As I said Chapter 10 would be up within the hour, so here it is. Enjoy. P.s. Major Coarse Language in here guys + a little kissing ;)

Chapter 10
Letters and Puppy Love

January 12th, 1990
First Year Girls Dormitory

Anna awoke the next morning a little brighter than usual. The normal pep in her step was brought up by one or two notches. Spirit, as usual, lay on her shoulder as she hummed walking around the room, her friends had already left for breakfast and Anna had slept in for a little, she knew Jamie would be back in the Hospital Wing and maybe she'd see him in the Great Hall, she was rummaging through her trunk taking everything out and putting them back in to keep it neat and tidy for the week to come.

Everything was on the floor surrounding her, her cauldron was sitting to her left -Potion ingredients inside or around it-, inkwells, quills and spare pieces of parchment were to her left. Her winter cloak was thrown behind her, her wand—under her pillow where she always kept it, so she never lost it—, her uniform was the only neat thing on her side of the Dorm as it layed neatly on her four poster bed; waiting to be put on for the day.

Her trunk was completely empty, save for a small blue box that she'd received on her birthday from her father, the box that had held the two small acorns and the small letter. The letter! She'd never gotten around to reading it.

She picked up the small blue box as tears welled in her eyes—she blinked them back—and held her sobs at bay. She opened the small box, there on the bottom was an off-white slip of parchment. She hadn't heard from her mother since Christmas, she hadn't seen Luna either, whom hadn't appeared since Anna had sent her off on the night of Christmas Day. No letters had returned from her mother, nor her father. She missed her family and felt a little homesick at that moment. She picked up the parchment and very slowly opened it and gave a small gasp when something fell out and into her lap.

She looked down and found a small, browning maple leaf in her lap, she smiled at it and a tear slipped down her cheek.

"Accio Wand." She called, her wand immediately flying into her hand. She waved her wand over the leaf and the leaf didn't crumble when she picked it up having put a Preservation Charm on it.

When she turned to the letter, she read it aloud; so Spirit could hear it.

"Dear Annie,
I know your mother told you that I had been deported once again, but I couldn't let you go without a present from me on your special day, I hope your first day of school goes well. I miss you.

These acorns I had to pick them up quickly as I was running on my way to catch the next plane to the next drop site. The war is hard here and it sucks and I wish I was at home with you and your mom more than anything, but you're at Wizards School, I'm in Afghanistan and your mom is at home. The maple leaf; from our little tree at home. I brought it with me to have you close to me, but now I know (you) need me close to you right now. You'll always be in my heart baby, I lo you sweetheart. Mom told me how you made new friends, I hope they're nice to you. I hope I'm home in time for your return home for the summer, but it doesn't look like any of us will be home by March Break.

I love you sweetheart, Happy Birthday. Enjoy your first day.

P.s. Don't worry about me, I promise I'll be home soon.

Love,
Dad"

Anna wiped a tear from her cheek as she finished reading. Her gaze returned to the maple leaf in her lap and she waved her wand over it once again. Suddenly, the leaf transformed, the stem turned into a sharp pointed gold pin, the leaf itself shrunk into a broach. She grabbed the small brown pin and stood up, stumbling her way over all of her things as she fastened the broach onto her uniform tie.

She put everything away neatly, put the letter under her pillow, put her uniform on and made sure the pin was visible. She grabbed her wand and tucked it into her robe pocket, with Spirit on her shoulders she left the Dormitories and the Common Room, her mood from earlier; shattered.

oOoOoOo

The Great Hall

When Anna sat down for breakfast, she looked upset, no one understood the reason behind the pin on her tie, nor how it got there, but no one said anything. One by one, her friends disappeared until just Anna, Thomas and Cedric were left. The girls had wanted to get an early start on their homework—Anna having missed the rest of her classes because of the incident with the Boggart—the rest of the boys and Weave had wanted to prank a few people.

"Hey Annie?" Thomas snapped his fingers in front of her face as she picked at her food for the fifth time in the past half hour. She looked up and the boys' hearts melted at the colour her naturally, bright ocean blue eyes, were a stormy blue, a colour of blue they'd never seen before having always seen her happy. "What's wrong?"

"It's my dad," she said pulling on her tie, gesturing to the little brown pin. "He's fighting a war right now somewhere in the Muggle world and I just found the letter he wrote to me on my birthday." She paused and stared off into the distance for a minute. "These were from him, my birthday present. I had Professor McGonagall Transfigure them into something I could wear." She added pulling on the lobe of her ear, the flat bronze acorn stud earrings she wore appeared flashing in the light, something she never ever took off.

