Chapter Two

Years Later

Xhara sat silently in the passenger seat of the car her mother had rented to take them to their new home. It would be her third new home since she was a baby; her parents had left the Caribbean when she was just over a year old and moved to Egypt.

It was there that she received notice from a Dream Messenger informing her that she'd gained entrance to a school called Uagadou School of Magic. She'd woken with an inscribed stone in her hand; a stone now embedded on a thick length of copper which she'd transfigured into a torc she wore around her neck.

She'd attended Uagadou for three years when her father died in an accident during Christmas of that third year. Too distraught and unable to support her daughter alone in Egypt, Ishwari accepted a well-paying job in London at the end of the following year.

Xhara, therefore, was allowed a transfer to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with the understanding that she would arrive as a fourth-year student instead of being a fifth as she should have been. Hogwarts curriculum differed from Uagadou's and she would need that time to get accustomed to the changes.

After all, students at Uagadou learned together in classes for their first year, by second-year they were chosen by mentors and given apprenticeships; these mentors existed outside of time and space teaching their chosen students all the magickal knowledge that they - the Mentor - possessed. This 'non-existence' allowed them to have many students at any time.

She would miss Mentor Roh.

Arriving as a fourth year was fine with her, she'd never had any friends at Uagadou. The first person she'd trusted with her 'dream boy' secret had spread it throughout the school within a week, claiming that 'Xhara still played with imaginary friends'.

Xhara had cursed the girl to have a forked tongue using 'accidental' magic. No one had made fun of her for having an 'imaginary friend' again.

"We're almost there honey." Her mum said, taking a second to squeeze her hand and smile at her absently.

Xhara looked toward the back seat at Daemon Ari, her familiar, who opened one eye to check on her. Assured that she didn't need him, he returned to his napping. She made sure that he was still firmly on the blanket as her mum didn't want 'cat' hair all over the rental.

Her parents had been relieved when they'd found out she was a magickal child - even though she'd been telling them this for years - and since her first week as a first year student, their worries about the 'dream boy' went away once she stopped talking about him - a result of the bullying.

They finally got to her grandmother's house, where they would be staying until her mum could afford to go out on her own again. There was much hugging and kissing and reminiscing until finally, Xhara was in her own room; Daemon had already planted himself on the foot of the mattress.

She sat on the edge of the bed and watched as his furry body grew just enough to fit across the width of the full sized mattress.

"Don't worry, Ari," the name she called him when he grew, "we'll be at Hogwarts after the summer, there's a huge forest and you'll be able to grow to your full size in there, as long as you continue to look like a cat around everyone they won't suspect a thing."

