Later that evening, I sigh heavily, walking into the manor with Jezlyn and Draco, who is carrying our little sister. Luckily, I'm pain free and don't have that nasty broken rib anymore thanks to Orin. I then snort as I glance at Draco. I have to say that it's rather cute the way Angel hangs all over Draco with little pockets of drool collecting on his shoulder. He appears to have either not noticed it or is ignoring it entirely. Considering what Orin said earlier about Mum and Syra talking, I'm rather surprised that I don't hear any screaming or yelling in the manor.

"It perhaps would be prudent if we all settled in at Hogwarts prior to the other students' arrival," Dad quietly says behind me. "I'd appreciate it if you and Draco helped Angel gather her things so that we may leave tonight."

"Is something wrong, Dad?"

"Nothing's wrong, Harry. Severus and I were just talking earlier and thought it might be good for Angel to get used to everything. You remember how she was when you first arrived," Orin answers with a soft chuckle. "Though, I'll admit that I'm inclined to let the little cherub stay here with me."

"You may visit us anytime, you and Syra," Dad says. "I'm certain that the boys would enjoy such a thing, as would Angel and Aurora."

"Thanks for the offer, Severus. But as long as you take care of my daughter and treat her right as you have thus far, I'll let you rule your coop your way without my sticking my nose in your business." Orin then becomes rather serious before placing his hand on Dad's shoulder. "However, the offer still stands, Severus. If you need us to, Syra and I would be more than happy to do our grandparent duty of watching the kids."

"I do not believe that will be necessary, but thank you." Dad then glances at Draco and me before motioning with his eyes that we should head upstairs.

Taking the hint, Draco grabs my arm and pulls me towards the stairs. I sigh heavily, but follow him obediently. I can't believe that they're going to keep secrets from me. I would have thought by now Dad would understand that it only makes me a bit more curious about what's going on. We walk down the hallway towards our room when I catch Mum's silhouette at the end of the hallway. This is perhaps the first time I've seen her outside of her and Dad's room without anyone accompanying her. I glance towards Draco and notice that he has stopped as well. So it isn't just me then. Mum really is standing there. Drawing in a breath, I make up my mind and head towards her. I hear Draco's footfalls beside me.

"Hi," I quietly say, gaining her attention instantly.

"Hello, Harry," Mum replies with a soft sigh. Her eyes remain on Angel for a while before she glances away. "What were you three doing today?"

"Your dad took us out horseback riding around the estates." I watch her nod slowly. She doesn't really seem very interested in what I have to say. "El said her first word, too."

"Did she now?" Mum replies emotionlessly. "And just what did she say?"

"Horsey, she meant horse, but, well, it came out rather cute. Dad took her riding afterwards. Did you know that Dad rides?" I watch her shake her head before brushing past me and heading into her room. The door quietly shuts behind her.

"It was just your mum, Celes," Draco quietly says next to me. "You can go back to sleep."

I glance towards him and catch the owlish eyes staring back at me. I softly laugh before brushing back some stray curls that are in Angel's face. She giggles quietly and once again burrows her face into Draco's shoulder.

"Let's get packing before Dad gets mad." Draco nods, and we enter our room, shutting the door quietly behind us.

~SS~

After saying our goodbyes to Orin and Declan, we end up travelling by Floo to Hogwarts. Still holding Angel tightly against him, Draco and I walk out of the fireplace, appearing in Dad's sitting room in the dungeons. We step back and wait for Jezlyn, Mum, and Dad to appear. The Floo roars with life before Jezlyn steps out, quickly brushing the soot off her pristine baby blue robes. Once more, the emerald flames shoot up, depositing more people. I flash a smile towards Mum, but she only brushes past me. I don't understand what's going on with her.

"Aurora needs time to adjust," Dad quietly says, watching Mum head towards their bedroom. "It's nothing for you to concern yourself over. I'm watching over her." Dad then inhales. "You'll have to forgive the sleeping arrangements. I haven't had time to inform the elves of the changes."

We nod in response. Dad then silently heads down the hall, which we quickly follow. Draco and I immediately notice the two new doors. Dad opens the door to our right.

The rich warm colors of my room stare back at me. However, my room looks like someone shrunk it a bit. I glance towards Dad, but decide against asking him about it. Obviously, Dad had to use some of the space for the nursery. I'm not going to complain about it, and I notice that Draco doesn't either. After all, we've had to share a room before. We're actually accustomed to it by now.

