"Two Worlds Collide"
Author's note: I wrote this story because I've never seriously considered making up an original character and setting them in the HP universe. I thought I'd take my first wild stab at it, and this is what I came up with. (In other words, DON'T FLAME ME FOR THIS. It's my first try at an O/C.) Criticism, however, is appreciated. I must, however, admit some nervousness on my own part; this is not only my first attempt at an O/C but also at a bit of romance mixed in with my stories. (Please don't mistake my version of romance for slash, it's not in this story or any stories I write for that matter. I don't think stuff like that is any good for the HP world or its' fanfic readers. Go find another page that serves it if that's what you're looking for, because you won't find it anywhere here.)
Sapphire sat silently in the small café, drinking coffee and reading a book. Nothing looked out of the ordinary about her; she was wearing a black short-sleeved t-shirt, a long, slick, black coat that went down to her knees, and black jeans. The only thing that really stuck out about her was a tattoo she had on her left forearm of a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth and the bracelet on her left wrist, which was of an ornately carved snake made out of pure silver. One might have said that perhaps she'd attended a funeral earlier that day, but she hadn't; she always dressed in black, and that tattoo had been on her forearm since she was nineteen. She'd gotten the bracelet in her schooldays. As she read, Sapphire became aware of a presence behind her; "What?" she said without turning around to look. "Hello Sapphire," said a familiar deep, dark voice. She stopped reading; she hadn't heard that voice in eight years. "Hello Severus," she said, putting her book down as he came round to face her, "And why, pray tell, am I being graced with a visit from you?" He smiled curtly at her, "If it weren't for current events you wouldn't have been, but I'm afraid the wizarding world is in need of your assistance again." She immediately got up and left, tucking her book in her pocket, and strode down the street. Not to be deterred, Severus followed her until she finally halted, waiting for a crosswalk signal to change. "You can't just walk away and avoid me," he hissed in her ear from behind.
She gave no sign of paying attention; the sign changed, and she began to walk across the street faster. "I don't know why you bother trying to ignore your blood," snapped Severus as he followed, "why don't you just forget what happened and get away from all these damned Muggles?" She ducked into an apartment building and took the lift up three flights, shutting the door before Severus could get in. So he took the stairs instead and met her at the front door to her apartment; "Why do you insist on being so difficult?" he snarled. She unlocked the door and went inside; Severus tried to follow, but instead she slammed the door hard in his face.
* * *
Throwing her coat on the couch, Sapphire went to her kitchen sink and got a glass of water. She was beginning to feel angry, and she didn't want to think about the wizarding world anymore. Suddenly the door unlocked itself and Severus came bursting right through it, "You do that to me again and I'll..." "Shut up! Shut up and get out!" she shouted. "Well at least you're talking now," he sneered. Her anger flared up so violently her glass exploded in her hand, cutting it in several places. "Argh..." she growled, running it under the sink. "So you are still connected to the wizarding world," said Severus with satisfaction. "How could I ever have been disconnected?" she snapped, trying to ignore the pains in her hand. She pulled her hand out from the water and saw a glass shard in her palm, "Oh Christ..." she groaned. "Give me that," snapped Severus, taking her hand in his. Resisting the urge to punch him hard in the face, she let him pull out the glass. "Great, thanks," she muttered, pulling out some bandages.
"There are an awful lot more spells to take care of things like that than..." "I know! For the love of God I know! Why do you need me now? Huh? Why would you need me after all the years that I have never seen you or any wizard for that matter?!" she cried. He gave her a hard, truthful stare, "Because Voldemort has come back." She chewed her lip for a minute, "I felt it burn last night." "As did I," he said, pulling back the sleeve of his robe to reveal his own Dark Mark, "and it's been growing clearer all year." She went into her living room and sat down on her couch, "I don't..." "Don't what? Don't believe it? You had better because the Potter boy had an encounter with him at the end of this past school year during the final task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament," said Severus. "I'd heard something about that," she said slowly, "it seems Harry is always having 'encounters' with him." He sat down beside her, "That's not the point. I came here to ask you to do Dumbledore a favor; he wants you to teach at Hogwarts." "Me?" she chortled, "Teach what?" Severus look grew severe, "Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"How touching that he should trust me so," she said flatly, "and why would I do this?" Severus shrugged, "You have a greater respect to gain in the wizarding community, a small paycheck, and of course, you get the benefit of working with me." "Ohh," she said with a roll of her amazingly blue eyes, "that's an inciting offer in itself." He grinned slyly, "You asked." She sat there, thinking for a minute, "All right, I'll do it. But only because every once in a while I miss seeing your ugly face." "Trust me, your not much to look at either," he snorted as he got up to leave. "When do I start?" she asked. He raised an eyebrow, "Whenever you're ready." She left for a minute and came back with a trunk in her arms, "I'm ready now. I never moved any of my supplies from my trunk when I came to the Muggle world, so I'm basically all packed and ready to go." He pulled out his wand, "Fine. Aparecium!"
* * *
She waited, sitting next to Severus; "...And this year we have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who was also a student here in Slytherin several years ago. Students, I am pleased to introduce Professor Anderson!" said Dumbledore, turning politely to her. She stood up quickly and surveyed the students, who applauded her softly. She sat back down again, "Watch out for the Gryffindors," said Severus from her left, "they're the ones that like to make the most trouble." "I'll be the judge of that," she said shortly. Although Sapphire herself had been in Slytherin, she still preferred not to be too biased against the other houses, especially Gryffindor. Perhaps it wasn't in her nature as a Slytherin to be biased as Severus was, but no matter, for his opinion had never mattered that much to her anyway. School wise, at least.
* * *
"I wonder if Anderson will last more than a year," said Ron as they went into the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. "She might, although it's quite possible she'll end up quitting or resigning or..." said Harry. "Or being killed," muttered Ron, thinking of Professor Quirrell, their first DADA teacher. "I think she looks nice," said Hermione, "so I doubt there would be any reason for her to be killed." The three of them sat down by Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan, waiting for the lesson to start. The door burst open and in strode Professor Anderson, dressed fully in black, and looking in particular a lot like Snape. "Oh great," Ron groaned, thinking the same thing as Harry; she'll torture us for sure if she's in league with Snape. "Afternoon class," she said as she opened a book on her desk and flicked through the pages, "after last year I've been told that you had gone through the Unforgivable Curses. Good things to know, but you need to know how to not only block and throw off those Curses, but also how to detect who would be the most likely to use them on you." She walked out in front of her desk, "Can any of you tell me what sort of a person would use, say, the Imperius Curse on you?"
Hermione's hand shot up, "A Death Eater." "Oh excellent, five points for Gryffindor," she said casually. Hermione beamed at Ron and Harry; She's not biased mouthed Ron to Harry. Harry nodded a reply and listened to Anderson intently, "A Death Eater is someone who has delved farther into the Dark Arts than is imaginable," said Anderson, writing the words Dark Arts on the board. She turned around, "It's not easy to find a Death Eater, but there is one thing, if you can see it, that anyone can understand." She pulled back the left sleeve of her robe to reveal a tattoo branded into her forearm, "The Dark Mark." The class gasped and a few kids leapt out of their seats; no one had said anything about Anderson having been a Death Eater. "Yes, yes, I was once a Death Eater," she said, confirming their suspicions, "about eleven years ago. However, if you have any doubts about where my loyalties currently lie, consider the fact of Headmaster Dumbledore's trust in putting me here in this position." The kids sat down, and she smiled, "Thank you. Now, observe the skull eating the snake; Voldemort's symbol." Most of the class flinched at Voldemort's name, except for Harry. "The brand in my arm has not always been this clear; it grows clearer when Voldemort grows stronger, and forms the skull and snake. Normally it is a large, black, unidentifiable mass; however, it has grown much clearer since the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament."
Most of the class looked at Harry, who simply stared at Anderson, trying to ignore them. She stared back then asked politely, "Harry, I do believe you met Voldemort during the incident of the Tournament. How is the monster looking?" Harry was startled at how openly brash she was being, right here in front of the entire class, "Er, he's...he's...horrible." "Horrible," she said softly, "the last time I saw him he was pale and thin, with red eyes. Horrible." He nodded slowly, "Yes, he looked the same." She cocked an eyebrow, "Really? Then he is most certainly getting stronger. Class, the affects of heavy involvement with the Dark Arts can mangle a person's body, warping it and shaping it to look incredibly inhuman. Some people shrink and become almost goblins, others stretch and become ghostly, like wraiths. What awaits a person in the Dark Arts is not a happy life."
* * *
Their lesson had been very interesting, although somewhat sad, thinking about the people who had done themselves in by becoming Death Eaters. More hurried conversation however, followed the news that Anderson was a Death Eater, "I don't know if my gran will be keen on me being taught by an ex-Death Eater," said Neville with a shrug. "She might get a bit upset." After the Howler Neville's grandmother had sent him a year ago, Harry agreed. "What do you think about her Harry?" said Ron slowly as they ate their lunch. "I can't say I mind all that much," said Harry, "despite what happened last year. If Dumbledore trusts her, then I'll trust her too." "Yeah, but Dumbledore trusted Quirrell and Lockhart," grumbled Ron. "He also trusted Professor Lupin and Sirius," said Hermione. "And Mad-Eye Moody," added Ron sourly. "Right, but that wasn't really Mad-Eye Moody," said Harry, "you know that was Barty Crouch. Besides, what about Hagrid, or Madam Maxime, or..." "All right! We'll call it even for now, but if that Anderson woman turns out to be a, a spy for You-Know-Who or something insane like that, I'll..." "You'll what?" said a cool voice from behind them.
Professor Anderson was standing behind Ron, dressed in black, as usual. Ron's mouth opened and closed silently, then finally, "I-I-I..." "Trying to apologize Mr. Weasley? Or perhaps trying to say 'Get away from me Death Eater'?" "S-Sorry," he said slowly, "I was..." "Don't worry about it," she said softly, "you have no reason to believe me innocent until you've seen me in action, right? I'll let you do the decision-making then." She whipped off, exiting the Great Hall, then Harry noticed that Snape got up from the staff table and followed her. "She may be a little unorthodox," said Hermione as she ate her shepherd's pie, "but at least she's very honest and fair. Can't say that about Snape." "Yeah," said Harry slowly, watching Snape leave, "fair to Gryffindors and not sweet on Slytherins. You know, I just noticed how alike the two of them are," he said, eating his treacle tart. "What do you mean?" said Ron. "They just...er, dress in black and, well, they were both you-know-what's," he said, not wanting to say Death Eaters out loud again. No one else knew about Snape being an ex-Death Eater, and Harry wasn't about to ruin it. Ron and Hermione took the hint, "Oh yeah. Except Anderson is a lot nicer," said Hermione.
"That's why I'm wondering, Hermione," said Harry, "why she would be so much nicer than Snape." "Maybe something bad happened to Anderson, but something really bad happened to Snape, and that's why he's such a git," said Ron with a shrug. "I think you're right Ron," said Harry, watching the doors to the Great Hall swing shut, "but what happened to him that was really bad?"
* * *
No one was keen to answer that question, as that would have meant asking Snape himself about a very private personal matter. Harry thought it best to just let sleeping dogs lie. Their lessons in Anderson's class got more and more interesting as the year continued on, but the question of what had happened to both Anderson and Snape was still in the back of Harry's mind. In DADA they were always kept on their toes, as Anderson would throw pop quizzes that weren't written on parchment; you'd have to cast spells five minutes after walking into the classroom, and no one ever fell asleep during class because of it. Too much interesting stuff to learn for that to happen. In Potions, however, Snape seemed just as irritable as ever, taking points from the Gryffindors whenever the opportunity presented itself. Meanwhile Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been very much enjoying DADA when there was an accident; Neville's fault, naturally. Anderson didn't take points away like Snape did whenever Neville made an error (which was often); instead she sent him up to the hospital wing to have the boils removed, and she asked Harry to stay after and help clean up.
Harry did so willingly, for staying after class meant being late for Potions; whatever time he could spend out of that class was time well spent. After he'd finished cleaning up, however, Anderson asked him to stop by after lunch, "Just to talk Potter, just to talk," she'd said. Harry had shrugged and said he'd be there; Ron and Hermione thought it was odd but Harry didn't care. "She made me miss the first half an hour of Potions; can't be all that bad," he'd said as he'd eaten. Ron had shrugged, "That's true enough mate. True enough."
