A/N: I realize that this was a totally uncalled-for and probably unlikeable plot bunny, but it's the plot that the bunnies left in my head. Drat overdosing on Easter chocolates anyway. I'm also putting these few chapters up at the same time as my Internet's out a lot, so between eleven, and twelve, I got no reviews. Nobody had read them to review because they weren't up yet. If I get this one done tonight, it will be three at once, and if not it will just be the two. Two at once seems like a good update. And with regards to the reviewers I had who liked Donaghan, I'm sorry, but it needs to look this way right now. I haven't decided who she finally winds up with, and there is also some Voldie-stuff that will make everybody run around for a few. (Hint: she's not evil or anything.) I just knew that the issue of her parents' precedent in connection with wizard teen hormones and a Malfoy who looks like James Marsters now…well, who could resist such a fine chunk of British manflesh there? Oh, and the rating is moved up to R, just-in-case.
I won't make another move until you tell me to. Here you go with the next part.
Chapter Thirteen: A Day with the Enemy
Julie should have pulled away, she knew she had to, she knew that what was happening was really wrong. If her father caught her like he had with Donaghan she would probably be grounded 'til her seventh year, but damn it if Malfoy wasn't great at this! A slight moan escaped one of them as he kissed her with total expertise, grown-up Seeker's hands stroking her nervous frame. She couldn't tell which of them had made the sound, but it might very well have been her, this kissing was making her feel so strange. Malfoy pulled her close and she could feel how warm he was, how comforting and soft in those dark black clothes. His chest was firmer than she'd thought and his arms felt quite strong. Ohhh, to spend her life doing this! Suddenly Malfoy pulled away and asked her quietly:
"Pass that test? Did you feel anything?"
Instantly the Snape in her jumped to work.
"Well, aside from your shirt and your mouth on mine, not really what I'd worried about feeling there. Good thing, too."
A little of that denial was meanly based, as she had not wanted Malfoy to stop that kiss. But she couldn't very well say she liked him, though? Oh, drat. Might as well sink the dagger to the hilt at least. "You kiss decently for your age, but not your height. Sometimes being tall is a handicap."
Malfoy nodded numbly and let her walk across the room. The little Gryffindor witch didn't fancy him! Or was she Gryffindor, this Slytherin girl tricking him? But she was being so civil it had to be real. So he tossed out a small denial of his own:
"You could do with a little more work, yourself. Just your right side, you favor the left too much."
"I just regrew my right teeth a while ago. And I am somewhat severely out of practice here."
"Good technique, though, you catch like a Seeker should."
For a moment Julie was completely befuddled by that remark, until she remembered how she'd used her hands on him just then. It was a good thing he hadn't worn leather pants.
"One does try to make performance realistic, now."
"It's a pity that they don't teach you sex magic. You could do very well at Beauxbatons taking that."
"I assume that's for seductions and stuff like that?"
"Mostly, though there's more arcane uses, too."
"Who needs a class when you've grown up in an orphanage?"
Malfoy realized she was probably used to kissing, and maybe not just from guys, and maybe not just kissing, either, now.
"Could you answer me one question, Julia Snape?" She nodded. "Have you ever shagged with a Muggle guy?"
"Not any Muggles, no."
That was such an ambiguous answer, there, she had to be baiting him to ask more.
"Good, because they tend to teach bad habits. And as your professor, I would be doing you a disservice to say you didn't have some very good potential there."
Drat the insensitive Slytherin!
"About that, do I have to call you 'professor' when I'm not in class?"
"Well…do you call Potter that?"
"Just in class and during Quidditch games. Otherwise I call him 'Uncle Harry.'"
"Figures. Well, it would be kind of silly to call me 'Uncle Draco' when you haven't managed to use my first name once yet."
"Isn't that humorous, especially considering what we just did?"
"Why don't you use my first name ever, Starcatcher?"
"Probably because you barely ever use my right name, just the long version or my middle one or my last name too."
"And what is your right name, Julia Starcatcher Snape?"
"'Julie,' of course. 'Julia' sounds like the slutty chick from '1984.' Ever read that? It's a Muggle book."
"Actually, I have. Quite a nice book, that."
