Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all things of that universe belong to the imaginings of J.K.Rowling.
This fanfiction however is from my own mind and all new characters/things belong to me.
Written by Redskin
Sacrifice of love is sometimes necessary for the continuation of lifeMissing
Prologue: A. Blackwind
"I forbid it Albus, the Order can find some other way to keep the children safe, it is not necessary….you will not have my permission." Severus Snape, resident potions master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry paced the Headmasters office, his robes billowing around him and snapping with the force of his agitation. Black bottomless eyes flashed dangerously while the great Albus Dumbledore sat calmly behind his great oak desk sucking on a sherbet lemon.
"It is unfortunate, yes, but you know as well as I do Severus that there is only a limited number of things the Order can do to protect these children, we can't be with them all the time. Voldermort grows stronger, it is time for her to come here."
The potions master snarled and pointed his long, sallow finger in the headmaster's direction. "No! I have kept her away from here to keep her safe, I will not jeopardise that for some snot nosed Slytherin brats who cannot decide for themselves the right path."
Albus smiled benignly, "You cannot keep her from this war dear boy, she wishes to help, she-"
"-It is not her decision, she is my daughter and she will do as I say." The potions masters anger seemed to leave him all at once and he collapsed into one of the over stuffed armchairs and he pinched the bridge of his nose. Albus' blue eyes twinkled from behind his spectacles and he popped another sherbet lemon in his mouth.
"I dare say that it is her decision Severus, you have kept her safe for long enough, and you of all people should appreciate what she can do for our cause. Those children need guidance; they need to know that they have other choices that they can make. They are trapped just as you were Severus. She can help us." The older wizard stood from behind his desk and walked over to the potions master and sat down beside him. "She wants to help Severus, you know she does."
Snape sighed and leant his head back against the armchair and closed his dark eyes, his brow furrowed with deep lines and his thin mouth pulled taunt into a tight frown.
"Have you told her everything she needs to know? And I do mean everything Albus, does she know the dangers of Slytherin? Does she know how hard it will be for her? How painful?" Albus patted his potions masters arm and stood up from his chair and moved to the door of his office.
"She knows what she is getting into Severus, she just wanted you to give your permission. You know she would never do anything without your consent." Severus nodded his head and wiped a hand over his face and stood, his robes sweeping behind him as the Headmaster opened the door. "She will be fine, you'll see, she will be a great asset to the Order. Everything will work out."
Severus glared at the old wizard and shook his head. "It had better…." He muttered as he swept from the room and down the spiral staircase and into the lonely corridors of Hogwarts Castle.
Albus Dumbledore smiled, his blue eyes twinkling as he closed the door and turned back to his office and to the majestic red and gold Phoenix sitting on its perch.
"It is going to be one ah…interesting year Fawkes." The magical bird looked up at the Headmaster and gave out a trill of agreement before it bent its head to continue to prune his feathers. The Headmaster chuckled and walked back to his desk. Sitting down behind it he took out a thick piece of parchment and set about writing a letter to Severus Snape's daughter, inviting her to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Harry stood and watched the steam of the scarlet Hogwarts Express and sighed, this would be his last year at Hogwarts and he wanted to remember every moment of it. He felt a nudge at his side and he looked down into the grinning face of Hermione, her brown frizzy hair was pulled back into a strict bun and her face was more tanned this year after her summer in Australia. Hermione told him quickly of how she had been made Head Girl and Harry had laughingly joked with her about it.
Harry smiled and hugged his long time friend and then shook hands with the newly arrived Ron who was telling him about his trip to Uruguay with his family.
"-and then dad lost his wand so we had to look all over the place for it and we almost didn't even get here on time." Harry grinned and the three of them headed onto the Hogwarts Express to find a compartment before they all filled up. Ginny joined them a few minutes later dragging a now very handsome and very proportioned Neville Longbottom who was grinning sheepishly.
"Hallo Harry, Hermione, Ron." Neville said and took a seat next to the other Weasley and shook his head. "Can you believe it? Last year…I'm a bit worried about well…you know." He had lowered his voice and moved conspiratorially towards his seating partner who inched away from the closeness.
"Watch it mate, none of that!" Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron and Harry sighed.
"Can we not talk about it?" he asked and Ginny quickly changed the subject to Quidditch, Hermione promptly pulled out a book 'Unidentifiable unimaginables and their ultimate usage' by Ursula Upside and Harry leaned his head against the window listening to his friends argue about which team was better, the Chudley Cannons or the Eaton Eagles.
The trolley lady came and Harry brought a bit of everything so their compartment had a little bit of everything to eat. Their friends popped in to talk with them, Lavender, Dean, Hannah, Luna and a few others. When they reached Hogwarts and donned their school robes, the group of friends disembarked into the cold night, hurrying to the theastral driven carriages to get a seat.
