"Where's Nesmay?" Harry asked when they came down to breakfast the next morning and didn't see their fae guest anywhere.  Usually Nesmay was up at dawn and the first to the breakfast table. 

Draco, yawning and uncommunicative as was his wont in the morning, slid into his usual spot and commenced adding sugar to a steaming cup of coffee.  He was only allowed to drink coffee at the manor, and he had been craving the caffeine-charged brew for months.  He barely noticed that Nesmay was absent, until Harry said something.

Severus looked up from dishing out the ham, egg, and potato omelet and answered, "She's sleeping in for today.  She had a slight . . .accident with her magic during last night's lesson."

"Is she okay?" Harry asked, concerned. 

"She will recover, don't worry about it.  By this afternoon she should be well and able to do the chores I will assign her." Severus said, a frown stealing across his face.

Draco sipped his coffee and a look passed between him and Harry. He had a feeling that the girl had earned herself some punishment chores, based upon their father's reaction.  "Normal chores or punishment ones?" he asked.

"That is between me and Nesmay," Severus said crisply. 

"She's in trouble," Draco stated, knowing how his father disliked discussing other students' detentions with their classmates.  "What did she do? Mouth off to you? Or did she try and get you to swim with her naked?"

Harry elbowed his brother in the ribs.

"What? It's the truth!"

Severus looked alarmed. "Draco, to what are you referring?"

Harry shook his head, but Draco ignored him.  He felt Severus should know that the girl was out of control.  "Yesterday I was fishing down by the pond, and Nesmay decided to take a dip in the pond . . .she jumped off her broom into the water . . . totally naked. I almost died."

"I told you, Draco, she didn't know any better!" Harry burst out.  "The fae don't have problems with seeing each other naked."

"That is so," Severus agreed.  "However, she must learn that customs here are different.  I shall have to speak to her about it . . .as well as some other things." He bit back a sigh.  Once again he wished that Sarai were there.  A woman would know how to handle this kind of thing better than he would.  Skinny dipping, for the love of Merlin! In front of my two sons!

"Boys, eat your breakfast.   I need you to help me gather some ingredients today for a few drafts I'm brewing, then you may have the rest of the day free to do as you wish."

They both thanked their father and asked what ingredients they would need to harvest. 

Severus waved a hand and the ingredients wrote themselves upon the chart on wall next to that day's chores.  "I trust you know how to harvest them correctly and don't need me hovering over you."

"Yes, Dad," the brothers answered, then they began eating their breakfast again. 

Neither of them really minded harvesting ingredients, since it got them outside and the manor in the summer was lovely, with everything green and growing and the weather an even seventy-five degrees with the sun shining. 

While the two boys were out harvesting the various ingredients, Severus went upstairs carrying a tray with some toast, tea, and a milky gruel.  He figured Nesmay should be awake now and probably hungry as well.  The odd thing about magical drain was that it made you hungry afterwards.  Severus suspected that was because the wizard's body was trying to replenish the energy it had lost and food was fuel to the body. But at the same time he knew that the girl's stomach probably wouldn't be able to tolerate a heavy meal, and so he had chosen light foods, rather than risk an upset stomach.

Nesmay woke to a hand shaking her shoulder gently.

"Nesmay, child, wake up."

She groaned, wondering why her tutor was waking her instead of one of the nisses, but then she recalled she was at Prince Manor, where they had no servants and so her teacher was performing that task himself. "All right! I'm up." She opened her slanted eyes and peered up at him. 

"Good.  How are you feeling?"

Nesmay took stock of herself.  "Tired.  Sore. And . . .hungry." She was suddenly starving, as if she had not eaten in weeks.  It was then she smelled the aroma of the tray Severus had hovering over his shoulder.  "Is that . . .for me?"

"Indeed. Who else would it be for?"

"I thought . . ." she trailed off then and glanced away.  She did not finish the rest of what she had been about to say, which was that in the past Ironhand had often punished her by withholding food. 

