Guys, sorry I forgot to post yesterday!

Unlikely Surprises

"…What?" Harry muttered. "Whose is it? What do you think Bella?"

Bella gasped, "I can't see it!"

Caly said, confused, "Is it Eustace's?"

"No way," Draco sneered. Everyone jumped. "He couldn't hope to afford something like that," he drawled...

"Go away," Harry snapped.

"Besides, Caly, you get your papers everywhere," said Mafalda in a way that reminded Harry of Hermione. "You even have my charms paper, don't you? Where is it?"

"Here," Caly said sheepishly, rooting through her dominion and handing it over.

"I've seen you, you had some on everyone's desks," Draco put in. "Yes, even the teacher's desks."

"What does it mean?" Bella mused, confused. "What does it even say…"

"Let me see it." Draco reached for it over Harry's head. There was a short scuffle. Bella and Mafalda didn't do much but shout; Caly threw herself right in the fray. It was all over before anyone could say Quidditch.

"Who has it?" Caly panted.

Smirking, Draco pulled it from his pocket. He unrumpled slowly while everyone reacted. Smirking, he looked down. He dodged as Harry made a dive for it. He kicked Caly aside into Harry. Draco, after he made sure they were occupied, paled as he read it.

"Hand it over," Harry growled, hand out.

"NO!" And with that, little Malfoy ran off.

The girls chased Draco. Harry dashed after them. Draco, who was taller than all of them, managed to get ahead. He turned a corner. He leaned against a torch pillar, panting. He heard the gasps of the others. Readying himself, he shoved himself away from the pillar to a standing position as his enemies came hurling around the corner.

"Give it," Harry ordered. He was the least rifled from the running. (He had practice running from his cousin.) Bella had fallen behind. She hobbled around the corner, clutching her side. Mafalda caught her as she nearly fell.

"Nah," Draco said lazily. He realized he was standing next to a pillar torch. "O lookit, how about I put it…here?" He lifted the note over the fire.

"No!" everyone else shouted. Caly shrieked it. Draco sniggered.

"We need...to keep...it!" Bella panted. "Give it!"

Draco's face turned dark. "NO!" he shouted. He turned and ran, leaving a flustered pair of half bloods, a pureblood, and a scream of fury and fear that was probably from Caly.

"What's all the noise?" Filch roared behind Draco. He knew the others had fled.

All he had to do was hide the note, to keep it safe, and secret.

Harry ran, trying to keep ahead of Filch while not losing his sister. The poor thing was slow, and probably the shortest girl at the school. Caly had chased after Draco. Falda had fallen behind and they still had no idea where she was.

Bella tripped. Harry hauled her up.

"Come on, come on," he muttered, scared and antsy, glancing at the corridor ahead.

"They're supposed to be studying," Filch grumbled around the corner behind them. "All the noise! Not studying! Out in the corridors! Why ruin my Saturday?"

"Come on," Harry urged.

Bella screamed in fear, staring, pale, at a pinprick of blood on her shaking hand. A stray quill lay on the floor.

"It's just a poke, we get poked by quills all the time," Harry said quickly. Thankfully, Filch appeared to be stalled, talking to his cat.

"Not just a poke," she whispered. "I have hemophilia. It's gonna take f-forever for it to stop bleeding!"

"Then run to the hospital wing!" Harry shouted in panic.

Bella wailed. "I ran so much already!"

"I know you're tired, but come on!"

"Well well," Filch said cruelly, finally around the bend. "Poked I heard? That's what happens to little girls who run around screaming and not studying."

Bella whimpered, almost ready to cry.

Anger flared in Harry like embers catching fire. "That's nice, you wheezy old lunatic!" he shouted.

Filch spluttered.

A nervous looking Griff hurried around the corner ahead.

"I thought you didn't like her," Harry said hotly as he swiftly swept Bella into his arms. "You abandoned her!"

Griff winced. "Um, I honestly didn't want to! I still do like her…I'm taking her now because it matters. I heard her scream."

Smiling faintly, Bella buried her head in Griff's shoulder. "I thought that you didn't want your parents to see you as weak or bad or anything," she whispered.

"Uh, that was the initial thought," Griff said reluctantly as he speed walked to the hospital wing, Harry tagging behind. "But I think that was kind of wrong of me. I mean, they can be a bit mean sometimes…but you have hemophilia and a weak immune system. And they're healers. They'd understand."