"That was strange." Hermione muttered,
"What?" Ron asked scratching his ear and pulling at a loose thread to his robes before straightening his prefect badge.
"Malfoy didn't come and bother us in the train, he does it every year without fail…I wonder why he didn't this year."
"Probably too afraid of us." Ron said smugly and the three friends quickly made their way to the Griffindor table and sat down. Their eyes lingered on the High table where there were a few seats empty, among them were Professor Dumbledore's, Professor Snape's and the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.
"D'you reckon Snape and the new professor duked it out and Dumbledore had to go and fix it all up?" Ron asked excitedly. "I hope the greasy git was hexed into oblivion." Harry grinned and Hermione huffed but a smile was pulling at her lips.
"Oi, there's Malfoy, he doesn't look to happy." Harry said pointed across the room to where a surly blonde haired Slytherin seventh year sat, ice blue eyes covered by long bangs that set his sharp face in shadows.
"He-" they were cut off from Professor McGonagall striding into the room with the sorting hat and a trail of pale first years. The Griffindor seventh years listened to the hats song in earnest as it would be the last song of the sorting hat that they would hear and then the sorting began. Harry watched for a few minutes before turning back to his friends, Hermione was whispering with Ginny who was nodding back, their eyes darting to the head table.
"What is it?" Harry asked, also looking at the table,
"The Professors look concerned about something." Hermione whispered as the sorting hat yelled out "RAVENCLAW"
"I would be too, where the hell is Dumbledore? He never misses out on a sorting." Ron injected and the four of them turned when the double doors to the Great Hall were pushed open and Professor Snape glided in, his black robes snapping angrily after him and a dark scowl was on his face. He was followed by a younger man who looked suspiciously like the professor with long dark hair pulled neatly into a ponytail at the base of his neck, his skin though pale wasn't sallow and his eyes were a dark shade of grey. He was tall and thin like the potions professor but the corded muscles could be seen even with the modest dark green robes over him. The professors nose wasn't hooked like the potions master but the way they both seemed to glide over the floor of the Great Hall with their robes thrashing behind them was rather disturbing.
Behind both agitated Professors came Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and a rather startling vision on his arm. The girl was tall with silvery white hair almost the same colour as the Professors beard but her eyes were the same dark grey as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professors. Although the way she walked was different, the same stealth and grace invaded the way she walked across the flagstone floor. She looked a little scuffed up, her arms and hands were flowing with hastily made bandages that fluttered after her and her black school robes were in tatters showing gaps where her uniform could be seen under it.
The entire Great Hall was silent as the two dark haired professors stormed into their place behind the Head table while the Headmaster escorted the girl to the sorting hat stool and then placed the hat over her head slowly. Everyone watched as the hat took slow minutes to sort through the mystery girls mind before bellowing "SLYTHERIN" and the Headmaster took the hat from her head and gave it to Professor McGonagall and then pointed to the house table the girl was to sit at. No one moved or spoke as the girl took her seat next to a few first years and she looked curiously at her other housemates as they stared back at her.
Headmaster Dumbledore cleared his throat and asked for attention.
"Forgive our entrance, we were running a little late and our newest Slytherin student ran into some trouble in getting to Hogwarts." He let out a laugh and the new Slytherin student in question rolled her eyes and smirked slightly.
"Her name is Aisarris Blackwind and I sincerely hope that everyone will welcome her to Hogwarts and show her around as you would a first year. Now, ah…I seemed to have interrupted the sorting process, forgive me Minerva, let us continue." The aged Wizard then promptly went to his seat at the Head table ignoring both identical scowls of his Potions Professor and his Defence Professor.
When the sorting was finished and the whispers had died down the Headmaster stood from his chair.
"As you know, these are troubled times and as such, restrictions have been put into place. Only seventh years will now be able to access the restricted section in the library, the Forbidden Forrest is as its name suggests Forbidden, as well as any detentions that include the Forrest. Hogsmead weekends will have a full contingent of Professors to go along with the students to allow optimum safety and anyone seen cavorting around the school grounds after curfew will be severely punished.
We also have a new addition to the staff table, Professor Cyrus Blackwind has been good enough to consent to teaching here at Hogwarts this year." The professor paused and his eyes twinkled as the students started to whisper about the room.
"-he her husband?"
"-they related?"
"-wonder if he'll go for me"
"-suspiciously like Snape"
"Ah, the relation between our new Professor and student is along the lines of siblings, but I'm sure that the professor and your new classmate will divulge the information they see necessary. Our Head Boy this year is Mister Terry Boot of Hufflepuff and our Head Girl is Miss Hermione Granger of Griffindor." There was a large round of applause and both Boot and Granger blushed profusely. "Now I'm sure all of you are famished so rubba dub dub, into the tub!" and the golden plates were filled with food of every kind and the students greedily ate while they snapped out of their quietness and the Great Hall was filled with the sound of chatting and cutlery hitting the plates.
