JK Rowling's characters and Wizarding Universe are all uniquely hers. I'm borrowing, but I don't make any money from this and just do it for the genuine love of writing.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

Summary: Of all the mysteries of the Wizarding World, perhaps none is more enigmatic than the Vampire. This is the story of - such soul. It is a story about love, life, loss, and choices – and not having any regrets.

Features: Pairings: Snape/OFC, Diggory/OFC, OMC/OFC. + GWeasley, HGranger, Malfoys, New Characters

Author's Notes: "LIVE FOREVER" is the PREQUEL to "SALVATION". I've had several variations of this story that I've tried to work with since 2008 and somehow it just never quite came together the way I wanted it to – and needed it to link back to "SALVATION"; the characters seemed to have other ideas. (I found out by accident that someone has uploaded TWO of the older versions I've had here [but deleted], one a mish-mash of several versions and both posted WITHOUT MY PERMISSION at fictionhunt. At least they linked back to my account here.) Also – I realised that elements of my last rewrite, though well-received, actually suits "The Girl With The Haunted Eyes - ORIG STORY" much better. ((The perils of thinking TOO MUCH about a story and second-guessing myself)).

If you read the first 9 chapters of "SALVATION" you will have a good grounding for the story of the Severus & the only STUDENT he ever loved – but with many surprises yet to be revealed in this part of their story. I've found my own gift of a character in Vampire Andrea Slitheen, an old Housemate & nemesis of Severus Snape and his coven family. Hope you enjoy. This is the first of what I hope will be several stories of an underworld within the world of Harry Potter.

I'm playing with ages & School Years for the sake of this AU story. Hogwarts is close to the equivalent of British Muggle Key Stage 4 (Years 1-3: ages 14-16 – O.W.L.s) & Key Stage 5 (Years 4-7: ages 16-19+ N.E.W.T.S.). High School & Further Education.

WARNING: Slightly Underage Student through Adult OFC, Student/Teacher relationship, Older Men/Younger Woman. If that's not your thing, cool. It's my life experience so… *shrugs*. Dark, Violence.

Rated M/R for language, situations, themes

Live Forever (REWRITE 2018)

By NativeMoon

Chapter 007: Understanding

January 9th

Snape could care less that the new term had only been underway for a few days. He was in the study of his rooms marking up the surprise quizzes that none of his classes had been expecting when it happened.

And it was the irony of ironies that it happened just as he was marking up the papers from Nina's class.

There was a loud POP whichbroke his concentration.

'What on earth are you dressed as?' he demanded incredulously as he glared at his House Elf whom he hadn't sent for. 'And why are you here?'

Potty was dressed in what appeared to be a Muggle child's overalls with silver buttons and clasps and large silver "H" on the chest. There was a matching tea cosy for a hat with giant bobbles and fingerless gloves. Unlike the loud neon colours that the creatures tended to be partial to when gifted with clothes, these were a tasteful charcoal grey like the Hogwarts standard uniform.

'Oh that blessed girl!' he muttered under his breath.

'Please Master Severus Sir; Potty has something for you…a present.'

'A what?!'

'A birthday present – from your Pretty Miss!'

Nina. Of course.

Potty had finally met her after all, no thanks to him.

And there was no other "Pretty Miss" in his life, just her.

And there was no other "Pretty Miss" he wanted to be in his life, just her.

But the Potions Master was not quite at the point he was ready to confront it head on.

'She made it all by herself – would not let Potty or any other House Elf help her!'

'Students are not supposed to have access to the kitchens,' Snape grumbled as he took the box from his bemused elf.

Potty paid him no mind as usual, being more than used to his master's funny ways after so many years of faithful service.

'Pretty Miss even cleaned up after herself and gave us all presents. Of course no other elf got such nice clothes as Potty does from her,' the elf said proudly as he puffed his scrawny chest out.

'Those overalls, that's what Nina made for you?'

'Over-what?'

'Overalls – what you're wearing instead of that dreadful Hogwarts tea-towel your lot usually prefer.'

'Ohhh yes Master Severus Sir!'

'I told you not to call me that! I am not your Master! I don't own you and you are not my slave!'

'Whatever you say, Severus Sir,' the elf sighed, folding his arms as he stared at the cantankerous wizard.

'Well?'

'Well what?'

'Never bloody mind,' the Potions Master grumbled as he opened the box.