Harry knocked on the door softly, "Come in Harry," said Anderson's voice. She was sitting at her desk, grading papers and drinking tea, "Sit down, please." He seated himself in a desk near hers, and she stopped what she'd been doing at looked at Harry, then smiled. "I wanted to talk to you alone for a minute. There's something I wanted to ask you." Harry shrugged, "Er, ask away." "Might I be able to use you as an example in tomorrow's lesson?" "What?" said Harry slowly. She let out a deep, heavy sigh, "So far Harry, you've been doing an excellent job in my class, especially with the current said subject matter." Harry shrugged; they'd been talking about Voldemort and Death Eaters a lot lately. "Now, while I can teach the students a lot about defending themselves against Death Eaters and Voldemort, there is one thing that they've never witnessed; rather, that I've never witnessed, and I think it would be quite educational to the students. Can you imagine what that might be?" she questioned.
He thought about it for a minute, "When Voldemort decided to kill someone, they were always dead; I'm the only to survive more than one encounter with him." "That's right Harry," she said, not looking at all embarrassed that she'd ask Harry to do something like this, "you're the Boy Who Lived." "The Boy Who Lived with the parents who died," Harry muttered bitterly. She leaned back in her chair, "Ah yes. James and Lily Potter; they were fine people, Harry. I am truly sorry you could not have grown up with them. But...but there is..." "What?" said Harry quietly. She pursed her lips softly, "He'll get his comeuppance. They always do." "Yeah, well, who are you to talk to me about my parents?" snapped Harry, surprising himself at his own daring. She raised an eyebrow, "I see. You're right, Harry; I have no right to talk to you about your parents. I understand." Harry shook his head, "I was being stupid, you didn't kill my parents, Voldemort did. Forget it; I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry about it; in a way, it is my fault," she said. "I was a Death Eater, I was in Voldemort's inner circle; but I paid for it." "You paid for it?" said Harry slowly, "I've always wanted to ask you..." he said after a minute. "Why I switched sides and became a spy?" she said, answering him. "Yes, that's it, you and Professor..." "Mm, Professor Snape," she said slowly, "yes, I can see why you'd want to know. As for what happened to him, that is completely up to him to tell you, although I do know what happened to him, it's none of my business to go around saying what. As for me, however..."
Her eyes grew far away, and for a moment Harry thought that perhaps she'd forgotten he was in the room. Finally, she spoke, "Harry, over the next several years of your life many people will tell you how sorry they are that your parents died without you knowing them. You will never know their warmth and kindness, and what sort of good people they were; at times, I'm very envious of you." Harry almost started with shock, "Envious?" "Yes Harry, envious. You see, I was nineteen when I became a Death Eater, so I had obviously grown up knowing my parents. They sent me to Hogwarts and watched me blossom into a very cunning witch; they did not know, however, that my cunning was straying into the Dark Arts. Another boy there at the school was also heavily involved with it; we both became Death Eaters and we...I laugh at it now, and I'm almost a little embarrassed to tell you that I fell in love with him. So we were both Death Eaters very happily involved in Voldemort's inner circle, but my parents, in the meantime, were both fighting Voldemort. They were both working for the Ministry, trying to defeat him; I Apparated to Voldemort one day and..."
She took a deep breath, "...they were being tortured Harry. I saw them being tortured right in front of my very own eyes with the Cruciatus Curse. Voldemort released them from the curse for a moment, and right then my mother looked at me; when she saw me, she started screaming. My father began screaming too and then Voldemort knew they were my parents; he laughed and laughed, said 'Look at those fools Sapphire, look at them scream at what their daughter has become, what fools, what sorry, sorry fools.' I felt so sick I ran as fast as I could, ran and ran and finally stopped an hour later, not even sure why I'd run away. Then I knew; I was scared, scared of what I'd become. Because then I knew that what Voldemort had done to my parents was something I'd been doing to others for years; by the time I went back to try to beg for their freedom they were already dead. After that I went straight to Dumbledore and turned myself in, and told him I'd be willing to become a spy, just as long as I did something to repay all those people I'd tortured. I felt so helpless over the next year or two; all I could do was pass along information about Voldemort and hope it was helping in some way or another. That is why I envy you; while you never knew your parents, I knew mine. They knew me. And they knew what I became.
"After Voldemort's 'defeat' I stopped wanting to have anything to do with the wizarding world; I put away all my robes, my wand, my spell books, everything and stuffed it in a trunk. I became a Muggle; and that's where I've been all these years. And now Dumbledore needs my services again," she finished quietly, then suddenly, "Harry, do not tell anyone about what I've said. I don't mind you telling Ron and Hermione, but otherwise no one. I can trust the three of you, but no one like the Malfoys or anyone in Slytherin for that matter. No one. Do you understand me?" He nodded silently, "Yes. I won't tell anyone." They sat in silence for another minute, when a question reached Harry, "Professor Anderson, who was the Death Eater that you fell in love with?" She said nothing, and instead stared at Harry with her piercing blue eyes; no wonder she'd been named Sapphire. Then it hit him like a brick wall, "Professor Snape..." She shut her eyes, "Yes."
* * *
"Oh my God, you can't be serious?" said Ron slowly after Harry had finished his story about Professor Anderson. They were all seated in the common room at eleven o'clock at night, hidden away in a corner. "So Professor Snape must be so mean and bitter because Professor Anderson left him and went into the Muggle world," said Hermione softly. Harry shrugged, "I guess so. That's the best idea I can come up with anyway; just remember guys, she's telling just the three of us and no one else, right?" Ron and Hermione nodded, "Yeah, you don't exactly go blabbing things like that now do you?" said Ron. Suddenly there was a lot of noise in the common room, "Oh no..." moaned Neville. "What's up?" said Harry, getting up to see what was wrong. Neville pointed at a notice that had just been pinned onto a wall by the Gryffindor Head Boy, "Look at that Harry. I don't know what I'm going to do..." Harry read it slowly, "Oh. Great." Hermione and Ron got up to look at it, "What's going on Harry?" said Ron, reading the notice. "Oh no..." groaned Ron, hiding his face in his hands. Hermione shrugged, "Well, I guess you two will have to find dates."
* * *
Harry pulled out his bottle green dress robes and stared at them, "I don't want to go." "Me neither," said Ron, staring at his own ugly dress robes. Due to the success of last year's Yule Ball, Dumbledore had decided on another one this year just before Christmas. Harry had worked up the courage to ask Cho Chang again, but she'd said she wasn't going after what happened last year. Harry didn't bother bugging her about it; thinking about Cedric hurt him too. So Harry was dateless, but Ron was going with Lavender Brown. Hermione had invited Viktor Krum to come up to the school for the occasion, and Dumbledore had said Krum could sleep in the boys' dormitory over Christmas vacation if he wanted to since Seamus, Neville, and Dean were all leaving for break. Harry and Ron eventually dressed in their robes, and begrudgingly went downstairs. Ron was to meet Lavender by the staircase so Harry went down to the Great Hall alone; he ended up sitting against a wall by the fruit punch, watching other people dance for the rest of the night. He finally got bored and left, leaving Ron and Hermione to their dates, and went out to the garden.
There were floating candles over the bushes, and Harry saw one or two of them rustle; 'Apparently I'm not the first out here,' he thought as he sat down on a large stone bench. He breathed in the night air and twiddled his thumbs in silence, thinking about all the things that had been happening as of late. As he took another sip of punch from the glass he'd brought out with him, he heard voices. They both sounded very familiar, then he knew; "Severus please, you flatter me too much..." "It's possible to flatter you too much? I wasn't aware of such a thing." It was Snape and Anderson, both walking out in the garden, and they were sure to spot Harry at any moment. Harry ducked behind a bush quickly before Snape could take house points away from him for "sitting too quietly" or something stupid like that. They both came round a bend in the path outside the garden and sat down on the very same bench Harry had been sitting on. "Why did you stay away for so long?" said Snape softly, not looking at Anderson. 'Oh no,' thought Harry with horror, 'this is another one of those conversations I should not be hearing.'
He tried not to listen, he honestly did, by studying the stars, staring at the bush, or trying to listen to anything that wasn't Snape and Anderson's voices talking. "I was miserable," said Anderson quietly, "you knew I was miserable. You saw it every time you looked in my eyes; it was so hard looking at another wizard and trying not to flinch, knowing what I knew then and still do now. I felt like slime on the Earth; I could never have stayed. I'm sorry for that, sorry about what I turned you into. I remember a time when you dressed in other colors besides black," she said with a sad laugh, "or when you had short hair that you washed." "Very funny," he said, "but you haven't changed for the better either. You dress in black as much as I do so I don't know why you're being particular about that." "Yeah," she said slowly, leaning her head on his shoulder, "because I left you turned into a mean, sneering, sarcastic teacher and because I didn't have you I turned into a mean, sneering, sarcastic Muggle." "But you're a teacher now," said Snape. "Yeah, so it ended up with the same effect either way," she shrugged.
Harry put his hands over his ears, now desperate not to listen to anymore; this was none of his business, and he didn't want to get involved. He stared at the two of them, only seeing their mouths move, when they both stopped talking and kissed. Harry squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to vomit; why was someone that pretty involved with someone that greasy? It made no sense. He opened one eye; they'd stopped, and he shook his head with amazement. 'He's lucky. No one I know would ever...' They both got up, and Harry assumed they were leaving so he took his hands away from his ears. Then Snape spotted Harry's cup on the bench; Harry tried not to curse, for he had left it out there. "Someone was out here before," said Snape, picking up the cup, "and I never saw anyone leave. They must still be out here." He blasted a bush out of his way to find no one there, "Potter," he said suddenly, "it's Potter." "Why do you always jump to the conclusion that Harry Potter is behind everything?" said Anderson. "Because it's a like father like son type thing," said Snape, blasting another bush, "the boy is naturally curious and gets into everything. Just like James did, the stupid..." Anderson shrugged and didn't listen to Snape, who was going on a tirade about James and Harry.
She did, however, begin looking in bushes, and was only a bush away from Harry, 'Oh no,' he thought with horror as she leaned her head into Harry's bush. He looked up at her, and her jaw dropped with surprise; then she began to shake, not with anger, but what looked like contained laughter. She pulled her head out and Harry was sure she was going to tell Snape when she picked up the cup and drained it, "This was my cup. How stupid of me; I'd forgotten I'd brought it out here," she said, crushing it with her hand. "Are you certain? Students aren't allowed to be outside what with the dance going on you know," he said, eyeing the rest of the bushes suspiciously. "No, it was mine, I'm positive, now let's go," she said, hooking one arm through his and leading him out of the garden. Harry got out of his bush slowly, watching them recede down the path when Anderson's other arm fell to her side, and she swung her hand around behind her back, unnoticeable to Snape. It was forming a thumbs-up; Harry let out a sigh of relief.
Due to Anderson's kindness, Harry had escaped.
* * *
"Man are you lucky," said Ron, amazed at Harry's escape. "You're telling me," said Harry as he ate his breakfast the following morning, "I thought I was dead for sure." Harry had told Ron and Hermione about his encounter with Anderson and Snape, but he'd left out the part about them kissing. He didn't feel like stomaching it anyway, and besides, that really wasn't anybody's business but theirs. As they ate, however, Ron and Hermione suddenly fell silent; "What's wrong?" said Harry. He turned around to see Snape standing there behind him, "Outside, Potter. Now." Harry got up slowly, and Ron gave him a look that said, 'Nice knowing you.' Harry trudged out of the Great Hall, sure he was to be killed, and Snape shut the doors to the entrance hall. They were now completely alone for the moment, "I know that was you last night Potter," snarled Snape the moment the doors had been shut. Harry shrugged, "Last night where? At the ball? Yeah that was me." "Don't play stupid," he snapped, "you were outside listening to our conversation last night weren't you? Little eavesdropper, I know it was you." Harry tried not to look guilty and didn't say anything; just then, however, Professor Anderson came around the corner, "Harry! Oh good, I was just looking for you," she said calmly. "I need to borrow Mr. Potter for a few minutes Severus, think you can spare him?" Snape glared at Harry evilly, "We were in the middle of a discussion about last night."
