Chapter Two

Severus didn't know where the time had gone. It seemed to him like one moment he was levitating a soaking wet girl into the Entrance Hall and the next it was the night before the Hogsmeade trip.

He hated to admit, it but he actually liked Tara. Everything always seemed so simple around her. They talked about the books he had borrowed from the library for her for hours and he often lost track of time. She wasn't conniving like most of the girls he knew, like Narcissa or Bellatrix, she was honest and kind to him. This kind of relationship was almost alien to him, after all, the only other person he knew like that was his mother, and then only in private.

He had been screwing up his courage for the past three days to ask Tara if she wanted to go to Hogsmeade with him. He didn't know why but he was nervous about it. It was only Tara, after all. They'd become friends, why wouldn't she want to?

Friends? She's probably a Mudblood, said a harsh voice inside his head that sounded incredibly like his father.

She's a nice girl, came his mothers' gentler tone.

And you're an ugly, hook-nosed git, said his own voice inside his head. Nobody would want you like that.

Like what? asked his mother.

I think he likes the little Mudblood, sounded his fathers' voice.

"No I don't," he whispered to the voices in his head, feeling his cheeks go red.

He knocked on her door.

"Wait a minute!" came a voice inside the room and there were some scurrying noises, closing of draws, then the door opened.

As soon as she saw who it was, her whole face lit up with a smile that reached her eyes.

"Hello Sevi," she said.

"Hello Tara," said Severus scowling. "And how many times have I told you not to call me that!"

"Come in," she said an innocent smile on her face.

He stepped through the threshold of the door and the sweet scent of her skin rushed into his nose.

"So, looking forward to going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" she asked eying him.

"No, no, I'm fine, in fact, I was wondering…" he paused, irritated that this silly question was making him so nervous..

"Yes?" she asked expectantly.

"Would, would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow?"

"Of course, I assumed we were going together anyway. We are friends after all."

Tara had been looking forward to the trip to Hogsmeade since she'd heard some of the other students talking about the annual Christmas trip. Severus' descriptions and stories had only made her more curious about the all-magical village.

She woke early, got dressed and headed down to the Great Hall with a group of passing Ravenclaws.

"Hello Tara!" said Dumbledore walking over to her as she neared the Great Hall. "I was just looking for you."

"Hello Professor," she replied nodding slightly.

"Could I speak to you for a moment, in private," he asked, motioning for her to go into a small room opposite the Great Hall.

"Yes, sir," she replied.

Tara followed him over to the room and he shut the door behind her.

"How are you doing?" he asked. This was the first time she'd had a proper chance to talk to the headmaster since she'd started lessons.

"Fine, it's a little strange sometimes," said Tara sighing in resignation. "I mean most of the time I feel like I belong here, but then suddenly I get the feeling that I belong here but not quite."

"Maybe it's your subconscious remembering something, but your conscience can't access the memory," said Dumbledore nodding wisely. "Tell me, have you recovered any of your memory?"

"Not yet."

"I see. We would like to sort you into a house for the remainder of your stay."

Tara nodded again. "Okay… When?"

"I know that this is very sudden, but we would like to do it tonight. We believe that it would give you the opportunity to settle into your house before everyone gets back. It will also give your friends and new housemates time to adjust."

"That's fine," she said, a little anxious to go to breakfast.

"One last thing, it has come to my attention that you have no funds to go to Hogsmeade with… Or to get any supplies for the coming years…"

Tara blushed. She hadn't really thought about that.

"So I have taken the liberty of drawing some money out of school funds and set up a Gringotts account for you. The current total is two hundred and forty galleons."

Tara's jaw dropped. "You… you… thank you…" she stammered, hardly believing her ears.

"Or I should say 200 hundred Galleons, the rest is in this pouch, I dare say that you might want to buy some clothes and Christmas presents for your friends," he said handing her a small brown bag. "This money and the money in the account is to last you until either we find a way to get you back to your time or you graduate and get a job."

"Thank you, Professor," she said dumbly.

She was still stunned when she met Severus in the entrance of the Great Hall.

"Are you ready for our trip?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said distantly.

"Is something wrong?" he asked slight concern showing in his voice.

