I own nothing! I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters! I just own the Snape family members (except for Severus, of course), and the other OC's.


It was August First, and 12 Grimmauld Place was filled to the brim with members of the Order of the Phoenix at Dumbledore's request. Dumbledore had arrived at soon after the others, and Severus had been forced to tell Harry to Floo back to there after a confirmation of Sirius' will. Harry arrived, and Kiru followed moments after with a shudder. They joined the meeting, much to Molly's chagrin, as Dumbledore was away with Harry in his former bedroom to discuss Sirius.

"You guys can keep it," Harry said dejectedly as Dumbledore brought up 12 Grimmauld Place. "It hurts too much to go there."

"By inheriting the house, you also inherit," Dumbledore said, and Sirius' house elf appeared with a resounding crack, "Kreacher."

"Kreacher won't, he would rather work for Mrs. Malfoy, oh yes," Kreacher yelled.

"If you can give him an order that means that he will belong to you," Dumbledore yelled over the house elf's yelling. "Go on."

"Kreacher won't! Won't! WON'T!" he was now screaming at the top of his lungs, startling the other members of the Order, with one black-clad exception. Surprisingly, he could be heard through the fire connection that Kiru has set up.

"Kreacher, SHUT UP!" Harry bellowed, and the elf threw himself into a thrashing yet silent tantrum. "I guess that means that I own Sirius' house now."

"Yes, my dear boy, you do," Dumbledore said calmly. "Might I recommend sending Kreacher to the kitchens at Hogwarts? A number of the teachers that own house elves do just that, my boy."

"Er, yeah, why don't you go to the Hogwarts kitchens, Kreacher," Harry said just before the elf gave him a look of pure hatred and disappeared with another pop. "Finally he shuts up. Is there anything else, Professor?"

"How are your Occlumency skills doing, Harry?" he asked, and Harry shrugged.

"Professor Snape's helping me out with it, and has been giving me piece-by-piece practice again. I've been getting much better now that the summer's here and I can properly focus on it," Harry reported, not sure if this was a good or bad occurrence. "Of course, Kiru and my parents are also helping me out a little whenever I feel that it's you-know-who trying to get in."

"Good, that's good," Dumbledore said half-heartedly. It was very good that Harry had picked it up since it would be vital to Severus' life that Harry's life be kept as far away from Severus' as possible in each other's minds. "Now, since teens joining the meetings are up to their guardians, you and Kiru are permitted to join. Kiru is training to take Severus' side in his role in the Order, and I suggest that you begin training for your own role."

"Right, as the world's savior," Harry said sarcastically, and the headmaster chuckled. "It's stupid how everyone just thinks that I'm some all-powerful being just because I defeated Voldemort when I was an infant."

"Fame is often a double edged sword," Dumbledore agreed as they walked into the meeting, where the others were now discussing Kiru's role in the order. "She is joining the Order and has already taken the oaths. It is up to Severus on whether or not she will be getting any assignments since he is her father and legal guardian."

"This is an outrage, Albus!" Molly Weasley screamed out, and Kiru and Harry slumped down in their chairs as the adults all went back to arguing over whether kids that have taken their OWL's should be permitted to join the order or not if they aren't of age.

Naturally, Kiru didn't care at all since she was more worried about Draco's role in the war. She knew that Voldemort wanted her as a spy to create havoc on the Death Eaters and Hogwarts alike. She also knew that he wanted her to live up to her father's example in Potions and spells, so she'd been practicing like a madwoman all during summer break. This meant that she hadn't gotten a summer break at all, in a way. Voldemort seemed to have a way of making that happen every year, no matter what.

Kiru, however, didn't give a monkey's uncle about what he wanted and had made her views clear to the snake-user: Leave me out of this until I'm done with school so I can study and get stronger like you want me to so badly. The Weasley children, Hermione, and Neville were now upstairs no doubt trying to listen in to the meeting. The arguing continued, with her mother staying out of it silently as the members of the Order began arguing about who they wanted to kill or wanted who not to get killed.

"All this talk of blood and slaying has put me off my tea."

"Well, the entire world is falling to ruin. And, poor Chessie is off her…tea," Severus drawled with a roll of his black eyes.

"What happened that day was not my fault," she retorted, and the entire room became suddenly quiet as Severus darkly stood up.

"Oh dear," Harry murmured quietly as he shrank back into his chair to hide.

"You're an out an end to save your own skin, you gutless Scottish piligering, (it'll show up eventually)-!" Severus began darkly and quietly, raising his voice to the point that the students upstairs could hear him loud and clearly.

"Father!" Kiru cut him off, and he immediately stopped short.

"Thank you," Severus hissed.

"Ooh, meow," Harry smirked.

"I'm fine," Snape snapped.

"What's wrong with you, Severus? You used to be the light of the party! You used to do the best Fudderwacken in all of Slytherin!" Chessie smirked.

"Fudder-what?" Tonks asked curiously.

"Fudderwacken!" Harry grinned stupidly as he stood up.

"It's a dance," Kiru explained as Harry started dancing, which the others were warily staring at him wondering if he'd finally gone off his rocker.

"On the day that the Dark Lord is properly and fully vanquished, with Potter wearing the victory crown, I shall Fudderwacken vigorously," Snape said with a smirk as he stalked around the room, growling out this last word and Harry and Kiru laughed maniacally.