"Last night? Something happen last night? Well whatever it is you can sort it out later as Potter is going to help me in class today," said Anderson, cool as you please, "but you can have him back in a few minutes." Anderson led Harry away, leaving Snape seething with rage. She wheeled Harry into an empty classroom and shut the door, "We need to have a little talk," she said, sitting down at the empty teacher's desk. Harry sat down in a student desk, "Yeah, sure." "Now," she began, "I know that it's against the rules for a student to be out of the Great Hall during a ball, but students typically do it anyway when they want to go have a little make session in the bushes. Now don't look at me like that, you know students do it. However, I didn't see anyone with you last night while you were hiding in that bush; I can assume we came upon you while you were out thinking and you hopped into a bush as a last minute plan." Harry was dazzled she'd figured all of this out so quickly, "Er, yes, sort of." She smiled, "I see. Despite what happened, however, you were breaking school rules, and also I do believe you heard some of our conversation. I would like to know how much." Harry buried his face in his hands, burning with embarrassment, "Almost all of it," he groaned.
"Mm," she said quietly, "up to what point?" "Right up to when you were both talking about how sarcastic and sneering you had both become. And that you were both teachers; don't know what you meant about your being sarcastic though. You're not half as bad as Sn-...never mind," he finished hastily. "That's Professor Snape Harry, and I know what you mean," she said, "all right then; you didn't hear all that much. However..." she said, tapping her fingers on the desk softly, "...did you...see anything?" Harry hid his face again, "Yes," he moaned through his fingers, "I was plugging my ears by then I swear. If I had known you were gonna...I would have shut my eyes too." To his surprise she laughed, "Harry, when you're as old as I am you'll realize things like that simply aren't embarrassing anymore. Trust me. You can go to class now." "Er, I'm not going to be punished?" he said slowly. "Not unless you want to be," she grinned. He leapt out of his seat, "I have to be off to Herbology," he said hastily. "Good Harry," she replied, "good."
* * *
Harry told Ron and Hermione about what had happened while they were working on their puffapod, and Ron was amazed, "Not only did you get away from Snape, but you got away without a punishment. That's a record." "I'm more worried about Professor Anderson," said Hermione, "I mean sure she's a fantastic teacher and all that, but she can't just let students get away with everything without a punishment. It's not right." Ron dropped his shears, "What?!"
* * *
First match of the season was Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, and Harry felt fairly confident about it. After all, he hadn't failed to catch the Snitch yet; or at least, that was, whenever he was conscious during the games. Harry sped over the pitch on his Firebolt, happy as could be now that he was on his broom, and waited for the Snitch to be released. Madam Hooch blew her whistle and the balls were released; Harry saw a glint of gold lurking near Fred Weasley's torso and went for it. He caught it easily; the game ended in a record six seconds. "Unbelievable!" boomed Lee Jordan's voice, "Gryffindor Seeker Harry Potter has caught the Snitch in record time! I haven't heard of this happening since Charlie Weasley was on the team!"
Harry got a large round of hugs from the team, (and a few kisses from Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, which greatly embarrassed him,) and soon he was dressing out in the locker room. He was the only one there since everyone else had gone straight to the Gryffindor common room to have a large party in honor of their spectacular win. Just as Harry finished putting away his shin guards, however, he felt his scar twang with pain. He rubbed it irritably; it wasn't hurting as bad as it sometimes did, but it still hurt...a lot. He shook his head, trying to make the pain go away, but instead of subsiding it grew stronger, and soon Harry found himself lying on the floor clutching his forehead.
"So she teaches at Hogwarts now? And alongside Snape, of all people...interesting news, but not interesting enough to keep her alive for much longer. After what she's done there will be no remorse, and if Snape gets in the way I will not grant him refuge either. Yes, Wormtail, it was wise of you to bring me this information. Very wise indeed..."
* * *
Harry was running through the Hogwarts hallways; running as fast as he could, trying to ignore the stabbing pains in his side from how far he'd gone. Finally he was at Anderson's classroom, and he knocked rapidly on it; "Professor Anderson?!" he shouted. A minute later she appeared at the door, "Harry! What's wrong?" Harry looked up and down the hallway nervously, then said, "It's Voldemort." She pushed him inside the classroom quickly and sat him down in a desk; Harry was grateful as he was still trying to catch his breath. "All right, now you might want to explain this a little bit," said Anderson, sitting down next to him. Harry sucked in more air, then began, "My scar isn't an ordinary scar, right? Well, whenever Voldemort is feeling really hateful it begins to hurt, and sometimes I see or hear things that he's saying or doing." He took another deep breath; finally his heart was beginning to slow, "Just now while I was getting dressed in the locker room it started hurting again, and I heard Voldemort talking about...well, I mean, there's no saying he meant...but it sounded like he was talking about you." Anderson said nothing for a minute, then, "Go on."
Harry felt downcast, "He said he was going to kill you sometime soon, and that if Snape got in the way...he'd be dead too." Anderson gave no sign of any true fear up until Harry said that Snape would die as well, then she flinched. "Is there anything else that you heard, Harry?" she said finally. "Just Wormtail...er, Peter Pettigrew, he's still out getting him information. He said that Wormtail brought the information to him, so he's still alive and well somewhere..." They both sat in silence for a minute, then Anderson said, "Harry, why don't you get on up to your dorm, all right? I know they're up there having a big party for their win, and it wouldn't be much without their star Seeker." Harry shrugged, "Yeah, I guess so...but you'll be okay, won't you? I mean, shouldn't we tell Dumbledore about this?" She smiled warmly at him, "Don't worry about it Harry; I'll tell him myself, and I will also tell Professor Snape about it as well. Thank you for telling me Harry; I really do appreciate it." He got up slowly and walked to the door, then turned back one last time, "Professor Anderson?"
"Yes Harry?"
"You know how I feel about Professor Snape."
"Yes Harry, yes I do."
"Well...for your sake, I hope nothing happens to him. Even though I don't like him and he doesn't like me..."
"You still respect him."
"Well, yeah, sort of."
"It's a gift he's had all his life Harry; trust me."
* * *
Snape sat silently at his desk in his private chambers, head in his hands, elbows propped up on the desk. Ever since Dumbledore had asked him to get Sapphire, to have her teach at Hogwarts...well, he'd been doing quite a lot of thinking. Once, a long time ago, he was a completely normal human being, not the sarcastic shell of a man he was now. 'And Voldemort did this to me,' he thought bitterly, 'completely destroyed my life and Sapphire's. I'll get him back for this somehow, if it's the last thing I ever do I'll get him back for all the time I lost because of him and his stupid Death Eaters and his stupid ego trips...' The idea of just him alone killing Voldemort was almost laughable, except he didn't quite remember how to laugh.
He stared down at a picture on his desk; it was the last time he and Sapphire had been happy together, so it was taken at least fifteen years ago. The two were both shoving each other playfully in the picture, both smiling and laughing...nowadays it hurt to smile because he rarely used those muscles in his jaw except to sneer at students. Then his thoughts returned to the situation at hand; what was he going to do now? If Voldemort found out that Sapphire was working at Hogwarts he'd probably have her killed in a day, and he couldn't risk that. If he lost her one more time it'd probably kill him.
A knock sounded on his door, "Come in," he said after a minute. Sapphire entered, "Severus, we need to talk." "About what?" he grumbled. "Potter just came to me with a story about Voldemort. He said that Voldemort knows I'm here, and that he's going to kill me sometime soon." Severus felt his blood turn to ice, "Really?" "Yes, and he says Peter Pettigrew is the one that passed him the information. I'm willing to trust Potter's judgment on this because I've heard the stories about his scar before; he says it started hurting down in the locker room when he heard Voldemort talking to Pettigrew." Pettigrew! If only it had been Black...oh how he had hated Sirius Black in his days at Hogwarts... "What's to say the boy wasn't just having a nightmare?" said Severus, hoping that maybe it was true. "That'd be one hell of a nightmare and you know it," said Sapphire, "besides, Potter is typically right about these things, so..." she fell silent. Severus said nothing, and finally Sapphire turned to the door, "I've got to see Dumbledore."
He remained silent as she left, all the while wishing he could have said exactly what he was thinking.
* * *
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were eating in the Great Hall, discussing school, Quidditch, and the like when the doors burst open and Dumbledore came running in, surprisingly fast for such an elderly age. "Everyone is to follow the prefects to their house dormitories!" shouted Dumbledore as he ran to the High Table, "And you will kindly do so in a quick, orderly fashion!" Everyone immediately stood up and followed the prefects, most of the students very alarmed at Dumbledore's mannerisms. Harry, Ron, and Hermione in particular were concerned, but followed at the tail end of the group of Gryffindors, trying to get a glimpse of what was happening at the High Table. It was just as they passed the doors that Harry felt his head split with searing, white-hot pain, and he fell against the doors. "Harry! Harry what's wrong?!" said Ron, both he and Hermione trying to steady him. Harry couldn't answer, for the pain was far too blinding; then he saw a vision.
Cold, iron gray clouds swirled in the sky, and rain began to pour down. Voldemort, however, was not undaunted, and clutched her throat gleefully, "If only you knew what awaits you," he hissed, his red snake-like eyes alive with fire, "you'd ask me to kill you right now."
"NOOO!" screamed Harry, arms flailing wildly, "PROFESSOR! NO! DON'T TOUCH HER YOU MANIAC!" "Harry! Harry stop it!" moaned Hermione, now on the verge of hysterics at seeing her best friend in such a mad state. Then, just as suddenly as it had come on, it stopped; the pain was only a memory, and the vision faded. Harry opened one eye, then the other; he was still alive, still in the Great Hall, and Ron and Hermione were looking at him with the utmost concern. Dumbledore, Snape, Flitwick, and McGonagall came running toward them, but only Dumbledore and Snape stopped to see what was wrong. Flitwick and McGonagall, it seemed, were on some sort of mission within the school. "Harry!" said Dumbledore, "What did you see? What happened?!" Harry couldn't even describe it, and all he could muster was, "He's going to kill her." Snape froze but said nothing, and Dumbledore's eyes were lit with an intense fire, "Do you know where they are?" Harry shook his head, "No, all I could see was...but that can't be possible. How could he be in the Forbidden Forest? He's too afraid to come anywhere near you or Hogwarts!"
Dumbledore's face contorted with anger, "He wouldn't be afraid if he had gotten stronger. The three of you go to your dormitory quickly!" He and Snape left, and the three of them watched as they sprinted out the entry hall. "And do not go adventuring tonight, Harry!" shouted Dumbledore over his shoulder, "Stay far away from the Forest and keep to your room!" Then they were gone, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were left helplessly inside Hogwarts.
* * *
They returned to the Gryffindor common room moments later, and everyone else looked at them with curiosity, yet said nothing. The three sat down glumly in the big red armchairs, when Harry was hit with a question, "Why was Dumbledore so frantic to get in the Great Hall in the first place?" Ron and Hermione shrugged, "Maybe he realized Anderson was missing but he didn't know for sure," said Hermione. "But how would he know?" asked Harry, "It's not like you leave a sign that says, 'Kidnapped, back around tea time.'" To that question none of them had an answer, but then Harry came up with a plan, "Look, he said we have to stay inside Hogwarts right? Well while we're stuck in here we might as well check out Anderson's room to see if anything's wrong." "Yeah, but how will we get down there without getting caught by Filch?" said Ron. Harry shrugged, "I think it's time we pulled out my Invisibility Cloak."
The three of them went up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, but then Harry stopped, "Hey, what's that?" he asked. Something was nailed to the door; a piece of parchment with writing on it. "Lumos!" said Harry, now able to see the parchment in his wandlight. It was the Dark Mark, slapped across the parchment in vivid, bright green paint; "Whose idea of a sick joke was this?" said Ron. "I don't know," said Harry slowly, reaching out to touch it. "Wait Harry! Don't touch-!" but Hermione was too late. The world spun about Harry, and he knew too late what Hermione was trying to tell him; the parchment was a portkey.
* * *
Harry landed with a thump on soft, wet ground; he looked up to see dark, swirling clouds above him, and then he knew he was in the Forbidden Forest. Suddenly a hand was about his throat, and he was being choked; he flailed his arms frantically, but then the other hand came round to pin his arms to his side. "Harry Potter," said a familiar, cold voice in his ear, "we meet again." Harry felt his blood go icy cold as he was dragged to a small clearing, then released; Voldemort cast some sort of spell, and ropes appeared and snapped around him. Harry was far too tightly bound to do anything, much less get to his wand, so he simply stood there, staring at Voldemort with pure hatred. Then he realized that he wasn't alone; he heard a soft rustling sound next to him and saw Professor Anderson, beaten and cold, trying to move while sprawled out on the ground facedown. "Perhaps we could make do with a little light," said Voldemort with a sneer, stamping his foot on the ground once. A large crack appeared and soon it had completely split the ground, and flames erupted from it, "Nothing better than a roaring fire on a cold, rainy night eh Potter?" he hissed with glee.
