A/N: Thank you all for so many wonderful reviews, so good to know somebody likes Bad Julie as much as her Good counterpart… I believe I'm nearing tbe hundred mark. (happy chirpy noise, gives Thumper a fat carrot.) Good plot bunny, good, good Thump. (Thumper looks at me as if I've just lost my mind. I check and it turns out to be in the wash. Filthy dirty mind.) By the way, a little aside to good friend Slythdor, no, Professor McGonagall's Headmistress of Hogwarts now. Dumbledore is the Minister of Magic since somebody finally gave Fudge a pole up the-

Good heavens, did that little remark come from I? Fuck a duck. Speaking of obscenities coming frolicking into my mind for very good reason, I recommend everybody read 'The Daily Prophet' by Christina Hilt. After you have, kindly email me the way you would personally like to see Rita Skeeter killed. At least two inches of parchment, with quill pen, please. Thank you.

And without further ado, here you go!

Chapter Twenty-Five: Someone Sees The Change

The first time she met him she had been telling Broughton six-year-olds about unicorns…

"They're the most magical of all the magic animals, with a great shining horn in the middle of their foreheads-"
"Doesn't it make it hard for them to put on hats?" a little kid asked.
"I don't know if they wear hats, Katie."
"Why are they called unicorns?"
"Because…" she had faltered. The redhaired man stepped right in.
"Unicorn is a very old word for them that means 'one-horned thing.' Did you know that a single hair from a unicorn's tail can make a real magic wand?"
The children crowded around as he proceeded to show them a wooden stick, polished, with a handle, and very old, as if he'd had it since childhood. He gave Judy a mischievous wink as he told them this, and she assumed he must be some kind of children's-book writer or a lunatic.
"My name's Ron Weasley," he introduced himself finally. By then the children were playing on the jungle gym with twigs for wands. "Are you a teacher?"
"You might say that, I guess."
"Is this a school, then?"
"No… an orphanage. I grew up here." She remembered cursing herself mentally for admitting all that to him. "I'm Judy Parkington, I… er, teach here."
"And very well, you knew a lot about unicorns."
"From the way you talked to them, you sounded like they might exist."
Ron had smiled.
"Well, you never know. They really might."

*******************************************

Detention was rarely a happy thing, but Julie had suffered through almost as many as Tom and Tim. That did not seem like very much of an accomplishment, until one considered that it was technically still really her first year here, whereas they had had four and there were two of them. Drat her biased dad and his distrust of usual teenage nightlife!

'Wait a second,' Julie thought. 'What nightlife?'

It was true, at boarding school there were fewer ways to waste your time than at the orphanage, but for the safety it promised, Julie would trade fifteen years' worth of pinball games and fake IDs. What were the arcades and the few clubs she'd frequented compared to a real dad who gave her detention at least twice a week if he could catch her? She smiled. Nothing.

All these philosophical musings in the dungeon would make her late soon. Sigh.

"On time to the second, eh, Starcatcher?" Malfoy taunted wryly from a corner as she tried to walk past. "Detention for Miss Perfect Gryffindor? I shudder to think of what Daddy might cook up for you to do."

There were Slytherins present, who should have cracked up into riotous gales of laughter at her expense. But for some reason, seeing Julie with a white streak in her hair with a black eyepatch, as well as cinnamon eyes that suddenly went red at them, not even the meanest Slytherin could muster a small giggle. In fact, Alexei Mlgryevic gave her a nervous wave, then walked away as quickly as he could with a stack of books in front of him. For some reason this made Draco very tense, and he raised an eyebrow at the rest of the Slytherins. Sadly for him, Julie was in her father's dungeon classroom by the time he turned back around.

Good lord in heaven, had she really seen that happen? Julie understood the facts of life perfectly, in fact, very technically in in textbook-illustrated Kodachrome, but no force on earth could stop her from blushing when she realized Alexei's –reaction had been to her personally. It wasn't even so much that particular condition of –guys that she was not used to, merely that she had produced the effect. Her! That skinny, knock-kneed little Julie Starcatcher, the kid with the long nose and pointy elbows and the gnarly teeth? Never! The other eleven-year-olds at Denningford and Meadow, especially the male ones, had occasionally referred to her as Julie Starc', as if her small, wiry frame did not even give the impression she was fully clothed. And thirteen had been an absolute hell for her. The coat-hanger body suddenly developed the metabolism of a Dead Sea tortoise and weight began to fill out her legs and –chest. The nickname changed from Julie Starc' to… well, she did not want to think about Broughton now. She had enough to deal with now that she-

Merlin's hangnails!