"No, no," she replied coming out of her daze.

Severus led her to the Slytherin table and she received dirty looks from Lucius Malfoy and all his cronies. They all agreed that she was obviously a Mudblood, since no one had come to collect her. She got half-smiles from all the others who liked her enough, but didn't really want to upset Malfoy by being friendly towards her. Apparently his family was an influential one.

"So," Malfoy sneered, "I hear that you two have a date."

"It's not a date." said Tara defensively. "Even if it was, what's that got to do with you?"

"A boy and a girl, going to Hogsmeade alone for the day… if that's not a date, what else would you call it?" Malfoy sneered rudely at Tara, then turned to Severus. "I never thought you'd sink so low as to date one of them."

"And what do you mean my "one of them" Mr. Malfoy?" asked Professor McGonagall, approaching the Slytherin table.

"Nothing Professor," said Malfoy, looking at Severus and Tara.

"Oh I think we both know what you meant Mr. Malfoy. Twenty points from Slytherin. And don't let me catch you talking like that again."

The rest of breakfast went past quietly, Malfoy glaring over at Tara and Severus occasionally.

After breakfast Tara and Severus went to their room and grabbed their cloaks meeting in front of the doors in the Entrance Hall.

They left the school at nine, walking quietly down the path leading to Hogsmeade, the only sound discernible was their footsteps crunching the crisp snow. Tara was glad she'd brought her heaviest cloak, gloves and hat. Even in all those layers she was still cold.

As they approached Hogsmeade Tara pulled on Severus' arm and they stopped while she took in the view from the top of the hill that they were walking down. The rooftops were covered in snow, but the windows of each building looked like they'd been charmed so that the snow would evaporate on contact. There were children whizzing past them on sleds, shouting and laughing. Off to the side there were children building snow-wizards (and witches). In the middle of the street there was another group having a snowball fight. To Tara it looked like perfect scene for a Christmas card.

"Come on, let's go," said Severus, running down the hill, dragging Tara behind him all the way to the other end of the village.

"Stop! Stop!" she cried, clutching at the stitch in her side.

"Ah… Hogsmeade, sweet Hogsmeade…" said Severus with a small grin. Then he looked at Tara with little sympathy, "You can't be that unfit!"

"Yes I can! I probably spent loads of time in the library in my time."

Severus was suddenly serious. "Still no memories?"

"No… not yet… I just wish there was some spell that could help."

"Well they're always coming up with new charms at the Ministry of Magic. They'll come up with something," said Severus reassuringly. "Besides, the longer you don't remember anything, the longer we get to keep you here!"

This cheered Tara up a little. "Okay, where to first?"

"Where do you want to go?" he asked her.

"Well… I have everything I need… for school… but I could use some more books, maybe some on Defence Against the Dark Arts and maybe even a copy of Hogwarts: A History, and Muggles, I'd like to learn more about them."

"Tara, you're already taking Muggle Studies."

"Yeah… but it couldn't hurt to read up on them before class…"

Severus gave a small chuckle and grabbed her hand, leading her over to Flourish and Blotts.

"It's a little smaller than the one in Diagon Alley, but it's the only book shop here," said Severus once they were inside.

"It's great," said Tara, taking in her surroundings. Every wall in the shop was covered in shelves of books, she couldn't see an inch of wall space there. There were counters with large displays of books and a few little desks where people could take a book to read for a few minutes (for there was a sign: DO NOT read these books for more than five minutes for they are all charmed and potentially dangerous).

Two minutes later Tara was immersed in the Defence Against the Dark Arts section of the store reading all the sleeves of every book (only glancing at the pages because she didn't want to find out what the sign meant).

"Would you mind if I ran an errand? Shouldn't take too long," Severus called to Tara.

"Go ahead," came the distracted reply. He doubted she had really heard him, but he went off anyway, leaving a message with the clerk to give to Tara when she finished.

He exited the bookshop and quickly ran to Gladrags, pulling his cloak tightly around himself.

As soon as he entered the shop he saw Lily Evans standing alone looking at a book of fabric samples.

He walked over and started looking at all the fabric samples and colours in the book next to her.

