In hindsight, Severus should have known that he had messed up. The trouble is, in the next few days he fell into a rather comfortable routine. When Arsenia was in a good mood, she was almost tolerable company and when she wasn't in a good mood, she usually stuck in her room blasting music in her ears. When she had the headphones on, he just left her be and usually her mood improved. He did consider bringing up what the lawyer had told him but couldn't bring himself to potentially ruin the sort of peace they had developed.

And then of course the day came by when he could no longer put off telling her that she had to go to a boarding school. Severus had gone out of his way to find a proper school only to come across the obstacle that she had already been thrown out of two of the best for fighting. A third was ready to take her though. Severus hoped that him spending his own money, which he had accumulated quite a bit in the years past for brewing special potions in his spare time, on a good school would make her less reluctant.

Finally, two days before the start of the schoolyear he sat her down. She seemed in a good mood and he'd bought tea and biscuits to soften her. It was a strategy that had previously worked on Draco when he had to deliver bad news. "Arsenia," he began and before the words were even out of his mouth, he knew he should not have let her get the impression she would not be sent to one. Her face fell and oddly to Severus so did the temperature in the room.

"I found a school." he said softly.

Arsenia folded her arms and arched an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"You can't stay at Hogwarts. If you could, I'd make it happen," he wasn't even lying, if there was a way to stuff her in some remote corner of the castle without subjecting her to all the politics, prejudice and trouble that came with his world, he would have.

"Right," the girl replied, her voice full of sarcasm, "of course you would. But you just can't!" She drawled the last word out mockingly and Severus felt a bit of irritation.

"Yes, I can't. I mean it." he replied sharply, "I can't just turn my whole life upside down." He knew this was disappointing for her but she was being wholly unreasonable. He was her father and she should trust his judgement. If he said that was the best choice, she should obey. "You should be lucky they even want you after you got kicked out of a damn reform school! You are going there in two days and that's final!"

Arsenia stared back at him, her lips pressed into a thin line. Then she stood up so fast, her chair fell on the floor with a loud thud and her cup toppled over. Before Severus could tell her to sit back down, she was out the door. He ran after her but at the door stopped. He had no reason to chase her through the neighborhood, he thought bitterly. All her stuff was upstairs so she'd have to come back for that when she had calmed down and chosen to be reasonable. With a sneer he pushed the door back close and stalked back to the kitchen. At least with her out of the house he could use magic to clean up her mess, he thought as he retrieved his wand and with a quick wave disappeared the tea spill.

There was a part of Arsenia that had known this would happen but that didn't mean it hurt any less. She didn't want to admit it but she had actually somewhat enjoyed the company of her latest guardian. Sure, he was on occasion mean and most of the time not very cheerful but he let her be and so far had not judged her for certain mishaps in her past.

But well, she had been wrong about that, hadn't she? He had just waited to throw it in her face at the most opportune moment. Arsenia stopped at a creek and kicked a rock into it. Now he'd finally stopped playing around and said out loud what he thought. He didn't need her disrupting his life. As usual, that would mean she'd be sent away. And what hurt the worst was that he hadn't even run after her. He had just let her go.

She found a bigger rock to sit on and stared at the flowing water in anger. She should have known better. She really should have. But for a few days she dared to dream that she had found some normality again after…after she lost her mother.

She should have not let herself be so naïve. She hadn't lost her mother. Her mother had been killed and there could be no normal after that. Arsenia put her head in her hands and quietly began to weep.

After a three hours of waiting, Severus started to get restless. Arsenia had been out in Cokeworth with him a couple of times but she didn't know the place that well and as the day grew later, it was more and more likely she'd run into the more unsavory characters that the town had to offer. Four hours later he cursed fate for always saddling with kids who had the survival instincts of lemmings. He disliked Harry Potter for numerous reasons of course, some much more important, but still one of them certainly being that keeping that boy safe from harm was about as fun as carrying water in a sieve. Five hours later he could wait no longer, grabbed his coat and headed out the door to bring his lost daughter back.

