"Pettigrew got loose?" Lucy said after a moment.
"Who's Peter Pettigrew?" Neville asked.
"Peter Pettigrew is the man who framed Sirius Black. He was convicted almost two years ago," Blaise said. "Lucy is the one who caught him and turned him in."
"And he'll be after Harry Potter, as the criminal who originally betrayed James and Lily," Remus said.
"Not to mention the other released Death Eaters who are sure to be after Harry," Blaise added.
Lucy put her face in her hands for a minute and took deep breaths. She hadn't revealed the fact that she captured Pettigrew and had taken steps to prevent that like stunning him from behind, but there was always the possibility that he had seen her. She already knew what Remus was going to say.
"So your parents and Sirius have decided no Hogsmeade visits for you and Harry this year, Lucy. It's for your own safety," Remus added gently.
She glared at the crumpled permission slip she pulled from her robe pocket, but gave her godfather an understanding look, "It's alright, Professor, I know they're just trying to keep me safe. Wish I could see Harry's expression when he finds out."
Soon after, the train came to a lurching stop.
Lucy muttered under breath, "Thought I was gonna avoid these guys. This is going to make my work this year so much harder. The Ministry worked really quickly this time though."
Sirius, using his animagus senses, was the first to sense what Lucy already knew was coming. He stood up sharply, growling low in his throat, hackles raised. Remus sat up from where he had been lightly dozing against the compartment's window, only a few days out from the full moon, and raised his wand.
A chill drifted through the compartment, like the first tendrils of the Dementors' powers reaching out to find what happiness there was to eat.
"Stay back," Remus commanded the students sharply, pulling the three third years behind him. Sirius went to the door, growling even louder.
Then the compartment door was opening, and Sirius was falling back, half behind Remus, whining low in his throat mixed with growls. A pitiful sound from the large, proud dog.
A skeletal hand reached in.
"We are not hiding Peter Pettigrew in this compartment. Begone or I will use more powerful methods!" Remus commanded the Dementor.
At the back of her mind, Lucy heard the screaming of her mother but it was now layered with so much more. The screams of so many people she had failed. Hermione's cries at Malfoy Manor. Lily Potter begging for her son's life. Voldemort saying kill the spare.
She felt pale and shaky, even though she knew she could've performed the Patronus Charm. Dementors had been her greatest fear (above even Voldemort) for so long because they showed her what had been lost trying to save her.
Remus kneeled in front of her and handed her a large piece of chocolate, tawny eyes warm with understanding and worry, the wolf having risen to the surface during the incident.
"You'll be alright now cub, eat up. It helps," he whispered to her before moving on to the next student.
He stood up then, "I'd better check the other students. Stay together with the door locked but those beasts shouldn't be back. I'll leave Snuffles to defend you."
At the school later, she dealt with Malfoy's taunts about Harry. Apparently he'd had much the same reaction, nearly fainting.
"What do you mean I can't go to Hogsmeade! I have a signed permission slip!" she heard Harry yell at Professor McGonagall the next morning at breakfast.
"Do not take that tone with me, young man. I have already spoken with your guardian and in light of current circumstances, we have agreed that it would be safest for you to remain within the walls of Hogwarts for this school year or until such time as the circumstances become better," McGonagall had definitely gone into lecture mode, and Lucy was amused to watch Harry crumple into himself slightly in righteous indignation, remembering how that anger felt cursing through herself.
She glanced up to the Head Table where Snape sat with a satisfied smirk at Harry. Glaring at him for his blatant bias against Harry, she looked over to see Remus giving Snape a frown.
Leaning forward, she could just read Remus' lips, "Careful Severus, I'm not sure how house broken my dog is."
Snape jumped up from the table, grabbing the hem of his robes and pulled it away, sneering at Remus as he walked away.
Sirius went back over and laid at Remus' feet.
Goyle looked up from his oatmeal and frowned at the head table, "Is the new professor's dog laughing?"
A swish of Blaise's wand had Goyle's oatmeal scooting away from the boy, "Mind your breakfast instead of others' business."
Lucy grinned from her spot next to Blaise, watching Goyle try to chase his food down.
At the first Potions class of the year, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, Snape almost immediately assigned her detention, almost before she could even give him his first hug of the year.
Friday night, she was on her way to the dungeons to serve her detention with Professor Snape when she heard a shuffle of steps. Walking around a corner, she spotted Neville walking slowly along the same general path, scuffing his shoe against the stone floor now and then.