"You'll not starve in this house, young one," said the Potions Master, guessing correctly what she had not said.  "I have never and will not ever punish a student of mine in that fashion.  Eat." He lowered the tray to her lap and waited until she had begun eating before saying, "However, there is the matter of your disrespect to be addressed as well as the . . .shall we say . . .attitude towards your . . .err . . .disrobing in front of my sons . . ." Severus's voice was even, but he felt a slow reddening of his cheekbones occur in spite of himself. 

For long moments, there was silence, as Nesmay made the food in front of her vanish.  Severus waited until she had done, then cleared his throat. "I know that our customs here at the manor differ from those in your land, however, I do expect you to honor them.  Here, a girl does not . . .strip naked in front of boys or men . . .it is not considered proper or modest behavior for a man to see you in such a state."

She looked at him, her amber eyes puzzled. "Why? Is it because you think I am ugly?"

"No . . .it's because . . .a woman's body is . . .well, a private thing . . .and not something you should flaunt, especially in front of impressionable teenage boys.  My sons . . .they were embarrassed, but they didn't think you were ugly . . .I'd say rather the opposite . . .ahem! . . .But be that as it may, in the future, if you wish to swim you need a bathing suit."

She cocked her head.  "Mortals! Why do you like wearing so many clothes? Do you wear clothes to bathe as well?"

"No, for we bathe in private.  When we go to Diagon Alley for your wand, you may shop as well for a bathing suit."

She pouted a little.  "Must I? I don't think I need-"

"I do," Severus said firmly.  "No bathing suit, no swimming."

She rolled her eyes.  "Fine!" she huffed. 

"Mind the attitude, unless you wish me to add to your punishment chores," he scolded.  In some ways, her insolence reminded him a good deal of both Harry and Draco when they were sulky, but in another way her sudden mood changes were difficult for him to interpret.  "For your disrespect and disobedience, you will be assisting me in my lab today, readying the ingredients I need for my potions.  You shall be skinning a pound of shrivel figs and chopping acacia roots and grinding dungbeetle carapaces.  You will also be scrubbing cauldrons afterwards.  While you are doing so, I would like you to think about how you should have behaved towards me, and remember what your disobedience cost you.  Had you listened to me in the first place, you would not be lying here exhausted now.  Do you know how close you came to destroying yourself, young lady?"

She winced at the sharp tone.  Oddly, his disapproval cut her worse than any scolding her uncle had ever given her, any thrashing she had received at the hands of Ironhand.  She did not know why this was so, nevertheless it was true.  "It wasn't my fault!"

"That you lost control, no.  But losing your temper and arguing with me most certainly was.  I had thought better of you, Nesmayallindra Highstar." He rebuked.

She hung her head.  "Forgive me, Amarsi." She said, using the fae word for teacher or master.

"After your punishment, you shall be forgiven and I hope there will not be a repeat of such behavior, or else you shall find me a most unpleasant taskmaster.  Control is essential to mastering your magic, Nesmay.  You must learn it, before your magic destroys you."

She nodded obediently, though inwardly she wondered why he cared if she should happen to destroy herself with her wayward power.  What was she to him but a half-breed cousin, the daughter of his sworn enemy.  Why would he care whether she lived or died?

"Very well then. Dress and then come and meet me in my lab. I shall have the shrivel figs waiting for you."

"But Severus . . .I don't know how to . . .that is I've never . . ." she stammered, hating to admit her ignorance. 

"Never what?"

"I've never prepared any potion ingredients before."

"Ah.  Then it's about time you learned.  Potion making is a skill that is essential to a witch or a wizard."  And with that, he strode out of the room.

Shrugging, she quickly dressed, wondering if skinning shrivel figs would leave her hands sore and blistered, the way skinning frost pears had back home.

An hour or so later, Harry and Draco trooped into the lab, their gathering baskets filled with the herbs and roots Severus had told them to collect.  Harry shot a glance at Nesmay, who was silently skinning shrivel figs at the table with a slender curved knife. 

"Got yourself in trouble already?" he teased.

She tossed her head and eyed him crossly.  "No more than you have." Skinning figs was dreadfully time consuming and boring, since you had to be careful not to rip the skin when you removed it from the fig. 

"How would you know?" snorted Draco.

She smirked.  "A little bird told me."