Little snippets of advice immediately started scrolling across the bottom of the page. Pick something that will go with her eyes and her hair. Make sure that the colour will suit her personality. Consider the colour of your robes. Make sure you get the right size, nothing worse than having dress robes that don't fit.

Severus suddenly felt out of his depths. He stared at the colours for a while, clueless. He noticed Lily looking at him.

"Hello," he said trying to sound cordial.

Lily looked at him with a trace of surprise vanishing from her face. "Hello," she replied coolly.

"What are you up to?" he asked, trying to work his way around to the subject that he wanted to discuss.

"Isn't it obvious? It doesn't take the intelligence of a Ravenclaw to work out that I'm looking at fabric patterns so that I can decide what material I want for my new dress robes."

Severus humphed.

"Seen anything that you like?" he asked after a few minutes.

"Yes…" Lily seemed to study him for a moment. "Is there something you want?"

"Well… I was thinking of buying Tara some robes… she doesn't have any…"

"And you're feeling out of depth?" said Lily with a smirk.

Severus sighed. "Yes," he replied, grudgingly. He clearly didn't like admitting it to the Gryffindor.

Lily turned to Severus' book and flicked through the pages and said, "Whatever you do, don't let them attach anything like bows to it."

She flicked through a few more pages. "I take it you got her measurements before you came."

"Yes, I wrote to Madame Malkin and got them."

Lily looked sceptical. "You sure they're…"

"The right ones?" Severus looked at her disgusted. "I'm not stupid, besides how many amnesiacs are there at Hogwarts?"

"This colour would look great on her," said Lily pointing to a periwinkle blue colour, "so would this…" deep red silk, Severus rolled his eyes, the Gryffindor colour.

"This," Lily continued, pointing to a piece of dark magenta fabric, "and this…" lilac silk. "Oh and this cut would look great on her too, show off her figure," she said pointing to a modestly cut robe. "And now you're on your own."

With that she took a sample of rose coloured silk and walked over to the assistant, leaving Severus alone with the fabric.

He stared at the fabrics, not sure what to do next. To him, they were just different pieces of coloured fabric. They were all nice, he supposed. He discarded the red quickly – it might look good on Tara, but that didn't mean he wanted her to wear that colour, it was a Gryffindor colour after all. The lilac, it was his least favourite of the bunch. He fingered the light blue - periwinkle, and found himself thinking of Tara in robes made from the silky material. She'd look beautiful, he decided, nodding his head decisively.

He took the sample over to the saleswitch "It's not for me, it's a Christmas present," and took a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed them to the witch.

"Hmmmmm, we're a little busy, but I can have it done in an hour. But it will cost you six Galleons five sickles. Half now, half when you come to collect them."

Severus checked his pouch and took out the money. He had more than enough to get the robes and everything else he wanted to buy.

"I'll be back in about an hour," he said paying the witch.

Severus looked at his watch, he'd only been twenty minutes… She's probably too engrossed in the books to notice I'm gone.

And he walked back to Flourish and Blotts.

After an hour and a half in the shop Tara was dragged to the counter by a severely bored Severus. He liked the bookshop but there were only so many times that you could visit it before you got extremely bored after being in it for twenty minutes. She paid for the books and they left the shop.

"But I didn't get Hogwarts: A History!" Tara protested.

"They have several copies in the library," Severus said. "Besides you've been looking at books for an hour."

"Okay," she said glumly. "Where to next?"

"Zonko's," said Severus, with a glint in his eye, taking her hand to pull her down the street faster.

"What's Zonko's?"

"You'll see," he said quickening his pace.

Zonko's turned out to be a brightly coloured joke shop, with items covering every wall. It was packed with what looked like half of Hogwarts students.

Immediately Severus led her to a shelf-lined wall and grabbed some brown things, and popped them into a bag. The box they were held in said "Dungbombs".

On the next shelf there was a china tea set. Tara picked up one of the cups and looked inside."

"Don't hold it too close," said Severus, pushing the cup away from her face, "it bites."

Tara hastily put the cup back onto the saucer and started looking elsewhere.

She took a bag and started putting hiccup sweets, belching powder and whizzing worms into it.

