Disclaimer: none of the characters in HP belongs to me. Don't sue me because I love them.

At the same time, the first year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were having their potion lesson in the dungeon.

'Potion making is a subtle science and an exact art of magic.' Snape said when he rushed into the classroom. The cold air seemed to condense even more with his entrance.

'I don't expect a bunch of dunderheads like you to be able to admire or even to understand the beauty of it. But, I do expect your full attention during my lesson. If I ever catch any mischief in this room,' he paused intentionally to create a horror amongst his students, 'I will make sure you know the full power of my potion immediately.'

The whole class sat in dead silence. Every one, even the muggle-born students who knew nothing about the wizarding world before coming to Hogwarts, knew how creepy Snape was.

'Miss Walpole, what would I get if I add powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?' Snape picked a Gryffindor randomly from his list.

The poor victim was a fat sandy-haired girl. Her healthy pink face turned into a mixture of green and purple the moment Snape called her name. She opened and closed her mouth several times as if she was struggling to answer or just- breath.

'Miss Walpole?' Snape asked, evilly.

Laughter was heard from the Slytherins.

'Draught of Living Death.' A voice came in.

Snape span around and saw the very one he tried to avoid had spoken.

He knew Annabelle Yates was in this class. He knew he had a special feeling towards her. But he also knew he was not going to let her took over his life. Therefore, before coming into the classroom, Snape had told himself mentally that he would use all of his strength to ignore the girl.

'I am not asking you,' Snape's eyes narrowed and glittered angrily, for her and himself.

'I think what you want is the answer, and you won't care who gives you that,' she smiled lazily.

            'You should smile more, Severus.' The woman smiled lazily at him. 

           

'How can I smile when I need to concentrate on making my potion?' he protested half-heartedly, he would never go fully against her wishes.

'But you look so handsome when your face isn't scrunched up like a weasel with a cold.' Then she started to giggle. Her voice echoed around the small room, like the April sun that would warm your whole body, caressing you.

 Severus could feel the heat rising in his cheeks.

            Snape shook the memory off violently. It was outrageous for him to be influenced that easily by a little girl.

'If you're that clever, Miss Yates, then tell me: where would you look if I told you to find me a bezor?'

'A goat's stomach,' she replied instantly.

'What is the difference between monkshood and wolfbane?'

'No difference.'

'What potion are we going to make for this class?' this question was almost insane. How could a student know his teaching plan?

'Baola, a potion for curing boils. You have all the ingredients on your desk.' She got the answer. Snape paused for a whole second.

'Very good,' he suddenly snapped at the whole class. 'Haven't you all heard what Miss Yates has said? Turn your book to page 34; you have 5 minutes to read about the potion before brewing it.' 

Then he looked back to Annabelle, this time, his voice was barely more than a whisper.

'If you are that clever, you should know that I can make a hundred different potions out from the ingredients I have on my desk. Why do you think it is Baola?'

'Because it is the only potion first-years can possibly handle in their first class, and because it is the first potion you learned...' Annabelle choked off, as if realizing she had spoken something forbidden.

'The first potion I learned is a sleeping potion. More complicated and difficult, but that's the first potion I made.' He made it in his first potion class in Hogwarts. Snape could still recall the astonishment of Professor Martin, the school potion master at that time, when he saw his concise and flawless performance. From that time onwards, everyone knew Severus Snape was a prodigy in potion making.

'You are right, Professor,' Annabelle said mindfully, 'I guess I just mixed you up with someone I knew.'

'5 points from Gryffindor for that then,' Snape said as he walked away. But he returned half an hour later, to examine the potion she had made more closely.

He had criticized every single potion in the lesson, not that much to his Slytherins' though, but her potion was just perfect. Actually, it was not even really made by her, as Snape noticed. Most of the time, she just sat there telling her partner, Christine Walpole, what to do. She would not intervene unless Walpole was unable to complete certain tasks.

Snape stared at the cauldron as hard as he could, trying to find a mistake. Then, involuntarily, he looked up.

'A point for not actively participating in your lesson.' He then swept to the next table.

'That is so unfair,' whimpered Christine. 'He just makes up things so he can deduct points from our house.'

Indeed. At the end of the potions lesson, Snape had successfully taken off 25 points from Gryffindor while rewarding Slytherin 10 points.

'Class dismissed. Hand in 2 feet of writing on Baola in the next class.' The whole class left in a line quietly but quickly. No one wanted to stay in the cold dungeon any longer. No one but Annabelle.

'What is it you want, Miss Yates?' Snape felt exhausted, faintly remembering that he had asked a similar question last night.

'Why do you pretend to be that harsh and sour?'

            'Why?' Snape heard himself asking. He was losing consciousness quicker than he imagined. The whole world around him was spinning.