As he pulled the door of his home open, he was nearly struck in the face by a man who had raised his hand to knock. After getting a glance of the newcomer, Severus almost wished he had been punched so he'd have had an excuse to deck Remus Lupin right then and there. He had no idea how the man had found his home. He suspected that it had something to do with Dumbledore and he cursed under his breath. The old hovel at Spinner's End was his last sanctuary but lately there were more people waltzing in and out than at the Leaky Cauldron before the start of the schoolyear.

Severus paused and gave Remus Lupin one long glance. He looked a bit worse for wear but other than that, ever the charming schoolmate that nearly killed him. "What the hell do you want?" he demanded loudly.

"I just wanted to thank you for all that you're doing," Remus began and Severus wanted to strangle him. That Lupin actually had the audacity to stand there and act like he was taking the highroad was worse than all the sneers and schoolyard insults.

"I know we've had our differences in the past but I'm glad you can see past them." The vein on Severus's forehead was beginning to look far more pronounced than normal as he clenched his teeth. Differences in the past was such a neat way to refer to harassment and attempted murder. He realized the nails of his hands were digging into his palms and he took a single step forward.

"Let me make one thing clear. I will tolerate you. I will brew your potion. But other than that I want absolutely nothing to do with you. Now get off my property and get lost!" his voice had lowered to something like a hiss and he was fairly close to lunging at the man if the werewolf didn't have the good sense to do as he was asked.

Remus paled a bit to Severu's great satisfaction but he didn't back away. "Severus, please, let's be civil about this-"

"Oy, I think he told you to take a hike so I think the best thing to do here is to take a hike!" a familiar voice stated.

Severus felt a mix of relief and new irritation as he first saw that his wayward daughter had returned and second realized she was sticking her nose into his business. At least she didn't look injured so Severus didn't feel that guilty for turning towards her and snapping: "Stay out of this!"

Arsenia ignored him. She stepped closer to Remus so they were now nose to nose and looked up at him. "Are you hard of hearing by any chance?"

"Miss, I just wish to have a word with professor Snape," the man replied softly. "Then I'll leave. I don't want any trouble."

Arsenia frowned. "He doesn't look like he wants a word with you and unlike you, I do want trouble. As much as possible. So, I'm going to count to three. And when I get to three, I will open my pretty little mouth and start screaming. And then professor Snape can pretend you're a creep and in righteous anger punch you right in the face."

"Arsenia…" Severus tried, but his chastisement was half-hearted and died on his lips.

She finally glanced at him, then looked back at Remus and grinned. "I think he looks like a man who'd welcome any excuse to hit you!"

Remus looked unsure of what he should do. Arsenia looked quite serious but he didn't want to leave his conversation unfinished. He glanced at Severus but the other man gave him a venomous yet unreadable look.

"One." Arsenia declared mockingly.

"Please," Remus tried to reason with the girl. He didn't even understand where she had come from or why she was so hostile towards him.

"Two." the girl replied.

The man hesitated, then decided to cut his losses and nodded. "I hope you'll at least consider it, Severus."

"Professor Snape," Arsenia interrupted icily "Th-"

Remus turned and fled.

Arsenia watched him go, then turned back to Severus, her face displaying anger. "Don't think this means you're forgiven."

"Where are you going?" Severus snapped.

"Your delinquent daughter is going to take a nap!" without sparing him a second glance, she stormed inside.

Severus remained standing on the lawn, confused. Part of him was still irritated that she would intrude in his affairs as if he needed her help. That she would be so rude and insufferable to an adult and not respect them at all. Except Remus Lupin wasn't just any adult and Severus actually felt a strange warmth in the very bottom of his gut that the girl had come to his aide. She hadn't fallen for Lupin's mild demeanor or soft way of speaking. She had stuck by Severus even though she was angry and that was a nice change.

Upstairs, Arsenia sat on her lumpy bed, pulled out her small battered black notebook and made another observation about the sort of guests her father entertains. After a moment she also added the curious case of him being referred to as a professor rather than a teacher. It occurred to her that she still didn't know what subject her father taught. Though some snooping around the house told her that it was likely chemistry. She hadn't gotten the change to try to pick the lock of the laboratory downstairs.