Suddenly, someone sat beside her looking much better then he had the day before, or maybe that was just the Chocolate Frogs.

"Good morning everyone," James said flashing a bright white, toothy smile at Anna and it forced the witch to smile right back. The boys shared a smug smirk at their friends bright and happy mood.

"Morning, love. How you feeling?" The curly haired witch asked, her eyes a beautiful plum colour before they turned back to their bright ocean blue hue.

"Morning James." Cedric said, giving him a toothy grin of his own.

"What are you so happy about?" Thomas asked with a smirk. "You look like you've snogged half your way across Britain." He added, making Anna giggle quietly and Cedric stifled a snort of laughter.

"Newt, my dear old mate, I bloody wish I had but that is not the case in this situation, I am just in a bloody good mood, give your best mate a break. Please? Just for this weekend?" He pleaded, his soft green eyes alive and full of hope.

Both boys threw their hands up in the air in defeat and nodded before running off to join everyone else, leaving Anna and James to talk alone. When James was sure they had gone he placed something upon the table in front of her. She looked up from the small novel she had been reading and it looked like a Potions book and looked at what he had placed upon the table beside her, a cup of tea with three sugar cubes and a little milk slid into her line of vision and she looked up at him with a big white smile. Her gaze fell back upon the Chocolate Frog card of Helga Hufflepuff and then to the small handwritten writting on the bottom that read Thank you.

She smiled up at him before pouring his pumpkin juice and handing it to him. "You're welcome, love."

February 8th, 1990
Hufflepuff Common Room

Anna entered the Common Room to find her friends gone once again,—probably still studying in the library or completing unfinished Astronomy essays—she found the green eyed boy sleeping in one of the fat and fluffy yellow armchairs in front of the hearty fire, his arm slung over his eyes, a Muggle book open cover up—on his stomach—keeping his page. She smiled at him and silently walked into the Common Room. She went up to the boys Dormitory and found his room right away, finding Al's Invisibility Cloak—invisibly—slung over one of the trunks, it was easy to recognize seeing as the trunk was only half visible, the rest invisible. Anna found Jamie's bed immediately afterwards and went back to the Common Room. She grabbed his book, marking his page and took a step back to point her wand at the unconscious boy.

"Mobilicorpus," she whispered, his body floated upwards and she walked back up to his Dorm room, his unconscious body floating after her.

She moved his sheets and set him down gently on his bed before she covered him with the sheets as he stirred, she sat down beside him.

"Thanks, love," He whispered as he made to sit up but winced and fell back onto the pillow.

"Stay still, love. The pain only gets worse, you know that." She said softly, this was it, she was going to tell him she knew and she hoped his reaction wasn't going to be bad, but unfortunately she already knew it would be.

"What do you mean love? I'm just sick."

Here goes nothing, she thought. "Jamie, I know about your condition." She said aloud, looking at him with sad eyes.

His green eyes went wide, his colour drained from his face and his breathing quickened. Oh no, that's not a good sign, she thought to herself, her heart started to race.

"Y-you can't, oh no! Now they're going to send me home, I'm going to get expelled—" he rambled and Anna layed down beside him and hugged him tight, her eyes tightly shut. He stopped rambling and just stared at her, marvelling at how she still touched him even with the knowledge of his condition. He hugged her back tightly, breathing in the scent of her blackberry curls. "H-how long have you known?" He asked, breaking the silence between them.

"Since the last full moon, I know the full moons tomorrow night, I practically memorized every full moon for the next ten years. I knew you were lying to me when you told me you were sick, it's just something I can... I don't know... sense, I guess. It's like I have a lie detector drilled into my head and an alarm blares and lights flash red whenever someone lies to me," she said laying her head on his chest as he traced small circles on her shoulder keeping silent as she spoke. "I know you hate pity so I won't give you any, but as soon as I found out was the day of our first Defence class, I know why you had your back glued to the wall and Al was probably because of his family being the Storms Heir and all. When I see you wince, my blood fucking boils but I can't bloody do anything to help you and I feel fucking hopeless," she said as she sat up suddenly, as he continued to draw small circles on the small of her back. "I brought you the chocolate because I knew they were your favourite and I saw how much they helped, plus I was given a few tips. I talked to Professor Dumbledore and he let me visit you in the Hospital Wing that night, but you'd already been escorted to the Willow, that's the real reason why I left you that bag of Chocolate Frogs and the letter—" she stopped suddenly when she felt a pair of soft lips against hers, greedily stealing the words from her.