"Thanks ever so much, Dad," said Harry.

"I told her nothing.  I didn't need to." Severus said without ceasing to stir his mixtures. 

"Then how did she know?" demanded Draco.

"Women's intuition," their father smirked.

Nesmay copied him.  She enjoyed teasing the boys, especially since they weren't like Malchiar, who would have made her pay for learning any secret of his tenfold.

The boys acted like that was ridiculous.  "Here's your ingredients, sir," Draco said then.  He placed his carrying basket and shears on the workspace near the first cauldron. 

"Thank you, Dragon. Would either of you care to assist me?"

Draco hesitated. "Uh . . .maybe some other time.  I want to go fishing."

"Go on then," The Potions Master waved him off.

"Catch us some bass this time, Draco," Harry called after the blond's retreating back. 

"I'll catch whatever I catch," the other tossed back over his shoulder. "Accio fishing pole!" A fishing pole zoomed into his hand.

Nesmay stared in envy after him.  "I wish I could do that," she muttered, half to herself. "All I can do is blow up things."

"Practice makes perfect," said her mentor. "Keep skinning those figs, and mind you don't tear them."

"Yes, sir." She muttered, struggling to keep the resentment from her tone. She really hated this punishment, even if she knew she deserved it. 

Harry sat down next to her at the work station and began calmly chopping up the stalks of lavender and betony he'd gathered.  "Don't mind him," he said in an undertone.  "He's always like this in his lab.  Wants everything just so, otherwise his potions will be ruined. Just go slow and careful."

"It's taking forever," she groaned.

"Mmm . . .some ingredients are like that. Haven't you ever made a potion before? Or don't the fae use them?"

Nesmay gave him an incredulous look. "Of course we use them! Who do you think taught humans about them? But my tutor always said that I wasn't good enough to help prepare any potions, I was a clumsy silly girl.  And anyway, he didn't know how, he was a dwarf and they aren't good with potions, just stone and wood carving, mining, and enchantments of earth.  Master Dalieth, the Royal Apothecary, would have taught me, but Ironhand didn't think a half-breed needed to know anything like that and he told him it wasn't necessary."

Harry chuckled. "Don't ever let Dad hear you say that.  He'll have a stroke."

"That tutor of yours was a blithering idiot. Your grandmother should have fired him." Severus remarked.

Both children jumped.  "You heard that?" Nesmay exclaimed. "You must have fae ears."

"Or a bat's," Harry teased.

"Would you like to crush dungbeetles, Mr. Snape?" drawled his father in a dangerous tone.

Harry gulped. "Uh, no, sir! Sorry, Dad. That was rude." He concentrated upon his plants then.

Nesmay resumed her skinning, supposing that even this time-consuming chore was better than being starved for a day.  At least it was cool in the lab and Severus was not sneering over her shoulder, lamenting about training a hopeless half-breed who would never amount to anything.

She wondered if this was how a real family behaved, calmly working together to accomplish a goal.  She tried to compare it with how her own family behaved, but couldn't remember a single instance when they hadn't been quarreling, and so gave up.  She examined her hands, which were stained purple because of the fig juice. Then she shrugged went back to her task.

Harry was finished with his ingredients by the time Nesmay was set to chopping roots.  "Dad, I'm going to go and visit the runespoor."

"A runespoor?" Nesmay looked up, her eyes alight. "A three-headed magical snake? Might I see it too?"

"Only after you have served your punishment," interjected Severus sternly.

Nesmay sank back in her chair, sulking.  "But Amarsi, this is taking forever!" she whined.  "It's not fair!"

Severus ignored her.  Harry shot her a sympathetic glance, saying, "Hey, you can always come with me tomorrow.  Don't whine, he hates that." Then he too departed.

Nesmay grumbled some more under her breath and returned to chopping up the acacia roots with a vengeance. Punishment chores were awful!

By the time she was done scrubbing the last cauldron, her hands felt dry like reptile skin, her shoulders ached, and she was sick and tired of being inside.  She needed some fresh air and sunshine desperately.

"May I go now, sir?" she asked, keeping her tone respectful.

