Author Notes:

THANK YOU SO MUCH! For the wonderful encouraging words! I feel so guilty like I've abandoned my followers hahaha which is my own fault, I will try and do better and make this chapter a long one

I hope you continue to enjoy, I apologise if some parts of the plot don't make much sense when readers are thinking of the original Harry Potter story line…but it is an AU and doesn't follow the rules hahaha. But to answer another's question, we are going to go with yes he knows of his inheritance….

Waking up before the sun had even bothered to peek above the horizon seemed wrong on all accounts, and a certain Veela definitely felt cheated. Hair sticking up at odd angles and eyes that felt as though someone had been pouring sand under her lids while she slept, she glared at her window where an insistently loud tapping was coming from. The noise drilling into her head as she stumbled from the bed, right foot getting caught in the process and almost falling face first into the ground, her wings instinctively flaring to keep her balanced. With a hop and twist she managed a safe landing and braced herself on the stone windowsill, her wings settled and retreated into inside the flesh of her back once more. There before her squatted a very disgruntled black owl, and if owl's had facial expressions this one was looking at her with disdain, its amber orbs glaring at her as though it was her fault it was tapping on her window.

"Don't look at me like that, you woke me up not the other way round buddy." Ruffling its feathers in a show of displeasure she unlatched the window and the icy air immediately caused goose bumps to race up her bare arms. Without a further invitation needed the owl strutted through the opening and she spotted the scroll attached to his leg. Who would be sending her a message at this hour? She looked at Mr Disdain warily; he stared back…almost mockingly- daring her to extend her fingers. This would be painful; quickly she tried to snatch the parchment from his leg but he hopped out of the way and snipped at her fingers with his short beak, that's sharpness was in no way diminished due to its size. Sighing, she knelt in front of the sill, the cold ground unpleasant on her knees. Raising her hands in the prayer position,

"I am truly sorry for being the cause of waking you at such an awful hour, please find it within your heart to forgive me." It was hard enough trying to keep the sarcasm from her voice, it was its owners fault not hers but she had dealt with arrogant owls before. Fluffing his feathers and seeming to preen under her grovelling he almost haughtily lifted his head while sticking out his leg for her to claim her letter. "Why thank you good sir." His attitude towards her seemed to improve as he rubbed his beak against her hand. Rolling the crisp parchment out to see the precisely neat cursive script and read,

"Miss Stone,

Make your way to the potions classroom effective immediately after reading this. It is of the utmost importance.

~Potions Master,

Professor Snape."

"Well..." Smiling at the owl a little sheepishly she admitted, "…I should have guessed."

At this hour of the morning the remarkable castle was on the more draftee scale of things, but she felt the magic in the air that drifted through the halls that slowly warmed the large rooms from pre-morning frosty to a much more tolerable temperature. She had dressed hastily and as quietly and swiftly as possible made her way down to the lower levels, it was much colder where the potions class where held, but it barely registered with the Veela. Her thoughts returned to last night and she felt her whole body heat up, her face going red, what was she going to do about Harry? Shaking her head she tried to focus on the task ahead, what would Professor Snape need from her at such a time, and when they were heading to the station today as well. She needed to make preparations on her appearance; most of her meagre possessions had already been packed away in a trunk given to her. Now that she thought about it, living with other students it would be quite draining to keep a constant level of magic spells going while trying to maintain different hair and eyes and even hiding her markings and jewel. Of course using glamour was second nature to her but there's always the possibility of getting caught out. And if there where students working for these Death Eaters they all had to be very careful, how was she going to blend in and not catch anybody's notice?

Finally arriving at Snape's office she knocked first, there was silence on the other side until she heard his distracted comment of, "Enter." Quietly entering his office she saw him seated behind a beautifully carved wooden desk, it looked like mahogany but the colouring was almost back that it look almost glossy in the flickering torch lights that where periodically spaced throughout the room.

He didn't look up from his writing as she entered and she too the time to study his features as he frowned in concentration, the lines deepening between the drawn in dark brows, the left side of his mouth drawn down in disdain. His hand whisked across the page with efficiency and a quality of neatness that was envious, Katrina had always been hopeless with quills, her sister use to comment that whenever there was an ink bottle around there was to be a puddle of spilled ink somewhere else that Katrina had been. Her sister on the other hand had had beautiful handwriting, just like their mother. She didn't take a seat in the solitary chair that stood sentinel on the other side of the Professor, from their previous encounters it wasn't hard to figure out what this potions master would tolerate and wouldn't. If you looked past his almost permanent sneer and disdain, others would notice he had impeccable manners, and he acted as though sometimes it was so ingrained it was almost against his will. Finally looking up he kept a blank expression as he looked over her, his obsidian eyes almost looking black in the semi-lighted room focus on her head and she just knew her hair was still looking fabulous in all its bed head glory. She gave him a lopsided smile and did a half shrug,

"It is pretty early." His hair didn't have a strand out of place, but that wasn't the point.

"Miss Stone, please have a seat." He motioned with his hand towards the chair in front of him.

"Thank you." Getting more comfortable she wriggled her toes inside her shoes, a habit she had when nervous. He shuffled parchments around his desk and once cleared the space he clasped his hands together and rested them on the shiny surface. She wondered briefly if anything ruffled this man. "Your owl is quite the character Professor," As if waiting on cue said owl glided into the open window and landed beside Snape's clasped hands. "…speak of the devil."

