Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and company. Note: I apologize if the last chapter was in the slightest bit corny. I admit it, I'm an old softy, but I hope you all still keep reading this story. Also, this story contains my little theory of why Snape stopped supporting Voldemort. Enjoy!



Chapter Eight- Memories of A Sister

A blanket of snow had settled itself on Hogwarts on Christmas morning. It was perfect weather for a huge snowball fight for Harry and the others in the late afternoon. The thoughts of how he somehow knew Professor Clark were quickly driven out of his mind, for the moment, as he was trying to avoid being hit by snowballs.



When they all came back in the castle soaking wet, it was time for Christmas Tea. There was food and cheery faces everywhere in the Great Hall, with the exception of Snape, which wasn't at all uncommon. It was a typical Hogwarts Christmas Tea (with the exception of Fudge sitting a good distance away from Dumbledore: Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet, wizard crackers were being opened everywhere... There was only one thing strange in the Great Hall..



Professor Clark was no where to be seen.



"So?" Ron asked when Harry noticed this. "I dunno, Harry. Maybe she was ill."



"Well, remember our third year Christmas Tea when Lupin was missing the meal?" pointed out Hermione. "He was ill that time."



"Lupin was a werewolf, Hermione."



"How do we know that Professor Clark isn't a werewolf either?"



"Professor Clark isn't a werewolf," said Harry in exasperation. "In fact, she's the first Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've had that hasn't had something weird about her, aside from that thing she does against the dementors."



"But that's just it, Harry!" said Hermione. "We've never had a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that hasn't had something weird about her. And you just said she can do something against the dementors. It has to do with whatever she has around her neck."



"Hermione, just relax and eat," said Ron. "It's Christmas, and whatever she around her neck is none of our business unless she tells us."



"Oh, fine," snapped Hermione. "Other than the whole dementor thing, Professor Clark is nice. It's just too bad that she's only staying this year..."



***

Harry and the others weren't the only ones wondering where Professor Clark was. Professor McGonagall asked Dumbledore, "Do you know where Fiona is? None of us have seen her all day."



"She informed me that she wasn't feeling well," said Dumbledore shortly. "She looked terrible, her eyes were all puffy and bloodshot. It looked as though she didn't get any sleep last night."



"Headmaster," Snape said quietly to him, so that no one else could hear. "may I have a word with you after the feast?"



Dumbledore nodded. When everyone but he and Snape left the Great Hall, Dumbledore asked him, "What did you wish to speak to me about?"



"Exactly how much information did you give to Professor Clark about Voldemort and how he has rose again?"



"Everything she needed to know, Severus," Dumbledore replied.



"Including about my involvement with him," said Snape coldly.



"Certainly. If she was to be teaching here, she needed to know all about what has been going on up until now. Don't you agree?"



"Yes, yes," said Snape irritably. "It's just that I'd like to keep the reason behind me quitting the Death Eaters... well, private."



"How did you find out that she knew?"



"Well... about a month ago, she came up to me, asking if I could be a bit kinder to Longbottom because of all the news about his parents going around the school. I told her not to tell me how to do my job. Then she said that I should have more sympathy to a person who has lost their family, especially since I lost mine..."



"I see," nodded Dumbledore.



"Miranda's death was none of her business," said Snape in a hard tone.



"You've never been the same since she was murdered," said Dumbledore thoughtfully. "Maybe she thought that you were taking it out on your students."



"It's none of her business," snapped Snape. "And I don't tell her how to do my job."



He walked off into the corridors. Halfway to his office he stopped in his tracks, remembering what Dumbledore had said.



What did he mean that she might have thought that he was taking out his sister's death out on his students for all these years he had been teaching? The idea was absurd. But then again, his sister was very hard to live without.



Miranda was Snape's twin sister, but they couldn't have been more different in personality. Miranda was always cheerful, friendly, and optimistic, while Snape was always so... moody.



Their parents had died when they were young, so they were all each other had. They argued a lot, as siblings often do, but they still cared deeply for each other. They even went to Hogwarts together, though they were sorted into different Houses: Miranda was in Ravenclaw and Snape ended up in Slytherin.



There were few things that Snape, looking back on his life, wasn't proud of, and getting involved with the Dark Side was one of them. "Why did I ever join the Dark Side in the first place?" he often asked himself. There were a lot of reasons, he supposed. Maybe being parentless was one of them...



