Forever and Always
As If We Never Said Goodbye
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does.
Author's Note: Don't worry about my reading the HP story. I'm working on a long chapter and should be up real soon. I'm sorry for the wait. I'll be rewriting the story It's On as well. I'll let you know when it has been revised. Thanks to the people who reviewed and added this story to their favorites/alerts. Chapter title's inspired by the song by the Glee Cast. I love Glee as much I love Harry Potter.
Stella woke up really early in the morning. Angelina Johnson, ex-chaser, had woke her up by throwing a pillow at her. Stella scowled at her enemy and got dressed. She, then, headed to the common room where Fred and George were waiting for her.
"There's the sleepy-head!" Fred exclaimed, hugging her. Stella saw Hermione come down and she scowled at her. Hermione, then, walked out of the portrait hole. What did she do wrong? Stella hadn't noticed Fred smirk at George who was scowling as well.
Stella shoved him off of her and stormed out of the common room, her robes billowing behind her.
"You shouldn't have done that," George said, placing his hand on his twin's shoulder. "You know how she is in the morning. Plus Johnson might've done something to her."
"You're right," Fred sighed. "I'll go talk to her." He started to get up from the couch. George followed suit.
"I'll go with you. She'll be in the great hall already." They walked out the portrait hole together.
Stella thought she should really apologize to Fred when she sees him next time. They didn't do anything wrong. Stella just got mad at a really stupid thing; getting a pillow thrown at her. Was it just because Katie Bell, her ex-best friend did that before she got expelled, or was it the fact that it's because the pillow got thrown at her by an enemy? She didn't know.
She got to the entrance when she was stopped by a really loud calling.
"Stella, hey, wait up!" Fred yelled. Some students were looking at her weirdly. She turned her head to see the twins running towards her.
"I'm sorry Fred. I got mad at a really stupid thing Angelina did. I mean it was really stupid." Stella hugged him and George.
"What was the stupid thing you got mad at?" George asked. Stella told them about the pillow. Surprisingly, for her, the twins didn't think that was stupid at all. They told her about one time Fred hit Ron to wake him up one morning and he was mad at him for a whole week. That kind of lightened her mood a bit.
"That's pretty long." Stella noted. Fred and George nodded.
"Johnson is still probably jealous of you because you have some really handsome friends and she doesn't!" Fred joked. George laughed, but Stella rolled her eyes and punched George in the arm.
"Seriously, though, she's probably still mad that you got her best friend expelled and also got her kicked off the Quidditch team." George reasoned.
"Bell got herself expelled and Johnson got herself kicked off the team. They didn't need me to do it for them." Stella said.
"I couldn't agree with you more, Stella. Now, if you're done chatting, maybe it's time to get something for breakfast so you guys could go to class." A familiar voice said behind Stella. It was her father, Severus Snape.
Stella turned around so she could face Severus. "Morning daddy," She smiled innocently.
He nodded and opened the door for the trio.
"Thank you sir," George said politely.
"Your welcome, Mr. Weasley," Severus nodded again.
The twins were walking in front of the two Snapes. The Snapes had their robes billowing behind them and wearing their identical smirks. Some of the Slytherins were whispering to each other when their Head of House was walking with his daughter.
"Behave," Severus whispered when Stella sat down next to George.
Everyone had gotten their schedules from their Head of House, Professor McGonagall, the Transfiguration teacher. The trio only had potions, defense, Herbology and charms together. Stella had History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures alone. She had no classes with her crush, George. Stella did have transfiguration with Fred, though. Stella thought this was unfair. She had to go to the most boring class alone. At least Care of Magical Creatures was fun.
Stella glanced at the teacher's table. Severus was talking to Professor Dumbledore who was the headmaster, and Professor McGonagall. The two teachers looked at the headmaster with very stern looks and glares. They appeared to be arguing about something.
"I have Care of Magical Creatures. See you guys at Potions." Stella waved goodbye as she left the Great Hall towards Hagrid's hut, located near the Forbidden Forest.
Oh great. Angelina Johnson was in this class as well. Luckily, she has Lee to back her up. Stella wasn't as close to Lee has the twins were, but she still enjoyed his company. He was against Angelina as well.
"How was your morning, Lee?" Stella asked, avoiding Angelina's eye.
"It was fine. How was yours?" He asked back. She told him it was fine, and then class started. Hagrid announced that they will be discussing Thestrals.
"What are Thestrals? Anyone?" Hagrid asked. Stella raised her hand. "Miss. Snape?"
"Threstrals are creatures that are a bit different. They can only be seen by people who've seen death." Stella answered proudly.