"Neville!" she called out happily, "What're you doing down here?"
"On my way to detention with Professor Snape," he said, not a hint of stutter anymore.
"Me too!" she called back happily.
"Oh good, we can get through it together. Wonder what he'll have us do tonight. I think we've gotten all those old cauldrons scrubbed clean," he said.
"There is that pile of melted ones. Remember the time he told us to scrub them until they were back to the proper shape?" she asked him.
He nodded a few times, "That one was pretty bad. I didn't know how to explain that no amount of scrubbing would reform bronze cauldrons to circular."
"Guess we'll find out," she said as they reached the Potions classroom, knocking once on the door.
Without a word, the door swung inward. Used to most of Professor Snape's dramatics after over two years of nearly weekly detentions from the man, Lucy just hopped over the doorway and headed into the room.
Neville, after a year of weekly detentions, followed with only the slightest shiver of foreboding at the dark room and disgusting smells.
"Professor Snape? What do you want Neville and I to do for detention tonight, sir?" she called out.
He swooped into the room, "Sit down."
The two hastened to obey, noting the man's countenance and almost hissed words. He paced in front of the table where the two had sat side by side, each step short and measured. His black teaching robes flowed behind him with each turn as he took several turns in front of them without saying anything.
"While doubtful from such a bunch of dunderheads as yourselves, I suppose you may find it capable to read the Prophet?" his voice was a low ribbon of velvet.
Both nodded.
"Then you know without a doubt that there was an incident with Azkaban?" he continued. They nodded again.
"I will say this only once, so allow me to be clear. This school is aptly named for it is a hogwash of unremarkable students, wasted opportunities, the biggest simpletons that I have ever had the misfortune of meeting. I have attempted to make my dislike of the students clear over the twelve years that I have been teaching, and never before have I met such a pair of idiotic children such as yourselves. I do not like you, in fact, I loathe the very idea of the pair of you. Regardless of what moronic ideas you have gotten into your head that I am some sort of authority figure for you to look up to, I am in fact not. You are not Slytherins, you are not even passable at the fine art of potions making, and you are not important. If you ever attempt to accost me again with your affections I will be forced to go to your head of houses and possibly even the Board of Governors. Have I made myself clear?" Throughout the speech, his voice had gone lower and lower. If Neville's rapidly paling face and shaking body were any indications, it was scarier than yelling.
While Neville nodded his head frantically, Lucy just stared up at the Potions Professor, "So you want us to stop acting nice to you because you're afraid of what your old associates will say if they hear?"
He turned black glaring eyes on her, but didn't say anything.
"Well I don't care what the Death Eaters or Voldemort or Dumbledore have to say," she spotted the minute flinch at hearing the name Voldemort, but long association with Dumbledore had clearly lessened the reaction, "What I care about is what you feel. You are being asked to obey two masters to the advantage of none and potential risk of injury or death of yourself. Is that what you want?"
His look turned baleful, perhaps a bit self mocking, "You should not speak of matters beyond your age. It does not matter what I want. I had the choice of following my wants long ago and now I must pay the price of my actions."
Neville was a quivering mass beside her, but Lucy pressed harder, "I would say you have paid atonement for the choice of a child."
"Practically an adult," Snape muttered, turning away.
"Too long have the parties asked you to pay the ultimate price without any reward. You made one bad choice as a teenager. Have you not paid back enough?"
His hand drifted slightly towards his upper left arm before he seemed to force it back to his side, fist clenched, "Some choices are permanent."
"They don't have to be. I can remove the mark if you wish," she whispered, her own voice finally dropping to match Snape's level.
Neville looked back and forth between the two, confusion finally parting for the slightest understanding, though his clarity was still covered by too thick of a terror.
Snape whirled around and slammed his palms onto the table in front of Lucy, "Do not joke on such matters! You speak without any wisdom, you foolish child."
"I am not joking!" Lucy stood up, allowing some of her disguise to fall back, light glowing softly from her skin, "I who healed the unicorn Voldemort meant to kill can heal such a wound as he left on your skin."
Snape's eyes were wide, almost as wide as Neville's as they took in the changes in Lucy. A soft glow, a feeling of purity, safety.
"Even if you could remove the mark, what would be the point? So I can serve you instead of my other masters?" Snape asked.
She blanched, "No way! I don't want servants or slaves. I want you to stop serving Dumbledore or Voldemort. I will remove it only if you promise to be your own man. Who is Severus Snape? Sure if you want to help me, you can, but you could move to Australia and study rare potion ingredients for all I care. I repeat, who is Severus Snape?"
