DISCLAIMER: Ok, you know what should be here…

Enahma: In GoF Dumbledore mentions Mrs. Figg is a witch. This chap isn't so dark, I suppose.

Dshael: thanks

Diana Lucille Snape: I hope this chap explains something – and makes even more mess in your head. I try to leave hints before any important event but still people are saying my stories are full of surprises. Well, who'd read a story where everything is obvious? !!! NOT all Snape's friends were Alphas…

B Jean: You were paying attention indeed. An Animagus: read this chap carefully, I left a hint. Good old Voldie would be impressed, wouldn't he? Carmen: yes. James: as you probably noticed, Sev and Lily were friends. James didn't like that. He was an Auror from an Auror family and found a friendship between his wife and a Slytherin DE from a "dog of war" family at least improper. He also supposed that Lily and Sev were lovers – and of course, he wasn't glad because of that. Their marriage went so wrong that Lily left him for a few months – and it was Sev, not James, who was present during Harry's birth what only increased James anger. I can't tell you more… I don't tell you whether James suspicions towards a subject "Is Harry really MY son" were true… Still, Sev knew much more about Lily than James. The Riders: no, at least not all of them (unless I change my mind – haven't decided yet.). Side changing: remember who killed Jo? Remember who wanted to kill Lily? Also because of a vision Sev had.

THE HEALER

Snape's POV

I Apparate in the Forbidden Forest. At last I'm home. I lean against a tree and let my body slide down the trunk. I close my eyes; the day is really bright. I sniff beautiful scents of this wood: sweet smell of warm resin; bitter one of countless herbs – I can name every kind of a plant only by its scent; I also catch a strong smell of Unicorn's sweat – it must have passed here not more than few minutes  ago. I wouldn't hurt a Unicorn to save my life but the very thought of an animal reminds me that I haven't eaten anything since fifty hours or so. It would be stupid to eat before such a night. I would give all I possess for a big, juicy steak… Forget it, Sev. First you must be scanned for internal injures. I listen to the sounds of a forest, so different from yells, jeers and cruel laughter. Yeah, bumblebees, funny, fluffy bumblebees. A soft whisper of a stream – my, water. I'm thirsty like seven hells. Where is Albus? He said he'd be waiting for me.

"Severus!" I can hear hurried footsteps. No, it isn't Dumbledore. Why has he sent this werewolf?! I know, he had other duties and couldn't wait here for me for so long but why Lupin?! I must admit the man is trustworthy – I've seen Pettigrew, after all. If I forgot about that, a few big bruises his steel-toed combat boots left would remind me that this scum is back but I hate the werewolf. Of course, it's nothing compared to my hatred towards Voldemort but still… I hate that he sees me like that when I'm a wreck of a wizard. I hate when somebody witnesses my weakness. I don't want to give him satisfaction! "Severus" – his voice is soft and quiet, so different form the harsh, cruel voices I had to hear last night. He kneels beside me. I open my eyes and to my great surprise I can't see any signs of satisfaction in his blue eyes. They are filled with shock, fear and compassion. Damn. Do I look the way I feel? I hate when my enemy pities me.

"Don't touch me!" I wanted it to sound like my best growl but all I managed was a weak croak.

"I have gloves on." So he knows. Of course, he's educated in magical creatures enough to realize. "Are you an Alpha or a Beta?" I don't answer. "It's important. I could use a charm to help you and I don't want to injure you." Sure, Alphas and Betas differ really a lot; it's strange humans consider us one species; so we react different on spells.

"Alpha." Will you run away, Lupin? He surprises me once more; he doesn't even wince but pulls his wand and aims it at my chest. I hate it; I hate when somebody does that when I can't defend myself. He knows how to kill an Alpha, probably, his knowledge about magical beasts and beings is really impressive. I'm deadly sure he knows a few nasty hexes and curses as well. Vengeance is sweet and I'm fully aware how I was hurting him the year before last. I close my eyes again – I've seen too many curses last night to watch another one.