Harry felt himself shaking with anger, and he spat at Voldemort. He stared at Harry venomously, then spoke; "I suppose, Potter, that you think you will evade me again as you did last year after the Tri-Wizard Tournament. But not this time, I'm afraid," he said, walking around Harry in a circle, "because you see, I don't plan on you surviving the next five minutes of your life, much less the next five years as I'm sure Dumbledore would love to see. No, you and Sapphire, my ex-Death Eater, will both be dead within the next few minutes. But who to start with first? I've already beaten Sapphire severely, but...we'll start with her anyway." "NO!" shouted Harry, "Take me first!" "Oh? Selfless, brave Harry Potter...mm, your parents' courage precedes you." 'Keep talking, keep talking,' thought Harry, hoping to stall for time; perhaps Dumbledore or Snape would be able to get here before either of them were killed. "But I don't know, it seems that you wouldn't like to see Sapphire suffer, so I think I'll do it anyway," said Voldemort curtly, turning his wand on her.
* * *
Snape and Dumbledore froze; a scream was piercing the air, and they both looked at each other; it sounded like a woman's. Immediately they both ran toward it when it was cut off abruptly, sending shivers down Snape's spine; 'Let her be alive, please, please,' he thought. Branches and limbs slapped at his face angrily, and brambles caught their feet, yet still they continued to run as fast as possible; "Don't do anything rash, Severus!" shouted Dumbledore as they came upon a lit clearing.
* * *
Harry's ropes snapped; 'Yes!' he thought happily. For at least five minutes he'd been cutting the ropes with a rock he'd picked up off the ground when Voldemort had had his back turned, still torturing Professor Anderson. Just then, however, he saw Snape and Dumbledore come charging out of the Forbidden Forest. Snape didn't even think; he threw himself at Voldemort full power and Harry watched in horror as they tumbled toward the fiery pit Voldemort had created. Thoughtlessly, Harry dashed to the both of them and threw his weight against them; instead of stopping them from falling completely into the pit, however, now they were hanging off the edge, using exposed tree roots like ropes. Harry searched for his wand with one hand, but couldn't find it; he must have lost it earlier. Snape, in the meantime, was having a very rough job trying to kick Voldemort off of him; the monster was desperately clinging to Snape's black robes, and trying to climb up him to the safety of the ground. Snape swung violently, keeping him far from the earth, and Voldemort let out a screech of rage, "Damn you Snape! You'll pay for this!"
Suddenly Snape and Harry's eyes met for a minute, then Harry knew, "NO!" he screamed in horror as Snape let go of his tree root. Harry watched as the two of them tumbled down and down into the depths, then he saw Voldemort pull out his wand; he was aiming for Harry. "ACCIO WAND!" shouted Harry. The wand slipped from Voldemort's fingers and his eyes widened in horror as he realized his doom. Harry, in the meantime, caught the wand and aimed at Snape, "WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" Snape stopped falling, and instead was hovering in midair; Harry watched as Voldemort continued to fall until he was completely enveloped in flames; gone forever. Harry began to use the Levitation Charm to bring Snape back up to Harry's own level, but then he felt the spell beginning to slip; he'd never learned how to levitate people, and now...
The charm broke and Snape fell, but Harry threw out a hand and grabbed him by the back of his robes, "Gotcha!" he shouted happily. Snape put a hand on Harry's shoulder and grabbed another tree root, "This is one of those rare times where I'll complement you," he gasped as he pulled himself up. Harry followed, and soon they were both standing on the surface, "Yeah?" Snape brushed some black hair out of his eyes, "For sheer dumb luck." Harry rolled his eyes, still gasping, "Whatever," and the two of them walked over to Dumbledore, who was treating Sapphire. She was badly bruised, beaten, and hurt from Voldemort's excessive use of the Cruciatus Curse, but otherwise she'd be all right. Dumbledore looked up at Snape and Harry, "I thought I told you to stay in your dormitory," said Dumbledore sternly. Harry shrugged, "I didn't know the parchment tacked on my door was a portkey to Voldemort. Sue me."
Snape, in the meantime, sat down next to Sapphire and put two protective arms around her, "You all right?" She laughed weakly, "Me? I'm fine. You're the person everyone should be worried about."
"How did you figure that?"
"Dunno. Maybe what with you willing to die just so Voldemort never comes back. I saw what you did back there; you were willing to die for a cause. Never knew you had it in you."
"Well it wasn't that big of a deal."
"Not that big of a deal?! If you had died I probably would have thrown myself in after you; almost did, actually, but then Harry..."
"Saved my life."
"Yeah. Now you're both equal."
He smirked, "Something like that."
* * *
The school year ended a month later, and Harry was, as usual, sad to leave the castle. He was also sad for another reason; it appeared that Snape was lightening up quite a bit, which was most surprising indeed to the students, and he didn't want to leave him behind to come back the next year to find an extremely unhappy Potions Master all over again. What had cheered him up, no one could say, but Harry had an idea; he and Professor Anderson both seemed to be quite happy, which is why he wasn't very surprised when Dumbledore made an announcement in the Great Hall that made everyone gasp. "Another school year come and gone," he said sadly, "but now we have a nice, long summer to get our heads emptied once again! I hope all of you enjoy your summer holidays as much as ever; but before you depart, there is one more announcement I would like to make." A few of the students perked up; Dumbledore typically made only one announcement at the end of each year.
"I'm very, very pleased to announce that Professor Snape..."
Ron's jaw dropped, "He's not going to say...?"
"...And Professor Anderson..."
"No way!" said Hermione weakly.
"...Are getting married this summer!" finished Dumbledore.
Harry immediately stood up and clapped, and slowly, every dazed student in the hall followed his gestures. Snape looked a little sour at having his matrimonial state projected to everyone but Anderson was smiling; Harry was actually very happy, for the first time in his life, for both of them. "I can't believe this!" cried Ron amidst the confused applause. "Yeah!" said Dean Thomas, "Someone as pretty as her involved with someone like him!" Harry tried not to laugh, "Sometimes, Dean, we can see things inside someone that no one else can." Hermione eyed Harry suspiciously but only said, "I think you're right."
* * *
Harry was slowly pulling his trunk across the entry hall; he was sure to miss the Hogwarts Express at this rate, and he finally gave up, sitting down on his trunk. "Being stuck here isn't so bad though; after all, it is Hogwarts," he said wistfully. "Problem, Harry?" said a familiar voice from behind. He turned, "Oh hi Professor Anderson. Um, sort of; see I kind of forgot a few things and in the process, well...I've missed the train because it took so long to heft it all down there. Now I'm stuck at Hogwarts with all my things; personally I don't think that's a bad thing because it means no Dursleys, but Dumbledore would probably disapprove." "On the contrary," said Anderson, producing a sheet of parchment from her robes, "read this Harry."
Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Sirius Black, legal guardian, hereby give permission to Harry Potter to spend any vacations/holidays at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry should he desire it so.
"Excellent!" exclaimed Harry, "This is so great! When did he sign this?" "A few minutes ago when I mentioned that you might rather stay here than with the Dursleys," said Anderson with a shrug. He smiled, "Thanks. I really appreciate it." He got up and began to lug his trunk up the stairs when Anderson said, "How about I just use a Levitation Charm to get that thing up to your dormitory instead of doing it the old fashioned way?" He shrugged, "Okay, thanks." As they went up the stairs, Anderson waving her wand silently, moving the trunk along slowly, they talked about several things. Anderson was keen on what Harry wanted to do once he left school, and for that he really had no answer; "I was thinking about maybe becoming an Auror. Or maybe just playing on a Quidditch team." "Mm, that talent definitely runs in your family," said Anderson knowingly as the trunk drifted down the hall toward the Fat Lady.
Eventually they stopped and Anderson let the trunk fall; "This is where I leave you young Harry Potter," she said. "My best regards to you, and I hope you enjoy your well-deserved and Voldemort-free summer." He laughed, "I hope so." Then he felt a dark cloud at the back of his mind, "Professor Anderson...can Voldemort ever come back again?" She leaned against a wall, "Good question Harry; that I do not know, but I do not believe he can. Let us hope so, at least." Just then a pair of footfalls resounded from down the hall, and Harry saw a tall, handsome man dressed in Muggle clothes that he did not know walking toward them. "Hello Potter," he said stiffly, taking Anderson's hand in his. "Sorry, do I know you?" said Harry. Anderson laughed, "Of course you know him Harry! This is Professor Snape!" Harry felt his jaw drop and he shook his head rapidly, "No it isn't." "Bloody hell, don't tell me I'm going to be putting up with reactions like that all school year," said Snape irritably. Harry was more than amazed; he was stupefied. Snape's hair wasn't long and greasy anymore; it was short and clean, and he'd never seen anything like that before. It even looked as if he'd tanned a little bit; he wasn't so pale and sallow anymore, and he wasn't dressed all in black. He looked...well...normal.
"What..." said Harry slowly, "...what, what happened to you?" Anderson chuckled lightly, "This is what he used to look like." Harry's brain was blown, "Then why the hell did you choose to look like a greasy-haired weirdo when you can look like that?!" Snape's temper flared, "Watch your language Potter. Due to the fact that the school year is already done with I can't deduct house points from you, but I can still deliver a harsh..." "Don't even say it," said Anderson. "Look, I'm sorry if I came off astounded," said Harry, "but consider the difference for yourself. I'm just not used to it, right?" Snape was still glaring at him, "Just shut up, Potter. Just shut up." "Oh would you both just act civilized? I mean really, this has gone on for long enough!" said Anderson. "He started it," Harry and Snape said in unison. Harry shuffled his feet quietly, then, "Well...I guess I'll just leave it at that then. I've got to get back to the dormitory, but thanks for everything though." Anderson smiled, "No trouble at all." Harry said the password to the Fat Lady then began hefting his trunk into the common room; then he stopped and watched Anderson and Snape walk down the hall.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Yes?" said Anderson, looking back. "Congratulations," said Harry finally. Snape and Anderson looked at each other; "Thanks Harry," said Anderson, "enjoy your summer." He waved at them but only Anderson waved back; Snape simply frowned at him and the two of them walked down the corridor and out of sight.
* * *
Harry sat down on his bed and wiped some sweat off his forehead; he'd just finished lugging his heavy trunk all the way up the stairs, and now all he wanted to do was sit back and relax, but then the fireplace started to glow green. He watched with curiosity as a familiar body spun out of it, and soon Sirius Black was standing in front of him, dusting ash off himself. "Sirius!" said Harry happily, hugging him quickly around the middle. "Hi Harry; listen, I've got a surprise for you," he said eagerly. "What is it?" said Harry. He grinned, "Shut your eyes." Harry closed his eyes and felt himself being pushed along in his room toward the fireplace; Sirius stepped in beside him, Floo Powder already thrown in, and shouted, "713 North Hogsmeade!"
A minute later Sirius said, "You can open your eyes now." Harry opened them to see a house that wasn't more than a mile from central Hogsmeade; "Cool! Whose is it?" "It's yours and mine, Harry; my name has been cleared. I can live out in the open and you can come with me, if you like." Harry turned to Sirius, "Of course I'll live with you! I like Hogwarts but...there's no family around." "Thought you might say that," said Sirius knowingly, "so let's go get your trunk, shall we? If you want, we can just walk back to Hogwarts since it's only a mile or so; be a good stretch of the legs."
So they walked all the way back to Hogwarts, but as they did, Harry asked to stop at some unknown location inside the Forbidden Forest. "What for?" asked Sirius as they trekked through the brush. "I just wanna check something," said Harry as they reached the clearing that Voldemort had been defeated at. Sirius already knew the whole story from Dumbledore, and expected to see nothing more than a regular field; "The Headmaster said he'd closed up the crack in the ground after Voldemort had fallen into it," he said. Harry stopped dead, staring down, "I hope he told you wrong." A large, dark crack had split across the ground; nothing could be seen inside it, and there was no telling as to what had cracked it open again. "How did it reopen?" said Sirius softly. Harry beat a fist into a nearby tree angrily, "He's still alive." Sirius shook his head, "Harry, you don't know that." Just then, however, Harry felt a twanging pain in his scar, and he looked back at his godfather.
"Yes I do."