She pushed her chair back and grabbed Neville's sleeve, "That was a lot to reveal at once. We'll let you think about it overnight. Don't worry about Neville, he won't tell anyone what was discussed here."
Back in the hallway, she guided Neville towards the Gryffindor Tower. She made it several corridors before he suddenly stopped and jerked his arm back from her. Raising her eyebrows, she took in his angry face.
"What was that? Are the rumors true that you want to be the next Dark Lady?" he demanded from her.
She was impressed by Neville; she always knew helping him find his confidence earlier would make a huge difference in the boy.
"No, didn't you just hear me say I wanted to let Professor Snape be his own man? I didn't ask him to become loyal to me or anything," she said.
He softened slightly, "OK but what was that then? I know Dumbledore testified to keep Professor Snape out of Azkaban but what was the rest?"
Lucy threw the muffliato spell around them as well as a few other privacy spells, "Yeah, Dumbledore kept Snape from prison, but he made him promise to basically serve Dumbledore instead. Act as a double agent. Do anything Dumbledore wanted."
"That seems kind of smart of Dumbledore. Like Snape really was a Death Eater. He believed in it at one point, and he's clearly not a nice person," Neville argued.
"No, he's not a nice person. He's been bullying children for twelve years. I think he might have killed a lot of people as a Death Eater. He definitely used Dark Arts, and I would say he used them to hurt people. However, he's not evil. He can cast a full corporeal patronus, which is a famous light charm that is cast by drawing on happy thoughts. Voldemort can't cast the patronus. Most of his Death Eaters can't either. Grindelwald couldn't either. Snape has a lot of layers. He made the choice to become a Death Eater around 16, when he was still considered a child in the wizarding world. He became a double agent by 20. He's spent the last thirteen years trying to pay penance for a decision he made as a child, and repented very quickly. As far as Dumbledore is concerned, Snape can never truly be redeemed. Plus, Snape is surrounded by the children of Death Eaters. He's been asked to play a role in this school, even if he enjoys playing the bully a bit too much," Lucy said.
"And you don't agree with him?" Neville asked.
She shook her head, "No, no I don't. I want to offer him a true second chance. Now, if he screws that up, I don't see myself offering him a third or fourth chance, but I think he deserves the chance to try to do better."
"Why is any of this your responsibility?" Neville asked.
She shrugged, "Well, I seem to be the only person I can find who can remove the Dark Mark so that kind of makes it my responsibility, though I think Dumbledore could too with how powerful he is. I think he just likes having Snape under his thumb. Regardless, I don't want to be a Dark Lady, but I do wish there was a third side. A grey side maybe, where Magical Beings like werewolves and mermaids are recognized as people instead of animals. No one else is offering that, so I decided maybe I had to be the one to create another side."
"Isn't Dumbledore good enough?" Neville asked, his eyes showing the same maturity she had seen in the first timeline when he discussed his parents. Events in Neville's life had caused him to grow up too fast in a way she didn't see with Hermione or Ron, both too sheltered by their own parents.
"Not in my opinion. Look at how prejudiced he is against the Slytherins. Stealing the house cup from them at the closing feast? Letting eleven and twelve year olds celebrate and probably write home before taking it away at the last possible second. That was humiliating to them. Plus so much else. And obviously Voldemort is pure evil. I would never even consider following him. I want a neutral side. One willing to stand up to evil, but not willing to claim every Slytherin who ever lived is evil," she said.
He stood there considering while she added, "Neville, I see a lot of potential in you. That's why I've been trying to help you these last few years. If you want to join my side, I'd like to offer you a leading position one day. Sadly not second or third in command, Blaise will be second and then Hermione, but definitely a general. Maybe like fourth in command, somewhere in charge? You are already so brave, and you're going to be an amazing man one day."
His shoulders went back slightly, he stood up straighter while a hint of flush creeped up his neck and darkened his cheeks.
"No need to tell me right now. Just think about it like I told Snape. Night Neville," she said and gave him a wave as she slipped off to the Hufflepuff dorm.
Unknown to her, and completely unwanted, she had just caused Neville's first crush. He stared after her with red cheeks for a long time before he turned and headed to Gryffindor Tower.
She hadn't needed to give him until the next day. Neville had already become a devoted follower of Lucy.
Blaise and Lucy were relaxing at a private table in the library discussing their next plans with light privacy charms in place around them, Hermione pacing in front of them.