"Anestathe" Scored, Lupin. This wouldn't work if I were a Beta. The charm stops pain at once. I didn't expect that; I've seen too much human evil to believe in human kindness. I nearly forgot how it feels when you aren't hurt. His touch makes me wince; I hate being touched when I don't expect that. The only man who can touch me without my protest is Dumbledore. "Easy" - whispers Lupin, wiping my face with a wet cloth. He's very gentle; I look at him and see only compassion and care in his eyes; I'd sooner expect the Lord not to punish me. This man must hate me! OK, I'd help him, too, if Albus asked me to but I wouldn't be so kind! He conjures a glass of water and gives it to me.

"Don't play a saint." – I murmur.

"Don't be a fool, Severus." – he replies calmly. I don't understand him. He should take his advantage! "Drink." He forces some water into my mouth. It's so cold and fresh… I was in hell last night; now I must be in paradise.

Lily.

I remember when she did the same after our first fight with the Death Eaters. She had known I was an Alpha and that night she learnt I was a Dark Prince but she didn't reject me. She wasn't afraid of me and she never hated me, though she knew the whole truth. She didn't blame for anything. She wasn't even angry about the thing I did the night her son was born, though many would. I allow Lupin to levitate me to the castle without further protests. Why did I hate this man so much, by the way?

End of Snape's POV

Draco's POV

We're home at last. Home! No, my real home is far away, in the potions' lab but I won't be allowed there anymore. El Diablo must hate me. He must hate all of us. Still, I must see him; I must tell him I didn't want to… And I want to tell him what happened last night; it was so uncanny. Something strange has been happening to me lately. I must see him but Luc and Narcissa can't learn about it. I'm standing under the shower, rubbing my skin with a brush but I still feel dirty. No water can clean me. Fucking Mark! I'd cut it out with a knife but I know it's impossible; it'll be here forever. That's what my own parents made of me – a murderer at the age of fifteen; a servant of a psychopath. I feel how Professor Snape must have felt when he decided to turn traitor. .I've never supposed you could feel so dirty. Even if I stood under the shower for a whole century, I wouldn't feel better. Finally, I stop the water. I look into the mirror to comb my hair. Nothing. I blink. There's no reflection. Impossible. I touch the surface of the mirror but still no picture appears. No. I look at the floor and notice I cast no shadow. My heart sinks. I am not… I can't be. I can't!!! Still, the reflection is absent and the shadow is gone. I must talk to Professor Snape, even if he curses me out of the room! Still, Luc and Narcissa can't learn about it. Luckily, the next day they're going to the MOM and leave me alone. At last!

4th July

I Apparate at the school gates. One good thing in being a Death Eaters' kid is that they teach you some useful magic. I don't know where El Diablo spends summer; I just FEEL he must be here. I'm running along the empty corridors; he must be in the Hospital Wing. I speed up; I've never run like this. I must see him; I must know whether he'll be all right. I don't notice Dumbledore and we nearly crash. He grasps my arm.

"He's waiting for you." – he says calmly. He leads me to the Hospital Wing.

"Is Professor Snape all right?" – I splutter. A stupid question.

"He will be." I see that Dumbledore knows the truth. El Diablo recognized me so he has told the Headmaster, probably. Oh, no. The old wizard doesn't speak a word but I'm sure he knows. We approach the door of the Hospital Wing and my heart sinks. How will I face my Professor? What will I tell him? It'd would be the best if he cursed me straight away.

Dumbledore opens the door and beckons me in. I enter and hear him shutting the door behind me. We're alone – Snape and me. He's sitting on the bed, wearing his usual black and is reading a book peacefully, as if nothing happened. When I enter he looks up and our eyes meet. I can't endure his emotionless gaze.

"Professor" – I croak – "I didn't want… They forced me…" I yield; I can't hide my emotions anymore. The next second I'm kneeling on the floor, crying like mental. He gets up and approaches me slowly. They must have put a lot of charms on him; still his footsteps are much slower than usually. He kneels beside me and embraces me. It must be painful for him but he doesn't let go. It breaks me completely; I grasp his robes and burst into tears.