"Excellen', Stella! Take 10 points ter Gryffindor!" Hagrid announced. Lee high-fived Stella. Hufflepuff earned 10 points as well. As class was nearing the end, Hagrid announced an eight inch essay on these creatures then dismissed class.
Next was Potions. Double Potions with the Slytherins. Stella's favorite class. There were a few others in the dungeons before her, including her best friends.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Stella asked them when she sat by George. He seemed a bit nervous.
"Why me?" George muttered.
"What happened?" Stella asked, becoming concerned.
"I left my potions book in my dorm. Snape's going to kill me, then use my limbs for potion ingredients!"
"That's an empty threat he gives to everyone, George. Relax. I'm sure my dad has spares in a cupboard." Stella said reassuringly. George had color return to his face. "Besides, I wouldn't let him kill you and use your limbs for potion ingredients anyway." Stella added, smiling. George really looked relieved. George glanced around the classroom and noticed Snape wasn't there.
"Can you get the book for me?" George asked looking at Stella pleadingly.
"Why?"
"Because he's going to be mad at me!" George exclaimed.
"Fine," Stella got up and headed to a cupboard that held the Advanced Potion Making books. There was only one. That's odd. It looked pretty beat up, too. Some of the pages were stained and yellow. She opened the front cover, gasped, and dropped the book; having everyone turn look at her. "Sorry everyone. Go back to what you were doing!"
She picked up the book again and opened the front cover again.
This book is property of the Half-Blood Prince.
"Accio George's potions book!" She exclaimed. Soon, his potions book was in her hand. She walked back to George and handed him his book. "I summoned it." She said, looking at his confused face.
"Thanks! Why didn't I think of that?" George asked.
"You were too busy worrying about Professor Snape," Fred said. While they were talking, Stella skimmed through the book. There were some spells in the margins and writing throughout the book. How could her father be careless as to where he put his potions book? She looked through it some more then came to a spell across the top of the page.
Sectumsempra. She shuddered, knowing what that spell does. It was a cutting hex. A very dangerous one, at that. The counter, she found, was at the back of the book. She hid that book in her bag right before her father stepped in.
He had their class brew Draught of the Living Death potion. They had one hour to do so. Stella set her cauldron up right next to Fred, across from George. She knew the directions by heart; the revised directions. Severus taught her his way of brewing this potion correctly. It was also the same way as it was in Advanced Potion Making.
She grabbed the ingredients she needed, and dashed back to her cauldron. She pulled her hair up in a ponytail. She didn't want her dad yelling at her in front of the whole class. That would be utterly embarrassing. Within ten minutes of class, the room was full of bluish steam. Stella's potion soon, resembled the "smooth, black currant-colored liquid" that's mentioned in the book at the ideal halfway stage.
Stella looked across at George. He was trying to cut sopoporous bean. Fred was having the same difficulty. Smirking, Stella crushed her bean and added the juice.
"How did you do that?" Fred asked.
"You crush it, don't cut it," Stella answered, smirking.
"What? The instructions say to cut!" George exclaimed. Then realized, "Oh, duh, potions master's daughter. I'll try crushing it." He added that part in a whisper. Stella nodded and continued with her potion. By the added the juice, her potion turned the light shade of lilac the book mentions. Fred and George's were the same.
All three of them stirred counterclockwise until the potion turned clear as water. Adding Stella's knowledge, she stirred one clockwise stir after every seventh counterclockwise stir. The effect was immediate. The potion was the palest pink. Stella was smirking troughout the whole process.
"How did you do that now?" You could tell Fred was clearly getting frustrated.
"You guys need to add a clockwise stir every seventh counterclockwise stir!" Stella whispered, so no one else can hear. She continued to what she was doing. Stella noticed that the twins started adding a clockwise turn when necessary.
"Time's up. Stop stirring!" Severus announced. Stella and the twins high-fived each other under the table. Severus made his way around the room, telling people off for not finishing their potions and for some others, their colors or odors. That's when he made his way to Stella's table. His face lit up like Christmas came early. "How did you three do it?" He whispered to them. The twins pointed at Stella and Stella pointed at Severus and herself. "I taught you well, Stella. 50 points each to Gryffindor!"He was talking very silently.
He turned back to his class. "These three potions are so perfect that I could say one drop could kill us all. Dismissed." Everyone left for their next class, but the trio remained behind.
Stella dug into her bag and pulled out a potions book. She walked up to her father's desk and set it there.
"Why are you giving me your potions book?" Severus asked.