"Oh, great. Now whenever you want to mess with me you'll call me Julia. At least I can call you a ferret back."
"I was wondering when you'd pull that old story out."
"Was it interesting, being a ferret?"
"Scary and somewhat painful, actually, considering that Moody git bounced me up and down off the dungeon floor."
"I mean the whole having whiskers and a twitchy nose, plus suddenly being able to bend down your spine's whole length. Did your vision change?"
"A little bit. It was very weird to have fur instead of clothes."
"Are you an Animagus like the other professors yet?"
"Yes, actually I am. We'd better leave here soon if we want to get back to Hogwarts by dinnertime."
"Alright, my Firebolt's over here. You have yours?"
"It's back in my quarters-"
"Then accio."
Julie opened her window and door, not sure which route Draco's broom would take to get there. It came in the window and she caught it. She hadn't so much as touched her wand or mentioned what she wanted to Summon. "Alright, why does everyone get weird when I do that?"
"A wandless 'accio' takes years to perfect, and you're only a fifth-year and Muggle-raised."
"Technically, it's my first year, I'm just in the fifth-year class."
"Even stranger. The only wandless 'accio' I've ever seen was when Lord You-Know-Who-" Draco froze nervously.
"What'd he do, Malfoy? You can tell me."
"It isn't something I like to talk about."
"I understand. But Voldemort could do it?"
"Yes, that's why it's so weird now that you know how."
"It's not a question of knowing how, I just did it."
"So it's instinctive completely, then?"
"Yeah, I bet it's from Dad's side, just a Snape trick."
"What do you mean, a Snape trick?"
"If I'm stirring a potion, I can take my hand off the spoon and it still spins until I want it to stop stirring. Dad can do it instinctively but Mum can't. And she can turn pages of books just by will alone, I'm learning to control that one sort of slow."
"So wandless spells run in your family?"
"I guess so."
"Alright. It's still weird when a kid your age does that, though."
"As weird as when a kid my age kisses you?" Patronization was one of several things Snapes had no patience for. Draco looked at her in surprise and got on his broom. "You'd better not wear your wizard robes in Muggle London. y'know."
"You're right." He pulled them off and tucked his wand in his satin shirt.
Julie realized with a little sting that he wore all black clothes just like her father did. Yet he reminded her of someone else…a Muggle…Jim Morrison? Damn it all to hell!
"Well, am I suitable?" he asked her. She realized that she had been gazing a little more longingly than really appropriate.
"Well, black is a basic color…I guess it'll do." She put her own robes on the bed, revealing a decidedly more colorful outfit- -the same one she'd worn when she fell asleep.
"Didn't you wear that two days ago?"
"Yeah, what's the problem?"
"Well, don't you maybe have something else to wear?"
"I wore my other shirt and jeans yesterday."
"You mean to tell me that you only own two shirts and pairs of pants?"
"What's so odd about that? In an orphanage it's what you get yourself and the uniforms. These are the only clothes I could afford on allowance."
"How do they give allowance at orphanages? You've no parents to pay you a weekly check."
"Check?" Julie asked in disbelief. "We do odd jobs like cleaning and serving food. The most I ever got at one time was, like, seven quid."
"Quid?"
"The proper term's pounds, it works out to about eight of your Galleons. That was when I rewaxed the floor of the kitchen, though."
"They made you work like a house-elf just for spending money?"
"Hey, it was better than never getting anything. Little kids used to get a half-crown a week for making their beds and stuff, but bigger ones worked to get more than that. It breeds a good work ethic."
"It sounds cruel."
"Well, what did you used to do for allowance then?"
"I…got decent grades and wrote letters home."
"No cleaning up or watching the younger kids?"
"There were never any younger kids to watch."
"Crimeny. We used to get outings for decent grades. I heard your family was rich, but that's ludicrous."
"What do your parents give you for allowance now?"
"I've never mentioned it, just in case it wasn't correct, you know. That and I haven't really wanted anything."
"Not at Hogsmeade in any of the shops up there?"
"The only times I've gone without Mum or Dad have been with the Gryffindors. Tim-and-Tom's dads let us eat what we want from the joke shop, and Madame Rosmerta gives us butterbeer free for some reason, now."