"I can't believe we're actually making plans in advance this year," Hermione said.
"Sit down, you are ruining my vibe. Have you ever tried to contain that hair?" Blaise asked, not unkindly.
"My hair?" Hermione was startled by the change in conversation.
"It is such a tell, reacting to your emotions the way it does. Pulling it back into a braid would probably work better than a ponytail with your curls and it would help hide what you are feeling," Blaise pushed Hermione lightly to the floor in front of his chair and grabbed several pieces of hair.
"It reacts to my emotions?" Hermione sought Lucy who nodded sheepishly with a bit of a shrug.
"Gets all big and crackly like a thunderstorm when you're worked up. I've seen it rise up like the hanches of a cat when you're feeling threatened. I think it's cool, how your magic shows in your hair," Lucy said.
Blaise's long dark fingers deftly twisted the strands into a French braid, pulling out a few pieces in front to frame Hermione's face. Lucy was struck by how it changed the girl, from frizzy mess to a more dignified look, as though she had spent hours making the escaped pieces curl like that.
Suddenly she was struck by the thought that her friends were growing up again, and a renewed promise to make this future better than the first.
"What are you looking at?" Hermione asked her friend, hands going to the braid, "Does it look terrible?"
Blaise scoffed even as Lucy launched herself at Hermione, wrapping her arms around the other girl, "Of course it doesn't look terrible! It looks amazon, and you're so grown up!"
"What?" Hermione asked herself, arms full of emotional white haired girl.
"I will teach you how to do it yourself. I'm sure something as simple as a hairstyle will be no match for your supposed intellect," Blaise sniffed.
"Supposed? Oh I will show you!"
And Lucy laughed to herself at how good friendship felt.
The next day, Snape assigned Lucy detention as she was walking in the hallway for "Breathing too kindly, as though she was her own force in the school."
McGonagall frowned at Snape as she went down the hallway, "Really, Severus, are you still bullying this child?"
Lucy grinned at McGonagall as she gave the professor a hug before skipping over to Professor Snape and hugging him as well, "It's alright, Professor, I think Professor Snape just has very strong emotions and this is the only way he learned to handle them. Malfoy's a bit like him too."
Professor Snape shoved the girl away from him, lip curled in disgust, "I am not bullying her. If anyone is being bullied, I feel like I have a strong case at this point."
McGonagall shook her head as she walked away, not quite certain if all was right with the mind of that third year, though she always did well enough in Transfiguration.
Before detention, Lucy caught Harry in the Great Hall during supper. She tapped on his shoulder before sliding onto the bench next to Harry. Across from her, Ron sneered at the girl, and she returned the lip with an upraised lip, as though she smelt something disgusting.
"You have something on your nose, you know?" she lied, remembering how it had bothered him when Hermione would make similar remarks.
He rubbed at his nose, flush rising rising, "Mind your own business, eh?"
"Stop it, you two. Lucy, what do you want?" Harry frowned at her, and she grinned unapologetically at him.
"There's something you need to see this evening, bring the cloak. Your presence has to be a surprise," she said, having dropped a silencing charm around the two before she said anything. "Don't bring the Weasley. Meet me by the kitchen entrance."
When she lifted it, Ron glared at her, "Oi, what did you just say!"
"Just something uncomplimentary about yourself. You really want to hear it?" Lucy smiled at him.
"Yeah I do!"
"No you don't Ron. Just ignore her, she's trying to make you upset," Harry intervened.
Lucy laughed as she walked away.
Harry made it there before her detention, shuffling with a cloak wrapped up in his hand because it was still an hour until curfew. He frowned when he saw her and Blaise.
"What's your issue with Ron anyway? And what's so important that I had to miss Exploding Snap?" he asked her.
She shook her head, "Hopefully you'll see something important. I have detention with Snape. You'll sneak in the door with me and wait in the back of the classroom, just watch and listen. We need to work on your prejudices."
"My prejudices. Can we go back to the Ron issue, Miss Kettle? Besides, what's Blaise doing here?" Harry retorted.
"He's just going to come in with me. Willful accomplice rather than secret accomplice," she said.
"Hey, what are you three doing here?" Cedric asked. "And accomplices to what? Lucy, why are you sneaking Harry into your potions detention?"
"Crap," Lucy muttered to herself, turning around to where Cedric was approaching.
"Well?" he looked expectantly at her.
"Cedric, it's kind of private," Lucy started to say, but Cedric only looked more concerned.
