Chapter 21!

When they appeared in their bedroom back in Spinner's End, Aly was hardly conscious enough to feel Severus laying her on the bed, taking off her heels and freeing her somewhat from her dress. As he got to work healing her badly tattered body, she allowed herself to fall asleep, assuring her foggy mind that there was no possibility of a crash here. Still, as she stood on the edge of dreamland, she kept expecting to hear the honk, or a screech of brakes. Something to signify that the night was repeating itself.

She heard nothing other than Severus as he undressed and lay down next to her, his warmth quickly filling the space under the blankets.

Aly would have expected herself to sleep in, considering the events of yesterday, but no, she was awake at eight. Slipping out of her (oddly unharmed) dress and into the white robe, she sat next to Severus and watched him sleep, his chest rising and falling, the blanket twisted around him from whatever nightmares he had been plagued by during the course of the night.

I can't believe they are my family... and I don't feel anything towards them. Nothing. She had thought that seeing them might make something click, maybe open some mental doorway to her memories, but no. Of course not. That would be too simple.

She thought, briefly, about Madame Maxime. At the end of the school year, she would leave with them to the Beaubaxtons Academy. Already, the upcoming trip was making her homesick, because who knew how long their experiments on her might last? She might be away all summer. Which sucked, especially considering that she was no longer sure she wanted to remember anything.

Aly spent the next few hours lying in bed with a book, The Multiple Uses For Toadstools, which was interesting in a very disturbing way- roasting toadstools in muck with rat's tails and pine needles as an ointment? She wondered how one discovered that.

As she was nearing the end of the book, Severus started to come awake. Dog-earing a page and turning towards him, she shook his shoulder. He scrunched up his face and inched away from her. Aly giggled. He looked so unlike the usual stone-cold vulture that it was a bit of a revelation- Severus Snape could look cute. Five words she had never thought able to co-exist.

Fully awake now, Severus sat up, frowning. "We should be ready."

Aly squinted. "Ready fro what, Mr Sunshine?"

"Your parents. You might not remember, but yesterday a strange man locked himself in your ICU room and when they came to take your vitals you were gone, with the only exit being a second-story window."

Aly winced. They knew his phone number, so it was only a matter of time before they would find his address, too. "What are we going to do?"

Severus thought for a moment. "Talk to them. No use running -I do not want the dubious pleasure of being well-known as a shadowy kidnapper."

"Okay." Aly smirked, faintly. "Snape the Shadow."

Snape rolled his eyes, annoyed. "If I ever hear that again, you will deeply regret it."

"Fine. What the hell do we tell them? No doubt they will show up with an entourage of police cars and my friends. And Vlad."

"Firstly, we send the police and friends away. Or, at least, make them wait outside. Vlad will stay, and serve as witness. Now, as for how much to tell them... I have no idea. Generally, the parents of muggle-born students are told most, if not all, of the things about the wizarding world."

"They'll think you're nuts. And me, too." Aly concluded. "They'll want proof, and Vlad is not enough."

"We can demonstrate, can't we?"

Aly stared at him. "Suuure."

"Why not?"

"Because they're muggles. You aren't supposed to use magic in front of them, right?"

"In most cases, yes, but this is unique. And do you really think everyone sticks to the rule?"

"Humph."

It didn't take long for the promised troop to arrive- friends, parents, Vlad, police, and a slightly older girl that Aly guessed was her sister. She and Severus were just starting breakfast, Aly nervously picking through the cereal, when someone pounded on the door.

"You stay here, I'll open it." Severus said, walking off. She knew why- he wanted as little people as possible to see her unreasonably quick recovery. She was supposed to be immobile, after all, with several broken bones and fractures, as well as dozens of bruises and cuts that might need stitches.

Aly strained her ears, listening to whatever was going on at the front of the house.

"Severus Tobias Snape?" a woman asked. Not her mother- one of the police, most likely.

The Professor's voice was cold. "Yes."

"May we come in for a talk?"

"Yes, in a while. But first, Miss Parton has asked me to invite her family and Vlad in. For a talk."

"But.." the cop faltered. Something was going on beyond the house.

Aly could hear her mother shouting something about Severus. She clenched her fists. What kind of people were her parents? So far, her impressions of both of them were not good.

"Mrs Parton, please. Come in." Severus soothed, his voice losing some of it's usual spikes. All of it a show, Aly knew, but at that moment he seemed almost normal.

Aly pulled at the edges of her new, blue and partially see-through button-down and studied the floral pattern of her jeans, wondering if the shirt was overkill. Folding her hands in her lap, she waited. Too late to change anything now.

"I will have you in jail, you.-" her mother said, already inside the house.

Her father's voice cut her off, muttering something inaudible.

Aly stood up and walked to the doorway leading into the living room, her first time face-to-face with her family.

First came her mother, red-faced, her mouth set in a firm line. She was horribly thin, like a model, with wavy ash blond hair and huge blue eyes. Behind her was a big man, as tall as Severus, with wide shoulders, short-cut black hair and brown eyes. Her brown eyes. The resemblance was eerie. Behind him stood Vlad and a girl of about eighteen, looking like a vey young version of her mother. She was so pretty.. Aly felt a little jealous. She had done her makeup, in her opinion, perfectly that day, but this girl made her feel like the ugly duckling.