"That's right, when the whole team goes for a drink after a game, it's tradition to give out a free round to whoever won the game."
"Logical, that, then. I've never lost yet in my first two games."
"I can't believe that those are your only clothes."
"I've also got a vest and a long raincoat."
"Still, I can see why your father gave me this slip."
"Hadn't you better have left by now?" Hermione was there at the door.
"We were just about to when I saw what she's wearing now."
"Yes, this patch shirt just seemed a bit odd to him."
"She only owns two shirts and pairs of jeans."
Hermione had noticed that Julie seemed to have two definite favorites, but she was totally unaware that it had been that bad.
"Julie, why didn't you tell me, then?"
"They fit okay and didn't itch, what's so wrong with only two shirts here?"
"How long have you had that old patched-up one?" Draco asked a little malevolently.
"Since I made it from scraps in my sewing class. It's my favorite."
"Julie," Hermione was genuinely shocked now. "You're allowed to tell us when you only have two outfits."
"And like I said, what's so bloody wrong with two?"
"Most kids here have ten different shirts at least."
"What did you wear at the orphanage?"
"There were uniforms for school and these were weekend clothes. Over summertimes I just did what I do right now."
"Then you bought these yourself?"
"Yeah, and then I sewed and sort of customized most of them. My other shirt didn't have sleeves, so I sewed some on. The vest is from a vintage store and so's my coat."
"This is ridiculous. You've got to have proper clothes."
"I like these, though, and you don't have to buy all my clothes for me."
"Yes, I do, Julie, you're my daughter." Hermione was smiling now, and Julie realized that she wouldn't win this fight. "How about you just go to the library with Malfoy, I'll meet you in Diagon Alley at four?"
"I think that would be a profoundly good idea." Malfoy was far from adept at choosing females' clothes. Julie looked distinctly uncomfortable, but nodded, too. At least she wouldn't be stuck with Malfoy for the whole day.
Malfoy staggered out of the library with Julie. She had a folder of things that she'd photocopied, as did he, as well as a great lot of things from their Web searches. He wasn't used to anything they'd seen in there.
"I never knew Muggles had so many ways to not need magic."
"Yeah, I thought you'd swallow your wand when I showed you the Internet. At least books are the same between all humans."
"At least no Muggle ones roar when you open them."
"D'you fancy a packet of Muggle crisps?"
"I've never had them."
"They're excellent. Right in here." Malfoy followed Julie into a Muggle shop, where three teenagers abruptly ran over and spoke to her.
"Julie Starcatcher!"
"It's you!"
"Where have you been?"
"What are you guys doing here?" she asked them joyfully, as they were evidently friends from an orphanage. The smallest of the three girls was hugging her. "What's been up at Broughton since I left you guys?"
"Miss Parkington's boyfriend has been by twice!"
"Vet'ran cosmic! Is he dishy?"
"Really, really cute!"
"So where are you living now?"
"I'm at school. You guys are not gonna believe this, but…" Julie looked a little overjoyed by this good news she had. "I found my parents and they're teachers at my school."
The girls gave her triplicate looks of disbelief and congratulation.
"No way!"
"What's your last name?"
"It's 'Snape,' actually. I have my dad's nose and my mum's eyes and both their hair."
Evidently knowing which parent you looked like or even having a real last name was something valued and incredible to orphan kids. Malfoy had a few breathless moments where he was sure Julie would tell them about Hogwarts, but she just gave them the basics of her parents' characters, as well as an outline of her honorary family.
"Is this Uncle Harry, then?" one asked, indicating the blond older Slytherin.
"Naw, this's Draco Malfoy, my father's friend." One of the girls whispered something in Julie's ear, only to be given a swift elbow in the ribs for it. "Malfoy, these are Beatrice, Rosaline, and Hero, my friends from the Broughton Orphanage."
"It's nice to meet you ladies," he replied politely. They responded in kind with a few glances at Julie and then at him.
"I went to Broughton first and then to Meadow, then to Abercroft. Then it was Saunderside, Broughton again, Carriagehill, Denningford, and finally back to Broughton before my new school."
"They switch kids around that much normally?"
"No, I kept getting booted for mischief and stuff."
"Mischief? You rode an elephant away from the circus once!"