There was for some bizarre reason a mirror in her father's classroom, not ornate like the Mirror of Erised had been, but common, ordinary,

And pathologically lying. That was not her!

Julie stared in horror at the wrecked visage she now had. The eyepatch was like a gaping black hole where her right eye should be, and the white streak made her seem about her father's age, but not aged somehow… like a real witch should. She also noticed that the mirror showed her full length and –well, that damn short skirt would have to go. Somehow Britney Spears, the chick from X-Men, Polgara the Sorceress and… who was it? Cripes, her dad- all of these had merged into the new, horrific Julie Snape.

She looked scary.

Cool!

Julie left the mirror lest Dad catch her and make a crack about vanity. Such havoc she could wreak with these weapons, though! No wonder Malfoy and Donaghan were her devoted… boyfriends? Lovers? Housepets? Damn it, with this body and this face she could turn Broughton into her own private zoo within five hours.

Broughton. The hell. The cold, nickname-laden, teasing-hallowed, work-filled hell.

Her eyes flickered red.

**************************************

"Courage is the Gryffindor hallmark, Ron. They wouldn't have put you in here if you couldn't do this."

Harry was having a hard time giving Ron the pep talk his friend had asked for. After all, Ron had helped Harry get up the nerve to propose some years ago, and it was only fair that as best friends he should reciprocate. Harry also approved of Ron's girlfriend; Ginny liked her, too. It would be nice to have someone who understood Muggle things at parties, as after all, Harry had spent his first eleven years with them. The punchlines of jokes, sometimes, were tricky in translating. Judy Parkington also seemed glad to know she wasn't the only one who'd grown up in the Muggle world, and had bonded fairly quickly with Ron's best friend.

"I'm crazy to be even attempting this! I've only known her –darn it, I don't know…"

"Ron! Can you remember what your life was like without the girl?" a sharp voice inquired from the dark doorway.

"Well, of course-"

"Was it as good as it is with her?"

"Well…no."

"Do you think you could possibly live without her, then?"

"No."

"Then you love her. It's as simple as that, Weasley." Severus stepped into the light and gave Ron a rare smile. "Good luck, Ron."

"Wait! …how does one do this?"

"Jeez! You ask," Harry said as if it were obvious.

"No, there's some more to it than that," Ginny pointed out, fixing the collar of Ron's robes for him. "Be nice to her, just like you always are. Only do something so wonderful she realizes she loves you."

"And then, you ask."

"Not quite," Hermione added, combing Ron' hair back. The four Gryffindors had been helping Ron get ready when Severus joined them unexpectedly to help as well. "Talk to her. There's nothing more we women love to do than talk."

"Are you actually admitting that?" Ginny asked in mock horror. "They aren't supposed to know."

"I can think of something." Severus pointed out, getting a nudge in the ribs with his wife's still-sharp elbow. "Precisely, dear. You have to make her laugh."

"So I have to talk to her and not sound like a total prat, make her laugh without falling in the lake, and on top of it all present her with the head of a basilisk?"

"And then you ask." Harry confirmed.

"Arrgh!" Ron threw up his hands.

"If you really feel a basilisk would impress her, I'm sure there's still the skull of that one you and Harry killed." Sometimes Ginny said things that weren't really meant seriously. "Personally, I'd like you to show me a hippogriff. A nice silver one like Buckbeak was, something beautiful that I'd always dreamed about."

"I'd like to see-"

"A giant library?" Ron asked sarcastically.

"Actually, we did find several during our honeymoon. The Americans have a good one with some nice leather chairs."

Every Weasley in the room gave Severus a look.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"I'm assuming you'd like a giant pharmacy?"

"No, actually, she took me to her parents' house and made them be nice to me. That was after, though."

"Well, Mum and Dad are out of town seeing Bill again."

"Does she like pyramids? I"ve got a stellar broom."

"Naw, the desert doesn't seem quite…Judy-ish enough. I know she loves kids, maybe if we watched some of the first-years learn to fly-"

"A perfect idea. What next?"

"Don't I ask her then?"

"Uh-uh." His four friends shook their heads at him.

"Well, how 'bout I show her the hippogriffs like Ginny said? And the lake at night, we can sit on that old gray rock."

"Good. I'm sure you'll think of something else, I've got detention, though."

"Thanks, Severus," Ron thanked his friend's husband. He was odd, but in a crisis Snape could really turn around on you.

"How about a broomstick ride?" Harry asked.

