Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story except for
Rinoa, JK gets all the credit for her wonderful masterpiece.
Authors notes: Ok so forget Sirius dying in Ootp. I really like Sirius so he's gunna be in my story. Other than that everything else in Ootp happened. With that all taken care of on with the story.
~ Morpheus ~ "You worry too much, Lucien. I've noticed this before.
After all, this is completely straightforward. What could possibly go
wrong?"
~ Lucien ~ "Whatever you say, Lord. Whatever you say."
~ Sandman~
On number four Pivet Drive there sat a boy at one of the upstairs windows. To the neighbors he was a normal sixteen-year-old boy, a little strange, but all and all there as noting special about this boy. However, this boy is very special, his name is Harry Potter and he is a wizard. It is believed by many that he will grow to be one of the most powerful wizards in the world.
Harry Potter was sitting at his window after writing a letter to Albus Dumbledore watching his owl Hedwig fly away into the moonlight. He had had a very bad night so far and it was steadily getting worse as it went on.
Harry Potter had had a very disturbing dream that night, one unlike any he had ever seen before.
One hour earlier...
There was a very cold room with at least fifteen beds lining both of the walls. It was dark and the moonlight coming in through the window was the only means of light save a lonely candle. Asleep in fourteen of the beds were girls, one looked to be about four, but there were several around secondary school age.
In the last bed in the row on the left there was a girl sitting in the light of one lonely candle on her bedside table. She was hunched over a scroll of parchment scratching away with her very worn quill. She dipped her quill in an inkbottle and continued scribbling, looking around every now and then to make sure no one had awakened.
Suddenly her head shot up, her eyes alert. She sensed something coming, something evil. She stashed her school things in the trunk in front of her bed and retrieved her wand from the pocket of her baggy pants. Slowly, her senses on edge, she crept from the room out into a hallway.
There she saw it a man in a black robe and white mask crossing into the room down the hall. He hadn't seen her yet so she slowly walked after him, she reached the door he had entered and heard male voices behind it. They were going through the file cabinets and their words were muffled.
Her eyes looked to the sign on the door...
Melissa Thompson
Oak Hill Orphanage
Harry awoke, his scar on fire like never before. Never had a dream been this vivid, never had he awoken in so much fear. He knew that girl, she was in his house at school. He leapt up to his desk and hurried out a description and warning as fast as his shaking hands could write.
And now here he was sitting at his window waiting to hear what had become of her.
On a hill outside of London...
Five figures suddenly appeared out of nowhere on to the grassy land surrounding Oak Hill Orphanage. Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Alaster Moody, Arthur Weasley, and Severus Snape were all quite surprised when headmaster Dumbledore had set off the warning of the Death Eater attack.
What they saw when they arrived left them rooted to the spot. Standing in front of a partially collapsed building stood a girl. She had long, strait, dark red hair that fell down to her waist. She was wearing long baggy green bottoms and Doc Martins with a black spaghetti top. She stood there, her face blank starring ahead with her wand at her right side.
It was not just the girl that had surprised the group when they arrived. All around her there were bodies of death eaters. They seemed to be breathing, but some massive force had knocked them out. Most were bleeding from somewhere and a few had some limbs positioned in ways that just weren't natural. Remus Lupin looked back at the girl in the midst of bodies and recognized her.
"Rinoa? Are you alright?"
The words seemed to bring her out of her stupor because she turned and the group got a good look at her condition. She had a cut down her lip that was bleeding quite badly, and her right knee was bent at a strange angle under her blood soaked trousers.
She stared at the group with bright blue eyes and started to fall forward. To everyone's astonishment it was Snape that reached out and broke her fall. She was trying to say something but she was shaking so badly it was difficult to understand her.
"TTTheir all dddead."
"Oh, not their not, their just knocked out," responded Tonks.
"NNNo, iinside."
The girl was clearly exhausted; she didn't even have the strength to move herself from Snape's arms.