~The End~
Author's note: I wrote this story because I've never seriously considered making up an original character and setting them in the HP universe. I thought I'd take my first wild stab at it, and this is what I came up with. (In other words, DON'T FLAME ME FOR THIS. It's my first try at an O/C.) Criticism, however, is appreciated. I must, however, admit some nervousness on my own part; this is not only my first attempt at an O/C but also at a bit of romance mixed in with my stories. (Please don't mistake my version of romance for slash, it's not in this story or any stories I write for that matter. I don't think stuff like that is any good for the HP world or its' fanfic readers. Go find another page that serves it if that's what you're looking for, because you won't find it anywhere here.)
Sapphire sat silently in the small café, drinking coffee and reading a book. Nothing looked out of the ordinary about her; she was wearing a black short-sleeved t-shirt, a long, slick, black coat that went down to her knees, and black jeans. The only thing that really stuck out about her was a tattoo she had on her left forearm of a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth and the bracelet on her left wrist, which was of an ornately carved snake made out of pure silver. One might have said that perhaps she'd attended a funeral earlier that day, but she hadn't; she always dressed in black, and that tattoo had been on her forearm since she was nineteen. She'd gotten the bracelet in her schooldays. As she read, Sapphire became aware of a presence behind her; "What?" she said without turning around to look. "Hello Sapphire," said a familiar deep, dark voice. She stopped reading; she hadn't heard that voice in eight years. "Hello Severus," she said, putting her book down as he came round to face her, "And why, pray tell, am I being graced with a visit from you?" He smiled curtly at her, "If it weren't for current events you wouldn't have been, but I'm afraid the wizarding world is in need of your assistance again." She immediately got up and left, tucking her book in her pocket, and strode down the street. Not to be deterred, Severus followed her until she finally halted, waiting for a crosswalk signal to change. "You can't just walk away and avoid me," he hissed in her ear from behind.
She gave no sign of paying attention; the sign changed, and she began to walk across the street faster. "I don't know why you bother trying to ignore your blood," snapped Severus as he followed, "why don't you just forget what happened and get away from all these damned Muggles?" She ducked into an apartment building and took the lift up three flights, shutting the door before Severus could get in. So he took the stairs instead and met her at the front door to her apartment; "Why do you insist on being so difficult?" he snarled. She unlocked the door and went inside; Severus tried to follow, but instead she slammed the door hard in his face.
* * *
Throwing her coat on the couch, Sapphire went to her kitchen sink and got a glass of water. She was beginning to feel angry, and she didn't want to think about the wizarding world anymore. Suddenly the door unlocked itself and Severus came bursting right through it, "You do that to me again and I'll..." "Shut up! Shut up and get out!" she shouted. "Well at least you're talking now," he sneered. Her anger flared up so violently her glass exploded in her hand, cutting it in several places. "Argh..." she growled, running it under the sink. "So you are still connected to the wizarding world," said Severus with satisfaction. "How could I ever have been disconnected?" she snapped, trying to ignore the pains in her hand. She pulled her hand out from the water and saw a glass shard in her palm, "Oh Christ..." she groaned. "Give me that," snapped Severus, taking her hand in his. Resisting the urge to punch him hard in the face, she let him pull out the glass. "Great, thanks," she muttered, pulling out some bandages.
"There are an awful lot more spells to take care of things like that than..." "I know! For the love of God I know! Why do you need me now? Huh? Why would you need me after all the years that I have never seen you or any wizard for that matter?!" she cried. He gave her a hard, truthful stare, "Because Voldemort has come back." She chewed her lip for a minute, "I felt it burn last night." "As did I," he said, pulling back the sleeve of his robe to reveal his own Dark Mark, "and it's been growing clearer all year." She went into her living room and sat down on her couch, "I don't..." "Don't what? Don't believe it? You had better because the Potter boy had an encounter with him at the end of this past school year during the final task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament," said Severus. "I'd heard something about that," she said slowly, "it seems Harry is always having 'encounters' with him." He sat down beside her, "That's not the point. I came here to ask you to do Dumbledore a favor; he wants you to teach at Hogwarts." "Me?" she chortled, "Teach what?" Severus look grew severe, "Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"How touching that he should trust me so," she said flatly, "and why would I do this?" Severus shrugged, "You have a greater respect to gain in the wizarding community, a small paycheck, and of course, you get the benefit of working with me." "Ohh," she said with a roll of her amazingly blue eyes, "that's an inciting offer in itself." He grinned slyly, "You asked." She sat there, thinking for a minute, "All right, I'll do it. But only because every once in a while I miss seeing your ugly face." "Trust me, your not much to look at either," he snorted as he got up to leave. "When do I start?" she asked. He raised an eyebrow, "Whenever you're ready." She left for a minute and came back with a trunk in her arms, "I'm ready now. I never moved any of my supplies from my trunk when I came to the Muggle world, so I'm basically all packed and ready to go." He pulled out his wand, "Fine. Aparecium!"
* * *
She waited, sitting next to Severus; "...And this year we have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who was also a student here in Slytherin several years ago. Students, I am pleased to introduce Professor Anderson!" said Dumbledore, turning politely to her. She stood up quickly and surveyed the students, who applauded her softly. She sat back down again, "Watch out for the Gryffindors," said Severus from her left, "they're the ones that like to make the most trouble." "I'll be the judge of that," she said shortly. Although Sapphire herself had been in Slytherin, she still preferred not to be too biased against the other houses, especially Gryffindor. Perhaps it wasn't in her nature as a Slytherin to be biased as Severus was, but no matter, for his opinion had never mattered that much to her anyway. School wise, at least.
* * *
"I wonder if Anderson will last more than a year," said Ron as they went into the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. "She might, although it's quite possible she'll end up quitting or resigning or..." said Harry. "Or being killed," muttered Ron, thinking of Professor Quirrell, their first DADA teacher. "I think she looks nice," said Hermione, "so I doubt there would be any reason for her to be killed." The three of them sat down by Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan, waiting for the lesson to start. The door burst open and in strode Professor Anderson, dressed fully in black, and looking in particular a lot like Snape. "Oh great," Ron groaned, thinking the same thing as Harry; she'll torture us for sure if she's in league with Snape. "Afternoon class," she said as she opened a book on her desk and flicked through the pages, "after last year I've been told that you had gone through the Unforgivable Curses. Good things to know, but you need to know how to not only block and throw off those Curses, but also how to detect who would be the most likely to use them on you." She walked out in front of her desk, "Can any of you tell me what sort of a person would use, say, the Imperius Curse on you?"
Hermione's hand shot up, "A Death Eater." "Oh excellent, five points for Gryffindor," she said casually. Hermione beamed at Ron and Harry; She's not biased mouthed Ron to Harry. Harry nodded a reply and listened to Anderson intently, "A Death Eater is someone who has delved farther into the Dark Arts than is imaginable," said Anderson, writing the words Dark Arts on the board. She turned around, "It's not easy to find a Death Eater, but there is one thing, if you can see it, that anyone can understand." She pulled back the left sleeve of her robe to reveal a tattoo branded into her forearm, "The Dark Mark." The class gasped and a few kids leapt out of their seats; no one had said anything about Anderson having been a Death Eater. "Yes, yes, I was once a Death Eater," she said, confirming their suspicions, "about eleven years ago. However, if you have any doubts about where my loyalties currently lie, consider the fact of Headmaster Dumbledore's trust in putting me here in this position." The kids sat down, and she smiled, "Thank you. Now, observe the skull eating the snake; Voldemort's symbol." Most of the class flinched at Voldemort's name, except for Harry. "The brand in my arm has not always been this clear; it grows clearer when Voldemort grows stronger, and forms the skull and snake. Normally it is a large, black, unidentifiable mass; however, it has grown much clearer since the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament."
Most of the class looked at Harry, who simply stared at Anderson, trying to ignore them. She stared back then asked politely, "Harry, I do believe you met Voldemort during the incident of the Tournament. How is the monster looking?" Harry was startled at how openly brash she was being, right here in front of the entire class, "Er, he's...he's...horrible." "Horrible," she said softly, "the last time I saw him he was pale and thin, with red eyes. Horrible." He nodded slowly, "Yes, he looked the same." She cocked an eyebrow, "Really? Then he is most certainly getting stronger. Class, the affects of heavy involvement with the Dark Arts can mangle a person's body, warping it and shaping it to look incredibly inhuman. Some people shrink and become almost goblins, others stretch and become ghostly, like wraiths. What awaits a person in the Dark Arts is not a happy life."
* * *
Their lesson had been very interesting, although somewhat sad, thinking about the people who had done themselves in by becoming Death Eaters. More hurried conversation however, followed the news that Anderson was a Death Eater, "I don't know if my gran will be keen on me being taught by an ex-Death Eater," said Neville with a shrug. "She might get a bit upset." After the Howler Neville's grandmother had sent him a year ago, Harry agreed. "What do you think about her Harry?" said Ron slowly as they ate their lunch. "I can't say I mind all that much," said Harry, "despite what happened last year. If Dumbledore trusts her, then I'll trust her too." "Yeah, but Dumbledore trusted Quirrell and Lockhart," grumbled Ron. "He also trusted Professor Lupin and Sirius," said Hermione. "And Mad-Eye Moody," added Ron sourly. "Right, but that wasn't really Mad-Eye Moody," said Harry, "you know that was Barty Crouch. Besides, what about Hagrid, or Madam Maxime, or..." "All right! We'll call it even for now, but if that Anderson woman turns out to be a, a spy for You-Know-Who or something insane like that, I'll..." "You'll what?" said a cool voice from behind them.
Professor Anderson was standing behind Ron, dressed in black, as usual. Ron's mouth opened and closed silently, then finally, "I-I-I..." "Trying to apologize Mr. Weasley? Or perhaps trying to say 'Get away from me Death Eater'?" "S-Sorry," he said slowly, "I was..." "Don't worry about it," she said softly, "you have no reason to believe me innocent until you've seen me in action, right? I'll let you do the decision-making then." She whipped off, exiting the Great Hall, then Harry noticed that Snape got up from the staff table and followed her. "She may be a little unorthodox," said Hermione as she ate her shepherd's pie, "but at least she's very honest and fair. Can't say that about Snape." "Yeah," said Harry slowly, watching Snape leave, "fair to Gryffindors and not sweet on Slytherins. You know, I just noticed how alike the two of them are," he said, eating his treacle tart. "What do you mean?" said Ron. "They just...er, dress in black and, well, they were both you-know-what's," he said, not wanting to say Death Eaters out loud again. No one else knew about Snape being an ex-Death Eater, and Harry wasn't about to ruin it. Ron and Hermione took the hint, "Oh yeah. Except Anderson is a lot nicer," said Hermione.
"That's why I'm wondering, Hermione," said Harry, "why she would be so much nicer than Snape." "Maybe something bad happened to Anderson, but something really bad happened to Snape, and that's why he's such a git," said Ron with a shrug. "I think you're right Ron," said Harry, watching the doors to the Great Hall swing shut, "but what happened to him that was really bad?"
* * *
No one was keen to answer that question, as that would have meant asking Snape himself about a very private personal matter. Harry thought it best to just let sleeping dogs lie. Their lessons in Anderson's class got more and more interesting as the year continued on, but the question of what had happened to both Anderson and Snape was still in the back of Harry's mind. In DADA they were always kept on their toes, as Anderson would throw pop quizzes that weren't written on parchment; you'd have to cast spells five minutes after walking into the classroom, and no one ever fell asleep during class because of it. Too much interesting stuff to learn for that to happen. In Potions, however, Snape seemed just as irritable as ever, taking points from the Gryffindors whenever the opportunity presented itself. Meanwhile Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been very much enjoying DADA when there was an accident; Neville's fault, naturally. Anderson didn't take points away like Snape did whenever Neville made an error (which was often); instead she sent him up to the hospital wing to have the boils removed, and she asked Harry to stay after and help clean up.
Harry did so willingly, for staying after class meant being late for Potions; whatever time he could spend out of that class was time well spent. After he'd finished cleaning up, however, Anderson asked him to stop by after lunch, "Just to talk Potter, just to talk," she'd said. Harry had shrugged and said he'd be there; Ron and Hermione thought it was odd but Harry didn't care. "She made me miss the first half an hour of Potions; can't be all that bad," he'd said as he'd eaten. Ron had shrugged, "That's true enough mate. True enough."