He was left speechless as he gaped at the nicely glazed and decorated layer cake inside.

'There's a card – and candles!'

'I can see that!'

Snape fished out what was a home-made card and began to read.

Happy Birthday!

I remember you mentioning a lovely raspberry and buttercream cake you had once. I hope this one isn't too disappointing.

Sorry I couldn't manage more than this.

Even now she was incredibly discrete and considerate.

The large card was quite beautiful, he thought to himself as he lightly ran his fingers over it. He knew that Nina loved art and design but she was shy about showing him things she'd done.

She'd clearly put a lot of time and effort into to crafting the precious thing.

The card stock was of a superior quality onto which she'd drawn and painted the location of their first accidental meeting away from the castle depicting a late afternoon in fall. She'd layered it with various types of carefully cut papers and other materials in rich colourful hues and painted over those in oils and acrylics.

He held it closer to his lamp and gasped.

Held at the right angle in the light he could make out two figures in Edwardian dress walking side-by-side on the inside left. He'd never actually seen her dressed in such a way but he understood the sentiment behind the depiction.

'So this is how she occupied herself over the Holidays,' he half-whispered.

His first ever birthday card was a stunning mixed-media piece, a work of art in its own right.

It would remain one of his most treasured possessions for the rest of his life.

Potty looked at his master with concern as his Master sniffed and blinked his now moist eyes.

'Is there anything I can do for you, Severus Sir?' the elf asked quietly, his squeaky voice tinged with hope. 'A message for Pretty Miss? Potty can get one to her if you like.'

Severus closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

She was more than he deserved, bastard that he was.

He was tempted.

Merlin help him, he was so tempted.

'No… now go before I change my mind.'

XxxOOOxxX

January 10

Nina was in an old unused room after dinner going over her latest disaster, the Forgetfulness Potion. She had explored the dungeons looking for a spot to go over the practical work where she wasn't likely to be bothered, especially by noseybodies. This space was perfect, situated as it was two levels below the actual Potions Corridor. Even Slytherins weren't allowed down here, so she was free to get on with it. Unfortunately the solitude wasn't helping her much.

'For Merlin's sake!' she hissed as thick black smoke rose from her cauldron instead of wispy
silvery white. 'Evanesco!'

Nina checked off two items on her list and made notes in a Potions journal she'd finally started keeping – just as she'd done with her other courses. It was ridiculous that it had taken her this long to do it.

'Well, Miss Angeni, at least you have mastered the Vanishing Spell and quite competently – incredible for a First Year,' Snape wryly observed as he stepped into the room. 'The Deputy Headmistress and your Head of House will have to find other things to challenge your prodigious talent with transfiguration and charm-work come your Fifth.'

The Ravenclaw lost the power of speech as he stood at the side of her table and surveyed her latest disaster.

'You do realise that you should not be down here or attempting this without direct supervision,' Snape continued as he removed her newest bobble hat and set it on the table in front of them.

'Yes,' Nina looked down, avoiding the intensity of his obsidian eyes boring into her as she removed her Ministry-sanctioned dragon-hide gloves. 'I need the practice to figure out what I'm doing wrong.'

'I did say to you your very first night here that we would cross that bridge when we came to it as for as the practical work was concerned if it were necessary, did I not?'

'Yes Sir, but…'

'But what?!'

'I didn't want to be a bother anymore,' Nina blurted as she took a misstep backwards and fell over the stool behind her.

She couldn't avoid the fearsome gaze of her Potions Master this time.

Snape's eyes met hers as he helped her to her feet.

'There is an old saying: "you don't ask, you don't get",' he said gruffly.

Nina had the distinct impression that somehow she'd disappointed him to the point of actually hurting his feelings.

'You will serve detention with me for the next eight weeks for being out-of-bounds in the castle and for unsupervised potions work. Tuesday and Thursday evenings, my office, eight o'clock. Don't be late.' Snape continued. 'Now – clean this up and off with you before I give you a few weekend detentions as well. Today is your 15th birthday after all, and no doubt there are other things you'd rather be doing. So go on – get out of here before I change my mind.'

'Thank you, Professor,' Nina spluttered incredulously.

XxxOOOxxX

Late January

Snape didn't understand it at all.

Nina always seemed flustered in a room of addle-brained students, but on her own she revealed herself to have good instincts in practical potions work despite her protestations to the contrary.