"Whose inside Rinoa?" gently asked Remus.
"Everyone."
Thinking it better to go inside and look rather than bother the distraught girl; Remus, Tonks, and Moody went inside the collapsed building while Arthur and Snape stayed outside with the girl.
When the group reached the office door they found the body of a woman in her forties sprawled out upon the floor. She had a green tweed jacket on and black hair with streaks of gray mixed in. The office was destroyed, there were files everywhere. When Moody went to check a pulse on the woman he found none, but something in her hand caught his eye.
"Lupin, whada'ya reckon this is?" he asked bringing the object over to Remus.
It looked to be a box of some kind, hanging from a golden chain, but it was merely the size of a snitch.
"It's been reduced by a spell," said Tonks. "Try enlarging it Lupin."
When Remus uttered the spell the box suddenly grew to the size of a large shoebox. It was a dark mahogany with elaborate serpentine carvings decorating it.
"Open it," urged Tonks.
But when Remus tried to pry the lid off it wouldn't budge.
"Alohamora."
Remus tried again and nothing happened. "We're wasting time!" growled Moody. "We'll bring it to the headmaster later."
The group found no one else until they reached the room at the end of the corridor. They opened the door to the room with fifteen beds and found carnage like they had never seen. Girls' bodies were everywhere; it looked as if the older ones had rushed to protect the younger children when the attack came, because they were sprawled on top of the younger girls.
"Poor muggles didn't stand a chance," said Moody sadly.
"Let's check if any are alive," said Remus.
The three spent the next fifteen minutes observing each child to see if anything could be done to save them.
"Those death eaters are thorough," Tonks finally said.
"Lets go out to meet the aurors, they should be arriving any minute, and I don't want to leave Snape of all people out there alone with them," said Moody.
Aurors were popping in right as the group reached the lawn and Rinoa clung closer to Snape's robes the more showed up.
"Surprise surprise, death eaters attack and Severus Snape conveniently appears," taunted one of the aurors; a young man with blonde hair and a lazy eye.
"For your information Deeter I apparated here right along with Moody and the rest of his associates," stated Severus in a rather bored tone, it was quite clear this was not the first time Snape had been accused like this.
"Enough," growled Moody "Get your sorry arses inside, find out what they were lookin' for."
"Isn't it obvious?" stated Deeter, "one witch in a building full of muggles? They were after her! We need to question her, she might be hiding something," he said pointing at the trembling girl with a look of disgust on his ugly face.
"You will do no such thing," Snape stated threateningly. He was able to extricate himself from the girl's shaking figure and was now looming menacingly over the form of Deeter.
"Now you see here Snape," said Deeter his voice cracking a little, "she's the only magical one here and she could have set this whole thing up. She could be in cohorts with You-Know-Who!"
"This girl is injured Deeter, she is my student and I will be responsible for her! She's going to Hogwarts where she will receive medical attention. Now!"
"A A Alright Snape but you be sure to know I I'm putting this in my report." Deeter scooted away into the destroyed building.
"Severus, it would be better if you weren't here for much longer, it could be dangerous to the order," whispered Lupin. "Why don't you take Rinoa to Hogwarts with you to Madame Pomphrey?"
"All right, I don't know why the headmaster sent me here anyway, it's not like I could really contribute," he sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his calloused hand. "Have Tonks gather her things, if there are any left," said Snape in a very tired tone.
Lupin was very surprised at this response never in his entire life had Severus Snape agreed to a suggestion in such little time. Snape left an astonished Lupin in his wake and crouched down in front of the girl. She had a very blank look on her face again and her lip was still trickling blood from the gash in it. Her knee looked to have swollen up even more if it was possible as well.
"Ms. Edwards can you stand?"
She did not answer instead she shook her head no. "Alright, we're going to Hogwarts, Tonks will bring your things. Is there anything you would like brought with us right now?"
"m my books."
