Chapter One

Death of a Loved One

"Miss Bent! Profess—Laura! Wait!" fifteen-in-a-half-year-old Lenore Keller tripped into the hallway where she saw the red-haired potions teacher walking, the speed at which the teenager was running causing her to skid into the wall. "WAIT!" she called again, her long black hair flowing behind her and she was about to trip again when the professor looked back, a stack of papers in her hand, tears in the woman's eyes. The woman looked shocked and then frowned. All students were supposed to have left the school five minutes ago. "Thank Merlin," gasped Lenore jerking to a stop in front of the woman, gasping for breath due to the long run. "Didn't you hear me calling you?"

"If I had don't you think I would have turned around earlier, Leo?" Miss Laura Bent said kindly. "Are you all right?" there was something in her voice that unnerved the girl.

"I'm fine, just outta breath," she giggled. "I was going home but Mr. Higgins stopped me," there was a change in the potions teacher's face. "He gave me this but I don't understand why Erica would wait so long to ask to see me, my mom will get worried." Laura paled even more but Lenore didn't notice as she waved the paper in front of the redhead's face. "Do you know what this is about?"

Without even reading the note the woman nodded gravely. "Yes, Lenore."

Horror filled the young girl as she stared at her friend and mentor. "There's something wrong isn't there? And you know what it is!" she exclaimed.

"I do." Laura wouldn't meet Lenore's eyes.

"Tell me."

The potions teacher shook her head firmly, pain shining in the bright blue eyes. "Leo," the woman squeezed the dark-haired girl's shoulder gently. "Follow the instructions on the paper…if…if Erica wanted me there she would have told me she had waited this long to tell you,"

"Tell me what?" Laura shook her head and turned her back to the girl but Lenore very clearly saw the tears in the woman's eyes. "Laura!" panic had entered her voice now, the same panic that was sweeping through her body. "Please!"

Pulling something from the pocket of her jeans, Laura pressed a vial into Lenore's hands a forced smile on her lips. "Here, it's a calming draught…it won't work as well as the ones made for you but…but it will help." Lenore's long spindly fingers closed around the vial but she stared at Laura. There was something drastically wrong. "We don't want you destroying the Headprofessor's office now do we?"

"It'd be interesting." joked Lenore chewing her lip with a half smile.

Miss Bent laughed but the smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "Yes it would. Go on now," Lenore licked her lips nervously but then obeyed turning to leave. "Leo," the dark-haired girl glanced back. The woman seemed to be searching for the right words. "Don't let your anger get ahead of you," she finally said.

Frowning, Lenore nodded and she could feel Laura's eyes on her as she turned the corner towards the Headprofessor's office. She glanced down at the paper she clutched in her hand as she walked nervously. Written in the familiar Headprofessor's scroll was three sentences: Lenore, come seem me immediately. Do NOT step through to go home. The password to my office is: The Great and Powerful Oz.—E. Stevens. The frown on Lenore's lips deepened. Her heart was pounding. Something about the note made her insides turn to ice. She couldn't make sense of it. Her mother was going to be extremely worried if Lenore wasn't with the other students from the other schools (Salem's Academy of Witchcraft and the brother school Oregon's School of Wizardry.)

She turned the next corridor and stopped in front of statue of a giant head. She always found the Headprofessor amusing because of her humor and wit (students often referred to the Headprofessor as the 'Head' and that was why the statue was so amusing.) Lenore whispered the password, trying to get the enchanted piece of stone to talk. It was rumored that the stone was getting deaf because of age and she loved to have conversations with it when she could rouse it to speak.

"Eh—what was that?" the stone said gruffly. "Oh, it's you. What's the password, Ms. Keller?"

Lenore giggled. "'Ello Mr. Head. How's your day going?"

"Long and boring and I think there is a spider in my ear. What's the password?"

"The Great and Powerful Oz," She said with a smirk. The stone moved and revealed a narrow staircase to its left. She climbed in and started up the stairs. "Thanks Mr. Head." Lenore patted the stone figure's hair and the scurried up the stairs, opening the door at the top without knocking. She had been to the Headprofessor's office several times but never under 'mysterious' circumstances.

The large office was void of human life with the exception of her own. The office was familiar to her, two other doors in the room (not counting the door she just walked to). From experience, Lenore knew that one of the doors lead to another office and the other a bathroom. A large desk sat in the middle of the room with two large armchairs (a rich blue) sitting in front of it. Behind the desk was railing and a set of small stairs that lead to an immaculate library and large fireplace. The room was filled with nick-knacks and things that Lenore didn't know what were for but her favorite was the stash of vanilla cake the girl knew was in the Headprofessor's top drawer.

Lenore sat down in one of the chairs with a plop, dropping her black book-bag onto the floor. She wondered for a moment where the Headprofessor was when the door leading to the other office opened and two people came out. One was her Headprofessor Erica Stevens however the other was an old man whom she vaguely recognized from somewhere but couldn't place quite where. Their chatter stopped immediately as soon as they saw her sitting in the chair staring expectantly at them.

