she’s alright,

Blaise Zabini

Immediately after that, he left the school grounds to apparate on the Platform Nine and Three Quarters and start his search of his daughter, only to come up empty handed as he searched every nook of the platform, his gut twisting in fright of what he may find. He had felt the bond between him and Arielle go crazy once he apparated here. He knew that something was seriously wrong.

When he walked through the barrier, a horrifying sight met his eyes. There was the trunk that his daughter used and her pets on the trolley lying down near the barrier. His heart stopped beating when he realized that Arielle didn’t miss the train by her own choice, but that something far worse must have happened to her. His mind immediately started to jump to conclusions, before he got himself under control and put the images his mind provided behind his thick Occlumency walls and opened the two cages that held his daughter’s two pets. The kitten immediately jumped out of the cage and sent him a message through the mind link the two shared, “There was this big beefy man that just grabbed her and pulled her away! She tried to get through the barrier but it didn’t let her through and she couldn’t run away!” The kitten was also frantic with worry and Severus had to kneel down and pick it up to at least get her to at least calm down a little.

Then he asked, “Where did he take her?” He knew immediately who it was that attacked Arielle and a knot made itself in his throat, remembering the flashback that Arielle suffered when it was only Lockhart that grabbed her. He knew that she was petrified of her Uncle, since he was the most abusive in the Dursley household and quickened his footsteps when the kitten informed him that she saw him pull the little girl in a nook somewhere between platforms one and two.

The worried father almost ran there, and just as he turned around the corner, he saw something that made both his blood boil and his heart to stop. The big beefy man was kicking someone on the floor. His blood boiled when he realized that it was Arielle that the man was kicking and his heart stopped when he didn’t see any signs that she was still alive. His wand was in his hand before he could think and he bellowed, “Get your hands off my daughter, you fat swine!” before sending a blasting curse his way, followed by a stunner and a petrifying curse so that he couldn’t get away if there was even a small chance of him breaking the stunner.

He forgot all about the fat man after that and hurried to kneel down by his daughter, who it seemed wasn’t even aware of what happened. His heart clenched when he saw the foetal position she was in, bundled up in as small a position as she could, trying to protect herself from more harm. His worry escalated when he heard the whizzing sounds his daughter made and he pulled her in his arms, as he stood up. With fear clenching his heart he noticed her lips. They were blue from the lack of air, and he knew that if he didn’t get her to a Healer soon, he would lose her.

And he couldn’t let that to happen! She was the most precious thing in his dark world and he would do anything for her. He couldn’t lose her now when he barely found her! He couldn’t live through that! He knew that he had to be at least a bit calm before side-apparating her to St. Mungo’s and took a deep breath, before putting up his shields once more and after making sure that no one could see Vernon Dursley, apparated his precious treasure to the lobby of St. Mungo’s hospital. He didn’t have the time to apparate to Hogsmeade and go to the Hospital Wing. He had to get his daughter to the Healers immediately.

ooOoo

The sight of a frantic man with dark hair that was carrying an unconscious girl with the same hair immediately got the attention of everyone that was standing in the lobby. One of the Healers immediately walked up to the two and after a moment noticed the girl’s lips. They were blue, going on violet. With a wave of his wand he conjured a stretcher and told the man holding the little girl to put her on it. He did and after letting her go, immediately snatched her hand in his and leaned forward to whisper something in her ear that the Healer didn’t catch.

There was no time to think of how sweet the man was acting towards the girl, for he had also heard the whizzing sounds the girl made and knew it was of a matter of minutes before it was too late. Quickly, he levitated the stretcher to one of the emergency rooms and put the stretcher on one of the beds, hurriedly waving his wand to see the girl’s lungs. It was only his professional attitude that stopped him from exclaiming in shock as he saw just how damaged the girl’s lungs were. There was so much blood and liquid in it, that it was a miracle the girl still lived.

With a wave of his wand, he turned the girl on her side and it was only after he spelled her ribs with one of the more advanced bone-mending spells that he even thought about saying the spell that extracted the excess fluids in the girl’s lungs. It had to be left on for at least a few minutes and in those few minutes, Healer Smethwyk could get a bit more information on the girl from the man that hadn’t left her side for the last few minutes.

“Now that she’s more stable, perhaps you could give me some information as to how she got into such a prediction?” he asked the dark haired man in front of him. The man didn’t even look up to him to show him he heard him. But then a few moments later he spoke,

“She was attacked by her Uncle. The barrier on the Platform Nine and Three Quarters seemed to have locked and she was unable to go through. Her Uncle is a muggle of the worst kind. And I want him in Azkaban for what he did to her.”

The last words were spat out in rage, but the man’s face immediately went to the emotionless mask he wore the entire time they were here. If you don’t count the frantic look he wore when he arrived.

“I see. Can you tell me anything about her? Is she allergic to anything? What is your relationship with her? Who is she?”

There was a slight pause and then he heard the man answering in a quiet voice, as if trying to get his temper under check.

“My daughter is not allergic to anything, as far as I know. And her name is Arielle.”

Just then, there was one last cough from Arielle and Healer Smethwyk returned his attention on her. Moving closer to her, he put on his stethoscope and put it on the girl’s chest, listening to her laboured breathing. What he heard was not pleasing. Not pleasing at all. Putting the stethoscope off again, he turned to the Potions professor and said,

“Unfortunately, her lungs were damaged more than I expected. I have gotten rid of the excessive fluids in her lungs, and mended her broken ribs, but there seemed to be a big emotional stress included."

“What exactly does that mean?” asked the dark-haired man in trepidation.

“It means that she will have problems with breathing in the future. She will have to be careful from now on. Any big exertion of her body and she can have an episode.” Healer Smethwyk paused for a few seconds and then looked at the girl again, “It means that she will probably have asthma for the rest of her life. Or in the best case, for a long time. There is a possibility that she can get better if a cure for the disease is found in the future, but if not – then there isn’t really much that we can do. You’ll have to make sure she has an inhaler on her all the time, and that at least a few people she’s in contact with every day have it as well – just in case she loses hers or can’t get to it in time to prevent an episode.”