"Ms. Tonks will you please try and retrieve any books left in Ms. Edwards' trunk?"
"sure."
Tonks returned a short time later with a stack of books floating behind her and a beautiful wooden box clutched under her right arm.
"Could you take this box to the headmaster professor? We found it reduced in that woman's hand."
"Melissa," the girl suddenly said hopefully. "Is she alright? I couldn't tell if they..." she didn't seem to be able to finish the statement.
"I'm sorry Rinoa, but she didn't make it," said Tonks quietly. "There was nothing anyone could do, she was a muggle and defensless."
"She was a squib."
"Well, that's interesting," said Tonks amazed. "That could explain quite a few things. Anyway, I think it would be better if the aurors didn't find this."
"Yes, I'll deliver it to him."
"Thank you professor."
Snape shrunk the books and put them into the pocket of his robe. He looked down at the girl and finally noticed she was only wearing a spaghetti shirt. It was only early July but the night was unusually cool and the wind was howling around them.
"My apologies Ms. Edwards I hadn't noticed the chill."
Snape removed his cloak and put it around the girl's shoulders. It was made of heavy black material with a silver embroidery on the trim and around the hood, that surprisingly (yeah right) had a very serpentine look. The girl snuggled into the warm fabric and seemed to be shaking a bit less now.
"I have your books, I'm going to have to carry you to apparate if you can't stand. Can you hold onto this box while we travel?"
"y yes," it was barely even a whisper.
"Good."
He reached down and put her right arm around his neck while her left clutched the box. Snape placed his left arm under her lower back and gently, so as to not disturb her obviously broken leg, put his right under her knees and lifted her against him. He turned to Lupin...
"Will you be following later or not?"
"Yes, we'll meet you there for a discussion with the headmaster," responded Remus.
"Very well."
And he was gone.
Authors Notes: Ok so this is my first fic so don't make fun of me yet. I hope you guys like it because I worked hard on it and had to endure my fiancé laughing at me a lot about my "obsession" with Snape. Review please it makes me happy.
Authors notes: Ok so forget Sirius dying in Ootp. I really like Sirius so he's gunna be in my story. Other than that everything else in Ootp happened. With that all taken care of on with the story.
~ Morpheus ~ "You worry too much, Lucien. I've noticed this before.
After all, this is completely straightforward. What could possibly go
wrong?"
~ Lucien ~ "Whatever you say, Lord. Whatever you say."
~ Sandman~
On number four Pivet Drive there sat a boy at one of the upstairs windows. To the neighbors he was a normal sixteen-year-old boy, a little strange, but all and all there as noting special about this boy. However, this boy is very special, his name is Harry Potter and he is a wizard. It is believed by many that he will grow to be one of the most powerful wizards in the world.
Harry Potter was sitting at his window after writing a letter to Albus Dumbledore watching his owl Hedwig fly away into the moonlight. He had had a very bad night so far and it was steadily getting worse as it went on.
Harry Potter had had a very disturbing dream that night, one unlike any he had ever seen before.
One hour earlier...
There was a very cold room with at least fifteen beds lining both of the walls. It was dark and the moonlight coming in through the window was the only means of light save a lonely candle. Asleep in fourteen of the beds were girls, one looked to be about four, but there were several around secondary school age.
In the last bed in the row on the left there was a girl sitting in the light of one lonely candle on her bedside table. She was hunched over a scroll of parchment scratching away with her very worn quill. She dipped her quill in an inkbottle and continued scribbling, looking around every now and then to make sure no one had awakened.
Suddenly her head shot up, her eyes alert. She sensed something coming, something evil. She stashed her school things in the trunk in front of her bed and retrieved her wand from the pocket of her baggy pants. Slowly, her senses on edge, she crept from the room out into a hallway.
There she saw it a man in a black robe and white mask crossing into the room down the hall. He hadn't seen her yet so she slowly walked after him, she reached the door he had entered and heard male voices behind it. They were going through the file cabinets and their words were muffled.