I don't know how long I've been yelling like crazy. Ages. Eons. The whole eternity, probably, but finally I calm down. Professor Snape lets me go.

"Hell and heaven" – I hear him whisper. He's looking at his own hands, bewildered, and then stares at me. It's a rarity to see him flabbergasted like that. He rolls up his sleeve and unwraps the bandage. The sight of his wound makes me sick; from such a close distance it looks even worse, though Madam Pomfrey must have used some magic to heal it already. He wipes my cheek with his palm and runs his wet hand over the wound. I gasp, seeing the cut disappearing. "A Healer" – he whispers. "So it was you, Draco." I don't understand his words. He draws his wand and murmurs something; his spell makes me transform. Maybe Transfiguration isn't my forte but I know one has to work hard to turn into an animal but I did it without any effort. He transforms me into a human again.

"Professor, what?.."

"You're a Healer, Draco. It's a great gift."

"Me? A Healer? How? Why?"

"You. You helped me that night, right? Thank you, boy."

"How? I just wanted to stop that and…"

"And you did it, to some point. You're a Healer, you can cure physical injures, even remotely."

"It never happened before." – I whisper. He gets up and beckons me a chair. He sits down on another one; I can see deep concern in his eyes.

"You knew Athene Malfoy?"

"This old looner who was an owl Animagus?"

"She wasn't a looner." – he says sternly. "She was a great Healer and helped me many times. She was your great-grandfather sister, by the way."

"I didn't know that."

"Sure. Your family has always pretended to be respectable citizens" – he sneers sarcastically – "so they didn't want anything in common with a woman who was breaking half of the laws openly; she even spent some time in Azkaban. This ability has been in your family since centuries, passed form generation to generation, by the way. Do you know why the Malfoys never boasted about that?"

"No."

"Have you looked into the mirror lately, Draco?" It hits me now.

"I have no reflection, Professor, and no shadow."

"Anything else?"

"My senses sharpened."

"So?" No. It's impossible. My parents weren't vampires; I have never been bitten; if I had been I'd have had a specific scar. I've always been interested in these enigmatic beings and read more about them than Granger and I know I can't be one.

"Am I a vampire?" – I ask. He nods.

"Another reason" – he says quietly – "your family didn't want to have anything in common with Athene was that her gift of healing was connected with vampirism. She could present her gift to somebody else from her family and she, doing that, turned you into a vampire."

"But she didn't bite me!"

"Of course not." – he continues calmly. "Some are born vampires; some turn ones, after a bite; and some – that is the most rare way – are turned into vampires because they're presented a magical gift, connected with vampirism."

"So I am a vampire." – I whisper.

"An Alpha vampire."

"Will I look like these in the books?"

"Unless you found a very rare Dark book, you've read only about Beta vampires. Alphas are much more rare and humans don't usually know the real difference between Betas and us. We differ a lot, Draco. The first difference is that they transform usually into bats while we into different animals, often magical ones like dragons, unicorns, winged horses and so on. You know what you can turn into, so you are one of us. You must be because Athene was one. It seems to me that I have to explain you what being an Alpha really means. In books they usually write that Alphas are vampire gentry, simply – it isn't like that. It has nothing to do with the length of your genealogy tree, Draco. Well, the truth is that…"

End of Draco's POV

Snape's POV

Damn. He's an Alpha. Good, old Athene was right – she chose the only Malfoy who still has a heart. I don't know what to do now – to encourage him to be another spy or to hide him somewhere right now? The MOM will insist on the former. I hate this brainless, heartless clerks – do they realize what it means? Why don't they see how risky it is? Sure, A Death Eater, especially an Alpha vampire is a beast without heart or feelings for them. Let the boy lie, kill, suffer and one day die, after hours of unbearable pain.

"We can't use Fidelius Charm on Draco, Severus." – sighs Dumbledore, closing a book about advanced charms.

"Why?"

"He has the Mark. Voldemort would track him down anyhow." Sure, the same happened to Karkaroff.

"So you have two spies, Albus, I daresay."

"Will he take the risk?"

