Half an hour and fifty-per-house deducted points later, James and Juliana went their separate ways. James returned to the Gryffindor common room to find Sirius still working on his penalty essay, and Juliana arrived at the Slytherin common room to find it empty except for her cousin, the son of her father's sister, Severus Snape.

He was sitting in a tall, wing-backed chair, poring over a large tome. On the table near the chair she could see several other books stacked up, and there was no doubt in her mind that they were his. His greasy, raven-black hair reached to his shoulders; it was so shiny that Juliana could see the green light from the hanging lamps reflected in it. She abruptly strode across the floor and tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped, and whipped out his wand.

"Oh, it's you," he said to Juliana, giving her a tremulous smile. "Hullo, Julie." She smiled back, and placed a chalky hand gently on his shoulder.

"Likewise, Sevi." She crossed over to the fireplace, where the fire was burning low. She took out her wand and muttered, "Incendio!" The fire blazed.

She went back to Severus and peered over the back of the chair. "What are you reading, Sevi? It's in Latin!"

Severus turned in his chair and looked up at her, his black eyes intense. "It's a treatise by Salazar Slytherin on the importance of keeping Wizarding bloodlines pure."

"Oh," said Juliana mildly. She walked around the chair to the table where the books were stacked. "These yours?"

"Hmm," said Severus absently, looking up a word in his Latin-English dictionary.

"Practicqale Darke Magickes," Juliana read from the cover of one book, which seemed to be made of wood. "Where'd you get this, Restricted Section?"

Snape looked up from his literature. "Yeah."

Juliana looked surprised. "Who signed your request?"

"Rawley," said Snape boredly. Juliana's eyes widened.

"No way! She's the most Mudblood-loving teacher ever to set foot in Hogwarts, how did you convince her to sign for any book that doesn't have to do with Muggles?"

Snape turned an ancient vellum page and said, "I told her it was so I could find all the flaws in Dark Magic and use it to fight those who were opposed to letting Mudbloods-- well, I said Muggle-Borns-- into Hogwarts..." Juliana guffawed, and ruffled his hair. "Clever kid, this one." Then she looked around the deserted common room and said, "Hey, why are you all alone here?"

"The others all went to bed. Wasn't much homework tonight, so they finished early. I stayed behind. I like to be alone when I read. I was also waiting for you." He frowned at her. "Where were you, anyway?"

Juliana's face flickered, and she looked away. "Uh, just hanging around..." Snape bit his lip, and said, "Wait, you weren't...you weren't doing what you were going on about last night, were you? Jinxing Potter and that?"

Juliana raised her hands in the air and said supplicantly, "Well....I can't stand them doing those things to you! You're like my kid brother, you know!"

Snape shoved his books to the side and stood up quickly. "Damn it, Juliana! They're going to be talking about this now, gossiping, saying that Severus Snape can't stand up for himself!" He paced agitatedly. Juliana gave a small moan and grabbed a fistful of black sleeve.

"I'm sorry, Severus." He jerked his robe free from her grasp and sank down into his chair, his head in his hands. Then he looked up and said, "It's okay...I know you did it for me. But for God's sake, Juliana, please, don't do that ever again."

Juliana's eyes started to fill with tears at the look on Severus' face. "All right," she said. Then she took a crystal Ehrlenmeyer flask out of her pocket. "For you. I know how you like to make potions. I put an Unbreakable Charm on it."

"Thanks," Severus murmured, not quite forgiving her yet. He took the flask and slipped it into his own pocket, then glanced over to the fire that Juliana had helpfully caused to burn, and slowly sank back into his chair and picked up his book again.

Juliana fingered his hair lightly, then bid him goodnight and left for the Slytherin girls' dormitories. She felt she ought to leave him to his books now; they were his escape. He studied his curses, Potions and magical theory with all the seriousness of a full-grown wizard. Besides, it helped distract him from the unhappy situation back at home.

Fifteen years later Juliana was dead. She had joined Voldemort's cause, and although she was never in his inner circle of Death Eaters she participated actively in the killings of Muggle-born wizards. It was a new moon the night Juliana Passelton died at the hands of her Death Eater friends. It was deemed "friendly fire" and never spoken of again. Severus Snape had grown up and was an expert Potions Master and ex-Death Eater. He had been forced to cut off all contact with Juliana once he switched sides and started spying on Voldemort

for Dumbledore lest she betray him, and he moved on.

Fourteen years after that, Severus Snape saw James Potter's child come to Hogwarts. Snape had been sitting at the teacher's table when he caught sight of

Harry Potter. The boy looked so like his father that Snape instantly felt an animosity towards him.

A scrawny eleven-year-old with a shock of untameable black hair and glasses, the fact that his eyes were green and not blue didn't make much of an impression on Snape. He stared into the boy's eyes with a hatred he hadn't managed to erase. He knew he was being stupid, he knew Harry was the reason Voldemort was gone, that Harry hadn't done anything wrong; yet Snape hated him.

At the meal's end he skulked away, his black robes swishing. He always wore black; he didn't understand why anyone wore anything other than black. Black was good for a teacher; black was somber and commanded respect. He went to his teacher's quarters and read one of his favorite books, an old book on curses. He was the Potions Master, but his first love was the Dark Arts. At first he had practiced them; now, after renouncing them, he retained a fascination with them.

The little Ehrlenmeyer flask with the Unbreakable Charm on it sat collecting dust at the very bottom of a bin full of spare flasks and vials. A thought suddenly struck Snape, and he didn't know whether it was pure or foolish or silly, but he set down his book and crossed the floor to the wooden cabinets full of spare things. With a sudden zeal, he searched coldly for his bin of spare vials. He quickly pawed through the tinkling crystal, sifting through mounds of clarity and sparkle, until he found the small cloudy flask his cousin had given him. He suddenly became too choked to speak, and had to wait for a few moments to pass. He calmly uttered the incantation for the reversal of an Unbreakable charm. Such a simple little spell... "Goodbye, Juliana." he whispered, and let the flask topple from his fingertips.