"Cory wanted to see one, I promised him that he would."
Instantly the girls grew quieter, as this was obviously one of Julie's tender spots. Malfoy wasn't sure who Cory was, but evidently Julie had cared a lot about him once, probably still did. A boyfriend? Best friend? It fit her genes to make friends with a younger or less adept student, as evidenced by little Miss Davies and the inept Malgryevic, who seemed echoes of her mother's kindness to Longbottom. Now that he thought of it, it was most likely the latter. Why would she date someone who wanted to see an elephant so badly? It almost had to be someone younger.
It occurred to Malfoy that he didn't like the idea of Julie dating Muggle boys. Silently he cursed himself and those damn Muggle tight jeans. This was know-it-all Granger's daughter, he tried to remember, hoping that his old dislike of her mum might make her less desirable. But even with the same bushy hair and newly-remedied teeth, Julie's charm as she caught up with her school friends was infectious. If Snape had been cheerful, female, and only marginally less ironic, he could have been a model of his daughter. Malfoy found that very hard to take.
Before long, the girls had to go back with an old teacher, who seemed horribly suspicious with Julie there. After a fairly well contrived cheerfulness as she said goodbye to her three old friends, Julie bought what she'd come for with the Muggle money in her jeans pocket. Malfoy followed her out of the shop right then.
"Where'd you get that?"
"It's left over from the orphanage. I do have some money saved, I'm not stupid here."
The tone of her voice betrayed her, she was very shaken and Malfoy quickly realized why. She had just lied about her new life to her three old friends, who would never know about Hogwarts or wizardry. There was also something about the way her face had frozen when they mentioned the elephant that led Malfoy to suspect that had hurt her too.
"Are you alright? You seem like something's just gone all wrong."
"Oh, it's nothing, I just miss my friends a bit."
"If you like, we could go visit Cory, too. We've got two hours before we need to meet your mum."
Julie's voice dropped to an almost inaudible growl.
"No, Malfoy, we couldn't. He passed away."
Instantly he grasped the situation. She had once lost someone like a sibling. Even as an only child, he knew what he had felt when one of his best friends died. Knowing her background and tendency to hide all fears, as well as from knowing her father, Malfoy guessed that she had never mourned her friend. It hurt him to see her that way, and without even considering how incorrect it was for him to feel that way, he started thinking of a way he could make her feel better now. Julie was still as dismissive as ever as it came to him:
"Besides, it's kind of rotten to lie about being a witch, even if it is just omissive lies. I'm not usually dishonest with friends, y'know?"
Malfoy swallowed hard, nervous about what he was going to tell her next.
"Did you know that You-Know-Who killed my father, Julie?"
"I just knew he had died and your mother became a spy."
"Well, that's how it happened. I saw Voldemort use a wandless 'accio' to throw his body over on some Muggle ones. He killed my father because he was sparing them." Malfoy drew a deep breath and went on in as steady a voice as he possibly could. "I didn't get a chance to tell him that when he let those Muggles go, I was prouder of him than I'd been my whole life. It was a year before I was able to say goodbye. And when I could, I went to his grave in the family plot, and I told him what I felt about what he'd done and how Mother was, and that the Dark Lord had fallen for the last time. It sort of helped me, you know, so maybe you could go and tell Cory about what's going on in your life right now."
Julie had listened respectfully, biting her lip and staring in a useless attempt not to cry at all. A single tear escaped her left eye and she brushed it away roughly. "If you don't want to, that's alright, too, maybe you could tell me what he was like. That helped my mother when she mourned Dad."
Julie was quietly crying now, having given up all pretense of fighting tears.
"Alright…Cory was supposed to be named Richard. Every anonymous baby at Broughton, they opened Shakespeare's Plays at random and pulled out a name."
"That's how come Beatrice, Rosaline, and Hero all have Shakespeare names?"
