When Lydia first walked through the doors of Mcgonagall's office she felt nervous. She didn't want to cause panic for Mcgonagall, but her head was pounding - the voices still calling her name over, and over.
"Are you alright, dear? You look quite pale."
Lydia attempted a weak smile, and under a quiet voice said, "The voices are back. I think we should see Professor Dumbledore." The words tripped out of her mouth. She wanted to crumple.
Mcgonagall came to her side and held on to her arm.
"I will tell Dumbledore for you, first you need to sit down."

The meeting with Dumbledore had calmed her enough - they had retrieved a potion from Pomfrey and it had abated the voices for the time being.
Lydia suggested that maybe because she wasn't from their world her mind was adjusting to some kind of frequency.
They had almost laughed at her.
But then considered it for a brief second.
Dumbledore had proposed that perhaps it was her magical power - sometimes powerful witches and wizards would experience strange incidents of their magic attempting to communicate with them. But he hadn't heard of it causing pain.

As she sat, clutching her warm cup of tea, mulling over the conversation she had had with Professor Dumbledore and Mcgonagall; Lydia was worried. She had never experienced anything like this before - the pain - the voices, she felt like she was going insane. Was she crazy? Was this how it manifested in this world?
From what she understood, just because she was in the magic world nothing about her physiology would change - her magical energy may have increased, but everything else was supposed to stay the same.
She sighed.
She clutched her forehead and still felt the dull ache.
Lydia glanced up at the clock ticking away above the entrance, it read just after nine. She decided she had a trip to make, and somebody to see for some advice and help.

The walk to the dungeons was cold but cooling against the aches in her body. She flexed her fingers as she examined the quiet corridor - she was surprised more students weren't trying to sneak around at this time.
The hall twisted and turned - so dimly lit that at times she swore she could see shadows running along side her, in front of her - hear things behind her. But she knew she was just being paranoid.
Finally the passageway door to Snape's extended classroom came into view and she breathed a sigh of relief. The dungeon walk was becoming more and more creepy.
She worried her lip before she lifted her hand to knock.
She knew her presence annoyed him, but he was her head of house, and one of her mentors...so he could spare some time for her, right?
She knocked.

"Enter." A deep voice rolled up against the dark wood of the door and it unlocked at his sound.
Lydia pushed on the now ajar door, closed it behind her and made her way into the room. Her eyes were met with the sight of an almost disheveled Potions Master, who was not wearing his usual dark, billowing robes.
He wore a white, partially unbuttoned, dress shirt - with sleeves pushed up to his elbows, what seemed like a sweaty brow, and normal black dress pants as he leaned over a bubbling cauldron - stirring in a clockwise motion as blue smoke began to emit from it.
"Wolfsbane?" She asked timidly.
He did not look up from the potion just said, "This is not a time for you to gloat about your potions abilities, Stone."
Lydia wanted to roll her eyes - though, they were still staring at the new image of the Potions Master without his usual dark attire, it had become a little hard for her to look away.
She managed to pull her gaze, choosing not to say anything else because she could see he was concentrating. Wolfsbane was difficult to brew - she knew that from the most recent essay he had made her write for their private Potions lesson.
Lydia walked to the far side of the room where books upon books were littered across the shelves, and lifted her hand to run her fingertips over them. She loved to read.
One title caught her eye 'Advanced Potion Making for Advanced Minds, by Severus Snape.' Lydia couldn't help herself. She pulled it from the shelf, a sheen of dust coming with it - she almost sneezed, but shivered instead.
She felt like a fool. She had enjoyed the cool of the air, soothing her aches on her walk to the Dungeon. But now that she was there, in the ice cold classroom, she was freezing. She had chosen to wear a light blue sundress - a pretty old thing she just had for warmer weather. The thought at the time was that it would be cooling. Too cool it seemed.
She tried to shake off the cold - chancing a glance at the Professor who was now stirring in an anti-clockwise motion. Which meant he would be done in another half an hour or so. She could wait out the cold.
She took a seat at one of the desks in the corner, facing away from him and opened up the giant textbook.
She smoothed a hand down one of the pages as though she were trying to absorb the information with it. She wished.
The first chapter was dedicated to potent ingredients and where to find them, and how they could help or hinder a potion. The book was truly awe inspiring. The amount of research and years of experimenting that he must have done truly was incredible. Lydia began reading the chapter greedily.