By the time he was in second year, he knew more Dark magic then all the seventh year students combined. Miranda, on the other hand, was on top of all of her classes and was made a prefect... very like that Hermione Granger. She was also very popular, and (according to some boys) very pretty.



However, when most of her friends made fun of her brother, Miranda always frowned and said, "Oh, leave him alone. He's a good person." Miranda always thought there was good in everybody.



After they graduated from Hogwarts, Miranda and Snape hardly saw each other anymore, except when Snape came to visit her every so often. Miranda went to get a job in the Ministry of Magic... while Snape joined the Death Eaters. Miranda didn't know of course.



Snape remembered the countless times he and the Death Eaters murdered innocent families, wizards and Muggles alike, and wondered why, why didn't he feel for those families they tore apart. Probably because he place themselves in their shoes, so to speak. A young and foolish man he was back then. He never once stopped to think about the horrible things they did...



Until it happened to him...



It before Voldemort fell. Snape had come over to Miranda's house to visit her, only to find the house in ruins. Everything was destroyed. Horrified, Snape called out Miranda's name, but there was no reply. And then... he looked down and saw Miranda's dead body...



He didn't believe that she was dead at first. He shook her, yelled her name, and even tried to revive her with the Awakening Spell as though he thought she was just Stunned.



But she wasn't. His sister was gone forever.



He didn't have to ask who murdered her. Every time Voldemort killed a family, he always left their house in ruins. And usually the people he killed were "meddlers" in the Ministry of Magic.



At that moment, Snape understood how horrible the crimes he and the others committed, and how little mercy Voldemort showed to his followers and their families.



So he went back over to Dumbledore's side and turned spy against Voldemort. But he never fully recovered from his sister's death. He blamed himself repeatedly; if he had realized the error of his ways sooner... maybe Miranda would still be here today...



Snape shook himself mentally and strode back to his office. Stop thinking about the bloody past, he thought to himself. This is why you're hear: to keep Voldemort from killing others just like Miranda...



***

Fiona sat in her office alone. She did want to go the Christmas feast... but she sat in the trophy room so long, crying her eyes out, that she didn't feel up to it. It was just like how she felt after she returned to Heaven.... after Tom had turned his back on her.



It was very strange. She lived in a place of dreams and blessings, but somehow, life seemed meaningless without Tom. She had lost her best friend. How could life get any worse than that? she had kept thinking. She vowed she'd never pick another child to protect again...



Until Harry was born. The Potters were such a nice family that a lot of angels volunteered to be their son's guardian angel. So most of them spent the first year of Harry's life observing and watching over him. Fiona went with them also, after Celeste had urged her constantly to go. She said it would be good for her.



For a long time, it seemed as though this Potter child would have a happy life with kind and loving parents. But then, tragedy struck. Voldemort came and murdered the Potters that fateful Halloween night, leaving Harry to be raised by his horrible relatives...



The angels knew perfectly well that his relatives would be cruel to little Harry because he was "different". Fiona felt sorry for this little boy, and to everyone's surprise (including her own) she volunteered to be his angel.



As the years went by, she had grown to love this lonely little boy, but at the same time, she never stopped thinking about Tom. The sole reason she had took human form and visited when he was seven was to give him faith, to make sure that he wouldn't lose faith like Tom. And the rest, as they say, is history...



Now she was in human form again, to protect Harry from whatever was going to happen to him this year.... Fiona had a sudden thought. What if the thing she was trying to protect him from was his own dark side? The previous month he did seem to be a bit touchy from Ron not understanding why it was so strange to meet a kind adult in his childhood.



Could it be? Fiona thought. Is it possible? No... I'm not going to let Harry end up like Tom!



Fiona shuddered. If it was true, she wouldn't let it happen, because in her opinion, the only thing worse than Harry getting killed was Harry going to the Dark Side...



Just like Tom...



To be continued...



All right, I hope this chapter wasn't lame. As for the thing about Snape quitting the Death Eaters, I figure the reason would probably have to do with his family. Don't flame me, please! I have a right to my opinions of what is going to happen in the series too! Okay, up next: Harry has a really creepy dream... can't give away too many details about that, so stay tuned!