"Hello," she said to the dog as it walked closer to her, its head dipped as he simpered softly.

"It's okay," she said as it moved closer, sensing a level of distrust she reached her hand out and just held it there and it was not long before the dog moved forward placing its head against her palm.

"What are you doing all the way out here," she asked as she began to slowly pat his head, no collar, and no tag, A stray maybe. The large lumbering dog then began to move closer. He was now so close his nose was right near her face, his breath on her cheek. She could smell it as it simply peered at her face, into her eyes which still felt swollen from crying. The black dog still close to her, let out a small cry of its own and to her amazement began to rub its wet nose on her cheek as if trying to console her.

"You were spying on me before. I saw you in the trees, do you live near here," she asked in that voice you reserve to talking with babies, knowing full well the dog would not give her an answer.

After a while, she stood from her place and looked down at the dog. She made a move to pat him again but before she could it moved away and ran off into the night, something must have spooked him.

Only just then did she realize it was dark, she should probably start on her walk back to the castle. As she saw the clearing through the trees, she heard voices coming from Hagrid's hut, the lights inside signalling someone was home. Cautiously she walked closer and as Hagrid's door swung open she stepped back behind the tree, as to not be seen.

"C' mon," The giant said, "I'm taking you back tear school and don let me catch yeh walking down ter see me after dark again I'm not worth that." to her surprise the golden trio then stepped out of Hagrid's hut and followed as he led the way.

Atria leaned forward to watch them leave but some dry leaves crunched under her foot rather loudly. The group quickly turned as Hagrid stepped forward holding the lantern in his hand higher. "Who's there? Hagrid called."Show yerself."

Slowly Atria stepped out from behind the tree she lowered her head and held her hands up in a position of surrender.

"Atria, isat you," He called.

Raising her head in guilt and lowering her hands, "Hi Hagrid"

She ignored the questioning looks she received from the 3 other students, deciding to solely focus on Hagrid who was looking at her disapprovingly, "Yeh as well, what are yeh doin out here."

"Hiking," she said reassuringly, but not very convincive.

He gave her a questioning look, "yeh should know better than this, with Black on the loose it ain't safe, come on I'll walk yeh back tear the castle," He said flicking his head in the directing of Hogwarts, before turning and starting to walk up the large hill.

She walked up to join the group her feet dragging slightly as she looked down at her feet. As they started on their trek, Hagrid spoke up "I'm sorry about your cousin by the way," He looked down at Atria as she caught up with them.

Smiling softly at the large gentle man she replied apologetically, "It's fine Hagrid I'm pretty sure it was his fault anyway."

Ron now moved in front of the group and began walking backwards as to keep in everyone's sights. "See." he said gesturing with an open arm to Atria, speaking to Hagrid not addressing her, "his own cousin even thinks so Hagrid."

Hagrid ignored Ron's last statement before continuing, "Madam Pomfrey is fixing him up best she can, it was a nasty cut, but nothing all too bad," his voice cracking in disappointment, not in anyone else, but himself.

Atria still walking next to him was growing uncomfortable with the situation quickly so she tried the rectify it. "Well I haven't seen him yet, but I bet his milking it for all he's got" A small smile playing at her lips.

"Yeah," Hermione agreed, looking to Atria as she continued," She said he was fine, but he says he's still in excruciating pain."

"Of course he did," she said giving Hermione a knowing look.

"I Reckon they might sack me," Hagrid spoke again, a little sob escaping him, "they think I went to big tear fast."

"No hagrid" Atria paused to look up at the giant, her eyes flaring as she quickly tried to console him, "I enjoyed your lesson, you make a great teacher. I wonder why Dumbledore didn't do it sooner."

"I agree," and at last, the last of the golden trio had spoken, Harry stared at Atria the two making eye contact as he proceeded "He insulted Buckbeak, I heard it and Hagrid warned us against it so it's Draco's own fault for not listening."

Atria stared at Harry for a bit before replying, "of course, leave it to my cousin to insult a giant bird."

—-

Ron and Hermione said they were going to the dormitories quickly before heading to the great hall for dinner, Harry and Atria decided they would walk directly to the great hall.

"So, do you go to the forest for walks often?" Harry asked as Ron and Hermione turned the corner.

starting on their way to the great hall she kept her eyes in front of her focusing on their path avoiding his own eyes which were desperate to meet hers, "No, not really, It's not the safest activity to partake in."

He smiled at her then. His next sentence coming out with a nervous laugh, "Yeah Probably not with everything going on this year."

She and Harry were not strangers but they were not friends. The two had only really spent a brief amount of time together half of which she was unconscious. But she had come to one conclusion about the scar headed boy and that was he had no idea how to approach a sensitive subject. This being a prime example, "You mean with my father?" She asked, her voice turning sour.

Registering her tone, he knew he had crossed a line. His attempts at talking to her in a relaxed fashion, now out the window, "Yeah," he sighed looking at her sympathetically before looking down at his moving feet.