"So…what brings you to Hogwarts at this late stage, I mean it seems hardly worth it really." Aisarris looked up from her plate and swallowed the mouthful she was eating to look into sly blue eyes surrounded by bouncing blonde curls. The girl had the strangest nose, it looked like one of those pug dogs, but she dressed neatly and her hair was exquisite and she was not ugly.
"And you are?" Aisarris asked taking a sip of pumpkin juice. The girl smiled and held out her hand.
"Pansy Parkinson, Seventh year Slytherin Prefect, I sit down that way." She pointed to the other end of the table where the older students were sitting, their eyes darting around the room, taking in every action, every gesture.
"Pleasure to meet you Pansy Parkinson, Seventh year Slytherin Prefect that sits down that way." Aisarris grinned and shook the girls outstretched hand. "I'm Aisarris Blackwind, Seventh year Slytherin newby, and I'm sitting right here."
Pansy shook her head in amusement at the rather childish behaviour of the girl and quickly sat down next to her. Aisarris watched her for a few moments before shrugging. "My father finally let me come to the school after years of home tutors on the condition that my brother accompany me." Her nose scrunched. "Wonderful negotiations those were." Pansy nodded her head and her eyes flashed with something too quick for Blackwind to catch.
"Come sit down our end, its ah…unseemly and very bad for the reputation to sit with first years." The girls nose had turned up and her eyes glared at the pale first years. Aisarris smiled and stood, following Pansy to the other end of the Slytherin table. They were mostly surrounded by boys, there was only one other Slytherin Seventh year female who had dirty blonde hair and pale blue eyes. Pansy introduced her to everyone.
"This here is Leviathan Lembridge, and this one here is Blaise Zabini." The boy had black curly hair that fell into dark blue eyes, he looked to be of Italian decent. "These two are Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle." The two giant boys though large in size looked very muscular like American football players. "And last, though certainly not least is Draco Malfoy, Prince of Slytherin." The others chuckled at the title and the boy in question smirked smugly. He had to be the most beautiful man Aisariss had ever seen. He had platinum blond hair that fell into his eyes, shadowing their icy blue. The boy had pointed features and looked to be from another realm completely instead of human. He was tall and very well built with a light tan over his features to give him a slight ruggedness that was only heightened by the neat school uniform that he wore with only his tie slightly undone around his throat. A small glitter in his left ear showed it to be pierced with a small snake curling around.
"And this everyone as you surly know is Aisariss Blackwind." Everyone said their hellos and shook her hand, except Draco Malfoy who took her hand and kissed the back of it, his ice blue eyes flashing slyly at her. Aisariss rolled her eyes and smiled as they all started eating again, their voices soft as they told what they had done over the summer holiday. Not one of them asked her what she had done and Aisariss gathered that the reason for this was that there were going to interrogate her completely back in the Slytherin common room away from prying ears and eyes.
"Cor, would you look at that! They don't even care if she looks as poor as I do." Ron stated shocked and the others looked at him strangely.
"She's not poor Ron honestly, were you even listening to what Dumbledore said? She was attacked or something on her way here." Ron scoffed at this.
"She's like their little groupie, should have known she'd be a Slytherin though, I mean who brought her in?" Harry chuckled.
"She might be really nice, she-"
"Harry, be realistic, have you seen the way her brother is acting up there? She'll be just like that git." The three friends turned their attention up to the head table where Professor Blackwind was scowling darkly over at his sister and snapped something harsh to Professor Hooch who turned away with a blush on her cheeks. Harry turned his attention then to Professor Snape who was dabbing at a small cut in his forehead with a napkin.
"What do you reckon they were attacked by?" Harry asked quietly and Hermione and Ron started to argue about who or what could attack a fully-grown wizard and an almost registered witch to injure them so.
They didn't get to finish their speculations as Professor McGonagall ended the Great Hall feast and the prefects stood to guide the first years to their common rooms.
"Come, we'll take you to the Slytherin Common rooms, the prefects take the first year brats all over the dungeons before getting them to the rooms." Pansy laughed harshly and Aisariss shivered slightly.
"Is it always this cold here?" she asked softly. The others looked at her strangely.
"Where have you lived?" Blaise asked curiously, his dark blue eyes roving over her. Aisariss shrugged.
"Australia, it's the safest country in the world." She said and a frown appeared on her face. The others ignored it and Draco stood before a plain stone wall.
"Sssirisss Assess." Aisairss smiled brightly.