Severus Snape couldn’t do anything but look at his frail daughter after that, and the Healer left the room, leaving the two alone. There wasn’t much that he could do now, anyway. The girl had to wake up on her own and then had to drink a potion to get rid of her bruises and the pain from being beaten. And then she was free to go. She probably shouldn’t have left the hospital so soon, but he had recognized the dark haired man as the Potions professor at Hogwarts and knew that the man knew how to handle his daughter if the worst happened. Every Potions Master had to take at least two courses in Healing and First-Aid.

ooOoo

Fingers brushing through her hair were the ones that woke Arielle up from her deep slumber. She tried to remember what happened, but somehow her memory was failing her at the moment. She wanted to open her eyes and find out who was doing such nice things to her, but her eyes were too heavy for such a difficult task. Not even warm lips that descended on her forehead could make her succeed in opening her eyes. It was as if she was awake inside and asleep on the outside.

A few more minutes passed with her being awake and trying to open her eyes. She had finally been able to let out a small noise and felt the fingers brushing her hair stop for a moment and then continue in their task.

Finally though, she felt her eyes become lighter and was confidant enough that she could open them. Eyelashes fluttered for a bit before she could open her eyes for a bit and she had to squeeze them quickly again, because the light was a bit too much for her. She could hear someone whisper something and the light around her dimmed. She slowly opened her eyes again and blinked a few times, trying to get the blurriness away. There was this big black blob sitting on the bed, looking at her.

A few moments later, the big black blob came into focus and Arielle recognized the blob as her father. His face was emotionless, but his eyes told her another story. His eyes showed her how worried he was about her, how relieved he was that she was awake; there was a hidden anger, but Arielle knew it wasn’t directed at herself.

“Hi,” she whispered, feeling as if she couldn’t speak any louder. Her father’s fingers went into her hair again as he leaned forward, placing a kiss on her forehead as he looked at her and asked, “Are you feeling alright?” She nodded at the question and after thinking about it a little, whispered, “I’m just a bit tired and achy.”

Her Papa nodded and when she went to sit up, helped her do it, his hands staying on her shoulders when she was finally straightened up. She felt love for her father when he encased her in a gentle hug, letting her head rest on his shoulder, her arms going around his waist. A hand ended up on her head as he held her close to himself, as if trying to reassure himself that she was there and alive.

A few minutes went by as they just sat there in silence, until her father spoke quietly, “Can you tell me what happened?” The hand on her shoulder squeezed it in reassurance as she closed her eyes tightly, remembering the reason why she was in this white room, having assumed that she was in a hospital. She buried her head deeper into his shoulder and took a shuddering breath, while whispering, “I don’t want to…”

The hand on her head moved itself to brush its fingers through her hair as she felt his chin on the top of her head. “I know you don’t want to. And I know that it is difficult talking about it. But you and I both know it is better to let it out instead of holding it inside.”

“I know… but can we at least wait until we get back home? I don’t feel like talking here,” she pleaded with him as she looked up to his face, distress written all over hers.

They did indeed talk about it in their quarters at Hogwarts. They had, of course, missed the sorting, but neither of them cared about that very much. They had much more pressing matters at hand. Currently, they could be found in their quarters, more precisely in Arielle’s bedroom with Severus lying on the fluffy bed and Arielle lying next to him, with her head resting on his chest, while his fingers gently carded through her hair.

The girl was asleep after being too exhausted to stay awake any longer. Especially after retelling him what happened. Severus himself was doing a great job by keeping his anger at bay, if he did say so himself. In fact, he was planning revenge right at this very moment. He knew that Vernon Dursley would NOT get away with almost killing his daughter and he would pull charges against him the next day, having his daughter’s consent.

Yes, they had talked about that as well. At first she was hesitant, but when he assured her that the trial won’t become public if he had anything to say about it, she acquiesced and agreed to have the trial. Although she did ask if it could wait for a few weeks at least, until she felt a bit better with all that has happened to her. They had also talked about who it could be that locked the barrier. The barrier shouldn’t have locked itself up. There was no explanation for that, though.

Severus looked down at the black mop on his chest, watching the girl’s head move up and down as he breathed. It felt so good to feel the girl’s head on his chest, knowing that she was only sleeping, and that she wasn’t hurt too badly. If he could, he would have killed that fat blob of that Uncle of hers. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t leave Arielle alone, and she would be alone if he killed the muggle, because he would have been sent to Azkaban. And he didn’t want that. And for a completely different reason than he had in the last few years.

Someone knocking on their chamber’s door brought him out of his musings and he carefully lifted Arielle off his chest and tucked her in, before going out to the living room and opening the doors. There was a whole group of people waiting outside and Severus had to fight against rolling his eyes as he let the people in. There was the Headmaster and the Deputy Headmistress, professor Flitwick, Remus Lupin and Arielle’s friends (Cedric, Neville, Blaise, Fred and George).

“Professor, what happened?” was the question flung at him by Blaise Zabini. With a sigh, Severus motioned the group to sit down and when they obeyed, sat down in his own armchair as well, steepling his fingers in front of his face as he stared in the sparkling fire in his fireplace, before sighing again and turning his attention to the waiting people.

“The barrier locked up and Arielle couldn’t get through it while trying to escape from her uncle.”

There was a long silence and then the students asked one over another, “Her uncle?” “What happened?” “Is she okay?” “Can we see her?” The adults were silent as they watched him in worry. He didn’t seem like himself today after all. They knew him well enough to know that he wasn’t in his right mind. His answer was also the answer as to why he was acting like this.

“He attacked her. If I haven’t had come there in that moment, I believe that she wouldn’t have survived.”