Harry found himself liking Griff a bit. Well, if she ever needed to go to the hospital wing and Harry couldn't carry her, he knew who to call now. He tried not to notice the stares and whispers from the purebloods they passed.

"Poor thing," Lily whimpered behind them. Harry looked over his shoulder. She smiled a bit. "Don't worry, I'll hug you when she's safe," she assured him.

"Why you following us?" Griff asked.

Now pink and playing with the hem of her shirt, she stared at the floor and mumbled something in which only 'Griffy' and 'kinda cute' could be caught. Harry didn't have time to think about it since he had to catch up to Griff, who sped up as the hospital wing came in sight.

Anwen came swiftly when she saw them.

Quickly, she thanked Griff as she glanced at Bella's condition. Sniffing fearfully, Bella shakily told her she had hemophilia. Anwen disappeared and was back in a second, with a standard squat jar of translucent blue liquid Bella knew all too well. Gently, Anwen applied the stuff (it's a makeshift scab) and covered it with a bandage to keep it from rubbing off before it dried. The fear over, Griff left, and Lily trailed after him, but not before she hugged Harry.

Anwen softly enveloped Bella in a tight hug. "You poor thing," she whimpered into Bella's long black hair. "Your parents told me of this, but still. No one should have to go through this."

Bella nuzzled her mum. It was beyond words to still have a mum who also cared, and to have when her old one was no longer her mum. And besides, Anwen was a healer. No longer were there to be any tense and fearful waits in bed for the doctor to come. Bella had almost died too many times already. Granted, she was kind of used to death hovering over her head, but still.

"Anything else wrong?" her mum said softly.

"Violet," someone drawled. They jumped. It took them a second to recognize Snape standing there with his arms folded.

"Goodness," Anwen chided lightly. "Still like to sneak up like that?" She sighed heavily while Bella appeared utterly confused. "And I'm not Violet. I've already told you that plenty of times. Why do you think I'm her?"

"Really," Snape said softly, frowning a bit. "You look just like her, down to the eyes."

"Who's Violet?" Harry squeaked.

"You know what I think," Snape continued, ignoring him.

"Yes, I'm not her and I gave you my proof."

"What was it?" Harry said softly.

"I can't show you," Anwen said grimly. "I'll tell you when you're older."

Bella felt a bit scared. She had been shown perhaps more than she should have seen, being raised by the Malfoys and all. What was so scary she couldn't see? Were there skeletons in her mum's house or something? She dearly hoped not.

"Why can't we see it now?" Harry asked.

"Because, she said so," Snape said, face pained. "Child, you're curious just like your mother," he murmured. Harry cocked his head.

"Who is Violet anyway?" Bella put in.

"She was my friend," Snape said slowly. "She would protect me from James...that git." He glowered down at Harry for a second, then jolted and stared at the curtain again before continuing stiffly, "How sad you look just like him...anyway, Violet was my friend. She was there for me when nobody else was. She was my friend when Lily Evans denied me…"

They all sat in silence. Bella couldn't help feeling sorry for Snape. Slowly, the idea formed in her mind like fog that was why he had named his daughter after Lily. She blinked, and realized he had gone.

Professor McGonagall replaced him. "There you are," she said sternly to Bella. "I've been looking all over for you, now we need to talk about this transfiguration assignment. Your work is exceptional! I've added notes, but we need to talk over them."

Harry started, pale, as though he remembered something important. "Professor," he pleaded, "Caly accidently picked up a note from somebody that said 'Did the second troll give you the dragons egg!' What if it's for an adult? What if something bad is going to happen?"

"That's what it said?" Bella gasped. "That can't be good!"

McGonagall and Anwen exchanged a somber look. McGonagall said grimly, "We'll look into it."

Later, Harry and Bella were walking together in the corridors, looking for Caly.

"I'm glad you seem to adjust quickly to having a bandage," Harry said.

Bella glanced up from rifling through the books in her bag. "Huh? O yea, I'm used to it."

"Good," Harry said, scanning the crowds. He saw Draco sneer about something while talking to Zambini. Bella must have heard it, because she whimpered. Seeing her bury her face in her scarf, he said, "Why don't you go ask why the heck Malfoy just started being mean again?"

"I-I don't want to," she sniffled, muffled by the scarf. "He's not gonna listen."