'I am sorry, Severus, but this is the best for the both of us,' her usual light chocolate eyes were clouded by endless darkness. Every word she spoke was sad but determined. He hated her tone.

'What have I done to deserve this? I've done everything you want me to do, I've followed every one of your orders. Why are you deserting me now?' he asked desperately. His heart was aching by the fact that the person he trusted the most in his life had betrayed him.

'Lift this damned charm from me!' he shouted, but his voice was weak.

'Forgive me, Severus. But it's time for me to leave your life. When you wake up, you will have a new life. Be good, be safe, and don' be that harsh and sour to others anymore. You know it's always been my wish to see you have your own family…'

He didn't want to hear that, at all. Snape leaned his body towards the wall, hoping that it could give him some strength. He could not black out now, not now, or every thing would end, his memory, his effort, his dream… and his love.

'Don't do this to me, please, don't, R…'

            Snape's mind swam back to reality abruptly. Just one more second, and he would know the name of that woman.

What were you thinking? Snape groaned to himself.  You wouldn't believe there was a memory charm put on you, will you?

No, of course not, this was only an illusion; an illusion which was getting more and more ridiculous as it went along.

He could remember every single detail in his life. A lonely childhood, a broken family, a difficult teenage period, a corrupt adult life, a boring teaching job…

He was definitely not under any spell. He would have known if he had. Snape hid his face in his palms.

'Are you alright?' someone asked him.

Snape blinked absent-mindedly. He blinked again. Then he looked out in-between his fingers and saw Annabelle's concerned face.

Yes, that insufferable girl was still here.

'That's none of your business, Miss Yates,' growled Snape, refusing to let her or her words affect him anymore.

'Leave now, or I will take off more points from your house.'

'Take as many points as you wish from Gryffindor, I don't care.'

'That's interesting,' Snape swept around the room and waved his wand to clean up the mess on the student tables. He didn't want to see her face now.

'You speak like you don't care about your house at all.' He tried to find a safe topic.

'Not in the least if you are referring to Gryffindor.' She stepped in front of him and looked directly into his eyes.

'Don't avoid my question. Why are you doing this?'

'Doing what?' asked Snape blankly. He could now think of nothing but the fact that her eyes were as dewy as the first time he saw them.

'Being heartless and speaking venoms. You are not as bad as you have presented to the world, Se-Snape.'  She winked her eyes when mentioning about his name and the magic broke.

'Ten points off, you idiot girl, don't ever call me by my name,' he barked at her.

'Now, out! You have no rights to question your teacher.' With this remark,

he stormed out the classroom, with his black cloak rippling dramatically after him.

'What's wrong? Why was he reacting so violently?'

'Oh, got a crush on your teacher, girly?' It was Peeves the Poltergeist, the prankster of Hogwarts. He floated into the classroom from the ceiling.

            'Should I tell the other teachers about this?' he circled around Annabelle jovially.

'The sneaky Sevvy has a secret admirer. That's a BIG news. The sneaky sevvy has a little secret admirer.' He almost sang out loud at the end of his words.

'You know what? You really annoy me, Peeves.' She spoke in a matter-of-fact way, but the mischievous light in her eyes somewhat alarmed Peeve.

'Headmaster,' Snape stormed into Dumbledore's office.

'Sit down, Severus. Want a cup of tea?' said the old wizard beamingly.

'No, thank you, Headmaster,' Snape remained standing.

Dumbledore sighed inwardly. Though he was the closest person to Snape, Snape always treated him with an aloof politeness.

'Then, what can I do for you?'

'Can you…' Snape hesitated; he didn't really know what had happened to him yet, was it wise telling the Headmaster his latest illusion?

            'Yes?' Dumbledore waited patiently.

'Can you test a memory-revision charm on me?'

'Why?' Dumbledore stood up from his chair.

'Do you suspect yourself being put under a memory charm?'

'Yes, I have tried an anti spell already but nothing happened.' Yet, he was sure he had forgotten something about his past, something that really mattered to him.

'Sit down.' Dumbledore ordered. He held out his wand and muttered a spell. A breeze wheeled around Snape.

'He's your responsibility.' 7-year old Severus Snape heard his father shouting.

           

He shivered and crawled into the corner of his small bedroom. He felt so cold. The blanket wrapped around him was no good, the warm winter sun outside also failed to warm the room.

'Oh, my god! Excuse me, what's his last name? Snape! Not Parker!' shrilled his mother in a high pitch of voice. The fact that their small son might have overheard them seemed unimportant to her or her husband. 

           

Severus sniffed back a sob in his throat. He curled his tiny body against the wall furthermore. His young heart could not understand why his parents were always arguing.

Maybe it was because of him, Severus suddenly thought. Maybe they often argue because he was a bad boy; maybe his worthless existence had aggravated everyone; maybe if he just went away, his parents would live happily forever, like the prince and princess in his fairy book.