Lydia couldn't have been sure how much time had passed while she absorbed every line of the first chapter. The only reason she had even been pulled from the thralls of the book was because someone was standing directly behind her.
A deep voice had said her name, not once, but twice.
"Ms Stone!"
She looked up sharply to the glare of Severus Snape. She shivered. This time it wasn't from the cold.
"S-Sorry, Professor." She said and closed the book before getting up from the chair.
He stalked his way back to the potion that he had bottled and moved the vials into a small chest on his desk.
"I can see you are here for more than just study. Ask what you would like to ask." He said before turning back to her and casually leaning against the desk.
Lydia walked closer to him, "How did you know I wanted to ask something?"
He glared.
"Right," She laughed nervously, "Ok-well..."
"Spit it out Stone!"
Lydia huffed.
"OK. I don't know if Dumbledore has spoken to you. I have been having these strange attacks...voices suddenly are in my mind, at my ears, yelling or whispering - I don't know anymore. It becomes debilitating, and begins to cause me pain, and well they eventually dissipate."
"I see." Was all he said, staring at her through curious eyes.
"I was wondering if you knew of a potion or a technique...something to help get rid of the voices." She softly said.
There was silence for a few moments. Lydia could hear him take a deep breath and examined his face under the flickering candlelit room. He looked intrigued. And for a moment...concerned.
"The Headmaster didn't have any thoughts on what may be causing it?"
"No, not really. He said that perhaps it was my magical energy."
"Hmm." Was all he said, as he stared into her azure eyes.
It was unnerving.
"Is there no history of mental illness in your family?" He questioned. A quiet, polite question - not accusatory, like she would have expected.
Lydia stared at the ground.
"There could be. I was orphaned at a young age. So, I don't know."
Snape cleared his throat, "I'd like to try something, if that's alright with you?"
Lydia lifted her gaze, "Of course, I'll try anything at this point."
"I'm sure you'll regret that answer."
Lydia wrapped her arms around herself and followed him to the table that he gestured to. He pulled out a chair for her, and then dragged one so that it faced her chair. She took a seat.
She nearly jumped out of her skin as something soft and warm gently wrapped around her shoulders. Snape was still standing in front of her, but smirking at her reaction.
"I would not like to be blamed for Dumbledore's favourite student catching their death in the Dungeons. Do remember to bring a jacket next time, Stone."
As he took a seat before her she realised that he had used wandless magic to summon his robe to keep her warm. It smelled of herbs and spices and her body tingled with a warm tremor.
He cleared his throat again.
"I will assume you are aware of the art of Legilimency?"
Lydia nodded.
"I believe if this is a mental problem I could find the source - if it is mental illness. If it is something else, I may find that too, or I may find nothing at all. I have developed my own techniques in Legilimency, perhaps we will find an answer."
"Ok."She said, staring ahead. He was close and she was scared. What would he find in her mind?
"For this to work, you will need to open your mind completely to me," He arched a brow, "It shouldn't be hard for you, considering how readable your expression is."
Lydia glared. As much as she didn't like Snape, he was trying to help her, and he had been relatively nice to her of recent. She trusted him. Even though Harry still swore Snape was almost as evil as the Dark Lord himself, Lydia felt something from the man. Felt the good in him. So she trusted him.
"Lets just start."She huffed.
Snape was close. Now in mind too. Lydia knew he was about to attempt to enter her mind, and just to spite him, and his comment, she put up a wall to block him.
Of course she had researched Legilimency. It was one of the first books she devoured, and first things she had practiced when she arrived at Hogwarts. Now was the perfect time to practice Occlumency - with a master.
Though, she did not think it would work.
But as her wall went up, Snape exited her mind and looked furious for a second, then he did what looked like an almost laugh.
"You really do enjoy showing off, don't you." His sentence didn't have as much venom as usual.
"Alright. Point proven. You're not as readable as I suggested. Now, please stop wasting my time."
Lydia mentally rolled her eyes and waited for him to enter her mind.
"Just to be clear," he readied himself, "IF you attempt to occlude me again I will break through. It is not a pleasant feeling."
Lydia gulped, and nodded.
And that was it.
Some memories flooded to the forefront of her mind - she figured they were the ones he was sifting through. She couldn't completely understand what he was doing. It was more of a glimpse or a feeling, like someone sitting by your side flicking through pages of a familiar book.
"He could probably do this without alerting me of his presence in my head."
"Correct." His voice said, resounding in her mind.
Lydia tried hard to not focus on anything in particular. Just let everything be as open as she could. It wasn't long before it was over, and she was leaning quite close to the Professor - his own aroma now enveloping her and not just the one of his robe.
He seemed perplexed as he stared into her conscious eyes and not subconscious mind.
"What is it?" She questioned, curious to know if he had found anything.
"Nothing at all. Though, I can assure you there were no signs of mental illness."
Lydia knew the disappointment was evident on her face, and she knew he felt it when the soft, "Oh," left her.
He stood from the chair and placed it back in its spot, and then walked back to his desk. Lydia, after a few brief moments, did the same, clutching the robe after the chair was back in its place.
When she turned back around he was standing behind her again, hand outstretched - but startled her for the third time that night.
"You really should open your ears, Stone."
He stretched his hand out and she saw three vials filled with liquid.
"These should help with the attacks. If there is any pain associated, take the blue one. Take the other two at the first onset of the voices. You will be brewing these for yourself in our next potions lesson, so I suggest you familiarise yourself with the ingredients."
Her brow furrowed.
"Professor...How will I know what ingredients to use if you haven't told me what the potions are?"
He scoffed and folded his arms across his chest.
"You can recognise Wolfsbane without me telling you, I have the utmost belief that you can work out what has been used in these potions."
Sarcasm really was what defined Professor Snape. She couldn't really feel angry with him either. He had helped her. He had taken time to give advice, and he gave her potions to help. It was more than what anyone else had done, so she was grateful.
"Thank you, Professor." She said and parted her lips in a grateful smile.
He rose his brows in surprise, "E-hem," he coughed, "You are welcome. Take this." He said, then suddenly his potion textbook that she had been devouring appeared before her.
"You seemed to be enjoying it. It will provide useful for your assignment."
"Thank you." She grasped it tightly. Without it she would have been lost. She knew her potions, but in brewing context - not by the colour or texture of a finished vial of liquid.
She nodded and turned to leave, but then remembered his robe was still draped around her shoulders.
"Oh," she started and pulled it from her shoulders, "Thank you for this too. I almost forgot to give it back."
"You can wear it while we walk back to your cabin."
"W-What?" She asked, panicked.
"As I am sure you haven't observed, it is after midnight. It would be unprofessional of me to let you walk alone back to your cabin. As safe as the school may be."
Lydia gulped. It was a long walk.
"Alright." She whispered.

