Hey everyone here's the next chapter and if I may so myself it out does the last chapter extremely! I hope you all like it and please READ and REVIEW!!

Chapter 25

A beautiful blanket of snow covered the grounds outside Hogwarts and the smell of winter was finally among them. Aurora loved it; she loved the cold and loved the fact that she could watch Hagrid decorate the large Christmas tree in the Great Hall. She just wished her father would share her Christmas spirit. Aurora didn't know why, but for some reason Severus was as irritable as ever. And what was worse it wasn't just with other students, Aurora caught wind of his bad mood after classes too.

She just chose to ignore it at this point, whatever Severus' problem was she wasn't going to concern herself in it. It wasn't that she didn't care; it was just that she did not want to get her head bit off because she took the initiative to check up on one of her loved ones.

"Aurora… *cough…cough*…"

Was that Severus? Aurora looked up from her witch weekly magazine to see her father standing right next to her blowing his nose on a green embroider handkerchief.

"Dad…you look horrible…" Aurora gasped.

"Danks for dat…" Severus snarled. "I need…ACHOO…I need you to…ouch!"

Aurora looked at her father concerned; she had never seen Severus like this before. One he was sick, and Aurora didn't even think Severus could get sick! Two…he looked like he might pass out and was paler then he normally was.

"Daddy," Aurora said tossing her magazine on the coffee table, "you should go back to bed!"

"What?" he spat. "Doe…do you dow how much work I…I have…do…ACHOO!"

"I don't care!" Aurora said leading him to the bedroom. "Dad, you look awful!"

"Yeah, you have pointed it out several times."

Severus caressed his nose with the hanky and sighed. He was not sick…he just could not be sick! Severus Snape did not get sick…sure he had allergies in the Spring and he sneezed then, and on very rare occasions he had hangovers. But Severus Tobias Snape never got sick.

"I'm fine, why don't you go and be with your friends? I don't like how you are spending every day of your Christmas vacation here."

"But dad…no ones in the castle!"

"You are so dramatic." Severus said walking from the living room to the kitchen.

"No I'm not!" Aurora spat following him. "Draco went home for the holidays…and Merlin only knows where the heck Ashley got to!"

Severus sneezed again, and instantly his nose was as stuffy as before.

"Damn…dit!"

"Daaad!" Aurora whined.

Severus glared at her with his infamous Snape Glare, but because the cold had weakened him it had lost its flare and was less intimidating.

"Go…and make some dew friends!"

"Great advice…" Aurora said sarcastically. "Can't I just stay here and annoy you?"

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Severus roared. "ACHOO!"

Laughing somewhat Aurora did as she was told and left her father alone in his quarters. She hoped that Severus would be better by the time Christmas came around, this was her first holiday with her father and she really wanted to enjoy it!

She didn't know who she was going to hang out with now that Draco was away on holiday and Ashley was…well ….need she say more? Hadn't that Ron Weasly kid offer to let her hang out with him? Surely no one would mind if she went to the "light side" for a couple of hours?

Aurora knew where to find Ron; he was always in the Great Hall playing Wizards Chess with one of his Gryfindor buddies. Trying to look a little bit confident Aurora approached him.

"Oh," Ron said, his ears turning a light shade of pink, "hey."

"Hi…I was just wondering if you would like someone to play with."

Ron smiled and began setting up his chess pieces on the black and white board.

"Have you ever played before?"

"No, but I'm a fast learner!"

Ron nodded and said, "Gotta be considering your Snape's kid."

"Uhh…I'm not his kid by blood…I mean he adopted me…but-

-don't worry, you don't have to explain yourself to me." He said with a weak smile.

Aurora nodded and listened as Ron explained the game of chess to her. Needless to say she did catch on quite quickly and bested the young Weasly in her second game!

"Not bad!" Ron praised. "But you have a long way to go before you can beat me the first try."

Aurora rolled her eyes but smiled none the less.

"Hey, do you want to meet my brothers?"

"You have brothers?" Aurora asked standing with him.

"Yeah, too many! There's Percy…he's a stuck up prefect…Fred and George, they're twins and the pranksters of this school. Then there is my brother's Bill and Charlie but they graduated eons ago!"