"If we can't hide Draco and he doesn't want to serve him anymore, what else can he do? The MOM will force him to, anyhow."

"I have to inform them, Severus, for Draco's own good. If we have the proof he's a traitor, our chances to save him from Azkaban will grow significantly."

"And his chances that he'll end in the Dark Manor dungeons will also grow VERY significantly."

"He can't escape Voldemort, anyhow, so he has no other way out."

"So the game must go on." He nods. He's as worried and anxious as I am but what can we do?

"Another problem is his vampire transformation. It seems our vampire rooms will be useful again. You'll help him, won't you?"

"Sure." – I answer. I'm the only Alpha in England so I'm the only person who can explain to the boy what's happening to him. Teenage vampires, both Alphas and Betas, are dangerous when they transformation comes; I have teach him to control his powers. "I was more lucky, Albus. There were three of our blood at school in my times. We could support each other and share experiences."

"Rowen Vogel knew the truth, too, I suppose, though he was a human."

"And Lily Evans. I've never told you about it, Albus, but she visited me often during my worst times. She was great at charms, you know, and sneaked out of Gryffindor dorm at night, using spells so nobody, even Filch, noticed that."

"She visited you? It was more than risky."

"She could tame me, you know. All three of us, by the way." He is pretty shocked.

"Tame you?" I nod.

"I remember the night when my attack was so terrible that you chained me, Albus. You had to use magical bonds, because I could break steel handcuffs, I daresay. You didn't even allow the other Alphas to accompany me. You left me alone in my cage with my pain" – I often use the expression "cage" to describe a vampire room – "and I was yelling and fighting my chains and" – I don't know what forces me to say that – "I was so alone and so afraid. I thought I was going to die."

"I didn't know I caused you pain, Severus." – he says quietly. "Why haven't you told me?"

"Would it change anything? You had to ensure the safety of the students. Not every Headmaster would allow an animal to school, by the way."

"In Durmstrang they have always done this."

"But isolated us much more than you did, not to mention they were much more brutal to us. Honestly speaking, they admitted us only because of the Romanoffs. They didn't want to risk a conflict with such a powerful family. So, that night, Lily came to me again and so did the others. She calmed me down."

"How?"

"No idea. She could do that, maybe because she really loved me."

"You were in love?" Ups, watch your words, Sev.

"I didn't mean romance but friendship. She was an Animagus. A Unicorn. There are some creatures an Alpha won't harm, for example a Unicorn or a Phoenix so it helped her to tame me, I suppose. She must have used some charms, too." I can hear him gasp. Animagi are a rarity; Unicorn Animagi are said to be impossible, at least for human wizards and Lily was a human, after all.

"It must have been a very advanced magic, Severus."

"And Dark, if you mean her charms." – I laugh. Ups, my ribs still ache. "Illegal, not evil, of course. She could do that somehow. You know some charms work better when your attitude towards the other person is positive."

"I have never disliked you but I couldn't do that."

"But you certainly didn't love me. Albus, that night we, I mean our five, sneaked to the Forbidden Forest. Rowen and Lily went hunting with us."

"Excuse me?"

"They did. Lily as an Animagus and Rowen on his winged horse. He had a Thestral, Albus. He kept it in the Forest."

"You seem to have a lot of secrets." I have never told you about our greatest one, the one only Lily and me shared. You'd be furious, I daresay, if I revealed the truth. I hope I'll never have to. The boy is fifteen… Maybe it won't happen. It shouldn't happen. Still, I can't be sure until he turns twenty. How would I tell the boy who hates me like hell the truth? I made him hate me what would make the situation even more difficult. No, it won't happen. It's impossible.

"You'd have expelled all of us for that. Later, we often hunted together and sometimes we simply rampaged across the forest. We loved races and Lily and me usually won."

"You were riding a Unicorn?"

"Indeed. Many wizards would give all they posses for one ride and we could do that whenever we wanted. Funny, isn't it? Rowen preferred his Thestral, Guerra, though. Nemi used her Animagus form most of the time. She was invincible on short distances." He shakes his head in disbelief.