Her eyes looked to the sign on the door...
Melissa Thompson
Oak Hill Orphanage
Harry awoke, his scar on fire like never before. Never had a dream been this vivid, never had he awoken in so much fear. He knew that girl, she was in his house at school. He leapt up to his desk and hurried out a description and warning as fast as his shaking hands could write.
And now here he was sitting at his window waiting to hear what had become of her.
On a hill outside of London...
Five figures suddenly appeared out of nowhere on to the grassy land surrounding Oak Hill Orphanage. Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Alaster Moody, Arthur Weasley, and Severus Snape were all quite surprised when headmaster Dumbledore had set off the warning of the Death Eater attack.
What they saw when they arrived left them rooted to the spot. Standing in front of a partially collapsed building stood a girl. She had long, strait, dark red hair that fell down to her waist. She was wearing long baggy green bottoms and Doc Martins with a black spaghetti top. She stood there, her face blank starring ahead with her wand at her right side.
It was not just the girl that had surprised the group when they arrived. All around her there were bodies of death eaters. They seemed to be breathing, but some massive force had knocked them out. Most were bleeding from somewhere and a few had some limbs positioned in ways that just weren't natural. Remus Lupin looked back at the girl in the midst of bodies and recognized her.
"Rinoa? Are you alright?"
The words seemed to bring her out of her stupor because she turned and the group got a good look at her condition. She had a cut down her lip that was bleeding quite badly, and her right knee was bent at a strange angle under her blood soaked trousers.
She stared at the group with bright blue eyes and started to fall forward. To everyone's astonishment it was Snape that reached out and broke her fall. She was trying to say something but she was shaking so badly it was difficult to understand her.
"TTTheir all dddead."
"Oh, not their not, their just knocked out," responded Tonks.
"NNNo, iinside."
The girl was clearly exhausted; she didn't even have the strength to move herself from Snape's arms.
"Whose inside Rinoa?" gently asked Remus.
"Everyone."
Thinking it better to go inside and look rather than bother the distraught girl; Remus, Tonks, and Moody went inside the collapsed building while Arthur and Snape stayed outside with the girl.
When the group reached the office door they found the body of a woman in her forties sprawled out upon the floor. She had a green tweed jacket on and black hair with streaks of gray mixed in. The office was destroyed, there were files everywhere. When Moody went to check a pulse on the woman he found none, but something in her hand caught his eye.
"Lupin, whada'ya reckon this is?" he asked bringing the object over to Remus.
It looked to be a box of some kind, hanging from a golden chain, but it was merely the size of a snitch.
"It's been reduced by a spell," said Tonks. "Try enlarging it Lupin."
When Remus uttered the spell the box suddenly grew to the size of a large shoebox. It was a dark mahogany with elaborate serpentine carvings decorating it.
"Open it," urged Tonks.
But when Remus tried to pry the lid off it wouldn't budge.
"Alohamora."
Remus tried again and nothing happened. "We're wasting time!" growled Moody. "We'll bring it to the headmaster later."
The group found no one else until they reached the room at the end of the corridor. They opened the door to the room with fifteen beds and found carnage like they had never seen. Girls' bodies were everywhere; it looked as if the older ones had rushed to protect the younger children when the attack came, because they were sprawled on top of the younger girls.
"Poor muggles didn't stand a chance," said Moody sadly.
"Let's check if any are alive," said Remus.
The three spent the next fifteen minutes observing each child to see if anything could be done to save them.
"Those death eaters are thorough," Tonks finally said.
"Lets go out to meet the aurors, they should be arriving any minute, and I don't want to leave Snape of all people out there alone with them," said Moody.
Aurors were popping in right as the group reached the lawn and Rinoa clung closer to Snape's robes the more showed up.
"Surprise surprise, death eaters attack and Severus Snape conveniently appears," taunted one of the aurors; a young man with blonde hair and a lazy eye.