"A moment," Severus lifted a hand to halt her mad dash from the lab.  "I was thinking we might go to Diagon Alley today to purchase a wand for you.  Since it is past noon and you are probably starving, we could also eat there, if you would like."

"Would Draco and Harry come too?"

"Yes, if they wished. Are you up to it?"

Nesmay nodded vigorously. "Just let me take a bath and scrub this disgusting film off my hands." She darted up the stairs like a young doe, taking the steps two at a time. 

Severus finished storing his potions then also made his way upstairs, though at a more leisurely pace. 

HSSSDMHS

Some ten minutes later, they were all standing next to the bar in The Leaky Cauldron, and Harry and Severus had to endure having their hands shook, toasts raised in their honor, and pictures taken.  They were now considered heroes for their part in the second defeat of Voldemort.  Nesmay pressed against Draco, half-fearful that the crowd of wizards would recognize her as the despised wizard's daughter, until she recalled that no one here knew who she was or that Tom Riddle had ever sired a child.

When Harry and Severus finally managed to wriggle away from their well-wishers and admirers, Nesmay had composed herself and walked beside them proudly, her Seelie court training coming in handy.  Those who saw her took her for nobility, and gave her a wide berth.

Nesmay looked wide-eyed at everything, exclaiming over the candy shop, the joke shop, and the pet shop as they passed it.  "It's almost like the Goblin Market at home," she confided to Draco, who was smirking at her imitation of a country yokel in the big city.  "Except we have more non-humans about, selling and buying.  And if you cheat a goblin, they cut off your fingers."

Draco shuddered. "That's barbaric!"

"That's goblins. Swift strict justice. But it discourages thieves."

"I guess it would," Harry said. "Someday, I'd like to see it."

"Maybe you will." Nesmay said. Then she muttered, "If this summer ever ends."

They rounded a corner and saw Quality Quidditch Supplies. Immediately, Snape's sons clamored to go inside.

"Just for a look, Dad," pleaded Draco.

"We won't stay long, we just want to see the new models," Harry wheedled, giving his father his best big-emerald-eyed stare.

Severus opened his mouth to say they could visit the shop later, but then he changed his mind. Better if the boys were out from underfoot when Nesmay was choosing her wand.  "All right.  Go, but no buying anything unless I see it first."

The two boys whooped and raced into the store, leaving Severus and Nesmay outside. 

Nesmay looked up at her teacher. "I don't understand. What's Quidditch?"

"You mean the boys haven't told you about their favorite pastime yet?" Severus eyed her in disbelief.  "Quidditch is the sport of the wizarding world, but if you ask me, it's a bloody waste of time.  Come along, Nesmay. Your wand is more important than gawking at the latest racing broom and ball set." He grasped her arm firmly and towed her along.

She scowled. "I'm not a baby, I don't need you to hold my hand."

"The streets are crowded. I don't want to become separated," was all he said, and he didn't release her wrist.

Nesmay blushed, and tried to ignore some of the glances she was getting from a few younger witches and wizards.  Really, Severus was impossible sometimes! She wasn't some child unable to ask directions if she did become lost.  By the time they had reached the wandmaker's, Nesmay was humiliated and her temper was rising.

She pulled free of Snape's grip and snapped, "I can walk into a shop on my own!" Then she pushed open the door and stalked in, her gauzy fae lavender shirt fluttering behind her like wings, her hair lifting and crackling with sparks of stray magic.

Severus hastily followed, not quite grasping why Nesmay was in a mood, but knowing he needed to calm the girl down.  He laid a hand on her shoulder. "Nesmay, control yourself."

She started to shake off his hand, but then took a deep breath instead, trying to bring her wayward emotions under control.  She focused upon the shop interior, which was dim and cramped and filled with boxes upon boxes of wands.  Wands were everywhere, looming on shelves above the counter, hanging from the ceiling, on display on small tables with little globes hovering over them.  She focused upon a wand made of heartwood sitting upon a low table, breathing in and out until she had mastered her annoyance at Severus.

Then she straightened up and met the wise knowing eyes of the old wizard behind the counter.