She jumped to her feet, her hands behind her back. She pushed the vial around in her palm slowly. She hadn't drunk it yet and wasn't going to until she found out what was going on. There was the same look in Erica's eyes that had been in Laura's, the sorrow and pity along with something else. "What's going on Headprofessor Stevens?" Lenore asked her hazel green eyes were looking the older man up and down.

When she thought the man was old she was beginning to think it was an understatement, the man looked positively ancient. He was a little taller than average with a long white beard that reached to his waistband. Half glass glasses, looking almost like a half moon, rested over his kind blue eyes that seemed to have peculiar twinkle to them. He wore a set of robes that were a periwinkle blue.

He looked very much out place next to Headprofessor Stevens. Her Headprofessor was wearing what she normally wore, a pair of black pinstripes slacks and a neatly press white shirt. Though, unlike normal, she wore a white, collared shirt with no sleeves, which revealed the tattoo of an Egyptian asp on her upper arm. Around her neck, Headprofessor Stevens had loosened her azure blue tie and it hung limply around her neck. Her long blonde hair, as usual, was pulled into a braid that snaked over her shoulders and reached her elbow and her brown eyes were tired and slightly bloodshot. Her black-rimmed glasses were on her head and her lips turned into a frown.

"Lenore," Headprofessor Stevens said, a sadden smile on her lips. She motioned her hand towards the chair that Lenore had just jumped up from as she moved behind the desk. "Please sit, my dear."

She didn't move at first, her eyes still on the old man with distrust. She knew who the man was now and it wasn't taking her ease away. She slowly took the seat offered and then snapped her attention to her Headprofessor. "What is going on? My mom is really going to worry soon." There was no response but she didn't miss the look of sorrow that flashed in Headprofessor Steven's eyes. She turned her attention to the man. "What are you doing here?"

"Lenore!" scolded Headprofessor Stevens. The teenager looked at her and then down at her blood red nails, chewing her lip to keep her temper in check. "Lenore, this is Albus Dumbledore."

Lenore looked up, her eyes connecting with the man's. "I know who he is."

"He's the headmaster of the school of magic in England." Headprofessor Stevens' voice was kind but Lenore was worried.

"The school of magic in England." She repeated with slight venom. Dumbledore nodded at her. "Hogwarts." She said the familiar name with a slight hatred that was not very becoming of her as a glare settled on her face.

"Yes." Stevens said getting the teenager's attention back on her slowly. "I assume you know of your relation that—"

"Yes, I know that the man that screwed my mother lives there." She cut off the professor's sentence. She felt her anger rise. Part of her was trying to remember to keep her temper in check but the other part of her didn't care. She hated her father and had no problem proclaiming it, no matter the company. "What of it?"

"Lenore Keller, compose yourself before you speak!" ordered the blonde.

Lenore sneered at her and looked away. "All right, the man that had sex with my mother and left her is living there. What does this have to do with anything? I've never met him, never want to meet him; in fact if I knew how, I'd curse him to burn in hell for all eternity." She knew her magic was teetering on the edge now, threatening to boil over. "My mother is going to be worried about where I am. Can we hurry it up?"

Stevens' face turned grim and the young woman looked down, pausing before she spoke. "That is one of the reasons you are here.

Fear filled her, her eyes darkening to pure brown. "What? What's wrong?"

"Your mother, Lenore," Headprofessor Stevens stopped and gathered her thoughts before rephrasing. "Lenore a little more than an hour ago your mother's body was found dead."

The blood left the girl's face faster than water would leave a broken dam. She could feel her eyes automatically change with her mood, going darker. Lenore knew the change would probably startle the old man next to her but she didn't care, her glamour never could hold her eyes in check anyways. She was shaking, not able to believe what was just told to her. "W-what did you say?"

The man answered her because Headprofessor Stevens couldn't seem to talk. "It seems that Voldemort," he paused as if he expected something to happen but neither woman did anything when they heard the name. "It seems that Voldemort became aware of your relation to—"

Lenore jumped to her feet. "So my mother was killed over it!" she cut him off, unable to hear her 'father's' name. "Why! We didn't do anything!" She whirled to face the old man. "What did he do to warrant this?"

"He angered Voldemort by failing a task and Voldemort repaid him with forcing him watch your mother's death."

Lenore's fists clenched together. The vial in her hand exploded and the shards dug into her palm. Headprofessor Stevens jumped to her feet and started shouting something as air rushed by Lenore's ears, blocking the sound. She put up a magic field around her immediately but it wasn't soon enough because several things around the room exploded before she managed to get it up. Things caught inside the shield exploded as the veins on her neck bulged and she shook with anger. How could they? Her father disowned her when he left her mother. The man hated her. He didn't even speak to them so why? WHY!

Albus watched the anger seethe through the teenage girl. He had been shocked when she first came into the room on how the mix of Stef Keller and Severus Snape had created such an interesting child. Her eyes, though hazel when they came in, changed with her mood till they were as dark as her father's. She would have made her father proud with the color she wore from head to toe.