"Something private with Professor Snape? With your history. No way. I'm coming," Cedric insisted.
Blaise laughed at her silently while she threw her hands up horrified, "Woah, woah, woah! No! Oh gosh, that's disgusting! No, I'm just trying to show Harry's he's not a horrible person."
Harry shook his head this time, "Yeah not helping."
Cedric frowned, "You three are all only third years. I'm a prefect this year. Older prefects in the same house can monitor a detention to make sure everything is kosher. I actually like Blaise coming along. He's from Slytherin, so he can act as another monitor. If you really want to sneak Harry in, no harm in him watching your detention as well. Let's go."
Cedric placed a hand in the small of Lucy's back and led her down to the dungeons, Lucy trying to think of a reason to get the boy to leave the entire way down. Eventually she just gave up.
The door to the potion's classroom swung open of its own accord as per usual, and the strange assortment tramped into the classroom, Harry hidden under his cloak.
Professor Snape raised an eyebrow at Blaise and Cedric.
"Diggory, Zabini, I don't believe you have detentions with me at this time, unless you have so kindly come to request one?" Professor Snape drawled.
Blaise grinned lazily at the professor while Cedric actually frowned at him, "No Professor, we're here to supervise Lucy's detention. As a prefect from her house, I just want to watch how you choose to punish her."
"You may be a prefect, but you have no say over a professor," there was an instant edge to Professor Snape's voice.
"I'm not questioning it; I am simply watching," Cedric retorted, voice raising whereas Snape's had grown quieter, though sharper.
"Excuse me, sir, but I had brought Blaise here. Cedric happened upon me on the way, but I think this is fine. They have both been in situations before and have proven their ability for discretion. They can serve as a sort of witness in the future. Better than your deal with Dumbledore where you had only his word that he wouldn't lie," Lucy said.
Professor Snape seemed to wrestle with himself before finally nodding his head a single, sharp time.
"Witnessing what?" Cedric asked.
"Sit down Diggory," Professor Snape said as he removed his teaching robes, revealing an all black outfit of trousers and a button up shirt, neatly tailored. Black did not seem the best for the man, making him appear sallow. He seemed taller than ever, but much too thin for his height. The robes added width, making him seem intimidating. Without them, Lucy thought he seemed sickly.
Blaise laid a gentle hand on Cedric's shoulder and pushed him lightly into a chair.
"You will be discrete, right Cedric? It's not a secret, but we don't need Professor Snape's change of allegiance shared too much right now, eh?" Lucy asked Cedric.
"I can be discreet," he said slowly, watching Professor Snape unbutton his left sleeve and meticulously fold and roll the sleeve up to his shoulder, revealing the dark mark sticking out sharply against the pale skin.
"It is no secret that I was a marked follower of the Dark Lord, though Dumbledore said I was his spy and kept me from Azkaban," Snape's deep voice wove a tale in the air, "Yet this mark is like a brand. Worse, it is a connection to the Dark Lord. Through it, he can always call on my magic. He can summon me to him from anywhere in the world, hurt me through it, kill me through it. It was a permanent decision to follow the Dark Lord, even for those of us such as myself who grew to regret my decision. To openly defy the Dark Lord was to be killed, so when he returns, I had accepted that I would have to play the double agent. For no one knows how to remove it, even Dumbledore said he couldn't. Yet Miss Ogden claims she can, and while it is foolish, I have agreed to allow her to try."
"When he returns?" Cedric asked.
"See how dark the mark is? When the Dark Lord first lost his body, it lightened significantly, until it was like a scar, almost gone. Now look how dark it is. He is back, though I do not know how or where or to what extent. He has not summoned me through the mark, so I doubt he has gained a body yet. But I have no doubt that he eventually will. Dumbledore believes the same if it makes a difference. I knew Pettigrew. No way he orchestrated that prison break on his own, spineless beast," Snape said.
"With it gone, you would be free from serving Dumbledore or the Dark Lord," Blaise said, Snape nodded once.
Cedric turned to Blaise, "What are you doing here?"
Blaise snorted, "Are you implying that I am a future Death Eater simply because I'm a Slytherin? Diggory, my family is as neutral as your own. I don't remember any Diggorys serving Dumbledore or the Dark Lord. In fact, whether you are here by accident or not, we are actually both excellent choices as witnesses to this."
Lucy stepped forward, "Enough. Let's see if I can put my galleons where my mouth is."