She opened her eyes and found James in front of her, his lips on hers, her hand went to his hair and she held him against her as she throughly kissed him back. His hand flew to her mane of curls and he held her against him, the kiss quickly turned into a full out snog when Anna layed down and James on top of her, their lips never parting. When the pair parted to breathe, Anna's arms had found their way around his neck, their foreheads touching, his body still pinning her to his four poster.

"Bloody hell," he whispered looking at her, his soft green eyes, a pure molten liquid gold and Anna knew that he was more wolf then Jamie at that moment, but she still kept her grip on him all the same, when he spoke he was breathless. "How many other guys have you kissed?" He asked suddenly as he sat up on his legs, his body heat leaving her body and Anna a little disappointed and a little frightened that he'd push her away like every other guy had done to her so far.

"Just you, George and Al." She said. "George twice when I got him back for the mistletoe incident and Al at Christmas." It had been the first time she'd talked about it ever since it had happened. 'Please don't push me away, that's what the others did and it throughly broke me." She panicked when he went to stand, she sat up and was suddenly sitting on her knees. "If you pushed me away I'd probably jump off the Astronomy Tower." She added, his face went pale and he growled audibly at the thought of her dead. "Jamie, you saw my Boggart. I didn't even know what my biggest fear was until I was asked, my biggest fear is losing you and the rest of the Lot."

He cupped her face and kissed her forehead. "I'm not pushing you away, but that kiss was a one time thing, no one can ever go any further with me." He took her hand and laced their fingers together, he held it up as he helped her to her feet. "This is the furthest I can go with someone, ever. I need to keep you safe, I don't want to infect you."

"James!" She scolded. "Werewolves only infect someone when they've bitten them fully transformed. If you think I'm daft enough to go down to the Shack and snog your muzzle than we got bigger problems then I thought." She cupped his face and kissed his lips softly, reassuringly, as his throat let out a feral growl at the mention of putting herself in danger. "I am not scared of you, Jamie." She whispered, as she kissed his cheek. She walked to his night stand and placed down a small bag of Chocolate Frogs before walking to the door. "I'll be here, remember that. You'll always be my best friend. Your secret is safe with me. Goodnight, love." She said softly before turning and leaving the room, closing the door behind her.

February 10th, 1990
 Hospital Wing

Anna was in the Hospital Wing the morning after the full moon, feigning sickness in order to stay the night, she watched from her bed as they carried Jamie in, scratched and bloody.

Oh Jamie! What have you done to yourself?! She exclaimed in her mind, her subconscious peering over her half-moon specs and immediately freezing at the sight of James' body.

Once Madam Pomfrey stepped away from the little werewolf to let him rest, Anna snuck in and sat on the vacant chair beside his bed. She took his hand and inspected his wounds. Fresh new cuts were on his back and torso, a large cut from his eyebrow ending at his cheek.

"Oh Jamie... what did you do?" She choked as she held back a sob.

"Every night I feel hopeless, so I take my frustrations out on myself in the Shack," he whispered, his voice weak and hoarse.

She looked down at him and found his soft green eyes open, watching her intently. "How you feeling love?" she asked in her soft sweet voice as she moved his sweat soaked hair from his forehead.

"Pretty good." He answered, then weakly cleared his throat.

"Really? Did they give you a new potion?" She asked suddenly happy, her mood changing in a nano second.

"N-no," he stammered. "I-i mean the waking up part has been pretty good so far, but that's about it. But I'm not complaining, nothing like waking up ill, hand in hand with a beautiful girl." He smiled and her eyes turned a deep plum as she blushed deeply, but not complaining as to how James Summers had just called her beautiful.

"So, are you okay with me knowing?" She asked, breaking the silence that had fallen upon the pair. He nodded with a reassuring smile and she beamed thanking the stars.

February 14th, 1990
 Greenhouses

Anna and the gang found themselves in the Greenhouses with Professor Sprout for Herbology. They had been working on a black, slug-like plant called a "Snargaluff". Anna was absentmindedly poking at the wriggling branches with a stick, her dragon-hide gloves laying beside her.

"Annie, stop poking at it for a second, I'm going in," Jamie said, when she stopped poking at it, a dragon-hide gloved hand reached in and pulled out a bunch of grapefruit sized pods that he placed into a bowl as the pods hatched and turned into green wriggling tubers. "Okay, your turn," he said, she nodded and put on her gloves as she took her turn and reached in and pulled out quite a few pods and put them in the bowl in her turn as they too turned into wriggling green tubers.

