Note from the author: Sorry to keep you all waiting :) I hope you enjoy this part. I want to thank everyone who has reviewed this story so far. It means a lot to me to you all seem to enjoy this story :) Hopefully I can write chapter 4 soon, but I think I'll put it up next week. I have to make a businessplan for a candyshop and for some reason, it's all going wrong :(

Enjoy the story!

Cheerio,

Aribeth

After a couple of days, Miranda soon realized that although Severus lived in the same building as she did, she did not have to see him every day. But who she did see, was Harry. She decided that it was too soon to talk to him. Professor McGonagall had told her that Harry had never realized that he was a wizard. Miranda could guess why; she never had liked Petunia. Harry probably was overwhelmed by Hogwarts and the fact that his name was known by every student and teacher. After a couple of months, she would talk to him and tell him that she had been Lily's best friend. She was sure he would love to hear more about his parents. Petunia probably kept silent about her sister, even though Lily had always cared for her. Some people just don't know how much pain they cause, Miranda thought, while she was walking through a corridor.

She suddenly realized that Harry and his friend Ron were walking not far from her. Curiously she walked closer to hear what they were talking about.

"He hates me, Ron," Harry said.

Miranda frowned. How could someone hate Harry Potter? He had saved them all!

"I doubted that, Harry," his friend answered, "Snape always takes points from Gryffindor. It has nothing to do with you."

Miranda froze and clenched her fists. How dare he to…? She would put an end to this, right now. Miranda passed Harry and Ron without saying anything to them and walked straight to the dungeon.

Luckily for Severus, he wasn't teaching anything when Miranda swung the door open. When he saw the look in her blue eyes, he realized she was angry at him. He wondered what he done to deserve this, when he sudden realized that she probably had heard about his first lesson with Potter. He kept his eyes cold while she walked towards him, but it was hard for him. He wanted to say thousand things to her, but on the other hand, he just wished she had never walked through the gates of Hogwarts. It would have made things so much easier.

"What is it…" he started.

"If you're going to call me "professor Bloom", you'll only piss me off even more," Miranda interjected, "Are you bullying Harry?"

He looked away from her and continued with his potion. When Miranda realized he wouldn't answer her question, she walked towards him and grabbed his hand to prevent him from doing his work.

He stared coldly at her and tried to loosen her grip. He failed however and she only grabbed him harder.

"Listen to me, Severus Snape," Miranda said, she did not speak loudly but that wasn't necessary. Severus got the point, "If you're going to continue this, then you can make sure that I'll make your life a living hell."

She let go of his hand and gazed at his black eyes. Damn it, she had forgotten how cold those could look. It scared her more than anything.

"He's like his father, Miranda. Arrogant..." Severus said, while he gazed back at his potion and stirred it three times.

"Oh my god…," Miranda said slowly, "You think he's like James! For crying out loud, Severus, he's not. And by the way, you wouldn't even know. You've seen him for one lesson and you think you know him. Well, at least you two got something in common then…"

"What do you mean?" Severus asked. Miranda was pleased to hear the surprise in his voice.

"I heard him talking about you. He thinks you hate him and he certainly does not like you. He seems to have made his mind up as well," She explained.

Severus' eyes darkened and Miranda smiled triumphantly.

"Well, I haven't talked to him yet, but after this, I do know he has his mother's brains."

After that she turned around and left the room. Furious, Severus made the ruined potion disappear. He slammed his fist against his desk and frowned. How could he do what professor Dumbledore had asked him?

Two months went by and everything stayed normal. Miranda and Severus ignored each other most of the time. Her lessons got better each time and the castle felt more and more like home. Sometimes, she wished that Lily was there with her, like she had been there so many years ago. It was foolish to think like that. The past was the past and lingering in it helped no one. When Halloween finally arrived, Miranda felt for the first time in years really happy. She actually was looking forward to the feast later that day. She counted the hours till she could go to the Great Hall and when it was finally time she arrived in the Great Hall at the same time as Severus. She said Hi and walked fast to her place to prevent him from saying anything. She quickly sat down and waited until all the other professors were present. After a lovely chat with Hagrid, she wanted to talk to Professor McGonagall when suddenly Professor Quirrell arrived.

"Troll in the dungeons!" he yelled, "Thought you ought to know."

He fainted and crumpled on the floor. Immediately students rose from their seat and started to scream. Some of them were moving towards the entrance of the Great Hall, but suddenly Professor Dumbledore stood up and calmed them down. Miranda grabbed her wand and looked to her right, where Severus sat. He wasn't looking at her or at Dumbledore. His gaze was pointed towards the place where Professor Quirrell had fainted.

"We should go to the dungeons, Severus," Miranda said, forgetting the fact that she had sworn to ignore him.

