Disclaimer: see part on. Chapter seven

Harry Potter looked gloomily at the picture of the Firebolt and thought about the few happy moments when he had been the owner of one. He had been looking forward to playing Quidditch on it, and especially the look on Malfoys face as he soared past him.

Now, Professor McGonagall had taken it away to be stripped and searched for jinxes because she, like Hermione, thought Sirius Black had sent the broom.

Stripping down a Firebolt was nothing short of a crime.

The only thing he was looking forward to was his Anti-Dementor lessons with Professor Lupin. He was going to have his first lesson this night and couldn't wait to learn how to ward of those demons. He would no longer have to endure Malfoys taunting…and most importantly of all, he would no longer have to listen to his mother dying.

Harry didn't know why thinking about Professor Lupin reminded him about Rena. Maybe it was because they both had the shabby and depressed look, but suddenly he grew very pink. He had forgotten about the plans he had made with her.

After loosing his Firebolt he had been so upset that he and Ron had walked down to Hagrid. Trying to cheer up Hagrid in his upcoming trial with Buckbeak had made him forget about the Firebolt for a few minutes.

Then, on their way back both he and Ron had seen the Grim.

Harry still shuddered when he thought about it. The Grim had stood in the middle of the road, looking at them with a hungry expression. Maybe it was because he was comparing it to the Dementors, but the Grim hadn't seemed so scary anymore. He had even suggested that they chase it, but Ron, who had held a firm grip on his cloak, had stopped him.

Now, Ron was convinced that Sirius Black was going to kill them both.

His head throbbed and he felt his eyes fill with tears as he thought about Sirius Black. He couldn't forget the conversation he had overheard in Hogsmeade. Sirius Black had betrayed his mother and father to Lord Voldemort. It was because of Sirius Black that Harry had no parents, that he had no family.

He shook his head furiously and decided not to think about Black anymore….at least not for the moment. He had to find Rena and apologize to her.

Harry wasn't surprised to find Rena in the library surrounded by books and heaps of parchments. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail and for the first time Harry noticed how small she looked. Maybe it was because of her of her size, or because her robes seemed to be too big for her, but Rena looked younger than Ginny.

"Excuse me?" he said slowly. She looked up and furrowed her eyebrows, but she didn't say anything. Harry suddenly felt very uncomfortable again and he was glad that the library was almost empty so that nobody saw him.

"I just wanted to apologize for…not meting you on Christmas" he said, and then suddenly blabbered out the whole story. " I got a Firebolt for Christmas, it is the best broom there is you know, and then Hermione thought that Sirius Black might have sent it, so the broom was possible jinxed…anyways…she went and got Professor McGonagall and she also thought he broom might be jinxed and so they took it away. I was so upset, that I forgot about meeting you….and then I went to visit Hagrid and then we saw the Grim and….." he stopped because he needed breath.

"The Grim?" she asked. Harry wondered if he was mistaken, but for a moment she had looked scared.

"You know what it is?" he said, a little surprised.

"Ive….read about it. It's a death omen…right…looks like a huge black dog"

Harry nodded. Rena looked thoughtful for a moment, but then she shook her head and said.

"Why is Sirius Black out to get you?"

And Harry explained, leaving out certain details, about how Black had escaped from the wizard prison to finish the job he had started 12-years-ago, and that Black believed that Harry was the only one who stood in the way for Lord Voldemorts return.

"I see you have a lot on your mind" she said when Harry was finished "it is understandable that you forgot. Don't think about it" she gave a weak smile and then returned to her work.

"Um…Rena?" Harry asked again.

"Yes"

"I was wondering if you might….you know you really helped me out that day…with Potions and I was wondering if you might…sorta…give me some lessons…or something" the last few words he mumbled.

Rena looked at him with a mixture of surprise and maybe even happiness. But then her face darkened and she looked down in her books again, fingering with her quill.

"I..I am sorry Harry" she muttered "But I don't think I have the time….I have a lot of homework….the study group and….advanced Potions."

Harry felt his face fell, but he didn't say anything, instead he just nodded understandingly.