Blaise and the other students all paled, as well as the professors and Lupin. They hadn’t expected that her uncle would become quite so vicious after all. They didn’t know all of what happened in the Dursley house. Severus did, and even then he was sure that she hadn’t told him everything yet. But from what he did know, it was horrible. And that was one of the main reasons he didn’t say anything when she acted like a seven-year-old sometimes. She did have the right to make up for the lost childhood, after all, and he wouldn’t take that away from her. Plus, he actually liked seeing her so care-free. It made his old heart ease a bit as he remembered watching her jump around as she tried to chase the fireflies one evening as they took a walk down the beach.

“I’ve taken her to St. Mungo’s and Healer Smethwyk healed her as much as he could.”

“As much as he could?” Remus asked in a faint voice. Severus sighed again and turned his attention on the werewolf as he contemplated on how to bring the news up. “Yes,” he finally replied, “Dursley had broken several of her ribs and she was having trouble breathing. That, combined with the emotional shock she had gotten when he started attacking her, made her lungs become damaged, and the Healer made a prognosis that it will end up with her having asthma.”

Minerva and Filius had put their hands on their mouth, to prevent themselves from exclaiming loudly, Albus and Remus were both very pale and the children were quiet. Neville was shaking, with tears streaming down his face, while Blaise was doing a good job at keeping up his emotionless mask, not wanting the others to see just how much of a shock that was to him. Fred and George were clenching their fists and Severus knew right away that they were already planning their revenge on the fat muggle. Cedric on the other hand, being the eldest of them all, just sat there quietly, staring at his hands.

“Can we see her?” he finally asked. “I want to see for myself that she’s okay.”

Severus looked at the Hufflepuff Prefect with a contemplating expression on his face, trying to make a decision. “You may. But be careful not to wake her up. She has had a trying day and has only fallen asleep before you all came in. She needs as much sleep as she can get to recover from the experience.”

After the children all promised that they would be quiet, he stood up and led them to her room. He begun to wonder why the children were here at all, but he let it pass for now. He would always have a chance to ask his colleagues later. As he opened the doors to her room, the children quieted down, as if they knew that they shouldn’t use loud voices and followed him inside. All of them stopped at the bottom of the bed and stared at the slumbering girl on the big, white, fluffy bed.

After a few minutes, Neville was the first one to move to Arielle’s side as he put his hand on her back and patted it softly, before leaving the room. Severus was surprised at the thoughtfulness of the Longbottom child as he watched the others say their own goodbyes to his daughter.

The next few days (being the weekend) were spent adjusting to Arielle’s new condition, with the house-elves dusting their chambers every morning and evening, and with Grandpa Albus charming some windows in the rooms Arielle frequented most often so that they could get some fresh air in, to ease Arielle’s breathing. The inhalers that Severus got from St. Mungo’s were distributed to every one of her friends and family, and she got two for herself, just in case one of them ran out of the medicine.

Arielle was happy that everyone was worried about her so much. Sure, she felt smothered sometimes, but as she didn’t have many people to worry about her before she got to Hogwarts, it felt nice now. The most amusing times were when everyone asked her if she needed anything and she felt like a princess that could just order people around and they would bring her everything she desired. But that thought actually made her cringe a bit. She didn’t want to become spoiled like her cousin Dudley. She would have to work hard on that, she decided to herself as she sat on the window seat that her Grandpa charmed to be under her window so that she could sit and watch the scenery out of her window. Of course, the windows were charmed so that she only had to wish to see something and it would show it to her. Most often she watched the beach or forests on the country side. She hadn’t gotten to watch much of it yet, because it was only a few days ago that she had gotten it of course, but she was getting used to it steadily. And she liked it very much.

The doors opened somewhere behind her and she turned her head to look at the newcomer. It was her father of course. She gave him a small smile as he walked through the room towards her and sat himself on the window seat as well. She moved forward and snuggled against him quietly. It would be tomorrow that she would return to civilisation, so to say. She was already given the class schedule and her things were already sent to the Ravenclaw dormitories for the school year. Now the only thing that was left to do was for Arielle to leave their quarters in a few minutes. They had decided that she was going to sleep in her dormitory in the Ravenclaw Tower tonight so that she wouldn't feel overwhelmed the next day when she went to classes.

ooOoo

The next morning, she woke up to the alarm she had set up with her wand. It was simple really, she just spoke the incantation and put her wand under her pillow and it started vibrating at the set time. It was half past seven when it started vibrating that morning. Sitting up on her bed, she looked around to see that the other girls were still asleep and smiled to herself. She wasn’t best friends with any of the group, but they didn’t shun her or anything like that – they were friends and talked about anything when they could. With a quiet sigh she moved until her legs were dangling over the edge and stood up, putting her feet in the soft fluffy slippers her grandpa had given her last year when she had first started living with her Papa. She also put a fluffy white bathrobe over her sleeping gown and went down to the common room. There were a few early risers already, reading on the couches near the fireplace and a girl that Arielle never saw before reading a newspaper upside down with her wand tucked neatly behind her ears and wearing earrings in the shapes of the radishes. Blinking at the strange sight, Arielle sat opposite the girl and watched her for a few seconds before opening her own book (the Latin dictionary her uncle Remus gave her for her birthday) and started reading.

“You’re Arielle Potter,” she heard a dreamy voice announce and looked up to see the strange girl staring at her with her big silvery grey eyes. “Yes, I am,” Arielle replied blinking over at the girl. “And who are you?”

“I’m Luna Lovegood,” the girl replied, going back to read her newspaper which on a closer inspection was titled The Quibbler. Shrugging to herself, Arielle went back to read her Latin dictionary until it was time for her to go get changed into her school uniform and head down for breakfast.