Rory laughed at Ron's over exaggeration and followed him to the other end of the Great Hall. Two red haired boys sat in the corner talking to several other students but as soon as Aurora walked over they fell silent and looked up to face her.

"Bloody Hell Gred!" the one gasped.

"Do my eyes deceive me, Forge?"

"I do believe they do, my dear brother!"

"Aurora Potter…Forge!"

"The little girl that saved us all Gred!"

Aurora's face turned bright red and she looked down at her shoes, she really didn't like it when people incorporated her name with Voldemort or what she had done when she was a mere infant.

"Nice to meet you!" they both said in unison!

"I'm Fred!"

"And I'm George."

"Don't bother-

-telling us who you are-

-we already know!"

Fred pointed to her scar and smiled.

"It's kinda obvious."

"Ummm."

Before Aurora could even say a word they all went back to rambling and asking her questions. Most of them revolved around Severus. They wanted to know how he treated her, what made him decide to take her in, why he acted like such a git during class (which Aurora did not appreciate one bit) and whether or not she would be able to get them out of their Saturday detention.

"You guys need to leave her alone." Ron growled. "She's not a crystal ball…she doesn't have all your answers."

"There about her Ronnie!" George mocked. "She should be able to answer them just fine."

"Yeah, but your making her uncomfortable!"

"Oh!"

Both the twins turned to her and frown apologetically.

"Sorry Aurora." Fred began.

"We just got carried away!" George finished.

Aurora nodded and turned to the Slytherin side of the great hall. She sighed, Ashley was still no where to be found. What in Merlin's beard could that boy be getting himself into?! Maybe she was just over exaggerating. She actually really needed to go for a walk, by herself. She hasn't been able to have a moment alone since she arrived at Hogwarts. Either she was with Draco, or Ashley, or because she lived with him she saw Severus every day of every week.

Yes, some alone time in this big mysterious castle seemed heavenly to Aurora right now.

"Hey Aurora?" Ron called getting her attention. "You still with us?"

"Oh, sorry…yeah, but I have to go! I'll see you all later right?"

"Sure!" Fred said enthusiastically.

"Anytime munchkin!"

What was it with everyone calling her that? Was she really that tiny, seriously?!

"Bye."

Aurora always found that the abandon corridors were the best ones to walk through, and now it seemed that because everyone was gone on holiday or leaving today that every corridor belonged to her! She loved being able to walk around the school and not be run over by tons of other kids.

Where did this door go? Hell for all Aurora knew it took her right back to the Great Hall, but at the moment she just wanted to walk aimlessly for no apparent reason. The silence engulfed her and Aurora welcomed it. She never heard such bliss…no one was asking her how she felt…no one was looking down at her for all her mistakes…and no one was showering her with unwanted pity!

For the moment she felt freed from the world-----what was a mirror doing in here? Aurora turned, maybe walking with no sense of direction was not the smartest idea. Still, it couldn't be a normal mirror…why would a mirror just be laying in a random corridor…that no one ever ventured in.

Cautiously she went to the mirror and looked up.

erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi

What kind of language was that? Wait…Aurora re-read the words several times when she noticed something. If she read it backwards it actually said, "I show not your face but your hearts desire."

So this mirror showed what she wanted…what her heart yearned to have. Well, she was happy the way she was. But when would she ever get an opportunity to see this again? Stepping in front of it Aurora took notice that three other people were standing with her.

In the center of the two was someone she easily recognized…Severus. He wore a smile on his face and his hand was rested on her shoulder. Next to her father was a very handsome man with messy black hair and a pair of round rimmed glasses on. So this must be her real father…she had his eyes. And then at the far left, standing next to Severus, was her mother.

Lily had red hair, just as she did and the same heart shaped face that Aurora did. Only Lily's eyes were as green as lily pads and Aurora's were cocoa brown.

"Mum…" she breathed. "Dad…"

Both Lily and James nodded, but Severus held no expression. His image almost looked rather worried…Aurora did not understand at first but then it came through loud and clear.

"Do…do you guys mind Severus being my dad?"

Here's the 25th chapter everyone...do not worry Christmas is far from over! I just needed to fit the part with the mirror in here...I apologize that it is the wrong order...originally Harry finds the mirror before Christmas but I kinda forgot about it! Please Read and Review!