Ireland's Lost Angel

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except Shannon and her family...the rest are rightfully owned by JK. Rowling. Also, I'd like to note that I have NO idea what Lily Potters maiden name is...I don't know if its ever mentioned, but ya, I'm going to make up one and if anyone knows the real last name, please let me know. Thanks :)

Chapter 1: A Background

A light breeze shifted the hazy clouds overhead as Shannon took one last look at her home. The wind blew her long white blonde hair in wisps along her delicate face as she waved her mother and baby sister goodbye. Stepping into the passenger side of her father's small pick up truck, she took one last gaze at the Irish coast she adored. Her father was taking her to the train station where she would begin her ride to London, and then onto Hogwarts to learn to become a talented witch. Her father was a wizard, and a tired one at that. His tired eyes shone with pride as he glanced over at his anxious daughter who had inherited his gift. When Shannon had received her letter, her father had been so happy he had taken all the money they had in savings and gave it to her to use for supplies. Even though her father was a wizard, he hardly practiced the art and instead took up the life of a small farmer in a small community on the north west coast of Ireland. And now, roughly 12 years old, Shannon was leaving the home she had known all her life to begin a completely new one, in a place that was completely foreign to her. The tiny pickup truck took off down the dusty road and headed into the city. A few hours later, they pulled up into the train station and Shannon and her father got out to unload her bags. She opted only to bring a small suitcase of things, figuring she'd use the extra space for her new possessions earlier picked up at Diagon Alley. Her father walked her up to Platform 9 3/4, helping her push a small cart with her suitcase and a cage on it, encasing a small, snowhite owl. "This is where I leave you, Shannon," he said as he turned to face her, kneeling down so his face met hers. "All you have to do is walk into that wall right there, and you will be on the platform," he turned around to make sure no one was listening, then quickly turned back to face her, placing a small pouch in her hands. "Here is the money I brought for you, it should be more then enough to get everything you need." Shannon looked at her father and smiled. "I'll be just fine papa, you don't have to worry about me." With that she kissed him on the forehead and hugged him tightly, and began to walk towards the barrier. "Bye! I'll send you an owl when I get there! I love you!" She braced herself and jogged into the barrier, not stopping till she could see the big red and black train in plain view. "Wow," she muttered to herself as she gazed up at the huge train and at the enormous amount of people rushing around her. She rolled her cart up to a man who was placing luggage and animals into a compartment under the train and stepped up onto the train. Shannon walked down the hall, looking for a compartment to sit in. She finally found one, and noticed that one girl was sitting in it, gazing hazily out the window. "Excuse me? May I sit here?" Shannon asked as the girl turned and smiled. "Of course, sit down," The girl stretched out her hand to grasp Shannon's. "My name is Lily." she said simply.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Shannon," She said as she shook the girls hand and rested down into the seat. "Ooh, I'm so excited to be going to Hogwarts, I'm one of the first in my family to be attending there," Lily said as she glanced out the window. "Ya, my father went here, he was in Gryffindor..." she paused for a moment, thinking to herself, "I hope I make Gryffindor as well."

"Ya, that's what EVERYONE hopes for," Lily said with a laugh, "Gryffindor is the best, of course." Shannon laughed and smiled at her new friend. They sat and talked for hours before they finally arrived at the train station by Hogwarts.

