All rights to JK Rowling. Sadly, I am not her.

NEWLY BETA'D please reread chapters one and two. Beta'd by ViolinFire14

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Rose woke with a thump. She'd managed to roll over and fall off the sofa... Wait, sofa? When did she move?

With a grumble, she pushed herself up into a sitting position She picked up her wand and cast a quick tempus charm, telling her that it was only six am. She looked around for her bag, wondering if Severus bought it in, then her eyes fell on it. With a smile she walked over to it and took out her potions book, blank parchment paper, ink and quill. She flipped open the book and began to work on her essay.

Her red hair fell like a curtain over her face. She soon realised that she was only now putting more effort into her studies, which she hadn't done before. Now she was 'her' she could actually put in the effort and stop trying to be like her father, irresponsible, pig headed and actually work for what she wanted.

After nearly an hour of working, she stopped writing, placed down her quill, and winced as her stomach angrily growled, indicating that she was starving. The little she ate was only enough to keep her magic stable, keep the spell up, and hide her extra ears.

The spell that had been put on her wasn't one to be used lightly. It drained the persons magic, drained them of all their strength to a minimum, and to a point of near exhaustion. Ever since, Rose had been on the run, her body having never recovered. The lack of food and nutrition had ruined her insides, and lowered what she was able to do, so now the spell was off she could actually learn to live.

"Early riser, I see," Severus drawled from the doorway. It had taken him a moment to sort himself out, for he had thought that it was Lily sitting at his coffee table.

"Just finished my potions essay, Sir," Rose spoke shyly, looking down at her hands. She wasn't sure how she felt about being here.

"I can take you on as an apprentice, but it would need to be a formal apprenticeship contract. Meaning you would need to live here full time, and I will be your 'master', so to speak," he informed her.

He had been up most of the night, worrying about how this could go. He didn't want to mention the fact that a standard contract said they were supposed to be sharing a bed and should try and produce one child together.

"But what about the 'Harry' situation?" Rose asked.

She had a feeling that people were not going to be happy that their saviour was really a girl, that she's been staying in a boys dormitory, and how her life has been a secret. It was not going to go down well

"We will need to talk to Minerva about your... situation, and go from there. It will be easier to say 'Mr' Potter has left, as he didn't need to return. The hard part will be convincing your dunderhead friends that 'Harry' has died, or run off, or something," the wizard pointed out calmly. His tone held a hint of boredom. He had thought this over far too much for his liking.

Rose took a deep breath to momentarily collect her thoughts. "I guess I should be honest with her. She has helped me a lot throughout the years. Though to be blunt, Sir, why are you helping me? Is it because I look like my mother? Because if it is, I don't want to be used to fulfil your fantasy of being with her, or something like that. I am a different person to my mother," the witch stated bluntly.

Surprise flickered across the wizard's face. He opened his mouth to reply, before closing it again.

"I will admit that it was a shock when I first saw you, but to be honest, it's purely to do with theKitsune. I've always wanted to meet one. I've read the little there is, so I would like to research you as you will," he turned around without another word.

He went to the fire and threw in a handful of floo powder. "Headmistress' office," he called, before sticking his head into the green flames.

"Minerva, please come through as soon as you can," he requested. He removed himself from the flames.

"Pebble," he called out.

A small house elf popped into the room. "Master, how can pebble be of assistance? Master, Sir.

"Breakfast and tea for three please," he spoke. The elf gave a lowly bow and dissapparated. Within minutes the elf returned with trays of breakfast foods and tea.

"Anything else, master, sir?" She asked. Her wide eyes looked almost happy, hinting a sense of excited to be serving her master.

"No, thank you," Severus spoke, dismissing her.

Moments later, Minerva walked through the fireplace. She stopped dead at the sight of the young female on the floor. She was playing with her quill, the inner cat really deeming to show at that moment. As she pawed at it, small purring sounds escaped her.

"Severus, who is the kit?" the elder witch asked. Her eyes were fixated on the 'legendary' creature before her

"Harry, Harry potter. Or rather, who you thought was 'the boy who lived'," Rose spoke up. She seemed to break from her playful trance, fear clear on her features.

Minerva frowned, looking to the girl whom admittedly looked like Lily. It couldn't be possible someone would of noticed if Harry was a girl...

"Is this true, Severus?" she asked. She didn't take her eyes off the with, trusting this to be some foolish prank, or something.

