Bhamini was waiting for him ouside the stone gargoyle. "Severus, I'm sorry about what I did, but I couldn't stand to watch you become a Death Eater before my eyes. Not when I knew that wasn't what you were meant to be. I had to tell Dumbledore." "And now you're expelled!" He glared at her, but paused. "You didn't tell him the whole story up there, did you" "You're smarter than I thought, Severus. No, I didn't say everything. I talked to Mars before students were leaving for the holiday. He agreed to hang around the kitchens that day so you wouldn't be able to find him; he likes it in there anyway. And I didn't want to get my friends from Gryffindor in trouble with Dumbledore by including them in my confession. You see, on that train ride home, I was on board as a regular student, not a cat. My mother came by earlier that day with a private carriage, but I told her that I didn't want to create a scene by taking it. James, Remus, Peter, and Sirius helped me get into your compartment by staging that whole 'cat chasing the rat' spectacle. They thought it would be wonderful if I could play pranks on you over break, but I had other plans. I didn't bother to say otherwise to them since they agreed to help me. What's going to happen to you? What did Dumbledore say?"
"…Dumbledore is giving me a chance. I don't believe it, but he wants me to complete my studies and eventually teach here." She looked up. "And?" "And to help the secret Order by becoming a spy." "I knew it!" She was smiling. Severus frowned. "What about you though?" "Mum is pissed, that's for sure. But she's hiring private tutors for me until I take the N.E.W.T.S. in the spring. I don't care about leaving though; I never really liked it here at Hogwarts. I'm thinking that maybe I'll get a job somewhere abroad next year…Egypt looks nice. Anyway, I'm being sent home in a carriage tonight. A dramatic exit for the 'spoiled rich girl that didn't get along with anyone', eh? I'm sure it will give the other students plenty to gossip about." They both laughed.
"I never gave you an apology." "And you never will. It's against your blood." Severus looked taken aback and was speechless. "Don't worry, I know you're sorry. Just promise me that you'll hold your word to Dumbledore and we'll call it even." "I will." With that, she turned around and walked out to the front doors of the castle. An expensive looking carriage was waiting for her, and she climbed in among whispers and pointed fingers from the students watching. Severus stared at the carriage until it was disappeared, then walked down to the dungeons, where he found a black cat with a large dead mouse in his jaws, waiting to welcome him back.
Final Author's Notes:
Bhamini is an East Indian name meaning "beautiful and short tempered"
Kaushal (her Father) means "clever and skilled"
There's no particular reason that they are Indian, I just liked the names. And their last name, Stone, isn't Indian because (why the hell not) she's multiracial. I don't go into that in the story though. It wouldn't have mattered.
In
her confession to Severus at the end, she doesn't tell him that the James,
Peter and Sirius are animagus and Remus is a werewolf. She just tells him that they helped
her. Severus doesn't find out about
them until 'The Prisoner of Azkaban'…many years later.