"And I thought the Marauders were the greatest troublemakers, Severus." Suddenly, comprehension sparkles in his eyes.

The first Five

Children of the Dark Arts

Four Riders

Serving the Dark Lord

Hatred and greed

Pride and prejudice

The Basilisk grows among them

False, forked tongue

Death of the others

The second Five

Children of Knockturn

Five friends

Serving no one

Friendship that is impossible

Love that should never happen

Living in Darkness

Light growing in their hearts

Loyalty beyond death

The third Five

Children of the Night

Five brave hearts

Serving the Castle

Love out of hatred

Trust out of enmity

One blood, one dream, one aim

Living to see the daylight

When the night is gone

He recites these words to me. I know them by heart, too – it was one of the prophecies Nemi made. She is – she was – a great Seer. Unlike Trelawney she was a real one. "I understand it now, Severus. You were the second five, I suppose."

"Maybe. The first are, I think, Voldemort and Dark Princes and Princesses. Basilisk is in my coat of arms, you see."

"And not only there. I wonder who'll be the third five. Living to see the daylight when the night is gone… Do you think it can refer to the end of Voldemort."

"When the Dark Prince saves the Unicorn again

When two predators meet in the moonlight

When the Sleipnir and the Phoenix fly together

The Son of the Snake will fight the Basilisk

The Unicorn will slash his flesh

The Mngva will rip his throat

The Phoenix will blind him

The Sleipnir will crush his skull

And the night will be over

The new day will come."

I whisper these lines and observe his reaction.

"Was it another prediction of Nemesis?" I nod. "Son of the Snake" – he says slowly. "Son of the Snake… Severus, how did it happen? Why do you have a Basilisk in your coat of arms? I thought it was symbol of the Romanoffs."

"We use a modified Spanish system, Albus. We have double family names, from both of our parents but mother's name goes first. My grandmother was Morrigan Romanoff Sangre so her mother was Romanoff and her father - Sangre. Maybe you remember Morrigan, she was in Ravenclaw. Her family disinherited her because, well, she happened to break some rules and spent some time in Azkaban. They even accused her of worshipping Seth but she wormed herself out of trouble. She married a human – Wolfie Malfoy."

"I remember Wolfgang. He was a Potions' Master, wasn't he?" I nod.

"His own brother framed him in a murder and he had to escape England. Morrigan and he turned dogs of war, Albus. What else could they do – broke and with the brand of ex-prisoners and dangerous criminals? They had a son – my father Salazar, half-Alpha, half-human. Salazar Romanoff Malfoy. He married a Muggle-born Vipera Snape, who was an Alpha. As there were nobody with the right to the coat of arms, no living people with Romanoff mothers, I also inherited the coat of arms of my father. It's allowed when there are no real heirs. So, according to our laws, I am Severus Serpens Snape Romanoff."

"Vipera was Muggleborn? So how did Voldemort allowed you to join the Death Eaters?"

"She was a Muggleborn human. Her parents kicked her out when she received a letter from Hogwarts. She was bitten by a teenage Alpha shortly after that and his parents adopted her and gave her a new name. Voldemort didn't know she had been adopted and thought she was pureblooded then. Well, we consider the bond of blood to be as strong as the bond of flesh."

^^^^^^^^^^^^

So?

Rowen from Rowena – Ravenclaw's first name

Vogel in German means "a bird" So Rowen was in Ravenclaw, of course.

Therstrals are described in "Magical Beasts…."

Romanoffs were Russian tsars. I think the name fist an ancient, powerful Russian family then.

No wonder Morrigan was in Ravenclaw! "Morrigan" is a name of a Celtic goddess of war and she could turn into a raven.

Seth (or Set) was one of the gods of ancient Egypt. His cult was forbidden, because he was the god of evil and darkness. No wonder Morrigan got in trouble then.

Sangre – no, I'm not original here. "Sangre" (Spanish) means "blood".

You'll see later what Mngva and Sleipnir are.

Serpens means "a serpent", Vipera means "a viper", of course…

Athene (should be Athena) – a Greek goddess of wisdom but also of war. Her symbol was an owl.