Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Life after Mrs. Manning

Mrs. Manning's funeral was hard on Ellie. It still hadn't sunk in yet that she was really gone. Amelia came with her and stayed with her at the house. Mrs. Collins and her sons also came to the house to begin packing all Mrs. Manning's things up.

On Friday morning, just before Ellie was due to leave with Amelia to go back to Hogwarts, Mrs. Collins took her out to the garden to speak to her.

"I thought you should know dear, that Olivia's will was read last night. She's left you some money."

"Really? That was nice of her."

"Yes. We'll arrange to have it transferred into your Gringotts account. There's something else though. Olivia was holding on to this for you until you came of age, but as it's rightfully yours I think you should have it now."

Mrs. Collins opened her hand to reveal a set of keys. She handed them to Ellie.

"What are they for?"

"Your family's estate dear."

Ellie spluttered.

"My family's what?"

"Their estate, their home. Your family was very rich."

"Well, I knew that, but I thought it was just the money in Gringotts. I didn't know there was an estate. What kind of estate?" Ellie asked in wonder. Mrs. Collins smiled at her.

"I think you'll have to see for yourself," she told Ellie.

Mrs. Collins went back into the house, leaving Ellie outside alone to try to imagine what an "estate" looked like. She wasn't there long before Amelia joined her.

"Ready to go? I said I'd get you back to Hogwarts by dinner time."

"Amelia, did you ever go to my family's house?"

Mrs. Collins had told Amelia about Mrs. Manning's will so she wasn't surprised by this question.

"Yes, I have. It's a very nice house. I wish we had time to go and see it today, but unfortunately I think we'll have to wait until the summer holidays."

Noting Ellie's disappointed look she added, "Hey, that's only a few weeks from now. It's something to look forward to. Now, come on. We have to get going."

Ellie was sad to say goodbye to the house she had grown up in. Mrs. Collins had already decided to sell it, so it was likely that Ellie would never see it again. Before she and Amelia left, Mrs. Collins gave her a hug and invited her to come and visit her whenever she wanted. A minute later and they were gone.

Amelia and Ellie were going to London first and then travelling to Hogwarts by train. There was no Hogwarts express at this time of year so they had to take a regular (although still from platform nine and three-quarters) train to Hogsmeade. There were a few old witches and wizards on the train too – those who were too old to fly and too feeble to apparate. The train made many stops along the way; it was hours before they finally reached Hogsmeade.

During their long train journey, Ellie brought up a subject that had been worrying her for the last few days.

"Amelia?"

"Mmm?"

"What's going to happen to me now?"

Amelia, who had been looking out the window, turned to face Ellie. She gave her a reassuring smile.

"Afraid you'll be left at Hogwarts all summer?" she asked with a grin.

"No, well yes, but…"

"Hey, don't worry; you'll come to stay with me during the holidays."

"Really?" Ellie asked, delighted by this idea.

"Yeah, of course! I wouldn't just abandon you!"

"So, you really meant it when you said we could visit my family's house?"

"Absolutely!"

Ellie felt more cheerful than she had been for the last week for the rest of the journey. Living with Amelia would be wonderful. A horrifying thought of Dumbledore insisting she go and live with Snape had been keeping her awake for the last few nights.

The groundskeeper, Hagrid, met Ellie at the gates and she and Amelia said goodbye to each other. Hagrid walked her back to the castle, and then Ellie ran inside and to the Great Hall. She was only late by a few minutes to dinner, they would have barely started. She spotted Jamie sitting halfway up the Gryffindor table and made her way to him. He was delighted to see her and made room for her to squeeze in beside him. Ellie glanced quickly up at the staff table and saw Snape, but he was looking at his food and didn't see her. She felt nervous about seeing him again in class on Monday. Their last meeting had been so bizarre.

Ellie spent the rest of the evening in the Gryffindor common room, catching up on what she had missed while she had been away. The end of year exams were coming up shortly and Ellie wanted to do well.

Most of the weekend was spent alternately in the library or in the common room, cramming for exams with Jamie. Ellie felt she should do okay in all of her subjects; she should even do quite well in a few. The subject she should have felt guaranteed to do well in was Potions as it was easily her best subject. She had received the highest mark out of her whole year in it last year. The state of her personal relationship with Snape at the moment led her to wonder if he would mark her harder. She felt sure that Snape couldn't fault her on the written exam, but during the practical element, he might make things difficult. There was still two weeks until the exams started, so Ellie hoped that by then, she and Snape might be in a more amiable place.