Finally when Severus had finished looking at the enchanting charms in one of the books they each paid for their sweets.

Just as they were about to leave Tara suddenly had the urge to ask for something. "Excuse me? Do you have Ton-Tongue Toffees?"

"What dear?" asked the saleswizard.

"Ton-Tongue Toffees."

"Never heard of them."

"What about Canary Creams?"

"Never heard of them either. You been abroad?" he asked pausing to think for a moment. "Some sweets are exclusive to the countries they were made in at the moment. Like "

A thought hit Tara. "Never mind, I still have some back at the school," she said hastily and she exited the shop Severus following behind her.

"Hey, where are you going?" Severus shouted to Tara as she ran from the shop.

"Just started to feel a little claustrophobic, that's all."

"I don't believe you. What happened?"

"A memory happened. I remember some people." Tara looked at him for a moment. "Dumbledore told me not to tell anyone what I remember. I shouldn't tell people about future events."

"Do you want to go back and tell him?"

"No, maybe if we walk around I'll remember more."

"So where to now?" he asked.

"Dervish and Banges?" Tara suggested, looking around.

"Okay, can I meet you in there in a few minutes?" Severus asked. "I just remembered that I forgot to do something else. Shouldn't take me more than ten minutes. Or do you want me to stay with you?"

"That's fine," Tara replied, a distant look in her eyes, and she walked off in the direction of the shop.

When Severus was sure Tara was in the shop, he walked back over to Gladrags Wizardwear.

As he entered the shop the saleswitch disappeared into the back, and emerged a few moments later with the robes he had bought. She probably has a few house-elves back there, he thought. Otherwise she couldn't get all these robes finished so quickly. Not that he particularly cared.

He took at a long look at the robes. The stitching was perfect.

A fifth year Ravenclaw girl walked up behind him.

"What do you think?" he asked her, not sure that he could really trust the opinion of the saleswitch.

"Those are beautiful," she said.

Severus paid the witch the rest of the money and the witch wrapped it up.

It had taken him fifteen minutes. He ran to Dervish and Banges.

When he caught up with Tara he was out of breath, but he noticed her hide something in one of the folds of her robes, she was smiling guiltily.

"What was that?" he asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Nothing."

"If it's nothing then you won't mind showing it to me," he said making a grab for the pocket.

She jumped out of the way in time. "No, Sevi, you'll find out soon enough. Patience is a virtue and all that. You can look around here, I'm going to take a look at Gladrags Wizardwear."

Severus' heart stopped. Is she going to get some robes?

Tara breathed a sigh of relief. He had almost caught her buying his present. If he's got there twenty seconds earlier, he would have seen it.

She put the thought out of her mind and concentrated on where she was going. She ran quickly across the road dodging the snowball fight that was now nearing her destination.

She entered the shop and immediately spotted Lily hopping off a stool, the witch next to her rolling up some measuring tape.

"Christmas Eve," the witch was saying.

Lily nodded and the witch went about her business.

"Hi Tara," said Lily, walking over to her. "What are you up to?"

"Just came to look at some clothes, you must be sick of having half your wardrobe in my room."

Lily chuckled. "Well I was beginning to miss my green jumper…"

There was a tap on the window. Sirius and James were outside, grinning at Lily.

"Well I'd better go," said Lily, motioning to the boys. "See you at the feast tonight?"

"Sure."

Tara went to the nearest clothing rack and found some trousers and a jumper that she liked.

Tara spotted a make up counter and went over to look, maybe she'd find something for Lily in there, some nice nail polish or something. Almost immediately she was drawn to a box, above it a label said magical make-up case. Select your shades and let the case do the rest.

Perfect, thought Tara, Lily is always complaining that it takes too long to do her make-up.

Next some books caught her eye. They were filled with colour samples and patterns.

Hmmmmm… she thought looking at a cross between a dark magenta and burgundy. This is beautiful…

After half an hour in Dervish and Banges Severus had found presents for half the people in his dormitory. The rest would get sweets, Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans, Sugar quills and the like.

He felt a tap on his shoulder, "Got everything?"

He turned around and saw Tara smiling back at him.