He looked at her and nodded. They both rose from their seat, as the other teachers did. When Miranda followed professor McGonagall, she lost Severus. She was sure he was on his way to the dungeons and as such didn't see that Severus wasn't following the professors at all. When she was searching the dungeons together with professor McGonagall, they suddenly heard a lot of screaming and a noise of something big falling down. The both of them hurried towards the place where the noise had come from. When they entered, professor Snape appeared behind her and followed her inside. When Miranda saw Harry covered with dust and with the body of a troll next to him, she went pale. They obviously had fought the troll and luckily had won. But what if they hadn't? Miranda placed her hand on to the wall and closed her eyes. Gods, she had almost broken her promise! While she tried to gather her thoughts, professor McGonagall told the boys how lucky they had been. Suddenly she felt a hand on top of her arm and she looked up. Severus stared down at her and with a worried expression upon his face, he asked:

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Miranda snapped. She immediately felt sorry, and quickly added: "I mean... it's just … Lily made me promise to look after him…"

Severus' eyes stayed cold but he didn't remove his hand from her arm and for some reason she didn't mind that he didn't go away.

Suddenly Harry and his friends passed by them and Severus removed his hand. Miranda was slightly disappointed, but then felt ashamed of herself. Hadn't she learned her lesson yet? She moved away from the wall and left the room as well. When she arrived in her bedroom, she took a seat on top of it and closed her eyes. She was certain that this wasn't the last time that Harry would cause a headache. He obviously defended his friends without doubt. A smile appeared. He was clearly Lily's son.

A couple days later, she entered the teachers'room and saw Severus, clearly furious, walking through the room. However, he did not really walk. He seemed to be limping. When he turned towards her, she saw blood on the ground at his feet.

"Severus?" she asked.

"What is it?" he snapped. His face was pale and she was certain that he was in pain.

She walked towards him and pointed towards his leg.

"What is wrong with your leg?" she asked, curious.

Severus avoided her look and walked passed by her.

"It's none of your concern."

Immediately she grabbed his arm and made him turn around.

"Sit down," she ordered.

At first he seemed to object, but he seemed to realize that she wouldn't change her mind and with a sigh, he sat down. Slowly he rolled one of his trouser legs and when Miranda saw the wound on his leg, she went slightly pale. She bended down and took a closer look at it. It was a bite wound, she could tell that immediately.

"Wait here," she said.

She left him and hurried towards her room. There she grabbed a small bag and hurried back towards Severus. When she arrived back in the teachers' room she was relieved that he was still there.

"I need to clean the wound first, Severus," she explained, while she opened her bag and grabbed some paper. She made it wet and slowly moved over the wound. She could see that it hurt him, but he kept quiet and she kept cleaning the wound. When the wound was cleaned to her satisfaction, she searched for a small bottle in her bag. When she found it, she opened it and let a few drops fall down from his leg.

"It will make your leg heal faster," she explained. She closed the bottle and then finally, wrapped the leg into some bandage.

"I have to remove the bandages later this evening to make sure that the wound heals properly," she said, while she got up and grabbed her bag.

"Since when do you carry that?" Severus suddenly asked, while he pointed towards her bag.

"Oh, that," Miranda smiled, "I got it from Thomas, many years ago."

"Thomas?" Severus asked, confused.

Miranda's smile disappeared.

"No one important."

Nervously she started playing with her hair.

"I'll see you later today then. If it's too painful I can give you something to make the pain go away."

"I am capable of making potions; you do know that, right?" Severus answered, with a teasing smile on his face.

Miranda was surprised to see it and didn't say anything. Confused, she left the room and went back to her classroom. Perhaps it had been better if she had sent him to the infirmary, but it was too late to go back now.

Later that evening, someone knocked onto her door.

"Yes?"

Miranda looked up to see who entered and when she saw Severus, she immediately rose from her seat. She stepped away from the desk, towards him, and tried to think about anything else than the smile he had had upon his face a couple hours earlier.

"And? Do you still have pain?" she asked, curious, while she offered him a seat next to her desk.

He took a seat and shook his head.

"It feels much better."

She bent down and removed the bandages slowly. To her relief, the wound was healing properly.

"What did you do? Were you bitten by a tiger or something?" she asked, with a sneer on her face.

Severus didn't answer. Miranda got back up and walked towards her desk. When she grabbed the same small bottle she had used earlier, she noticed him looking through the room. There were few pictures in it. One of them was from her mother, the other one was from a dragon she had seen during her travels.

She walked towards him and bent down again. When the bandages were wrapped around his wound, she looked up and saw him staring at her.

"Would you stop doing that?" she said, while she walked towards her desk and took a seat behind it.

The smile on his face did not reach his eyes.

"Who is he?" he asked, as if she had said nothing.

"Who?" she asked, although she already knew the answer. He always had been quickly jealous.

"Thomas," he answered, while he turned his seat so he could look at her straight.

"Thomas was the auror appointed to protect my mother and me. We were together for a couple of years, but after Lily's death, I just needed to be alone and I left him. I haven't heard from him since then," Miranda said, while she looked away from him towards the photo of the dragon.

"Did he know Hugh?" Severus suddenly asked.

Immediately Miranda looked back at him and went pale.

"How dare you…?" she whispered, while her eyes became cold.

Severus noticed this and rose from his seat.

"Thanks for helping me," he said, after which he left the room.

Miranda bite her lip and tried to cool her anger. She could have known he would once ask about his son, but did he have to ask it so soon? She closed her eyes and tried to fight her tears. She still missed her child and her mother. But most of all she missed the time she had spend with Lily. If only she could turn back time…