May, 1976

Hogsmeade

After a lot of begging, the fifth-year students from Hogwarts got a well-deserved day off in Hogsmeade before their O.W.L.s. But only to find the village busier than usual, for another witchcraft and wizardry school had allowed its students a day off in Hogsmeade as well.

"Who are all these people? It was supposed to be our day off!" complained one dark-haired boy from Hogwarts to his three friends, all of them sitting at a table inside a crowded Three Broomsticks.

"If it's not to your liking, there's the door." said a female teen as she walked by their table, her uniform letting them know she was from Durmstrang.

All four teens looked at her and suddenly froze, as if they had been stunned, not even the dark-haired boy, James Potter, said anything in reply.

It took them a few seconds to feel like themselves again.

"Wh-what just happened?" muttered one of them.

"No idea, Moony. But she is gorgeous!" said James, looking around trying to see where she had gone.

"She looked familiar." murmured another boy.

"Well, coming from you, Padfoot, considering the people your family befriends, that means she's trouble." said the one they called Moony.

And his three friends nodded, in full agreement.

Four other boys were sitting at another table nearby, laughing hard at the stunned Gryffindor teens.

"Who is that girl?" asked a really blond teenager named Lucius Malfoy as he watched said girl walk to the cashier to pay for her butter beer.

"She's from Durmstrang." said one of the others.

"Oh, really, Yaxley?" said Malfoy, sarcastically. "Thanks for telling me that, otherwise I'd have never known she's not from Hogwarts since she's wearing the Durmstrang uniform!"

"Yeah, they came here to visit Hogsmeade and they'll have dinner at Hogwarts tonight, before going back to Durmstrang tomorrow morning." added Travers.

"How do you know that?" asked Yaxley, looking very impressed by his friend's knowledge.

"If you had paid attention to what the Headmaster was saying this morning, you would know it too." said Travers.

The fourth boy kept silent, only listening to his friends' comments about the Durmstrang girl. His dark eyes followed her as she finished paying and thanked the man behind the counter. She turned and walked towards the exit, talking to her friends. And, for a second, her eyes met his. She was gorgeous; long brown wavy hair, dark green eyes, as dark as the darkest emerald. When she walked by their table, all four teens froze, just as the Gryffindors had before.

"Wh-what was that?" asked Malfoy once he came to.

"She's veela!" exclaimed Travers, sounding impressed.

"Veela? So she's French." said a confused Yaxley.

"What would a veela be doing in Durmstrang?" asked the dark-haired one, Snape, intrigued.

"That's weird, isn't it?" asked Malfoy.

"Really weird." agreed Snape.

Later that day, as they walked back to the castle, Snape couldn't stop thinking about her. The Durmstrang veela. The way her eyes sparkled for that briefly moment they met his, and the sweet perfume she left in the air when she walked by their table. He was also curious to learn how a veela had ended up studying in Durmstrang.

"Hey, Eric, you said Durmstrang will have dinner at Hogwarts tonight." said Malfoy.

"That's what Dumbledore said." Eric Travers replied.

"I can't stop thinking about that Durmstrang veela." continued Malfoy. "It's not everyday I have the chance to get to know one – if you know what I mean."

Snape felt a wave of disgust and anger at his friend's double-entendre. "Who says she'll be interested in you?" he found himself bitterly saying.

Malfoy draped his arm across Snape's shoulders and replied: "Women are always interested when one has money, my friend." His words making Travers and Yaxley laugh. "But you wouldn't know that." He whispered that last part so that only Snape could hear, knowingly twisting the knife in what was already a sore wound for the dark-haired teen.

Later that night

Great Hall

Hogwarts

"Good night, children.", started Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. "Before we begin attacking our food, I want to invite our guests for tonight to enter the Great Hall. Please, welcome the students from Durmstrang who will enjoy dinner with us tonight."

And the big oaken doors opened and 42 students, divided in two lines, all wearing the Durmstrang uniform, walked into the Great Hall.

Snape saw Lucius Malfoy elbowing Travers as they watched the Durmstrang students. He searched himself and easily found her, amongst the few girls: the beautiful veela who had talked down James Potter and temporarily stunned all of them with her enchanted beauty. The Durmstrang students were divided between the four tables in the Great Hall and the veela girl ended up sitting at the Slytherin table, not too far from where Snape and Malfoy were.

"I hope you enjoy our feast!" said Dumbledore, his eyes briefly falling on her, his brow frowning slightly as he tried to remember who she reminded him of. He added: "Let's attack!"

And lots and lots of beautiful fragrant food magically appeared on the tables.

Florence ignored the weird way the Headmaster had looked at her and began filling up her plate, finding it hard to decide what to try first for everything looked delicious.

"So, we must agree that it's impossible to compare Hogwarts to Durmstrang, right?" said a very blond teen sitting across the table, a few seats to her right. "In Durmstrang you really learn things." He continued.

He looked familiar; the blond hair and the pompous disposition. She quickly deduced he was a Malfoy and frowned, according to what she knew he was too old to still be in school, he was even engaged to be married within a year to her friend: Narcisa Black.