"Okay. Well, bye then". He walked away and Rena listened to his disappearing steps feeling more alone and deserted then she had done in many days.

The letters were swimming in front of her eyes and she felt dizzy. She had been reading the same passage almost three times but she couldn't remember anything. With a frustrated sigh she closed the book and rested her head in her palms.

Rena thought about that Christmas morning when she had changed. She could remember the feelings and the smells clearly; she could even remember that she had seen two people. That must have been Harry and his friend.

The change that day had been different from when she changed at full moon. At full moon she had to change, but that day….she had wanted to. When she had seen those dark cloaked figures coming towards her, she had wished she were stronger so she could fight them. She had wanted it only for a few seconds, but had been enough to rouse the wolf inside her.

When she had changed back had that been triggered by her fear of staying in the wolf shape, or had she willed that as well?

The last few students left the library when the big silent clock on the wall announced closing time. Rena automatically placed her books and quills in her bag and she walked the route back to her dorm, head bent focusing on her shoes. She was so deep in thoughts that she hadn't noticed somebody call her name and suddenly a hand grabbed her arm and yanked her out of her daydream.

"Rena?" a voice asked softly and concerned. She looked up slowly and stared into the dark eyes of her uncle. "Something wrong?" he asked. Rena bit her lower lip and shook her head. His grip around her arm loosened and he looked up and down the corridor. He couldn't see anybody.

"Come with me" he ordered and wordlessly she followed her uncle down the hall and then down the steps until they reached his office. He tapped the door with his wand and it swung open. Very gently he placed her in the deep sofa and he took a seat opposite of her.

The Potion Master sat for only a second before he rose and started to pace his office, looking uncomfortable and nervous. Rena loosened her hair and let it fall down over her face so she could hide in it. Her hands were trembling and she quickly sat on them so that he wouldn't notice.

"You want something to drink?" he asked suddenly and she shook his head. Snape stood for a moment a little helpless, not sure how to seize the situation. He walked over to the kettle, brought out his wand to tap it, but changed his mind. He sat down in the chair across her again and sighed.

"Are you feeling all right?"

Rena didn't say anything. She didn't know what to tell him. Snape waited anxiously for her answer, but when she made no movements, he swallowed deeply and said.

"How much do you remember from your childhood?"

He had never asked about her childhood before, he bad scarcely even mentioned it except for grumbling about his brother. She question surprised her and caught her off guard and she hesitated.

"I remember…the hospital, the muggle hospital," she said gradually. Her earliest recollections had been waking up from something that seemed like a very long sleep. There had been people around her, talking to her, but she hadn't understood what they had been saying. All she could feel was a longing for the medicine her father had made her addictive to and how unbelievable weak she was.

"I…. couldn't…talk" she said slowly and looked at her uncle. He folded his hands carefully in front of his face and studied her. He had always been afraid of telling her the truth, afraid of how she would react.

"You didn't know how to" he said softly. "My brother raised you alone…and I believe he was immensely scared of you. He kept you drugged down most of the time. You never experienced much human contact so you never learned how to speak. He also fed you mostly dog food….which I believe is what has hindered your growth…you were small even as a child"

She stared at him wide-eyed. Was this the childhood she had tried to suppress? Had her own father hated and feared her so much? Why?

"What about my mother?" she asked croakily. She thought about the old picture she kept hidden. That woman was her mother, but to Rena she was only a stranger.

"I know nothing about her…except that you are named after her"

"Maud Applegate" she said slowly "I don't remember her,"

"Your mother was a muggle…..and I don't know what happened to her. I have several times tried to track her down, but to no success" he paused and took a deep cleansing breath.

" I think my brother could no longer handle you and that is why he killed him self."

Snape stopped talking, wanting to see her response. Once again she had hidden her face in her hair and she sat immobile, not saying anything. He waited a couple of minutes and then moved to sit next to her. The only thing that indicated that she was still alive was the slow rise and fall of her chest.

Very carefully he wiped the hair away, unmasking her face. She was staring straight ahead, her large hazel eyes blank with tears and she was trembling. Snape swallowed deeply and took a deep cleansing breath hoping to calm himself. He had always been afraid and uncertain about how to deal with her emotionally.