"Hey kitten? You okay, you seem out of it?" Al said as he brought a full bowl of the wriggling green tubers to the table James and Anna were sharing to work.

Anna looked up from the ground and at the boys, who's hearts just melted at her—now—stormy blue eyes. "Just feeling down lately, I haven't had a single letter from my parents since Christmas. My dad's fighting a Muggle War somewhere and my Mum hasn't answered my constant letters. I know she has my family owl, Luna, but I haven't seen her since Christmas and I'm scared that something awful has happened to my family." She said her eyes turning a stormy grey—a colour her eyes never were or even turned—.

"Annie! Your eyes are grey!" Jamie said in a soft gasp.

Anna nodded, her mood still solemn. "They do that when I'm upset." She said simply, her eyes staying a stormy grey.

oOoOoOo

Kitchens

For the rest of the day, the gang tried to cheer her up but nothing seemed to be working, she hadn't even cracked a smile. She had chosen to eat dinner with the House-elves instead of the Great Hall with her friends, she couldn't stand their hovering and constant need to see her happy.

Spirit sat on the table in front of her, a small saucer of milk and a small plate of raw meat in front of her as the feline ate and drank. She had grown so much in the past six months, her beautiful black kitten was now a fully grown cat, but she was still the size of a kitten. Anna let a small smile escape as she watched her small feline eat, her stormy grey eyes finally shifting into their original ocean blue hue.

"Hey, Spi?" Anna voice asked softly as she spoke to her cat. Spirit looked up and tilted her head in answer. "Do you think Mama and Papa are okay? I mean, I haven't heard from them since Christmas and I'm scared something terrible has happened to them." Spirit looked like she shrugged and she stood up, rubbing her head against Anna's hand in a consoling manner. Anna cracked a smile and gestured to her shoulder, Spirit jumped on her shoulder immediately and Anna stood, thanked Winky and Tilly for dinner and left the kitchens as she made her way towards Minnie's office—a place she hadn't visited since the beginning of term—wanting to see if the old witch had received word about her family.

As Anna walked through the corridors, she came across Filch and Mrs Norris as the pair scouted the long halls for students out and about or causing mischief—The Weasley Twins—or Slytherins hexing first year students.

When Anna rounded the corner she smiled at the pair as they walked with their backs to her. Spirit jumped off her shoulder silently and joined Mrs Norris to state their presence. At the sight of Anna's cat, Mister Filch turned and gave Anna a rotting toothed smile, which she returned with a clean smile of her own.

"Anna my dear, what are you doing in the corridors? Aren't you supposed to be in the Great Hall with the others?" Mister Filch had always been nicer to Anna and her small kitten more than the other students.

He knew well enough that Anna was the leader of her own gang of misfits but he let her get away with it and gave her and her friends easy detentions, like cleaning black boards or even polishing the trophies in the Trophy Room and with eleven in the gang—twelve including Anna—the detentions came and went in the matter of half an hour to an hour.

"Hello Mister Filch, hello Mrs Norris," she said looking to each in their turn, Mrs Norris circled around her legs as the little witch swooped down and picked up the red-eyed feline in one hand and stroked her soft fur with the other. "I was in the kitchens for dinner, my friends have been hovering lately, ever since I told them my parents haven't responded to my letters since Christmas and it's been quite overwhelming. So I've taken it to eating breakfast, lunch and dinner in the kitchens with Winky and Tilly, the two female House-elves I've become good friends with when I stayed for the extra month before term began. I was going to go visit Professor McGonagall, has she returned to her office yet?" She asked looking at the old caretaker.

He gave her a small loving smile and nodded. "Would you like it if I led you to her? Peeves is on her floor." He said shyly as he gestured in front of him as she gave a thankful smile.

"Please," she said thoughtfully. "We should have tea together soon." She added after a while, when they finally reached the door to Minnie's office, the caretaker nodded in agreement and Mrs Norris purred in satisfaction and agreement. "Thank you for escorting me, Mister Filch," she said, placing Mrs Norris on the stone floor once again having carried the purring feline while they walked. Spirit jumped up on her shoulders and layed down comfortably and Anna chuckled at the movement, having gotten used to her small feline sleeping on her shoulders.

"Anytime, dear. Now go on, she should be at her desk." He said as he turned and wandered away, Mrs Norris in tow.

When Anna entered the office, she found Minnie sitting at her desk, her quill correcting Transfiguration essays. At the sound of the door opening Minnie looked up and her face lit up when she saw Anna enter the room, as she walked and sat on the vacant chair in front of her desk.