The day that followed was one of the most adventurous days in Arielle’s life at Hogwarts, if you didn’t count the Philosopher Stone Escapade as it was called nowadays. First, when she entered the Great Hall for breakfast, she was mobbed by her friends (minus Blaise – it wouldn’t do him any good to be shunned by Slytherin for being friends with the Arielle Potter, would it) and the twins happily informed her that their little sister Ginny was sorted into Gryffindor at the sorting and when they finally said goodbye, leaving Arielle to go sit down at the Ravenclaw table, the strange girl called Luna sat down beside her. Arielle didn’t mind and soon they were engaged in a vivacious discussion about magical creatures – Luna telling her about the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks that she and her father went to search for during the summer before Luna came to Hogwarts. That was when things begun to go downhill. A snort behind her made Arielle aware of a presence that she found irritating – Hermione Granger of Gryffindor. The girl still didn’t forgive Arielle for being the best in the year last term instead of her and apparently she would try again this year. Arielle grinned to herself mentally as she turned her attention back on the plate in front of her, listening to Luna and Granger bicker about the existence of the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. Luna was telling Granger that they existed and Granger that they didn’t. Finally, Arielle had enough and snapped at Granger,

“Just because you didn’t read about them in your precious books, doesn’t mean they don’t exist.”

That shut the ‘insufferable know-it-all’ as Hermione Granger was dubbed, up alright and left her to leave for Gryffindor table all huffed up. Arielle sighed in relief as the girl disappeared and turned back to Luna who was watching her with a surprised look on her face… not that it was that strange to see her being surprised, her eyebrows were light and situated in the way that gave the other girl a permanently surprised look. “Don’t mind her,” Arielle mumbled as she went for a new piece of toast. “She doesn’t believe in anything other than what her books say.”

The other girl kept quiet, but Arielle knew that that was okay. And then her first day of classes came and with it Gilderoy Lockhart who was teaching them Defence Against the Dark Arts this year. It was also the same man that scared Arielle in Diagon Alley a few weeks ago. Instead of sitting in the front as was usual for her she went to sit as far back as was possible. Hermione Granger of course sat in the first row and Arielle could swear she heard the girl sigh dreamily when their professor entered the classroom, flashing them a smile.

“Greetings, ladies and gentlemen,” she heard him say from where she was putting her book on the table. She had read them all during the summer when they bought them and found them mighty strange. There were a few things that stood out in the books, like dates that didn’t really correspond with the stuff that he wrote and from what she had seen and read about him it was really strange that he could do all the stuff that he wrote about. Her thoughts were interrupted with him continuing on introducing himself – telling nothing about the creatures he claimed to have slain, but mostly telling them how he was a three-times winner of the Witch Weekly’s Most Charming Smile award. She sighed as she realised that they wouldn’t be learning anything useful in this class this year. It became even more apparent that this was the case when Lockhart gave them each a roll of parchment with a test on them… a test about himself. Arielle rolled her eyes and leaned back on her seat, not even thinking about writing anything in the test – it would only serve as an ego booster anyway.

At the end of the time allotted to the test, Lockhart went to collect the tests and of course it was Hermione Granger that won ten points for Gryffindor for being the only one to have a perfect score on the test. Arielle rolled her eyes at the girl and turned her head back to their professor when she heard him talking about them learning about fearsome creatures that turned out to be only Cornish Pixies. The mess begun when the stupid git actually opened the cage where the Pixies were kept and let them out to harass the students. Arielle quickly put things in her bag and slipped out of the classroom before the professor could notice her. She quickly made her way to the dungeons where their Potions lesson would start in a few minutes. Sadly, she wasn’t looking where she was going and bumped into someone tall. Looking up she grinned as she saw who it was.

“Uncle Moony!” she squealed as she hugged the Marauder around his waist. “Hey, little one,” her uncle replied, “what are you doing in the corridors while you still have a few minutes left of your first class of the year?” Arielle rolled her eyes and pouted up at him as she said, “The professor is stupid and I didn’t want to spend any more time in his presence for fear of catching the Stupiditus illness from him.” She giggled as a reply to her uncle’s laughter as they walked slowly towards the Potions classroom.

The rest of the day was spent avoiding the supercilious Slytherin by the name of Draco Malfoy after he branded her with the nickname of ‘coward’ when he heard about her sneaking out of the Defence Against the Dark Arts class and avoiding an egotistic professor that apparently had it in for her as he wanted to talk to her during their lunch time, before Herbology and even during dinner. It was only the glares of one Severus Snape that made him stop and spend the rest of the evening in his classroom – hiding from the Potions Master and curling his hair, no doubt.

When Arielle finally laid down in her bed that evening, she was so tired that she slipped into a deep sleep as soon as her head landed on her pillow.

-CHAPTER EIGHT-

Everything Will Be Alright

The double doors to the infirmary banged open as Severus Snape stalked through them, a thunderous expression on his face. However, as soon as the doors behind him closed, he sent a number of spells on the door (from silencing spells, imperturbable charms, to warding spells). It was only then that his enraged face fell to reveal a worried expression as he hurriedly approached his daughter’s bed. There were already people around it, watching the nurse helplessly as she bustled around the bed. Remus Lupin was pacing left and right at the end of the bed, Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall and Filius Flitwick were sitting on the chairs next to the bed and watched Madam Pomfrey as she worked on the patient.

Severus’s heart started beating faster when he saw the look on his daughter’s face. It was a look full of suffering and helplessness, and Severus couldn’t help but feel helpless too. Without a word he sat on the bed and took Arielle’s hand into his. The hand was cold, he realized with growing anxiety, even as he looked over to the Headmaster, asking him silently to tell him what happened. Albus Dumbledore seemed to understand the look as he quietly started explaining.

“I’ll kill him,” were the only words Severus managed to say from his gritting teeth as he kept his eyes on his daughter. His hand was still holding hers in a tight grip, as if afraid that she would disappear the moment his eyes left her and his other hand sneaked into her hair to card through it. It was only then that Severus, as worried as he was, noticed that her hair wasn’t as unruly as before, but more silky and soft – not to mention straighter. Her eyelashes were also a bit different – longer and thicker than before. Her eyebrows were a bit thicker as well, although not as much – and curved elegantly on her forehead.

It was those small details that made him wonder what was happening to her. It wasn’t normal for witches and wizards to suddenly start changing their appearances – unless they were Metamorphmagi, and even then it was only a hereditary skill that the Potters didn’t have in their bloodline, as far as he knew.

