Disclaimer- Oh my god I just bought the rights to Harry Potter! And of course I'm kidding. Wouldn't it be awesome if I did though? I'd be flat broke pretty much cuz of the price but at least I'd be able to never put this disclaimer down ever again….but sadly….I still don't own the books so….yeah….don't own anything beyond the plot…which I only half own….and the Ocs which I felt like creating.

Full Summary- Voldemort's favorite minion is given a gift. One that has been locked away in the Malfoy Manor for over a decade. But this gift comes as a heavy burden to the potion master. It's a young woman whom is surprising familiar to him….he might not know her….but perhaps he once knew her parents…perhaps he knows her brother. HP/GW, HG/RW, SS/OC, FW/OC, DD/OC, LL/OC, PP/OC, DM/OC. Mentor and fatherly Snape in further chapters.

Warnings for this chapter- poor attempts at humor, fantasy violence, Deatheater fights, Voldemort's twisted outlook on the world, emotional redheads, semi-emotionless blonds, protective big sister complex, slight fatherly Snape, clichéness, and Angst.

A/N- Ok I'm updating early cuz I guess I have no spine….and I'm incredibly bored right now so I just have to. So what did you think of the last chapter? Its not exactly clear because I didn't want to make it clear….I wanted it to be mysterious and all that load of bullock. All will be explained in this chapter…well….enjoy and review review review!

Lions and Snake

Chapter 1: Rescues and Riddles

AP pov

Its been so long….god its just been so long sense I last saw someone. I cant even remember the last time I did. I can't really remember much of anything for that matter but then again what is there to remember? I'm always just in this cell. All I can recall is a voice talking just beyond my cell door. A constant droning with little to no emotion in the words. I knew she wants me to participate in the conversation but in the beginning I rarely did.

It wasn't for several weeks after she had shown up that I finally said something back….and when I did she paused and for a moment I was sure as she spoke her next words that there was a kind of spark in her in them…relief maybe…it could have even been a little joy. From then on I started to really listen to what she was saying. Hell I even answered back most of the time. She told me a lot of things. From what was out in the real world to her own life. I couldn't say much for myself but that didn't stop me from talking. I'd told her about my hopes, my dreams, even my nightmares. We became….what did she call it…oh yeah…? We became friends. I kept her company and she forced the others to leave me alone. I no longer feared that the laughing woman would come to me in the night.

Each day was normally the same. But today….something happened. The girl, whom by this point I knew as Samantha, didn't talk to me. I could hear she shifting uncomfortably outside but when I asked what was wrong she ignored it saying nothing at all but even I noticed her going stiff as I heard footsteps walking towards us. I stood at the door terrified.

I stopped breathing as I heard a knock and then a males voice, "Hello? Is anything in there?"

"Who….who's there? What do you want?" I asked carefully annoyed at how frightened I sounded.

The door started to open and in my alarmed state I rushed to the corner. Merlin…what did he want? I could feel him coming closer and I couldn't help it…I started to whimper. I felt so cowardly by doing so but I couldn't help it. I had never met this man before….what if he did something? What if he planned to hurt me! At first I didn't noticed it but I soon came realize that the man was rubbing small circles into my back…..it felt nice. I slowly relaxed into the touch and he spoke to me.

"Who I am is not important now….I shall tell you later…what is important is that we get out of here….I'm setting you free…what is your name?" I couldn't believe it. He was….he was here to free me but….he wanted to know my name….it had been so long sense they had said it out loud to me and even longer sense I had said it myself….what was it again?

"I….they don't call me it often…sometimes I forget," I felt shame in the words and I turned away from him so I wouldn't meet his eyes.

"….you….you forget your own name?" I heard him whisper. I wanted to cry…what if he didn't want to take me away from here? What if he thought I was stupid? What if he was going to leave me here now?

Theses thoughts rushed through my mind until I felt a gentle hand grasp my chin and move it to face him, "Its ok….its fine…just try to think for a moment."

Slowly I closed my eyes and tried to remember what I had once been called. I saw a man and a woman leaning over me. The woman brought me into my arms and started to whisper a lullaby to me. At the end I heard her say, 'sweet dreams my precious Arianna.' It didn't take long for me to remember what my last name was after that. Arianna Potter….that's right….I was Arianna Potter.

I opened my eyes and the man slowly helped me up while bringing out what I somehow knew was called a wand, "I think…I might remember…" I whispered.

"Lumos…" light came from the tip and illuminated my face.

His expression soon changed from one of concern to one of shock as I said my name, "My name is Arianna Potter."

I'm not even sure if he heard me. He had a faraway look in his eyes. The man's hand reached out and slowly stroked my cheek. His eyes grew wide and just behind them I was sure I could see unshed tears, "Lily?"

A familiar gruff voice berated the man and I nearly gasped as she stepped closer and I saw her face. The voice…it was Samantha. I had never actually seen her before today, "No…She is not 'Lily Potter'….as she said before…don't be stupid…her name is Arianna…."

I rushed over to the girl and pulled her into a bone crushing hug. This girl was the only thing that kept me sane during this imprisonment….I just had to hug her, "Sam! Oh Merlin oh Merlin its just great to finally see you."

She gave a small sigh of annoyance before slithering out of my arms, "Yes…I'm glad to finally see you to but….I'd prefer not to be touched…."