Dad then walks a bit further down the hall and opens the first new door on our right. We glance in and notice the new bathroom. It's not really different from the other one. It still has a sink, toilet, and shower. However, when Dad waves his hand in front of a silver snake statue in the wall, the shower quickly transforms itself into a built-in black marble bathtub.

"That's wicked," Draco says with a soft laugh.

"I'm glad you think so," Dad replies before waving his hand in front of the statue again and leaving the bathroom. "I expect all three of you to change it back into the shower once you're finished. I have not properly warded it yet to prevent any accidents from occurring." Dad's eyes are on Angel when he says this, which tells us that he's asking us to do this action for Angel's safety. "You'll have to share, of course. However, I expect both of you gentlemen to allow Jezlyn to have the bathroom first since she's our guest." Dad then whirls around, walking down to the next door. He slowly opens it.

"Whoa!" I exclaim, staring at the new room in pure shock.

"That is most certainly not what I requested," Dad grumbles.

Bright colors of every shade splash the walls, making it appear as if the house elves only have tossed buckets of paint in order to decorate it. Toys also litter the room from floor to ceiling. There are little doll witches of every shape and size. Stuffed unicorns, phoenixes, snakes, lions, and numerous other stuffed animals clutter every available space. In fact, a large black cauldron that looks as if a seventh year would have has a large dragon peeking out of it. Numerous wands are in some of the stuffed animals' hands. Suddenly, charmed mini-Quidditch players zoom from beneath a stuffed medium-sized griffin and start to play their game without a care in the world.

I then suddenly catch the two giant stuffed animals that are at least the size of mountain trolls. One animal is a huge snake that actually flicks its fabric-forked tongue at us. The second large stuffed animal is a Chimera wearing a Slytherin uniform. Loud roaring from the far corner grabs our attention before several stuffed dragons fly out of a hiding space and chase after the Quidditch players.

"What in the hell happened in here?"

"I'd say the house elves decorated while drunk," Jezlyn answers before shaking her head.

"Yeah, well, it looks like they vomited up Picasso as a result," Draco says with a snort.

"Not to mention they either robbed or bought out every toy story in England while on their binge," I quietly say in utter shock to how chaotic the nursery is. "Whoa . . . that's definitely not calming whatsoever." Staring up at the ceiling, I watch the giant squid pass over my head. It appears as if they've charmed the ceiling to show the various fauna in Black Lake. However, they've also included a mobile of planets, mobile of cauldrons, mobile of Slytherin symbols, and a mobile with figures of our likeness.

"I tend to agree with you, little brother. Wait . . . what the hell is that?" Draco then points towards something in the far corner. "Is that a-a tunnel leading to the ceiling?"

"It looks like something Mrs. Figg would get for her cats," I reply with a loud snort. "Dad, haven't they ever had to decorate for a baby before?"

"Obviously not," Dad answers before sighing heavily. "I'm afraid that you'll have to room with Draco and Harry, Jezlyn, while I set the elves straight."

"It's quite all right, sir," says the fourteen-year-old blond, smiling. "Between you and me, I doubt we could separate Angel from her brother anyway."

"So you are aware, I'll be speaking with Dumbledore. If you become hungry, then head up to the Great Hall. The other professors should be up there. I wish you to allow Aurora her privacy, though. Well, make yourselves at home then." Dad whirls around and walks out, leaving us alone yet again.

~SS~

A few minutes after midnight, I find myself waking to a pair of curious eyes staring intently at me from my bedside. I softly smile at my little sister and shake my head. I should have known that Angel would check on me. I've noticed that she has a habit of doing that. Picking her up and gently settling her down next to me, I glance towards Draco's bed. I nearly laugh when I watch him suddenly sit up, glancing around in obvious panic.

"She's over here, Draco," I whisper softly in order not to wake Jezlyn up. It doesn't take long before Draco silently navigates our room towards Angel and me. Some light reflects on his face, showing his uncharacteristic concern. "She was just checking up on me."

"Yeah," the Slytherin responds sleepily. "Well, move over, Potter."

"You're joking," I say with a soft laugh.

"Well, it's either we sleep in separate beds with her waking us up every few hours, or we suck it up and sleep next to each other with her in the middle."

"What about Jezlyn?" I ask, motioning towards the sleeping blond.

"If she knows what's good for her, she'll stay quiet. Now, move over."