She lit up her hand with angel magic, thinking of healing, peace, comfort like she did with the unicorns. Bringing her hand closer, she felt the darkness of the mark rising up to fight her. She clamped her hand around the professor's bicep, directly over the mark.
A sizzling sound filled the room, and a clicking sound as Professor Snape's teeth clenched together. She was impressed that the man made no noises as she seemingly literally burnt the mark off of him, the angel magic overriding the dark magic.
Once all of the darkness was gone, she felt as the angel magic then set about healing the tissues quickly.
Lifting her hand back up, she revealed perfect, unblemished skin as she stepped back quickly to stand next to Blaise and Cedric.
The three she could see stared at the bicep in unabashed amazement.
"How did you do that?" Blaise finally asked.
"The impossible is kind of my specialty," she grinned, one hand ruffling her hair.
"You aren't going to tell us, are you?" Cedric asked.
She shook her head, "Nope! Trade secrets and all that. Plus, I don't think any of you could do it.''
"Oh it's from your creature inheritance isn't it?"
"Creature inheritance?" Cedric clarified, eyes flicking from Blaise who grinned sheepishly to Lucy who was glaring at her friend.
Professor Snape cleared his throat, eyes still fixated on his upper arm, "Diggory, don't you think you have been told enough secrets tonight? You can all consider your detentions served."
The three stood up quickly.
"I didn't actually have detention," Blaise muttered under his breath, and Lucy punched him lightly in the arm, happy to have a reason to punch him after telling Cedric she had a creature inheritance.
As Cedric opened the door, and they left the room, Professor Snape called out, "While I may be a free man now, I would be remiss not to repay such a kindness. You can trust that I will be on your side in the future, Miss Ogden."
"How about you just focus on not being so mean to the students now that you no longer need to maintain an image as a terrible Death Eater. Because I'm sure that's the only reason you were so horrible," Lucy said.
He rolled his eyes, "Yes, yes, I'll try to be slightly nicer to the dunderheads, at least when they truly do not deserve it."
She rolled her eyes back at him, "You're still a bully. You need to stop that, seriously."
"I guess we shall see, yes?" he said to her.
Back in the hallway, she felt Harry's hand on her shoulder. She understood they had questions, so she led them to an unused classroom and threw up privacy charms.
"Where's Hermione?" Blaise asked first.
"She couldn't come. She said she had way too much homework. I think she's taking like every elective," Lucy flinched at the memory, Hermione already becoming almost unbearable with stress.
Blaise shook his head, "Crazy woman."
Harry's eyes were wide, "You're worried about Hermione? What we all suspected was true! Snape is a Death Eater, and you just gave him a way to hide it!"
"Well, yeah, of course he was a Death Eater. Pretty much everyone who grew up in the Wizarding World knew that. He showed his mark during the trials after Voldemort's defeat. It was only Dumbledore's word that kept him from prison," Cedric of all people said.
"Well it was never talked about when I joined the Wizarding World!" Harry said.
"A bunch of the Death Eaters used different excuses to get out of punishment. Malfoy Sr claimed he was imperio'd to keep away from Azkaban. His excuse and a generous donation to the Ministry kept him free. Most of us assumed Snape was the same, using whatever excuse he could to avoid prison. They'd pay if Voldemort came back, but he wouldn't kill them or anything," Blaise sneered lightly.
"Why'd you remove the mark, though?" Harry demanded Lucy.
"Because Snape said he regretted the decision he made at sixteen, and he deserved a true second chance. You heard him! When Voldemort comes back, he would have to pretend to follow him or be killed. He was never truly freed. He's spent the last twelve years of his life protecting you and doing whatever Dumbledore wanted. Doesn't that mean he deserves to at least have a chance at not dying?" Lucy retorted.
Harry's fists clenched and unclenched, but this wasn't the Harry of fifteen who felt that Snape was the reason his godfather had died. This was thirteen year old Harry who had a deep dislike of Snape but not yet a hatred.
After several tense minutes, he sighed, "Yes, of course you're right. He's still a rotten man."
"Listen, I understand why he may have felt like he couldn't act all friendly with muggleborns, and he took it too far with how he treated some of the students. You're allowed to think he's rotten, but I don't think he deserves death,," Lucy said.
Blaise and Cedric nodded.
"She has a point, Potter. If he really made the decision to follow Voldemort at sixteen, I think he has at least made the scale pretty even by this point," Cedric said.
"Plus, hasn't he saved you a bunch of times personally? Like the bezoars last year?" Blaise added.