"Hello, Professor Snape," greeted Ollivander himself.  "Ebony, thirteen inches, with a runespoor scale core. One of the few wands I've made using that core, as I usually prefer the more malleable unicorn hair, dragon heartstring, and phoenix feathers. Come to purchase a wand for your . . .daughter? Your niece?"

"She is a cousin of my family," Severus said smoothly, nudging Nesmay forward.  "And in dire need of a wand."

Ollivander looked Nesmay up and down with a curious air.  "I see.  Strong in magic, yes?"

Severus nodded curtly.  "Too strong. Her magic is unpredictable at times."

"Hmm.  Perhaps a wand of holly and oak?" Ollivander mused. He took down a box and opened it to reveal a slender spiral wand. "Try that, lass. Give it a wave."

Nesmay did so, uncertainly. The wand did nothing. A small puff came out of it.  Disappointed, she said, "Maybe it's broken."

"Broken?" laughed a boy mockingly. "It's not the right combination for you. Don't you know anything?"

Nesmay looked up to see a lanky boy of about seventeen lounging in the doorway behind the counter.  He was dressed in maroon robes with wands etched all over them, he had curling blond hair and blue eyes that reminded her of a sheet of ice, cold and mocking.  She gave him a haughty stare in return.  How dare this insolent boy laugh at her?

Ollivander  turned and said quietly, "Now Abelard, that's no way to speak to a customer."

"But Uncle, she's ignorant. Or stupid . . ."

"Stupid!" Nesmay flared. "I can recite all the possible conjuctions of the stars on Midsummer Night, you popeyed mudpuppy! I'll bet you couldn't even name one!"

The boy bristled and seemed about to retort when Ollivander said smoothly, "There now, young maid, my nephew didn't mean to insult you. He's just a bit rough around the edges, first time in commerce, you see, so please forgive his ill manners.  My sister spoiled him too much as a boy."

Nesmay snuck a glance at Abelard, who was now red as fire, and she smirked, enjoying his humiliation. Served him right!

Ollivander repacked the holly and oak wand and handed the box to Abelard. "Put that away, boy. And recall some of the manners I've taught you, for Merlin's sake!"

"Yes, Uncle," the boy said, ducking back into what was most likely a storage closet with the wand. 

"Now, let's try another.  Bay wood, ten inches, with a unicorn tail core," Ollivander removed a pure white wand from a bed of blue velvet. "Try that one, my dear."

Nesmay waved it.  It shot off purple sparks and then fizzled.

"No, not quite right.  Perhaps this hickory, twelve inches, with a phoenix feather core. . ."

Wand after wand was tried and none seemed to match. Nesmay longed to scream, for Abelard stood in the doorway, indolent and smug, his eyes mocking her as she picked up a wand only to discard it a moment later.

"Perhaps we have no wand suited for the little girl," drawled Abelard nastily after the twenty-fifth wand was tried.

Severus' eyes flashed. "Cease your insults, child. Or else I shall teach you some manners.  With a willow switch."

Abelard gulped, for the glare Snape was giving him was ferocious. "I-I'm not a child. I'm seventeen!" he said petulantly.

"Abelard, if you cannot stop insulting my customers, go in the back and polish some wands," Ollivander said crossly.  He flicked his own wand, and an invisible hand picked up his annoying nephew and dragged him into the back room. "Don't despair, lass. Sometimes a very powerful witch takes a long time to find a wand to suit her. Why, your cousin here took nearly an hour before he found one, isn't that so, Professor?"

"Yes.  The wand chooses the witch, Nesmay."

Nesmay was panicking. What if there were no wands suited for her? What if her mix of fae and mortal magic prevented her from getting one? Several boxes began to shake and tremble.  What if no wand chose her because of her father? Then another thought occurred to her. What kind of wand had he had? Something loathsome, like a human bone overlayed with skin? She burned to ask Ollivander that question, but couldn't quite bring herself to do so.

Finally, Ollivander summoned a wand from the very top and back of his shelf above their head.  "Here, lass. This wand was made by my grandfather, a premier wand maker.  It has been in this shop for as long as I can remember.  Kingwood, fourteen inches, with a phoenix feather core." He held out the wand, which was twisted like a unicorn's horn.