"I would at least try," Harry pressed gently. "You're a nice kid, and I don't like people being mean to you. Besides, your mum did say you have a thing for attracting people-maybe he'll see your side."

"Um, ok," Bella squeaked. Hesitantly, cautiously, she wriggled through the straggling crowd towards Draco. She got slower the closer she got. She glanced behind her when she heard familiar footsteps and was relieved to see Harry following some distance behind her, perhaps just in case Draco tried to hurt her.

"Draco?" she said softly when she came within a safe distance from him. His cronies pointed at her and laughed.

Pansy jeered, "Ohh, is the half blood trying to-"

"Shut it," Draco barked. "Midget. What?"

"I-I want to talk to you," she whispered.

A frown tugged Draco's mouth as the purebloods surrounding him taunted her, throwing little bits of paper or empty ink bottles. Bella deftly dodged them all. Draco sighed, staring at the ceiling. He ran forward and took her arm, dragging her into a branching corridor. He let her go, staring hard at her. They were alone now.

"Why did you hit me?" she squeaked.

He frowned. "I didn't have a choice."

"B-but you were being nice to be in front of the pure bloods before that!"

Draco hid a wince with a scowl. "I k-know, but this time I really didn't have a choice. I-I didn't mean to hit you that hard anyway."

"B-but why didn't you come back and say sorry?" she whimpered.

"That Potter got in the way," Draco sneered. "I was going to say sorry, but I-I'm just not used to that-I couldn't say it with somebody else around. I didn't want to mess up in front of him. I just couldn't."

"You could say sorry now?" she squeaked hopefully.

"Dunno, you kind of went on ahead and was like (his voice went high pitched and squeaky) 'oi, let's be siblings with Draco's rival! Yes, good idea!"

Bella turned pink. "Well, you just betrayed me, and he was still nice to me, so I didn't think it was a bad idea!"

Draco glowered at her. "Yea, well, he's my enemy. You can't be his sister."

"But he was becoming your friend too!"

Draco frowned. "Well now he isn't! Not if he's gonna steal you."

"He's not stealing me!" Bella protested. "It's not like we're actually siblings! We're only pretending!"

"Considering your status, that's the best I can get too!" Draco howled. "I thought you cared about me. I thought we were friends! But then you go on and go for my rival. I can't be friends with you if you think nasty ol' Potter is better than me just because he has some dumb scar or whatever. Just because he's faaaamous."

"That's not why," Bella squeaked indignantly, but Draco went on, not listening.

"I'm your brother! You know that, don't you? You can't be brothers with my rival!"

"Well, he's a lot nicer than you!" Bella hissed, marching away.

"Wait-" Draco called after her, but Bella shoved past Pansy and the others to get back to Harry. She wasn't going to be friends with Draco if Harry was nicer to her.

Lily recently realized (and kept well hidden) she thought that Avery boy, whatever his name is, was super cute. Some people were like him, but not all are bad, right? He couldn't be all strut and self-centered. There was more to every human than that. Besides, Lily felt her dad needed to know that this isn't the past, things are different now, and that even adults could be wrong. But what if he was right? Well either way, she wanted to know.

"O Griffith," she called cheerfully. She was in a third floor corridor, and finally found the cutie red-head.

"O hi," he said, grinning vaguely. He didn't even look like he saw her.

"Do you want to—to uh, to um," she stuttered, playing with her hair. As he wandered by, farther and farther from her, she began to panic. This whole thing was a risky gamble, but she wanted to try. She blurted, "Do you want to st-tudy together in the library?"

He turned to stare at her. "Um," he said skeptically, "You really think your dad would like that? Even I'd rather not risk it."

She withered a little. "Not even for me?" she squeaked.

He smiled faintly. "No…I don't think so."

The encounter-It was too short. It hurt. He had no idea of her plans. But still.

It was now night. Snape was counting the assignments, and realized his own daughter hadn't turned in hers. It was an immediate indicator something was wrong. She was never late; on the contrary, she was sometimes early. In fact, he hadn't seen her after school ended…

He got up and began to search for her. Thankfully, he knew her favorite haunts. He found her sniffling in his classroom.

"What's the matter?" he asked, robe billowing as he made his way to her.

"It's—it's Griffith," she sobbed. "I-I don't think he likes me that much…"

"It hurts, doesn't it," Snape said. "Unreturned like…from a Griffindor. A strutting narcissist, a pureblood, popular with the girls, played Quidditch…the very image of James Potter." He said darkly, "Some are like that."