Standing a ways behind them, Severus locked eyes with her. She took strength in his gaze, and gave him a little smile that twitched awkwardly back into a straight line when her father cleared his throat.

"Aly?" her sister said, mouth open.

Severus stepped forward. "I must remind you- memory loss. She doesn't know you."

Aly scuffed her bare foot against the carpet.

"I can't believe... nothing?" her mother hiccuped. "Aly, is it true?"

She took a deep breath. And another. "Yeah. Come in, we have cereal."

She wanted to kick herself. We have cereal? It sounds like a bribe. Or a threat. Ugh.

Eyeing her as if she had just fallen from the sky, the crowd shuffled past her and into the kitchen. Her sister held out her hand, and lay, not knowing what the hell was happening, shook it. The girl's eyes brimmed with tears. She looked... betrayed. "You really don't remember it? The Shake?"

"No."

The four guests sat around the table as Aly and Severus stood in front of them, silent. Aly grabbed the unfinished plate of cereal and started crunching- anything to fill the silence. Severus looked at her in bewilderment, as if to say really? Cereal? Aly snorted. "Yes, cereal. Something wrong?"

The three family members smiled at her. Her father's eyes lit up with a bit of hope- "I suppose you're still our Aly."

She wasn't so sure. She wasn't theirs. She belonged with Hannah, Jessica, Alice, and Severus.

"So." her mother said. "Please tell us where you were all this time? And what you were doing?"

Aly winced. Why did the hardest part have to come first?

"Well..." she started. Looking up at Severus, she felt herself starting to panic. What should she say? Where to start?

"I'll talk." he said. "Late August, I found your daughter unconscious on school grounds. Vlad can confirm any part of what I say."

Vlad nodded.

"Headmaster Dumbledore assigned her as my apprentice, because she had no memory of who she was and none of our methods would work. Let me finish. She had no knowledge of the things we teach, and no sure way to make her catch up to four year's worth of material. As an apprentice, she aids me in my teaching, as well as being taught one-on-one by only me. Now, for the hardest truth to accept..."

He reached into his robe pocket and took out his wand. Aly studied the faces of her family- confused, they stared at Snape.

"Expecto Patronum!" he said, slowly. A silver doe leat into the air and bounded across the kitchen, finally disappearing in a puff of glowing dust. The three muggles stared at him, dumbfounded.

"Our school teaches magic." Aly said, quietly.

A half hour later, most of the catching-up on Aly's part was done. She had only hidden one thing- her real relationship with her Professor. It was easy to imagine the chaos that would surely come if they found out- her mother, Abigail, shrieking, her father, Daniel, threatening to gut Severus, maybe some chairs overturned... Cass staring at her in pure shock.

Now, though, the three Partons were silent. "Excuse us." Abigail -Aly couldn't bring herself to think of her as Mom- said, leading Dan and Cass out into the living room. Vlad, too, stood. "I have no more business here. Good-bye, Aly, Professor." he saluted and walked back to the front of the house, leaving without another word.

"That wasn't so bad." Aly tried. It sounded meek.

"Oh, it was delightful. Especially your rather... crafty conversation-starter. Cereal." Severus's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Shut up. I wasn't the one spewing deer out of sticks. My outstanding performance dims in comparison."

Suddenly, the living room flared green. Abigail shrieked. Aly and Severus came running to see a slightly sooty Hannah climb out of the fireplace. She coughed. "Sheesh, Professor, when was the last time you cleaned that thing?"

Severus looked indignant. "What does it matter?"

"We almost died."

"Wonderful, Miss Taylor. How in the world did you-"

Aly cut in. "We?"

"Should be here any second. Jessica's coming in a few minutes, and I have the feeling Alice got lost along the way."

Turning to survey the room, she continued. "We picked the lock to your room and used your fireplace. Surprise-surprise, it just so happened to be tied in with this one."

Now it was Aly's turn to be indignant. "You burgled my rooms?" she cried. Then, turning to Severus- "And when did you manage to highjack my fireplace?"

"A while ago. In case of an emergency." he glared at Hannah. "If you were not in Slytherin, I would take at least fifty points. For each of you." he added as Alice appeared, also coughing.

"Miss Pelpuper. Do you also make a habit of breaking and entering?"

"No, sir!" squealed Alice. "Aly!"

Aly was tackled to the ground in a matter of seconds. Alice was laughing, her voice high-pitched as if she were on helium.

"What's wrong with your voice?" Aly asked, grinning. It sounded so ridiculous.

"Magic mushrooms!" Alice shouted, and cracked up. Hannah shrugged. "That boy she's been with, at the Yule Ball? He's a hardcore prankster. Put something in her pumpkin juice. You should hear Jessica."

Alice exploded in giggles.

Aly stood up. Severus was not pleased. Leaving the three baffled Partons with the two girls, he took Aly by the elbow and tugged her upstairs.

"What is going on down there?"

Aly shrugged. "I didn't invite them."

"My house... is not a tourist attraction. This will be the first and last time that any student has been here."

Aly shrunk back, wondering if that might include her. Severus seemed to realize what he said and rolled his eyes. "Not counting you."

She sighed in relief. "I'll get them out of here... send my family off, and then maybe the girls will come with me to the city. No more visits, I promise."

-Val