Then Arsenia lay down and pondered on the situation. Actually, she'd done quite a bit of that already at the creek and come to a decision. This new guardian, for all his faults, was at least more interesting than cousin Morgan and less homicidal than aunt Rebecca. The way Arsenia saw it, she could fight him on being sent to a boarding school and risk getting flung straight back into the arms of the old lawyer or she could play along, go to the boarding school and have the change to continue her investigation at least during the Christmas holiday and maybe some weekends. All she had to do, was guilt Severus a bit into promising to come visit her or take her out somewhere when she was not in classes.

She smiled contentedly. It would work like a charm. And if it didn't work, she could just start another fight and get kicked out of her third school. Idly, Arsenia picked up the brochure to the girls' academy her father had chosen and began flipping through it.

That's how Severus found her, asleep on the bed and the pamphlet having fallen on her face.

Severus was happy when the next day passed relatively peacefully. She had seemed to have accepted her new school after all and despite Severus's initial suspicion, he opted against trying to read her mind and instead managed to get roped into more than one promise of taking her back to Spinner's End on weekends. He mused she was quite like Draco in how manipulative she could be if a bit more charming. They went shopping for school supplies and Severus felt almost…good…about his decision. He still didn't feel great but he was used to no longer having complete peace of mind. That was something he had deprived himself of when he told Lord Voldemort the prophecy.

Arsenia on her part fully intended to keep her promise. It's important to be fair to her and note that for others might contest it later. She played along and did her best to behave. She packed her bag and on the day was up bright and early when they were supposed to head for the train station. Severus had given her strict instructions on getting to the boarding school and even managed a kind of an apology for not being able to go with her on her first day. He had arranged for someone from the school to meet her at the other station but he himself had Hogwarts meetings to attend.

He did bring her to King's Cross and saw carefully that she got on the right train. Arsenia put away her luggage, sat down on the bench and fully meant to let the train carry her off to the next big adventure. Unfortunately, she looked out of the window five minutes before the train was supposed to leave. And there on the platform she saw a familiar face.

The shabby stranger who had wanted so much to talk to her father was shuffling along, carrying a couple of cases. Arsenia bit her lip as she examined him. She tapped the notebook in her pocket and felt torn. There seemed to be a perfect opportunity to now find out more about Severus's acquaintances. It would be nice to be able to put a name to the face. She frowned trying to read the tag on his bag but the man was way too far.

Severus on the other hand was nowhere to be seen and thus would not notice her taking a little detour…After a moment of careful consideration, or at least as careful as a fourteen-year-old girl would be capable of, she grabbed her suitcase and quietly slipped off the train onto the platform. The stranger had not noticed her so she had the perfect opportunity to follow him until he stopped at the right platform.

The train behind Arsenia made a noise suggesting it was about to leave but when she glanced at the board, she saw there was another train going to the same location in just an hour. Surely there was no harm in going with the later train. Arsenia looked around to ensure her father was nowhere in sight and then slipped like a shadow after her prey.

The man moved through the station towards a ticket box between platforms Nine and Ten. He hastened his step and Arsenia frowned. The barrier seemed quite solid. She moved faster but the man didn't stop either. Why on earth, Arsenia wondered, was he headed straight at it? Could he not see it? This would only lead to—

No collision. The man had disappeared.

The first idea that came to Arsenia was that it was a trick of light. The second was that the man was a ghost. The third was that there was no better way to find out but give it a try herself. She straightened her back, got a better grip on her suitcase and displaying as much confidence as she could, to make up for the fact that she really felt virtually none, headed straight for the same solid barrier.

For a moment she felt like she was in a dream. She could already envision the inevitable disaster as she slammed straight into the cold stone and fell over, utterly humiliated, but her feet were locked on the path. She could not force herself to stop or even remove her gaze from the target. Staring ahead, she walked, head held high, into the barrier.

And out the other side.