"First years, first years follow me," a scruffy looking man said as all the first year students scrambled off the train. Lily and Shannon walked with the rest of the students to the shore of a large lake. There were small rowboats attached to a deck right on the shore. The man who had lead them off the train was now instructing all of them to get inside a boat and to keep their limbs inside. When they were saftely in, the boats began to speed across the lake, apparently by magic. "Wow, they've enchanted the boats to get us across, how interesting," Lily asserted as she glanced up at the huge castle in front of them. Shannon could hardly believe her eyes. She had never seen anything more astoundingly beautiful as Hogwarts at night. The tall castle walls were lit up by various windows and enormous towers shot up from the center and the sides. The other students seemed to notice this as well, because all was silent as everyone gaped at the castle. The boats touched the shore and the man led them into the castle. The students were led into the castle, and up a staircase towards a pair of huge doors where a young woman wearing a green cloak and a witches hat awaited them. "Welcome first years!" her voice sprang up into the now gone silence. "In a moment I will lead you into the Great Hall, where you will be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slitherin. While you are here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points, any rule breaking, and you will lose points." With that, the woman left into the hall to announce the arrival of the new first years. "They're ready for you now," she said with a smile as she walked them into the Great Hall. Shannon, already shaking, was amazed the minute she set foot in the Great hall. There were four, long tables in the middle of the room with 3 tables at the head of the room in a U sort of shape. The walls shone with candlelight from what seemed to be a hundred candles floating above the room. The ceiling showed a cloudless sky, where the stars shone as bright as flashlights. The entire room was filled with warmth and comfort, and settled the unsettled stomachs of the scared newcomers. The students walked diligently up to the head of the room, facing the three teachers tables. "Wait along here please," the young woman who had led them inside gestured. "Now, when I call your name, you will come forth, I will place the sorting hat on your head, and you will sit down at your tables," she said once the noise had calmed down. "Lily Alyssono." Lily heard her name and realized she had been squeezing Shannon's hand. Letting go she took one more look at her friend and walked nervously up to the stool. Sitting down like she was told, Lily breathed in deeply as the hat was placed on her head. "Hmm...interesting, yes...right then...Gryffindor!" the hat yelled as Lily slid off the stool, relieved beyond belief. She ran over to the Gryffindor table and sat down. The young woman picked up the list again and named off the next student. "Shannon Catherwood." Shannon walked quickly up to the stool and sat down, watching the other students grow paler at the thought of where they were going to be placed. She felt the hat on her head and heard it begin to speak. "Mmm...I like this one, yes...great mind, definitely lots of courage...I'd say...Gryffindor!" The crowd roared as Shannon stepped off the stool and ran to sit next to Lily. "Yay! I'm so happy for you!" Lily congratulated Shannon as she sat. Picking up her list yet again, the young woman spoke another name. "James Potter." A tall, skinny boy with wild brown hair and small glasses walked up to the stool and sat. "Oh my...quite interesting...yes...mmm...where to put you...excellent mind of course...Slitherin would be good...but I think...Gryffindor!" Again, the crowd roared and the lanky young boy came and sat next to Shannon. The crowd quieted down again, and the next name was called. "Severus Snape." Shannon noticed a tall boy with shoulder length black hair step up to the stool and take a seat. Even before the hat fully touched his head, it screamed "Slitherin!" The boy, obviously pleased with his results, began to walk to the Slitherin table. As he was walking, he glanced over at Shannon, and their eyes met. She could've sworn she saw a hint of a smile on his lips before he turned away sharply and sat down. Lily, noticing this, turned to Shannon. "Did you see him look at you? How weird..."

"Ya, I noticed...I wonder what he's hiding."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing...its just something in his eyes...I couldn't tear away from them..." Shannon wearily looked at the boy next to her, who was obviously intent on introducing himself before the feast was over. "Hello, I'm Shannon," she said, noticing him staring at her and Lily. "I'm James, and, you are?" he said, looking at Lily. "Oh, my names Lily, nice to meet you," she said, looking back towards the head table where headmaster Dumbledore was about to announce the start of year notices.

After the feast, Shannon, Lily, and James headed off to the Gryffindor common room with the Gryffindor Prefect and the rest of the Gryffindor students. "This is the entrance hall to the common room," the Prefect said as he turned towards a large painting of a very large woman and spoke the password. "Drainus Morales," he said simply and the woman in the painting smiled as it flung open, revealing a long passageway. "C'mon now, follow me Gryffindors."

The students poured into the common room and gazed around. It was a fairly large room, with a big fireplace and about 3 couches and arm chairs surrounding it. The walls were covered in paintings that moved and spoke, and at the moment some seemed to be sleeping. There were bookshelves on the right hand side and a few arm chairs scattered about near them. A large staircase stood opposite the door and led up into the tall dormitory tower. Worn out from the days excitement, Shannon decided to head up to bed. Lily followed her, and they got themselves situated in the girls dorm. "Goodnight Lily," Shannon whispered as she laid down in her bed under the covers. "'Night Shannon."