"-And he shall appear…" The professor answered, she could have sworn there was a softening to one corner of his mouth, almost without conscious thought one hand moved to idly scratch the top of the pompous owls head. She smiled at him, and for a moment he seemed to be taken aback, as though he was unused to such responses, how lonely this man must be. Frowning in response he cleared his throat. "Now enough pleasantries, there's good reason that I asked you down here. Obviously today you are all making your way to the platform to travel with everyone else to come to Hogwarts and start the school year and such." Nodding dutifully as was expected the Veela thought he deemed it acceptable to continue. "Have you thought about your disguise?"

"I have had to change my appearance in the past, changing my hair and eye colour isn't a problem, the Veela clans have been doing it for centuries." He nodded satisfied with her response.

"But there is the issue of the sorting ceremony, if I recall, I cannot ever remember a time when an older student was brought in, the letters are always sent at the age of eleven."

"Yes I had thought of that, I will stand out greatly not only in height I imagine, but it will definitely draw questions and unwanted attention. But I haven't any ideas to get around it as yet." He smirked.

"You haven't, but I have." Getting up from the desk and making his way to a cabinet, he waved his hand in front of the black glassed pane, framed with a rose coloured timber and opened it to reach inside. When his hand withdrew he held a necklace. The firelight caught the gold chain and changed its colour from different shades of orange and red, hanging daintily on the end was a round locket, also gold as he brought it nearer she saw there was an engraving on the font. "This locket contains very powerful magic," He sat back behind the desk and looked at her pointedly while the chain dangled between his fingers. "You are never to open it, am I clear? The spell will be released and the locket will once more become just an ornament."

"Of course, how exactly will the locket help my situation?" She leaned in and peered at the necklace, it was quite beautiful. She was close enough to make out the engraved picture of a proud lion, but there was something draped around its neck, a snake she realised a moment later when the light caught the reflective surface. "It's a beautiful necklace." He looked at it, the expression almost bitter sweet, before his face closed off all emotion.

"This is not just a necklace, it contains magic that will not only take care of the matter of holding the glamour you place on yourself but it will also affect those around you." He looked at her sharply to make sure she was listening carefully. "You must wear this at all time, especially as you walk into Hogwarts with the first years. As you're walking into the Great Hall, people will not see you as you are now but as a younger version. Then when you are seated at the chosen house, slowly the magic will make everyone see you for your correct age and begin to think you had been there already in the same year as Draco and the others. They will not remember details just a vague sense that they know you and that you had been in their classes." He was slightly smug at her widened eyes.

"That's incredible," As he handed it to her she gently took it into her hands, the locket coming to rest on her right palm. It had turned over and she saw it was engraved at the back too,

L~S

Had been very lightly written in an elegant script, it had obviously belonged to someone at some point and going from his expression as he watched her like a hawk as she cupped the locket gently, it had meant a lot more to him than he was wanting to let on. Looking up at him she knew he would never tell her the story behind it, carefully she lifted it-the chain so long she easily pulled it over her head and tucked it inside her jumper, the locket dropping down to rest in the middle of her chest. It was warm and she felt the magic inside rushing to connect with her spirit jewel, a feeling of love and joy rushed through her chest. Gasping and reaching up to place a hand over where the locket sat underneath her clothing, she looked to him and said softly,

"Whoever had owned this necklace before was a loving and kind person, and very strong as well." He looked at her and his eyes seemed to drift into memories only he could recall.

"Yes they were, it makes sense you would feel their magical essence." Clearing his throat, he shuffled some more papers unnecessarily and continued, "Now the magic in that locket is strong but it will use some of your magic to insure the spell stays intact. One thing though, while the glamour will always be intact as long as you wish it, those that have met you before you put on the locket will not be influenced by the spell trying to make them believe they have known you for some time. But this is not a large matter as you have only been exposed to a small group of Hogwarts residents."

Her fingers unconsciously fiddled with the chain, "Thank you, Professor Snape. You are quite the remarkable wizard." He again showed surprise just slightly but the raising of his eyebrows that she had so genuinely offered gratitude, but that was followed by a scowl.

"I only did what was asked of me and what was necessary, nothing more or less."

"Yes but it is still appreciated, especially as it concerns my safety and those that I have come to care for." She looked into his eyes, such pain she saw there, his emotions so tightly shut she wouldn't be surprised if he closed himself off from feeling any emotions.

"Yes, well…Good." He stood abruptly and began to make his way to the door, seeing this as her cue to leave she followed behind the disgruntled man. He very much indeed resembling his owl at present and she had to stop the smile from twitching at the corner of her mouth. Reaching the door way she walked through and turned to him,

"Thank you very much Professor, I shall see you later tonight at the great hall." As she turned his voice made her stop and look back at him,

"Miss Stone…"He was frowning again, seeming to be in conflict with himself. "Take care of the necklace, there isn't any replacement." She was touched that he had given up something he was obviously still attached to for her sake. Turning fully to him she moved her left arm to sit diagonally across her chest, her left hand clutching her right shoulder, her right hand in the form of a fist, the arm bending at the elbow to connect side on with her left elbow she bowed towards him.

"As a light Veela and a member of the Stone clan, I promise to look after it with the utmost care and respect, if the day comes when it has fulfilled its purpose I shall return it to your care if you so wish it. That is my oath." Straightening up she saw a softening in his eyes and a small glimmer of possibly respect hidden in their depths.

"I would appreciate that…Thank you." The words where hard for him to be certain, not wanting to cause any more discomfort she gave him a small smile and turned sharply to make her way back to her room.

Authors notes: A little I dry I know but things will pick up, next chapter is going to get her at Hogwarts and on her merry way into a further plot line