"Hello sweetheart!" She beamed, opening a drawer and pulling out a Sugar Quill handing it to the bright eyed witch, whom took it immediately.

"Thank you," Anna thanked her as she sucked on the end of the quill.

"What brings you to my office, dear?" Minerva asked the little witch, whom had grown and matured so much since they had first met, she was a little less enthusiastic then she had first been, a lot more matured and very polite, always used her manners and was the hardest worker out of the Hufflepuffs and even found the time in her busy schedule to pull little pranks here and there.

"Have you received any letters from my parents?" Anna asked, getting right to the point, looking at Minnie in hope that she had.

Minerva bristled at the sudden question. "No, Annie dear, I haven't. Why? Have they not been writing you?" The older witch asked and Anna's eyes turned a stormy grey as her head drooped in disappointment.

"I haven't heard from them since Christmas, I haven't heard from Papa since my birthday, Mama since Christmas. I'm starting to worry that something awful has happened to them Minnie. Mama won't respond to my letters and Luna is constantly in the Owlery. The poor thing sends my letters and returns empty handed, looking like she just flew home to get sent back with nothing. I'm worried Minnie. Could you write to them and see what is going on?" She asked her—now—stormy eyes begging the older witch.

Minnie nodded and backed up in her chair, the wood scraping against the newly polished floor. The older witch stood and held out her arms in a motherly, heartwarming, fashion; like she always did whenever Anna was upset. Anna stood and ran into the witches open arms as the tears came and poured down her cheeks.

Minerva was petting her hair in a consoling matter when a knock at the door sounded and startled the two witches. "Come in!" Minerva called and Anna looked at her through tear soaked lashes, her big blue eyes wide. "Don't worry dear," she whispered in a motherly way, petting her mane of blackberry curls in a calming fashion.

The door opened and Professor Snape entered the room, not noticing Anna straight away, he got straight to the point of his presence. "'Minerva, when will you see that the mischievous students of those meddling redheaded twins from your House keep stealing from Filch's office?" He lookd down and noticed Minerva wasn't paying attention, but instead was looking down at the small blackberry haired student that was hugged closely to her, crying silently. "Oh, my apologies, I didn't realize you had a student with you, I'll come back later," he made to leave but Minerva halted him in his tracks.

"It's alright, Severus, it's just Anna. Stay with us and we can talk during tea, she won't say anything and we can discuss your dilemma with the Weasley Twins." She said as she kissed the top of Anna's head lovingly as she let go of the little witch, whom had made her way to sit in front of the hearty fire, her feline had jumped from her shoulders and now lay in her lap, purring softly. The flames reflecting off the tear tracks on her cheeks as she quickly wiped them away with the back of her hand, sniffling loudly.

She reminded him of a girl he had once went to Hogwarts and been good friends with and he made a mental note to ask Minerva about her when the little witch left for the night. Of course she had been a Gryffindor and her eyes had been permanently violet, but he couldn't help but see the resemblance between the two witches, of course this couldn't have been her, the witch he had once knew had been a Pureblood and Anna was a Muggle-born. Anna was the calm and carefree witch, while Vixen had been fiery, short-tempered and mischievous with a no-nonsense attitude and had a bad mouth that swore a little too much. Anna was a sweet and gentle Hufflepuff, whilst Vixen had been a bit reckless and carefree Gryffindor.

She was staring into the flames and absentmindedly petting Spirit when Professor Snape sat beside her awkwardly trying to maneuver his long black cloak so he could sit down comfortably. When he finally found a comfortable sitting position, she turned and smiled at him, her eyes flashing violet for a mere second and in that second he saw Vixen trapped in her eyes and in her soul.

"Hello Professor," she smiled, as she continued to pet Spirit's soft fur.

When he had saw her eyes flash violet, he gave her a loving smile. "Hello Anna," he answered, his smile never leaving his lips.

"Having Weasley troubles?" She smirked at him in a joking manner and he stifled a snort at her smugness, her eyes flashed a deep violet and he knew exactly who she was going to be when she grew up.

"Hello Vixen," he thought with a smile as he nodded.

CLIFFHANGER! Sorry everyone, but the explaination for the end of this chapter will make sense in the future chapters of this story; so stay with me. To those of you, who have questions regarding this chapter please ask them in the reviews, I'll answer them.

P.s. Still looking for a Beta for this fanfic. PM me if interested.

Love, T. T. Zoldy