The truth burns bright.
There's too much there sometimes.
The sun it shows, the sun it blinds.
Best to keep your eyes.
Stare at the sidewalk lines.

August 29th 1PM, Monday

The sun was shining brightly as the landscape flew by. With some difficulty, and no help from Severus, I had finally managed to open the small window in our compartment on the Hogwart's Express. Severus sat and watched me from behind a potions book as I stuck my head out the window and let the wind whip through my hair.

"This is great!" I exclaimed as I plopped down into the seat across from Severus, "I can't believe I walked through a wall. The Hogwart's Express is awesome! Don't you think this is awesome?"

"Quite," said Severus as he flipped through a page in his book. I rolled my eyes and then continued to stare out the window. After an hour or so I was becoming very bored. Luckily a little old lady came by with a cart full of wizarding candy.

"Anything off the trolley?" she asked sweetly. I gave Severus a hopeful look and he handed me a few gold coins without even looking up from his book. I ended up with a box of Bertie Botts' Every Flavor Beans, three chocolate frogs and something called a Blood Pop which the wrapper advertised as being blood flavored. After the woman with the trolley rolled away and the door to the compartment closed I handed Severus the Blood Pop while trying not to grin.

"May I ask why you think I would want this?" he asked as he eyed the lollipop. I gave him the most innocent look I could muster.

"Well," I answered slowly, "back at the platform I heard the kids saying that you're a vampire so I thought you might enjoy it." The Blood Pop flew from Severus' hand toward my head and I had to duck to keep from getting hit. "What was that for?"

"That," he said as he went back to reading his book, "was for being cheeky."

"You have no sense of humor," I mumbled and he pretended not to hear me but I could definitely see one corner of his top lip twitch slightly.

Bertie Botts' Every Flavor Beans were quite interesting. After cherry, grape and lime I ended up sampling a few more exotic flavors, like glue, sawdust and soap. The beans were put away however when I ended up getting one that tasted suspiciously like aluminum foil. I pulled it from my mouth and threw it away before biting it even once.

I had actually wanted to taste the Blood Pop but I couldn't locate where it had landed after Severus threw it at me. I assumed that it fell underneath the seat and I really didn't feel like looking for it, so I skipped it and went straight to the chocolate frogs.

"These aren't real frogs are they?" I asked as I eyed the small box in my hand nervously.

"Of course," Severus said sarcastically, "Didn't you know that wizards love fresh frogs smothered in chocolate?"

"So now you have a sense of humor," I snorted as I opened the box. Inside was a small frog made of chocolate. It looked around for a moment before jumping out of my hand onto the floor. I made a grab for it but lost it when it jumped underneath the seat.

"Having trouble?" Severus asked wryly as he flipped another page.

"No," I replied with a grin, "I was only planning on eating two, the first one was just for curiosity's sake."

"What card did you get?" he asked as he closed his book and laid it next to him.

"What do you mean what card did I get?" I asked in confusion.

"The card that came with the chocolate frog," he replied. I picked up the opened box and pulled out the small card inside. There was a picture of a very grumpy looking man with a strange moving eye. His face was full of scars and part of his nose seemed to be missing.

"Alastor Moody," I read at the bottom of the card and then continued as I turned it over, "Retired Ministry Auror, Member of the Order of the Phoenix, Order of Merlin Second Class."

"I'm surprised they didn't mention how paranoid he was as well," Severus said with a snort.

"Did you know him?" I asked as I shoved the card into my backpack.

"Of course," he replied as if it should be obvious, "We were both order members. He was a crazy old coot and that magical eye of his always gave me the creeps." He shivered slightly in his seat.

"What happened to him?"

"He was killed in his sleep," he replied bitterly, "It was a horrible way for someone like him to die, killed in his bed by a low ranking Death Eater."

"What does it matter?" I questioned, "Dead is dead."

"I suppose it is," he stated, "Pass me one of those chocolate frogs, I could use a bite." I smirked slightly at his request but didn't say anything as I threw one of the little boxes to him. I grabbed the other one and opened it, this time managing to grab the frog and shove it in my mouth before it jumped away. It felt strange as it moved over my tongue so I bit into it and swallowed it quickly.

"Who'd you get?" I asked as Severus stared down at the card in his hand. He didn't reply and threw the card to me instead.

"Albus Dumbledore," I mumbled out loud as I read the bottom of the card. I turned the card over and briefly looked at the list of Dumbledore's accomplishments before shoving the card into my bag. I looked down at the card from my own chocolate frog and gasped in surprise. Staring up at me was a young Harry Potter.

"Who is it?" Severus asked curiously. I threw him the card and then shoved my bag onto the floor so I could lie down.

"Who would it be? Who could it be? Who is it always?" I said in a sing-song voice.

"Don't you want to keep this?" he questioned as he held the card out to me.