The last class of the day on Monday was double Potions. Snape didn't even glance at her when he entered the room and barked out instructions. Ellie worked with Jamie as usual. Jamie filled her in on what she had missed in Snape's lessons last week. Snape meanwhile was walking down the rows of students, inspecting their work. He passed by Ellie and Jamie several times without stopping. Towards the end of the class however he came to a halt in front of Ellie and Jamie's cauldron and said to Ellie in a low voice, "Come to my office after dinner to discuss what you have missed in your absence." If anyone out of the class overheard this it would have sounded perfectly innocent, but the cold look he had given Ellie made her sure that potions lessons would not be the only topic under discussion when she went to see Snape that evening. Jamie squeezed her hand under the table, offering her silent support.

As Ellie walked slowly towards Snape's office that evening, it seemed hard to believe that a full week had passed since she had been there last. It felt like only hours ago. She knocked at the door and he shouted for her to come in. She did, and closed the door behind her.

Snape was standing in front of desk. His expression was cold and emotionless. There was not a hint of anger. Perhaps he did want to discuss lessons after all…

"Take a seat Miss Winterbourne," Snape said, gesturing to a chair as he moved around his desk and took his own seat. Ellie moved forward slowly, not taking her eyes off him, still feeling wary. She had sworn never to be alone with him again and yet here she was. There had been no way out of it. She doubted Professor McGonagall would take too kindly to her refusing to meet with a teacher when told to.

Ellie almost chucked when Snape called her "Miss Winterbourne". It made their situation seem so ridiculous. Still, it was better than "Miss Snape". The very thought made her shudder.

"I trust Miss Winterbourne that you shall endeavour to catch up on what you missed in my lessons during your little jaunt away from the school."

Ellie choked back an indignant cry. She knew Snape well enough to know that he was trying to provoke her anger, for what purpose she was not sure – his own amusement perhaps, or something more sinister. No matter what it was, she was determined not to rise to the bait.

"Yes sir, I shall," she replied in a polite tone. Snape stared at her for a moment, and then Ellie was surprised to see his lips curl into a small smile. True it was a sneering sort of smile, but she had expected him to hurl another biting comment at her. Inside he remained silent. It seemed that by not rising to his bait she had amused him. It was confusing!

Finally, he spoke again.

"About our conversation last week… I presume Amelia Ryan has been filling your head with nonsense?"

It was Ellie's turn to smile to herself. He was still wondering where she had gotten her information from, and obviously, he assumed it was from Amelia. It was a good guess, Ellie thought to herself. She wondered what he would think if she told him that she had heard everything from her own mother, albeit indirectly.

"No, Amelia never discussed anything like that with me, so you can stop suspecting her, Professor," Ellie told him. Snape frowned at her. Who the deuce had she been talking to then?

"Anything else, Professor?" Ellie asked in her politest tone. She had a feeling it would annoy him. She was right. His eyes narrowed.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. Your guardian is of course dead," Snape said slowly.

"Well, yes, I had noticed." It was cheeky, but Ellie knew he wouldn't chastise her, not right now. She could tell where this conversation was leading.

Snape glared at her, but he continued.

"I was wondering about your living arrangements now that you're…"

Ellie stopped him, putting him out of his misery.

"Don't worry," she interjected. "I'm going to live with Amelia. You can breathe easy. No one will come banging on your door."

Ellie was beginning to feel annoyed. She didn't want to live with Snape, but she couldn't help feeling hurt that he so obviously wanted as little to do with her as possible.

Snape looked at her for a moment longer, considering her, which made her feel uncomfortable. Finally, he dismissed her with the wave of a hand. She left as quickly as she could, glad it was over. It had gone better than she had imagined. There had been no shouting and screaming. That was a first since the revelation last week.

Jamie was waiting at the end of the corridor for her, relieved she wasn't running this time and that she looked okay. Things had clearly gone better this time.

"He was worried about where I was going to live," Ellie explained. Jamie looked at her in disbelief, causing Ellie to laugh.

"He was worried I might have to go and live with him," Ellie explained. Jamie thought he could detect a hint of disappointment in Ellie's tone.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, of course I am. Come on, we have a ton of work to do."