"For your information Deeter I apparated here right along with Moody and the rest of his associates," stated Severus in a rather bored tone, it was quite clear this was not the first time Snape had been accused like this.
"Enough," growled Moody "Get your sorry arses inside, find out what they were lookin' for."
"Isn't it obvious?" stated Deeter, "one witch in a building full of muggles? They were after her! We need to question her, she might be hiding something," he said pointing at the trembling girl with a look of disgust on his ugly face.
"You will do no such thing," Snape stated threateningly. He was able to extricate himself from the girl's shaking figure and was now looming menacingly over the form of Deeter.
"Now you see here Snape," said Deeter his voice cracking a little, "she's the only magical one here and she could have set this whole thing up. She could be in cohorts with You-Know-Who!"
"This girl is injured Deeter, she is my student and I will be responsible for her! She's going to Hogwarts where she will receive medical attention. Now!"
"A A Alright Snape but you be sure to know I I'm putting this in my report." Deeter scooted away into the destroyed building.
"Severus, it would be better if you weren't here for much longer, it could be dangerous to the order," whispered Lupin. "Why don't you take Rinoa to Hogwarts with you to Madame Pomphrey?"
"All right, I don't know why the headmaster sent me here anyway, it's not like I could really contribute," he sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his calloused hand. "Have Tonks gather her things, if there are any left," said Snape in a very tired tone.
Lupin was very surprised at this response never in his entire life had Severus Snape agreed to a suggestion in such little time. Snape left an astonished Lupin in his wake and crouched down in front of the girl. She had a very blank look on her face again and her lip was still trickling blood from the gash in it. Her knee looked to have swollen up even more if it was possible as well.
"Ms. Edwards can you stand?"
She did not answer instead she shook her head no. "Alright, we're going to Hogwarts, Tonks will bring your things. Is there anything you would like brought with us right now?"
"m my books."
"Ms. Tonks will you please try and retrieve any books left in Ms. Edwards' trunk?"
"sure."
Tonks returned a short time later with a stack of books floating behind her and a beautiful wooden box clutched under her right arm.
"Could you take this box to the headmaster professor? We found it reduced in that woman's hand."
"Melissa," the girl suddenly said hopefully. "Is she alright? I couldn't tell if they..." she didn't seem to be able to finish the statement.
"I'm sorry Rinoa, but she didn't make it," said Tonks quietly. "There was nothing anyone could do, she was a muggle and defensless."
"She was a squib."
"Well, that's interesting," said Tonks amazed. "That could explain quite a few things. Anyway, I think it would be better if the aurors didn't find this."
"Yes, I'll deliver it to him."
"Thank you professor."
Snape shrunk the books and put them into the pocket of his robe. He looked down at the girl and finally noticed she was only wearing a spaghetti shirt. It was only early July but the night was unusually cool and the wind was howling around them.
"My apologies Ms. Edwards I hadn't noticed the chill."
Snape removed his cloak and put it around the girl's shoulders. It was made of heavy black material with a silver embroidery on the trim and around the hood, that surprisingly (yeah right) had a very serpentine look. The girl snuggled into the warm fabric and seemed to be shaking a bit less now.
"I have your books, I'm going to have to carry you to apparate if you can't stand. Can you hold onto this box while we travel?"
"y yes," it was barely even a whisper.
"Good."
He reached down and put her right arm around his neck while her left clutched the box. Snape placed his left arm under her lower back and gently, so as to not disturb her obviously broken leg, put his right under her knees and lifted her against him. He turned to Lupin...
"Will you be following later or not?"
"Yes, we'll meet you there for a discussion with the headmaster," responded Remus.
"Very well."
And he was gone.
Authors Notes: Ok so this is my first fic so don't make fun of me yet. I hope you guys like it because I worked hard on it and had to endure my fiancé laughing at me a lot about my "obsession" with Snape. Review please it makes me happy.