“Now, now, Severus,” admonished Dumbledore, “We don’t really know what happened as of yet.”

He stood up then and dusted his vivid purple robes and added, “I shall go talk to Argus and enquire what happened from his point of view.”

Severus couldn’t help but snort as he glared at the Headmaster through his long hair that was hanging over his eyes. “His point of view will be warped at least. He’ll probably want Arielle expelled for something she didn’t do.” Albus didn’t seem to hear him as he closed the doors of the hospital wing behind him. Snape huffed and turned his head back to Arielle, watching her like a hawk.

It wasn’t until a few minutes later that he noticed that her breathing changed. Madam Pomfrey obviously managed to stop the attack, for Arielle’s face was slowly turning back to a pale colour instead of the blue one. Her breathing was loosing the whistling sound and there were only a few more traces of suffering on her face, before she slipped into sleep.

*


The fog around her brain seemed to diminish a bit and Arielle was able to recall what happened to bring the fog into her brain. Filch. Him choking her. She gasped and quickly sat up on the bed, wherever that might have been, and clutched at her throat, trying to make sure that there weren’t any gnarly fingers around it. There weren’t. She sighed in relief and let herself fall back on the bed. It was only then that she noticed that she wasn’t alone. There were quite a few people around her bed, watching her anxiously. There was her papa, her uncles and aunts, grandpa and all her friends (there were quite a lot of them, she noticed).

“Hi,” she said with a weak smile. God, how she hated the way her voice sounded. It was all hoarse and weak from being unused. There was a moment of silence before all hell broke lose... well, not literally, it was just her friends starting to ask her if she was all right, their voices overlapping each other as they spoke almost in unison. She grinned as they looked at her rather sheepishly.

“I'm fine,” she said, her voice gaining strength in seconds.

“You're not,” her papa interrupted her softly. “But you will be.”

It was than as if all the tension in the room flew away and everyone became more relaxed and she could almost hear their inner sighs of relief. In the next few hours she chatted with her friends as the professors left to their classes, seeing that she would be alright. It wasn't until she yawned for the fifth time in ten minutes that her friends wished her good night and left her to sleep. She was so tired that she didn't notice them leaving quietly, having already fallen asleep the moment Cedric tucked her in and wasn't that awfully nice of him?

The next time she woke up she was alone in the infirmary with no one but herself for company. As she looked up to the big clock she noticed that it was just a few minutes past six – time for dinner then. Stretching herself comfortably she put her hands behind her head and stared at the ceiling. The doors to the infirmary opened then and she looked down to see her papa coming through with a tray in his hands. She grinned and sat up straight in the bed. “Hey,” she greeted him as he came near her bed. It was quiet for a while as he put the tray on the bed and made sure it wouldn’t fall off. Then he turned to her, still quiet, and just watched her for a few moments with those unfathomable black eyes of his. His hand reached out and touched her on her cheek as if he was making sure she was there and that she was okay. Putting her own hand over his she smiled at him and was rewarded with a small smile from his side.

He sat down next to her on the bed and pulled her to him so that she was snuggled in his arms, but still comfortable enough to eat from the plate he brought her. It was quiet while she ate with Severus watching her. It was a comfortable silence. She liked the feeling she got when they were like that – it was quiet, but they didn’t need any words to understand each other. And she felt really safe like that – like he was watching over her while she was having her fun. Like a father should do. After she finished eating as much as she could she leaned back into her father’s arms and put her head on his shoulder while his arms sneaked around her waist and his chin rested on the top of her head.

“I love you,” she murmured calmly. Her papa always had that effect on her. No matter how worried she was about something, her anxiety always left her when he held her in his arms, protecting her from everything that might come her way.

“I love you too,” she heard him whisper in her hair and grinned.

Everything would be alright. She was sure of that. Her father would always help her get through anything that might come her way.

-CHAPTER NINE-

The Deathday Party and the Voice

The Deathday party was in full swing, if you don’t count the time when the Headless Hunt barged in and started playing around with their heads, and sir Nicholas was clearly enjoying himself as he talked with all sorts of ghosts. All the Hogwarts ghosts were there as well as Peeves, the poltergeist. Arielle was surprised to see just how many ghosts lived at Hogwarts. However, the ghost that caught Arielle’s attention was a girl that was wearing a school uniform that was slightly outdated, wore glasses and had her hair done in pigtails. She was clearly depressed and when Peeves made fun of her name, which was Moaning Myrtle, she left the party in tears. Arielle’s brows went down in a small scowl. She knew that Peeves liked to make fun of everyone, but she didn’t know that he was so mean about it, probably because he never made fun of her - she guessed he was too scared of her Papa and Grandpa to do it. However, she really didn’t like the way he handled Myrtle. With her hands on her hips and a serious look in her eyes she turned to the poltergeist and scolded him lightly (aware that she was in a room full of ghosts and that she was under scrutiny because she was a living person).

“Now, was that really necessary, Peeves?”

If the poltergeist was alive, Arielle was sure that she would have heard a crick in his neck, so fast did he turn around to see who scolded him. She was a bit surprised to see that he cringed away from her, unaware that she looked a lot like Molly Weasley, the mother of her two friends, when she was angry – and that Peeves already had the honour of being scolded by the woman once when she was still in school. He knew that the look Arielle was giving him didn’t bode him well, and with her hands on her hips she really resembled a mother who was just about to scold someone.

“You really should go and apologize to her, you know. It wasn’t nice of you to make fun of her.”

Peeves scowled at the girl, finally finding that wayward cat that got his tongue, and replied in an annoyed voice,

“And why should I do that? It isn’t my fault if she moans about her being dead all the time.”

“Yes, that’s not your fault, but you could be a little more sensitive about the subject as it’s obvious that it’s hurting her a lot.”

“I was just telling her the truth!”

