Aislinn's hand shook as she placed the last dove bone in the circle around her. Carefully she whispered the words that would take her away from her abusive father and hopefully to a better life.

"Brighid, Daughter of Dagda and Tuatha De Dannan, I call on thee, release me from this place. Grant me a safe me a safe haven, so that I might live again. Brighid, Goddess of the holy wells, minstrels and smiths, Patron of those who seek knowledge, I call thee. Release me from this place."

Near the end of the spell/supplication Aislinn was panting heavily as a power that was not her own swept through her. She was almost overwhelmed as she managed to choke out the last words, "Brighid, release me from this place and grant me a safe haven."

The bones and feathers that she had spent weeks collecting glowed with a burning white light. Aislinn's last sight was of her father breaking down the door. She gave him a triumphant smile as the Goddess swept her away.

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It was going to be a fairly routine meeting, Severus thought. Dumbledore would be handing out assignments, Black would be crowing about being able to leave the house, and he himself would be handing out information that might be of use to anyone while giving out snide remarks.

He glanced around the kitchen. It had improved dramatically since Miss Granger had taken Black into a separate room and yelled at him to be nice to Kreacher or else. The pans were now gleaming, the stonework had been cleaned of soot and grime and God knows what else. Severus shuddered delicately at what might have been in the dirt that coated the walls.

It was not commonly known, but Severus hated filth and dirt. He was a remarkably fastidious person; he liked everything in his surroundings clean and organized. It was one of the reasons that he had hated the Black House so vigorously. There were other reasons of course; one of the top ones was that it was a place where he was required to talk to people. He would have preferred to simply give Dumbledore the information rather than talk to a large group of people that hated him. Black and Lupin among them.

As Severus had suspected it was a fairly routine meeting. Dumbledore had made a big show of thanking him for the information [the old man was more than a little strange]. They were rising from the tables, everyone with a clear idea of what they were going to do next, when a white light started to shine from the corner of the kitchen.

Everyone whipped out their wands and pointed it toward the light as it slowly condensed into a teenage girl. Severus noticed several things about her very quickly. 1, she was wearing rather dirty clothes, 2, she had black hair, 3, her eyes were glowing with a green light, 4, and she seemed to have bones and feathers surrounding her.

Severus glanced toward Dumbledore to see what his reaction was. Seeing that the old man was just as shocked as the rest of them unnerved Severus even more. This girl was an anomaly and one of the many things that the Potions Master didn't like was anomalies.

Aislinn looked up as the light around her cleared. She was still panting, subconsciously attempting to cling to the power as it left her body. Slowly she became aware of people surrounding her. Their stances were defensive and they were pointing sticks, no, wands at her.

Aislinn smiled wearily, "Okay, it worked," she said before keeling over in a dead faint.

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The Order members stared at each other in shock. This girl had somehow made it past the protection spells, the spells against apparition, and the Fiddilius charm.

Black and Lupin, of course, where one dog goes another will follow, inched their way toward the girl. Severus understood their caution, but for crying out loud, the girl was unconscious. What threat could she be? Oh yeah, a big one.

Black bent down and felt for her pulse, "She's alive." Okay that was unnecessary, the girl visibly breathing. Gently Black turned her over. Now that the blinding light was gone it was easy to see the bruises, old and fresh that covered the girl. She had long cuts on her arms, mostly healed that were clearly defensive wounds.

Severus was familiar with all the damage that a sadistic person could do to a human body, but something about seeing such wounds on someone so young made his stomach turn. The rush of protectiveness he felt toward her shocked him. He would take the feeling and examine it later, but right now he was going to do his best to protect her. Even from the other members of the Order.

Severus brushed aside Black and Lupin, conjuring a stretcher. Carefully he eased the girl onto it. "I trust you have a bed that is safe for human beings?" he asked Black in a sarcastic tone.

As planned Black bristled at the insult. He swept up past the rest of the Order and led the way to a spare bedroom. The Order followed, Moody was looking quite twitchy. Severus knew that the aurors paranoia was catching up with him.

The Order trouped up the stairs, going quietly past Mrs. Blacks portrait. Black led them to a room with four beds that were all made up. Severus sneered at the cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. He eased the girl onto the nearest bed and looked her over more carefully.

Her hair was a deep dull black; he had a feeling that it would be shiny once clean. Her features were even and again, would be considered pretty if clean. Her clothes were in horrible condition, with tears and stains that he recognized as blood. Severus had a feeling that the blood was her own. She had multiple piercings in her ears and her mouth was slightly open, revealing a tongue piercing.

Severus moved to the head of the bed as Dumbledore pointed his wand at the girl and said "Enervate."

The girl's eyes flickered open.