"Very much like her formidable grandmother no doubt," he thought to himself, having done as much research as possible on the esteemed Valerie Llewellyn-Ravenswood.

'It's the book – it's a mess', Nina explained, bringing him back from his reverie. 'It always feels like there are key steps missing – and the way we have to handle ingredients… a lot of it just feels…'

'Wrong…?' Snape suggested as they stood across from each other over the table in his private laboratory adjacent to his office. 'You are actually quite astute in your assessment, Miss Angeni.'

'So I'm not yampy after all?'

Snape chuckled in spite of himself.

'Never have I ever said that to or about you.'

'You've thought it though; twice.'

Before a shocked Snape could reply a crash sounded from just outside his office.

The Potions Master was left reeling as Nina shut down her mind for the first time around him in a way that he recognised all too well just before he gave Pansy Parkinson a thinly-veiled bollocking for snooping around the dungeons and destroying jars of valuable ingredients when she was supposed to be in detention with Filch, the school's caretaker. A threat to have words again with her father about financial compensation sent the spoiled pug-faced bitch running after her Head of House reminded her of the two weeks of detentions the Deputy Headmistress had given her. She'd just earned herself an additional week.

There was a perceptible change in Nina after Parkinson was gone; the doors of the Ravenclaws mind were unlocked and wide open to him once more. It was the kind of thing only someone like him would be able to discern.

'I'll be damned!' Snape muttered as he tried not to stare.

Nina Angeni was a natural Occlumens, able to close down her mind and protect herself from psychic intrusion without magical intervention.

Given Miss Angeni's remark about knowing some of his thoughts about her, it seemed that she was also a natural Legilimens. It went some way to explain why she seemed incredibly empathic at times during their conversations. He'd clearly been uncharacteristically careless in observing her at some point.

But she had no idea about any of it. None at all. Of that much he was absolutely certain.

Snape decided to err on the side of caution and let the matter drop.

But only for the moment.

It would be more prudent to observe her, albeit more carefully, before making up his mind about what to do about it.

XxxOOOxxX

Nina walked quietly into the Potions classroom and took her customary seat towards the front of the room. There was plenty of time before class started, so she pulled out one of her pride and joys and began to read – a rather hefty tome called 'The Potions Master's Guide to Dangerous Potions and Ingredients'.

Snape had sat motionless in his office, five minutes before Nina's arrival. He found it intriguing that the young Ravenclaw always arrived well before she needed since he began tutoring her. Outside of some students from his House who might give themselves a few extra minutes just to stay on his good side, most tended to arrive at the last possible moment. Snape could set his timepiece according to Nina's arrival; always 1:00pm exactly – not a minute before or after.

For the first time, he decided to not hide in his office away from her.

After straightening his robes, the Potions Master walked into the classroom with the air of not being aware of Nina's presence. He began writing on the blackboard, but without using his wand to get it all done at once as he was prone to do.

Nina was absorbed in her reading and related note-taking for her latest Potions essay, but not so much that she wasn't aware that her Potions professor was no longer in his office.

Snape turned and walked over to his desk.

'Miss Angeni – there is almost another forty-five minutes before class begins,' he said after taking his seat on the raised platform. His already much better-than-average height aside, the Potions Master was intimidating just by the sheer force of his harsh personality.

Nina looked up like a deer caught in headlights.

Snape had quite a fearsome reputation considering he'd only been teaching for about a decade, a far shorter time than the other teachers at the school as she understood it. It didn't take much to get on his bad side; although few of the students outside of his house had ever really seen a good side to the man if he even had one. She understood already that she was an exception to the rule.

'I – erm – just wanted to get some work done… and the door was unlocked again so…'

'Surely the Library is far more appropriate to work on homework assignments?' Snape queried as he stood and stepped off the platform.

Nina was unsure of what to say as she stood up. He wasn't yelling at her, nor was he being sarcastic. He was what she'd grown accustomed to. Even when she was sure she frustrated him during their tutorials, he was mostly kind (well – kind enough for him) with a dash of sarcasm.

It was confusing.

'There's more talking and larking about than real work up there, Professor.'

'Quite.'

The Ravenclaw stood and started packing her things away.

'I thought I'd give myself more time to work on this before class by being able to use the time it takes to get from most private part of the Library to get here. I guess I should leave you alone.'

'That is entirely up to you,' Snape said idly as he walked over and turned around the large book which still lay open on Nina's desk. 'Where in Merlin's name did you get this?'