I roll my eyes, but slowly move for him. When the bed dips, I press my lips tightly together to keep from laughing. Who would have thought that this would have happened? I notice Draco huff loudly when Angel rolls towards him and accidently hits him in the gut.

"Oh, shut up. You love it, and you know it," I drawl softly.

"Oh, yes, it's every person's dream to have drool on his shoulder and a clingy four-year-old." His eyes then glance towards Angel. "She probably noticed something's wrong. You know, why she keeps pushing us together like this," he says. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering that she is Severus's daughter. It is rather Slytherin of her."

"Yeah, right, she's all Gryffindor. Just look at her." Watching Angel's cheeks puff out as she sleeps, I gently brush back her curls. It's so odd that she's four years old and so full of life, considering who her dad is. Then again, it feels like Mum and Dad have switched personalities this past month. "Draco, what do you think is wrong with Mum?" I then glance towards the Slytherin. "I mean, I know Dad told us not to worry about it, but I can't help it."

"I overheard Orin saying that he thinks that she might have some sort of depression thing going on," he responds with a sigh. "Then again, I'd be depressed too if I had people after me and went through what she did. Hell, from what we heard from Pomfrey, someone induced her labor. We were all thinking that we'd have two more weeks before it'd be all right for her to give birth. Instead, someone drugs her, and she gives birth to Angel. It likely scared the hell out of her. I know it would have done for us." The blond Slytherin then sighs. "Course, she might be feeling sad because she didn't get to go through all the baby things that other mothers get to do. Sometimes, mothers go nutters if they think their child is growing up too fast. I know Narcissa did when I received my Hogwarts letter."

"Yeah, I saw that with my aunt and cousin." I then sigh. "Isn't there some potion that Mum can take to help her? Muggles have a—"

"Muggles also use shock therapy," Draco interrupts. "You want her to be shocked too? Let's just let Severus deal with her. It's not like we can do anything anyway."

I open my mouth to respond, but sounds of glass breaking outside our door interrupt me. I glance towards Draco, who only grabs my arm and glares at me. He has that 'don't you even dare' look that Dad always gives me. More objects clatter to the ground before heavy footfalls that I instantly recognize as Dad's head past the door towards the sounds. Snakes hissing filters into our room then, making Angel bury her head further into Draco's chest.

"Let me go," a voice that I recognize as Mum snarls. However, she sounds a bit funny.

"Lower your voice," hisses back the person I'm guessing is Dad.

Slap!

My head instantly comes up and whips towards the door. Draco has followed my lead, but I can see that Jezlyn also is awake now. I glance towards the Slytherin and shake my head when I watch his mouth open. Throwing off the covers, I quickly rush towards the door and rip it open. It is after all the Gryffindor thing to do. However, Mum and Dad aren't right out in the hallway as I thought. I hear Draco behind me, but I ignore him and rush down the hallway towards the sitting room. I honestly don't know why I'm doing this. I know that Dad's going to be spitting fire once he sees me. I shrug off Draco's hand when he tries to pull me back.

"There is something seriously wrong with you," Dad says as calmly as he can. "I've given you as much time as I can to adjust, but this—this is the final straw, Aurora."

"As if I care what you think," Mum snarls with a slight slur to her voice.

"No. I don't doubt that you don't care, but that just shows yet another symptom."

"Oh, are you going to diagnose me now?" Mum mocks. She then scoffs before attempting to shove Dad backwards away from her. He, however, remains ramrod.

"We are going to see Madam Pomfrey whether you like it or not."

"I'm so terrified." Mum then snorts. "You're pathetic. There's nothing wrong with me."

"If there's nothing wrong, then why won't you hold our daughter?"

"She's NOT my daughter!" Mum's eyes are the darkest that I've ever seen and full of anger.

"Aurora, you underwent a traumatic—"

I gasp when I suddenly watch Mum quickly spin Dad around and grab him by the throat. I can feel the definite charge of magic in the air. Glancing at Dad, I can see the rare shock in his eyes. I'm likely staring back with the same look. It's almost as if . . .

"Look who joined us, Severus," Mum says, hissing her s.

"Please, let him go," I plead, walking into the sitting room.

"Awe, hear that, Severus?" she drawls, smirking. "Lily's son is begging me. Funny how that goes around, isn't it?" she says with a harsh laugh. However, her mood suddenly swings again, which causes her grip on Dad to tighten. "What are you looking at?"