Her hair was waist-length it was a pitch black, much like Snape's, and pulled back into a half-ponytail so the strands would stay out of her face. Her skin was a pale creamy white and her arm held tattoo of a black symbol that was written in another language. She had on a black tank-top shirt and funny looking sleeves that were almost like gloves with the fingers cut off and they didn't connect to the shirt at all. Around her wrists hung a dozen silver bracelets and a silver dragon charm hung off her neck. From her ears dangled two earrings on each ear, one an emerald green stud and the other, a dragon matching her necklace. Her pants were black and baggy, full of pockets and zippers going up and down them and she wore a pair of black combat boots.

The girl's face had a nice shape to it, not the long oval that Severus' did but she had his high cheekbones. She had gotten lucky in the nose department; even Albus had to admit that. She had inherited Stef's nose as well as the elegant looks but her father's harshness which gave her appearance a contrast. On one hand, she could deceive you by looking innocent and sweet but the moment you looked in her eyes you would see her masterfully working on some sort of plan. She wasn't gorgeous or a show-stopper by a long shot but she wasn't hideous either, merely the product of both her parents and the species of which she belonged.

She was strange, even to him but he was startled when he saw her put of the shield around her and the things inside the shield started to explode. Albus had come; expecting that the child of Stef would have more than the average magical strength but this wasn't natural. No one could put up a magical shield like that unless they were more of mix than Stef had let on… He glanced at Erica but the young headmistress, after shouting at her to put out 'her shield' looked as if it wasn't anything new. Slowly Lenore drew in deep but slow breaths, letting them out little by little, trying to calm herself. A minute later waved her hand and the shield fell. She pulled her wand out and repaired the broken items before looking back at him, blood dripping down her hand.

The girl dropped down onto the chair, her eyes now dull and lifeless for a moment. "What reason was given, if any?"

Albus frowned. Severus had been delusional when he come back that night, broken up inside when he relayed the events and had refused to tell Dumbledore why Voldemort had chosen to punish him in that way. "None, Lenore." He said quietly. "He could not speak much about the incident,"

Lenore was silent for several moment and then in the same deadpanned voice she asked quietly: "What is going to happen to me?"

"You will naturally return with me to Hogwarts."

"WHAT!"

This was what he expected, the anger at going to England. "You are to return to England with me,"

"If you think I am going to follow you like damn duckling into the hornet's nest you're one screwed up man!" Lenore exclaimed.

"Leo!" Erica scolded but the teenager could see that the blonde agreed with her.

"I'm not going to go overseas to live with my sorry excuse for a father!" the brunette shouted. "He disowned me and left my mother when she was three months pregnant! Why, of all people in this blasted world, would I go and live with a man that hates me!"

Not phased by her shouting Albus smiled calmly at her. "You may remain with me at Hogwarts if you wish, or you may live with the Order of the Phoenix until you are of age,"

"Neither." She snapped.

"Sadly that is not an option," he said firmly.

Lenore's eyes widened, a dawning realization coming over her. "You mean I don't have a choice. No matter what I have to leave the country?" she said in horror. She looked sharply at the blonde who refused to look at her. "Erica they can't! He can't! You won't let them take me! I won't go!" tears were welling up in her eyes. "Please don't make me! I can't live there! Not with him!" Panic was coursing through her. She looked back at the old man in front of her, a tear falling down her cheek. "Anywhere but with him. Please. I swear, anywhere but with him. I can't live with him."

"I'm sorry Lenore," Erica said quietly bringing the girl's attention to her. "But he has legal precedence over you" She looked down. "You can, of course, argue it," the girl's head shot up, hope filling her next to the rage and hatred. "But that would require you to be put in front of a court of law and to prove why Mr. Snape is an ineligible guardian." Lenore opened her mouth but Erica continued. "But even I have to request you not to do that,"

Betrayal hit her in a wave. "What?"

She watched her Headprofessor swallow hard, hatred shooting at the old man from both women. "America has now agree to join the war against Voldemort, behind the scenes until we make it official." Lenore stared in shock. "Your—Mr. Snape is the one and only spy we have currently within the ranks, ignoring completely the fact that you hate him, using military standpoints alone, Lenore, he is vital with any information he can bring out due to his high rank." She pursed her lips at her administrator. "Any court session with bring out what attempt at retribution he has done and it will end his career as a spy and quite possibly his life along with countless others,"

Silence followed that statement as a turmoil went on inside of Lenore. She, under no circumstances, wanted to live near or with that man however there was no other option. "I can't just stay here with my friends? Live with Laura or Renee? I know they would want me," she whispered, a last attempt.

Albus shook his head. "The legal hands are tied. You are to go to your guardian,"

Lenore stared at her hands, watching the blood start to dry on her palm. "What makes you so sure that I won't kill him once I'm there?"

Once more there was a tense silence that followed before Albus answered. "From what I've learned about you, Lenore, you will take the needs of other well above your own needs, no matter you hate for a person. We need Severus," Her fist clenched, the cuts stinging. "And because of this need, you will not kill him."

For a long time she didn't answer and no one said anything and then, she folded, a sharp pain stabbing her chest as she spoke. "When do we leave?"