"Severus Saltros Snape….What do you intend to do now that you know?" Sam said as she turned to the man and slowly approached him. Her wand was pointing towards him in a threatening way. "Intentions?"

He stood gaping at her for a moment before sputtering out his answer, "I….I wont hurt her….I…I just don't quite get how she's here….from what I was told….Arianna Potter was pronounced dead years ago….she disappeared the night the dark lord died….and after searching four a couple years…we just gave up…I never would have thought….just…..just…why? Why was she here all this time?"

Sam sighed and smiled sadly at Snape, "Now why do you think he'd do that….the dark lord I mean? Daughter of the Potter's, Twin sister of their son…he planned to use her as a bargaining chip to get the young Potter male…but that didn't go so well as we all know. I suppose that was the main reason…the other reasons…are a bit more….obscene….he knew that he'd be killing Lily Potter that night so…..as a gift to you he thought that eventually giving you Ari would make up for that….it's a twisted form of logic really. Thinking that the it wouldn't make any difference what potter you were given to love…by force or willingly…why if Ari didn't exist I'm sure Voldemort would have gladly just kidnapped Harry Potter and given him to you…."

"Just stop! That's enough" He yelled as he brought his fist crashing down upon the wall beside him. His features were set into an unmistakable sneer and he had pale considerably. He turned around and swiftly torn out of the room. "That's enough!"

Me and Sam followed close behind unsure of his next move.

Snape pov

I knew the man could be wretched but I never knew he would go this far. Taking a girl from her home and imprisoning her for fourteen years just to give her away as nothing more then a slave. It was absolutely sick.

I busted through the door that led to the main room and entered quickly. The door closed slowly behind me in an eerie way and only then did I notice that I had been followed by the girls from the dungeon. I paid little mind to that though as I shifted my gaze to the front of the room. The Dark Lord was sitting there staring at me with a satisfied look on his face completely oblivious to my mood. As I entered the room he stood up and approached me. He cast a seemingly knowing look towards Arianna and a curious stare towards the blond standing next to her. He walked up to me and set a cold hand on my shoulder. The feel of it made my skin crawl.

"How do you like your gift," He hissed lowly. "I got it just for you."

Those words made my blood boil. I saw red and heard the pumping of the red liquid in my ears. I retched my shoulder away from him and pulled out my wand. His red eyes grew wide for but a moment before a sneer found its way to his face. He pulled out his own and pointed it at me. We were at a stand off. Whoever said the first spell would start the duel.

"Confringo!" I screeched as the spell flew from the tip of my wand towards Voldemort. He jumped aside and let the spell hit a tapestry which busted into flames. He cast a spell of his own.

"Crucio!" I dodged.

This went on for hours…or possibly only minutes. I couldn't really tell with the curses, hexes, and charms flying threw the air. One after the other in a continuous cycle. He would just barely avoid the ones I threw at him and I would nearly get grazed by his. We seemed almost evenly match…until….

"Levicorpus!"I was hoisted into the air by my ankle and left to dangle.

Sinister laughter bubbled up from his throat as he watched me, "Doesn't this bring back such fond memories for you Severus? Hanging in the air…defenseless? Weak! That's what you were…you were weak…and you still are….so…I say goodbye to you…." he raised his wand from a few week away and pointed it at me.

"Incendio!" He screamed.

Sam pov

I jumped in front of the young potion master and whipped out my wand spinning as I did so. The jet of fire came straight for us but as it tried to hit home it blasted into the spinning wand sending it in different directions. As the flames stopped I slowly lowered my arm and stared daggers at the man before me. I noticed a slight pain in my hand but it was ignored. I found Voldemort's current activities more importanat…and I also found them slightly disturbing. To kill an unarmed man….that was just despicable. I wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine….but I knew that I wouldn't be able to defeat the man tonight…hell…I might never become strong enough to do that. So….it was better to just cut my losses now and get out of here. That was my true Slytherin instinct talking. Self-preservation….but perhaps I wasn't just thinking for myself.

"Well…Although I'd love to stay and play cat and mouse with you….I think me and my friends really should be going…I'd like to say see you later…but I hope I don't," I reached out my hand to Arianna and grabbed hers and gripped Snape's shoulder. My deep blue eyes stared into his black ones. "Legilimen Tempra Levat!"

I closed my eyes as the wind started to twist around us so quickly that debris started to come along with it. Soon so much was there that we could see passed it. I could feel a pulling on my abdomen signaling that we were almost there. I release both of the people next to me at once and the winds instantly stopped. We were no longer in Malfoys manor….but somewhere different…the place Snape was thinking about before I said my spell…Hogwarts.

I took a step forward and felt something touch my shoulder.

"Your hand…..Its burnt," he whispered with heavy concern as I looked down at the blackened appendage. "Your injured…maybe I should…."

"No…I'm good I think," I shrugged him off and stared at my hand as I walked away. I flexed my fingers and watched them carefully…slowly the flesh that was once a deep black became a light pink, and then a common peach tone. "Yeah…I'm just fine."

A/N- Well….That was the chapter. Hope you liked it….well…I decided to just to post before seven comments because I was bored but come on people please…I like reading the reviews…so how about this….you review and you and one of your stories gets mentioned in the next chapter. So…review review review!