"I know," she sniffed. "But he's an Avery, not a Potter."

Snape cringed. "True." He studied her carefully. "Life is difficult, Lily. You just have to make the best of what you have. I did indeed name you after the best Griffindor in the world."

Lily nodded. "Yea," she said, her breath shuddering.

"I found you months after I heard that Lily Potter had—had—you know," Snape said, sitting next to her. "You had been abandoned…You were only four. The first thing you asked me when I picked you up was 'are you my new daddy.'"

"Aww," Lily giggled, smile faintly returning. "I remember…"

"I couldn't have Lily Potter, so when I saw you I decided to settle for a Lily as a daughter. I had a hard life…I do not want you to go through the same things I did."

"Thanks, Dad," Lily whispered. She hugged him tightly, letting his cloak dry her tears.

"Also, I would not even so much as touch that boy," Snape finished.

"Um dad, I trust you and your ideas, b-but sometimes…even adults," she said, wringing her hands nervously. "Um, I just want to say, people can change, because stuff, um, life is complicated, and it's not always potions. If I'm wrong, I'll come and shamefully admit it, you know how I do it…"

Lily headed straight to bed before her dad could say anything. She lay in bed, pondering, creating a plan. She didn't want to disobey her dad. If she was wrong, she would go to him in full shame and admit her wrongdoing. It was a habit he had inculcated in her.

But first, she had to be sure who was right. Which meant gathering up the courage to talk to the cutie.

The next day, she tried to act casual. She didn't want Snape to suspect anything. She still hugged all the first years, except Draco. (Although she liked hugging him since he didn't like it. She liked hugging Harry since he liked it. She never told her dad those things, however. He wouldn't exactly be pleased.) She didn't get a chance to talk to Griff until after school…

There he was, right in front of her, leaning against a torch pillar. He looked kind of lonely, though it was probably her imagination. "O Griff," she sighed. "I don't want to think my dad is right about you."

His eyes focused on her. "Wha? Really?"

"O blimey, how do I explain," she murmured, face heating. "I, um, it's j-just, he's right about a lot of stuff, but maybe wrong about this? Dunno, I mean, you can't be all strut and thinking about yourself, r-right?"

He looked hopeful. "You realize your dad is gonna tear us apart, right?" His voice carried faint strains of awe, or did she imagine it? It seemed a bit too strong for that.

"You know?" she gasped. "How? You knew I was gonna ask—"

"You're right, I'm not all strut," he said, grinning. Proudly, chest out, he announced, "I did carry Bella to the hospital wing yesterday."

"I saw," Lily said, half smiling. "So glad you're not rejecting her, because of, you know."

"Well she has a couple crippling conditions, so I can't exactly leave her," Griff said solemnly. "I can't. I made a promise when I was five to take care of her. As healers, my parents were happy I would help. She's a half blood, but she's still human. Honestly. She really knows how to cuddle. Don't worry," he put in quickly. "We were just kids. It's literally just a fancy way of saying sitting on the couch side by side and reading."

Lily giggled. "Err, speaking of that…" she tried softly, face heating. "You—do you still—I heard you said you used to do that with her, um."

"I don't now," he sighed. "Such a soft snuggle-bug. Mum and dad said we had to stop when we found out her blood status." He sighed. "Darn, though. I really wouldn't mind hugging her again." He suddenly looked slightly suspicious and intrigued. "…Why? What are you asking?"

Lily's face turned as red as their hair. "Uh," she mumbled, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. "I didn't give many clues for either, did I?…but how'd you know…"

Grinning, he reached out and tickled her neck. "I'm hopeful, I guess," he said cheerfully. "Hey, let's be friends! Besides, I need a new friend now. Everybody I know is annoyed with me, even my sister. I don't have anyone to sit on the couch and read with anymore."

"I—I—" Lily stammered as he gently took her hand. "You're going to accept me, just like that?" She cocked her head.

He shrugged. "Well, why not? You've always been different from your dad. More accepting, you know?" Lily's hands shook as she seemed to realize how he was holding her. "Oi, don't be scared," he cooed, tucking her hair out of her face. "Why don't we go start by studying in the library? Isn't that what you wanted to do?"

Author's question: Lol what an odd ship! What are guesses as to where this could go?