"Nope, two more stops," said Severus. "And I've saved the best till last. Honeydukes."

Sevi wasn't lying, thought Tara as she entered the large sweetshop from the bitter cold. She looked around in wonder. She'd never seen anything like it (well as far as she knew). The shop was absolutely heaving with students.

The walls were lined with jars and boxes of sweets. There was a witch and wizard serving at the counter as quickly as they could.

"We've run out of Chocoballs," called the witch, "and we're running low on fudge."

The wizard rushed into the storeroom and brought back several jars, some filled with large brown balls and some with the label "Honeydukes fudge".

Tara didn't know where to start. Severus quickly grabbed a few paper bags and gave one to her.

"What's good here?"

"Everything," said Remus, passing on his way out with Sirius, James and Peter. "The fudge is excellent, but Sugarquills are my favourite."

"The Gryffindor is right," said Severus appearing behind her, "the fudge here is excellent, better go and get some before it's all gone."

For the next ten minutes Severus loaded both their bags with his favourite sweets. Tara seemed to remember some of them and put some into her bag, even though Severus said that they were horrid.

That was until Tara spotted a wall lined with shelves labelled "Special Effects Sweets".

She read all the descriptions of all the sweets, like Pepper Imps - breathe fire for your friends, and acid pops, burn a hole through your tongue.

These would be perfect for Sirius, Tara thought, and she took sweets from several of the containers, only stopping when she saw a large box of ice mice that for some reason reminded her of Peter Pettigrew.

"Don't get too many Pepper Imps," Severus warned her. "They're fun the first couple of times, but they get tiresome after a while."

"Oh, they're not for me," she said turning to face Severus. "They're for Sirius."

"Sirius?" asked Severus a scowl crossing his face.

What is that look…? Tara asked herself silently, but quickly dismissed it.

"Just thought I might get him and the others some things – sort of a thank you. They've been so nice to me, sort of a thank you." She held up the Gladrags bag, "I've already got something for Lily."

Severus seemed to relax a little at her reassurance.

"I don't suppose you would want to sprinkle a little belching powder over Sirius's sweets, would you?" Severus asked hopefully.

Tara shook her head and chuckled. "No."

"What else are you getting them?"

"Well… I'll get Peter some Ice Mice," she paused as Severus grabbed a box from the self near them. "Remus said Sugar Quills are his favourite, and James… James…" she looked around at the larger boxes of sweets. "Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans, he's adventurous, I think he'll like those."

Severus collected all the other boxes, paying for both their bags of sweets (but not Tara's presents) and they entered the icy outdoors once again.

"Want to go back?" she asked, chilled to the bone.

"Not quite yet, one more stop."

And Severus led her in the direction of the castle, but he pulled her into a building "The Three Broomsticks" written on the sign above the door.

"Now, we can try to find a seat in here," said Severus motioning her inside the packed pub, or we can head back a little earlier with two bottles of Butterbeer, each."

"I still need to pack up my things…" said Tara, somewhat reluctant to leave the village.

Severus bought some Butterbeer and they both stepped outside. Tara took a sip from one of the bottles.

"Wow," she said, as warmth coursed through her body.

Twenty minutes later they were back at the castle, standing outside the door of Tara's quarters, Butterbeers all finished, the wonderful warm feeling having worn off.

"So…" said Tara.

Severus thought she might be expecting something.

"So…" he replied. "I suppose I'd better be off, some gifts to wrap before the feast. Got to give them to Professor Slughorn, so they'll be given to people on Christmas morning." He could swear that he saw a flash of disappointment briefly cross Tara's face.

Suddenly, it was as if something had taken him over, he didn't know what he was doing, but it wasn't an unpleasant thing. He took both her hands gently in his and leaned over and kissed her fully on the lips.

She smells like honey, he thought. Her lips still tasted of Butterbeer.

He heard her moan lightly.

Then wolf whistles and clapping.

He pulled away somewhat reluctantly and turned to see a crowd of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sixth years, obviously just returning from Hogsmeade.

"Well, I'd better go," he said looking at the dreamy expression on her face.

"Okay, I'll be back here before dinner."

And with that he walked off in the direction of his common room.