"Don't do dinner first!" Hermione warned. "It could get ugly."

"Could you guys write this down for me?" Ron was desperate.

**************************************

"Julie, hello. You're here early, good." Her dad bustled in about ten minutes after she discovered the 'new Julie,' and the time on her watch said eight-twenty-one. They were both rather late, but she was no fool. "I've…got some vials for you to rinse out for me."

Vials? This was not the severe Professor Julie knew. And 'Julie'? Shouldn't it be the impersonal 'Starcatcher' or still hated 'Ms Starcatcher'? Damn it if she didn't hate that name just a little, still.

"Alright, Professor."

"They're by the sink, over there. Put on the gloves, first, some of the seventh-years' concoctions were quite acidic. Don't get burned, dear."

Alright, he was acting in dad-mode when he should be in professor-mode. Was he going to switch soon just to try her?

"Uh, Julie, while you clean those out, I've…er, well, there's something that you have to know about."

The Death Eaters? Voldemort? Her mum as a kid? Cripes, this might turn out to be really neat. Julie perked up her ears.

"Yes, I'm listening."

"Well, now that you're…almost sixteen…it's a good idea for you to know about, er- some of the er- differences between boy people and girl people."

She couldn't control herself and cracked up entirely. God, what Gryffindor and Hufflepuff would pay to be in her shoes! Professor Snape trying to give a kid 'The Talk.' Crimeny. After the hysterical laughter had subsided enough for her to get her breath, Julie looked at her dad, who looked somewhat relieved.

"You know, then?"

"Quite well, Dad."

"Oh. That's… quite a relief." Snape smiled uneasily and realized Julie was nearly sixteen now. "Just…how well?"

"Pet mice since I was ten, rabbits in Biology, the girls in the washroom gossiping, two of my room-mates getting knocked up twice-"

"Good heavens! What kind of place was that?"

Julie raised her eyebrow.

"Muggle. It happens a lot, I'm told."

"But, er- never to…"

"No. Not a chance. Not the slightest chance."

"You…weren't into that?"

"No, it wasn't into me. You could say I was about as popular as a lead lightbulb. And most of the guys were either total jerks, complete idiots, or entirely boring."

"And the girls…?" Pardon political correctness, but he had to know.

"Were girls. Some just chattered, some read like me. I had about five friends but they didn't know me too well. Mostly I wound up helping everyone with their homework. Oh, you meant…no, I decidedly did not ever go that way. Though some did, they got quite noisy at night sometimes."

Agin Severus was totally shocked by the conditions she'd grown up under.

"Were there ever…attacks? Between dorms, I mean?"

"Guys getting in and raping girls? Sometimes, yeah. That's partially why I carry a knife still, Dad."

"But, Julie, you're so calm about all of this!"

"You were calm when you told us about the Cruciatus Curse."

"I've had that done to me- Julie, you didn't-?"

"No. There's an asshole with one less finger and half of his eyebrow gone. That's how come they booted me from Abercroft."

"How old were you?"

"Twelve. You grew up fast there."

"But Julie…twelve…that's inhuman. How do you walk around sane after all of that?" Her dad hugged her and Julie found herself biting back tears again. She hated crying, very much.

"See, that's the problem, Dad, Voldemort couldn't, see?"

***************************************

Severus leaned up against the hard stone hallway wall. The door was half open and he could hear voices within Hermione's classroom. She was explaining the differences produced when one accidentally overheated dragon's blood, and in her easy, somewhat technical manner comforted little Kenny Longbottom about his fifth accident that week in her class. As soon as he left he'd have to tell her. Merlin's nails, what his daughter had told him made him want to –he didn't know what he wanted to do just then. The vengeful part of his nature was suggesting Fireblood Potion on the building and the Cruciatus on the people in charge of that hellhole -those hellholes, but another part wanted to adopt every friend Julie'd made in there.

Did many Muggles survive it?

He decided he didn't want to know. Gods, this was what had the Dark Lord so evil, and it had happened to his very own flesh and blood. His only daughter. The heir who was so like him –could go evil, too.

"So don't worry about the potion, Kenny, I'll go over it with you Saturday, if you'd like."

"Thank you, Professor Granger. Hi, Professor Snape!"

"Hello, Longbottom."

"See you at dinner, then!" The considerably happier first-year went off toward Gryffindor Tower to do his homework. Hermione's cheery smile dropped when she saw the look on Severus' face.

"Severus, what-?"

"It's bad. We should close the door."