Harry knocked on the door softly, "Come in Harry," said Anderson's voice. She was sitting at her desk, grading papers and drinking tea, "Sit down, please." He seated himself in a desk near hers, and she stopped what she'd been doing at looked at Harry, then smiled. "I wanted to talk to you alone for a minute. There's something I wanted to ask you." Harry shrugged, "Er, ask away." "Might I be able to use you as an example in tomorrow's lesson?" "What?" said Harry slowly. She let out a deep, heavy sigh, "So far Harry, you've been doing an excellent job in my class, especially with the current said subject matter." Harry shrugged; they'd been talking about Voldemort and Death Eaters a lot lately. "Now, while I can teach the students a lot about defending themselves against Death Eaters and Voldemort, there is one thing that they've never witnessed; rather, that I've never witnessed, and I think it would be quite educational to the students. Can you imagine what that might be?" she questioned.
He thought about it for a minute, "When Voldemort decided to kill someone, they were always dead; I'm the only to survive more than one encounter with him." "That's right Harry," she said, not looking at all embarrassed that she'd ask Harry to do something like this, "you're the Boy Who Lived." "The Boy Who Lived with the parents who died," Harry muttered bitterly. She leaned back in her chair, "Ah yes. James and Lily Potter; they were fine people, Harry. I am truly sorry you could not have grown up with them. But...but there is..." "What?" said Harry quietly. She pursed her lips softly, "He'll get his comeuppance. They always do." "Yeah, well, who are you to talk to me about my parents?" snapped Harry, surprising himself at his own daring. She raised an eyebrow, "I see. You're right, Harry; I have no right to talk to you about your parents. I understand." Harry shook his head, "I was being stupid, you didn't kill my parents, Voldemort did. Forget it; I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry about it; in a way, it is my fault," she said. "I was a Death Eater, I was in Voldemort's inner circle; but I paid for it." "You paid for it?" said Harry slowly, "I've always wanted to ask you..." he said after a minute. "Why I switched sides and became a spy?" she said, answering him. "Yes, that's it, you and Professor..." "Mm, Professor Snape," she said slowly, "yes, I can see why you'd want to know. As for what happened to him, that is completely up to him to tell you, although I do know what happened to him, it's none of my business to go around saying what. As for me, however..."
Her eyes grew far away, and for a moment Harry thought that perhaps she'd forgotten he was in the room. Finally, she spoke, "Harry, over the next several years of your life many people will tell you how sorry they are that your parents died without you knowing them. You will never know their warmth and kindness, and what sort of good people they were; at times, I'm very envious of you." Harry almost started with shock, "Envious?" "Yes Harry, envious. You see, I was nineteen when I became a Death Eater, so I had obviously grown up knowing my parents. They sent me to Hogwarts and watched me blossom into a very cunning witch; they did not know, however, that my cunning was straying into the Dark Arts. Another boy there at the school was also heavily involved with it; we both became Death Eaters and we...I laugh at it now, and I'm almost a little embarrassed to tell you that I fell in love with him. So we were both Death Eaters very happily involved in Voldemort's inner circle, but my parents, in the meantime, were both fighting Voldemort. They were both working for the Ministry, trying to defeat him; I Apparated to Voldemort one day and..."
She took a deep breath, "...they were being tortured Harry. I saw them being tortured right in front of my very own eyes with the Cruciatus Curse. Voldemort released them from the curse for a moment, and right then my mother looked at me; when she saw me, she started screaming. My father began screaming too and then Voldemort knew they were my parents; he laughed and laughed, said 'Look at those fools Sapphire, look at them scream at what their daughter has become, what fools, what sorry, sorry fools.' I felt so sick I ran as fast as I could, ran and ran and finally stopped an hour later, not even sure why I'd run away. Then I knew; I was scared, scared of what I'd become. Because then I knew that what Voldemort had done to my parents was something I'd been doing to others for years; by the time I went back to try to beg for their freedom they were already dead. After that I went straight to Dumbledore and turned myself in, and told him I'd be willing to become a spy, just as long as I did something to repay all those people I'd tortured. I felt so helpless over the next year or two; all I could do was pass along information about Voldemort and hope it was helping in some way or another. That is why I envy you; while you never knew your parents, I knew mine. They knew me. And they knew what I became.
"After Voldemort's 'defeat' I stopped wanting to have anything to do with the wizarding world; I put away all my robes, my wand, my spell books, everything and stuffed it in a trunk. I became a Muggle; and that's where I've been all these years. And now Dumbledore needs my services again," she finished quietly, then suddenly, "Harry, do not tell anyone about what I've said. I don't mind you telling Ron and Hermione, but otherwise no one. I can trust the three of you, but no one like the Malfoys or anyone in Slytherin for that matter. No one. Do you understand me?" He nodded silently, "Yes. I won't tell anyone." They sat in silence for another minute, when a question reached Harry, "Professor Anderson, who was the Death Eater that you fell in love with?" She said nothing, and instead stared at Harry with her piercing blue eyes; no wonder she'd been named Sapphire. Then it hit him like a brick wall, "Professor Snape..." She shut her eyes, "Yes."
* * *
"Oh my God, you can't be serious?" said Ron slowly after Harry had finished his story about Professor Anderson. They were all seated in the common room at eleven o'clock at night, hidden away in a corner. "So Professor Snape must be so mean and bitter because Professor Anderson left him and went into the Muggle world," said Hermione softly. Harry shrugged, "I guess so. That's the best idea I can come up with anyway; just remember guys, she's telling just the three of us and no one else, right?" Ron and Hermione nodded, "Yeah, you don't exactly go blabbing things like that now do you?" said Ron. Suddenly there was a lot of noise in the common room, "Oh no..." moaned Neville. "What's up?" said Harry, getting up to see what was wrong. Neville pointed at a notice that had just been pinned onto a wall by the Gryffindor Head Boy, "Look at that Harry. I don't know what I'm going to do..." Harry read it slowly, "Oh. Great." Hermione and Ron got up to look at it, "What's going on Harry?" said Ron, reading the notice. "Oh no..." groaned Ron, hiding his face in his hands. Hermione shrugged, "Well, I guess you two will have to find dates."
* * *
Harry pulled out his bottle green dress robes and stared at them, "I don't want to go." "Me neither," said Ron, staring at his own ugly dress robes. Due to the success of last year's Yule Ball, Dumbledore had decided on another one this year just before Christmas. Harry had worked up the courage to ask Cho Chang again, but she'd said she wasn't going after what happened last year. Harry didn't bother bugging her about it; thinking about Cedric hurt him too. So Harry was dateless, but Ron was going with Lavender Brown. Hermione had invited Viktor Krum to come up to the school for the occasion, and Dumbledore had said Krum could sleep in the boys' dormitory over Christmas vacation if he wanted to since Seamus, Neville, and Dean were all leaving for break. Harry and Ron eventually dressed in their robes, and begrudgingly went downstairs. Ron was to meet Lavender by the staircase so Harry went down to the Great Hall alone; he ended up sitting against a wall by the fruit punch, watching other people dance for the rest of the night. He finally got bored and left, leaving Ron and Hermione to their dates, and went out to the garden.
There were floating candles over the bushes, and Harry saw one or two of them rustle; 'Apparently I'm not the first out here,' he thought as he sat down on a large stone bench. He breathed in the night air and twiddled his thumbs in silence, thinking about all the things that had been happening as of late. As he took another sip of punch from the glass he'd brought out with him, he heard voices. They both sounded very familiar, then he knew; "Severus please, you flatter me too much..." "It's possible to flatter you too much? I wasn't aware of such a thing." It was Snape and Anderson, both walking out in the garden, and they were sure to spot Harry at any moment. Harry ducked behind a bush quickly before Snape could take house points away from him for "sitting too quietly" or something stupid like that. They both came round a bend in the path outside the garden and sat down on the very same bench Harry had been sitting on. "Why did you stay away for so long?" said Snape softly, not looking at Anderson. 'Oh no,' thought Harry with horror, 'this is another one of those conversations I should not be hearing.'
He tried not to listen, he honestly did, by studying the stars, staring at the bush, or trying to listen to anything that wasn't Snape and Anderson's voices talking. "I was miserable," said Anderson quietly, "you knew I was miserable. You saw it every time you looked in my eyes; it was so hard looking at another wizard and trying not to flinch, knowing what I knew then and still do now. I felt like slime on the Earth; I could never have stayed. I'm sorry for that, sorry about what I turned you into. I remember a time when you dressed in other colors besides black," she said with a sad laugh, "or when you had short hair that you washed." "Very funny," he said, "but you haven't changed for the better either. You dress in black as much as I do so I don't know why you're being particular about that." "Yeah," she said slowly, leaning her head on his shoulder, "because I left you turned into a mean, sneering, sarcastic teacher and because I didn't have you I turned into a mean, sneering, sarcastic Muggle." "But you're a teacher now," said Snape. "Yeah, so it ended up with the same effect either way," she shrugged.
Harry put his hands over his ears, now desperate not to listen to anymore; this was none of his business, and he didn't want to get involved. He stared at the two of them, only seeing their mouths move, when they both stopped talking and kissed. Harry squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to vomit; why was someone that pretty involved with someone that greasy? It made no sense. He opened one eye; they'd stopped, and he shook his head with amazement. 'He's lucky. No one I know would ever...' They both got up, and Harry assumed they were leaving so he took his hands away from his ears. Then Snape spotted Harry's cup on the bench; Harry tried not to curse, for he had left it out there. "Someone was out here before," said Snape, picking up the cup, "and I never saw anyone leave. They must still be out here." He blasted a bush out of his way to find no one there, "Potter," he said suddenly, "it's Potter." "Why do you always jump to the conclusion that Harry Potter is behind everything?" said Anderson. "Because it's a like father like son type thing," said Snape, blasting another bush, "the boy is naturally curious and gets into everything. Just like James did, the stupid..." Anderson shrugged and didn't listen to Snape, who was going on a tirade about James and Harry.
She did, however, begin looking in bushes, and was only a bush away from Harry, 'Oh no,' he thought with horror as she leaned her head into Harry's bush. He looked up at her, and her jaw dropped with surprise; then she began to shake, not with anger, but what looked like contained laughter. She pulled her head out and Harry was sure she was going to tell Snape when she picked up the cup and drained it, "This was my cup. How stupid of me; I'd forgotten I'd brought it out here," she said, crushing it with her hand. "Are you certain? Students aren't allowed to be outside what with the dance going on you know," he said, eyeing the rest of the bushes suspiciously. "No, it was mine, I'm positive, now let's go," she said, hooking one arm through his and leading him out of the garden. Harry got out of his bush slowly, watching them recede down the path when Anderson's other arm fell to her side, and she swung her hand around behind her back, unnoticeable to Snape. It was forming a thumbs-up; Harry let out a sigh of relief.
Due to Anderson's kindness, Harry had escaped.
* * *
"Man are you lucky," said Ron, amazed at Harry's escape. "You're telling me," said Harry as he ate his breakfast the following morning, "I thought I was dead for sure." Harry had told Ron and Hermione about his encounter with Anderson and Snape, but he'd left out the part about them kissing. He didn't feel like stomaching it anyway, and besides, that really wasn't anybody's business but theirs. As they ate, however, Ron and Hermione suddenly fell silent; "What's wrong?" said Harry. He turned around to see Snape standing there behind him, "Outside, Potter. Now." Harry got up slowly, and Ron gave him a look that said, 'Nice knowing you.' Harry trudged out of the Great Hall, sure he was to be killed, and Snape shut the doors to the entrance hall. They were now completely alone for the moment, "I know that was you last night Potter," snarled Snape the moment the doors had been shut. Harry shrugged, "Last night where? At the ball? Yeah that was me." "Don't play stupid," he snapped, "you were outside listening to our conversation last night weren't you? Little eavesdropper, I know it was you." Harry tried not to look guilty and didn't say anything; just then, however, Professor Anderson came around the corner, "Harry! Oh good, I was just looking for you," she said calmly. "I need to borrow Mr. Potter for a few minutes Severus, think you can spare him?" Snape glared at Harry evilly, "We were in the middle of a discussion about last night."