Gingerly, Nesmay took it. Unlike the other wands, this one came alive in her hand. It felt warm and comforting, like an old friend.

"Kingwood is very magical. Good for protection and healing." Ollivander went on, explaining the properties of the wand.

Nesmay waved it a little and colored sparks shot out of it, flying about the room.

"Good! I believe the wand has found a match!" Ollivander cheered.

Nesmay nearly jumped up and down. "It feels warm in my hand."

"Good. That is how a wand should feel," Ollivander said. "Can you cast a spell?"

Nesmay cast Lumos, and the wand lit with a brilliant glow.

"Brilliant, my dear!" chortled Ollivander.  "Let's get you a wand kit, shall we? And then your cousin and I shall discuss payment."

Nesmay played with her wand, gently waving it and making it blink on and off, immensely relieved that a wand had chosen her after all.  Ollivander yelled for Abelard to bring him a wand kit and then began gently haggling with Severus over the wand cost. The kit was free, compliments of Ollivander.

Abelard slouched into the shop with the kit, eyeing Nesmay suspiciously. "Finally got one to pick you, eh? Which one was it, the maple with the hair of the donkey?"

"Sounds like the wand for you," sneered Nesmay and she showed him her wand.

He gasped. "The kingwood? But that wand's never chosen anyone!"

"It has now," Nesmay said loftily.

"Impossible! That wand was made for royalty, not some slanty-eyed little brat!"

Nesmay drew herself up to her full height. "For your information, I am royalty. On my mother's side."

"Liar."

Now there was no worse insult in fae society than to accuse one of telling an untruth.  Winter or Summer Court, no fae could lie.  It was not in them to tell a complete untruth, though they could tell half-truths. 

Nesmay's temper went from cold to boiling in about a second flat.  "Take it back!" she hissed, her amber eyes glowing in rage.

Abelard laughed.  "Royalty indeed! You're nothing but a lying little snot that wishes she were a princess, but will always be nothing but a half-blood."  Ollivander's nephew had no idea just how close to home his sneering assessment had struck.  "What are you anyhow, part house elf? Your ears are big enough."

Nesmay saw red. "You have the manners of a troll, you puke-faced son of an ogre!" Then she pointed her wand at him.

Severus turned. "Nesmay!"

Too late.

Blue and purple energy exploded from the girl's wand and streaked towards Abelard.

Wide-eyed, Abelard dove onto the floor, hitting the ground hard on his hands and knees.

Nesmay's uncontrolled burst of magic struck the doorway where he'd been standing moments before.

The shop trembled.  Then all was still. 

Severus began to hope that Nesmay's wild magic had been dissipated by the wards placed over the wandmaker's establishment.

Until a wand box fell off of a shelf onto the floor.

"Ah, well. No harm done," Ollivander said.  "I've had worse."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth then another dozen boxes crashed onto the floor.  Everyone froze.

Abelard stuck his head up from the floor. "Huh? What the bloody hell?"

There came a groan and a huge crack spread up the side of the doorway and across the wall.  It spread up and over the ceiling, widening and causing dust to fall as it did so.

Severus grabbed Ollivander by the arm. "Get out! NOW!"

The old wizard blinked at him.  "Severus, it's only a little crack. I can mend it."

Severus shoved him unceremoniously out the door.  "Run, idiot!" he shouted to Abelard, then he grabbed Nesmay and Apparated outside.

Just before the roof caved in and half the shop collapsed in ruins.

Abelard emerged from the cloud of dust a moment later, coughing and shivering. "Uncle . . .the shop . . ."

"Is ruined!" Ollivander cried, wringing his hands.  "All my wands, all of my years of work . . ." He stood there, looking like a thin scarecrow of a man, distress written all over his features.

Severus remained silent for a few moments, not knowing what to say that could possibly mend the damage his ward had just done. In the space of five minutes, she had reduced a shop that had stood for over a hundred years to a pile of rubble.

He turned to glare at his ward. "Nesmayallindra Highstar, what have you done?"

Only to find that Nesmay was gone.