“You could have said it in a nicer way – or at least not in such a way that made her leave the party. It’s not her fault if she doesn’t look the way you apparently think all girls should look. I’m sure that she’s a really nice girl, if only she wasn’t teased so much. Would you like it if someone teased you just because you didn’t look very nice? Or if you apparently had problems about something and couldn’t get over them no matter how hard you tried?

“Because, I tell you, you wouldn’t. You would either get insulted and start insulting them back if you had that kind of a personality, which I know you do, or you would feel really bad about it and avoid another confrontation by fleeing in tears, like Myrtle did.”

The silence said it all. Arielle sighed and then blushed as she became aware of the silence around them. She slowly turned her head and looked around her, only to meet the grinning face of sir Nicholas. It was apparently rare that Peeves got scolded for something and apparently a lot of the ghosts thought it funny, as they were chuckling softly to themselves.

“Er, sorry about that,” she mumbled as she quickly made her way to the Gryffindor ghost and after excusing herself – it was high time she left the party – there was a Halloween Feast going on in the Great Hall and her Papa only allowed her to go to the Deathday party if she only stayed for half an hour – and she was already late, she noticed as she walked down the dungeon corridor towards the stairs that lead to the first floor where the Great Hall was situated. She made herself go faster, because she didn’t want her Papa to worry too much about her as he was bound to do – he was a bit overprotective of her after her latest ‘adventure’ with the caretaker. Filch was put on probation after receiving a thorough scolding from both Grandpa and her Papa, and Arielle was told that he was a Squib, which meant that he couldn’t do magic even if he was born into a magical family, and that he was extremely bitter about that and hated just about everyone that had magical powers. Arielle wondered just why Grandpa hired him if he knew that he hated the students so much, but knew that her Grandpa usually did what he thought was best, even if sometimes what he thought was best wasn’t really the best for the others (as proved when he left her with the Dursleys).

Her trail of thought stopped suddenly as she heard a voice that she hadn’t heard in a while. “Blood… I smell blood… so hungry… for so long… kill… need to kill…” Arielle paled as she heard the last few words and then, almost without conscious thought, started running in the direction the voice was going. It kept whispering and Arielle got more scared the more she ran after it. She knew that it probably wasn’t a good idea, but she couldn’t just stop! After all, someone was in danger of being killed! She had to do something!

The voice was getting louder and louder and as Arielle ran around the corner she suddenly felt her feet slip in the puddle of water she had noticed, unfortunately too late. Luckily she stayed on her feet and she quickly moved forward, ignoring the water. However, the voice was gone. There was silence all around her and she started trembling with a feeling of horror. She looked around herself then and then her eyes fell on a stiff form that was hung from a torch by its tail and the crimson words,

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.

ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

-CHAPTER TEN-

The Chamber of Secrets

Why did it always have to be Arielle the Trouble found? Like last year with that troll and the Philosopher's Stone. At least last year she wasn't beaten almost to death by her uncle. This year was getting to be a lot more interesting. And a lot scarier too, Arielle decided, as she stared up at the crimson (was that blood?) words painted onto the wall. The cat that hung next to them was still and didn't breathe. It was as if it was dead. Arielle started trembling at the thought. She didn't really like Mrs Norris, but she didn't want the cat to be dead.

Suddenly, the silence broke as hundreds of student's footsteps were heard in the corridor. Arielle flinched as she turned around just in time to see the first students arrive at the scene, happily chatting about something or another, freshly fed from the Halloween Feast they had just attended. She wished the earth would swallow her at that moment. She didn't want to be seen at the scene, but it was too late. One of the students was already gasping and pointing her out to his comrades.

There was a flurry of movements and gasps, and then a voice called out smugly,

“You’ll be next, mudbloods!”

It was, of course, Draco Malfoy, who called out those words. Arielle wanted nothing more than to go hide in her room and never come out again. She closed her eyes and hugged herself around her waist and waited for one of the professors to come to the scene, as she knew they would have heard the commotion already. She could only hope that it was her papa that came here first so that she could relax a little. However, she didn’t have much time to ponder on this as she was slammed against the wall. There were dark spots in front of her eyes as she struggled against the one that held her. There was yelling all around her, but she could hardly distinguish voices and then suddenly, she was free and pulled into a one-armed hug. It smelled of chocolate and she knew that it was Uncle Moony that held her.

As she opened her eyes, she saw Filch lying on the ground, spitting blood out of his mouth and holding his hand over his nose, which was bleeding heavily. Blinking at the caretaker’s appearance, she saw that her papa was standing over him, massaging his right hand slowly, looking at Filch murderously.

“I warned you, Filch, that if you ever touched the girl again that I would make sure that you were dismissed from the job. You also knew that the headmaster agreed.”

The caretaker wasn’t about to step down that easily, it seemed, for he drew himself up from the floor and hissed at the Potions Master, “The b**** killed my cat!”

That of course, incensed the Slytherin Head of House even more and he let his right fist fly into Filch’s face once again. Then he grabbed the squib by his coat and slammed him against the wall, like Filch did to Arielle a few minutes ago.

“Don’t. Ever. Call. Her. Like. That. Again.”

His voice was quiet and calm, but everyone who knew Snape and was in his class, knew that he was at his most dangerous. One more word and Filch could find himself dead. Or worse.

It seemed as if Filch knew that as well for he scowled at the Potions Master, but remained quiet.

“Severus, what is going on here?” Arielle heard her grandpa say as he quickly moved over towards the two men glaring at each other. Turning her head so that she was hiding her face in Remus’s stomach, she heard his footsteps falter as he saw the writing on the wall and took in the situation at hand. There was a silence and then Dumbledore sighed gently.

“Argus. You knew what would happen if you attacked a student again. I am sorry, but I will have to dismiss you.”

The hall burst out in hushed whispers and murmurs as Dumbledore moved past Filch to examine the cat. Pulling her down from where she was hanging he turned her one way and the other, looked into her eyes and prodded a bit at her, until he was finally satisfied.

“She’s not dead, Argus. Just petrified. By what, however, I cannot say.”