"Last night? Something happen last night? Well whatever it is you can sort it out later as Potter is going to help me in class today," said Anderson, cool as you please, "but you can have him back in a few minutes." Anderson led Harry away, leaving Snape seething with rage. She wheeled Harry into an empty classroom and shut the door, "We need to have a little talk," she said, sitting down at the empty teacher's desk. Harry sat down in a student desk, "Yeah, sure." "Now," she began, "I know that it's against the rules for a student to be out of the Great Hall during a ball, but students typically do it anyway when they want to go have a little make session in the bushes. Now don't look at me like that, you know students do it. However, I didn't see anyone with you last night while you were hiding in that bush; I can assume we came upon you while you were out thinking and you hopped into a bush as a last minute plan." Harry was dazzled she'd figured all of this out so quickly, "Er, yes, sort of." She smiled, "I see. Despite what happened, however, you were breaking school rules, and also I do believe you heard some of our conversation. I would like to know how much." Harry buried his face in his hands, burning with embarrassment, "Almost all of it," he groaned.
"Mm," she said quietly, "up to what point?" "Right up to when you were both talking about how sarcastic and sneering you had both become. And that you were both teachers; don't know what you meant about your being sarcastic though. You're not half as bad as Sn-...never mind," he finished hastily. "That's Professor Snape Harry, and I know what you mean," she said, "all right then; you didn't hear all that much. However..." she said, tapping her fingers on the desk softly, "...did you...see anything?" Harry hid his face again, "Yes," he moaned through his fingers, "I was plugging my ears by then I swear. If I had known you were gonna...I would have shut my eyes too." To his surprise she laughed, "Harry, when you're as old as I am you'll realize things like that simply aren't embarrassing anymore. Trust me. You can go to class now." "Er, I'm not going to be punished?" he said slowly. "Not unless you want to be," she grinned. He leapt out of his seat, "I have to be off to Herbology," he said hastily. "Good Harry," she replied, "good."
* * *
Harry told Ron and Hermione about what had happened while they were working on their puffapod, and Ron was amazed, "Not only did you get away from Snape, but you got away without a punishment. That's a record." "I'm more worried about Professor Anderson," said Hermione, "I mean sure she's a fantastic teacher and all that, but she can't just let students get away with everything without a punishment. It's not right." Ron dropped his shears, "What?!"
* * *
First match of the season was Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, and Harry felt fairly confident about it. After all, he hadn't failed to catch the Snitch yet; or at least, that was, whenever he was conscious during the games. Harry sped over the pitch on his Firebolt, happy as could be now that he was on his broom, and waited for the Snitch to be released. Madam Hooch blew her whistle and the balls were released; Harry saw a glint of gold lurking near Fred Weasley's torso and went for it. He caught it easily; the game ended in a record six seconds. "Unbelievable!" boomed Lee Jordan's voice, "Gryffindor Seeker Harry Potter has caught the Snitch in record time! I haven't heard of this happening since Charlie Weasley was on the team!"
Harry got a large round of hugs from the team, (and a few kisses from Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, which greatly embarrassed him,) and soon he was dressing out in the locker room. He was the only one there since everyone else had gone straight to the Gryffindor common room to have a large party in honor of their spectacular win. Just as Harry finished putting away his shin guards, however, he felt his scar twang with pain. He rubbed it irritably; it wasn't hurting as bad as it sometimes did, but it still hurt...a lot. He shook his head, trying to make the pain go away, but instead of subsiding it grew stronger, and soon Harry found himself lying on the floor clutching his forehead.
"So she teaches at Hogwarts now? And alongside Snape, of all people...interesting news, but not interesting enough to keep her alive for much longer. After what she's done there will be no remorse, and if Snape gets in the way I will not grant him refuge either. Yes, Wormtail, it was wise of you to bring me this information. Very wise indeed..."
* * *
Harry was running through the Hogwarts hallways; running as fast as he could, trying to ignore the stabbing pains in his side from how far he'd gone. Finally he was at Anderson's classroom, and he knocked rapidly on it; "Professor Anderson?!" he shouted. A minute later she appeared at the door, "Harry! What's wrong?" Harry looked up and down the hallway nervously, then said, "It's Voldemort." She pushed him inside the classroom quickly and sat him down in a desk; Harry was grateful as he was still trying to catch his breath. "All right, now you might want to explain this a little bit," said Anderson, sitting down next to him. Harry sucked in more air, then began, "My scar isn't an ordinary scar, right? Well, whenever Voldemort is feeling really hateful it begins to hurt, and sometimes I see or hear things that he's saying or doing." He took another deep breath; finally his heart was beginning to slow, "Just now while I was getting dressed in the locker room it started hurting again, and I heard Voldemort talking about...well, I mean, there's no saying he meant...but it sounded like he was talking about you." Anderson said nothing for a minute, then, "Go on."
Harry felt downcast, "He said he was going to kill you sometime soon, and that if Snape got in the way...he'd be dead too." Anderson gave no sign of any true fear up until Harry said that Snape would die as well, then she flinched. "Is there anything else that you heard, Harry?" she said finally. "Just Wormtail...er, Peter Pettigrew, he's still out getting him information. He said that Wormtail brought the information to him, so he's still alive and well somewhere..." They both sat in silence for a minute, then Anderson said, "Harry, why don't you get on up to your dorm, all right? I know they're up there having a big party for their win, and it wouldn't be much without their star Seeker." Harry shrugged, "Yeah, I guess so...but you'll be okay, won't you? I mean, shouldn't we tell Dumbledore about this?" She smiled warmly at him, "Don't worry about it Harry; I'll tell him myself, and I will also tell Professor Snape about it as well. Thank you for telling me Harry; I really do appreciate it." He got up slowly and walked to the door, then turned back one last time, "Professor Anderson?"
"Yes Harry?"
"You know how I feel about Professor Snape."
"Yes Harry, yes I do."
"Well...for your sake, I hope nothing happens to him. Even though I don't like him and he doesn't like me..."
"You still respect him."
"Well, yeah, sort of."
"It's a gift he's had all his life Harry; trust me."
* * *
Snape sat silently at his desk in his private chambers, head in his hands, elbows propped up on the desk. Ever since Dumbledore had asked him to get Sapphire, to have her teach at Hogwarts...well, he'd been doing quite a lot of thinking. Once, a long time ago, he was a completely normal human being, not the sarcastic shell of a man he was now. 'And Voldemort did this to me,' he thought bitterly, 'completely destroyed my life and Sapphire's. I'll get him back for this somehow, if it's the last thing I ever do I'll get him back for all the time I lost because of him and his stupid Death Eaters and his stupid ego trips...' The idea of just him alone killing Voldemort was almost laughable, except he didn't quite remember how to laugh.
He stared down at a picture on his desk; it was the last time he and Sapphire had been happy together, so it was taken at least fifteen years ago. The two were both shoving each other playfully in the picture, both smiling and laughing...nowadays it hurt to smile because he rarely used those muscles in his jaw except to sneer at students. Then his thoughts returned to the situation at hand; what was he going to do now? If Voldemort found out that Sapphire was working at Hogwarts he'd probably have her killed in a day, and he couldn't risk that. If he lost her one more time it'd probably kill him.
A knock sounded on his door, "Come in," he said after a minute. Sapphire entered, "Severus, we need to talk." "About what?" he grumbled. "Potter just came to me with a story about Voldemort. He said that Voldemort knows I'm here, and that he's going to kill me sometime soon." Severus felt his blood turn to ice, "Really?" "Yes, and he says Peter Pettigrew is the one that passed him the information. I'm willing to trust Potter's judgment on this because I've heard the stories about his scar before; he says it started hurting down in the locker room when he heard Voldemort talking to Pettigrew." Pettigrew! If only it had been Black...oh how he had hated Sirius Black in his days at Hogwarts... "What's to say the boy wasn't just having a nightmare?" said Severus, hoping that maybe it was true. "That'd be one hell of a nightmare and you know it," said Sapphire, "besides, Potter is typically right about these things, so..." she fell silent. Severus said nothing, and finally Sapphire turned to the door, "I've got to see Dumbledore."
He remained silent as she left, all the while wishing he could have said exactly what he was thinking.
* * *
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were eating in the Great Hall, discussing school, Quidditch, and the like when the doors burst open and Dumbledore came running in, surprisingly fast for such an elderly age. "Everyone is to follow the prefects to their house dormitories!" shouted Dumbledore as he ran to the High Table, "And you will kindly do so in a quick, orderly fashion!" Everyone immediately stood up and followed the prefects, most of the students very alarmed at Dumbledore's mannerisms. Harry, Ron, and Hermione in particular were concerned, but followed at the tail end of the group of Gryffindors, trying to get a glimpse of what was happening at the High Table. It was just as they passed the doors that Harry felt his head split with searing, white-hot pain, and he fell against the doors. "Harry! Harry what's wrong?!" said Ron, both he and Hermione trying to steady him. Harry couldn't answer, for the pain was far too blinding; then he saw a vision.
Cold, iron gray clouds swirled in the sky, and rain began to pour down. Voldemort, however, was not undaunted, and clutched her throat gleefully, "If only you knew what awaits you," he hissed, his red snake-like eyes alive with fire, "you'd ask me to kill you right now."
"NOOO!" screamed Harry, arms flailing wildly, "PROFESSOR! NO! DON'T TOUCH HER YOU MANIAC!" "Harry! Harry stop it!" moaned Hermione, now on the verge of hysterics at seeing her best friend in such a mad state. Then, just as suddenly as it had come on, it stopped; the pain was only a memory, and the vision faded. Harry opened one eye, then the other; he was still alive, still in the Great Hall, and Ron and Hermione were looking at him with the utmost concern. Dumbledore, Snape, Flitwick, and McGonagall came running toward them, but only Dumbledore and Snape stopped to see what was wrong. Flitwick and McGonagall, it seemed, were on some sort of mission within the school. "Harry!" said Dumbledore, "What did you see? What happened?!" Harry couldn't even describe it, and all he could muster was, "He's going to kill her." Snape froze but said nothing, and Dumbledore's eyes were lit with an intense fire, "Do you know where they are?" Harry shook his head, "No, all I could see was...but that can't be possible. How could he be in the Forbidden Forest? He's too afraid to come anywhere near you or Hogwarts!"
Dumbledore's face contorted with anger, "He wouldn't be afraid if he had gotten stronger. The three of you go to your dormitory quickly!" He and Snape left, and the three of them watched as they sprinted out the entry hall. "And do not go adventuring tonight, Harry!" shouted Dumbledore over his shoulder, "Stay far away from the Forest and keep to your room!" Then they were gone, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were left helplessly inside Hogwarts.
* * *
They returned to the Gryffindor common room moments later, and everyone else looked at them with curiosity, yet said nothing. The three sat down glumly in the big red armchairs, when Harry was hit with a question, "Why was Dumbledore so frantic to get in the Great Hall in the first place?" Ron and Hermione shrugged, "Maybe he realized Anderson was missing but he didn't know for sure," said Hermione. "But how would he know?" asked Harry, "It's not like you leave a sign that says, 'Kidnapped, back around tea time.'" To that question none of them had an answer, but then Harry came up with a plan, "Look, he said we have to stay inside Hogwarts right? Well while we're stuck in here we might as well check out Anderson's room to see if anything's wrong." "Yeah, but how will we get down there without getting caught by Filch?" said Ron. Harry shrugged, "I think it's time we pulled out my Invisibility Cloak."
The three of them went up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, but then Harry stopped, "Hey, what's that?" he asked. Something was nailed to the door; a piece of parchment with writing on it. "Lumos!" said Harry, now able to see the parchment in his wandlight. It was the Dark Mark, slapped across the parchment in vivid, bright green paint; "Whose idea of a sick joke was this?" said Ron. "I don't know," said Harry slowly, reaching out to touch it. "Wait Harry! Don't touch-!" but Hermione was too late. The world spun about Harry, and he knew too late what Hermione was trying to tell him; the parchment was a portkey.
* * *
Harry landed with a thump on soft, wet ground; he looked up to see dark, swirling clouds above him, and then he knew he was in the Forbidden Forest. Suddenly a hand was about his throat, and he was being choked; he flailed his arms frantically, but then the other hand came round to pin his arms to his side. "Harry Potter," said a familiar, cold voice in his ear, "we meet again." Harry felt his blood go icy cold as he was dragged to a small clearing, then released; Voldemort cast some sort of spell, and ropes appeared and snapped around him. Harry was far too tightly bound to do anything, much less get to his wand, so he simply stood there, staring at Voldemort with pure hatred. Then he realized that he wasn't alone; he heard a soft rustling sound next to him and saw Professor Anderson, beaten and cold, trying to move while sprawled out on the ground facedown. "Perhaps we could make do with a little light," said Voldemort with a sneer, stamping his foot on the ground once. A large crack appeared and soon it had completely split the ground, and flames erupted from it, "Nothing better than a roaring fire on a cold, rainy night eh Potter?" he hissed with glee.