"Ooh shit, shit, shit," Nina thought to herself.

She'd gotten the book in Knockturn Alley – a place where supposedly no self-respecting witch or wizard ventured. She'd gone to London over Christmas break and holed up in her favourite shop for a bit.

It got her out of the house away from Nana's continued digs about her Potions work.

'Miss Angeni you have not answered my question. What is a First Year such as yourself doing with this book – and one that is in such pristine condition?'

Snape hadn't raised his voice; but it wasn't the silky menacing whisper of his distinctive baritone that he used when teaching either. Still, she knew the man well enough by now to know he wasn't clueless – not by a long shot. He knew exactly where she had to have gotten the book – which even at Hogwarts could only be obtained from the Severely Restricted Section of the Library. And there was no teacher who would consent to her having it. Not even him.

'Moribund's,' came her choked answer.

Without looking up, Snape aimed his wand and the classroom door closed with a loud bang and was locked.

'Am I in trouble?' she whispered taking a step back and sitting down.

'No – of course not. However, we do need to talk. Your carelessness with books like this could land you into far more trouble than you are capable of dealing with.'

'I've done something horribly wrong – but you aren't giving me detention or reporting me to Flitwick
or McGonagall?'

'Far be it from me to dissuade you from freeing your mind and expanding your knowledge outside of ridiculously restrictive Ministry-sanctioned guidelines…'

Nina looked at the most despised teacher in the school, clearly even more confused.

'I thought it would help me with your class, especially all the papers and essays – if I fail...'

'As I've said to you before: you are not failing any of the written requirements for the course. Far from it, as it happens.'

'My family still haven't gotten over me being sorted into Ravenclaw…my father especially. And to be getting my lab grades when nobody in the family apparently ever did badly with anything let alone Potions… nothing I do is good enough for them or even my grandmother. I can't even get a break from Quidditch… my grandfather is on my neck and Flitwick's about me about playing Quidditch next year.'

Nina shut her mouth abruptly and looked away. She hadn't meant to say anything too personal and now it was too late to take it all back. It wasn't like Snape was the type to give a damn what happened to anyone outside of Slytherin, that's all she'd ever heard since September.

It would have surprised Nina to know that Snape understood all too well where she was coming from.

'Your father sounds like a man who has particular expectations simply because of his own desires. Given his employment with the Ministry of Magic and the illustrious achievements of your maternal grandmother it comes as no surprise.'

'I don't really care about any of that actually.'

'Oh? Most students bar the Quidditch players are obsessed with securing a role with the Ministry; it's quite prestigious. And anyone remotely talented at Quidditch wants to become a professional and play for England.'

'Well I'm not most people,' Nina answered, forgetting herself again.

Snape quirked his left eyebrow and for a moment she wondered if she'd overstepped the mark with him; although overstepping the mark would be strange now, all things considered.

'Given your choice of reading material I am inclined to agree. You need to take great care with your research choices; the Deputy Headmistress and Headmaster would not approve.'

'Well that's fine then; I don't do things like this for my other classes.'

'And why is that?'

'I know they wouldn't understand; and I just thought… I just thought you would, is all….'

'And why would you think such a thing? Because of what you think you know based on hearsay and vicious rumour-mongering about me?!'

'No!'

'What then?!'

'You really have to ask after I've spent so much time with you talking to you about books and things? I have cleaned your personal laboratory and put away books for you… I know this is right up your street.'

'You continue to be full of surprises, Miss Angeni,' Snape said quietly as he flicked through the book once more.

He had to admire her enterprising spirit – he'd long wanted this one in his own collection but hadn't been willing to spend the money even for something so useful given other things he needed even more.

"Always so full of surprises," he thought. "… very pleasant ones."

'Would you like to borrow it? I think I have more than enough notes already for my research paper.'

It was as if she'd read his mind.

Again.

Snape looked down at her briefly and Nina didn't meet his gaze this time as she fiddled with
her rucksack. The ancient bell in the clocktower began signalling the end of the current period.

'This conversation and all matters related to it will remain between us,' Snape demanded as he scooped up the book and unlocked the classroom door with a wave of his wand.

There was a faint 'of course,' as Nina prepared her cauldron and ingredients for the Double Potions session – their last together before the Easter break.

This was the latest of such understandings between them.

Snape just needed reassuring that he could still trust her not to talk about the intensely private moments they were continuing to have.