There was another small silence and then Filch burst out in tears and took the cat that Dumbledore was offering him into his arms and stalked down the corridor until he was out of sight. It was then that the Headmaster turned towards Arielle and Remus and gently patted the girl’s head.

“It’s alright now, Miss Potter, he’s gone,” he said quietly, as if talking to a child. Arielle sniffed softly and then moved her head so that she was looking at her grandpa and whispered, “I didn’t do it, I swear.”

“I know, my dear,” her grandpa consoled her. “Your father told me that you were invited to sir Nicholas’s Deathday party. What I want to know is, what are you doing in this corridor? Your dorms are the other way and Severus’s rooms are in the dungeons, near the room where the Deathday party was being held.”

Arielle was silent for a few moments, thinking to herself. Should she tell him that she heard voices in the corridors? What would he think if she did tell him? Would he think her crazy? She knew that people in the muggle world would call her schizophrenic. Her conscience won.

“I heard a voice. It was talking about killing and smelling blood. I was worried and followed it, and then I saw that writing and Mrs Norris.”

Albus Dumbledore’s face grew grim as Arielle told him what happened in a small voice. Then he turned towards the gathered people and said with a clear voice,

“Students, please return to your dormitories, professors please follow me to my office.”

Turning back to Arielle, he asked her,

“Would you prefer going back to the dormitory or would you like Remus to take you home for the night?”

Blinking up at the Headmaster, Arielle smiled and whispered, “I’d like to go home, please.”

Albus smiled down at the black-haired girl and gave her another pet on the head, while speaking to Remus in too soft a voice for her to hear, and then left with the other professors. Remus looked down at the tired girl that was still leaning on him and grinned.

“Do you want a piggyback ride?”

Arielle looked up to him with wide eyes.

“A piggyback ride? What’s that?”

Remus chuckled and turned his back to her, and then kneeled down on the ground.

“Put your arms around my neck and I’ll do the rest.”

Blinking in confusion, Arielle followed her Uncle’s instructions and was surprised when he put his hands under her knees while standing up. Then he started walking toward hers and Severus’s quarters. It was fun, being carried like that, and Arielle barely suppressed the chuckle that threatened to escape her as she imagined herself yelling, “Alleyoop!” while waving one of her hands in the air as if she was about to throw a lasso.

“What’s so funny that has you in such giggles?” Remus asked mischievously, as if knowing what was going on in Arielle’s head. The girl in question merely giggled again and squeezed her hands around Remus’s neck a bit more, being careful not to strangle him, and put her head on the back of Remus’s.

They spent the rest of the journey in a comfortable silence and Arielle almost nodded off when they arrived at their destination. Arielle sleepily gave the portrait of Merlin the password (Audi, vide, tace, si tu vis vivere (in pace)) and it let them in. Remus lowered Arielle on the floor and the two of them sat down on the armchairs in front of the fireplace, Remus reading from a book and Arielle dozing off, while waiting for Severus to return.

*

It was after midnight that Severus finally returned. His eyes quickly roamed over the living room and stopped on the sleeping girl’s face. His face lost the serious look as he quietly and carefully picked his daughter up and carried her into her bedroom where he lowered her on the bed. Transfiguring her clothes into her nightgown, he covered her with a blanket and gave her a kiss on the forehead, and then moved away from the bed towards the door.

Just as he was about to cross the threshold, Arielle whispered sleepily,

“Night, Papa. Love you.”

Severus turned back to the bed and replied softly,

“Good night, Elle. Sleep well.”

Then he closed the distance between the bed and the door and sat down on the bed, pulling his fingers through Arielle’s hair while she fell asleep again.

“I love you too,” he whispered, before getting back up and leaving the room, quietly closing the door behind him.

*

The next morning, when Arielle arrived for breakfast, rumours had already spread. The whole school knew about the bloody writing on the wall and about Filch being sacked (some had even congratulated Arielle, not knowing why he was sacked, just being happy he was).

“Are you alright?” Cedric asked as he sat himself down on the bench next to Arielle. Turning to him with a smile on her face, Arielle replied, “Yep, I’m fine. Uncle Moony took me back home for the night and that helped a lot.”

“I still can’t believe that Snape can be so nice to a student,” Fred, having sat himself on the opposite side of her, murmured into her ear as he filled his plate with scrambled eggs and then poured ketchup over the whole of them, adding a sausage link. Arielle raised her eyebrows at the food Fred chose to eat for breakfast, when another voice said, “You really shouldn’t do that. People will think that the two of you are related.”

It was, of course, Luna. Only she would say something like that with that careless tone of voice. Arielle grinned as she watched Fred choke on the sip of pumpkin juice and patted him on the back.

She had, in fact, noticed that she looked a lot more like her Papa than before. She didn’t think anything strange about it, since it had to be the potion she took when Snape adopted her. For the first time in her life, her hair was manageable and straighter than before. Her eyebrows thinned out and her cheekbones were a bit more prominent on her face than before. They were only small changes and people that didn’t know Arielle that well didn’t notice them. Her friends of course did, and teased her a lot about her being a miniature Snape when she raised her eyebrows and scowled at them, which was what she was doing now. Well, she wasn’t scowling at Cedric and Luna, but at Fred and George (he joined them too) – who were inhaling their food as if there was no tomorrow. Their eating manners were atrocious, but at least they weren’t as atrocious as their brother’s were. At least they swallowed before they spoke.

*

Audi, vide, tace, si tu vis vivere (in pace) - "Hear, see, be silent, if you wish to live (in peace)." Roman proverb

-CHAPTER ELEVEN-

Oh, Noes!

Next week was better and worse. Better because the students were still very happy about the sacking of Filch, better because she didn't have any asthma attacks, and worse because the rumours now claimed that she was the Heiress of Slytherin. She wondered who it was that spread that particular rumour, but didn't much care about it. It got hilarious after Fred and George started mocking it by walking on either side of her and yelling around them,

"Make way, make way for the Heiress of Slytherin!"