"You learn Parsletongue here?" she asked excitedly. Draco nodded as the stonewall opened and the seven of them entered into the warm common room which was decked out in Slytherin propaganda and its colours.
"Well they don't actually teach it, the sixth and seventh years learn it. How about you, did you ever learn it?" Leviathan asked, her pale eyes flickered around the room before she lowered herself slowly into a soft armchair near the fire, but she did not seat herself near Malfoy who had chosen the best chair with an intricate Slytherin house emblem embroidered into the back of it.
"We had to, Australia has eight of the ten most poisoness snakes in the world. It's a requirement of all pureblood houses over there. Though there are only a few that actually live there."
"Here, have this, it'll calm your nerves." Pansy said giving the girl a small tea cup that was steaming with the hot liquid. The hot spiced tea slid down Aisariss' throat and the familiar tingling entered her system. She dropped the cup in surprise and then started to her feet, her face contorting into rage.
"Veritisirum, how very clever." She snarled. Draco nodded his head in approval before Blaise sidled up and knelt before her.
"What is your full name?" Aisariss' fingers dug into the arms of the chair she was sitting in and the muscles in her neck tightened, as did her jaw. She felt panic enter her system before her mouth opened slowly.
"Aisariss Pandora Blackwind Snape." Aisariss closed her eyes in anguish; she had divulged a dangerous secret. The six other students sat stunned before Malfoy whipped out of his chair, his wand in hand and he was uttering spells under his breath. The air around the seven students shimmered and Aisariss recognised the spell of concealment.
"Is Professor Snape your father?" Blaise asked, his voice sounded strange to her ears, like it was breathless and his eyes shone in the dim firelight.
"Yes." She whispered. They all sat in silence before Malfoy once again moved, this time to cup her face in his hands.
"Why has he told no one that he has children?" he asked, his fingers clutching her chin painfully. Her mind cried out for this to stop but Aisariss kept her eyes closed.
"It's too dangerous." She muttered.
"Why?"
"Because of Voldermort."
"Why?"
"Voldermort would use us against him, we would have to become death eaters."
"Do you not want to be a death eater?"
"No."
"Why doesn't Snape want you to be a death eater?"
"…"
"Why?" his voice was loud in her ears, desperate. Aisariss was breathing heavily, her eyes prickled with tears.
"Because he doesn't want us to make the same mistake he did, he wanted to protect us." She cried out and pushed his hands from her face and curled into the chair, her eyes angry. The Slytherin Seventh years watched the girl for a few moments before Pansy let out a sob and ran at the huddled girl and threw her arms around her. Aisariss was so startled that she lost all anger in her. Leviathan joined Pansy and they stayed that way while the boys conversed quietly.
"Why is Snape still a Death Eater?" Draco asked quietly, he was rubbing his left forearm and Aisariss' eyes widened with horror, but she could not stop the answers from coming.
"He is a Spy for Dumbledore." She said watching him closely. The boy just seemed to collapse in on himself with relief and he lifted up his school robe to show the dark mark on his arm and the other boys did the same.
"We were initiated this summer, we had hoped…wished that there had been a way to avoid it…but…" he trailed off and watched the girls still sobbing on the new girls tattered robes. Their leader pulled himself together and stood, gathering his robes about him. "We will not tell Professor Snape about this, I am going to follow his lead. Aisariss, I know we have done nothing to gain your trust, but I ask that you be our go between, to your father with the information." The girls had stopped crying when he spoke and they nodded their heads looking up at Aisariss pleadingly, it would be dangerous for her if Snape were caught because he could divulge the information while being tortured but it would keep the others safe for a time. Blaise stepped forward as did Crabbe and Goyle.
"We will spy on Voldemort." Draco said with conviction before he placed a silencing spell on everyone who stood in that circle, Aisariss although still reeling from everything that had happened on her first day at Hogwarts allowed Draco Malfoy to perform the spell on her, sealing herself to the conspiracy in Slytherin.
"Hasssi Hasssan Hessss." The others repeated the oath and Draco took down the concealment spell and the girls dragged Aisariss towards their dormitory, where they would spend the night talking, and making plans to help the boys in any way they could.
To be continued.
Parsletongue words : Sssirisss Assess – Death Awaits us
Hasssi Hasssan Hessss – I bind myself to you and you to me
Redskin: well? All Parsletongue was made up by me! And why can't you learn the language? Plus I thought it fitting for a Slytherin Oath and their small conspiracy against the Dark Lord. Mwhahaha. Anyone notice the significance of the number 7???? Oooh….actually it wasn't done on purpose…but I think it will be of come importance in the future.
Pronunciation of names: Aisariss – (hey without the H, zar-riss)
Leviathan – (Lev-aye-a-than)
Cyrus – (Sy-rus)