An uncomfortable pause filled the air Atria didn't know what he wanted her to say next, why couldn't they have walked in silence to begin with and avoided this whole conversation. Harry, on the other hand, noticing the uneasy feeling in the air did not take it as a cue to simply walk in silence. He looked over to her, concern written on his features, "Are you okay with it? I mean everything that happened last year as well as now? I can't help but see you've been acting a bit different this year."

"I don't really think that my behavioural traits are any of your business Potter," she kept looking straight forward, as to hide the look of resentment that washed over her face at his candidness.

"Yeah, I guess not." Harry was getting less and less confident as the conversation moved on but he had his own motives, and actions needed to be taken, "So I really just wanted to say sorry for what happened with Pansy, someone should have stopped her before it got that out of hand."

"It's fine I can fight my own battles especially with Pansy."

"Well it didn't seem fine, you stormed into the forest and no one saw you - " his sentence was incomplete. He stopped walking and looked at her.

"Were you in there that whole time" his tone more serious this time.

"Why do you want to know? Scared I'm running around with my father in the forbidden forest," she to stopped walking at this point as she looked at him, her face as the picture of indifference.

His face turned to one of worry, and he replied, "No not at all I'm just… It's dangerous, with everything going on and with what happened las-,"

"Well thank you for your concern," she interrupted before he could continue, this was not a conversation she wanted right now, "Goodnight," she then turned and began to walk in the opposite direction of the great hall.

"Aren't you going to the great hall?" he called after her.

Not looking back at him, she replied, "I'm not very hungry anymore."


Atria stormed off, her anger getting closer and closer to the breaking point, she spotted the girls bathroom and burst through the door. She found herself pacing back and forth.

How dare he, How dare he? Her dismal summer had been all because of him. Everything she experienced last year had been his fault. She shook that thought away, she could not blame him, he didn't know. It had been her own fault. When she saw an opportunity to see her uncle fail she had grabbed it. Now when she looks back at it, she calls herself stupid, she shouldn't have done it. But it worked, it helped, it had made a difference but at her own peril.

She walked to the mirror and pulled her hair back, turning the water on she gathered it into her hand before drinking it. She looked up at her reflection. Of course, she had been acting differently. She had to, she knew she had to change to achieve her goal. Freedom. But for that to happen she would have to take away each bar of her prison one by one. So she would sit like a snake and watch her prey until she could strike them down.


Potions class the next day was a trial. Snape had been in a mood all year and now one could pinpoint why. He had always given her an off feeling. He was a hauntingly familiar figure to her, almost like she recognises him but her mind refused to show her. She remembers the first time she met the professor, it was just before the start of her first year. He visited Malfoy Manor, a family friend her aunt had told her. He had looked down at her with disgust and when at dinner they discussed the sorting ceremony as well as her and Draco's prospects. Snape had said, "Blood will out in the end." She knew what insinuation he was making, and it didn't take her Uncle long to reply, "I don't believe that will be a problem, Severus, She knows better, don't you Atria?"

She couldn't help the petty glare she let slip to the man with the billowing cloak as she replied, "Yes, uncle."

When her sorting had come, she watched the smug smirk that spread on his face as he clapped for the most recent member of Slytherin house but she couldn't fathom why he would be happy she was in his house. She was the only one in Slytherin he could not stand, He had made it pretty obvious he hadn't liked her since the beginning. Two weeks into her first year at school, she had received her first detention for speaking out of turn, Her uncle had been furious for her lack of discipline and promised professor Snape there would be consequences. As her time with the potions master progressed she realized it was easier to just lay low and stay out of his way and she knew it infuriated him. He was always trying to get a reaction out of her. His patronizing tone and insults made his attempts fairly obvious.

Here he sat now, behind his desk watching as they started on their potions practical with his upper lip slightly raised in disgust.

She was wrenched from her thoughts as her cousin called from a few seats away from her. "Sir I'll need help cutting up my daisy roots because of my arm."

"Weasley," Snape called, "cut up Malfoy's roots for him."

Ron stalked past her towards her cousin before she overheard him, "there's nothing wrong with you."

"Weasley you heard professor Snape, cut up these roots," Draco then proceeded to lean back in his chair and begin to play with one of the potion vials.

Getting on with her work she was focused until she once again heard her cousin call, "Weasley's mutilating my roots sir."

That's when Atria decided it was time to intervene, she stood from her desk, "Sir I can cut Draco's roots if-" she didn't get to complete the sentence before Snape spoke.

He was standing in front of the class and didn't even look at her as he addressed Ron, "Now look what you've done Weasley, not only are you neglecting your fellow students but also disrupting the class, 10 points from Gryffindor," she heard all the Gryffindors groan, as Snape walked passed her she tried again.

"Sir, I can cut Draco's root if Ron doesn't wa-" once again her sentence was cut short.