"It's not mine," Stella said. She got real close and whispered, "It's the Half-Blood Prince's. You really need to be careful where you put your potions book." She smirked at him.
Severus was speechless. "How did you come across this book?" He asked when he found his voice.
"I'll tell you later in private." Stella said, and she walked out with the twins to their Charms class that they share with the Ravenclaws. After Charms, the rest of the day was pretty boring, except for Defense Against the Dark Arts with George. They had it right before lunch.
"Hey George," Stella said, as she entered the classroom. "Hey Fred."
"Hey Stella," George and Fred replied.
Professor Moody arrived into the classroom right after Stella did. "Right then," he said, when the last person had declared themselves present. "You lot are very behind on dealing with curses. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark –"
"What? Why aren't you staying?" George interrupted.
Every time Stella had seen Moody, he was always frowning or scowling. Now, he was smiling!
"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh?" Moody said. "Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago. . . . Yeah, I'm staying just the one year. Special favor to Dumbledore . . . One year, and then I'm back to my quiet retirement.
"So – straight into it; curses. They come in many strengths and forms. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to be polite or nice about it. He's not going to tell you what he's doing. That's why you need to be trained, prepared, and watchful! What are the three Unforgiveable Curses?" Moody asked to the class.
George waved his hand, so did Fred.
"Mr. Weasley?" Moody asked. "George?" He added when he realized there were two.
"My dad did tell me about one . . . the Imperius Curse." George answered.
"Yes. Your dad would know about that curse. That curse gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time. Perhaps this will show you why."
Moody moved over to his desk. There was a glass jar on top with three large, black spiders inside it. Moody reached into the jar, and pulled out one of those spiders and held it in the palm of his hand. He pointed his wand at it and muttered, "Imperio!"
Moody was controlling the spider by his wand! He was making the spider do cartwheels, and then did a tap dance! Stella, George, Fred, and Moody were the only one's not laughing.
"Think this is funny, do you? How would you feel if someone is controlling you like this?" Moody asked. The laughter died at once. "The Imperius Curse can be fought, but that's next class. Now onto a different curse. Mr. Jordan?"
"The Cruciatus Curse, sir," Lee answered. Stella just realized he was in this class.
"The torture curse. One death eater is famous for this particular curse," He pointed his wand at the spider once more. "Engorgio!"
The spider had swelled to more than twice its size. Moody raised his wand again. "Crucio!" The spider began to twitch horribly. No sound came from the tortured creature. Stella couldn't take it anymore.
"Stop it!" She yelled. "Stop it!" George laid a comforting hand on her's. Fred laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Moody raised his wand and the poor, innocent spider stopped twitching at once. He shrunk the spider to its normal size and placed the spider in front of Stella. "Maybe you could give the last unforgivable curse, Miss. Snape?" Stella instantly shook her head.
"No?" Moody raised his wand at the spider one last time, and muttered, "Avada Kedavra!" Stella looked at the dead spider on her textbook and then looked up at Moody. "Not a pleasant curse. Not a pleasant curse at all. Next class, fighting the Imperius Curse. Class dismissed." Stella ran from the classroom with Fred and George hot on her heels.
"Stella, do you need a Calming Draught?" George asked, with concern in both his eyes and tone. Stella shook her head.
"I'll be fine. I just need some food." Stella said, heading for lunch. The three sat down across from Harry and Neville. Hermione just left and Stella took her seat.
"Moody sure knows his stuff." Fred commented.
"Why perform the Unforgivables for the first class? Clearly that could've waited until later in the year?" Stella asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Neville pale. "Neville? Are you okay?" Neville nodded right away. Stella raised an eyebrow, but didn't press it any further. Harry was confused.
"We just came from Moody's class. He knows all about fighting the Dark Arts," Lee added, sitting down besides Neville. "He's seen it all!"
"You weren't the least bit bothered about him and the Unforgivables?" Stella asked. She was getting angry. Lee shook his head. He looked confused. Stella got up and stormed out of the Great Hall, robes billowing behind her.
The rest of her classes were boring. No twins to keep her company in History of Magic. Stella thought the class could never end! Once the bell rang, meaning end of classes, she headed down to Severus to explain the book.
Severus was completely understanding with the whole situation. She explained how George was fretting over his potions book, and how she found his, and hid it in her bag to give it to him after class was over. She saw Severus open one of his desk drawers and placed the book inside then closed it.
"You may go, Stella." Severus said dismissing her.
Soon day became night with homework completed and Stella headed to bed. Stella and the twins agree on this one thing. It was as if they never said goodbye.