"Yes. We were brewing a potion yesterday. The insufferable Slytherins in my class thought it would be funny to blow up their potion over Rose, and there no longer stood a Mr Potter, but rather a Miss," Severus explained. He was worried it looked like Rose was about to flee, and get as far away from here as she could.

"How?"

"Sirius put a charm over me, so if anything happened to Harry, I would become him, so I could remain a secret. Voldemort killed Harry that night, so I changed into him and, well, you know the rest," Rose informed the Headmistress. She didn't look up whilst speaking, too shy due to not having enough confidence in herself.

"It's okay. I'll leave. It'll be like I was never here. I promise," the kit spoke. She was clearly aware that she had disappointed people, and that hurt her inner creature.

She turned and went to call on her inner self to apparate, but a hand touched her arm.

"No, go through to my room, first door on the left. Take a bath and I will sort this out. You are staying with me," Severus spoke firmly. He knew her Kitsune needed to be told what was right and wrong. It needed the reassurance.

The young witch nodded. She quickly went into the room she had been instructed to go to. She didn't say anything else, or look back. She shut the door behind her

"Do you know nothing about Kitsunes? They will do everything they can to please, and leave the moment they think they are not wanted. If this gets out into the world that Harry is dead and is actually a female Kitsune, how is this going to look on us? I don't know what she's been through, but she will become my apprentice so I can keep an eye on her," Severus said. His voice was low and harsh, and it was laced with pure anger. He wasn't losing his chance of research.

"I can deal with the publicity, if you can not break the little kit. You know what an apprenticeship leads to. Are you ready to be a father within the year? Are you ready to take on such a young Kitsune? You also have to consider that Kits often have more than one mate," McGonagall pointed out.

The press was one thing. Keeping her inheritance a secret would be the hard bit. If she had two mates there would be a potential conflict between them.

Severus nodded. "I can deal with her. She needs to learn to be her. What Black did to her capped her magic. There is no telling how strong she is now. She was strong enough when she took down the dark Lord. This just needs to be taken a day at a time. I will help her regain her health, and we shall go from there. If you get the contract, I will come to see you after lunch," Severus dismissed her. He turned his back to her and went to see how Rose was doing.

The elder witch nodded, taking her cue to leave. She walked through the flames once she said her destination. It was going to be the start of a very long day.

Severus opened the door. "Rose? Are you decent?"

"Y-yes," Rose answered timidly, slowly coming from the bathroom. She only had his shirt on, since she didn't have anything else to change into.

"I hope you don't mind. I-I had nothing else," she stuttered. She looked away, sensitive about her scars. With her legs on show, Severus could begin to see the damage that was done to her while she was living with the Muggles.

The sight of seeing her with damp hair and in nothing more than his shirt nearly made him lose his control. She definitely wasn't Lily. She was more than that. His gaze slipped down to her legs, and he frowned upon further observation of the scars . They looked like knife wounds... He decided not to ask about them. She would talk about them in her own time... Hopefully.

The wizards train of thought was interrupted by the sound of someone running into his quarters. Only one knew his password. Malfoy.

"Godfather! Where are you? Have you heard the news? Potter has left. Ha! It worked!" The blonde called into his quarters

"You were stupid with your actions!" Severus snapped as he left his bedroom. He went over to the closest thing he had to a son. "You could of killed him!"

Draco backed off at this realisation, feeling intimidated by the elder wizard's anger. "I'm sorry. Wow, calm down Severus." Draco tried to calm the man stepping backwards, fear flashing across his face for a moment.

His eyes slipped to the doorway Severus had come from, and his heart seemed to falter. "W-who is she?" He asked, looking at Rose.

The Kit cowered back behind the door, despite having a sense of something pulling her back towards the men. She had no clue what it was.

"Rose, come here and meet Draco, my godson," Severus called to the female. He looked back to the door. He knew the Kit within her couldn't ignore the order.

Rose slowly came back out from the door, and cautiously walked up behind Severus. She'd glamoured her tail but left her ears in place, she liked them.

"Mine," was the only word to escape the Kit's mouth. The smell of him was rich to her nose, and she slowly approached the new man.

"Both. Mine."

Draco looked stunned as he looked at the lady before him. She was beautiful. It explained why he hadn't seen Severus and why he wasn't around earlier.

"What does she mean by 'mine'?" Draco asked. He curiously held out his hand for the strange being before him.

Rose jogged the last few steps, rubbing her head against his hand, and purred when he began to scratch her ears.

"She has claimed you and I as mates from the sound of it," Severus quietly responded to his godson. He watched the way the Kit seemed to bask in his attention