"Fine, fine. Thanks for letting me tag along Lucy, but I have to think about this," Harry said. "Goodnight."
"I'd better head back to the Common Room too. Be careful walking back," Blaise added, and slipped out before Lucy could talk to him. She glared at his back before turning to Cedric.
He's staring at her with raised eyebrows. Sighing, she points to the chairs, "Might as well get comfortable, huh?"
"Listen, I already know you're a Seer. That's how you know this about Professor Snape, right?" he cuts in even as he takes a seat across from her.
She gapes at him for a second, "You know I'm a Seer?"
He laughs, "You're not the best with secrets, you know?"
"If you only knew," she whispers too softly for him to hear.
"It's not a big deal to me. It's like anything with magic. We each inherit different talents, abilities. We're just born with them. It's not like you sold your soul to be able to see the future," he pauses, "You were born with the ability, right?"
"Triggered when I was seven by a near death experience, but yeah, it runs in my family. It's mostly hooked on Harry though. I've seen a lot of his past and future," Lucy said.
"And that's why you've been trying to redeem Snape since your first year?" Cedric guessed.
"Yep. He could've turned out pretty horrible, bullying Neville until Snape was Neville's worst fear. I felt like he needed to understand that he still had a choice, when he had always felt so trapped. Over the last three years, he's been harsh, and definitely biased towards Slytherins, but he hasn't been evil the way he could've been," she explained.
"The effect a crazy first year could cause," Cedric ruffled her hair, "Not to mention giving Neville Longbottom some confidence. You're gonna take him to the first Hogsmeade weekend?"
"What? No way! I don't like Neville like that!" Lucy denied.
"Sure you don't," he said, laughing.
"Oh you're one to talk! Have you even gotten a date this year? You didn't do so well last year, if I remember correctly," Lucy said.
"As a matter of fact, I am taking Angelina Johnson from Gryffindor. Figured we could at least talk Quidditch," Cedric said.
Lucy gaped slightly, "I didn't know that."
"You can't see everything about the future you know," Cedric laughed.
"Trust me, I know that more and more everyday," Lucy paused, "Aren't you going to ask about the creature inheritance too?"
"Nah, Professor Snape was right. I've learned plenty of other people's business tonight, and you never meant to tell me about it in the first place. Please know though that it doesn't bother me at all. The Diggorys have never been prejudiced against magical beings," Cedric said.
She looked up at him and saw an open, honest face, "Thank you."
"No problem. Now, if on your own timing, you ever want to tell me, I'll listen. But not because someone revealed your secrets or tricked you into. Come on, only a couple minutes until curfew," Cedric said.
Omake: The First Period
"I'm dying!" she whispered fiercely to herself in the dorm bathroom at 1 in the morning.
She looked down at her nightgown where it was soaked through front and back with red blood. A tight cramping in her stomach had woken her up, and the low light of the bathroom had been enough to show that something was wrong with her nightgown. Lumos had revealed the blood.
"What is this? Have I been poisoned? I can't find a stab wound?" she frantically felt around her stomach but nothing felt off.
Then another wave of the cramping hit her, and she doubled over.
"Gotta get to Snape, he should have an antidote," she muttered through clenched teeth.
Out the dorm room, and through the common room, to the school's hallways. She hadn't made it very far before she ran into a familiar mop of black hair.
"Lucy, what're you doing out of bed?" Harry took a double look, "What happened? You're covered in blood!"
"Thanks for noticing. I think I've been poisoned, I'm trying to get to Snape," she growled at him.
He ran over to her and grabbed one arm, trying to take some of her weight, "Let's go."
Down the pair went into the dungeons, air growing slightly cooler as they descended. Lucy didn't know exactly where Snape's personal quarters were, so she went to the Slytherin common room, and banged on the general stone walls where she thought it was.
It didn't take long for swirling black robes to descend on the pair from the opposite side of the corridor, where a door suddenly appeared.
"My, my, students out of bed," Snape drawled.
"Obviously we're trying to find you. Why else would we have bothered to come down here and make such a racket?" Harry snapped, "You need to help Lucy, she's been poisoned."
Snape turned his sneer to the girl, "Have you?"
"I think I have. I woke up to a horrible stomach cramping and blood all over my nightgown. No wounds that I can find," Lucy said.
Then, to her amazement, rather than looking worried, Snape gave a great sigh before pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Are you going to help her or not? Stop wasting time, she could bleed to death!" Harry snapped again.