"Yeah. And mine landed on Julius Caesar, except I was a girl, so I'm 'Julia'. There were already two boys named Richard there, so they named him 'Cory' after the poem by E.A. Robinson. He was always really sick, had a limp and stuff. He also hardly ever got to go outside. It made his skin as pale as mine and his hair was black, so I kind of adopted him as my brother based on looks. Every winter he got sicker and spent more time in the hospital, and every year he missed the circus. His favorite stuffed animal was the elephant that used to be mine as a kid, and he wanted so badly to see a real one. I promised him when he was eight that he would get to see it the next time it came to town, and that year one came in the summertime. He was in the hospital still, so I untied the thing and rode it to his window. Miss Parkington let me go up and see him in detention, 'cause they punish you if you steal an elephant, and Cory looked so happy to see me there. The very next day, they kicked me out to Carriagehill. I was at Denningford when Cory finally passed away."
"So you never got a chance to say goodbye to him?"
"I wrote him letters every day, and Miss Parkington wrote his by dictation. She was a little like my aunt and more like Cory's mum."
"How old was he?"
"Nine when he passed away. He couldn't write because of all the tubes in him. He had something called osteogenesis imperfecta that made his bones break like chalk, and on top of that he was HIV-positive."
"I've heard that kills millions of Muggles now."
"Yeah. Most kids wouldn't even touch Cory because he had it."
"Can you get it from touching them?"
"No, of course. If you weren't Professor Pureblood I'd smack you one for even asking, but you really don't know about Muggle things. You can only get it through the bloodstream or from sexual contact. It's otherwise perfectly safe, y'know?"
"Professor Pureblood?" Draco asked in mild shock.
"I'm sorry, that's what the Gryffindors call you now."
"Has your mother been setting up bias, too?"
"No, I think it's because you wear black and all, and because you were in Slytherin. That, and your last name is Malfoy."
"Great. I am never going to live down my family's curse."
"Well, if all else fails you could renounce the family fortunes, dye your hair red, and take up Muggle mechanics as a hobby thing; nobody could tell you from a Weasley, then."
"Uh, no."
"I was joking, you silly git."
"I hoped so."
"But do you really not like Uncle Ron's family?"
"Well…it's not that I don't like them. I've just always been taught they were kind of subordinate in wizard society, and I've never been kind, so they don't like me. Your Uncle Ron is a very gifted Auror, and his brothers' joke shop is the best one in Europe now. If I could get in the door safely I would like it a lot more, but that's kind of irrelevant."
"Can I tell you a secret? Nobody does. So don't take it personally."
"I bet your father can."
"Nope. The first time he and Mum took me in there, they turned his robes bright saffron- -not his color by half, I might add."
"Saffron?"
"It's yellow, this color here." Julie pointed to the flowers in a shop window. "As in 'I'm just mad about saffron, she's just mad about me'?"
"There's a song about saffron?"
"A few shades of yellow, actually. Have you ever heard the Muggle singer Donovan?"
"Oh, that song. I actually have once or twice. Except it was in French and in Paris then."
"You really don't know anything about Muggles, do you?"
"Only the barest observations and little facts. My family held them in high contempt."
"Well, maybe if you know something about them, the kids won't treat you like so much of a pureblood, y'know?"
"When did the word 'pureblood' become an insult? It was the opposite when I was a kid."
"Well, considering England's Quidditch hero is second-generation from Muggle-born, plus the whole Voldemort thing…"
"You consider yourself England's Quidditch hero? I thought that I was bad."
"I meant Uncle Harry, you vet'ran cosmic twit."
"Alright, what is this veteran cosmic stuff you keep talking about?"
"It's not veteran, it's vet'ran. No middle syllable. Moody slang."
"Moody slang?"
"Oh, get in here." Julie pulled him into a record shop, moved like a Seeker in game to the bin marked 'M', and grabbed a thick stack of vinyl records marked 'Moody Blues.' Next she dragged Malfoy to a tiny booth, in which there was a phonograph and a great mess of speakers, too. "Shut the door, it's only soundproof if you close it up."
No sooner had Malfoy obeyed than a melodic fairground organ and a frightening little spoken-word poem began to make the speakers vibrate. The song that followed immediately was fast and absolutely laden with splashy guitar riffs, schizophrenic lyrics, and bizarre harmonica. The song's chorus was something to the effect of 'he struts, he strolls, his life is rock 'n roll, he's the Veteran Cosmic Rocker!' Just as Julie had clarified, however, there was no middle syllable, making the pronunciation 'vet'ran.'