The grounds were peaceful as wind drifted lightly across empty pathways, and empty halls. They had just exited the castle, in complete silence, and a normally snow piled ground was only light with the last drizzles of snowflakes as the season left them.
Lydia looked out over the moonlit hills, and shimmering lake - watched as the trees danced, and the sky sang with starry light, and just breathed.
Hogwarts was mesmorising.
"You're quiet." Chimed Snape, breaking her reverie.
Lydia thought that it was out of character for him. He should be happy to be free of her pertinent questions.
"I enjoy the silence." She answered, keeping her head tilted and gazing at the sky. It was something she had always been entranced by. It was truly the first sign of anything magical to her.
"Silence is enjoyable." He said back, dark waves of sound surrounded her ears in the quiet air. His voice seemed deeper.
And then she tripped.
It wasn't going to be a life threatening tumble to the ground. No. She just missed the small step before her, her foot searching for earth; expecting it to be there. But instead she began a small, yet ungraceful descent with her outstretched foot, and before she could stumble back to balance, Snape had caught her hand in one of his, and his other held her shoulder - her back close to his, but she was twisted to the side, able to see the annoyance on his face.
"S-Sorry." She uttered into the silence.
She uttered to the sound of her thundered heartbeat.
She uttered to the skin of his calloused hand as it brushed the soft curve of her own.
He straightened and let go.
"Perhaps you should keep your eyes ahead of you, instead of lost in the clouds."
And then he walked ahead of her under the quiet starlight.