"Ms Ogden, come, we will go to the infirmary," he said and turned sharply on his heel.
"Come'on Lucy, that's not too far," Harry muttered, bravely continuing to half drag the girl.
Inside the infirmary, Snape went straight to Pomfrey's office door, and read a notice posted to it, "Training at St Mungos, gone for the night. Why is it always me?"
He turned back to Lucy, "Go sit on that bed."
"Sir? I mean, I'll get blood on it," she muttered, a bit embarrassed.
"Obviously that is not a concern with a hospital bed," Snape's voice got lower when he was annoyed, but Lucy was just now noticing the gravely aspect and wondered if she had actually woken the man up.
She had a slightly humorous thought of dinosaur pajamas or rubber duck pajamas hidden under the man's voluptuous teaching robes.
Hopping onto the bed, she and Harry looked up at him expectantly.
"Potter, this matter does not concern you. Go back to bed," Snape snapped at him.
"I'm not leaving you alone with her," Harry said bravely.
"Five points from Gryffindor, and that's professor or sir to you," Snape said.
Harry just tilted his chin up and stared defiantly at the Potion's Master. Watching the boy that used to be herself, Lucy suddenly understood how her loyalty and lack of trust in adults could be taken as an attitude problem.
"Potter, I believe Ms Ogden to be having feminine issues. Are you happy now?" Snape glared as Harry visibly blanched and Lucy mouth dropped into a perfect O, "If you refuse to leave her with the big bad professor who is the resident Potions Master and healer in residence with Madam Pomfrey absent, you will do something helpful and retrieve a large mug of hot chocolate from the house elves. I am certain you already know where the kitchens are. If you do not return promptly with that item, I will assign you detentions for the rest of the school year. Am I understood?"
Harry was gone almost before Snape could issue his warning. Snape gave another sigh and again pinched the bridge of his nose as he turned to look at the pale girl.
While she was embarrassed and in pain, she couldn't help but quip at him, "Only five points from him?"
"Some of us were sleeping at this hour. It threw me off my game," he complained to her, "Now, do you remember your lesson on feminine health from Madam Pomfrey in first year?"
As he spoke, he waved his wand, and the blood vanished from her nightgown while a diagnostic report wrote itself from the tip of his wand.
She nodded vigorously, "Yes! I just, I'd never had one before, and I forgot it was a thing, and then to just wake up, and I was a bit startled."
Snape seemingly tried to give her a reassuring look. It sent a shiver down her back, and he went back to scowling when he saw her reaction.
"Right, so you don't need any further guidance?"
Lucy was suddenly amused to see a bit of red creeping up Snape's neck, but she was too embarrassed herself to try to get a further reaction from the professor.
"No sir," she muttered.
"I'll retrieve what you need and leave it on the bedside table," he said, and turned on his heel.
He was gone for several minutes before he left a basket on the bedside table and seemed to wait for Harry, tapping his hand against his thigh. Harry was back only minutes later, red enough to be a Weasley. He thrust the mug into Lucy's hands and backed away like she was contagious.
"Potter, escort Ms Ogden back to her dorm then go straight back to your own. Another five points for being out of bed," he snapped at the boy, who glared but didn't argue the matter. "Ogden, back to bed. Alert your head of house if you need anything else in the future. Also, I will send home a letter to your parents. You should probably send one as well. Anything else?"
Both students shook their heads in the negative, and Snape nodded his head once sharply before marching out of the infirmary, head held high, robes billowing.
"Did he really...give you everything you...uhm...need?" Harry stumbled over his words a bit, hand tangled in the disheveled black hair on top of his head.
"Yeah, even a pain potion," Lucy said, cheeks red herself, "Sorry for scaring you."
"Eh it's fine, just don't do it again," Harry muttered.
It was a quiet pair who walked back to the Hufflepuff dorm. After an awkward goodbye, Lucy went in and tried to settle back down to sleep.
Author's note:
Chapter 25! We are getting into the changes now! Next chapter sneak peek, Lucy is going to address the Snape, Sirius, Lupin situation.
If anyone has ever been interested in being a Beta for this story, please send me a message. I'm not actively seeking one, but if anyone wanted to check over this story for grammatical errors or checking word choice, it'd be appreciated. Bonus, you get early access to the next chapters. Might keep me on track with these weekly updates.
Thanks all. As per usual, please leave any constructive criticism or ideas in the reviews. This chapter's omake was inspired by a comment left, so I will happily write out as many ideas as I can ;)