"I'm sorry, are you talking to me?" Florence asked, in a sweet voice. "I hadn't even noticed you were there."

Snape hid his smile behind his glass of pumpkin juice while some students nearby stopped eating and looked at the blond, curious to see how he was going to deal with that burn.

"I'm Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy." He said his name, waiting for her reaction as if he was used to getting the attention he sought after he introduced himself.

Florence hated people like him – her father was friends with many of those. She decided to keep poking fun at him: "Mr. Malfoy, aren't you too old to still be at school?"

Some chuckles were stifled all around them, the students were clearly enjoying Malfoy's humiliation.

"I've already finished school." said Malfoy, trying to maintain his superiority act. "I was visiting Hogsmeade when the Headmaster invited me to come dine at the castle. My father is a great friend of Dumbledore's."

Florence just turned to her plate and started eating, not saying a word, as if she hadn't even heard Malfoy.

Snape looked at her, she had somehow managed to become even more beautiful in his eyes. Seeing Malfoy being humiliated was all Snape wanted after what the blond had said to him earlier.

Florence noticed the way the tall, quiet, dark-haired boy stared at her. She was used to stares, but she had never felt the urge to look back before, and now she had. She glanced at him a few times, admiring how his hair softly touched his shoulders whenever he turned his head. She was intrigued by him, her reaction to him was very unusual. He wasn't as well-dressed or well-mannered as his friends, but she found him handsome. And his smirk as she'd mocked Malfoy gave him a few points in her eyes.

His dark eyes met hers and she quickly turned to the main table, looking at the teachers and the Headmaster. She watched Dumbledore as he ate, he looked so small and old, it was disappointing: I was expecting more from the famous Dumbledore.

Considering all the things she had heard her father say over the years about the Hogwarts' Headmaster, she expected a tall powerful man, not a frail-looking grandpa in weird robes.

But, aside from the disappointing Headmaster, Hogwarts itself was magnificent. She was totally taken by the castle, by the huge and beautiful grounds she had noticed earlier as they walked from Hogsmeade; there seemed to be peace and serenity inside those walls. And peace was something she hardly knew, peace didn't exist where she came from. Home was where her father trained and taught her things no school ever would, home wasn't where she relaxed and found peace.

It wasn't that she disliked Durmstrang – she liked her school. But she was 'The Daughter of Lord Peverell' there, surrounded by her father's friends and other pretentious windbags.

If she were in Hogwarts, she would be able to be herself, make friends with people that would be nice to her because they liked her, not because her father was rich and powerful.

So Florence made a decision: she would transfer to Hogwarts, she was going to finish her education in that beautiful castle. She only had to inform her father of that.

After she finished eating, Florence stood up and walked toward the big oaken doors, she needed to find a fireplace connected to the Floo Network. But as she left the Great Hall and saw some big moving staircases, she had no idea where to go, she turned around to go back to the Hall to talk to her teacher when she bumped into someone. It was the dark-haired teen she had been ogling during dinner.

"I'm sorry." She said with a smile. "Can you help me? To whom may I talk to be able to use the Floo Network?"

Snape stopped, feeling momentarily stunned by her smile. After a few seconds he answered: "I believe any of the teachers can help you.", then he left quickly, annoyed by his lack of control near her.

Florence looked inside the Great Hall and a lot of students had finished their dinners and were coming towards the exit, getting in would be very difficult, so she decided to wait by the doors for a teacher to come out.

Soon a tall stern-looking woman walked by her, so Florence asked for her help.

"Excuse me, I'm from Durmstrang and I'd like to know if it's possible for me to use the castle's Floo Network."

"If it's urgent, you may follow me and we'll go to the Headmaster's office. His fireplace is the only authorized one." Replied the female teacher.

"Yes. Thank you."

And she followed the teacher.

Little Hangleton

Peverell Manor

Florence opened her eyes to see the large entrance hall of her home, all was quiet and dark. She stepped out of the big fireplace and waited for the usual dizziness she felt when she used the Floo Network to go down. She looked around, enjoying the stillness. All the lights were off, no noise could be heard from the kitchens and no elves could be seen, it was rare to have such degree of silence in that house. Once she felt better, she walked toward the large staircase, but lights from a room they called Training Room caught her attention. She frowned; that room was never used for anything other than her training, as far as she was concerned. Her father only used it to teach her advanced spells and duelling techniques – things, he used to say, no school would ever teach her. The door was slightly ajar so she peeked inside the room; and what she saw in there changed the whole course of this story.

Inside the large, usually empty room, was a big table Florence had never seen before, but no one was sitting around it. The big fireplace was lit and a large wooden chest was near it. In front of the fireplace there was an armchair that Florence recognized as belonging in the living room. Someone was sitting in that armchair, while a man was on one knee in front of it, his face down, he seemed to be staring at the rug.

"Don't worry, My Lord." the kneeling man spoke. "The Hogsmeade mission was a success." said the man, in a shaky voice. "Dear Florence is safe inside Hogwarts Castle."