"It's an intensifier, see, like very good Quidditch would be vet'ran cosmic Quidditch. Just a weird little slang tidbit, used among Muggles who dig this band."
Julie was almost shouting above the noise of the speakers, which in the soundproof booth to Malfoy seemed absolutely deafening.
"Is it always this loud?"
"On a good day."
"Oh. Do they have any Muggle jazz here?"
"Sure, it's a vintage record shop. Just vinyl, though, no CDs, which I could not afford anyway."
"Alright, I'll be right back." The song ended and Malfoy opened the door. A few moments had him back with Glenn Miller, Django Reinhardt, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman. "My mum has these records at home."
"I thought your family hated Muggles."
"Not their music, though. Mum loves to dance to this kind of stuff, so do I." Malfoy put on the Benny Goodman, leaving the door profoundly open. He took Julie by the hand and pulled her unceremoniously out of the booth and spun her, evidently meaning to swing-dance right in the Muggle store. Julie knew she shouldn't, but for some perverse reason she went along with it, even when the store owner came and watched, glaring slightly and with his arms crossed. A small group of potential customers gathered to watch, though, and by the time the song ended and Malfoy released a decidedly winded young Gryffindor, it was almost ten people who had asked to buy the album, too. Julie was panting slightly when the owner finally recognized her.
"Starcatcher, I'll be blighted! What're y'after doin' back on Dennon Street, I thought they sent y' away again."
"Well, I'm back for a visit and some new music, Mr. McLean. Malfoy here just can't resist dancing, sometimes. Raving mad, poor dear, can't take him anyplace."
The store owner looked at the suddenly indignant Draco and smiled.
"Is this y're boyfriend, then, young Julie? 'Bout time you brought one in to show me, girl." Starcatcher went instantly violet-red.
"Uh, no, sir, he's my father's friend…my real dad. I found my parents and they're teachers at my school."
"That's exc'lent, Julie! So who do y' favor with that black 'air?"
"My dad's color, my mum's sort. I've also got Dad's nose an' Mum's color eyes."
"Isn' that a wonder? It's always great when Broughton kids find out their parents' names. Do you get to see them often?"
"Now I live with them."
"So they wanted y'! That's lov'ly. Sometimes kids as finds their parents an' the buggers don' want the kid at all, none, but y're after bein' one of the lucky ones. Have y' got a last name, too, to go with things?"
"I'm Julia Starcatcher Snape, actually."
"I like that name, it suits you sort of raven-like. And consid'ren the way you snipe away at a body insultin' every stick of wood in his store, y'know, until 'e finally orders a disc y' want, I guess one letter's change describes y' still."
Malfoy pricked up his ears at this.
"So you know Julie from her days at the orphanage?"
"Aye, don' I know 'er? Seems a week ago she were four, buyin' 'er first disc with 'alf a pound. Always the best taste of any kid came in 'ere."
"Four? And they let her come in alone?"
"Well, na, that nice Parkington girl brought her in that year. Sweet girl, she is, Broughton kid like Julie, grew up, now she works there still."
"Miss Parkington was my first teacher, Malfoy," Julie explained, indicating a faded sign that hung above one row of bins. "She taught me how to read on that sign up there."
"How, just in this one store?"
"Sort of, mate. One day little Julie came in with Judy, see, that's Miss Parkington, an' Judy asks her if she knows what that there sign says. Julie went through the letters a-soundin' it out, and that were the first sentence she read a'tall: 'Classic rock in good condition here.'"
"Prophetically defining her taste in music forevermore," Malfoy observed. "I can't quite imagine you at four years old."
"Shorter, less chesty, with baby teeth."
"Mr. McLean!"
"It's true, y've grown up a lot."
"Or should you say, out?" Malfoy teased, incurring one stomped foot. "It's a good thing you're Sev's daughter, or I'd knock you out," he muttered in mild pain.
"It's a good thing Mum's not with me or she'd curse y' bald."
For another breathless instant, Malfoy was sure she had given the magic world away, but the storekeeper merely chuckled as if Julie'd meant vituperatively. There were many things he had to learn about Muggles, Draco decided, and that Julie had to teach him was his next thought.