He had often wondered why he had allowed Dumbledore talk him into caring for this child. True she was his brother's daughter, but he had not spoken to his brothers in years and he didn't even know he had a niece until that day Dumbledore showed up on his porch.

He remembered the first days he had been alone with her. Every time he had tried to go near her, she would start crying and she had flinched against his touch. He had resisted the urge to give her a calming potion or anything just to stop her from weeping, and let her cry herself to sleep. Sometimes she had run away and hid her self in a corner and he would spend hours coaxing her out, treating her like some wounded and scared animal.

One day, thinking he could take no more of it, he had wanted to send her away to the orphanage. He couldn't deal with her cries or screams and he was afraid that he was hurting her. She was a five-year-old child who hardly spoke anything, had almost never experienced human contact and had spent most of her life drugged down on morphine because every full moon she turned into a monster. He didn't know what they would do to her at the orphanage…but certainly they were more qualified to take care of her then him.

When he had written the letter and was about to send it away, Rena had suddenly appeared in the doorway. She was clad in a large sleeping gown, she had been sucking on her thumb and in her right hand she had a thigh grip on a blanket, her knuckles whitening.

He remembered how frightened he had been, staring at this small child with the pale skin, large eyes and long dark scruffy-looking hair. She had looked at him, just as she looked now. Straight ahead without really seeing him, eyes shinning with tears.

That day she had suddenly run across the room and wrapped her small feeble hands around his legs. He had frozen completely with fear, the owl hooting impatiently and pecking at his hand. Snape had placed a hand on the child's head and felt the small pressure of her hug against his body. It was the hug of a child, full of innocent devotion and a desperate need to be loved.

"Rena" Serverus spoke softly, shaking the memories away from his head.

A single tear ran down her cheek and her lower lip was trembling.

"I am going to change…." She said in a low hoarse whisper. The Potion master stopped his movements and swallowed heavily again. She turned her head in his direction and wiped the tears away with the back of her hand.

"Ive have read about it…you know. They call it the Purge…when the wolf blood takes control of the body and the change is permanent. It is happening to me, isn't it?"

Snape cast his eyes to the floor and clenched his fists.

"That isn't certain" he began trying to sound confident and calming "the reason you are sick may be…."

"Ive tried to find a cure…or something…but there isn't anything anybody can do. It just happens sometimes when the wolf is too strong…if the blood is too strong. Why is my blood so strong…. how old was I when I was bitten?" her voice was low and calm and it seemed as if she was speaking to her self.

"Nobody knows" he croaked, unable to tell her the truth. What difference would it make?

"Uncle?" she asked suddenly, and Snape felt his heart jolt.

"Why did you take me inn? Didn't I scare you to?"

Very slowly he put an arm around her shoulder. They both stiffened for a moment, before she relaxed and she let her self lean against his chest.

"I've seen scarier things" he said and he felt her body hiccup as she giggled "beside you are family…. we take care of each other" her silent laughter died down.

"If I change…what will happen to me?" Rena asked. She pressed her ear against his chest and even with all the dark and heavy material she could feel his staggered breath run through his body. It was calming and it gave her the same feeling as walking outside in the pure winter weather.

"I don't know….they will let you lose….I guess" he said, trying to hide the sadness in his voice and trying not let the pictures invade his thoughts. He could still see that little girl in his doorway only this time she turned into the werewolf monster.

"I don't want that" she said, her voice filled with confidence and suddenly she pulled out of his grasp and stared him straight in the eyes "If I change, promise me…pr…promise me you'll…k..kill me!" she stuttered the last words and then she slung her self against his chest again, hiding her face.

Snape blinked a few times trying to rid his eyes with tears.

"I cant…do that" he said quietly.

"I don't want to live as a werewolf….I don't want to turn into a monster and stalk the forest. Promise me you will kill me….put me out of my misery" she was clutching his cloak her voice growing more and more desperate and pleading.

"If I change….I am already dead. Don't let me suffer anymore. Please….kill me."

"I…I promise" he said weekly and cursed all the gods he could think about.

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