*I hope you're right.*

She massaged his recently stretched muscles until he fell asleep.

~~~(*)~~~(*)~~~

That night in the comfort of her grandmother's home, she sent her soul to Sev.

For the past three years her feelings for him began to change; whenever they were together or he held a door open for her, or his robes brushed against hers when he smiled at her… her heart would race and blood would flood her 'borrowed' cheeks.

The wonderful glow at the knowledge that he appeared to return her feelings was dampened by the fact that it was Lily Evans he had these feelings for.

Tonight - once she felt her soul 'dropping into place' - she became aware that they were in a discreet corner of a library; studying, from the looks of it.

He was sitting next to her silently mouthing the words from the text in front of him and she smiled. She was always happy to see him, even if these were only 'hints' of a past that never happened for her.

She looked down at Lily's assignment in front of her… ugh, no wonder the girl was here with Sev, without him Lily was crap at school work and Xhara couldn't bring herself to do mediocre work around him. They usually spent a couple of hours together, sometimes more, before she reluctantly left him to return to her own body to fully rest.

She caught a whiff of lavender and rosemary and looked up at him again. Without thinking she brushed her fingers through his long, ebony hair; it was soft and silky.

"It worked!"

He'd turned to her in shock from her first touch and when she saw the hint of colour on his cheek bones she hurriedly pulled her hand away.

"I'm sorry, Sev…"

"No, don't apologise, it's fine." His smooth voice was almost deep, in a few years, it would be an even deeper, sweeter baritone.

"That shampoo you made for me worked brilliantly, I use it often cuz… well, you know how much I like brewing potions. It's wonderful to have something to combat those fumes. Thank you Sarah-Lily," he said finally, ending his rambling with his distorted, and downright ruined, version of her name.

"Anytime, Sev." Xhara smiled at him, though she hurt inside, reminded yet again that he would never know her. He didn't want to.

So many times in the past few years she'd wanted to say 'I love you Sev… me… Xhara!"

All he would ever see was Lily, the green-eyed, redheaded chick with flawless alabaster skin. She'd tried a few times to tell him that she was a different person inside, that her soul was different, going so far as to tell him her real name.

Then, fear of his rejection kept her from pushing the issue when he got irritated and wouldn't believe or understand her words. Since then he would call her 'Sarah-Lily' in jest, never knowing how much it tore at her; he knew he was calling her Princess Lily!

On that point, she was kind of relieved he'd gotten her name wrong; Xhara means 'blooming', 'flourishing' or 'flower'. She didn't want her name connected to Lily's in any way, though there had been a few times he got really emotional and called her 'his flower', his Lily.

His hand, holding her heart and crushing it!

She bit her lips as she pondered her predicament if her mum only knew she was falling for an 'imaginary friend' no amount of magick would keep Ishwari Diya from taking her daughter to a kosiidan psychiatrist. Her mum didn't believe in Xhara's soul-jumping - as Xhara had begun calling her visits to Sev years ago - even when she witnessed her daughter's magick.

Soft fingers held her chin and she was pulled from her musings; using his thumb, Sev gently pulled her bottom lip from between her teeth.

"You'll hurt yourself."

Her heart was racing, he'd leant in closer to her and she hesitantly looked into eyes of polished onyx that seemed to be searching.

There was a question there, in his eyes; she knew he saw the answer in hers when his head lowered and his lips met hers in a gentle kiss.

"My flower," he whispered against her lips, he released her chin and cupped her jaw, pulling her into a deeper kiss.

Her heart broke, she couldn't take this anymore and she made the decision then and there to never return.

Sev was kissing Lily, not Xhara, she'd learned from Mentor Roh that this was the past; these two must be an old married couple by now. Tears escaped from the corners of her eyes.

She held on to the front of his robes; the taste of coffee, the aroma of lavender and rosemary teasing her senses. She was thrilled at least, for a wonderful memory that would last a lifetime.

The pair was lost in their kiss unaware that jealous eyes were upon them.

The very next night Xhara broke her promise to herself and sent her soul to him again.

She was confused for a moment when she didn't see Sev but was in the company of two other girls near a lake. There was a commotion then and as she turned to a crowd of students she heard a sneering voice call out.

"Who wants to see me take off Snivellus' trousers?"

By then Xhara was close enough to see Sev suspended upside down by the boy she recognised as Black but before she could intervene his friend, Potter, had vanished Sev's pants baring his pale, bony legs and worn, grey boxers.

Rage consumed her especially when she witnessed Sev's face redden in embarrassment.

"Leave him alone you bullying filth!" The rage in her tone caught Potter's attention.

"Aww, Lily-"

"Let. Him. Down. Now!"

"Only for you…"

Xhara didn't witness anymore as she was pulled suddenly back to her own body. She moaned at the feeling of vertigo, when the sensation passed she opened her eyes to find Daemon staring at her from his place on the pillow next to her.

*You seemed to be in distress, I was concerned.*

She sighed as she lay back under her covers, then reached out to scritch behind his ears.

"Thank you for pulling me back Daemon. I didn't think this would be so difficult; the soul wants what it wants," she said softly, "I'll try harder from now on to never go back. I promise."

She fell asleep to the gentle purring of her familiar who stood guard while she slept.

A/N - Kosiidan (Ko-See-Dan) - (I blended Yoruban words) African term for muggle. I barely use it in the story, though