— Year 1 —

'Who do you think is younger, Snape or Miss Grey?' asked Ron.

They were sitting by the fire in the common room, writing their essays for Snape.

'Who is Miss Grey?' Harry answered with a question, rubbing his eyes from exhaustion.

'The choir conductor and librarian, the younger one,' replied Hermione, a bit irritated. 'Seriously, Harry, if you visited the library as often as you should, you'd know.'

'Relax, Hermione, I've just forgotten her name. It's usually Madam Pince who talks to the students anyway.' Harry put down the quill and thought for a moment. 'I reckon she's younger than him.'

'Shouldn't you be doing your homework?' Hermione growled.

'We ARE doing our homework, it's just a short break,' said Ron defensively. 'I'm not sure, Harry. I don't know why, but she just seems older to me. Maybe she uses those beauty potions from Witch Weekly, while Snape doesn't even have shampoo.'

'Ron, just please be careful and don't write about shampoo instead of horned toads,' said Hermione. 'Snape would have you expelled.'

Ron rolled his eyes and wrote a few words to his essay.

— Year 2 —

Harry and Ron were in the girls' bathroom on the third floor, watching Hermione brewing the Polyjuice Potion. Ron looked at the recipe, frowning.

'It says "Stir clockwise seven times",' he pointed out.

'I know what I'm doing,' said Hermione.

'But according to the book…'

'I know!'

'Then why have you stirred it clockwise only six times and one time counterclockwise?' asked Ron.

'When I was in the library, I sat near Miss Grey's office and the door was open a bit, so I accidentally overheard her conversation with Snape.'

'She was talking to Snape?' Harry's eyes widened. 'In her office? What's wrong with her?'

'Yeah, I thought she was alright,' added Ron.

'It looked like they were having coffee or something,' said Hermione. 'He must have told her about our theft, because he was talking about the Polyjuice Potion and how to brew it.'

'Poor Miss Grey, that must have been so boring,' said Ron.

'On the contrary, she seemed very interested. Even Snape sounded different, you know? As if he was really fascinated by potions after all. Anyway, I was lucky to hear that, it was very informative. Look!' Hermione pointed at the cauldron with triumph. 'It's exactly as it should be according to the book!'

— Year 3 —

'So now that we know that Professor Lupin is a werewolf,' said Ron, 'do you think any other teacher is a Dark creature too? Dumbledore clearly doesn't seem to consider it an impediment.'

They were on the train back home.

'I'd say Snape is an obvious candidate,' replied Harry. 'Maybe he's a vampire. Or something worse.'

'Yeah, don't insult vampires. I'd say Miss Grey is a Dark creature.'

'The young librarian? Why?'

'I don't know, she just seems weird to me,' said Ron. Like Professor Lupin, he was always nice, but there was something strange about him.'

'This is ridiculous, Ron,' said Hermione. 'You're just making stuff up. Lupin seemed weird to you, because he was poor and he regularly disappeared. Miss Grey seems weird to you, because you don't know her. Snape seems weird to you, Harry, because he's gloomy and he doesn't like you.'

'Or maybe I really do feel something is up?' Ron was irritated. 'Intuition can be a real expression of inner magic, you know? Even if you don't have it.'

'Right, Ron, you and intuition! Dumbledore has magical intuition, not a normal fourteen year old. And magic is much more logical and rational than you think.'

'And much more mysterious and extraordinary than you think,' snarled Ron.

— Year 4 —

Harry and Ron were in the library, taking notes for their herbology essays, when Snape came in, looking like a gloomy, overgrown bat. The boys froze for a moment, but fortunately he didn't see them and disappeared behind the shelves.

Harry and Ron laughed quietly and looked in the direction that Snape had gone.

'What is he doing here?' whispered Harry.

'Maybe he's visiting Miss Grey.'

'What?'

'Haven't you heard the rumours?' said Ron. 'Goerge said that Angelina had heard that some Hufflepuffs were sure that they're dating or something.'

'Snape? Don't be ridiculous, I haven't heard a stupider rumour in my entire life. Hufflepuffs can be too naive sometimes. I can't even imagine someone can be friends with Snape, let alone date him.'

'Maybe that's why he's so mean all the time.'

They laughed again and quickly fell silent, when Madam Pince looked at them with anger.

— Year 5 —

Harry was in the library, looking for the sources for the most boring assignment ever created—homework for Professor Binns.

'Yhm.'

Harry jumped and looked around. Fortunately, it wasn't him whom Umbridge wanted to talk to. He peeked from behind the shelf, trying to look fascinated by the huge volume he was holding.

'…you received my note?' Umbridge walked over to Miss Grey, a rather young woman with glasses and blonde hair in a bun.

'Please keep it down, this is a library, ma'am,' said Miss Grey quietly. 'Please follow me to my office.'

Umbridge grimaced and followed the younger woman to the door at the far end of the library.

Harry decided it sounded much more interesting than the goblin wars and carefully tailed the teachers, hiding behind the shelves. Fortunately, they hadn't closed the door.

'How long have you been working here?' asked Umbridge in her sugary voice.

'Nine years.'

Harry felt sorry for Miss Grey. He didn't really know her, but she seemed amiable and not like someone who could protect herself from Umbridge's viciousness.

'And you are a Squib, aren't you?'

'I am.'

This was new. Harry didn't have any idea that anyone at Hogwarts but Filch was a Squib.

'Don't you think it's a bit risky? If anything happens, you won't be able to protect yourself or the students. You are also unable to properly discipline them.'

'I assure you there are other means of disciplining students than magic.' Miss Grey sounded somehow amused.