"Nah," I said as I pushed his hand away, "I'm sure I'll end up getting another one, it would be just my luck."

"Do you want me to read the back for you?"

"No," I said with a sigh, "I've heard enough about Harry Potter's great accomplishments to last a lifetime." Severus placed the card inside his potions book and said nothing more about it. I began to doze off but was awoken when the compartment door slid open moments later.

"Professor Snape," the young man called out cheerfully, "It's great to see you again." I opened my eyes slightly to see Severus glaring at the door.

"Neville," Severus replied sternly, "You have been a professor for over fifteen years now. One would think that you would remember that I am your colleague and not your professor."

"Of course Professor Snape," Neville replied, "I'll be sure to remember that." Severus rolled his eyes.

"Neville!" I exclaimed loudly as I sat up, "It's great to see you again." Neville looked shocked for a moment but was soon smiling happily at me.

"Jenny Rider," he said with a grin, "or should I say Jenny Riddle." My eyes widened slightly as thoughts raced through my mind. Did he read the Daily Prophet article?

"I'm sorry I lied to you Neville, I…" he cut me off with a wave of his hand.

"Don't worry about it," he said with a smile, "I haven't believed half of what's printed in the Daily Prophet for years now. I usually don't even read it; I'm more of a fan of The Quibbler to be honest." Severus snorted in amusement for some reason that I couldn't quite understand.

"I heard about Draco," Neville said while ignoring Severus, "Has there been any news?"

"No," I said as I shook my head.

"I'm sure they'll find him," he replied with a sad smile.

"I hope so," I said softly. Severus was staring out the window and acting as if he was ignoring the conversation but I could tell he was still paying attention.

"You'll love Hogwarts," Neville said cheerfully and I was grateful for the change in subject, "I'll have to introduce you to my children once we're there."

"I didn't know you had children," I said in surprise. Neville blushed slightly.

"Just two," he replied proudly, "Trevor is in his last year and Samantha is in her fifth year."

"That's great!" I exclaimed, "I'd love to meet them."

"Okay then," Neville replied. He glanced down the hall for a moment and then added, "I better go and check on the students. They can get into a lot of trouble when left to their own devices. I'll stop by again later."

"See you later," I said and waved at him as he walked into the hallway and closed the compartment door behind him. "I didn't know Neville was married," I said to myself. Severus turned from the window and gave me an odd look.

"He's not married," he replied, "He is widowed."

"That's too bad," I said sadly, "He seems like such a nice man."

"He is a nice man," Severus said with a tight smile, "but bad things can happen to good people."

"Did you know his wife?" I questioned.

"Susan Bones," he replied with a nod, "If I remember correctly she was a Hufflepuff. She was a nice girl, not the brightest or most powerful witch, but nice nonetheless."

"How did she die?" I asked quietly, "Was it Death Eaters?" Severus shook his head and went back to staring out the window.

"No, it wasn't Death Eaters," he stated, "She had a rather strange allergy to some of the plants that Neville kept in his garden. No one knew it at the time though so her health just kept on deteriorating. They lived in that same house, with that same garden for ten years and she was ill almost every day. He would take her to St. Mungo's, she would stay there for a few days and then the Healers would say she was fine and he'd take her back home."

"How did they finally find out what happened to her?" I asked curiously.

"After she died the Healers did all of the normal magical scans to look for a cause of death," he explained, "When they couldn't find anything they convinced Neville that she should undergo a muggle autopsy performed by Healers trained in muggle medicine and methods."

"They cut her open and found huge amounts of pollen in her blood. It had spread through her body until her organs couldn't take it anymore and they shut down one by one. It nearly drove Neville mad when he found out and he incinerated his entire garden that night. If he wouldn't have had his children with him I'm sure he would've gone insane."

"That's horrible," I stammered.

"Yes," he replied, "but he got over it. I was actually quite surprised when he continued to teach Herbology."

I lay back down and stared at the ceiling while Severus picked up his book once again and began to read. After a moment I felt something fall on my stomach and I reached down to investigate. It was the card from the chocolate frog I had given Severus.

"How do you people do it?" I asked as I stared at the card.

"Do what?" Severus asked without looking up from his book.

"Well it seems as if witches and wizards go from one bad situation to the next," I replied, "I was just wondering how all of you deal with it?" Severus was silent for a moment before answering.

"I suppose we deal with it the same way muggles deal with it," he stated, "We get up in the morning, we live the best we can and we go to sleep at night. Whatever comes will come but as long as you can sleep at night and wake in the morning then, in my opinion, you're dealing with things fairly well."

"And if you don't wake in the morning?" I asked as I gripped my father's chocolate frog card in my hand tightly.

"Then you're dead," Severus said dispassionately, "and you have nothing left to worry about." The compartment fell silent except for the rustling of paper when Severus turned a page in his book. I continued to stare up at the ceiling. Earlier I had been tired but now I found myself very much awake.