****************************************

Judy was almost used to wizards and magic, now. Ron had given her her very first broomstick ride, taken her to see some unicorns in the safer part of the Forbidden Forest, shown her water sprites, mischievous pixies, and Hagrid's hippogriffs, one of whom had let her pet it. It was great. Ron was different from any guy she'd ever known, and not just in the magic sense, really different, like everything she liked mattered to him somehow. And he was so romantic, showing her a real unicorn. He had proven to her that they really did exist. As they walked by the lake, it was so…heartwarming. Ron made her feel as if she were the first Muggle he had ever wanted to show this to. He trusted her more than he'd ever trusted anyone. Were she to betray that trust, he and his world could lose everything.

He had also given her more than she'd ever had before. His sister and best friends had accepted her like family. Did they even realize what that meant to an orphaned girl? Only the Granger-Snapes seemed to understand everything, and the closest thing to her little sister was their daughter. Julie had avoided her a little the past few weeks, and it was clear why her ex-pupil still harbored hostility.

With the same upbringing, Judy could understand a lot about Julie. Except Julie was fiercer, angrier inside…especially now that she was out of the orphanage forever. She'd seen vindictiveness from children who'd been adopted out. She'd felt it herself after she'd dated Ron awhile. The urge to forget it came first, a drive to shake it off, and say it had done no harm. But it came through, in a hundred little slips a day. A while before you finally admitted it, you had usually made the decision to burn the whole place down. Most people never did. Or at least noone had. In a weird sort of way Ron had adopted her…wait a minute, was this what she thought it was?

A raven landed on a bush near a smooth gray rock. Ron pointed to the rock, but ignored the bird.

"Let's sit down here a moment –and watch the stars."

He was ad-libbing, Judy could tell that much. It was also clear that Ron had something planned. A squirrel chittered and ran over Judy's foot.

"Gah! –oh, a squirrel, are there a lot of them around here?"

"Some," Ron choked out, loosening his collar. "Look, there's a…a deer."

"It's a stag, quite a pretty one."

"Judy?" Ron asked suddenly. "Do you like it here?"

"I think this is the most wonderful place that I've ever been."

"And the magic? I mean, do you mind that I'm a- -a wizard, and -well, you're…not?"

"Ron, do you mind that I'm a teacher and you aren't? It's just the same as if you were a doctor or a welder or a chef, you know? Sometimes I won't understand what's going on. But you'll explain it as best you can and I'll learn more from it. It's the same as when I talk to other teachers with you around. I don't mind it at all."

"Really?" he asked hopefully, smiling in spite of profound nervousness. "So, Judy, d'you…do you maybe think you might…stay here with me?"

"At Hogwarts?" Judy realized what he was asking her.

"Anywhere, I mean, just…with me, y'know?"

A ginger tabby cat was padding around close to the stag. Judy knew that she loved Ron more than anyone she'd ever known.

"I think I'd love to, Ron." He kissed her and for the first time in many minutes seemed not nervous. They parted and Judy reached up to brush a wisp of hair from his face. To her surprise there was a glittering diamond ring on her finger.

"Magic?" she whispered. Ron shook his head.

"No, I just put on you when you were distracted, dear. …Is- -is that a 'yes'?"

"But of course!" She kissed him again.

The animals began to move away, but Judy wasn't quite that gullible.

"Ron…is that cat Ginny?"

"Yes, it's me," she admitted, transforming quickly back.

"And I'm Harry," the stag announced,

"And we're here, too."

"Spying, an unfortunate wizard –thing." Severus tried his best to restrain a smile and look really contrite.

"Oh, really?" Judy asked, not surprised or angered at all by this.

"I asked them to, I didn't think I'd have the nerve," Ron admitted, blushing up to the tips of his ears.

"Sometimes you need your family to back you up," Judy agreed. "I guess I have one, now." Her heart's complete content was in her eyes just then. Ron nodded and his twin brothers shot off fireworks as the new pair kissed.

Magic could be helpful, sometimes, Judy decided.

*******************************************

"Fireworks?" Donaghan asked, looking out of his window.

"Maybe Weasley's Wizard Wheezes had an accident," Julie observed laconically, tracing the pattern on his bedspread. The Scot turned back to the exquisite creature he'd meant to study with, who was now stretched across his bed in her stocking feet. Mismatched green and red Quidditch socks were really the only childish thing he recognized about Julie. The eyepatch was a change, and the white streak, well… It was still her, but he felt his hormones kick a bit. He wondered curiously if wolf mating season was late fall.

She certainly made him feel like it.