Harry felt himself shaking with anger, and he spat at Voldemort. He stared at Harry venomously, then spoke; "I suppose, Potter, that you think you will evade me again as you did last year after the Tri-Wizard Tournament. But not this time, I'm afraid," he said, walking around Harry in a circle, "because you see, I don't plan on you surviving the next five minutes of your life, much less the next five years as I'm sure Dumbledore would love to see. No, you and Sapphire, my ex-Death Eater, will both be dead within the next few minutes. But who to start with first? I've already beaten Sapphire severely, but...we'll start with her anyway." "NO!" shouted Harry, "Take me first!" "Oh? Selfless, brave Harry Potter...mm, your parents' courage precedes you." 'Keep talking, keep talking,' thought Harry, hoping to stall for time; perhaps Dumbledore or Snape would be able to get here before either of them were killed. "But I don't know, it seems that you wouldn't like to see Sapphire suffer, so I think I'll do it anyway," said Voldemort curtly, turning his wand on her.
* * *
Snape and Dumbledore froze; a scream was piercing the air, and they both looked at each other; it sounded like a woman's. Immediately they both ran toward it when it was cut off abruptly, sending shivers down Snape's spine; 'Let her be alive, please, please,' he thought. Branches and limbs slapped at his face angrily, and brambles caught their feet, yet still they continued to run as fast as possible; "Don't do anything rash, Severus!" shouted Dumbledore as they came upon a lit clearing.
* * *
Harry's ropes snapped; 'Yes!' he thought happily. For at least five minutes he'd been cutting the ropes with a rock he'd picked up off the ground when Voldemort had had his back turned, still torturing Professor Anderson. Just then, however, he saw Snape and Dumbledore come charging out of the Forbidden Forest. Snape didn't even think; he threw himself at Voldemort full power and Harry watched in horror as they tumbled toward the fiery pit Voldemort had created. Thoughtlessly, Harry dashed to the both of them and threw his weight against them; instead of stopping them from falling completely into the pit, however, now they were hanging off the edge, using exposed tree roots like ropes. Harry searched for his wand with one hand, but couldn't find it; he must have lost it earlier. Snape, in the meantime, was having a very rough job trying to kick Voldemort off of him; the monster was desperately clinging to Snape's black robes, and trying to climb up him to the safety of the ground. Snape swung violently, keeping him far from the earth, and Voldemort let out a screech of rage, "Damn you Snape! You'll pay for this!"
Suddenly Snape and Harry's eyes met for a minute, then Harry knew, "NO!" he screamed in horror as Snape let go of his tree root. Harry watched as the two of them tumbled down and down into the depths, then he saw Voldemort pull out his wand; he was aiming for Harry. "ACCIO WAND!" shouted Harry. The wand slipped from Voldemort's fingers and his eyes widened in horror as he realized his doom. Harry, in the meantime, caught the wand and aimed at Snape, "WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" Snape stopped falling, and instead was hovering in midair; Harry watched as Voldemort continued to fall until he was completely enveloped in flames; gone forever. Harry began to use the Levitation Charm to bring Snape back up to Harry's own level, but then he felt the spell beginning to slip; he'd never learned how to levitate people, and now...
The charm broke and Snape fell, but Harry threw out a hand and grabbed him by the back of his robes, "Gotcha!" he shouted happily. Snape put a hand on Harry's shoulder and grabbed another tree root, "This is one of those rare times where I'll complement you," he gasped as he pulled himself up. Harry followed, and soon they were both standing on the surface, "Yeah?" Snape brushed some black hair out of his eyes, "For sheer dumb luck." Harry rolled his eyes, still gasping, "Whatever," and the two of them walked over to Dumbledore, who was treating Sapphire. She was badly bruised, beaten, and hurt from Voldemort's excessive use of the Cruciatus Curse, but otherwise she'd be all right. Dumbledore looked up at Snape and Harry, "I thought I told you to stay in your dormitory," said Dumbledore sternly. Harry shrugged, "I didn't know the parchment tacked on my door was a portkey to Voldemort. Sue me."
Snape, in the meantime, sat down next to Sapphire and put two protective arms around her, "You all right?" She laughed weakly, "Me? I'm fine. You're the person everyone should be worried about."
"How did you figure that?"
"Dunno. Maybe what with you willing to die just so Voldemort never comes back. I saw what you did back there; you were willing to die for a cause. Never knew you had it in you."
"Well it wasn't that big of a deal."
"Not that big of a deal?! If you had died I probably would have thrown myself in after you; almost did, actually, but then Harry..."
"Saved my life."
"Yeah. Now you're both equal."
He smirked, "Something like that."
* * *
The school year ended a month later, and Harry was, as usual, sad to leave the castle. He was also sad for another reason; it appeared that Snape was lightening up quite a bit, which was most surprising indeed to the students, and he didn't want to leave him behind to come back the next year to find an extremely unhappy Potions Master all over again. What had cheered him up, no one could say, but Harry had an idea; he and Professor Anderson both seemed to be quite happy, which is why he wasn't very surprised when Dumbledore made an announcement in the Great Hall that made everyone gasp. "Another school year come and gone," he said sadly, "but now we have a nice, long summer to get our heads emptied once again! I hope all of you enjoy your summer holidays as much as ever; but before you depart, there is one more announcement I would like to make." A few of the students perked up; Dumbledore typically made only one announcement at the end of each year.
"I'm very, very pleased to announce that Professor Snape..."
Ron's jaw dropped, "He's not going to say...?"
"...And Professor Anderson..."
"No way!" said Hermione weakly.
"...Are getting married this summer!" finished Dumbledore.
Harry immediately stood up and clapped, and slowly, every dazed student in the hall followed his gestures. Snape looked a little sour at having his matrimonial state projected to everyone but Anderson was smiling; Harry was actually very happy, for the first time in his life, for both of them. "I can't believe this!" cried Ron amidst the confused applause. "Yeah!" said Dean Thomas, "Someone as pretty as her involved with someone like him!" Harry tried not to laugh, "Sometimes, Dean, we can see things inside someone that no one else can." Hermione eyed Harry suspiciously but only said, "I think you're right."
* * *
Harry was slowly pulling his trunk across the entry hall; he was sure to miss the Hogwarts Express at this rate, and he finally gave up, sitting down on his trunk. "Being stuck here isn't so bad though; after all, it is Hogwarts," he said wistfully. "Problem, Harry?" said a familiar voice from behind. He turned, "Oh hi Professor Anderson. Um, sort of; see I kind of forgot a few things and in the process, well...I've missed the train because it took so long to heft it all down there. Now I'm stuck at Hogwarts with all my things; personally I don't think that's a bad thing because it means no Dursleys, but Dumbledore would probably disapprove." "On the contrary," said Anderson, producing a sheet of parchment from her robes, "read this Harry."
Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Sirius Black, legal guardian, hereby give permission to Harry Potter to spend any vacations/holidays at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry should he desire it so.
"Excellent!" exclaimed Harry, "This is so great! When did he sign this?" "A few minutes ago when I mentioned that you might rather stay here than with the Dursleys," said Anderson with a shrug. He smiled, "Thanks. I really appreciate it." He got up and began to lug his trunk up the stairs when Anderson said, "How about I just use a Levitation Charm to get that thing up to your dormitory instead of doing it the old fashioned way?" He shrugged, "Okay, thanks." As they went up the stairs, Anderson waving her wand silently, moving the trunk along slowly, they talked about several things. Anderson was keen on what Harry wanted to do once he left school, and for that he really had no answer; "I was thinking about maybe becoming an Auror. Or maybe just playing on a Quidditch team." "Mm, that talent definitely runs in your family," said Anderson knowingly as the trunk drifted down the hall toward the Fat Lady.
Eventually they stopped and Anderson let the trunk fall; "This is where I leave you young Harry Potter," she said. "My best regards to you, and I hope you enjoy your well-deserved and Voldemort-free summer." He laughed, "I hope so." Then he felt a dark cloud at the back of his mind, "Professor Anderson...can Voldemort ever come back again?" She leaned against a wall, "Good question Harry; that I do not know, but I do not believe he can. Let us hope so, at least." Just then a pair of footfalls resounded from down the hall, and Harry saw a tall, handsome man dressed in Muggle clothes that he did not know walking toward them. "Hello Potter," he said stiffly, taking Anderson's hand in his. "Sorry, do I know you?" said Harry. Anderson laughed, "Of course you know him Harry! This is Professor Snape!" Harry felt his jaw drop and he shook his head rapidly, "No it isn't." "Bloody hell, don't tell me I'm going to be putting up with reactions like that all school year," said Snape irritably. Harry was more than amazed; he was stupefied. Snape's hair wasn't long and greasy anymore; it was short and clean, and he'd never seen anything like that before. It even looked as if he'd tanned a little bit; he wasn't so pale and sallow anymore, and he wasn't dressed all in black. He looked...well...normal.
"What..." said Harry slowly, "...what, what happened to you?" Anderson chuckled lightly, "This is what he used to look like." Harry's brain was blown, "Then why the hell did you choose to look like a greasy-haired weirdo when you can look like that?!" Snape's temper flared, "Watch your language Potter. Due to the fact that the school year is already done with I can't deduct house points from you, but I can still deliver a harsh..." "Don't even say it," said Anderson. "Look, I'm sorry if I came off astounded," said Harry, "but consider the difference for yourself. I'm just not used to it, right?" Snape was still glaring at him, "Just shut up, Potter. Just shut up." "Oh would you both just act civilized? I mean really, this has gone on for long enough!" said Anderson. "He started it," Harry and Snape said in unison. Harry shuffled his feet quietly, then, "Well...I guess I'll just leave it at that then. I've got to get back to the dormitory, but thanks for everything though." Anderson smiled, "No trouble at all." Harry said the password to the Fat Lady then began hefting his trunk into the common room; then he stopped and watched Anderson and Snape walk down the hall.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Yes?" said Anderson, looking back. "Congratulations," said Harry finally. Snape and Anderson looked at each other; "Thanks Harry," said Anderson, "enjoy your summer." He waved at them but only Anderson waved back; Snape simply frowned at him and the two of them walked down the corridor and out of sight.
* * *
Harry sat down on his bed and wiped some sweat off his forehead; he'd just finished lugging his heavy trunk all the way up the stairs, and now all he wanted to do was sit back and relax, but then the fireplace started to glow green. He watched with curiosity as a familiar body spun out of it, and soon Sirius Black was standing in front of him, dusting ash off himself. "Sirius!" said Harry happily, hugging him quickly around the middle. "Hi Harry; listen, I've got a surprise for you," he said eagerly. "What is it?" said Harry. He grinned, "Shut your eyes." Harry closed his eyes and felt himself being pushed along in his room toward the fireplace; Sirius stepped in beside him, Floo Powder already thrown in, and shouted, "713 North Hogsmeade!"
A minute later Sirius said, "You can open your eyes now." Harry opened them to see a house that wasn't more than a mile from central Hogsmeade; "Cool! Whose is it?" "It's yours and mine, Harry; my name has been cleared. I can live out in the open and you can come with me, if you like." Harry turned to Sirius, "Of course I'll live with you! I like Hogwarts but...there's no family around." "Thought you might say that," said Sirius knowingly, "so let's go get your trunk, shall we? If you want, we can just walk back to Hogwarts since it's only a mile or so; be a good stretch of the legs."
So they walked all the way back to Hogwarts, but as they did, Harry asked to stop at some unknown location inside the Forbidden Forest. "What for?" asked Sirius as they trekked through the brush. "I just wanna check something," said Harry as they reached the clearing that Voldemort had been defeated at. Sirius already knew the whole story from Dumbledore, and expected to see nothing more than a regular field; "The Headmaster said he'd closed up the crack in the ground after Voldemort had fallen into it," he said. Harry stopped dead, staring down, "I hope he told you wrong." A large, dark crack had split across the ground; nothing could be seen inside it, and there was no telling as to what had cracked it open again. "How did it reopen?" said Sirius softly. Harry beat a fist into a nearby tree angrily, "He's still alive." Sirius shook his head, "Harry, you don't know that." Just then, however, Harry felt a twanging pain in his scar, and he looked back at his godfather.
"Yes I do."
~The End~