'However, your status combined with the fact that Albus Dumbledore is your great-uncle—doesn't it mean, pardon me, that he might have employed you just because of your connection?'

Dumbledore's family? Harry couldn't imagine that old, formidable Dumbledore had parents and siblings or cousins. Dumbledore was always alone. It was just so weird.

'I don't think so. He was reluctant at first, but I was the only candidate. All the details of my recrutation are in the documents. You may also talk to the other members of the staff, I'm sure they'll be more than willing to answer any questions you might have.'

'The teachers seem surprisingly uncooperative, I'm afraid. That makes your situation even more precarious.'

'Precarious, ma'am?' Miss Grey repeated calmly.

'Oh, I'm afraid you need to be put on probation, my dear, due to suspicions of nepotism.'

Harry got angry. He imagined he was casting on Umbridge the most horrible curse there was.

'I see.' Miss Grey still seemed very polite. She reminded Harry of Dumbledore.

He stepped back and hid behind the shelves, watching as Umbridge, somewhat irritated, left Miss Grey's office.

— Year 6 —

Harry was walking down the corridor when he saw Professor Trelawney. She must have been drunk and Harry speeded up and turned into the nearest corridor to avoid meeting her. As she walked by, he heard her mumbling.

'Tower and lighting… It's all the same, still the same, no matter what… Only death…'

Harry was moving away when he heard another voice and curiosity made him stop. Carefully he came back and looked at the main corridor.

'What tower? What tower, Sybill?'

Much to his surprise, it was Miss Grey. She seemed unexpectedly agitated.

'What tower? Tell me!'

But Trelawney kept on mumbling.

And then, suddenly, Snape showed up, like a quiet bat that had just left its cave. Harry froze and stepped back a little. He could be curious, but he didn't want Snape asking what he was up to or taking him any points by chance.

'Just leave it, please.' Snape seemed irritated. 'It doesn't matter, come on…'

Harry glanced at the corridor and saw that all the teachers had walked away.

— Year 7 —

Harry, Ron and Hermione climbed the stairs to the Headmaster's office. Harry stopped suddenly and turned around to face his friends, putting his finger on his lips. Everyone froze in tension.

'…couldn't tell you,' said a woman's voice quietly. 'Perhaps no one would have believed that I was a hundred-year-old Obscurus, but it was too dangerous. Only Albus and Aberforth knew.'

'Well, Ariana, I—,' replied a man's voice.

Harry's eyes widened and he burst inside.

'Professor!' he cried. 'You're alive! How?'

'I'm just as surprised as you are, Potter,' said Snape.

'How?' he repeated. 'I saw you die! How is this possible?'

Snape glanced at frozen Miss Grey.

'Phoenix tears,' he said.

'Well, you definitely deserved it because of your loyalty to Dumbledore.'

Snape's eyes widened in disbelief, but he said nothing.

Harry looked at Ron and Hermione. After initial shock he felt awkward and wasn't sure what to say. Ron seemed even more perplexed than him, while Hermione was staring at Miss Grey with her eyes wide open.

'You are Ariana Dumbledore, aren't you?' said Hermione eventually after a long while.

The silence became even more uncomfortable.

'I am not obliviating them,' said Snape dispassionately.

Miss Grey looked at them steadily before speaking.

'Yes, I am Ariana Dumbledore,' she said finally.

'But… she was born over a hundred years ago.' Harry was deeply confused.

'Yes, indeed.' Miss Grey sighed. 'Have you read the book? By Rita Skeeter? The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore?'

They nodded.

'I don't like it, but it's mostly true actually.' She stared at the floor. 'I didn't die in the duel between Grindelwald, Albus and Aberforth. I got scared, turned into the Obscurus and ran away. It was all happening so fast and Albus was sure I died. But I ran away. I was running away so fast, so blindly, so scared… until I found one peaceful place—the Forbidden Forest. It was so quiet. I remained there for years, as an Obscurus, safe but deeply unhappy. But something inside me was healing. I realised many things and made peace with what I was. And then something totally unexpected happened. I found a way to express my inner magic. There were phoenixes living in the forest and somehow I became one of them.'

'But people cannot turn into magical creatures,' interrupted Hermione, 'only into normal animals.'

'But I was not a typical Animagus, was I? This was more than just one of the many magical tricks other people can perform. I channeled all my magic into that. Some time later I found Albus. He treated me as his beloved pet, he didn't know who I was and why I was so loyal to him. However, in the seventies I turned into a girl again after so many years. As a phoenix I was immortal; as a human I was not. I started living with Aberforth in Hogsmeade as a Squib, he got me a new identity. I pretended to be his grand-niece from our dear mother's side. I took her maiden name. I still turned into a phoenix regularly, but after almost ten years I wanted something else. I started working at Hogwarts. That's all. Now, if you're loyal to Albus Dumbledore, swear that you'll never tell anyone what you've just heard. Swear it, I beg you.'

'You have my word,' said Harry. Ron and Hermione muttered the same while Snape nodded.

'So, Harry,' Miss Grey spoke in a completely different voice, 'will you vouch for Professor Snape in court?'

'There's no need,' snarled Snape. 'I'm going away.'

'Where?' asked Miss Grey impatiently.

'You don't need to know, maybe to the Forbidden Forest if I feel like it.'

'That can be arranged.' She smiled slightly. 'But I know that's not what Albus wanted for you. Please, do it for him. Just one more thing. Please, Severus.'

Finally Snape nodded barely visibly.

'Harry?' Miss Grey looked at him with her eyes wide open.

'Of course,' he said.

* I'm not a native speaker, so I'm sorry for any mistakes :)