'Wow' Shannon thought, 'First day and I already have a new best friend and many other friends, this year is going to be lots of fun.' And with that, she let herself drift into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning, Shannon and Lily rushed into the Great hall for breakfast and to receive their schedules for their classes. "Hey look, we've got double potions with Slitherin, how interesting," Lily said, showing Shannon the schedule. "Yea, sounds fun...I hope..." Shannon said with a bleak smile. When they had arrived in their potions class, Shannon and Lily choked on the musty smell of dust and aged parchments. They quickly took a seat at one of the tables and looked around nervously at the classroom. The class was located in the dungeons, and was noticeably colder and darker then the rest of the castle. The walls were adorned with shelves filled with bottles and jars concealing frogs, newts eyes, etc. A desk covered in parchments and potion bottles sat at the front of the class, and seated at the desk was a worn out looking old man. His hair, or what was left of it, was pale gray, and his face reeked of a hard life. He stood up in front of the class and waited for everyone to be seated. Shannon began glancing over at the slitherins, and saw one she recognized. "Hey," she whispered to Lily, "there's that boy who looked at me yesterday..." Lily glanced over and sure enough, the young boy sat at a table next to theirs on the other side of a narrow isle. The boy turned and noticed them staring at him, and quickly smirked and glanced back up at the professor. "Welcome to potions 1 first years, Slitherin and Gryffindor, I trust this will be a strong class," the Professor said quietly. "Now, for your first assignment, I'm going to pair everyone up with someone from the opposite house, and I'm going to administer a small, easy to make potion. The list of ingredients is simple, and you will notice that they are already placed on the desks." The students glared around nervously, wondering who they were going to have to be paired with. The professor walked over to the first pair of tables and paired students up. He then went to the second table, and then on to the third. When he reached the table Shannon and Lily were sitting at, he pointed at Shannon and then pointed at the boy who she was all too familiar with. When she realized who she was paired with, she felt a stab of fear in her stomach as she watched him come over and sit next to her. He didn't speak or even look at her, instead he glared at the ingredients before him which were going to be used in the potion. Shannon looked over and saw that Lily was paired with some girl she didn't know. She shot Lily a nervous glance and Lily smiled and shrugged at her. Sighing heavily, Shannon looked back up to the professor for further instruction. "Now, I want you all to check the list in front of you and make sure that all the ingredients listed are in front of you. When you have done that, begin following the instructions on the parchment. When you have finished the potion, raise your hand and I will come over and check it. This potion is a truth potion, and is easy to make and hard to mess up, so I trust you will all try your hardest anyway. Begin."

Shannon looked over at the boy and studied his face. He had a hooked nose and dark, dark black eyes. His hair hung over his face, pitch black like the night sky. He obviously sensed her staring at him, and looked up from mixing the potion. Their eyes met again, but this time for longer. "I...I...oh watch out!" Shannon had begun to say while the boy had splashed some of the potion onto the table and onto the list of ingredients. "Ugh," he stated as he stood up and pulled out his wand. He said a simple clean up charm and the potion was back into the cauldron. He sat again and looked at her once more. "Thanks," was all he said. The bell rang and the students gathered their things and strode out of the classroom and into the halls of the castle. "Hey! Shannon! Over here!" Lily sang as she ran up to Shannon, grabbing her arm. "So? How'd it go with Mr. Mysterious?"

"Oh..nothing really, the only word I heard him say was Thanks...he looked me in the eyes though, and its like I could read straight through him. There's a lot of pain in him, a lot of hurt caused by something, he seems very misunderstood...if only I knew his name." Lily thought for a moment. "Wait..remember at the sorting ceremony? He went up when the name Severus Snape was called, that must be him!" Shannon remembered clearly now and looked at her friend. "I want to get to know him better, something about him...ugh I can't place my finger on it but I know something is going on."

That day at lunch, Lily and Shannon ran into James, who had been walking towards the Great Hall with two other boys. One of them had a rather sunken face with matted black hair. Shannon couldn't see his eyes, for he was hiding them under his hair. The second boy had light brown hair and was happily chatting with James. All three of the boys were about the same height, and wore identical robes. "Hey James!" Lily chimed in while Shannon waved silently at them. James introduced his two friends as Sirius and Remus, two other first years. "Nice to meet you," Shannon said precariously. She gazed over James shoulder and saw the boy with the black as night eyes walking down the hall. She never shifted her gaze and stared at him, trying to see if he would do something that might give a clue as to what he so carefully hid. Sirius had noticed her staring at the boy, and turned around quickly to see him walking speedily by them. Sirius turned back to Shannon, and whispered something in her ear. "His name is Severus, I'd watch out for him...he's nothing but trouble." And with that, Sirius turned away and nudged the boy named Remus, suggesting he wanted to leave. James waved goodbye and ran after them. "What did that boy tell you?" Lily asked Shannon. "He said that the one boy, the one with the jet black hair and piercing black eyes...well, he said that he's trouble, and that I should keep away from him."

"Weird...wonder what he means by that," Lily answered, staring off down the hall to see James and the two boys turn the corner, laughing.

The rest of the year flew by, and Shannon had taken Sirius' warning and stayed away from Severus. The only time she saw him was at meals and during potions, when he sat quietly alone. Her curiosity never faltered, it lurked in the back of her mind and seemed to ache. 'What is up with that boy...' she found herself asking on occasion.

Again, the years went on, until all 7 of Shannon's years at Hogwarts had been completed. Lily and James had become very close, and were planning on getting married the coming year. Shannon of course, was delighted for her friends, and knew they would be good together. As she climbed on the train to head back to London, Shannon couldn't help but feel that she would somehow encounter the school again, as well as encounter the strange boy who haunted her all through her years at Hogwarts.