Or, "Careful there, evil witch coming through!"

She loved them all the more for it - it was clear that they thought the rumours were stupid. It was also embarrassing because they told Cedric to kneel down before the Queen of Darkness and Cedric almost fell over because he laughed so much.

In fact, he did fall over after Arielle poked him in the ribs. That sent her into another fit of giggles.

It was also worse because there was a Quidditch match on Friday. It wasn't that Arielle didn't like Quidditch - she just didn't want to participate in it. The whole school was crowding the Quidditch pitch and screaming at the teams flying around it. It was Gryffindor versus Slytherin and Arielle's favourite twin brothers were playing. She wore a red and gold scarf for luck.

Of course, she should have known that Murphy's law would strike again. It was always Arielle that trouble found after all.

It happened somewhere in the middle of the game when Arielle was almost knocked down by a rogue bludger - it was Fred that saved her when he flew by just in time to hit it away.

"Sorry," he yelled at her as he quickly started following the bludger - it changed course and headed back to them.

"Damn," she heard him yell as he hit it again.

It turned around again. However, this time it was as if it gained the knowledge of where Fred would fly to intercept it and moved slightly - so that Fred's bat missed and the bludger headed directly towards Arielle.

Arielle could only watch as the bludger headed towards her. It seemed as if in slow motion. She knew she could not dodge it - it was much to fast. The only way she could protect herself at least a little was to cover her head with her hands.

She did so. And just in time, because the bludger slammed into her elbow just as she covered her face. She saw stars in front of her eyes from the impact and a searing pain in her hands - she knew they had to be broken.

Screaming followed and she felt, more than heard, that the bludger flew backwards and had another go. Just before it reached Arielle's head again it blew apart. Parts of it blew all over Arielle, like a really low explosive.

She didn't dare move her hands - she doubted she could, they hurt too much. However, she did open her eyes to see what was happening. Small glittering pieces of the bludger's insides were still fluttering in the wind - it looked like a gold shower. There was a blue shield around her. The shield was probably the thing that stopped the bludger from bludgeoning her to death.

Great. She was getting crazy, punning like that.

"Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit," she heard an annoying voice right next to her - it was Lockhart of course. She cringed. She really didn't like Lockhart. He gave her the creeps, always following her around and looking at her with a creepy look.

"Leave me alone," she murmured and tried to move away from his hand that was trying to land on her shoulder.

"She doesn't know what she's talking about," she heard him say to the audience.

"No, I know exactly what I'm talking about," she replied with gritted teeth as she shrugged his hand away (finally!) and quickly brought her hands down.

PAIN!

She gasped and felt tears fill her eyes. She also heard a mutter and suddenly the pain went away. She blinked at the lack of pain and tried to move her finger - she didn't feel it!

Looking down at her hands she gasped again. They looked like two pink sludges hanging from her shoulders. Next she saw a nervous looking Lockhart and put two and two together.

"You idiot!" she growled at him. "You removed my bones! I told you to leave me alone, you creep!"

She moved backwards until she was at least two feet away from him. She didn't dare turn her back on him - Merlin only knows what he would do.

"What are you all staring at?" she barked at the students next to her. "Go fetch madam Pomfrey!"

Three of them quickly ran off to seek the mediwitch - or so Arielle hoped. She heard her name being called and looked around to see Cedric trying to run to her side. It was hard work with all those kids trying to see what was going on as well.

A few moments later he was standing in front of her protectively. It was actually kind of sweet of him. He knew how creepy she found Lockhart. She felt her heart swell and relaxed.

"Are you all right?" Cedric asked her with his eyes still glaring at the idiot ponce.

"Kind of," she replied. "The idiot did get rid of the pain, at least..."

"I sense a but coming," he said lightly.

"Yeah, you should. I don't know what he was trying to do, but he removed all my bones in both my arms," she said, glaring at Lockhart.

"Idiot," was the only word Cedric had the chance to say before Fred and George flew up to them.

"Are you all right?" Fred asked her as he looked her over.

"I wonder how many times I'll get to hear that question today," Arielle said dryly.

"At least a few more," George replied with a grin, seeing that Arielle wasn't in any pain.

"It's actually kind of funny," he continued, reaching for one of Arielle's hands and gave it a swing. It flopped.

"If you look at it that way," Arielle replied sarcastically. "Of course, I'll have to drink Skelegro to make my bones grow back. I'll probably be in pain all night."

That shut him up. She knew that he had to drink Skelegro once last year after an accident at Quidditch practice. He would know just how uncomfortable a night was ahead of her.

"It's a shame that the Defence post is cursed," Arielle mused.

"How so," Cedric asked with a glint in his eyes. He probably knew what was coming.

"Wouldn't it be nice if he was sacked too?" Fred asked dreamily. Arielle grimaced at the reminder of last week's sacking of Filch. She still felt bad about that - even though it wasn't her fault - or so everyone told her.

That started her on wondering where her Papa was. Was he also battling to get to her side? Although with so many people around, he probably couldn't. It was one of the downsides of being the adopted daughter of Severus Snape, the Potions Master. It had to be a secret. She knew that if it came out, that she and her Papa would be in danger. He had explained to her about his old friends - he didn't tell her who they were or how they were called, but she deduced that it was the Death Eaters. She knew that her Papa probably knew that she knew, but she wasn't courageous enough to actually start that particular conversation. She could only imagine how it would go.

"Hey, Papa, I have a question," she would say and he would ask her what the question was.

"Why did you join the Death Eaters?"

That would go over well. He would probably ignore her for a week at least. Merlin, could that man hold a grudge. He was still sulking because Grandpa hadn't returned one of his book that he had borrowed. That was just silly.

Well, her Papa was a silly man after all. That made her grin. She could only imagine what hell he would unleash on Lockhart in the privacy of the staffroom.

She almost thought poor Lockhart, but as he was such a creep she stopped her thoughts. She didn't want to think of him any more. It would only lead to headache and nausea after all.