"Miss Black did I ask you," He said, finally turned to look at her staring down his pointed nose.

"No," she said, her eyes lowering.

"Then sit back down and focus on your own studies, not of those around you," he then proceeded to walk to the back of the class to do who knows what. She looked to Ron with an apologetic look, and he returned a faint sympathetic smile before going back to murdering her cousin's roots. Good for him.

As the lesson progressed, poor Neville was told that his almost explosive potion would be fed to his toad as an incentive for him to try harder in potions. While she did think it would be entertaining to watch, it didn't make the act any less barbaric, then out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Seamus and Harry looking at her, the daily prophet in their hands.

"Everyone gather round," she heard professor Snape call.

We watched in silence as he placed a few drops of the potion into the toad's mouth.

If the potion worked, he would shrink to the size of a tadpole, But knowing Neville the potion would be incorrect meaning that the toad would die of poising. But to everyone's surprise, the toad began to steadily shrink. While the Gryffindors all let out excited gasps the Slytherins just looked plain disappointed.

Snape, looking the most disappointed of them all glared at Hermione, "5 points from Gryffindor, I told you not help Miss Granger, class dismissed." he went to walk away but turned only to look at Atria, "Miss Black please stay behind," Snape said as he continued, walking behind his desk to take his seat.

As Harry walked past her, he shoved the Daily profit into her hand. watching him walk away, confused by his actions, she looked swiftly over the front page to understand his actions. The familiar mugshot of her father as well as a headline that read "Sirius Black sighted," She sweeps her eyes over the article for more detail. He was spotted in muggle town not too far from here, this caused worry to settle in the pit of her stomach.

"Miss Black come here," she looked away from the paper and moved, standing in front of Snape's desk.

He leaned forward in his chair his forearms resting on the sides of his chair, lacing his finger together of his torso, "Your uncle and aunt have made it clear to me that your safety is of the utmost importance to them and as your head of house they came to me and asked for my help. So it has been decided you will not be attending Hogsmeade this year or until Black is captured," She could see the small twitch at the corner of his lip as if he was trying to stop himself from smiling.

She couldn't help herself as she blurted out, "You can't do that."

He sat up straighter in his chair, his eyes widening with false shock, he knew how she could be it was no surprise. He moved, so his hands were holding the end of the chair arms, "You'll find that I can, Your safety has been made a top priority especially after that whole fiasco last year, not only has the school been made to step in but also the ministry. Your father is a dangerous and powerful man after all." She clenched her hands at her sides in an attempt to repress any verbal impulse she might have.

"The ministry is involved in this?" She hadn't known that.

"Well, of course, your father is a fugitive after all and the fact that you and your father don't share a particularly happy past is well known."

She knew he was playing with her, bending her until she broke so he could reprimand her for the outcome. But she decided she wad not going to let this go, this would not be an excuse to limit her freedoms even further, "Sir I really don't think any of this is necessary and anyway the permission slip has already been signed," she reasoned.

"And now revoked," he spat at her losing his patience with her impertinence.

"Is that all professor?" she asked, gritting her teeth, failing at containing her anger.

"Yes, that is all Miss Black."


As the Black girl walked out of his classroom he thought back to the first time he met her, Not the first time she remembers but the first time he does.

He remembers the child with wide crying eyes who he had taken. No not taken, kidnapped, he had kidnapped her and taken her to Malfoy Manor, Narcissa had taken the child in with open arms while he knew Lucius would attempt to squish any undesirable traits out of her. It seemed to have worked. At her sorting, he could not help smiling with glee. A Slytherin, Sirius Black the Gryffindor king had birthed a Slytherin. He knew there had been coercion on Lucius' behalf but every time he felt any pity for her creep in he recalled her father's malicious eyes from his own time at Hogwarts. And now his little girl was in his house, his to torment.

Nevertheless even as she grew, she reminded him less of her father and more of her uncle Regulus. She held herself in the same way, her poise and etiquette were the same as his at that age. He had been close with the youngest Black brother. They had become death eaters around the same time and both had shared a mutual hatred for his older brother. Even though she reminded him of Regulus, her other qualities were less than pleasing to him because they were the ones that she must have genetically been passed from her father as well as her mother. She still did not think before acting, still headstrong and reckless. She had nerve, the same nerve some would say brought her father down. But it was only a matter of time before they were gone. That thought brought a smile to his face, Black's own child becoming everything he despises.

He understood Lucius' fear of Sirius ever finding Atria or becoming a free man, too much was on the line. While Snape liked to think it was Sirius who committed the crime, he could not comprehend how he had come to be a Deatheater. Severus more wanted to believe he had betrayed the Potter's. He liked to imagine James Potter's final moments before he died, had been his realization that his best friend had betrayed him. And if it had been Black, he could force all his anger for the death of Lily onto him. But right now Black was not in his grasp. All he had was his daughter.


If you can't tell I am very anti-Snape