"Come here a tick," she called suddenly, and he moved soundlessly onto the bed with her. "Look at the window from here, it looks really different."

Donaghan lowered his head to directly beside hers and saw his new enemy, the hated moon. It was a thumbnail, now, but still, it was not his friend. The short bursts of firework coming only to what looked like a foot from where it was made it seem like a whole mess of spells was hitting the moon at once.

'If only,' Donaghan thought, feeling Julie's touch. She petted him gently on the left side of his face, then gently turned his head to kiss him properly.

"If youre going to be quiet anyway, I might as well ensure that you stay that way." Julie kissed him again and he ran his hand down her neck, pausing at the base of her skull to tickle the spot that made her go nuts. Sure enough, the 'tickly spot' made her shiver and turn completely around on him. With such a good opportunity present, Donaghan saw no reason not to tickle her senseless until he was on top of her.

"Do you give up?" he asked.

"A Gryffindor never does."

"How about a Slytherin?"

"A Slytherin just gets you when you pause."

Before he knew it, Donaghan was on his back with his head facing the other way, being tickled worse than he could have really thought her capable.

"Truce?" he begged, giggling so hard he thought some ribs might break.

"Okay." Julie stopped and kissed him again.

Merlin's left foot, she was on top of him. Kissing him. Donaghan was not used to this kind of play. Unless you counted the dreams –no, dream was more like it, except it came back a lot, haunting him. That, too, started with her kisses on top of him, but later… he didn't really want to consider that possible.

And yet…he did. Would anybody know?

God, he was thinking like such a beast! What kind of a man would sleep with a girl who was just fifteen? And an injured one at that, he was such a dog…

'No,' his thoughts reminded him, 'a wolf, not dog.'

"Something on your mind?" Julie asked gently.

He should tell her, he must tell her-

He didn't.

"Julie, did y' think to lock the door?"

"Hold on." She got off him, off the bed, and went to lock the door. As an extra measure, she changed the charm for emergency entry. "There. Total privacy unless you've got a mousehole here."

"Mousehole?"
"You know, where a rat might live. I think there might be a rat, sometimes, in my room. I'm probably just really scared of them, though."

"Scared of rats? But they're little an' squeaky-like."

"Donaghan, trust me, they just aren't nice. A ferret or a mouse is alright for me. Or a bunny, or a dog, or some other beast. But no rats! I just can't abide the things."

"You said beast. Would wolves fit in tha' category?"

"Wolves? My teacher once read me a story with lots of wolves. There was a little baby boy that a tiger stole, and the wolves took it away from him and raised him. Kipling."

"My dad used ta' read that book ta' me sometimes."

"I think it's kind of strange I didn't realize you had been Muggle. We may be the only two ex-Muggles in the school."

"Ex?"

"Well, we aren't Muggles now, and we thought that we were in childhood. Or did you?"

"I knew what a wizard was," he replied shortly. "But my parents weren' and I assumed I wouldn' be. An' then-"

Donaghan had something he couldn't say but needed to. For a split second Julie wanted to burst into tears for two-timing him with the Slytherin. But then her eyes flashed red and she felt normal again.

"Donaghan, what happened?"

"M' parents died. It 'appens! Qui' frequently!"

He was sick of lying to her and keeping the truth to himself, not telling her about the monster he'd become. She was being so nice, trying to get him to not feel guilty about his past, and he was keeping secrets from her.

"Dar'n'yedjul, k'y na be so- arrgh!"

Julie was surprised entirely by what Donaghan just said. She couldn't understand a speck of it, except the 'arrgh.'

"Was that old Scots?" she asked. Suddenly Donaghan laughed.

"Na', jus' m'brogue gettin' thick when I talk t'fast. Couldn' y' understand what I said?"

"No. I thought that it might be a spell but nothing happened."

Donaghan remembered he loved that sweet smile most of all.

"I could kiss y' right now," he said quietly, brushing her white streak away from her covered eye.

"So why don't you, dear?" she whispered back nervously.

"Would you still let me kiss you if I were-"

"A werewolf? Yeah."

"H-how did y' know?"

Normally Julie would have just raised an eyebrow, cracked her thumbs and said 'I have my sources,' but instead she just smiled and kissed him reassuringly.

In retrospect ten minutes later, she thought that had been a good move on her part.

A half-hour, though, and she had left his side. A shirtless Donaghan looked around at the twisted sheets, stray buttons and bloodstains, before lifting his head in his first wolf's heartbroken howl.

How could he have done this?

****************************************

A/N: Well?