           

Slowly, Severus climbed to his feet and moved to his drawer. Inside the drawer was a little bottle. He had filled it with his potion a few days ago. He wanted to use it to impress his father. His father would be overjoyed if he knew his son was able to make a potion out from the instruction in one of his dark arts books.

           

But things didn't go according to Severus' plan. That morning, his mother found the potion before his father did. She was downright shocked and furious. She rushed to her husband's private rooms and they started to fight.

            He must have done something wrong again. Why couldn't he ever do things correctly and make his parents happy?

           

Severus pulled the cork out. He was going to drink the potion. According to his father's book, he would then turn into a pool of water. He hoped his parents wouldn't mind if the carpet was wet, and would be content with him as water.  He pressed the bottle close to his mouth.

           

'Accio!' The bottle flew away from his hand.

Severus startled. There was a woman in his bedroom holding his bottle.

           

'Who…who are you?'  Questioned the young child, pretending not to be afraid. Father would be angry if he ever knew his son had backed down from anyone.

           

'Your friend.' The woman answered shortly. She kneeled down to see his face.

           

'I don't have any friends.' Severus said the words one by one, in a low hiss. The woman was just teasing him, she must know he never had a friend.

'And I don't want any.' He added.

           

'But I am your friend, Severus,' she smiled at him.

'I will always be with you from now on. Sharing your happiness and your sadness. I will teach you everything you need to know.'

Severus looked straight into the woman's eyes. Immediately, he found that he liked her eyes. Her eyes were full of warmth and- love. Did she love him?

           

'Yes, I do.' Severus had said his question out unconsciously. Her words were tempting. He wanted to take them, but being hated and abandoned for his whole 7-year life restrained him from that. After all, who would want an evil child?

'Why do you want me to be your friend?'

           

'Because I like you. I have wandered around the world for a very long time, Severus, a really long time. I try to find a child that need me and want me. But for a very long time, I couldn't find any.' Severus watched as she brought her right hand to rest on his cheek, her hand was amazingly soft and warm.

'Luckily, I found you. You are talented, though that's not the thing I expected at first, you can definitely help me doing my task. Do you understand?'

Warmth ran through Severus, from his cheek to his entire body. That was a feeling of being loved and needed.

           

'Will you always love me?' the 7-year old asked.

           

'Yes.' She smiled at him and he smiled back, tentatively.

           

'Will you ever leave me?' he sought for more promises.

           

'Never.'

           

'Even if I am not good?'

She sighed heavily. 'Severus, you have to learn that we live for ourselves. We have to think independently, not just according to what others think. And, even if the whole world thinks you are not good, I know they are wrong. Because I can see you as who you really are, not who they think you are.'

           

'Really?' he found it easy to trust her words now. Since she was his friend, and he should trust his friend.

           

'Believe me, my dear boy, you are the most wonderful creature in this world.' She assured him and pulled him to her.

           

Severus stiffened. This was his first time, as far as he could remember, being hugged in a loving fashion. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. But gradually, bit by bit, he relaxed. Inhaling the sweet scent from her body, he closed his eyes and let the peacefulness crawl into his veins.

Dumbledore and Snape remained in silence for a few moments.

'Anything happen?' the old wizard asked at last.

'Yes, but the memory fades away too quickly.' Snape hugged his head tightly; his routine headache had come back to visit him. He could not remember the scenes clearly, but the feeling of love and being loved was still strangely strong.

Dumbledore frowned. 'It may be a powerful memory charm. We have to try together with the magic of other professors.'

Great! Snape thought bitterly. Now everyone would know he had lost a part of his memory.

'What makes you think you are under a memory charm in the first place, Severus?' Dumbledore was worried. What if Voldemort had done something to Snape?

'Annabelle Yates.' Snape replied.

'I have begun to see pictures after meeting her. And I heard myself actually asking a woman why she put a memory charm on me today.'

            'That girl again. Maybe Emma is right after all, that girl is questionable.' The event happened in the feast slipped back to Dumbledore.

'We need to take some precautions.'

'No.' Snape interrupted awkwardly.

'She's ok. In fact, she is the most brilliant student I have ever seen at Hogwarts in a long time. There's no need to separate her from her schoolmates.'

But his words failed to reassure the Headmaster. Instead, Dumbledore felt even more anxious. There was something in Snape's reaction bothered him. His potion master had been over-protective towards Annabelle Yates. If this happened in the past, Dumbledore would only feel glad that Snape had finally learnt how to care about others, but Annabelle Yates was too mysterious for Dumbledore to trust.

'Severus,' he was starting to say when Professor McGonagall came in.

'Albus, you better come and see this,' she said.

'What's happened?' Dumbledore had a bad feeling about it.

'It's Peeves. He's sick.'

'But he's a ghost. A ghost can't get sick, can he?' Snape asked in surprise.