So her father had sent people to watch over her in the village? Well, Florence couldn't say she was surprised.

"Good to know, Avery." answered the man in the armchair, in a soft , calm voice. "You've showed me you're deserving of the Mark that was given to you."

Florence recognized that voice: it was her father in the armchair. And she also recognised that coldness in his voice, she had the impulse to run into the room and tell that kneeling man to run away for his life; nothing good ever happened when her father spoke softly like that.

"Now, open the chest behind you, Avery." Continued her father. "While you watched over my daughter, your friends did you a favour."

Looking really scared, Avery stood up and slowly walked to the wooden chest. He opened it and whatever was inside disturbed him deeply, for he fell onto both his knees and a chocked sob left his throat.

Florence watched all of that frozen at the door, she struggled to understand what was happening there. It was visible that Avery was using all of his strength to keep his tears from falling, but she had no idea what was in that chest.

Her father continued: "I ordered your friends to get rid of that muggle whore of yours."

Florence stopped breathing, her heart pounding in shock.

"Find some place to dump the body, will you?" finished her father, nonchalantly.

Avery reached inside the chest and picked up the dead body of a slender woman with long dark-hair, but he lost control over his feelings and fell onto the floor, hugging the woman, and crying.

"Crucio!" her father cast. And Avery let go of the dead woman's body and was suddenly screaming louder, writhing on the floor.

Florence closed her eyes, feeling nauseous, she knew the pain of the Cruciatus curse, her father had trained her not to be affected by it – and that had taken many many months. After a few seconds that felt like hours, Avery stopped screaming and she peeked inside the room again.

"I'm sorry, My Lord." cried Avery, picking up the dead woman from the floor and shakingly standing up.

"Don't ever get your hands dirty with a muggle again", said Florence's father.

"N-never, My Lord. Never again!" Avery bowed to him. "I'll get rid o-of this f-filth now." He murmured and turned to walk to the door.

Florence could see the pain in his face as he crossed the room with the dead woman in his arms. She knew she had to get away from the door or he'd see her any moment, but she was too shaken to walk.

Then she heard her father's soft voice again: "Before you get yourself killed and die without knowing, Avery, the muggle bitch was pregnant."

Avery stopped on his way to the door and Florence saw anger flash in his eyes, mixing with the pain.

"I don't need to remind you all what our objective is, do I?"

Avery shook his head before resuming walking slowly to the door with the corpse in his arms.

Florence jumped away from the door and ran upstairs to her bedroom, her heart in her throat, pounding. She closed the door and sat on her bed, trying to understand all that she had heard, what all that meant. There was only one explanation: her father was the-one-who-shall-not-be-named. Florence had already thought that he might be a follower of that man but she could never have imagined he was the monster himself! He had never been a loving father, but that didn't automatically made him a monster!

Well, apparently, after what she'd seen and heard, a monster was exactly what he was. She sat on her bed, her whole body shaking. What will I do now? She asked herself. Hogwarts! Her mind immediately supplied. Transferring to Hogwarts had been the reason she had gone home that night, now she knew it was her only option. I have the money my mother left me when she died, plus the house in Hogsmeade. I can finish my education in Hogwarts! I can do this! She thought, trying to give herself strength.

She took a deep breath, she had a plan. So she quickly gathered as many of her things as she could and threw them inside a couple of suitcases. She shrank them and put them in her pocket. Then she called: "Tiffany!"and her house elf appeared. "Go to my mother's house in Hogsmeade. We'll be living there from now on."

The small elf nodded and disapparated.

Florence opened her bedroom door and looked at both sides of the corridor. She had got into the house without anyone seeing her, she was going to get out the same way.

She walked downstairs slowly, as noiselessly as possible; once she reached the ground floor she walked by the Training Room – its door closed shut now, and then she ran to the fireplace in the entrance hall, the same one she had used to get there. With a handful of Floo powder, Florence stood inside the fireplace and whispered the name of her mother's house in Hogsmeade: "Delacour Manor."

And amongst the green flames she disappeared.

Author's note: It's been eleven years since I first wrote this fanfic. This is my oldest child and I love and re-read it many times. This year, I've decided to upgrade it. My English is considerably better now than the first time I translated this.

Snape has always been my favorite character, and I hated that he died. So I needed to give him a happy ending. Also, this is my explanation for some Florence girl mentioned in the 5th book by Berta in Dumbledore's Pensieve. Florence "has been seen kissing someone behind the Greenhouses last Thursday".

As much my English has improved over the years, some mistakes can still happen, so please don't focus on them and try to enjoy the story. I'm trying my best here. Reviews are more than welcome.

Most dates mentioned here are cannon.

This story has three parts and an Epilogue:

First Part: from May, 1976, to November, 1981

Second Part: all in December, 1981

Third Part: from August, 1991, to August, 1998

Epilogue: July 2002

Everything you recognize does not belong to me, it's all J.K. Rowling's or WarnerBrother's. NOT MINE (wish Snape were though).