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Aislinn had the feeling of swimming towards the surface of some body of water. This was absurd because she had never gone swimming in her entire life. Her eyes opened slowly. The first thing she saw was a kindly old face with half moon spectacles. Blue eyes looked at her warily. The second thing she saw was the old man's outfit. "Crap, its Gandalf," she muttered.

There was a chuckling sound from some of the people in the room. She glanced around taking in the faces around her. There was only one woman and she didn't look like the motherly type so there was no help there. She decided to focus on the old man in front of her.
The old man raised an eyebrow. "What is your name?" he asked gently.

Aislinn gave him a half smile, "Aislinn Fantano. The prenatal units were an odd mix of Irish and Spanish. Who're you?"

"Albus Dumbledore. Where are you from?"

"Inner City of Boston," Aislinn replied. "I'm guessin' that I'm in England given' your accent."She tried to sit up and fell back with a gasp. "Jeeze I feel like a cooked noodle."

A man with longish black hair and a hooked nose helped her to lean against the pillows. Amazingly he didn't take the opportunity to feel her up. A glimmer of hope stirred in her that this might be the place where she was meant to be. She smiled shyly at the man, "Thanks," she said softly.

The man gave her a small nod. Albus Dumbledore cleared his throat and asked another question, "How did you come here?"

Aislinn hung her head, "A supplication of the Goddess Brighid. I asked her to find me a safe haven. Since she dumped me here I'm guessin' this is it."

Mr. Dumbledore raised a white bushy eyebrow. "You have no knowledge of who we are?"

Aislinn shook her head, beginning to get worried. She glanced around at the wary faces of the men and the woman. They were all dressed so strangely. Did she fall into some sort of weird gang or cult? It would be just her luck. "No, I don't. Should I?"

"Have you ever heard the name Voldemort?" Mr. Dumbledore said. The others shuddered as they heard the name.

Aislinn frowned at the Latin roots behind the name. "Green Death? No, that's not it, verde is green, not volde. But still it's similar," she finally noticed that Mr. Dumbledore was looking at her expectantly. "The Latin babble means no, I've never heard that name. Kind of an oxymoronic name though. Given that green implies plants which then implies life."

A few of the men snorted. A few looked even more worried. Aislinn got more nervous as the silence stretched. She wasn't going to say anything though.

"Are you a witch?" The question came from the black haired man who had stayed near her.

Aislinn shrunk in on herself, holding her knees to her chest. She looked at the man in fear. He had been nice! He wasn't supposed to be one of those sex offender religious freaks! She bit her lip, not noticing when it started to bleed. They were all staring at her, expecting an answer. "N-no!" she stammered. "I'm not! Please, I'm not! I just use more of my brain than most people, it's not magic! Please, don't, just don't!" Aislinn began to shake. This was fast becoming the worst day of her life on what was supposed to be the best. Damn it, she couldn't even do a simple supplication right!

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Severus stared at the girl in horror. She was obviously terrified that they were going to hurt her for doing magic. Whoever she was, she had been hurt before, but for doing magic! Why hadn't the American Ministry picked her up and sent her to a safe place?

Then was she said finally clicked in his brain. She wasn't a witch; she was an earth mage or a psychic. Maybe both, probably both. But she was terrified now.

Putting aside his dislike of dirt he sat down on the bed beside her and wrapped his arms around her. Black and Lupin started forward along with Minerva, but Dumbledore waved them back. Even Moody looked sorry for the girl.

"Listen to me Aislinn. You are not in trouble. The reason I asked is that we are witches and wizards. You will never be in trouble for doing magic or whatever it is that you do. You will never be hurt here. I will not allow it." As he spoke he noticed that her shaking lessened. She gave a watery sniff and dug out a grubby handkerchief. She dabbed at her face, but only succeeded in moving the dirt around. Severus pulled out his and gently traded with her.

"Thanks," she muttered, tears still leaking from her eyes. She wiped her face and then noticed that the white linen was now filthy. "Sorry," she said, not looking at his face.

"It's quite alright," Severus replied, "that's what laundry is for."

Aislinn smiled slightly. She was worn out, both physically and mentally.

Severus looked up at Minerva, "Perhaps you could lend Aislinn a nightgown and help her into it?" Minerva nodded and conjured one of her tartan nightgowns. A sensible flannel, just like her. Dumbledore gestured everyone out of the room and Severus and Minerva helped Aislinn out of bed.

Severus left the two females to it, ignoring the sounds from behind the screen. When they were ready, he helped Aislinn to the bed. Minerva seemed quite shaken so Severus tucked the blankets around the young woman. Aislinn's eyes were already drifting closed.

Severus turned to leave but a fine boned hand stopped him. He looked down at the young woman. "What's your name?" she asked softly.

"Severus Snape," he replied.

"Thank you, Mr. Snape," Aislinn whispered as she closed her eyes.

"Call me Severus," was the last thing she heard before she drifted off.