I glance towards where she's looking and notice that Mum's glaring at Angel. Draco once again is carrying Angel, but it seems as if she's wanting down. I watch her squirm in Draco's arms, causing him to hold her tighter. I then hold my breath when she suddenly bites Draco's hand, freeing herself from him. He scolds her lightly being quick to grab her again, but Angel manages to squirm out of his hold once more. Draco and I then both reach towards her to keep her safe. Mum obviously isn't herself, but Angel escapes our hands somehow.

"Stay away from me!" Mum screams towards Angel.

"Angel, get back here now!" Draco and I snarl at the little blond.

"You think I don't know what you are? Get the hell away from me."

More raw magic electrifies the air as Mum and Angel basically are in a staring contest. Draco and I walk towards our little sister, only to walk into some form of a shield that instantly sends a searing pain through us. I open my mouth to speak. I mean, what is that? The air soon becomes stifling, and several objects around the room start to rattle violently. Mum's eyes are pitch-black as she glares at Angel. There's so much hatred in her eyes.

Draco and I then gasp when we see some dark ball head towards Angel. We both pull our wands out and cast shields towards our little sister. However, a bright light suddenly envelops the room before dulling once again. We glance at each other before glancing at the tall, blond curly green-eyed woman wearing a long silver dress. I remember that woman from before in the Astronomy tower.

"SYRENE!" hisses Mum. "I had wondered if you'd appear." Mum then laughs harshly before throwing Dad towards the bookshelf. "Let me guess, Siori. You are the reason that thing is there!"

"I could not stand by as you attempted to murder the Azrial," Syrene replies. "Though, I must admit, Mezra, that I never realized you'd attempt this. However, I am rather glad now that I interfered and allowed the child to be born. It must scare you to know that you've lost . . . to know the child is well, very much alive, and soon will match your power once her mind catches up to her body."

"It is not over, Syrene. Your Azrial belongs to me as you can see." She then laughs arrogantly. "You see, she sacrificed her magic and nearly her life for that boy over there. She considers him her son. All I had to do was make the fools believe that annoying wizard had taken over, and she broke every single one of your protections. So much love in her, well, it was only easy after that, Syrene."

"Release her."

"Oh, yes, that failed attempt to reach my humanity. I'm afraid that it won't work, Siori."

"If you honestly consider me your Siori, then you will do as I say, Mezra."

"We're not lowers. Besides, she was the one who refused to value her gifts. I'm only—"

Syrene snarls in a strange language in response. Her green eyes then glance down towards Angel before glancing back at Mum. Slowly, she draws in a breath.

"If you wish for a war, then you've got one, Mezra, but you'll lose." Syrene then vanishes in the familiar smoke like way.

"See, lowers? See how truly pathetic your savior is?" Mum then redirects her attention back on Angel who is walking towards her. "And just what do you think it is that you're going to do, little girl? You think you can stop me by batting those eyelashes at me?" Loud sinister laughs fill the air. "Your mummy is a pathetic witch who thinks she can fight me. I can hear her screaming at me to stop, begging and pleading me in her mind. Oh, how pretty her screams are. Almost as pretty as your screams will be, my dear," she sneers. "Let's hear you scream!" Mum's hand reaches out towards Angel.

Draco and I both scream her name. Our hearts are beating wildly in our chests now since we are rather helpless on the sidelines. When we hear the screams, we force ourselves to keep our eyes open. It isn't Angel's screams filling the room, though. It's Mum's screams. Angel holds Mum's hand, and somehow is able to get Mum to her knees. A white glow surrounds Angel the longer she holds on, as a darker glow slowly retreats from Mum's body. Draco and I stare in utter disbelief and shock. Loud snarls come from the black smoke before it suddenly disappears.

Angel's body suddenly goes limp, and she falls right next to Mum. I attempt to move in efforts to head towards my little sister, but my fear paralyzes me for a moment longer. Slowly, the white glow floats up off Angel before becoming the familiar smoke again.

Seconds later, Syrene rematerializes and kneels beside Angel and Mum. She places her hand on both of their chests and recites a soft incantation before glancing towards Dad, who is slowly getting to his feet while pressing a hand to his bleeding head. Her green eyes hold Dad's gaze.

"They are safe for now, Severus Prince. Allow them to rest, though. They will awaken when dawn approaches." She then turns into white smoke and disappears.