"Okay, then," Lupin said warily, his left eyebrow twitching nervously. "Normally I would question one's sanity, but if Harry knows what the hell you're talking about, then okay, have fun with that, just don't bring me into the mess. Molly, Arthur, what are you going to do with the kids during the mission?"

"One of the twins will watch them," Arthur said immediately, also desperate for a change of subject.

"With any luck, your other sons will show up, too," Kiru muttered as her father sat back down. "So, what'll happen if you don't come back in a couple days?"

"Well," Molly fretted. "I don't know. We – we aren't usually assigned tasks that we can't complete, Kiru, dear."

"Don't call me dear," Kiru snapped.

"We will take them in, I suppose," Severus reluctantly relented after a warning and commanding glare from Chessie. "However, they will be taught by my rules and my house regulations during their stay."

"Will you? Oh, thank you so much, Severus!" Molly gasped. "I know you still hate us for what we did, but we were wrong, and…"

"Under the Imperius curse, I know," Severus snarled as he stood up. "Now if you don't mind, I have infants to get back to, unlike the vast majority of you. Potter, Kiru, Chessie, we're leaving!"

"Yosh," they grinned as he swept away with his black cloak still billowing. "I can see why he's called the dungeon bat," the two students whispered in unison before chuckling and giggling.

The next day, Molly and Arthur still hadn't come home. Charlie was pacing in the Burrow's kitchen, with Percy shooting daggers at him. The latter had rushed over to the Burrow as soon as his father had asked off of work, with the former rushing over as soon as Severus had fire called him with the news of his parents' recent mission. Bill was still at Gringotts, and was content staying there as his fiancée, Fleur Delacour from the Triwizard Tournament, worked on her English. Ginny was still upset all during the summer, not in the least bit happy about having to spend her summer first with first Percy, now her dreaded Potions Master, which, rumor had it, wasn't really so scary after all.

It didn't come as a surprise to anyone, however, when Snape mysteriously vanished with his heiress two days after the Weasley family had decided to show up at Privet Drive. Yet again, Kiru's familiar had been so ruthlessly killed by her History of Magic teacher, only this time with the killing curse and the witch hadn't gone to Azkaban since she thought she was in danger from Noki. Kiru was so distraught that she buried herself in work this summer, and was almost never talking and hardly eating at all, with just enough to survive. Severus had had enough of his child's depression and took her to London for a trip in Diagon Alley to go sight-seeing before the school year started. For reasons he couldn't fathom, he felt himself drawn towards the London cathedral of Notre Dame.

He sighed, unsure of what lie ahead, but took her anyways. It was truly a sight to behold, that was for sure, but he hadn't the faintest idea as to why he kept getting the feeling that he should go to the top with his oldest child and only Musiclancer to be born within the Century that used their powers. Once there, however, he immediately understood as he saw a mass of ravens, one with a nest of hatchlings that had been abandoned. Two of the tiny birds had already been taken in, but the oldest of the black bird orphans had begun to fly, and shakily flew up onto Kiru's shoulder.

They gasped, knowing that having a raven for a familiar was an extremely rare gift, just as it was for the basilisk. Normally the basilisk would be the familiar of the witch or wizard who hatched it alongside said human's posterity, and Kiru's was no exception. They knew, however, that once a raven had decided on a witch or wizard to be a familiar for, they were there to stay forever more. What startled Kiru the most wasn't having a raven for a familiar – she felt a tug towards the basilisk, but she'd suspected it was because of her lineage, and not the real reason of Death. No, the real surprise was what the raven had done after it had landed on Kiru's shoulder.

"Holy Salazar Slytherin!" Kiru had yelled in fright at the bird landing on her, and it had mimicked her perfectly down to her somewhat Japanese accent. Her eyes widened, and Severus' own narrowed in amusement at the small bird. If any familiar was able to get her to say something disrespectful about her ancestor, it would no doubt be able to cheer her up with its cheek and insane ideas, no matter how much it would drive him insane.

"Skullduggery," Severus murmured. "Your name is Skullduggery, isn't it little feathered one?"

"Skullduggery," the bird agreed. "Skullduggery am I! Yoda not am I!"

"We're keeping him," Severus decided as Kiru smiled softly at the bird's antics. It had already wormed its way into her broken heart – he knew that ravens were such a rare familiar, but a very revered one that even the most foolish of teachers wouldn't attack unless they wanted a swarm of the bird's kindred eating their food and livers for the rest of their natural human life. This bird was most likely the safest familiar for Kiru's unlucky streak of three dead at her History teachers' hands.

"Papa, will he – will he get hurt like the others?" Kiru asked as they made their way back home.

"No, dearest princess," Severus smirked. "Ravens are very wise and can sense ill intentions, I believe, and this new familiar is agile and at his wits. No, Skullduggery will be just fine, dear one. Winky, bring this raven back to our house and make sure he has a comfortable home!"

"Yes, master," the female elf said as she appeared with a loud crack, gently took hold of the raven fledgling, and disappeared with another pop.

"Now, child, your hand," Severus ordered, and Kiru happily took her father's hand so that she could get home and tell the others about her new familiar and his abilities.


Okay, so a third one was killed, and Kiru is yet again getting a replacement familiar, but this time it won't get killed, I promise.

Reviews are very much appreciated! Please?